Year of Disney
by Scott Hardie on January 24, 2016
Kelly's been suggesting for a long time that we invest in annual passes to Disney World, since we live two hours' drive away. I finally wised up and listened to her, as some number-crunching showed that we would only need to spend three days there for the passes to pay for themselves. We placed the order and called it a Christmas gift to each other. And you know what? Less than a month into January, and we've already spent two days there, with plans to return for Valentines Day and again in March when Kelly's brother and his boyfriend visit.
One of our two visits so far was unexpected, and that's a great thing about the passes: When an old friend like Steve Dunn reaches out and says he's in Orlando with his family and would like to get together if possible, we can hop right over and make a day of it for no more cost than a tank of gas. I sadly neglected to ask for a photo together with the Dunns, but we had a great dinner with them at The Wave, exchanging stories about our mutual visits to WDW and catching up on Funeratic and people we knew. The Dunns are generous and gregarious and I would love to spend a lot of time with them if we didn't live several states apart. Here's hoping that our online friendship lasts for years to come.
Prior to our dinner last night with the Dunns, we spent the day at the Magic Kingdom. It's not Snowmageddonpocalypse here, but it is exceedingly cold for Florida, with a temperature of 38 degrees when we arrived and a midday high of only 51 degrees. We're not used to this kind of cold here, and certainly not to riding roller coasters and parking lot trams and other open-air moving vehicles in 40-degree temperatures, but we sucked it up and had a good time in the cold anyway. (We skipped the Frozen attractions, but maybe we shouldn't have.) The highlight of the day for me was riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, my favorite ride as a child that I had not yet revisited as an adult. Doing it first thing in the morning meant no line but a very cold ride, and I loved every second of it anyway. Kelly adores The Haunted Mansion and we appreciated getting indoors for a few minutes.
Last (warmer) weekend, we had intended our first visit to the parks to be at the Hollywood Studios due to some impending permanent closures of attractions, but virtually every ride was closed due to some freak coincidence of simultaneous mechanical failure, so we took the boat over to Epcot, our favorite park. It's brutal on one's legs to walk around Epcot all day but we never fail to have a great time. Whatever money we save on the passes, we no doubt spend on the souvenirs and shopping. Le Cellier is Kelly's favorite restaurant and she'd probably have us eat there on weeknights if we lived in Orlando (such is the freedom of the enter-any-time annual pass). Me, I love to shop at Mitsukoshi and discover unpronounceable candies. We'll be back soon, I'm sure.
Logical Operator
The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »
Pug Life
A friend recently contacted Kelly and me out of the blue to ask if we could take care of her dog for six days while she was on vacation, since the arranged sitter was suddenly unavailable. Neither Kelly nor I have experience taking care of dogs, and we're definitely not dog people. I was attacked by a dog when I was little and I've never been comfortable around them, especially any dog large enough to leap up from the ground and reach my face with its teeth. Go »Moved In
We are moved in and settled, or as settled as we can be with little money and way too much stuff for a two-bedroom apartment. The final move will come in April when we transfer to a house. We have our eye on a house in Ruskin, 30 minutes from here – four bedrooms, two-car garage, cable included, never lived in, all for $50 less a month than I pay now. Go »Snowbound
I'm off to Springfield for the weekend to help Kelly move. YAY SNOW. Back late Monday night. Go »Det är inte så farligt
Yesterday, Kelly and I joined friends who had free passes to shop at the new Ikea store in Tampa before it opens to the public. It was our my first time in one of those stores, and it was every bit the harrowing shopping marathon I'd heard it was. For a store that boasts so frequently about how efficient everything is, having you proceed through the store in one long winding line for four hours sure doesn't feel that way, but every store has ways of getting you to buy more than you came for and Ikea has come up with a unique one. Go »Only in the Web Era
Victim's cell phone is stolen on subway. Thief takes photos of his own wife, family, dog, and home. Cell phone automatically uploads them to victim's Flickr account. Go »
