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 »

Abe, Honest

During my visit to Springfield last weekend, Kelly and I went to a historical reenactment on the outskirts of town. Every small city that can do so builds shrines to its homegrown celebrity, but Springfield takes worship of Abraham Lincoln to new levels of ridiculousness. Besides the museum with the ordinary tools used by Lincoln during his early twenties, the historical community had the actual buildings he slept in and worked in. Go »

WLW: No Payin', No Gain

My weight loss plan – which has become our weight loss plan, since Kelly intends to do just about everything I do – is on hold until I can recover from the move, which took my last penny and then some. On the bright side, I've been eating less since getting together with Kelly, and I burned what felt like a week's worth of calories during that move. We should start walking soon before we settle into a daily routine. Go »

It's All About Me

I regret if my rantings around this site have come across either whiny, as I coped with illnesses and a busy schedule, or hypocritical, as I griped about Christmas cheer while still participating in the holiday. I don't regret if they came across as self-centered. Go »

Garfunkel and Oates

Kelly and I had a good time last night taking out two old friends for their birthdays to see Garfunkel and Oates in Tampa. I'm only familiar with the duo's songs, so it was refreshing that only maybe a third of the show consisted of music. The rest was stand up comedy, storytelling, audience interaction, and a weird extended commercial for their sponsor Monster Energy Drink, tall boys of which were being handed out for free, because that's just what my heart needs at ten o'clock at night. Go »

The Business of Busyness

My mother has Alzheimer's and dementia. She'll be 80 in a few months. For the last decade or so, her partner Andy has been taking care of her, but he's 85 himself and not able to continue. Go »

Crying in Baseball

Kelly and I won tickets to see a Tampa Bay Rays game in a deluxe suite last night. We've been excited about it for weeks, looking forward to a good game, good seats, and good food, all paid except the parking. What we got was a let-down. Go »