A Few Good Memes

Last year at Disney World, we went the budget route (as was fitting for our means) and stayed at Disney’s Pop Century resort. It’s one of their “value” resorts, and basically the cheapest way to stay at Disney, especially since you don’t have to rent a car.

We had a sooper time at the Pop Century. Lots of regular people having fun around us, giant Rubik’s cubes, several pools, including one right out our door, giant yo-yos, good cheap food, giant bowling pins, fun pop Christmas music playing, giant Big Wheels, game room, fun souvenirs to shop for, you name it.

So not only did Anna insist on us going to Disney despite my feeble protests last year, she booked us on a sales job tour of one of the Disney Vacation Club resorts. It was like a 3 hour sales job introduction to Disney’s timeshare resorts. Knowing that a) she had terminal cancer and b) I’m a guy that, let’s say, lives in the moment (i.e. plans for shit) - though perhaps we both underestimated me sometimes - she wanted to cement a tradition of a family vacation for us.

So we cashed in a good chunk of our retirement savings to guarantee a trip to Disney (or one of a few hundred other places) every year until 2053. We were both glad to do it. We still pay annual dues, but when you add it all up, we’re paying Pop Century prices for luxury resort accommodations, Except, well, about that luxury resort…

Disney’s Old Key West resort is lovely, I suppose. It’s done up like you’re staying in Key West, FL. Which is like Cape Cod, as far as I can tell. The problem is, the place is huge. It’s a big sprawling condo complex with a whole golf course in the middle. So you have to take a shuttle bus to get around here. Ya spend a lot of time waiting at bus stops. Pop Century was all within walking distance. Plus, the place is pretty deserted. I’m no fan of crowds, of course, but I don’t like to hear an echo when I laugh, either. We’ve seen very few other young kids around - mostly people in their 50s with their khakis and their cardigans. We went to swim tonight, and the pool had closed at 8 pm! We decided to risk a trip to the Disney prison system and swam anyway. Pop Century’s pools were always hopping in the evenings.

Yeah, we have a bedroom and a kitchen and a pull-out couch and a giant tub with jets and such. Which is nice, for sure. But there’s no housekeeping. So it’s like home away from home - chores and all. And its ten bucks a day for wired internet. No wireless.

So maybe it’s because my sweet, beautiful, creative wife isn’t here with me this year (my wonderful sister-in-law’s company notwithstanding), or maybe it’s because our first visit was to the Animal Kingdom park, or maybe it’s just because it’s not our first time to Disney, or maybe it’s because we’re not the target market for Old Key West, or maybe it’s because it was just about 10 degrees colder than perfect, or maybe it’s because Emma is with us this year, making it a fair bit more work (Emma - when you’re old enough to read, don’t worry - I’m just trying to make a point here), or maybe it’s because I wrenched my back Friday heaving my entire gastrointestinal tract out with the stomach flu, but I’m just not feeling the magic I did last year. of course, I could be on combat patrol in Iraq right now, or worse yet, be an Iraqi civilian, so I suppose I could just chill.

Realistically, it’s probably all due to missing Anna. We caught the late shuttle home and it brought some stragglers back from Animal Kingdom to Pop Century before taking us here to OKW. Seeing the fun signs out front and those fucking beautiful bowling pins just made me break down right there on the shuttle. Who would have thought that a week in consumer Mecca USA with a terminally ill wife would have turned out to be one of the best weeks of my life? But it was. And seeing Pop Century reminded me just how much I’ve lost.