It happened a couple of days ago. And I’m not talking about Stephen King, or Michael Connelly, or Chuck Klosterman, or any other name that you are likely to recognize on the shelves of your favorite book store (although he was a bestselling author).
His name was Josh Humphrey, and he was a Disney blogger, and he’s gone way too fucking soon.
I don’t know him. I never met him. But he single-handedly ran a website called easywdw that I absolutely adored. I don’t even know how old he was, but I’d guess…early to mid 30s? I mean…that’s just flat-out wrong, to die that young.
He mentioned an incident that happened last year when he had a serious reaction to some medication. I don’t have many details, but I know that it laid him up for a couple of months and he mentioned the possibility of feeling like he was dying at the time, and I don’t think he would throw that around lightly.
He seemed to recover, but he subsequently dealt with some serious depression. As a guy whose entire existence revolved around going to Walt Disney World and writing about it, I can only imagine how tough the COVID lockdown was on him. He wrote a little bit about that experience, and it seemed like all the joy of what he did had just disappeared. I hated hearing that at the time, but I fully expected him to bounce back, physically and mentally.
Anyone who has dealt with clinical depression, myself included, can recognize exactly the type of pain Josh was clearly struggling with. It’s absolutely soul-crushing.
Again…I don’t know him personally, but because of the way he wrote, I feel like I did. His site was incredibly helpful for trip planning, but his style and way with words kept me coming back even when I had no WDW visit on the horizon. He wasn’t a puppy dogs-and-rainbows Disney fanboy, but he wasn’t obnoxiously cynical and jaded about the parks, either. He was dry and sarcastic and honest and hilarious, and it makes me feel bad that it took his death for me to mentally give him the title that he deserves, and that I used in the name of this post: one of my favorite writers. Not one of my favorite bloggers. Not one of my favorite Disney or travel writers. Just…one of my favorite writers.
It really sucks that he’s gone. I’m still a little too stunned to write too eloquently about it. But he entertained me, he informed me, he saved me time and money, and I think that he also made me a better writer. His work, passion, talent, and willingness to share all of that made lots of people really happy.
Rest in peace, Josh. I’m sorry that I never got to buy you an overpriced drink at Epcot.