Once again, a help video for some folks at Reddit. The issue can be explained here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/blender/comments/1k1oyyz/help_with_simplifying_model/
One of the most interesting things demonstrated in this video is a way to use the boolean modifier using only the original object to make boolean all separate meshes inside the object so that it becomes a solid-- and thus can be easily printed. Not to mention it also does a lot of clean up for the object as well.