Code Igniter vs Laravel

Varnish doesn't do much for Web Application. We use over 30 internally. When each persons needs to log in (LDAP) and therefore each session is different varnish is worthless. Of course if you are talking about 99% static pages. Then Varnish is great but, at that point the framework or server doesn't matter. a RaspberryPi Running LAMP and the mosted bloated slowest framework you can find could spit out those pages directly into varnish and cache them for 12 hours.

You are of course correct.  Varnish doesn't work in situations of dynamic content, for full-page caching.  I came across that issue myself.  Actually, with a clever hack, it CAN do dynamic content.  I'm not going to explain how due to it's something unique to my company.  

I have over 200 controllers and 100 models in just one application alone. I mean who in their right mind wants to update that year after year after year because my framework just wants to be "cool"?

I have a similar count with controllers, models and I have about 100 custom libraries.  I don't care about being cool.  I just care about being able to keep the level of sanity and pushing new features easily when requested by marketing.  I will be moving away from CI next year.  There is much more you can do that CI doesn't allow you to.  Not going to explain, as evidenced in other parts of this forum.  It's like beating a dead horse.

Catch up to what? The paying client could careless if it's QuickBasic running as a CGI or Laravel 5? Who's paying your bills? The customers or the developers?

Well, I am both.  I am the customer and the developer.  I will move as fast as I need to and outpace the competition.  Being left behind has no advantage and will ensure loss of money.