lurkyloo
The Attic was just perfect!
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2006
- Messages
- 15,682
The highlight of the visit was, of course, Dole Whips! Outside of Disney!!!
Eat that thing quick!
I dunno, man... Despite the awesome addition of a souvenir pineapple cup/bank and even pineapple pieces, somehow these just didnt taste as good as they do at Disney. Was it the lack of Disney Magic (tm)?
...Or was it the fact that we were sitting just a few heart-stopping inches away from the DEADLY employee break patio!!!!?
Only highly trained employees dare eat their plate lunches on that side of the sign!
The safe side
A dead starfish wearing shades and a shell bikini? ...This souvenir has EVERYTHING!!!
Not surprisingly, you can buy actual Dole pineapples at the Dole Plantation. What might be surprising is that it will set you back FORTY DOLLARS to ship two home.
Poke-y gold...
We passed... However, I did pick up an attractive, inexpensive pillow cover quilted with pineapples in the traditional style native Hawaiians adapted from the quilting taught by missionaries. (Of course, it was prolly manufactured in China.)
From there, we headed up to the North Shore in the opposite direction from our trip with the Roots. The plan was to stop at Teds Bakery for its specialty, haupia (coconut) pie, on the way to the Polynesian Cultural Center. This was another recommendation I picked up from a few people on Chowhound, although the poster whose advice I trusted most said he could take it or leave it.
I kinda wish Id left it. Teds was crowded and SUPER grotty in that battered, grimy, Venice Beach-skeezy sort of way. There were signs scribbled on paper towels, yet the pie pieces were sold in suspiciously mass produced-looking plastic packages with printed labels. Or maybe my opinion was colored by being in the middle of one of those awful road trip experiences most women have had at least once (you know, the one where youre desperate for a restroom and the only one free is a filthy mens room and your husband has to stand guard outside cuz the door wont lock.) And after all that, the pie turned out to be just OKI didnt even remember to take a picture before shoveling it down as Patrick drove.
At last we reached the Polynesian Cultural Center, a collection of simulated villages representing eight countries and staffed mostly by Brigham Young University Hawaii students from each of them. Oahu Revealed notes that people tend to dismiss this place as a sort of Polynesian Disneyland and tries to make the case that its much more authentic than that. I would argue that its more like a Polynesian Epcot, and not just because of the re-creations of the various countries and the educational slant. Although it opened nearly 20 years before Epcot, the PCC has the same kind of dated feel that Epcot does, almost like youre stepping right into a washed-out Polaroid of a real place. In fact, all youd need is a sideburned hipster and a few Instagram filters to fool people into thinking youd uncovered a trove of vintage PCC photos!
Today we were Those People who show up to Disney at 1pm and pay full price to spend just a few hours in the park. (Fortunately, unlike Disney, the PCC puts buy-one, get-one-free coupons in the Entertainment Book!) So naturally, we had to wait in an interminable line at the ticket encounter, which had plenty of windows but only two staffers.... because the rest of them were busy gabbing behind the counter.
The weather was all over the place that day. When we got there, it was beautiful. But then clouds kept coming by to dump rain on us and move on before the next cloud showed up 10 minutes later.
You can wait to take a boat all the way to the back of the park and then work your way through the countries on your way to the front, where the luau is held in the evening (more about that in my coverage of Day 2). We didnt have time, so we hoofed it.
Eat that thing quick!
I dunno, man... Despite the awesome addition of a souvenir pineapple cup/bank and even pineapple pieces, somehow these just didnt taste as good as they do at Disney. Was it the lack of Disney Magic (tm)?
...Or was it the fact that we were sitting just a few heart-stopping inches away from the DEADLY employee break patio!!!!?
Only highly trained employees dare eat their plate lunches on that side of the sign!
The safe side
A dead starfish wearing shades and a shell bikini? ...This souvenir has EVERYTHING!!!
Not surprisingly, you can buy actual Dole pineapples at the Dole Plantation. What might be surprising is that it will set you back FORTY DOLLARS to ship two home.
Poke-y gold...
We passed... However, I did pick up an attractive, inexpensive pillow cover quilted with pineapples in the traditional style native Hawaiians adapted from the quilting taught by missionaries. (Of course, it was prolly manufactured in China.)
From there, we headed up to the North Shore in the opposite direction from our trip with the Roots. The plan was to stop at Teds Bakery for its specialty, haupia (coconut) pie, on the way to the Polynesian Cultural Center. This was another recommendation I picked up from a few people on Chowhound, although the poster whose advice I trusted most said he could take it or leave it.
I kinda wish Id left it. Teds was crowded and SUPER grotty in that battered, grimy, Venice Beach-skeezy sort of way. There were signs scribbled on paper towels, yet the pie pieces were sold in suspiciously mass produced-looking plastic packages with printed labels. Or maybe my opinion was colored by being in the middle of one of those awful road trip experiences most women have had at least once (you know, the one where youre desperate for a restroom and the only one free is a filthy mens room and your husband has to stand guard outside cuz the door wont lock.) And after all that, the pie turned out to be just OKI didnt even remember to take a picture before shoveling it down as Patrick drove.
At last we reached the Polynesian Cultural Center, a collection of simulated villages representing eight countries and staffed mostly by Brigham Young University Hawaii students from each of them. Oahu Revealed notes that people tend to dismiss this place as a sort of Polynesian Disneyland and tries to make the case that its much more authentic than that. I would argue that its more like a Polynesian Epcot, and not just because of the re-creations of the various countries and the educational slant. Although it opened nearly 20 years before Epcot, the PCC has the same kind of dated feel that Epcot does, almost like youre stepping right into a washed-out Polaroid of a real place. In fact, all youd need is a sideburned hipster and a few Instagram filters to fool people into thinking youd uncovered a trove of vintage PCC photos!
Today we were Those People who show up to Disney at 1pm and pay full price to spend just a few hours in the park. (Fortunately, unlike Disney, the PCC puts buy-one, get-one-free coupons in the Entertainment Book!) So naturally, we had to wait in an interminable line at the ticket encounter, which had plenty of windows but only two staffers.... because the rest of them were busy gabbing behind the counter.
The weather was all over the place that day. When we got there, it was beautiful. But then clouds kept coming by to dump rain on us and move on before the next cloud showed up 10 minutes later.
You can wait to take a boat all the way to the back of the park and then work your way through the countries on your way to the front, where the luau is held in the evening (more about that in my coverage of Day 2). We didnt have time, so we hoofed it.
