Canadian Buffoon's Disney With a Teen Vacation - 08/13 - The Wrap

[pkondz]

Are you talking about my sickness? I'm on antibiotics for an ear infection and still have some mucus. But I feel a lot better.

Sounds like you're on the mend?
I hope?

Maybe?

Yeah, it was weird. I was with my family at a museum and all the sudden you show up. We walk around a little bit and then you were gone!

I do that. I'm like the wind.
Sometimes I even break it.

You said no more Banff trip? Why not? What and when is the next trip?

Nope. Banff is out. Montreal in June is in.

 

[pkondz]

Must have been the pressure of not having Spam on the trip and this was our last chance. Our meal was so disappointing and I was so tired, I didn't take any pictures. A first for me.

No pictures!?!!?

REALLY GOOD!!!

Good!

We had shave ice at 3 places- one, a hotel stand on Waikiki beach was just an overpriced snowcone.

Erk. No. What's the point?

We had some at a strip mall in Maui that was pretty good.

Okay....

At Ululani's they will add extra syrup as you eat if you need it.

Really! I didn't know that was a thing.
Interesting.

You could have had them apply more syrup directly to your shorts to make them completely red...

It would've saved time...

So plastic holders and supports too???

Danger! Danger!!!

We blew our budget on a helicopter/land tour of the Big Island and Volcano National Park. This was $600 too. Per person.

Ouch.
Ruby and I did that too, pre-kids.
But we had a two for one coupon that made it a lot easier to swallow.

Worth every penny!

I bet!
Our tour over the Big Island wasn't overly picturesque.
It was cool (lava flowing, etc) but not... lush, right?

I like that! I'll have to use that one.

Feel free.
Quoting fees may be paid in cookies.

My favorite is the promotion I invented for a "Two-for-one Shark Dive: Bring Your Chum!"

I like that!

I have snorkeled with sharks twice- once at Dolphin Cove in Jamaica and once at the Digs in Atlantis. But I want to do it in the wild. There are a couple of places in the Bahamas where this is offered.

I've seen those... well, on TV.
I don't know if I'd be able to...

My son Nate had Spam for supper last night! Fried in a pan with maple syrup. He wouldn't eat the shrimp and grits that I made.

So he'll eat spam but not shrimp!

We have 5 cans of Spam that we got for Christmas from my brother. 4 now.

He got us tickets to see a local production of Spamalot and gave us each a can (we ended up with my dad's too).

Well, that does make a certain amount of sense...

My son Ben was in a production of Spamalot in Jan 2015. He was the Black Knight and the Killer Rabbit.

So he plays antagonists both times!
Any pictures of him as the rabbit?

 

[pkondz]

So fun to see how the girls have changed. I declare bonus points for you!!!! Oh wsit! I'm not the judge? anyway, fun!

Might happen....

 

[pkondz]

As a counter-argument, both @afwdwfan and I are here.

This is true. There's really no limit to just how low I can go.

Makes total and complete sense.

As a parent... of course it does.

I can get behind that reasoning. Also, submarine.

Pretty much the way I saw it too.

A blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

As long as it's not one of his own.
Then biting into it is not going to end well.

And yet, the Scottish/Russian thing totally works.

It does, doesn't it?

Maybe it was a Land Shark?

Hey. Don't joke about those.
It's totally a thing.

 

[pkondz]

...And our friends are all aboard
Many more of them live next door
And the band begins to play...

LOVE the Beatles!

Funny. When I was a kid, I didn't care for them.
Now I really like them.

hahah that spam thing sounds weirdly yummy!!

It weirdly was!

I dislike getting fake periods, too! ( and well, real as well!) hahahaha :0

I live with three women (five if you count the dog and guinea pig) and totally understand.


Totally.

The Harley store!

2

You/Kay
Elle/Ruby

Yes! Hi Mickey!!

broken sunglasses?
jellyfish sting?

Noted.

 

[SoccerDogWithEars]

And you pretty much said "one step"...

Actually, I said stumble. But you're right, most of the time I can get right up. But I also marched bass drum for two years in high school, so my back is not what it should be at my age. And so some mornings it does require a little more finesse.

Is it sort of pear shaped with the narrow end pointing down?

Nope, completely normal looking. Which is why it baffled the heck out of me.

Or cheap.
I hate paying extra for cut up pineapple when it's so easy to do yourself.
Then I decided it was too messy

Ah, see, I'm definitely one of those people who will pay a couple of dollars extra for convenience. I even pay to park at the airport when I had to pick Joe up just so I didn't have to deal with the Yellow Vests of Doom.

Please tell me you got a picture. Please!

Sadly, no photographic evidence exists. And I sure wasn't going to document it.

Oh, I'm totally judging.

Hey, I didn't like how my feet would slide around once they got sweaty. I was being practical. Until, you know, I did it at school and was teased mercilessly. Then I just wore sneakers all the time.

Maybe I should swing by one.
I'm contemplating a drive down to WDW, so... who knows?
Would you like to meet if I did?
No pressure, just thinking out loud.

Um, heck yes!!!!!! I've never had a DisMeet before. I'm even flexible with driving within about 3 hours. Past that I make Joe drive

Yes you do!

Much appreciated!

 

[pkondz]

Can I change this answer?!
Well kind of, I just want to make it more vague.

Oh, sure. I live for vagueness.

Well.... kind of.

I feel like a disaster for her would be not being able to listen to music on the beach - that's my vague answer.
If it needs to be more specific maybe I should change it to - her battery dies?

Noted.

I figured there was a mix up here, and I was a big enough jerk to point it out to the world

Thanks! That's so wonderful of you! Really! Honest!


Have you ever considered acting as a profession?
You'd make a wonderful villain.

There are quite a lot of Krispy Kreme stores, but there are also concessions at a huuuge supermarket chain over here (Tesco), so pretty much everyone in the UK can walk 10 minutes to their local Tesco for Krispy Kremes!

Really? No fair! You know how long it'd take me
to walk to the nearest Canadian Krispy Kreme?

399 hours! And that includes a ferry ride!

I suppose I could go to a different one...
You know... to skip the ferry.
That one would be 461 hours.

When I was at Uni in Newcastle there was a huge Krispy Kreme store nearby where we would go get midnight snacks

Nothing like midnight snacks. Yum.

And when my degree results came in my mum ran out the house to Tesco, and returned 5 minutes later with THESE

Aw! That's nice of your mum!

THEY'RE EVERYWHERE

THEY'RE NOWHERE!

King Ka-maya-maya right?! That's what I called it anyway

This made me laugh out loud!

Really?
Because I'm quite concerned.

UGH. I like to think not, but I mean, if I was ACTUALLY in that situation where I was guaranteed $25,000... I probably would.

Okay! We're getting somewhere.
So you'd go in the sub for an actual cash payment of $25,000.
Would you do it for $5,000?

However, I would NOT get in one of those shark cages, where HUGE great whites come right up to you and try to bite through the cage. NEVER EVER EVER.

Have you seen the video of Deep Blue?
The largest great white ever filmed?
If that doesn't keep you out of the water, nothing will.

 

[pkondz]

" I have never seen a clownfish snorkeling though. That would be cool."

That WOULD be cool! I mean, how would they get the mask on that teeny weeny face?

 

[pkondz]

Actually, I said stumble.

Yes. Yes you did.
I stand humbly corrected.

But you're right, most of the time I can get right up.

I'm right! I'm right! She said it! I'm right!

And now jealous, too.

But I also marched bass drum for two years in high school, so my back is not what it should be at my age. And so some mornings it does require a little more finesse.

So you literally marched to the beat of your own drum.
Cool.
(And you've heard that said, how many times now?)

Nope, completely normal looking. Which is why it baffled the heck out of me.

Huh. Odd.

Ah, see, I'm definitely one of those people who will pay a couple of dollars extra for convenience. I even pay to park at the airport when I had to pick Joe up just so I didn't have to deal with the Yellow Vests of Doom.

I'm weird that way.
(This surprises... no one.)
Sometimes I'll pay extra for convenience or quality, sometimes I won't.

Sadly, no photographic evidence exists. And I sure wasn't going to document it.

Darn.
Good blackmail material there.

Hey, I didn't like how my feet would slide around once they got sweaty. I was being practical. Until, you know, I did it at school and was teased mercilessly. Then I just wore sneakers all the time.

Um, heck yes!!!!!!

Really? Cool! Well, I guess we'll see what happens.
If anything does, you'll read it here first.
Or at least first-ish.

I've never had a DisMeet before. I'm even flexible with driving within about 3 hours. Past that I make Joe drive

You'd drive that far for a DISmeet?!?
I mean, I would (and probably am in June) but I'm nuts.

Much appreciated!

You earned 'em!

 

[pkondz]

This computer is really acting up.
It keeps telling me to log in whenever I try to post,
and can't find quotes.
So if I've missed a shout-out, let me know.

 

[orangecats2]

You'd drive that far for a DISmeet?!?
I mean, I would (and probably am in June) but I'm nuts.

Where are you going?
Maybe Cleveland???

 

[SnowWhiteOz]

Where did that come from???

The interwebs.

You're kinda spooky, ya know.
Wait... you can read my mind?
You know what I'm thinking about you????

Oh, dear.

This is becoming a truism, isn't it.

Yes but it is a good truism to have created.

Why the smile?

Because I'm five years old...

Noted.

I am positive they are all wrong answers.

 

[pkondz]

Where are you going?
Maybe Cleveland???

In June? Just down to Fargo, ND.
I'll drive 3 hours... but 18 is a bit much.

You'll just have to keep dreaming about me.

 

[natebenma]

So plastic holders and supports too???

No expense was spared!

I bet!
Our tour over the Big Island wasn't overly picturesque.
It was cool (lava flowing, etc) but not... lush, right?

The reason we did this tour is because it included a tour of Volcano National Park. The first hour was a flight over the volcanos on the way to Hilo. A few weeks prior to our trip, flow had just started to become visible (kind of like a pair of shorts). Since our trip, the lava flow has become extremely active. After touching down, we did a 6 hour land-based tour. Then back on the helicopter for the trip back to Kona. That was along the coastline, so very picturesque with waterfalls and grass and stuff! Rain, too!

So he'll eat spam but not shrimp!

He ate the grits, though. Spam and Grits. Hawaii meets Louisiana.

So he plays antagonists both times!
Any pictures of him as the rabbit?

So the Killer Rabbit is actually a wee, cute little puppet. In the production, the Black Knight is the puppeteer. At the end of the scene, King Arthur lobs the holy handgrenade of Antioch, killing the bunny. The board that is blocking the Black Knight comes down and you learn who is behind the puppet.

In our theatre company, it is tradition to include some non-scripted hijinks in the closing performance. A lot of our traditional ones include light sabres and versions on "I AM your mother/father" For this show, the director said that anyone who went off script would not be back on stage with this company. Ben, who decided this would be his last show did an improvised magic trick, pulling the rabbit out of his Black Knight helmet as a finale to his acting career.

 

[pkondz]

The interwebs.

I here you can even buy stuff on there now.

Yes but it is a good truism to have created.

That's true.
And I'd rather be known for shave ice
than a lot of other things I can think of.

Because I'm five years old...

I totally believe that.

I am positive they are all wrong answers.

I'll let you know!

Right around when I post the next update.

What?!?!? You don't want a very important part of Hawaiian culture????

 

[natebenma]

" I have never seen a clownfish snorkeling though. That would be cool."

That WOULD be cool! I mean, how would they get the mask on that teeny weeny face?

 

[vrajewski10513]

We all live in a ...


Right off the bat.
Finish the above line for bonus points.

YELLOW SUBMARINE!!

If you want to see the sunrise from
Haleakala crater,
you have to be up at 2am.

Thats early even on a Disney day!

So at the last minute we scrapped the luau
and decided to do something else.

Good decision. It's been years since I've heard of someone speak highly of their luau experiences.

I woke up at 7am, a little before my alarm went off.
I don't know if it was the timing,
or if it was the Pacific, Hawaiian air,
but I got a great night's sleep (Finally!)
And... my throat... wasn't bad at all.
It wasn't 100%, but not bad at all.
So much so, that I didn't really notice it all day.
And that would hold true for the rest of the trip.

Its definitely that fresh Hawaiian air. You don't hear of too many sick people in Hawaii lol

Have you noticed that you can tell old people
(like me)
from young people by the way they get out of bed?
When you're young, you wake up, toss the covers
and pop out of bed.
When you're old, you wake up, lie there for a bit,
slowly sit up and stop.
Then, after a pause, get up.
All the above accompanied by various grunting
and/or moaning noises and possibly
(probably) a fart or two.
Hey. You know it's true.
(Unless you're young. Then you're just grossed out.
Just wait you young whippersnapper!)

Oh the things I have to look forward to in life!

I've never seen a tap like this.
Not even in Europe,
where everything's weird.
Yes, you turn it for temperature,
but you have to pull it from the wall to turn it on.
And not easily.
You had to pull and twist at the same time.

Those new fangled gadgets will get ya every time!

And I still bought the pre-cut pineapple.
Just lazy, I guess.
Got some mango, too.

Two best fruits. Strawberries are third.

Breakfast in tow, I headed for the cashier.
And grabbed that spam musubi as I passed by.

But when in Hawaii...
I cut the wusubi in half... and half again.
each piece was about the size of a small sushi roll.
Kay and I hesitantly sampled, ready to spit it out.
She looked at me. I looked at her.
We blurted simultaneously:
"It's good!!"

I am no more shocked than you are.
Yes. It was actually very tasty.
We quickly gobbled the rest.

I'm not shocked at all. People may think I'm weird, but I love spam. My favorite is to bread it and fry it up on the stove! SO GOOD!

While the girls finished eating and getting ready,
I relaxed on the lanai, enjoying, well... not feeling sick
and not seeing snow
and not needing a parka to sit outside.

Thats the trifecta of goodness right there!

As we drove towards our destination,
I spotted some humpback whales off the coast.
I pointed them out to the others and, except for Kay,
who missed them, we all oohed and aahed.
They weren't close, but, still... whales!

My brother and his wife take a trip to Maui almost ever February. Apparently this is the whales mating season? So sightings are very prevalent. My brother had a too close for comfort encounter once while on a kayak. Less than 200 meters away a whale completely breached the water. He said it was one of the most amazing but scary experiences in his life!

My concoction was quickly assembled
and I asked the nice girl to pose for me.
Look at that smile!
I saw that smile a lot on the island.

I'd smile alot too if I lived in Hawaii

As I waited for the girls to pick and get their
...shave ices...
Shaves ice? Shave icedies? Shavies?

Shaved ices?

A long red stain began just below the zipper
and ran down to just above the bottom of the shorts.

How shall I say this.
It looked like... uh...
It appeared as if... um...
I can't do it.
I can't say what it looked like.
Nope.
Can't do it.
Period.

Of course. The one color that would be next to impossible to get off lol

Thank goodness, I pack light and only brought
one pair of shorts.

You're such a man.

We continued our walk as we enjoyed our refreshing
albeit obnoxiously messy delicacy.

Only the best foods are messy!!

Atlantis runs submarine tours.
And not "submarine" tours which are
really just boats that settle a bit in the water
or have glass bottoms.

This puppy dives to 150 feet below the surface.
How cool is that?
(If you're at all claustrophobic... then, not at all.)

Yeah, I think I'd have to pass on this one. I get in a bit of a tizzy on Mission Space lol

The people at Atlantis Submarine have it down to a science.
The ship arrives with passengers from a previous sub ride.
They disembark and you get on.
Meanwhile, the sub is taking a different group for a ride.
By the time you get out there, that group is done.
They board the ship and go up to the top level.
You board the sub from the lower level
and the ship goes back to port
and repeats the process.
At any time, they have three groups going.
Either waiting to board, on the ship, or on the sub.
I was pretty impressed with their organization.

Sounds very efficient!

Take note of the folded up metal gang plank
on the starboard side.
(Uh, okay pkondz. What's the starboard side?)
I always remember the difference between
port and starboard by thinking left has fewer
letters than right.
Port has fewer letters than starboard.
So Port = left.
Starboard = right.

Thanks for that mnemonic device, I could never keep that straight!

Within seconds, we started to see fish swimming by.

And not long afterwards, we were down at the bottom.

The depth varied during our tour,
which lasted about 45 minutes to an hour.
(Sorry. I didn't keep track of the exact time.
The entire tour is under two hours,
but that includes briefing time
and cruise to/from the sub.)

The deepest we descended was 150 feet.
That's the deepest that the coastguard will allow.
The sub is rated for much deeper.
(I believe we were told it was rated to 500 feet.)

Lahaina is an old whaling village,
so every now and then we'd spot old
anchors on the seabed.

We saw several varieties of fish,
Puffers, clown fish, (I found Nemo!)
parrotfish, surgeons, star fish, moray eels,
my personal favourite, the Moorish idol and several
others that I don't remember or didn't identify.

Eventually, something else slid into view
of our portholes.

In 2005, Atlantis Submarine sunk the Carthaginian,
an old ship that was beyond repair.
Now it forms an artificial reef in 95 feet of water
and provides a habitat for many species.

You can't see it very well,
but in this next picture,
if you look near the bottom of the ship,
in the middle of the frame,
there's a squiggly white line
that kind of looks like a "3".
If you look closely, you'll see that there's
a 6 or 7 foot reef shark lying on the sand
right behind the squiggle.

Did I mention that there were a lot of fish?

Even though I'm too much of a chicken to do it, this looks like an amazing experience. Good pick on the excursion front pkondz!

During the tour, our guide kept up a running commentary.
He would be constantly bringing various sights or critters
to our attention.
"On the port side you can see an eel."
"To starboard there are some parrot fish.
They graze the coral with their teeth that looks like a parrot's beak."
And when he wasn't pointing something out,
he was constantly cracking jokes.
"Maui is home to a lot of beautiful waterfalls,
but if you see one on the sub, that's a bad thing."
or
"We're now at our max depth of 150 feet.
Although you have no way of knowing that except for the
digital display. For all you know, we're only 5 feet down."

We ordered our food and soon our drinks arrived.
Ruby got her usual Diet Coke,
Elle and I each had a rootbeer float (darned coupon gave me a craving)
and Kay had a grasshopper shake:
Oreo cookies and chocolate syrup hand blended into
locally made Gourmet Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream.
Obviously, I'm a bit daft. I didn't order that.
Stupid coupon giving me cravings for inferior beverages.
Don't get me wrong, the float was fine.
But it wasn't... this:

Kay wins the best drink picking award. That looks delicious!!

Ruby and Elle each got a hot dog.
Which was weird.
Not that they ordered hot dogs,
but the hot dogs themselves.
It was more like a grilled cheese sandwich
with a sliced wiener stuck inside.

Thats.. odd.

The one thing I really didn't like?
The price.
Factor in the tourist location,
add a tip, then... add in the lousy Canadian dollar exchange rate.

Two burgers, two hotdogs, one rings, one fries, one shake,
two floats (one free) and a diet coke...
$114.

Ouch.

My cousin lives in Hawaii and she says the general cost of things is outrageous. So I can only imagine how it must be in the more touristy areas!

1. Name one store we visit.
This is an easy one.
I already gave you the answer.
Foodland?

2. How many beaches do we go to?
two

3. We split up into two groups.
Who's with who?
You and Kay/Ruby and Elle

4. Did you see it? Or should I say, him?
Bonus points if you did.
If you didn't... you should be ashamed.
I mean really.
Take a good look in the mirror
and tell yourself you're a DISer.
It's really amazing Mickey joined you for your Hawaiian adventure!

5. What tragedy befalls Kay at the beach?
(not really tragic)[/QUOTE]
Sand in her shoes because she doesn't like to wear flip flops.

 

[pkondz]

No expense was spared!

When it comes to shave ice, I can see why not.

The reason we did this tour is because it included a tour of Volcano National Park. The first hour was a flight over the volcanos on the way to Hilo.

Yep. Did that.
Except I don't think ours was an hour.
And we left from (and returned to) Hilo.

A few weeks prior to our trip, flow had just started to become visible (kind of like a pair of shorts).

Hey!

Since our trip, the lava flow has become extremely active.

I've seen some videos lately.

After touching down, we did a 6 hour land-based tour. Then back on the helicopter for the trip back to Kona. That was along the coastline, so very picturesque with waterfalls and grass and stuff! Rain, too!

Six hours? Man, that's a loooong tour.
Too long?

He ate the grits, though. Spam and Grits. Hawaii meets Louisiana.

That might become a new thing.

So the Killer Rabbit is actually a wee, cute little puppet.

Makes sense.

In the production, the Black Knight is the puppeteer. At the end of the scene, King Arthur lobs the holy handgrenade of Antioch, killing the bunny. The board that is blocking the Black Knight comes down and you learn who is behind the puppet.

Ohhhh.... I like that. Nice twist.

In our theatre company, it is tradition to include some non-scripted hijinks in the closing performance. A lot of our traditional ones include light sabres and versions on "I AM your mother/father"

For this show, the director said that anyone who went off script would not be back on stage with this company. Ben, who decided this would be his last show did an improvised magic trick, pulling the rabbit out of his Black Knight helmet as a finale to his acting career.

Too bad he decided to end his acting career,
but great way to go out!

 

[pkondz]

 

[natebenma]

Six hours? Man, that's a loooong tour.
Too long?

That was just the land-based tour. The whole tour was about 10 hours. Pickup at hotel at 7:15 am, drive to Kona airport, orientation, flight, drive to VNP, tour (4 hours), drive to Hilo airport, return flight, drive back to resort, arriving around 5:30 or 6 pm.

It was a long day. That was the night we had the ill-advised Spam pizza. Then our return flight was that night- redeye to San Fran then cross-country to Boston.

Best excursion we have ever done!!! Beats driving across the island from Kona to Hilo, 3 hours each way.The guide for VNP, who we nicknamed "Danger Dan" was incredible.