Who feels like a threadkiller - Take 4!

[PrincessaC]

Hey everyone!!

Welcome back Betsy! Glad you guys made it back safely!!

 

[Cruisin]

 

[KimRaye]

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

Good news Tkers! It looks like my best friend and I might be going to the World in January! There's some killer deals and we both have time off from school! I can't wait to use the online ADR system.

 

[KimRaye]

I can't wait to use the online ADR system.

Good luck with that! Have FUN tho!

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

Good luck with that! Have FUN tho!

I'm hoping that it's easier than the online booking system in terms of wait time. I guess i'll find out! Maybe i'll even be able to get a reservation at CRT! I haven't eaten there since I was five

 

[tiggerwannabe]

I'm hoping that it's easier than the online booking system in terms of wait time. I guess i'll find out! Maybe i'll even be able to get a reservation at CRT! I haven't eaten there since I was five

I used it a few days ago!

It's very easy compared to sitting on the phone while someone else checks availability for you. The bonus is, once you put it in your basket it will hold for you til you release it. (Unlike over the phone when bookings disappear as quick as they tell them to you.)

What worked best for me, pick a "range of dates." You have to select that just under the date that shows. You can ask for a specific time (it'll give you ressies available closest to that time) AND it'll give you the available times for the whole range of dates.

Clear as mud???

Rose and I were hoping for Chef Mickey's but that wasn't available at all. So I booked us at a Cape May Cafe character breakfast and Ohana's breakfast instead. The best available times for breakfast were those after 10am (just so you know.)

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

I used it a few days ago!

It's very easy compared to sitting on the phone while someone else checks availability for you. The bonus is, once you put it in your basket it will hold for you til you release it. (Unlike over the phone when bookings disappear as quick as they tell them to you.)

What worked best for me, pick a "range of dates." You have to select that just under the date that shows. You can ask for a specific time (it'll give you ressies available closest to that time) AND it'll give you the available times for the whole range of dates.

Clear as mud???

Rose and I were hoping for Chef Mickey's but that wasn't available at all. So I booked us at a Cape May Cafe character breakfast and Ohana's breakfast instead. The best available times for breakfast were those after 10am (just so you know.)

Ok that sounds great! I can't wait to use it! Thanks for the tip on breakfast!

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

It's not letting me make a reservation for 2010!!!

 

[KimRaye]

Rose and I were hoping for Chef Mickey's but that wasn't available at all.

I'm sure I don't have to tell you to keep checking. There's also the cancellation thread which might help.


Bye all!

ANN- see you Thurs (12:40)! Meet up 20 mins before or so?? I'll PM my cell phone #. Can't wait!

 

[pixie dust 112]

Hi Tkers!

 

[Cruisin]

Morning threadkillers and lurkers alike.

The sun is shining at the moment but rain is in the forecast.

I've got a bedroom to work on today.

Have a great day everyone.

Kim and Ann, I want to see pictures of your meeting Wish I could be with both of you.

 

[Hollyann]

Hi Threadkillers!

Kim - I got your PM and I'll be there 20 minutes early! I'm looking forward to it!

SWTHD - I love the on-line reservation feature. It's much easier to use and you can make reservations in the middle of the night.

Robin - I wish you were going with us, too! Now that I'm up, I'm ready to reply!

Betsy - I'm glad you're safe home and I can't wait to see the pics.

Hi PD & TW! I hope you're lives are going smoothly.

I'm sorry I haven't been on-line....I've been sick as a dog....laying in bed for 4 days. I had a terrible head/chest cold. Not the flu, but I felt like doggie doo-doo! I'm over the hump now....

Ya'll take care!
Ann

 

[sleepingaurora]

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

Hi Threadkillers!

SWTHD - I love the on-line reservation feature. It's much easier to use and you can make reservations in the middle of the night.

I'm sorry I haven't been on-line....I've been sick as a dog....laying in bed for 4 days. I had a terrible head/chest cold. Not the flu, but I felt like doggie doo-doo! I'm over the hump now....

Ya'll take care!
Ann

I didn't even think about that! I just have to wait another week for the 90 + 10 rule to be in effect I can't wait that long!

Feel better Get lots of rest!

 

[tiggerwannabe]

I'm sure I don't have to tell you to keep checking. There's also the cancellation thread which might help.


Bye all!

ANN- see you Thurs (12:40)! Meet up 20 mins before or so?? I'll PM my cell phone #. Can't wait!

Have a great trip!!!!

Thanx Kiminy...Rose was actually good with the replacement of Cape May since we can still see Mickey~He is at Ohana's too right?



I too hope all are well~very happy to hear you are on the upswing of such a nasty cold Ann. John and I went to a cranberry festival (think street fair with classic cars food and really nice crafts) today. I am on my own tomorrow cause he's going on a boy's road trip to shop at Cabela's with my DBIL.

 

[Dalpal]

Hello TKers,
Bye Kim, I hope you have a great time...Pics please!

Well they gave me more hrs at work...It great, except I lost my 2 days in a row off...BUT I really need the extra hrs..so its more good then bad!

Its very fall like here too...The trees are getting colorful and the air is getting crisp in the AM...Although today was very nice and sunny..and in the 70s...It was really a beautiful day!

I hope you all are having a good day...I have a TR.. Ill post it here as its not Disney related..Im still working on the pictures tho...So they will be while more..

TTFN

 

[Dalpal]

Sep 18, 2009 – Friday.
We woke up at 3:00am to get ready for our 6:00am flight. Both of us were a little anxious as nether had been on a plane in a long time. Betsy’s last flight was Feb 1989; Mike’s was Dec 1975. The trip went surprisingly well; we were a little worried about having only 40 minutes in Washington to change planes, but did it with several minutes to spare. We arrived at 5:30PM after a long flight, thank God. Alamo did not have any compact cars available, so they were willing to upgrade us to pretty much any class of car we wanted. We turned down a van, a Lincoln continental, a Jeep convertible, and settled on a sporty Mitsubishi eclipse; so far so good (at least we thought). The last leg of today’s journey was the ride from Kahului to the Kaanapali Beach Hotel. On the way, Betsy started feeling a little ill and Mike realized it was almost impossible to see out of the left rear passenger window. We finally made it to the hotel, checked in and were ready to start our vacation. Alas, Betsy got sick and had to stay in bed. Mike checked out the hotel grounds, got a Pina Colada from the Tiki bar, which was pretty bad, had better luck with a Corona. Mike talked for a while with James and Gwen (a nice, newlywed couple, from Texas), Betsy felt a little better and came down to join in. We walked down to the beach, and then went back to the room to get some sleep.

Sep 19, 2009 – Saturday.
Probably the same as most vacationers from the eastern US, we woke up somewhere between 3 to 4am. We couldn’t sleep any longer, so decided to just get up and walk around a bit. The plan for today was to snorkel with a friend Betsy had communicated with for quite some time on Trip Advisor; Sue (Barefootin) from Arkansas, and her husband Wes. We met at Airport Beach, but the water there wasn’t great for entering as it was low tide. We had not yet rented fins, so they guided us to the Maui Dive Shop. A little advice: don’t rent fins at the hotel; renting at the Dive Shop, we paid less than half what it would have cost us from the hotel. We snorkeled at 2 places, ???? and ????. We saw awesome HUGE turtles, an eel, a weird worm thing that none of us had ever seen, and lots of colorful fish. We each had a fish sandwich for lunch, 2 for 1 as Sue gave us her card, like a subway card (Thanks Sue). We parted company after lunch. We had a very good time with our new friends and appreciate them taking time out of their vacation to help us get started; thanks again! We went back to the hotel, later we took the short walk to Whalers Village. After checking out the stores, we had dinner at LeiLanni’s; the food was very good. There were 2 guys playing guitar and singing along to recorded music; it was a kind of like karaoke with guitars, and actually a little bit funny. The music sounded OK, but we couldn’t tell what was recorded and what was live. Mike ate for two (his and a good portion of Betsy’s), we went back to KBH and bed.

Sep 20, 2009 – Sunday.
We got up early again today, though not as early as yesterday. We snorkeled black rock, which was not nearly as good as when we were with Sue and Wes. We did both the front and back sides of black rock and saw quite a few fish; but no turtles. Maybe we were not there at the right time. We then ate at the KBH champagne brunch (yum). We were able to use our breakfast vouchers as partial payment towards the brunch ($20 off, each, I think). This is advertised as the best brunch on Maui, and it quite possible is. There is a really good variety of everything; and pretty much everything we tried was delicious. We hung out at the hotel for a while, then rented a cabana and relaxed on the beach. We walked back to Whalers Village for a light dinner (after the huge brunch we didn’t want to eat too much). We had a fruit plate at the Hula Grill. It was actually pretty good. There was a musician there singing and playing the guitar; he was OK, but at least it was him and not a recording.

Sep 21, 2009 – Monday.
Today was our only planned tour, the Maui Eco Tour (snorkel/kayak). We didn’t have time to go to breakfast, so we used our voucher for a box breakfast, and then left the hotel to go on the tour. The tour started at 7:00am, at DT Fleming State Park. We paddled out to Honoloa Bay (about 1.2 miles), then to their “secret” spot, which is on the way back to the starting location. We did see quite a few fish and turtles, but honestly, it was not as good as the snorkeling we did with Sue and Wes. Betsy got sea sick after the first bay; luckily, this was the best and longest part of the tour. When we got back to DT Fleming State Park, we ate the lunch that is part of the tour. This lunch is very small; you really should bring something else, or plan on going out afterwards. We heard about the small lunch and were glad for the box breakfast from the hotel (though Betsy was not quite ready to eat yet). On the way back, we stopped at the local Alamo and exchanged our sporty car for a Hundai Accent. This was a cheaper car, but was so much easier to drive; it actually has windows you can see out of. The car change was very fortunate for us; especially considering what was in store for us on Tuesday (Sep22). In the afternoon, we went to Lahaina and did the self walking tour (banyan tree, courthouse, jailhouse). We tried a ukulele, and had a Shaved Ice at Annie’s (good). On our way out of Lahaina, we were looking for a place to eat. When we saw the “Aloha Mixed Plate”, and remembered all the good reviews, we decided to eat there. What a disappointment, yuck, the food was not good at all. We got water, and they provided brown chunks of crud in both of them (we noticed that people that got water got paper cups without straws; paid drinks got glasses with straws. Is this significant?). We left there hungry and went back to the hotel. After a little while, we walked over to the Sheraton and had a strong drink (Betsy had to get a little more fruit juice added); then we ate a yummy surf/turf (shrimp/beef) burger and our first Longboard beer. This meal was so much better than what we had at the “Aloha Mixed Plate”. We watched the torch lighting ceremony. The torch lighter seemed like a nice guy, he let little kids light torches if they wanted to. At the end, he dives off of black rock. This was neat to watch.

Sep 22, 2009 – Tuesday.
We finally got to use a breakfast voucher for the normal breakfast at the KBH. The food was OK, not the best. I guess it’s good enough, considering the voucher is payment in full. We took off to see the famous blowhole, missed it, and ended up driving all the way around West Maui (Kahekili hwy). The road was pretty dangerous in many places (barely one lane on a cliff and few places to move over for oncoming traffic), but the views were very beautiful! We were glad we did it, but probably won’t do it again. We made the best of it and took the opportunity to visit the IAO needle. It’s fortunate that we didn’t make a special trip to see the needle; it really doesn’t take that long. All in all, what started out as a miss, ended up as pretty enjoyable experience. We made our way back to the KBH and played in the surf there. For dinner, we went back to the Sheraton and had our only expensive meal on the west side, at least for our budget. We each had a salad. Betsy had ½ Lobster tail and steak two ways (Black Angus sirloin and Filet Mignon) which was really delicious. Mike had a steak which was good, but Betsy’s was better; so he helped Betsy finish hers.

Sep 23, 2009 – Wednesday.
This was our last morning on West Maui. Having been unimpressed with the normal breakfast at KBH, we used our breakfast voucher for a $14 credit at the KBH’s Tiki Terrace. This is another buffet. It was a little better than the other one, but not great. The best part was an omelet, that the server made to order, it was very good. After the farewell ceremony at the Kaanapali Beach Hotel, we were on the way to Hana. There are almost no stores in Hana (and the prices are quite high), so we planned to stock up for the next 5 days in Kahului. That was a good idea, but the execution left a little to be desired. We easily found WalMart, but as the store is relocating, there was not a lot there. We spent about 2 hours getting directions to Safeway, then driving around, getting more directions, etc., until we finally found it. We finished shopping and were finally on the road to Hana. We passed Paia, saw some wind surfers, then realized we didn’t get the “Road to Hana” cd, so had to turn back and bought one at the Shell gas station in Paia. We finally made it to the Hana Sunrise House at around 4:30PM. We made hamburgers and zucchini for dinner. The view from our house was wonderful. It’s a little up a mountain; you can see the ocean (Hamoa and Koki beach area); as well as the island that can be seen from Koki beach. There are lots of cows in a huge field between the house and the ocean. There are also several types of fruit trees in the yard. Free wireless internet access is provided as well. We will spend lots of time on the big screened porch, overlooking a really beautiful view. This was a very nice end to our day.


Sep 24, 2009 – Thursday.
We saw a great sunrise, hooked up the MagicJack and made some calls home. After a little breakfast, we drove to Koki beach. It’s very nice, but the surf is pretty strong. If you want to snorkel, do it on West Maui; although it’s very beautiful, the surf was too strong for enjoyable snorkeling on every beach we saw on the east; but the east is more fun for playing in the surf. We went to Wainapapa State Park, saw the caves (some kids jumped in and swam out of sight, really neat). We walked the trail and went to the Black Sand Beach, which is cool, but with bare feet, just back from the finer black “sand”, the black pebbles felt like glass (so we had to put our shoes back on). Saw and went into the lava tube on the side of the black beach, for a spectacular view of the ocean. It started to rain so we returned home. We ate our second home cooked meal of the trip, nachos with cheese and jalapenos.

Sep 25, 2009 – Friday.
We went to the Haleakala National Park entrance at Kipahulu. We saw the sacred pools, but the water was too high and they didn’t allow swimming there, couldn’t even go down to them. Then we made a 2 mile hike (each way) along the Pipiwai Trail, through fruit trees, the bamboo forest, to the magnificent “Waimoku” waterfall (400 ft drop). Mike got to walk about an extra mile as he had to go back to the car for the video camera. It started to rain just as we were finishing the hike. Happily, there were not many bugs along the trail. We then drove to Koki Beach and had champagne, pineapple, cheese and crackers on the beach. Mike went out too far into the surf and got tumbled around a bit; Betsy was smarter and just walked in a little. Came back home and ate a rice/chicken dinner with a side of spinach and yellow squash. It poured this night; the stream by the house was running for the first time since we arrived.

Sep 26, 2009 – Saturday.
We went to Hamoa Beach early this morning. There were only a few people there because we arrived before all the day trippers from West Maui. The surf was impressive and we only ventured out a little from shore. At around noon, we went to the Hotel Hana Maui for lunch. It was a little expensive, but the food was OK. We went back to Hamoa Beach with the cameras and then to church at St. Mary’s in Hana for 5pm mass. The people there were very nice and welcoming. Before mass started, an older gentleman asked us to write our names, where we were from, and asked us if this was a special occasion. We wrote and told him what he wanted. When mass was over, they announced us to the congregation. Everyone welcomed us, and then sang “Happy Anniversary” to us. It was a little embarrassing, but one of the nicest things that anyone did for us during our stay. After that, we went back to the Hana Maui Hotel for a few drinks and to listen to a guitar/cello band. During one of the first songs, one of the guitar strings broke; so it became a ukulele/cello band. They were OK. We got back to home (the Hana Sunrise House) at around 8PM.

Sep 27, 2009 – Sunday.
We wanted to take it easy, so we spent a good part of the day relaxing at Hamoa beach. We both went out into the surf farther than before, and had a great time. We drove to the Keanae peninsula, which we had skipped on the way to Hana. We ate a picnic lunch on the way back, at the Wailua overlook. We went back to the house and packed up most of our stuff. We had burgers for dinner and relaxed, for the last time of the trip, in this beautiful house. We both think that the Hana Sunrise House was the best accommodation we had and would not hesitate to stay here again.

Sep 28, 2009 – Monday.
This, sadly, was our last day on Maui. Our flight didn’t leave until 9:45pm, and we didn’t have to return the car until 7:30pm, so we planned a trip along the southern route of East Maui, up Haleakala, then back to Kahului. The road was interesting; some parts were a little bumpy and dirt; but not nearly as bad as the back road along the west (Kahekili hwy). It was odd to see the incredible difference between the rain forest on northern Hana and the extremely arid southern Hana. It really is worth the trip, with lots of picture spots; although there are very few stores/restaurants. We stopped at Tedeschi’s winery, which was very nice. We tasted some interesting wine; unfortunately, we couldn’t ship wine to our home state, and only had carry-on luggage, so we couldn’t buy any. Oh Well. This was the only time it would have been beneficial for us to have checked luggage; we were able to pack everything we needed in Betsy’s small carry-on suitcase, and Mike’s backpack. No waiting at baggage pick up areas, etc.; for us, carry-on was the way to go! We went up Haleakala, unfortunately, our 3 day pass from the 25th expired on the 27th, so we had to get another one. We should have planned that better. It was cloudy on the way up the volcano, but at the top it wasn’t. The views were great, and we thought it was interesting that so long after the last eruption it still smelled a little like cinders. We made our way to Paia, for our final dinner on Maui, at Mama’s Fish House. It was pretty expensive, but the food and atmosphere were worth it. We would like to go there again someday. We returned our car, and got to the airport a couple of hours before departure. We took off, pretty much on time, and headed out into the darkness over the Pacific. We would not arrive in San Francisco until the next morning.

Sep 29, 2009 – Tuesday.
We arrived in San Francisco, on time, with a 2 hour layover. We got a little to eat, the food was way over priced, as usual for an airport. We got to our gate early, only to find what would be over 2 hours of confusion and non-communication from the airline personnel. Apparently, our plane was out of commission, so they replaced it with the same type of plane that was configured with 80 fewer seats. They wanted volunteers to change flights. We needed to get a connection in Washington, which would be the last flight of the day into our small home airport. Eventually, we did get on the plane and instead of having 2 hours to get our next flight, in a different concourse, we had about 30 minutes. We did make the connection, and arrived home just a little after 7:15pm. We grabbed a quick bite to eat, went home, and slept well. This was a wonderful trip, well worth the cost (even with our limited funds). We already miss Hawaii and hope we will be able to return some day.

 

[Dalpal]

and here is a review of the Hana Sunrise House we wrote in the owners Guest Journal..

Sep 23 – 28, 2009.
After spending 5 days in the hustle of western Maui, this was such a nice change of pace. The house and setting are beautiful. Driving up the road to this remote spot at the edge of the rainforest, you turn into a yard with trees full of fruits, star fruit, avocado, guava, and another that kind of looks like grapefruit, but isn’t. Walking in the door you hear wonderful Hawaiian music that makes you feel very welcome. The effect is immediately calming, and the view is awesome…
Waking up the next morning to a wonderful sunrise, with the sound of birds singing a welcome to another day makes you not want to leave, but to stay here is to miss all the fantastic sights around Hana. I can see why they call it heavenly!
Thanks Ramaia for providing almost everything that is needed, yet hard to come by for someone staying in this secluded area. It allows you to spend time enjoying the countryside and beaches. This was our first trip to Maui, and if we can return, the Hana Sunrise House will be on the top of our list.
This is the stuff that dreams are made of. You have made our stay more magical than expected!

Betsy and Mike
Montrose, Pennsylvania

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

That sounded like such a lovely trip Betsy