Welcome to Our Tropical Hideaway, You Lucky People You!

Posted on December 24, 2018 by shadengk

The owners of the Enchanted Tiki Room have teamed up with Trader Sam to create a Tropical Hideaway along the rivers of the Jungle Cruise. In the space formerly occupied by Aladdin’s Oasis and the Tahitian Terrace, the Tropical Hideaway serves up adventure in the form of Dole Whips and Baos.

The signature Dole Whip is the Twisted Ambush, a mix of orange and pineapple whip speared with chocolate sticks and surrounded by a fruit mix. Order this and expect the hoopla that comes with and AMBUSH and an alarm gong!

Farther down the line are the Bao. If you’re not familiar with them, you might seek out the short animation “Bao” that showed before “Incredibles 2.” These slightly sweet pastries surround a variety of fillings, including chicken and chick peas. The Bulgogi Beef filling was our favorite. Since we ordered three, we got a discount on our purchase and a free spicy sauce. At about $6 each, Bao are a tasty snack at a decent price for Disneyland.

The crowd waiting to try the Tropical Hideaway with a photo of Bao.

If the Dole Whip doesn’t satisfy your sweet tooth, the sweet lumpia might. Filled with cream cheese and pineapple, the fried treats continue a long time Disney tradition of cinnamon and sugar covered dough treats, which include beignets and churros. Lumpia are served with a pineapple sauce with a hint of spice.

We were there on either the day it opened or the day after. If the Tropical Hideaway becomes popular, seating will be difficult to find. For anyone, or any bird, wondering what happened to Rosita, the Tropical Hideaway provides an answer and some tasty treats both sweet and savory!

Rosita at the Tropical Hideaway, Disneyland

The Disneyland ‘A Christmas Fantasy Parade’

Posted on December 22, 2018 by shadengk

As Charles Dickens wrote in ‘A Christmas Carol’:
“It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself.” Creativity requires people to be child-like. Children are insatiably curious. They combine things that no one else would think of; they explore the intersections where concrete meets grass and water meets land.

Enjoy these photos from Disneyland’s ‘A Christmas Fantasy Parade’ and find your inner child. Read more about being childlike and creativity.

Uniqlo’s New Line Kaws for Alarm?

Posted on December 12, 2018 by shadengk

Kaws, Sesame Street and Uniqlo have teamed up to kill your favorite Sesame Street characters. Big Bird, Bert, Ernie, the Cookie Monster and Elmo are dead as evidenced by the exes in their eyes and the inert way they interact with the Kaws character himself.

Exed out eyes are a long-time symbol of death used in comic strips and by serial killers. The eyes are the mirrors of the soul and the accusers. The stare at the killer until his guilt causes him to kill the staring entity and remove sight from this world, either through a plucking out of the orbs or through a closing of the eyelids.

What is Kaws trying to assert with his exed-out-eyes Sesame Street characters? Do they sardonically grin while representing the death of childhood and innocence, or is something more sinister afoot? Perhaps, Kaws is looking to represent the death of American education through the death of the most recognized symbol of learning in the Western World.

The sales team at Uniqlo will tell you that it’s just theartist’s signature style; the characters aren’t dead. No one should be naïve enoughto believe Kaws doesn’t know the significance of the exes. For that matter,Uniqlo and Sesame Street shouldn’t have missed the meaning.

Like this article about Kaws, Sesame Street and Uniqlo? Be sure to share it!

The Princesses Save ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’

Posted on December 12, 2018 by shadengk

If you haven’t seen “Wreck-It Ralph 2,” look away now. This review probably contains spoilers. If you’ve seen “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” continue below the trailer.

When Wi-Fi gets plugged in at the arcade and Ralph’s good intentions mess something up, it’s up to Ralph and Vanellope to visit the World Wide Web and find the part that fixes the problem. The fish out of water find a variety of new experiences that they can’t explain. Some of it is as disconnected and strange as the Internet in real life. You might find yourself wondering what you’re actually watching.

However, it isn’t until the Disney Princesses show up that “Wreck-It Ralph 2” finds its groove. The princesses are fun and redeeming, and Disney continues doing what it’s been doing to its princesses since “Frozen” and before.

Fortunately, “Ralph Breaks the Internet” contains more themes than a typical Internet usage day. Identity, friendship, and dreams all take center stage and provide fodder for the movie goer to think about. Of course, if thinking isn’t your thing, there are plenty of “duty”-type jokes to keep you happy. Though no one says you can’t enjoy both. As always, staying until the end delivers a… reward?

Oahu Photography Tours: Oh, the Places You’ll Go

Posted on December 11, 2018 by shadengk

With Oahu Photography Tour’s Circle Sunrise Island Tour, the first stop is the sunrise! There are few sites as beautiful as watching the sun come up on the horizon. Learning how to properly photograph it is a bonus. For us, we learned about exposure times while Koko Crater stood behind us. (Pro Tip: Underexposure is better than overexposure because it can be fixed.)

Rabbit Island was named because a business man released rabbits to feed his employees, and they bred faster than the employees could eat them. The rabbits are no longer there because of the damage they did to the environment, but the name stuck. Nearby Shark Island was named for the number of sharks found on the island… Okay, not really. It was named for its shark fin shape that comes out of the water. Makapu’u lighthouse sits in the background.

Waimanalo Bay is where we met “Sergio” and his amazing limo. This is also the place for the “portrait tree.” A stop for the great breakfast burrito at Kalapawai Market was accompanied by a local celebrity sighting! The Byodo-In Temple allowed us to feed birds from our hands!

We went through Sunset Beach, where the waves were too dangerous for the professional surf competition being held that week. We also went to the best shrimp place on the island – Fumi’s. We jumped over Chinaman’s Hat, saw where “Gilligan’s Island” was filmed, and finished with the kitsch that is the Dole Plantation. (So many pineapples, so little time.)

Every group will do something a little different depending on weather and the inclinations of the individuals in the group. A smaller tour group has its advantages, especially when they are all friends. If you want to know what places you’ll visit with Oahu Photography Tours, you’ll have to sign up and go!

Waikiki Grand Hotel by Castle

Posted on December 10, 2018 by shadengk

The first thing you need to know about Oahu hotels is that many of them have similar names. “The Waikiki Beach” hotel isn’t descriptive enough. You need to know the whole name. We were almost dropped off at the wrong hotel until I was able to qualify by using the entire name.

The Waikiki Grand Hotel by Castle is located across from the Honolulu Zoo and less than a block from the Kuhio and Queen’s Beaches. If it’s the beach you’ve come to see, there are few better locations and possibly none that offer such a great price. Just put on your flip flops, walk to the light, cross the street, and you’re there.

While the balcony we had faced the city, we used it and enjoyed it a lot. Mornings for breakfast with fresh fruit in the fridge and coffee in the 4-cup maker, the balcony made for a nice place to sit and eat while breathing in the warmth and fresh air. Evenings after the sun went down, it was a nice place for dinner or a snack, and with the buildings lit up, it was pretty to look at.

The view from our hotel room at the Waikiki Grand by Castle

For the budget conscious, the combination of cooking amenities, utensils and dishware made it a lot easier to be okay with our food choices. The ABC Store located at the corner of our building offered several tasty items that only needed to be opened and eaten or microwaved.

The staff at the hotel is friendly and fun. They seem to enjoy their jobs and do their best to make sure guests have a good visit. The front desk staff is top notch.

There is a small lending library on site, so if you need a book for your beach trip, you can find one on their shelves for no cost! My wife and I found four books between us! We only read two, though.

For people who are light sleepers, be sure to bring earplugs. The birds in the morning can raise a ruckus and the slat windows do nothing to block out any vehicle noise.

The hotel charges a cleaning fee, so if you’re not booking directly, you may get a surprise at the amount. (It’s not $95 like Hotels.com said.) In fact, it was over $15 a night, and I got a lower price because of the number of nights we were staying. Apparently, this is a common practice in Hawaii. The cleaning staff comes in about once every three days, which is nice because you rarely have to worry about whether or not you can sleep in.

Every hotel has a concierge desk. Use it and avoid scams and bad deals that may be found on the street. At Waikiki Grand Hotel by Castle,Clayton was the most helpful for our budget and our time there. Overall, I was super-happy with the location and service at the hotel.

Waikiki Transportation: It’s All a Matter of Time

Posted on December 10, 2018 by shadengk

Generally speaking, we didn’t think much about taxis or Ubers during our trip to Oahu. The only time it might’ve made sense was for going to Pearl Harbor. We were told a round trip by taxi would be about $80 and take between 25 and 45 minutes. That’s a huge time savings over the Waikiki Trolley with a listed trip time of 70 minutes, and the estimated 90 minutes the city bus would take. The cost of the Trolley for two people would’ve been $50 and the bus was only $11 and included and all-day pass on the city bus.

We opted for the city bus #42, and it only took 70 minutes to get there. We almost missed the stop, but there were others on the bus who helped us out before the bus left. The way back we took the #20; it took 90 minutes and went through the airport. For us, it was worth saving the $39 that the Trolley would’ve cost. Sure, it was 20 minutes longer, but that amount of money was just over what a meal at a restaurant in Oahu cost.

For single trips from point to point, you can hop on the Waikiki Trolley’s Pink Line for $2 exact change. The same trip for the city bus is $2.75, but for an all-day ticket, it’s $5.50. If you know you’re going to take two trips, getting the all-day pass allows you greater flexibility if plans change. The city bus may also have a denser schedule of stops both at the place you want to go and during the duration of your trip.

Is the 3-Day Go Oahu Card Worth It?

Posted on December 7, 2018 by shadengk

Yes, and it depends. As with any discount card, you have to take into account what type of vacation you want to have and how much time you have. If you choose to just sit at the beach and relax in the sun. Don’t get the Go Oahu Card. It’s not for that type of vacation. Relaxing in the sun on the beach is free, still. That’s about the best discount you can get.

However, if you know that you want to experience some of the culture of Hawaii, a Go Oahu Card can help you do that. For example, we knew that we wanted to do a luau. They run north of $100 per person, and the best-rated Luau is at the Polynesian Cultural Center, which is about $120. We also knew that we wanted to visit Pearl Harbor. Its place in history makes it an important spot to visit for anyone who wants to think about warfare and understand human nature better. The activities there run about $40, but the Arizona Memorial and its related movie is free. The two combined activities add up to $160, which meant we would need to find an activity or two that would add up to about $40.

Not knowing that Pearl Harbor was a full day tour, I was still concerned that we wouldn’t be able to do enough activities to make the Go Oahu Card worthwhile. A lot of the activities take place in the morning because it gets too hot in the afternoon to do anything. We decided to do the 8 am Diamond Head Hike ($18) and the afternoon tour with Makani Catamaran (about $100). We didn’t have a car, so I wasn’t sure that we could make the catamaran, but we signed up for it anyway. There was plenty of time, so we got our money’s worth.

Oahu’s Cheeseburger in Paradise

Posted on December 6, 2018 by shadengk

If you’re not familiar with the Jimmy Buffet song, a Cheeseburger in Paradise can still be tempting. Not affiliated with the singer,the signature cheeseburger is billed as a juicy, messy burger that you’ll need five napkins to clean up after.

When it arrived in front of me, I was not a believer. A patty with cheese on one half and tomatoes, lettuce and onion on the other. The juice was nowhere to be found. There was no drippiness. It was a burger, and those thoughts were my mistake. I assembled the burger, squished it a little so it would fit in my mouth and bit down.

Hamburger juices went squirting out everywhere. They ended up on my plate, on the table and on my pants. I can’t say I wasn’t warned. I have no idea how they seared so much juiciness into the patty, but I definitely needed two napkins, two wet wipes and a sink to clean up afterwards. Worth every bit of sacrifice? Cheeseburger in Paradise indeed.

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Monthly Archives: December 2018