natebenma
Beach Club Dee
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2008
Dee, slowly catching up after a few days away.
Your pictures are gorgeous...especially the snorkeling ones.
I have to admit you are a much braver woman than me. No way, no how are you getting me in a helicopter. Nope...just never going to happen.
Can't wait to see what is next.
Thank you so much! I love the snorkeling pictures, too. I wish there were more of them. At one point I took 15 minutes of movies when I thought I was taking pictures. It can be difficult to see what is being photographed, or even if the camera is on, when snorkeling. Unless you pick your head up, and then you fog the mask.
That was our first time in a helicopter. I got a little nervous right before lift-off, but this was truly the highlight tour of our trip. "high" light!
Well, that's it for the preview pictures. Next up is the actual report. I hope to start that today. Look for the bat signal on FB- my PM box is full and I have really poor deletion skills.
Dee, no excuses for being behind other than life and work.
All of your pictures are amazing! Is my mind playing tricks on me or did you say that Ben said he saw the baby turtle and you found picture proof? Thus, the baby turtle picture. The palm trees, the beaches, the scenery, gorgeous! The rude parents and their kids, bleh! I don't understand why parents don't make their kids mind anymore. Or why the parents themselves have no manners.
The helicopter tour looks scary! I mean, seriously, Ben is right up against the window. He wasn't scared?
No excuses necessary!
Yes, ma'am, Ben saw a baby turtle and took a picture!
baby turtle!
Everything was so tropical and beautiful! The great thing is that each of the islands offered their own unique vibes and attractions.
No, Ben was not scared at all. Now if you want to talk about scary- some of the helicopter tours you can take are "doors off". You are actually strapped in, but the sides of the copter are open to the air. We commented to the helicopter pilot as we saw one of these land. He just shook his head, but we could read his thoughts.
"That's crazy!"
Haha, I guess when you're king, everybody wants to copy you. But "Have a Magical Day"? LAWSUIT!!!!!
It does sound like the big downside of the resort was more guest related. I understand vacation is to "get away", but that's still no excuse for that kind of behaviour.
Is that a walk in closet or an extra bedroom????
The monorail and boats do look nice though.
I have always wanted to do a helicopter tour or just ride in a helicopter in general. That is so cool.
I'm telling you, my jaw dropped when I heard that through the phone!
The Hilton Waikoloa is probably a great resort for folks with young children, like under age 10, but it wasn't quite right for us. I shudder to think if honeymooners accidentally book a stay there!
No kidding! You actually could get a cot, maybe two, in there!
We spent a significant (too much?) time on the monorail and on the boat- crowded. And the second message about keeping clear of the doors was in Japanese, not Spanish!
The helicopter was one of the coolest things we have ever done. Ever.
Your helicopter tour pictures are amazing - views of a lifetime!
Did you walk through the lava tube? I've never seen pictures of a lava tube before, very cool (get it, red hot lava, cool, cracking myself up here.)
Disney does spoil us for other resorts that come close, but not quite. Guess that is why Teena prefers Disney cruises over other cruise lines.
You've managed to get some really nice family photos on this trip. No doubt your sons will always remember this amazing vacation.
Thank you! Yes, the helicopter tour was incredible.
Yes, we walked through the lava tube. Very neat. OK to crack yourself up here, but not THERE. They told us in the tour how much weight was above us, so cracking up was not a welcome idea.
The boys were pretty tolerant about participating in family photos. Danger Dan, our tour guide (BTW- our name for him, not his) offered to take pictures of us at most of the big spots.
And may I just add... MY TICKER SAYS 11 DAYS!!! Soon I'll be down to the single digits. YAY!!
Yes, you may add that!
I won't be too far behind you!
I can't believe they built a monorail at a Hawaiian resort. That place is huge.
I love the waterfalls that you can see from the helicopter. Those views must have been amazing.
You look tired.
The Waikoloa is GINORMOUS!!! In one of our original itineraries, we had 4 nights here and none in Maui. I'm so glad we changed that. They don't have a white sand beach right on property, so I think you have to take a shuttle bus. When I am at the beach, I want to be able to access it on my own.
The views from the helicopter were amazing. Mark was upfront with the pilot and had clear expansive views. Nate's seat wasn't the best since he was right in the middle of the copter, no window. I was seated backwards, which made it awkward to see some of the sights. But the pilot did try to spin the helicopter around so we could see things on both sides.
The waterfalls were breathtaking. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain as we went into the valley with all of the waterfalls (including the one from Jurassic Park, I believe), but it was still spectacular!
Yes. I was tired! This was the last day of our 14 day non-stop adventure. It was an 11 hour tour. Which would be followed in just a few hours by our 11 pm red-eye flight on the way home.
I was SO tired I didn't even take pictures of our final meal in between the tour and our departure.