Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa combines two of the most popular destination weddings on one beach — Hawai’i and Disney are the perfect marriage for a perfect wedding. No, they didn’t pay me to say that.

Don’t worry, there are plenty of family activities at Disney’s Hawaiian paradise to make everybody happy. They didn’t pay me to say that either.

This post is part of UpTake’s Wordless Wednesday Series. If you would like to see your photo featured here please contact us via the link in the sidebar using subject line: WW.

Photo:  Whit Honea

Just outside of Honolulu, Hawai’i is a place that lives in infamy, the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.

Today the ship has a large memorial built around it and serves as a monument to the Americans that gave their lives on that fateful December day.

Apparently the Arizona is still leaking oil drop by drop into the sea, and the locals claim that each is a tear of the fallen.

The sailors above are participating in a reenlistment ceremony. They serve on the USS Carl Vinson.

This post is part of the UpTake Monday Museums, Monuments and Memorials Series.

Photo: Official U.S. Navy Imagery via Flickr

The recent post on surviving Disneyland triggered an onslaught of emails and tweets (where an onslaught equals three) wanting to know more about Disney’s Fastpass system. Here you go!

The Fastpass (not to be confused with Disney’s PhotoPass) works like this: Certain rides/shows at the Disney parks (list below) offer a Fastpass option that allots a window of time for guests to return to said attraction and bypass the longer stand-by line.

If an attraction offers Fastpass there will be an area somewhere in the vicinity of the entrance or exit (some are harder to find than others) where guests can insert their admission ticket FOR THAT DAY into a machine (each person in a party needs their own pass) and it will return the admission ticket with an additional ticket that is the Fastpass.

Depending on the ride, time of day and crowd levels, the return time (an hour window issued in five minute increments) may be close to the issue time or hours later. With the exception of the World of Color show in Disney’s California Adventure, guests will not be able to get another Fastpass in the Disneyland Resort for at least two hours. Walt Disney World parks will have different rules and exceptions.

Return to the attraction during the time printed on the Fastpass and enter the Fastpass line. A Disney Cast Member (CM) will grant guests access to the line after confirming that their time is correct. (Please note, hold onto the Fastpass as they will be collected by another CM later in the queue). Fastpass holders seldom walk right onto the ride, but the wait time will be considerably less than that of guests in the stand-by line.

Here are the Disneyland Resort rides that offer Fastpass: Read More »

The best way to make Disneyland, and life, more enjoyable: jazz hands.

How to survive Disneyland? That seems kind of silly, doesn’t it? Isn’t surviving Disneyland the same as enjoying Disneyland? I should think so. However, there are some among us (you know who you are) that feel otherwise. They look at a day in a crowded theme park like the rest of us look at a day in the DMV — long lines, too hot and very expensive.  Man, the DMV sucks.

Disneyland, thankfully, doesn’t. To turn that frown upside down I am offering some helpful tips for creating a Disneyland vacation that should make even the most cynical crack the occasional smile (someone buy that person a Grumpy t-shirt). Churros not included. Read More »