Two big kids. Shutterbugs. On a journey.

While we are HUGE Disney fans, another major part of our lives is traveling and photography. We are nowhere near professional photographers, but we both enjoy taking pictures of everything around us.

Because of this, we decided to start a new site to share our adventures and photos with the world…along with any tips we pick up along the way. Most of our travel is on the cheap, since we are on a tight budget but just getting away is what matters to us. We are simply two shutterbugs who have been bitten by the travel bug (hence the site name Shutterbugs Travel) and wish to share our journey with anyone willing to listen. The title of this post is the motto of our site. We hope you enjoy it and let us know what you think!

 

Click here to visit the site!

Disney Meets Hawaiian Culture

Imagine yourself on a Hawaiian adventure. You are taking in the sights and sounds of your hotel. You walk along a path through lush gardens of plumeria, peppered with tiki torches. You are mesmerized by several torch dancers and hula dancers in grass skirts, all while snacking on sweet, juicy, fresh cut pineapple. Does this sound about right?

Well guess what? NONE of those are native to Hawaii.

The panel presentation titled, “The Art and Artistry of Aulani” took us behind the scenes of the beautiful Aulani resort in Ko Olina, Oahu, Hawaii. Imagineers Jeanette Lomboy and Joe Rohde shared with fans the art and artistry of this beautiful property. Both Jeanette and Joe have Hawaiian roots and both felt very connected with this project from the absolute beginning, and wanted the resort to be a PART of the island and not just a building ON the island.

Why Hawaii? Hawaii is unique and has an identity that is like no other. What makes Hawaii unique? The answer is simple: Hawaiians, and Hawaiians get to say what is Hawaiian. Because of this, Hawaiians were an integral part of the design and art of Aulani.
Let’s begin with the name. Aulani means Messenger of a greater authority, or Messenger of the Chief. Spirituality is very important to Hawaiians, so right off the bat Imagineers worked closely with local spiritual leaders to make the resort as in tune with the island as possible without offending the chi of the island. Once the leaders discovered the spiritual center of the property, Joe’s task was to find the Piko Stone to mark the location. Remembering some rocks that were almost hauled away, but saved thanks to Joe’s intuitions, he found the perfect stone.

Aulani was not meant to be a museum, but a blank canvas for the future. The basis for Hawaiian culture can be summed up with three words: Family, Storytelling, and Magic. Sound familiar, Disney fans? The resort’s lobby is referred to as the Maka’ala, which means “open your eyes” and encourages guests to take in every bit of the Hawaiian culture surrounding them.

Every detail of the resort reflects the rich culture of Hawaii. Even the pool lights are laid out in constellations. They represent the stars that the natives followed when they migrated to the islands. Aulani is also home to the largest private collection of native art and local artifacts.

The art painted on the building is actually a lineage chant and is based on tattoo art. There are also two sides to the building…masculine and feminine. The two sides meet in the middle and look over the ocean and to the future.

The Olelo Room is also known as the Language Room. This coffee bar by day/bar and lounge by night has everything (yes, EVERYTHING) labeled in Hawaiian words…including the bartenders! There are even flash cards available for you to brush up on your Hawaiian.

From taro leaves to coral, Aulani’s details are distinctly Hawaiian. If you listen closely, you might even hear your favorite Disney song translated into Hawaiian!
Honestly, going into this presentation we thought that we were just going to basically hear yet another commercial for the Hawaiian resort and all its bells and whistles…blah, blah, blah. But hearing how much heart went into the authenticity of Aulani, and that it accurately celebrates and embraces TRUE Hawaiian culture, we can’t wait to see it in person!

A Look Back on the 2009 D23 Expo…Day One

We’re a mere 5 months away from the 2013 D23 Expo, and so I decided to take a look back on the previous 2 expos and share some highlights and magical Disney moments my husband and I have encountered during these events.

Today, we look back on day one of the inaugural D23 Expo which took place September 10-13, 2009. We were unable to stay for the Sunday events and we arrived in the afternoon on Thursday, therefore missing the Disney Legends ceremony entirely.

The very first event we attended was the ABCs of Disney which was a preview of what was to come on the ABC television network. The presentation was hosted by Tom Bergeron and included previews for “The Middle”, “Hank”, “Cougar Town” and “Modern Family”. We were also treated to a special performance from Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson from the upcoming season of “Dancing with the Stars”. (Guess what? They ended up winning the season!) We arrived a bit late for the presentation, but were still able to get descent seats and we slipped out early to get in line for another presentation we really wanted to see (if my memory serves me correctly, the ABC presentation had been running long). We made our way upstairs to get in line for An Afternoon with Imagineering Legends. It was about an hour or so out from the beginning of the presentation that was to feature such legends as Alice Davis, Marty Sklar and X. Atencio, and there were already quite a few folks in line, so we grabbed a spot and continued to wait for them to open the theater for seating. We noticed the line getting longer and longer and it was wrapping around the area in a very confusing way. As they started letting people into the theater we saw people who had not been waiting as long as us make it into the theater and by the time our line was let in, the theater was full. We were heartbroken as this was the one presentation we had been looking forward to the most.

Oh well, we figured since we were upstairs, we’d check out the Archives exhibit. We wandered around the exhibit, drooling over the various costumes and props on display. While we were admiring a costume from “Mary Poppins”, a man stood next to me. I realized very quickly that he had a camera crew and several other people with him, so my first reaction was to move out-of-the-way. Then I realized who this man was…none other than Mr. Richard Sherman! He was with some family members and was telling stories about the movie. When he was finished talking, I turned to him and thanked him for his contributions to music history. We shook hands and I shared with him my favorite song (which happens to be from that movie) and he shared a moment from Walt’s 100th Birthday celebration in Disneyland…one that we both remember fondly. I actually started crying on the spot…not something I’m known to do. We exchanged some sentiments, and it was apparent that he had to go, but he was so amazing and gracious…I hope we will get to spend more time with him in the future. This turned out to be THE highlight of our experiences so far!

Look who I found hanging around outside the Archives exhibit!

As I wandered around outside the exhibit, I passed by a lady who was in a hurry to get somewhere and I noticed her Disney name tag…Mary. This was none other than Mary Costa, the woman who gave a voice to Princess Aurora from “Sleeping Beauty”! She was in a hurry to get somewhere, so I didn’t get to speak to her, but that was alright…I got to see her!

We were planning to stay for the evening’s events which included a screening of “The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story” as well as the 50 and Fabulous screening of “Darby O’Gill and the Little People”.

If you have not seen “The Boys…” yet, please do. It’s an amazing story, not just about one of the greatest music writing teams in history, but it’s also about two brothers. There were many things we did not know about these amazing men.

Not only did we see the documentary, but we were treated to an impromptu sing along with Richard Sherman. Did you know that “It’s a Small World” was written as a prayer for peace and was originally performed as a ballad? When that story was told and the song played as it was written, I gained a whole new appreciation for the earworm.

After the amazing event was over, we stayed to watch “Darby O’Gill and the Little People” since neither one of us had seen it in years. I forgot how much I enjoyed that film!

This concludes day one….stay tuned for more!