sonicbaker
Well-known member
Just back from a week in very hot, humid Orlando where I attended my wife's bi-annual family reunion. The previous two of these were on The Big Island, but the east coasters got their way this time and the rest of us west coasters traveled in their direction.
Decided to take my KoAloha concert, which traveled very well with me as one of my carry on items. We all stayed at a condo resort place, with screened-in balconies, so I tried to do some playing out there in the early mornings. Those were some nice times...quiet, all kinds of birds singing...not too hot yet...when I closed my eyes, it was "almost" Hawaii. (Can you tell I'm slightly bitter about this trip, yet? ha...the kids, grandkids, cousins all had a great time...but dang, they would have had a great time in Hawaii too!) Picture of KoAloha on balcony below.
On one day, I wore my brown UU logo t-shirt and was approached several times throughout the day both at the condo and at Disney World by people inquiring about ukes...like "What's up with all of these ukes? Why are they so popular now? Is the Eddie Vedder album any good?" All of them asked about the Eddie Vedder album. Very interesting.
One night, an old guitar-playing pal of mine who now lives in Orlando caught up with me and came over to the condo to hang out. He wanted to try the KoAloha and had never played a uke before. Ended up staying for 3 hours, playing the KoAloha the whole time...couldn't put it down. Left with a huge smile on his face, asking me about uke prices.
Finally, onto Disney. They have updated the Star Wars themed Star Tours ride recently to a totally new 3D version. If you're into Star Wars (and even if you're not), this is really quite a cool ride. But, I digress...onto the uke content of the ride. In the waiting/queuing area, there is a scene with an animatronic droid using a handheld x-ray device to scan the "luggage" of people going on the Star Tours ride. As the scene plays itself out, the x-ray reveals items in the suitcase...most have some inside meaning to star wars or disney fans...and the droid decides whether the luggage is "ok" to go on the ship or not. My daughter really loved this ride and we went on it multiple times. She checked out that x-ray scene many times while waiting. Suddenly she said "Daddy, look...there's a uke in there!" Sure enough, the x-ray scanner showed a ukulele in the suitcase as evidenced by size, shape and 4 tuning pegs. I was just thinking "Oh, that's pretty cool" when the droid changed his tone, pulled out some kind of laser device and destroyed the uke and suitcase! It was the first and only item I saw that didn't make it through! I was both a little shocked and amused and wasn't even sure if I saw what I had just thought I saw.
I guess they felt the uke was a threat to the Empire or something
Added link to Youtube video of the Star Tours waiting area...the x-ray/customs area starts at about 2:30 into the video. This doesn't show the offending uke, but you'll get the idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUtQfbtAzVA
Decided to take my KoAloha concert, which traveled very well with me as one of my carry on items. We all stayed at a condo resort place, with screened-in balconies, so I tried to do some playing out there in the early mornings. Those were some nice times...quiet, all kinds of birds singing...not too hot yet...when I closed my eyes, it was "almost" Hawaii. (Can you tell I'm slightly bitter about this trip, yet? ha...the kids, grandkids, cousins all had a great time...but dang, they would have had a great time in Hawaii too!) Picture of KoAloha on balcony below.
On one day, I wore my brown UU logo t-shirt and was approached several times throughout the day both at the condo and at Disney World by people inquiring about ukes...like "What's up with all of these ukes? Why are they so popular now? Is the Eddie Vedder album any good?" All of them asked about the Eddie Vedder album. Very interesting.
One night, an old guitar-playing pal of mine who now lives in Orlando caught up with me and came over to the condo to hang out. He wanted to try the KoAloha and had never played a uke before. Ended up staying for 3 hours, playing the KoAloha the whole time...couldn't put it down. Left with a huge smile on his face, asking me about uke prices.
Finally, onto Disney. They have updated the Star Wars themed Star Tours ride recently to a totally new 3D version. If you're into Star Wars (and even if you're not), this is really quite a cool ride. But, I digress...onto the uke content of the ride. In the waiting/queuing area, there is a scene with an animatronic droid using a handheld x-ray device to scan the "luggage" of people going on the Star Tours ride. As the scene plays itself out, the x-ray reveals items in the suitcase...most have some inside meaning to star wars or disney fans...and the droid decides whether the luggage is "ok" to go on the ship or not. My daughter really loved this ride and we went on it multiple times. She checked out that x-ray scene many times while waiting. Suddenly she said "Daddy, look...there's a uke in there!" Sure enough, the x-ray scanner showed a ukulele in the suitcase as evidenced by size, shape and 4 tuning pegs. I was just thinking "Oh, that's pretty cool" when the droid changed his tone, pulled out some kind of laser device and destroyed the uke and suitcase! It was the first and only item I saw that didn't make it through! I was both a little shocked and amused and wasn't even sure if I saw what I had just thought I saw.
I guess they felt the uke was a threat to the Empire or something
Added link to Youtube video of the Star Tours waiting area...the x-ray/customs area starts at about 2:30 into the video. This doesn't show the offending uke, but you'll get the idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUtQfbtAzVA
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