Every year we go to Kualoa Ranch with Kindergarten. This year, we ran into a little glitch...two bus drivers from hell! Every year when we go to Kualoa Ranch, we participate in two activities. Half of our group goes to the Aquaculture Fish Ponds, the other half goes to the Ranch, and then we switch at 10:30. At noon everyone eats lunch together at the Ranch.
Highlights of our bus experience this year included: walking by a couple making out in a black car parked next to our bus to board our bus (get a room type of making out and our parent volunteers and kids saw this), finding out the girl in the car was the other bus driver, my bus driver informing us that they only had orders to take us to the Ranch and then take us home at 12:30, after dispatch corrected the error, the two bus drivers spending almost the entire drive over on the *bus phone* with each other cooking up a plan, dropping us off at our first stop and then informing us that they would be back to get us at 12:30, refusing to discuss the fact that we were supposed to be transferred at 10:30, one of the bus drivers threatening to *knock me* and strand me there if I said one more word, finally agreeing to take our group to the Ranch at 11:30 to eat lunch after negotiations with the Kualoa Ranch employees, the bus drivers taking off with the guy in the black car that followed the bus out to the Ranch (obviously they had plans and our day interfered with their plans).
Even after having to deal with two unreasonable RUDE obnoxious bus drivers, and believe me the parents were not any happier with the situation, the worst part was that half of our kids did not get to catch shrimp and half of our kids (including my kids) did not get to feed the animals.
So, our group spent the morning at the Aquaculture Fish Ponds.
Here are a few photos I posted last year from our 2007 field trip to Kualoa Ranch.
I have one more photo to share.
**WARNING Sandra** I think you might want to skip this photo.
Comments (15)
Looks like a lovely place to visit...especially like the picture of the tree reflected in the lake. The ostrich is cute too :-)
Posted by june | April 15, 2009 12:15 AM
Posted on April 15, 2009 00:15
LOL at the winking ostrich! I think he's cute!
Beautiful scenery but those bus drivers sound HORRIBLE! I hope you are all writing complaints to their company.
Posted by Annie | April 15, 2009 1:57 AM
Posted on April 15, 2009 01:57
What a gorgeous place to have a field trip, but then...you do live in Paradise. That last photo is how I felt about those awful bus drivers. Yuk!
Posted by Barb Cabot | April 15, 2009 3:07 AM
Posted on April 15, 2009 03:07
Hi Girasoli, wow those were two very rude and uncaring bus drivers. And that one driver threatening you was very bad and I hope you reported that to their supervisor. I'm sorry that you had to have such a bad experience with them. Someone like that should actually not be driving a school bus.
On the bright side, I really love the photos of the Ranch that you took and I bet the kids really loved that. Is there a story behind the Ostrich photo? :)
Thanks for posting this and I hope you never get rude bus drivers like that again.
Posted by Kathy (Trekcapri) | April 15, 2009 3:25 AM
Posted on April 15, 2009 03:25
Oh, my. The unexpected joys of field trips! It is a beautiful spot, that last photo is a hoot, and I sure the kids had lots of good stories to tell about their day! LOL
Posted by Palma | April 15, 2009 4:34 AM
Posted on April 15, 2009 04:34
Think the ostrich caught the shenanigans too~? If I'm not mistaken, last year you got to see honu - a personal fav! GET going Sox! Menehune
Posted by menehune | April 15, 2009 4:40 AM
Posted on April 15, 2009 04:40
The ranch is so gorgeous and green, must be a wonderful place to visit. Those bus drivers should be reprimanded for their rude and crass behavior.
I don’t like looking at ostriches (there are a few ostrich farms in my town) but this one is too funny.
Posted by María I. | April 15, 2009 7:14 AM
Posted on April 15, 2009 07:14
Girasoli, after that warning I couldn't resist looking!!! Yikes! What a face. You know, if he could, he'd peck out your eyes. I'm just saying. Birds cannot be trusted.
And, by the sounds of it, neither can bus drivers. I also hope that you -- and the parents -- reported both of these bus drivers. They definitely shouldn't be driving children, nor should they be threatening teachers.
They deserve to be locked up with an ostrich (I can think of no worse curse than that!)
Posted by sandrac | April 15, 2009 9:55 AM
Posted on April 15, 2009 09:55
Great photos, girasoli. The Ranch looks lovely and the winking ostrich is cute.
And I can't believe your encounter with the bus drivers.How rude! I hope you are writing a complaint to the company about that.
Posted by candi | April 15, 2009 10:12 AM
Posted on April 15, 2009 10:12
Gee you are good - I haven't gone on any trips like that with kids for a while. Love your photos.
Posted by Leslie | April 15, 2009 11:03 AM
Posted on April 15, 2009 11:03
june, thanks so much. It is a beautiful place.
Annie, I couldn’t believe my luck catching that wink! We reported the bus incident as soon as we returned. Discussions have been taking place with the bus company. A meeting just occurred and of course the bus company used the word *miscommunication* as their big excuse and reason for everything. At least I can assert my choice to never go with that bus company again.
Barb, I sometimes forget how beautiful this island is since my side of the island is dry. I need to get out that way more often. And yes YUK to the bus drivers. So sad that the kids missed out.
Kathy, you would think taking a job driving kids would require some sense of courtesy and kindness. We have reported it and the end result was an “I’m sorry for the miscommunication”. They really should NOT be working in any field that requires common courtesy. The ostrich is there on the Ranch. After we ate lunch, we were able to wander over to say hello. I also took a really cute photo of my kids standing in front of the ostrich.
Palma, the stories I could tell (and I am sure you could also), although this incident was the most upsetting ever. Fortunately my kids did have lots of fun and we made the best of our situation.
menehune, funny! The honu photos were taken on my own (not with a class). That would be so cool to bring my kids up to the turtle beach but we can’t do beach field trips – too much liability. Sox won today!! Yay!!
María, I always think about how cool it would be to live there when we visit. Sadly, it seems that the bus drivers got away with their actions.
sandrac, luckily I was not eating or drinking anything while reading your comment, I laughed so hard, I would have choked. I like your idea of locking them up with the ostrich! You are brave taking a peek. I did the same thing on Marta’s blog when she posted all those yucky bug photos. He really is a cute ostrich. I thought of you as soon as I saw him. I did make sure my kids did not get too close. I will have to tell you my bird story sometime.
candi, the Ranch is located in a cool spot on the island. They film lots of Lost scenes in this area. After reporting the incident and the school meeting with the bus company, the most we got was an “I’m sorry for the miscommunication”. Sad sad sad! Our kids missed out and that is what is most upsetting.
Leslie, there must be cool places for you to visit. Glad you liked the photos
Posted by girasoli | April 15, 2009 12:53 PM
Posted on April 15, 2009 12:53
Gorgeous photos - and awful bus drivers! And doubly annoying that they are blaming miscommunication, clearly you guys were communicating very well your needs and requirements and they just didn't want to follow.
Fantastic ostrich photo!!
Posted by Chiocciola | April 15, 2009 4:19 PM
Posted on April 15, 2009 16:19
Beautiful photos! Thanks for sharing them!
Posted by nancyhol | April 16, 2009 5:53 PM
Posted on April 16, 2009 17:53
What beautiful scenery! And, lucky you for having a field trip there.
Posted by nancyhol | April 16, 2009 6:46 PM
Posted on April 16, 2009 18:46
Chiocciola, thanks! And yes, it seemed pretty clear to both teachers and parents that our intent was to visit both places. It also was very obvious that the bus drivers had plans of their own. I really did luck out with the ostrich photo.
nancyhol, we are very lucky to be able to take our kids to such beautiful locations! Glad you enjoyed them.
Posted by girasoli | April 17, 2009 4:20 AM
Posted on April 17, 2009 04:20