The number one post that no one has asked to see, yet everyone is waiting with excitement to read about is our adventure into Teddy Bear World in downtown Honolulu. We happen to learn of the attraction by shear luck, if you can call it that, due to our addiction to Groupon (the Teddy Bear World offer is currently available again at this link), especially when planning a trip.
After our half week in Oahu, and full week on the Big Island, we headed back to Oahu for a couple days before coming home. First on our list was to use our Groupon, and what would be a full day of fun, kieki (kid) filled activities. By this point in the trip, the boys really needed a day where the entire focus was on them and their enjoyment. No running around to see historic sites or fancy meals. This day was entirely meant to give our boys a release and let them enjoy being kids in paradise.
So off to see a side of Hawaii that really had started out our trip. On the way to the islands, we built in a multi-day stop-over (for free using miles) in Los Angeles, which allowed us to see the birthplace of animatronics, Disneyland. Therefore, some animatronic bears might be the perfect dose to childize Hawaii.
The first half of the museum is dedicated to the 8 Wonders of America, depicting classic scenes, with the main characters being played by lovable, stuffed bears. Who would not love seeing their favorite celebrities, Presidents, or even sports stars played as a bear character?
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Luau Scene
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NYC
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Broadway/Times Square
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Hollywood
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Sports
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San Francisco
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White House
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Lincoln Memorial
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Mt. Rushmore
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Cape Canaveral
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Rocky Mountains
Following a scene out of Hell’s Bear-Angels, guests were led into the frightening Dinosaur Park. Despite scenes of bears and large scale dinosaurs, this is where Bug (3) decided to have a meltdown of epic proportions for fear Jurassic Park had come to fruition. As we proceeded through the scenes with Lan-Shark (1), we were reminded of the terror screaming back at the entrance, painfully more frightening than his reptilian counterparts. Thank goodness we were the only ones in the entire museum.
After making a quick backtrack to carry Bug through the Dinosaur Park, we were beyond the reach of the monsters and back into lovable Bear-dom. What followed in the next section of the museum was an area dedicated towards saving the environments of the bears. There is nothing like a scene of panda riding a unicycle on the roof of a Chinese structure to influence me not to cut down the bamboo forest.
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North Pole
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Pandas of China
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Grizzley Bears
Next up was the actual museum portion of Teddy Bear World. Not only was their historical pieces of relevance detailing the history of the teddy bear, there were scenes depicting all kids of important periods of time in human history. One could see recreations of famous paintings…
Or how about some important, historic scenes…nothing like some bears going down with the ship, or the massacres that were the World Wars to lighten up the moods of the children. Thankfully, some underwater scenes near the end helped liven everyone’s moods.
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Titanic
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World War
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Unknown Scene
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Underwater Scene 1
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Underwater Scene 2
The finale for the museum included a sideshow of the famous Elvis, performing his historic classics of his time spent in Hawaii. Who is ready to shake their hips?
A stop at Teddy Bear World just would not be complete with a stop at the restroom, and after washing your paws, the kids get some free cotton candy and a balloon when leaving. Actually, Mrs. InACents reminds me that the only way to get free cotton candy at the end was to complete a scavenger hunt, which she got a perfect score on (and may have been the only person in history of actually completing while in Hawaii).
Ready to visit Teddy Bear World? In reality, the boys I think did enjoy their time, minus the dinosaurs, and Teddy Bear World was cutely put together. For us Disney fans, we can appreciate the cheesiness of the exhibits and the light play on scenes to market their stuffed bears. In all, visiting Teddy Bear World was an entertaining hour of our day, and while I would have no need to ever return or see another one, it was an excellent value due to the Groupon discount.
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The juxtoposition of cuddly bears and scary dinosaurs is interesting. When my girl was young, the dinosaur would have definitely made a bigger impression and caused us to flee from the room. The cotton candy at the end must be a big hit.
@MM: Yeah the bears and dinos are an interesting combination. Seeing those bears get roasted on the fire by the dinos was a perfect start to our day.
This post is worrisome 🙂
@Beth: You should see the pile of teddy bears I cuddle and sleep with each night.
My 9 year old daughter would absolutely love this place – I imagine the rest of the family would rather be at a Hawaiian beach! 🙂
@Lisa: It really is perfect for little kids, and I could imagine girls would love it.
This is hysterical – I can’t believe that one could make an entire exhibit out of teddy bears yet I really want to go and see it now!!
Thanks for linking up!!
Wow! I had no idea something like this even existed! I like the art the best. The Scream is my favorite!
I had no idea this existed. Pretty interesting, eh?
@InsideJourneys: Yeah, we had no idea about it either until it popped onto our radar with the Groupon.
Okay, I thought the video you posted on FB was hilarious but all these pictures brought it to a whole level of weirdness yet there’s a part of me that wants to see it in person 🙂 I’m sure my daughter would love this but I don’t think my husband can withstand a whole hour. Thanks for letting us know about this place. I do love quirky places though and this definitely piqued my interest.
@Mary: It is pretty alluring, isn’t it?
Dinosaurs and Teddy Bears all under one roof. Is that progress? 🙂 Looks like a fun day out. Groupon (at least in English/there may be an equivalent in Korean) does not seem to have hit Asia yet. I wish it would!