Hawaii Zip Line Deaths Raise Questions

USA Today: One worker died and another was critically injured when a zip line tower on a new course collapsed on the Big Island of Hawaii Wednesday, and the tragedy is focusing new attention on a wildly popular but largely self-regulated industry.

According to John White, whose Maui-based company Experiential Resources Inc. built the course for Lava Hotline, the course opened to the public last week. As a response to customer feedback, workers were brought in to make one of the lines faster.

Police say the man doing the test run — a 36-year-old from Maui — was halfway across the 2,300-foot span when the tower collapsed Wednesday. He fell about 200 feet and died at the scene. The other man — a 35-year-old from Ohio — was standing on the tower and fell about 30 feet.

As I noted in a 2008 story, the sport of strapping into a harness, clipping to a cable, and zipping across a canyon, down a mountain or through a canopy of trees — hence the terms ziplining and canopy tours — was popularized in Costa Rica more than a decade ago. The elevated excursions are cropping up across the USA, with estimates of between 150 and 350 commercial outfits, most of whom charge $75-$100 per person for a three-hour adventure.

In the USA, where shorter zip lines have been used as part of educational and team-building "challenge courses" since the 1960s, some newer operations are considered amusement rides and regulated by state agencies.

But according to Steve Gustafson of Experience Based Learning, a Rockford, Ill., company that designs commercial canopy tours, only four states - Florida, West Virginia, Massachusetts, and Missouri - inspect zip line operations.

There are least 15 commercial zip lines in Hawaii, and "it's not regulated as an amusement ride because it doesn't have anything mechanical or electrical," Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations' Audrey Hidano told KITV.com.

Two U.S. trade groups, the Association for Challenge Course Technology and the Professional Ropes Course Association, are working to update operational and safety standards specific to the zipline/canopy tour industry. But less than 10% of U.S. operators are members, officials estimate.

While serious zip line injuries and deaths are rare, "there are a lot of people with broken fingers or ankles from coming into a platform too fast," says Gustafson.

Among safeguards customers should expect:

-- Most zipline operations allow participants between about 70 and 270 pounds and require sturdy, closed-toe shoes. Hair and clothing should be kept secured and away from the pulleys attaching harnesses to cables.

--Expect a thorough briefing/orientation with details on staff training, company liability insurance and equipment inspections.

-- Operations vary widely, with some requiring customers to do their own hand braking and some using two steel cables instead of one. All should highlight such measures as safety lines that keep participants attached to a cable or platform.

Disney Goes Hawaiian

Barrons: This week, Walt Disney unveils its first hotel and timeshare project that isn't connected to a theme park, in a master-planned resort community on the west side of Hawaii's Oahu. It's similar to Disney's multigenerational cruise offerings, only at the beach and sans life rafts. "This isn't Disneyland. This has never been done, within Disney or not," says Jeffrey Stone, founder of The Resort Group, the Honolulu-based developer of Ko Olina, where the resort is located.

The $800 million project is called Aulani, Hawaiian for "messenger from a higher authority," owing to Disney's intent to tell the story of Hawaiian history and culture throughout the site. There are still tricked-out swimming pools, character-hosted breakfasts—and the Black Pearl pirate ship of Johnny Depp fame is moored nearby. This is Disney, after all. But accommodations aren't Mickey Mouse—witness amenities such as teen-only spas and adult-only pools.

Disney has also given the Hawaiian economy a shot in the arm during a woeful slump in construction and tourism. The company projects it will have generated 4,800 jobs and $634 million in economic activity during the construction phase alone, which will be completed in early 2013. Timing couldn't be better, after an already punk tourism industry was weakened further by disasters in Japan, whose tourists tend to favor Oahu over neighboring islands. Ironically, Japanese affinity for all things Disney helped Oahu and Ko Olina snare the project, which should augur well for the "Five-0." Mahalo, Mickey.

Major Construction Finished on Disney Hawaii Resort

eTurboNews: (On Friday) in a ceremony on the lagoon fronting the site of Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa, Ko Olina, Hawai'i, local crew members from Hawaiian Dredging Construction Company, Inc. joined with Disney cast members (employees) to celebrate the completion of major structural work on the Disney resort and the beginning of Disney's "time to add the magic."

The event was a symbolic representation of the shared efforts of Disney and Hawaiian Dredging in building the new resort, which will welcome its first guests on Aug. 29, 2011. The construction crew and Aulani Disney team met on the beach to exchange gifts – lei from the construction workers to the Disney cast, and Mickey Mouse ears from the Disney cast to the construction workers. As part of the milestone moment, Hawaiian Dredging "handed over the keys" to the people who will add final detailing, theming, landscaping and all the other magical touches guests expect to find at a Disney resort.

Djuan Rivers, vice president of Disney Vacation Club and Resort, Hawai'i, joined with Eric Hashizume, vice president of Hawaiian Dredging and Elliot Mills, managing director of Aulani, to bring the construction workers and Disney team members together to begin "adding the magic" to Aulani. They gathered on the sand to form the image of the trademark Aulani arch and then transformed it into the familiar silhouette of Mickey Mouse. Mickey, Minnie and their Disney character pals joined in the celebration.

As Walt Disney Imagineers continue adding the magic to Aulani, they are weaving Hawaiian stories into the buildings, interiors, art and gardens of the resort with the help of local architects, artisans and historians. The celebrated Disney magic, storytelling and service will create wonderful family vacation memories at the resort, drawing on the beauty, fun, enchantment and traditions of the islands.

Double-Decker Sightseeing Buses Arrive in Waikiki

KITV: Despite the recent drop in Hawaii tourism, two companies are continuing to show confidence in the industry by investing more than $3 million in new tours.

With double-decker buses thriving in major international cities, Gray Line Hawaii and Polynesian Adventure Tours decided to roll out their own fleet of seven bright buses called the Aloha Bus for three tour routes. Each bus seats up to 61 passengers.

The idea is for visitors to enjoy Hawaii's mostly sunny, trade wind weather from the top floor while sightseeing and shopping.

"The first operates from Waikiki to Hilo Hattie. The second operates the Pearl Harbor express from Hilo Hattie down to Pearl Harbor and a night time shopping loop," Polynesian Adventure Tours President Colin Murphy said.

Passengers can opt to buy a 24-, 48- or 72-hour pass starting at $29. Translated tour narrations are available in English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Spanish.

The two companies expect the project to expand within the year. So far, the project has created 60 jobs, they said.

Royal Hawaiian Recognized as Historic Hotel

Star Advertiser: When the Royal Hawaiian opened in 1927, a crowd of more than 1,200 gathered to take part in the hotel’s historic debut.

Some 84 years later the iconic “Pink Palace of the Pacific” has become the first hotel in Hawaii to gain membership in the Historic Hotels of America, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It was one of 39 historic properties selected for the program from more than 130 across the nation that were nominated.

A trip to the Royal Hawaiian, which just concluded a multimillion-dollar renovation this month, is like walking back in time. Despite the high-rises, busy streets and bustling shopping centers that surround it, guests say that it still is the same bright beacon bathing Waikiki in a warm pink glow that it was for the well-heeled travelers of the Roaring ’20s who arrived by steamship from faraway shores. There was only one other hotel, what is now called the Wes­tin Moana Surfrider, on Waikiki Beach when the Royal Hawaiian opened amid much fanfare. But even today the Moorish visage of the 528-room hotel stands out from the beachfront density.

“If I look out to the ocean, I can picture those long-ago guests coming,” said Lawrence P. Horwitz, executive director of Historic Hotels Worldwide. “As I’m walking these halls, I like to imagine what it was like in those days. You can still experience that gracious hospitality, that aloha spirit here today.”

To be chosen for the National Historic Hotel Trust, a hotel must be at least 50 years old, listed in or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places or recognized locally as having historic significance, Horwitz said. The historically significant haven for celebrities, leaders, top business people, prominent families and other important guests was a natural fit, he said.

Among its guests, the Royal Hawaiian has counted President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Shah of Iran, aviatrix Ame­lia Earhart and movie stars Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Shirley Temple, Mary Pickford, Doug­las Fairbanks, George Burns and Gracie Allen. It was a home away from home for influential families like the Rockefellers, Fords and Du­Ponts.

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