Defunct Stores and Active Waterparks

 In episode 90 of I Hate Talking, the hosts welcome new listeners for the new year with a quick refresher on their show’s format—each episode features a word or phrase of the week, its definition and etymology, and a real-life discussion it inspires. This time, the word is “defunct”, meaning something that no longer exists or functions. The conversation begins with the closure of all 99¢ Only Stores in 2024 and moves into the history of the term, tracing it from Latin roots meaning “to perform” and its later English use meaning “deceased” or “obsolete.” They even touch on how it’s often confused with “debunked,” clearing up the difference and laughing about spelling mix-ups like “defunk.”

From there, the episode transitions into something far from defunct—family fun at Great Wolf Lodge. The hosts share a detailed review of their visit: the indoor water park, slides, wave pool, and lazy river all live up to the hype; however, the optional MagiQuest adventure earns mixed reviews for being expensive, time-consuming, and easy to reset by mistake. They also discuss budgeting tips, DoorDash dinners over pricey resort food, and the joy of wolf-ear souvenirs.

Keywords: defunct, word meaning, etymology, 99¢ Only Stores closure, Latin roots, Great Wolf Lodge review, indoor water park, MagiQuest, DoorDash travel hacks, family travel, vacation reviews, I Hate Talking podcast.

Transcript

I Hate Talking: 0:29

Welcome to episode 90 of I Hate Talking. Hi everyone. So, we've been getting some new listeners and it's the new year, so I suppose it's a good time just to recap our format because maybe you're a brand new listener and you have no idea sort of how the flow of the show goes. Or it's just the new year and the holidays make you all wonky. And it's a good reminder for all of us, me included. So you're saying they forgot what the flow of the show? Well, maybe we did too because we do have it posted on our in our studio here. So we do it to make sure we hit all the points that we normally do. So typically we'll have our intro and then we will have a word or phrase of the episode where we discuss the definition etymology. And history of a particular word that we find interesting or has been used in recent times within our own conversations and that could be a phrase as well. So it could be a number of words grouped together in a Certain order That we talk about, OK, and that is the definition of a phrase. Yes, and then usually we'll do a topic related in some form or fashion to that particular word. Uh, sometimes it will just go in a completely different direction. It's really up to us because we're the hosts. Yeah, I love that. And then we usually have a call to action. Most episodes, try not to wear out that too much because I think as a podcast listener, I personally sometimes tire from that when it's like the exact same phrasing or people on repeat asking for likes and subscriptions and Shares and all that. So we do that every once in a while just as a reminder that you can like share and subscribe or share it with other people and it's helpful even just to share it with just one other person if you enjoy this episode or any other episode. So that is the format of our show for the most part, and we, I think, do a pretty good job sticking to that. Yeah, so you wanna get started? I suppose so. We can jump right into our word or phrase of the episode, and that word is the word defunct. OK, defunct. Yes, do you remember how this came up? No, not at all. Oh, we were looking for white elephant gifts for Christmas. And attempting to do that at a variety of different places like thrift stores. I think we tried a Dollar Tree and attempted, at least I did, a 99 cents store, but the 99 cents store was defunct. Oh yes, OK. Now you recall the situation. No, but I do remember that you went there and there, uh, there's no more 99 cent stores, right? They're all gone. I guess there may be one left. Maybe we'll do some extra research on this episode and see if there is indeed any more 99 cent stores that are not defunct. OK. And then you use a phrase, -- or did one of the children that -- were with you? No, I said 99 cent store is defunct, and you're like, what is that? What does defunct mean? Oh, OK. Well, teach me because I don't, -- you -- still, you still don't know. My brain's a little mushy after all the holidays and sugar. So Without looking it up and maybe getting into a little bit of the etymology, I would say that the word defunct is basically something that is no longer doing its function. So it's not processing something, it's not working, it is no longer doing what it's designed to do. And I think probably if I had to guess, the etymology has something to do with the root word that also Informs the word function. OK, but I don't disagree with that. That makes sense and that would be similar to my guess, except that's not, you don't spell it like function, right? I think you do. -- I -- suppose we'll look. OK, so can I tell you how I'd spell it? OK. I also remember y'all, I ain't a good speller. OK, defunct, D E F U N K. No, no. Where do you live? Russia or something? Using yours? Defunc. No, defunct. OK, -- how do you spell it -- then? Cause, well, I spell it the correct way. D E F U N C T, -- I would be see if my autocorrect lets me spell it -- that way. It will not. Or if it does, it will underline it and say this is incorrect, and I had no idea what you meant. Oh yeah, it changes it to defund, right. Which is odd because the K and the D aren't next to each other, but nonetheless. OK, so defunct. How do you spell it in real life? D E F U N C T. OK, yeah, like function. OK. All right, -- I'm following -- now. So, the definition according to our favorite Oxford language dictionary is no longer existing or functioning. So there you go. One single adjective definition. So the suffixd means not. Correct. So not functioning. Not functioning, quite literally, yes, so. Exactly that from the Latin origins. So in terms of the etymology, D being the negative. Fungi for perform. That became then used as fungi, which is to be carried out or finished and then defunct, which means dead and then Uh My brain's making a lot of connections that don't seem to be lining up. I don't think so. And then. In the mid-sixteenth century in the English, it basically meant deceased. It makes sense. The story is deceased, no longer. But in the modern English, it would be a little bit more broadly used term where it is just something that no longer exists or no longer functions. OK, am I way off by thinking that you could also use it in terms of proving something wrong? Like his theory was defunct, right? That's a word. That's a phrase people use. Or we can Google that particular phrase. Are you maybe thinking that his theory was debunked? I probably. Defunct, yeah, I'm probably thinking of the latter. So apparently his theory was defunct or the theory was defunct is. A particular phrase that is used. Nice. And it basically means that the theory is obsolete, no longer valid, disproven, or superseded by a more modern, accurate explanation. There you go, see. So, yes, I think that the word defunct can be used in a variety of ways, right? It will be much more broad in its usage and definition than the mid-sixteenth century English where it just meant deceased. So that helps though with what you just read, that helps me because it makes sense because I was like, oh wait. Defunct. Like it's dead, it's no longer existing. But if you're saying like he had an idea. And then it was proven wrong. The idea is dead now. It is no longer alive or accurate. Yeah, see, there you go. So now I guess we'll check and see if all 99 cent stores are defunct because certainly the one that I tried to go to was. We have no, none near us. So it was where we were on vacation that we saw them. Side note, um, while we were on vacation, I was talking to a friend, and they said when they drive past a 99 cents store, they always slow down a little bit and like pay homage to it. That's why I think they're completely gone. It's because they made it sound like they're so sad they're gone. So according to AI overview, there are no existing 99 cents stores. In anywhere, which I thought there was one more or one left essentially. Somewhere in California, but I guess that is probably not true. So the entire chain of 371 locations. California, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas were closed down in 2024. And they were only there. Now some other companies acquired leases for at least 170 of these particular locations and reopened them under a different brand name. OK, so you did not grow up with 99 cent stores then. No, I did not. On the East Coast, that was not a thing. We had Ollie. Ollie's was the big thing on the East Coast. Oh my goodness, -- I love a good Ollie's -- and I hate it. I always sit in the car and wait for you because I get so stressed in Ollie's. I don't know. I, yeah, it's enjoyable. It reminds me of my childhood. Yard sales, auctions, and ollies. -- That's where we got all -- the sales and auctions also stressed me out. No, that's where you get all the good stuff cheap. Yeah, no, I agree. And if you have the time and energy to put into it, I just see all the items, and it's just, I get so overwhelmed and stressed out and want to leave. Yeah, I don't. No, I, that's fine. I sit in the car and you can go through all the bins and we're all happy indeed. Almost makes me want to go visit Ollie's right now. Do we have one near us? I don't know. I think, I feel like we do. I don't know. -- I've never I -- mean within driving distance, I think probably. So Certainly, a number of businesses or different things have become defunct over the years. So there may be a water park or a theme park or stores and businesses that have become defunct, but certainly one thing that is not defunct, at least as of right now, is the Great Wolf Lodge. Oh yeah, that was one of our best vacations we've had this year. Or last year, I guess, right? We're in the new year now. That's right. Oh man, we have one kid that is beating that with a debt, that horse, wait, what's the term, beating the horse the stick. Now I don't even know myself beating the dead horse, beating the dead horse, yes. New, new word or phrase for next time. Everything he does, everyone he sees, he's like, I haven't seen you since last year, and things like that. It's, it's fun. Doesn't get old for him. There you go. So yes, so last year. One of our favorite little getaways was the Great Wolf Lodge. That's true. So I think what we'll do for this episode and for perhaps a few episodes in the future, do some reviews, as it were, of some different locations or venues that we've visited over the last year or so and just talk about those and Keep them alive because the more one talks about them, the more 1 may be interested in going to it or you will learn something that it's worth avoiding and maybe they will be defunct in the future. Yeah, perfect. All right, so there are multiple roof lodges. So we did go there, I guess this was in the Summerish time, so it wasn't OK, yeah, so it wasn't like extremely cold out, but it wasn't hot either so it would have been rough. um, the outdoors was closed. That's true. The outdoor pools, it had been too cold for that, right, but that's sort of their thing is like the indoor portion of it, right, is like this is open year round and you can go to the indoor water park. So I think that is something that makes that special. Is there really any other Particular franchise that has indoor water parks as like a chain. Yeah, I mean, oh, franchise, maybe not. There definitely are others. Right, -- but it's not a chain -- like Pigeon Forge has that big one. Um, there's one in, uh, Arizona, but yeah, no, not, I think Great Wolf is like a nationwide chain that's fairly similar. I think they definitely have differences, place to place, but the key things you can expect to be the same. Yes. Now, when we booked it, it was kind of a spur of the moment. We got a flash deal midweek sale, and I was like, I've never been, let's, we should do this. And for a family our size. You know, having the water park included with the guest room. It's ended up being a great deal. What I didn't realize because we never looked it up before, was how expensive it can be. Because people were shocked we were going. I was like, what? No, like it's crazy cheap, but it was cause of that really good sale. Like once in a while they'll have like 40% off or such deals. And so that's what we got and that's why it was a great deal for us. If you're just going, especially on a weekend, just full price, I think it's pretty high. Right. Or I guess there's some people that like make this their vacation for like an entire week or longer, and this is sort of what they do for that entire time, or at least a good portion of the time and maybe see some other things around the area, touristy type attractions and things, but this is like the core thing that they are doing their vacation around, and that would be very expensive if you're doing 7 to 10 days and if you're eating on campus and such. That's true, yeah. Because they do have a ton of food options there. Right, but it's not exactly cheap -- food -- options. No, we DoorDashed food. It was much cheaper and it was good food. We got it in like 30 minutes and well, we weren't the only ones. There's like multiple delivery drivers, so they probably know that address pretty well. Yes, but yeah, DoorDash was a great option for us. That's true. So we did do a lot of the water park activities. So the one that we were at a lazy river where you could sort of float around in the circular pool shaped thing on a tube or sort of just float in the water. There weren't a ton of rules or structure around that. And then they had the wave pool, so that was exciting for a number of our kids. And it had sort of like the playground area where it had water streams that you could shoot at people on the lazy river or dump buckets of water and so on and so forth. And it had a very large bucket that would accumulate with water and then dump on playground and sort of drench everyone that was around that particular area. And then the slides, I guess that was the other. Yeah, there were a lot of, there was also a toddler area we didn't do, but yes, there was a little area for young kids. That's true. We try to stay as far away from that as we could. But there were multiple slides. And I think that was our kids' favorite thing overall. Was it your favorite? Yeah, that's probably the favorite for me as well. It was also. Exciting and also slightly odd that some of our kids, or many of our kids in fact, could even do the slides because typically the last time that we've been at a water park per se, they're either too small or, you know, not comfortable doing the larger activities, but for this particular vacation they had the confidence to do it and the height requirement and Did it Very well and enjoyed it and it was a weird moment -- as a father I -- suppose. Yeah, I mean it was very different the last time we stayed at somewhere like this we had uh went with my parents and part of the reason was so they could watch the kids so we could do the slides. Our youngest couldn't even sit up at that point. And our oldest was too short for most. He did go on a couple of the rides then, but was too short for most of them. So they just watched our kids while we did the rides. So this time we got to go as a family or take turns parent and kid or kid and kid. Yeah, well, I think the Number of slides, right, were done as a group. So they did have a Single rider, double rider, tube slide, or I guess two different varieties of that. And then they had like a group. One where there's like 5 or 6 people that sit on a very large inner tube and slide down that, right, yeah, the 5 was the max 5 was the max because I sat out for that one you'd go with the kids, correct and then the ones that were extreme are the ones that are just Going down the slide and those are extremely steep and the one. is where it drops you basically you go in the tube and you, yeah, the floor drops out from beneath you and you're in freefall for a few seconds. We had kids that did that one and that stressed me beyond belief, but I knew like I trusted it was safe, but I. Oh, it was hard to let them go up there and wait for them to drop. Now, did you do either of those? No, do you want to know how lame I am? Guess how many slides I did? Well, you definitely did the inner tube ones. Was that it? I did an inner tube. -- You -- only did one. I just did one with one of our kids, one of the double riders, because they all wanted to go together and wanted to go with you. So mostly I let them do that and I just was really stressed out. I, I think I'm getting scared of heights. I never used to be, but when I'm with my children. I'm scared of heights. And um I don't know why when I'm by myself, I'm OK or just with you. But I guess I feel like I can't control, like I'm scared for them. So I only went on one, and I was happy to take pictures, and Watch everybody the rest of the time. That's true. So I went on all of them at least once, many of them several times. And I thought it was interesting to note, and maybe our listeners would like to know this if they ever find themselves at a Great Wolf Lodge with two different slides where you don't use any inner tube of any kind, is that the one that is the one that drops you into freefall is actually tamer than the other one. And I was surprised that our smaller child that did the one that looked tamer because you're not going into freefall immediately at the start. Enjoyed it as much as he did because it was actually quite a bit more chaotic because it kind of just jerks you around more, right? It's less steep, -- but it is more twisty turny type thing -- that makes sense because the one is higher and it just drops so steep and then you're done where the other one, kind of jerks you around back and forth more, right, right. Yeah, um, I think that one y'all got kind of cut up on, right? You, your backs were not cut, but like rug burns. Your back, your back and one of our other kids' backs were really red and sore, right? Mm That was not where I was sore at, but. I don't recall. I do. Well, I do, your back was that the ride or a different ride that your back was really red? Yeah, it must have been that one. I don't know. That wasn't bruised and it didn't even hurt. It was, I guess, probably just like you said, maybe a little bit of abrasion from the friction or water of the slide, but it did not really cause any pain per se. So, so those are all the different things for the water park, right? So I think that pretty much covers sort of all the amenities within the water park. And there are a lot of different restaurants with a lot of different themes, but all very expensive, so that was why we opted for DoorDash. And then I guess we were all in a suite, is that right? So we all had sort of like multiple beds and everything like that for our sleeping arrangements. Yeah, we had the kids had their section and it kind of looked like they were in a cave, so that was really cool. They had like bunk beds. In a little, it was the same room but they kind of built out the sides so it looked almost like -- a secondary room -- right and there's like a wall-mounted TV in that sort of they got their own TV in their little cave. And then we had a couch in our bed in the bigger area. That's true. And then we also did like magic wand tour which this -- so everything up to this point I think -- recommend it. The wand magic wand thing not ever again. I could see how like it would be fun. If you did it in like little chunks, like if you were really there for a week, you could do like 30 minutes here, 30 minutes there, but It's sort of a grind. Yeah, so we were only there, um, so a perk of Great Wolf Lodge, as far as my understanding goes, is when you buy a night, we, we're only there for one night, but you can go. From the start of the day, I think the pools open at 10 a.m. and we got there pretty soon after that. And then you can spend that whole day, check into your room, sleep, and then you get it the next day when you check out. There the whole time. So we got 2 entire days at the pools. Spending one night, so that is a definite perk. But saying that, we got the magic wands, the magi, the magi quest. And we did a quick research about it and didn't realize how much it would entail. And I don't know how you can do it, and there's no way you can do it in a day, right? I mean if it's like the only thing that you do, you might be able to with like the exact routes that you have to go find all these things because for those that don't know, basically you have this magic wand and it will activate certain features within the hotel lobby hotel and amenities and everything like that so you scan your wand essentially that has some sort of IR signal and it activates the particular thing within the system and that tracks your progress because it is a particular IR code that is tied to your wand and account and you have to like collect a gold bar from the food court. And then you have to take the gold bar to the troll, and then that's at the other end of the hotel, and then you have to gather the five crystals that are all different places within the hotel, and you have to do this in order, and you have to do it in order, so you're like going back and forth, back and forth because they don't make it like in sequence. It's like -- skipping around because they want -- you, I bet they want you to see the whole hotel, right? Like while you're over there you're gonna get some french fries and then over here you're gonna play skee ball or whatever. Right? They're trying. That's why it's not in sequence. They want you to circle the whole place. I guess so, but it became a bit much, especially when trying to do it in an entire day. So we did, I think like one of the quests, like the 5 gem quest. And then it's very easy to reset your progress. Like, like you can scan this thing and if you're on a different quest, so you're like you're trying to do the five crystal quest, and then you accidentally scan a different quest feature item thing and it says, would you like to start this different quest? And it's like. So easy to hit yes instead of no because you're like trying to do this with your wand thing or like a touch screen that half works and then you -- lose all progress on your previous -- list. That's what's different is because it made sense. I think I encouraged a kid to do it. I'm like, oh yeah, let's do this one while we're going. I thought you could do them both or maybe you do this one and it pauses the other one or something, but no, you lose all your progress and that was really frustrating. And you have to take time. So we have multiple kids, they all had wands, and if one waved it, then you had to let the whole thing reset before the second one does it. That's true. If they both waive it at the same time, only one person got the points for it, right. And then I guess there were mini games. We did one of the mini games. Like if you get to a certain progress within the quest, then there are like other things to do besides just walk around and scan different things. So we did at least make it to one of the mini games, but I guess those are more progressive in nature, so like the more you do, the more fun the more interactive the games are. We did, yeah, we've watched some people do some of the bigger ones and they do look fun, but this is, yeah, this is why you'd have to go for a whole week or something, spend an entire day or several days because you can do it the entire length of your stay. So when you're only there for one night. You just get that 24 hours or 48 hours or whatever to do it. But if you're there for that a whole week, then you can because our progress isn't saved. If we go back we have to start from the beginning. We have the wands. I think you have to pay for it all over again too. Well, we have the wands, so I don't think we have to have to pay for the wands, but you do pay for the game, yes, so I felt bad because our kids didn't understand. I didn't understand when we booked it because they have a whole ceremony too, like a knighting ceremony. And they really wanted to do the knighting ceremony. But man, we were not even close to earning that. No, we were not. So, um. I would not try it again unless we're there for multiple days. I don't even know if I would attempt to dig in at that point. I was trying to YouTube people's while we were there because I was so trying to get like a walkthrough guide for how to do this. Yes, like, tell me where to go, and it even that wasn't working and helping much. I don't know, maybe they cut it out, like, maybe they scan YouTube and don't let them post it. I'm not sure. Or maybe people just don't like it and they don't bother recording it. Or the YouTube video would be like 8 hours long, and that's just too much. But I mean, the wand is cool. It is fun that you can do stuff like, most of the things we ended up doing was you walk down the hallway and you wave your wand, and it makes the picture change or interact with you. So if you're having that attitude, like, oh, that's cool, that's fine. If your goal is to become a knight or whatever they call it, you have to invest days. So it would seem, yes. So that is our review of Great Wolf Lodge and all the indoor water park amenities and food and the magi quest. Yeah, I mean they have other stuff too we didn't do. They have like a ropes course. That's true. The kids want to do, but we said no. We did the magic quest instead because everything is. Basically, a la carte, a la carte, yes, -- I -- mean, yeah, evenings parking was a la carte. You had to pay. You did well, yeah, yeah, -- it's all -- a la carte, but yeah, there are packages you can get and there's food packages and all that, but we just paid for us, like I said before, we got the boat, the deal. Midweek and for 6 people. Staying at that price was like the typical price. I feel like we stay for 6 people in a hotel. So, adding a water park onto it seemed like an amazing deal for me. That's true. If you're adding all those extra things on or you think of the price of the wands we bought and the magi Quest game and all that, you know, then it adds up big time. That's true. Would not do the Magic Quest ever again. So would you, but would you go to Great Wolf? Yeah, I would go to Great Wolf and not do the Magic Quest and Would you eat there or would you DoorDash again? Yeah, a DoorDash if that's available and convenient, I think, I mean, we had like a snack at one of the food court things, but so I think the DoorDash is a better option. And then, yeah, the water park, that's, I mean, the main attraction, so that's why you go there. Oh, and they give you ears too, the wolf ears. That was really fun. We had one kid that was so into that. That's true. That's the best perk of all, and they were free. That was like the one thing that was free. Yeah, well, there you go. We will review some other venue next time. Do we know what it is? We do not. So you will have to come back and find out next time what we talk about in terms of our short series on reviews of things that we've done in 2025, but that, I guess so concludes our Great Wolf Lodge review. Sounds good. So from your friends at I Hate Talking, until next time, remember, it is only through talking that we begin the journey to understanding.