10 Day Trip Report - Aulani and Grand Wailea (Maui)

[jagron11]

Garcia Family Vacation 2019 - Hawaii Trip Report


Cast of Characters:

Me - Dad, Dear Husband, Bank, Chief Planning Officer

DW - Dear Wife, Mom

J1 - Dear Son, 11 yo

J2 - Dear Son, 9 yo

J3 - Dear Son, 7 yo

J4 - Dear Daughter, 5 yo

NN - Nana, joining us halfway through the trip in Maui

GP - Grandpa, joining us with Nana


Itinerary

Day 0 - Last day of school, pick up kids, head to airport fly from Dallas to LA. Stay 1 night

Day 1 - LAX to Honolulu. Check - in Aulani

Day 2 - Aulani Pool Day - Cabana

Day 3 - Me/DW Spa Morning - Pool - Photo session - Character Dinner

Day 4 - Explore Oahu - Pearl Harbor

Day 5 - Aulani Pool/Beach Day

Day 6 - Check-out Aulani - Fly to Maui - Check-in Grand Wailea

Day 7 - Grand Wailea Pool Day - Luau

Day 8 - Molokini Snorkel Tour - Lahaina

Day 9 - Grand Wailea Beach/Pool Day

Day 10 - Beach Pool Day

Day 11 - Beach Lahaina - Red eye back to Dallas

This was a big trip many months (maybe years) in planning. J1 has wanted to go to Hawaii for vacation dating back to when we lived in San Diego, when the travel would have been much easier. Timing and finances just worked better now, and we knew a trip this far was going to require some saving and some planning.

Hope you enjoy this series of trip reports. I am writing this as the trip goes. I’m an early bird, and with the time change I am up very early, so taking advantage of the living room and typing this up as I go. Don’t know that I will post while we’re on vacation, but going to try and document daily.

 

[jagron11]

Day 0 - Let the journey begin

Today was the kids last day of school. It was a half day, so we sent them as it gave DW and I a chance to finish all the packing. Car service was picking us up at 3 for a 5:25 flight out of Dallas Love field. Everything went according to plan and we were at the gate about 1 hour before take off. Flight left on time and we were en route.

My brother caught wind we were spending the night in LA, where he lives, and he was dying to see his nephews and niece. He’s single, no kids, 8 years younger than me, and he adores his nephews and nieces. Once he caught wind we were coming we worked out for him to visit us at our hotel.

Once we landed landed in LAX we deplaned, used the facilities, and picked up our luggage. Note we are NOT packing light. We each have a checked luggage and a backpack, except for me, I have two backpacks lugging all the electronics gear. (DSLR (4 lenses), Laptop, ipad, chargers, speaker for room, go-pro). Seriously my two carry-ons weigh more than my checked luggage.

So we have our luggage and call the hotel, Embassy Suites, and they send the shuttle. Wait 20 minutes for the shuttle, meanwhile Uncle J is getting us some burritos and tacos from a favorite Mexican hole-in the wall near the airport.

Little side story, we’re native Southern Californians, growing up in LA/OC area, moving to Carlsbad (San Diego area) post graduation and where we started our family. 3 years ago we relocated to the Dallas area for my work. It’s been a good move, made some great friends, DW is able to stay home with the kids, and we can afford trips like this! BUT there’s something to be said for 1) weather and 2) Mexican food. Not that Tex-Mex is bad, but it’s just not what I’m used to. So at any chance when back in CA we get good Mexican food, and there are two areas where there’s such a big difference - Tacos, which are on corn tortillas, especially street tacos; and Burritos which are basically non-existent in Tex. Ok - end Mexican food turf wars diatribe. See said burrito (note this is smothered in sauce so there maybe some purists who say I’ve strayed, but it was DAMN good!)


So, Uncle J wanted to surprise the kids, so we didn’t tell them. I submitted our order to “Uber Eats” and he was going to meet us with the food at the hotel. Timing was perfect, he arrived as we were dropping off our bags in the room. We went back down to the lobby and ate dinner at a large table just outside the bar where we were able to get “refreshments”. Kids were excited to see their Uncle J. And gotta love kids, as we’re eating J3 says “Wow Uncle J, you work for Uber Eats?” We had a good laugh about that one.

We said our goodbyes, and headed up to bed. It was late for us and we had to be up bright and early for the REAL start to our vacation.

[Additional Note for those asking about cutting trip from midwest/east coast. This is how we did it, primarily to make the FF miles work. In hindsight, since there is a direct from Dallas to Hawaii, we will likely take that flight next time. Nothing wrong with this, and staying at the Embassy Suites was quite easy, with the shuttle and proximity, was great, but with movies and iPads, the flight actually wasn't that bad.]

 

[jagron11]

Day 1 - Let’s Do This!

Great thing about Embassy Suites are their breakfasts. Tons of variety, omelet bar. But we had an early flight. Luckily the flight time moved back 30 mins, and that gave us just enough time to get a quick bite in. We were down right at 6am with all our stuff. Ate and was in time for the 6:30 am shuttle. I travel quite a bit for work, and had some serious international trips this past year, (which FF miles covered my entire family for this trip) which means I’ve also got status. So between the status and TSA Precheck, we were sitting at the gate at 7am (remember the shuttle left the Embassy Suites at 6:30 am.

After a quick chair massage for DW, and some new headphones for J1 and J4 who packed faulty ones, we were off!!!

(J3 sported this backpack for the trip...no way all my stuff was fitting in it!)

Six hours, and a few movies, later we landed in Honolulu early. Got our luggage very easily and boarded the tram for the Alamo rental car lot. Note, we rented our mini van through Costco, and saved quite a bit…but I didn’t realize Alamo was one of the companies that was off property and we had to take a tram. I didn’t like it, but guess it was ok in the end. Fortunately we beat this MASSIVE crowd off our bus and a bus right after us, and walked right up to the counter. Got our Chrysler mini van, loaded it up and we were off!!! 30 short minutes and we were pulling in to Ko Olina.


Pulled up and the valet and bell men were very helpful. I checked in online so I didn’t even have to go to the front desk. There was a nice CM at a laptop right in the drive who was able to give me my keys, parking pass, etc. Unfortunately the room was not ready (we arrived around 12:15). Now as I was dealing with the bell man, the fam took off, and got their lei and menehune necklaces, and I wasn’t there to see (or photograph it) :-( But I did get some pics overlooking the pools.




Family was famished. J1 was jockeying for subway near the rental car site, but I was able to hold them off. We ended up at Ama Ama for lunch. It was pricey, but it was very good. Service was great, not rushed, and they gave us a huge table with unimpeded view of the ocean. DW was in heaven. She really misses seeing the ocean every day, from when we lived in Carlsbad.




DW and I each both had the Poke bowl, which was quite different than the trendy Poke bowls we get back home. (which we also love btw). This was much simpler, but you could really discern the different tastes between the Ahi, Salmon, and the real crab (with a “C”) salad. We both really enjoyed the bowls. And kids loved them two, however I don’t know that I am going to let them trade Kid Meal price entrees for the Poke bowl entree price. Luckily the kids meals come with a sundae so that will be the enticement to stay on the kids menu.



After lunch, we finished registering them for Aunty’s Beach House and did a quick tour. I was relieved when J1 asked if they could stay. We didn’t let them, as they had all their backpacks and stuff, but in hindsight maybe we should have let them.

We continued to explore while we waited for our room to become available. Checked out the Pau Hana room, lobby, the various restaurant locations. Kids were dying to go to the pool and beach. We did not pack our swimsuits in our carry-ons. Kind of by design, still don’t know if I’d do it that way again. After a long flight, not sure fighting them at the pool, trying to find lounge chairs, etc. was what we wanted to be doing.

DW had a bad headache, so we headed to the Ulu Cafe for some water. I needed something stronger, but alas, I was good. All the kids were in “I want” mode, Dole Whips, Shave Ice, still hungry, mickey bars, everything and anything they wanted. They were wanting to blow out the Bank of Dad on the first day! This is where some first bit of magic stepped in. Since it was our first visit, and technically our Welcome Home visit as well, the CM checking me in gave us buttons that we all put on. The CM at the register at Ulu asked what we were celebrating, and we said vacation and first time to Aulani. He said welcome and asked if we wanted some Dole Whips on Mickey. Hot Damn! Heck yes we did. So he brought two HUGE vanilla pineapple swirls. Kids were loving it. DW downed her water, which helped, dehydration was probably the culprit. As we were wrapping up, we got “the Text” our room was READY!!!

We got room 1681. Dedicated 2br, Ewa tower. Top floor, very last one facing the “Garden/Island” but we got some good OCEAN too! Our request came through. We even got to see some of the luau, albeit high up.



As we perused the room, kids rested, got online. DW rested. And I headed off to Costco for our food for the room. Picked up a Costco Pizza and headed back. Once arriving, had bell hops help and they were awesome. They had these plastic bins that they put all the groceries in and were able to stack easily on their carts. Very well prepared, very impressed.

Dinner in the room, some definite irritability and tiredness. But we let them suit up and head to the pool. They had about an hour at the pool while DW and I lounged and watched. We then headed back up to the room for showers, and a lanai view of the finale of the luau. Seems like a good show. But we will be doing ours with NN and GP in Maui.

Lights out…at 8:45pm. Seriously?

(Side note: I’m writing this in the wee early morning hours of day 2. J3 came out, just him, and we went out on the lanai to watch the sun rise. He took one of the small point and shoot cameras and was taking pics on the balcony. Just him and I. One thing I’m really loving about this trip so far, is I am getting some one on one time with the kids at various points, that I normally don’t. These 30 minutes in the morning on the balcony just him and I, was pretty special.)

 

[denecarter]

Enjoying your report. Two quick things.

1) TSA PreCheck
2) I totally get the regional “Mexican” food thing. I’m a Tex-Mex girl from birth. I can appreciate Cali-Mex & New Mex-Mex. With authentic Mex-Mex, I prefer Coastal (think Mayan). It is a bit of a game now, trying the different versions. I can tell you that I don’t like Florida-Mex, Iowa-Mex, or Canadian-Mex. Missed my chance to try Indian-Mex, probably a stroke of good luck.

Looking forward to more of your report!

 

[sophy1996]

Thanks for the report! Will enjoy following along. (And a very nice family picture in the first post!)

 

[jhoannam]

Following along!

 

[jagron11]

Thanks for the report! Will enjoy following along. (And a very nice family picture in the first post!)

Thank you! We did the photo session with a photo pass photographer and this is actually the picture he took with MY camera after the session was over. Great photographer and overall cast member. Ask for AJ.

 

[minniebeth]

Following! Looks like a great start to a wonderful vacation! Your family is beautiful! So nice to have some one on one time with kiddos!

 

[dachsie]

Enjoying your report. I am definitely asking for one of those buttons! lol

 

[five_mouseketeers]

Thanks for your report so far!! Following along . We’ll be there in a couple weeks! Beautiful family photo, we have almost the same family minus one boy in the middle . Couple questions if you don’t mind....
I think we have the same room category (dedicated 2 bedroom, island view). What exactly did you request? We’d love to have a similar view. Also, what type of camera/lenses do you have? Did you edit coloring of any photos posted or is the coloring natural? Thanks in advance!! Hope you are having a magical vacation!

 

[jagron11]

I think we have the same room category (dedicated 2 bedroom, island view). What exactly did you request? We’d love to have a similar view.

Correct, we booked dedicated 2br island view. I used the tables from disboards. Didn’t realize it just until now, but I think we were technically upgraded to an Oceanview Which being on the very top floor we did have a great view of the ocean to the north. We requested Ewa building, any rooms ending in 75, 81, or 87, high floors.

Also, what type of camera/lenses do you have? Did you edit coloring of any photos posted or is the coloring natural? Thanks in advance!! Hope you are having a magical vacation!

I have a Canon 5d Mark iv. Most of the shots were with a Tamron 24-70 2.8. (Including the family shot at beach). Most beach action shots (you’ll see later) were with a rented canon 70-200 2.8L iii. The only shot I really edited in Lightroom was the family shot on the beach. All others were the jpg right out of the camera.

And lastly, we did have a magical vacation, but we are home now. Back to the grind. 6 baseball games in 5days.

 

[OKW Lover]

Enjoying your report thus far. Didn't notice the dates you were there but its possible we were there at the same time. Your family picture in the first post looks familiar, and I'm sure I saw that back-pack but of course there are a lot of them out there. We were there 5/22 - 6/11.

 

[jagron11]

Enjoying your report thus far. Didn't notice the dates you were there but its possible we were there at the same time. Your family picture in the first post looks familiar, and I'm sure I saw that back-pack but of course there are a lot of them out there. We were there 5/22 - 6/11.

We definitely overlapped. We were at Aulani from 5/31 to 6/5

 

[jagron11]

Day 2 Cabana Pool Day

Woke up super early, due to time change. Needed to get some additional groceries for the room and some coffee for DW. Walked over to Island Country Market. Also had my first Spam Musubi, which I did enjoy.

Short write-up today, as I was way too tired by the end of the day to do the write-up justice. Actually I couldn’t function and was asleep at 7:30 pm. So here we go.

Got down about 8:45 to check-in for our cabana. It was in a great location overlooking the infinity pool. Kids had a blast running back and forth from pool to pool, lazy river to waterslides. I underestimated how much they loved the beach. They probably spent 3 hours at the beach…while I took a nap. It was glorious.





I read somewhere, maybe on this board, complaining about the cabanas and the service. I absolutely disagree and had a wonderful experience. Now some things to be cognizant of, the service doesn’t start until 11am, but promptly at 11 our server was there to get our first drink and food order. She came by numerous times throughout the day, to check in on us. She even brought us the extra fruit platter when our neighbors never showed up.

I had so much fun hanging out with the kids. Loved the lazy river. The raft slide was fun. One quick note, they actually have Photo Pass photographers in the pool and lazy river with GoPros, we got cool pictures around the pool.




We then grabbed a couple movies at the Pau Hana room and headed up for dinner in our room. We had left over Costco Pizza and Costco Sushi. J1 has really taken to Poke and he’s eating it whenever we can get it, and the Costco version is pretty darn good.

Kids started the movie, and I went to bed.

 

[jagron11]

DAY 3 - Laniwai and More



We went pretty hard on Cabana Pool Day. We stayed 8 hours down in the pool area and at the beach. It was a lot of sun for the whole crew. It was always planned that Day 3 would be DW’s spa day, but we ended up not doing any pool/beach time, which upset the kids a bit, but worked for the better overall.

On this morning, I was up early, but was able to go back to sleep, and slept in pretty well. DW liked to point out I slept over 12 hours! What helped pay for a big part of this trip was the significant travel I’ve been doing for the last 18 months, including many Europe and Asia trips, so I was seriously catching up on lost time.

The plan for the day was to get the kids checked in to Aunty’s at 9:30, DW and I to venture over to the spa for DW treatment, and then head to the beach for some play time. Back to the room to get ready for pictures on the beach, followed by character dinner at Makahiki. We ended up skipping beach play time, which was the right call.

Kids did Aunty’s from 9:30 until we picked them up at 1:30. We payed for them to have lunch as well. Note you do have to reserve lunch and there are limited spots. I didn’t realize this, and had slight panic when they said “Let us check if there are any spots left” But there were. So for those with kids following, Aunty’s opens at 8 for “Open House” meaning you can’t drop kids off but you can stay and play. That is also when you sign them up for meals, or paid activities (we didn’t do the latter so can’t comment). 9:30 is the earliest you can drop kids off. So their meal was hamburgers, corn on the cob, pasta salad, and fruit. They said it was ok. J1 wasn’t to amused, unfortunately there were no kids his age, so it was a bit boring for him. He would have rather been at the beach.



As for us and the spa….HEAVEN. To be honest, I’m not a huge spa guy, well I’m not a massage guy. I just don’t get comfortable enough to enjoy, and I’m not tense enough that I need the treatment aspect. But I do love gardens, sauna’s and plunge pools/showers, which this place really checked off. Now DW, she LOVES massages, and truly needs them; her comment from the masseuse was “Oh great, you’re so broken, I’m really going to get to work out your knots.” So here’s where being a blue card member really helped. Usually you can only enjoy the spa facilities and plunge pool garden ( I know it has a name but I’m too lazy to look it up right now) if you are getting a treatment, which the cheapest I believe is in the $180 realm. But they have a DVC member add-on package where one person can accompany a member getting a service and use the facilities for $69. SOLD! And there was a DVC add-on package for the massage, so my wife got an 80 minute massage for a slight discount compared to Rack rate. DW thoroughly enjoyed the massage, I thoroughly enjoyed the garden. I fell asleep numerous times to the chirping birds and soothing sounds of rushing water. I absolutely loved our time there. Probably number 1 spa experience for me. DW said her massage tied her favorite which was at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.



Afterwards we grabbed lunch got the kids and fought them back to our room. Because we broke the news to them that we were skipping sun for the rest of the day. We knew we had beach pictures with a Disney Photographer at 5 (note not the sunset package) and character dinner at Makahiki at 7. This would be the latest any of us would stay out so far. And of course kids fought us on napping, with J1 and J4 falling asleep, 1 hour before we needed to leave….and they weren’t dressed. Well everyone got put together and we headed for out beach photo session. AJ our photographer was awesome. So I don’t think I mentioned this on Cabana day, but they actually have Photo Pass photographers in the lazy river, and in the pools with GoPros to take photos while in the water. Pretty awesome if you ask me. Well on our first day in the water we met this awesome photographer and he told us about everything. We talked shop a bit as I am a photo hobbyist. I may have mentioned we were doing a photo shoot, but can’t remember. Lo and behold who was our photographer on the beach session but AJ! Coincidence? Disney Magic? Who knows. All in we had a great session. Also I had my camera with me because we were going for dinner right after, well he asked if we wanted some with our camera, and he got some GREAT shots. Note I shoot Canon, and he does to on his personal time, but shhhh, Disney contracts with Nikon so they have to shoot Nikon at were. This was actually really cool, because the way it works is that you don’t pay until you buy the pictures, the cost of this sitting is only charged if you buy the pictures. So that’s a leap that his few amazing group shots he got with my camera wouldn’t suffice and I’d forego the pics, but that didn’t happen.







After we were done we had some time to kill so we went onto the patio of the Olelo room and listened to the live music while having some refreshments. Some light rain came through which was fun, but we really enjoyed just sitting on the deck. We could have stayed there all night. But we had the Character Dinner. Now my kids are NOT big character kids, which is kind of interesting because we go to Disney quite a bit. They love the moves the shows, music, all of it, but the characters they aren’t big fans. But my kids are FOODIES, which is a pain to my pocket book, but actually does make buffets a good buy for me, because they totally eschew the kids section. Getting into the meal was probably our biggest drag of the trip so far, and only real complaint. Our reservation was for the first time in the 3rd seating of the night, for summer they moved from 2 to 3 seatings, which totally messed up my plan with the photo session I booked 4 months ago! So they asked us to check in at 6:45, which we did, and quickly had our picture taken with Donald, then we were asked to wait in a small, stuffy corridor to have our Ohana name called to be seated. We didn’t get seated until 7:15, which was a long long 30 minutes. Back to my kids eating, J1 came back with a slab of Prime Rib, J2 and J3 with a plate full of sashimi, and J4 with a plate full of shrimp cocktail and crab legs. Seriously the only way I was able to stick it to the mouse, kids eating like adults at the kids price (which was still too much). We got our requisite character pictures and the kids even “participated” in the show (very reluctantly). One big NOTE about the Characters, these were the BEST character interactions we’ve EVER had at a character meal, which we’ve done at Disneyland, WDW, and 2 cruises. With a smaller venue, the characters were there the entire meal, coming by multiple times, and totally interacted with the kids. Pluto even got on all fours with J4 who loves dogs, and acting like one. So if your family or kids do like characters, this was a great experience!




Off to bed.

 

[jagron11]

Day 4 - Explore Oahu

So, after taking the beach away from the kids on Day 3, we decided to scratch our morning trip to the North Shore. That was really so I could get some souvenirs and try the shrimp trucks. But instead we were at the beach at 8 am and stayed until 11am. We had an amazing morning at the beach. It’s hard to tell, but I think the kids enjoy the beach more than all the pools, which causes quite a conundrum as to whether it makes sense to return to Aulani, because that’s quite a premium for the pools. (I still argue it’s the best lazy river I’ve been on.) So after a few hours at the pool we headed back to the room to change for Pearl Harbor, because we weren’t foregoing that. J1 was very interested in doing that.





Got all cleaned up and headed over to Monkeypod for lunch. Good lunch, not much better pricing wise than Aulani, or Ama Ama lunch, but that’s because all kids ordered off adult menu, except J4. Food was much better though.

Pearl Harbor. Was awe-inspiring, somber, quite a good experience. J1 and J2 did well, J3 was squirly, J4 was downright out of the target age. We did the headsets which was nice touch to get the audio elements throughout viewing the grounds. We then did the quick boat tour by the monument because it is closed for retrofitting. The movie was quite moving, and just the shock of what they experienced that day. I’m glad we took the time to head over and view the monument. Kids wanted to do the submarine and battleship Mo, but we told them we had to save some for next time. They need to be a little bit older to appreciate, particularly the younger 2.




Back to the Aulani, now this is late afternoon so Traffic. Uggh was there traffic, and to add insult to injury, a brush fire broke out along the road leading to the only way into Ko Olina. So we got to see Honolulu’s finest racing to battle the small blaze, which they did and had under control, but it set us back an hour or so. We were supposed to head back out to the pool, didn’t happen, and down for dinner, didn’t happen. We ordered pizza delivery from Corner Pizza. It was just OK, and was quite pricey. The delivery took forever, I should have walked over and picked it up myself, actually, I should driven back to Costco for 9.99 pizza is what I should have done. So, even with all the positive Yelp reviews, it garnered a strong Meh from our crew. Not horrible, but not great. In the grand scheme saved me half of what dinner in Olelo would have cost me, so there’s that.

Good night! Tomorrow’s our last real day at Aulani. Polled the kids, and got 1 beach, 1 pool and beach, and 1 pool, J4 was already asleep…..gonna be a great morning navigating that. But no real plans for tomorrow, so we will go with the flow.

 

[AMCSquared]

Enjoy your report so far. We are doing the almost exact reverse of your itinerary. We are at the 3rd day of Grand Wailea in Maui right now and will be flying over to Aulani for 6 more nights later. We are Aulani owners and this will be our 3rd trip to Aulani. It does feel much like "home" at Aulani. Glad it hasn't changed much since our last visit.

Hopefully you have a car in Maui because food at Grand Wailea will be spendy. There are lots more food choices at Kihei area (about 10-15 minutes north). Let Yelp be your guide, but we can at least recommend Kihei Caffe and Cafe O'Lei Kihei. Variation of Loco Moco is the best breakfast invention at Hawaii.

In case your kids are into seeing sea turtles (and didn't see them at the spot next door to Aulani). We can also recommend a small park around Kihei area. Kalepolepo Beach Park has a shallow seawall sheltered area where sea turtles like to rest at. We saw at least 6 at various time. Knee deep water with calm waves (don't let the picture fool you). One note of caution with waves at Grand Wailea, unlike Aulani, the waves are strong and high in the afternoon. Watch your younger ones.

 

[jagron11]

Day 5 Last day at Aulani

Woke up and ate our lite breakfast of bagels. Then headed to the beach. Oddly enough, kids seem to like the beach more than the pools (going to make selecting a resort next time, interesting). We got to the towel checkout booth for Members at about 8am, and there was a short line. Both people ahead of us were NOT the members on file, but they still held up the line and still got their towels, so don’t know what good the new “rules enforcement” is actually good for, maybe just the discounts. We got our towels and headed to the beach. There were maybe 10 seats reserved at the beach lounge chairs at this time, and we were able to get 4 lounge chairs with two under an umbrella in the front row facing the beach. MUCH easier to get beach lounge chairs. (note when we left at 11:30 there were still plenty of chairs open at the beach, including under umbrellas, just not front row…well except for ours that another family swooped in right away.)

We rented a SUP and paddled around the cover. J1 got to paddle board for the first time so that was cool. Kids LOVE getting the boogie boards throwing them along the break and riding them on their knees and standing. Kind of like a skim board. A couple of adults were successful as well…yours truly, not so much.



After a few hours at the beach the tribe was restless so we headed in for lunch. J3 and J4 wanted chicken tenders, J2 a Poke bowl, and J1 an Acai bowl so we split up and met back at some tables. DW and I both had Poke bowls as well. The Ulu Poke bowls are quite good.

After lunch J1 was tired and asked to go back to the room and shower/nap. Others wanted to stay at the pool. So we went looking for chairs. At 12:30pm there were ZERO chairs to be had on the pool deck. Zip, zilch, nada. I believe there’s a thread going on reserving chairs and having to plan. I didn’t find this a huge issue, I mean it was 12:30, prime pool time, and we were just arriving. Now if that’s how you roll, and you expect to find something, probably should go elsewhere, but I’d venture anywhere in Hawaii at prime pool time, will have the same results. So, the kids were amenable to getting a Shave Ice and heading back to the room for a short rest, which was a great idea given the sun. I ended up getting a nap, kids watched some shows. We headed back out around 3:30 and had no problem finding chairs near the infinity pool at that time.



After a few more hours of swim, headed back up for quick showers, and down for our last evening of activities. The kids grabbed a tablet to do the Menehune trail. This was kind of a bust. Given the number of people playing the interactions didn’t work very well and they only go through like 3 stations in the hour. As well, come to find out the outside trail is 4 different paths taking up to an hour each! This is a 4 hour multi day process. I never read anything about that in all my research and prep. So note, start your adventure EARLY in your trip so you can get through the whole thing. Well I guess its saved for the next trip. J1 then headed to the pre-teen party at Aunty’s. He said it was ok, but that might be a resounding endorsement in pre-teen speak. DW, me, and the other 3 had pupus and sushi at the Olelo patio while enjoying the live music. Kids faded fast and we headed up to call it a night.

 

[AussieDisneyfans]

Really enjoying your trip report. My daughter and I are heading to Aulani in December and I am really looking forward to my spa time.

 

[five_mouseketeers]

Loving your trip report! Can't wait to hear about Maui too! Beautiful photos and thanks for the info earlier regarding room requests and photo specs! Appreciate it! Glad to hear you guys had a magical trip!