Squealing tires; u-Turns; and Hospitalsan Aulani Trip Report - COMPLETE

[lumpydj]

First well start with our cast: DH Don (48), DD Amanda (14), friends Rob & Laura and their 2 children Kailee (17), Chelsea (15) and me Julie (42). In the photo, the guys are in the back (Don then Rob), the girls in the front left to right are Kailee, Amanda, Laura, Chelsea and me.



My husband and I have travelled with Rob & Laura before, but this is the first family trip weve taken together. The girls arent real close friends, but they get along great which we feel was better than taking a very close friend (been there, done that, dont think well do it again).

Im a Disney nut I was born the same year WDW opened, went for the first time when I was 2 or 3, and have gone many, many times since. DHs first time was our 1 year anniversary. He fell in love with it too although, hes not as crazy as me. We brought DD for the first time when she was 3. Now at 14, shes been to both WDW (8 times) and Disneyland (2 times). We ALLLL love Disney.

We decided on a 2 BR Ocean View villa for the 7 of us. I was able to book it right at the 7 month mark and got exactly what we wanted. From there, we booked our flights from Hartford, CT (14 hours in the air with two 1 hour layovers). I looked into rental cars and saw we could get a minivan to fit all 7 of us. I didnt book it then because I wanted to make sure the other family was good with it. I also found where we could order Pearl Harbor/Arizona Memorial tickets for free again, didnt book it yet because we didnt know which day we would go. We planned to get together to finalize the details a few months before the trip, but with our schedules, we didnt get together until a couple of weeks before. BIG MISTAKE not booking everything earlier; about a month before the trip, I checked out the rental car again for prices and the Pearl Harbor tickets. At that point, there was only ONE minivan left to rent on the entire island and there were no Pearl Harbor tickets left. I was so angry with myself, Im usually a much better planner the typical 180 days for the dining reservations, etc. Because we were going with another family, I didnt want to assume anything and plan things for them. However, at this point, I decided to take the last minivan and it was double the rate of what I had originally found! Ill tell you - that was the best decision we ever made. Without the rental car, we wouldnt have done nearly as much as we did, and we saved so much money doing it!

I also decided to order some groceries from the Aulani store so they would be delivered to our room. I only ordered breakfast food for the next day, so we didnt have to go grocery shopping right away. When we got there Saturday night everyone was so happy I did this because we were all so tired and we could go whenever we wanted the next day.

Day 1 - Arrival Day
Day 2 - Getting settled in & Exploring the Resort
Day 3 - Exploring the Island - Turtles, Waterfalls, North Shore
Day 4 - Surfing, Monk Seals, Luau
Day 5 - Snorkeling and Resort stuff
Day 6 - Pearl Harbor & Diamond Head Crater
Day 7 - Shopping, Exploring, & Paddleboarding
Day 8 - Departure Day

 

[lumpydj]

Day 1 – Arrival day 7.20.13

As we were flying in, we caught a picture of Aulani from the air – without even knowing it. We saw it later when we were looking at the photos.



We saw a rainbow as we were driving to the resort – first of many that week.



After the 16 hour flight, we arrived at Aulani around 7:30 p.m., local time. We had done online check-in and it was a much different experience than doing online check in at WDW. When we pulled up in front, the CM’s took our name and radio’d it in somewhere. They helped us with our bags and told us not to worry about it and they’d bring them up. On the way in, we were greeted by … I hate to say it, but I forgot his name. Anyway, he gave us all leis, walked us in and through the lobby.



He told us about the resort, where our room was, gave us the room keys, and took a photo of all of us. We never had to go to the front desk! No waiting in line for us! Once we got to our room, our bags were not there. We explored our villa – I didn’t think it was as large as Kidani (one of our home resorts) – but it was still very spacious. At first, I wished our deck reached all across all rooms – as our master bedroom had a separate deck than the living room/second bedroom. I changed my mind about this later in the week though; it gave us more privacy so I could sit out there in my pj’s. At this point, some of us were hungry, even thought it was 1:30 a.m. to us. We didn’t want to eat too much and we didn’t know our way around, plus it was dark. We settled on some appetizers at “’Olelo”. It was nice sitting there eating and drinking while listening to the entertainment. We also looked at the carvings and tried to say their Hawaiian names.



I don’t have a photo of it, but they had an animal that looked like a cross between a meerkat and a squirrel – we couldn’t pronounce the name so we called it a Schweenie (our dog is a schweenie – small and long because it’s a mix of a Shih Tzu and a Dachshund).



For the rest of the trip, we kept an eye out for the schweenie and tried to get photos of it. They are very quick and timid – so they are hard to photograph. After paying our $100 bill for 5 appetizers and a couple of beers, we were glad we decided to go grocery shopping and decided to cook in our room most nights. The girls went back to the room first to get ready for bed and we still didn’t have our luggage. Apparently, you need to call bell services when you’re ready for them to bring the bags – even though the CM told us he would bring them right up… Oh well. The girls called to get our bags and we went back to our room and went to bed.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Looking forward to hearing more!

Sent from my phone using DISBoards Ap, please excuse any typos and autocorrect mistakes.

 

[lumpydj]

Day 2 – 7.21.13

Being on East Coast time, we all got up early (4:30 am). I brought coffee already in the filters so we made coffee and drank it on the balcony. We decided to head down to the beach around 6:30 am. We claimed some chairs and went in the water. Once the pool shack opened, we got our wrist bands (today’s color was red) and towels.



The girls had a great time playing on the floating mat



and making a sand sculpture of a turtle. DH & I walked around the lagoon and up on to the rocks to watch the waves. We had thought the path between the pool and the beach was Aulani’s but I guess it’s public and part of the Ko Olina area. The path is 1.5 miles long and goes by 4 lagoons like Aulani’s. There are lots of other resorts along the path, and we decided that Aulani’s beach area was the nicest with the beach chairs and water activities.

We headed over to the pool after a while and found a couple of chairs by a secluded hot tub – in the shade – which we were all excited about. We tried out the lazy river – after we figured out where to get the tubes. While the lazy river is nice, it wasn’t real relaxing because lots of kids were swimming and jumping from tube to tube pushing people out of the way. It was all good though. The younger kids went on the waterslides while the adults hung out in the hot tub.

We headed back to the room around 11:30 then decided to head over to Safeway for some grocery shopping. We took exit 1 off H1, and DH didn’t know we had our own lane, so he squealed his tires trying to get out because there was a lot of on-coming traffic. Apparently, that was unnecessary. While everyone else shopped, I went to customer service to get a Safeway card so we could take advantage of the sale prices. We walked away with a TON of groceries. We were worried we wouldn’t eat all of it, but we wanted to make sure we had enough for the week. We decided on steaks, pork chops (bought a pork loin and sliced it up in the room), pasta and meat sauce, and hamburgers and hot dogs for dinners. We had Luau tickets for Tuesday night, so we knew we didn’t have to worry about dinner for that night. We picked up breakfast and lunch stuff as well as some snacks. During checkout, our friends tried to use their Debit Card. It was declined because I guess they did not notify their bank that they were travelling to Hawaii. We used our credit card and agreed to square up later.

We went back to the resort, but with DH driving, he squealed the tires after going over each speed bump – not sure if he was getting used to the car or if he was in a hurry… After dinner (pasta and meat sauce), we sent the kids to the teen event – a photo treasure hunt – while the adults walked the rocks and beach at the end of the path closest to Aulani (behind the Marriott).



The guys had a good time trying to avoid the waves.





On the way back through the Marriott grounds, we realized it would be a great place to watch the sunset. We plopped ourselves down and waited for the sun to set. Meanwhile, the kids found us and told us they needed us to sign waivers for them to participate in the event. Since we weren’t around, they weren’t able to do it. We decided to sign the forms now, because the waivers are good for your entire stay.

The sunset was spectacular!



However, I would not recommend this spot if you want to get unobstructed photos of the sunset. I guess it’s a very popular place to watch it from. End of Day 2…

 

[pamlet]

Looking forward to reading!! We're hoping to go the beginning of March!

 

[Thumper4me]

I am really enjoying your trip report!!
My Dh and I are heading back to Aulani January of 2015 - hopefully.

Looking forward to more!!

Kelly

 

[lumpydj]

Looking forward to hearing more!

Sent from my phone using DISBoards Ap, please excuse any typos and autocorrect mistakes.

Looking forward to reading!! We're hoping to go the beginning of March!

I am really enjoying your trip report!!
My Dh and I are heading back to Aulani January of 2015 - hopefully.

Looking forward to more!!

Kelly

Thank you everyone! I hope you enjoy it...

 

[lumpydj]

Day 3 – 7.22.13

We were all up early again. We had our coffee on the balcony, took a walk down the 1.5 mile path and got some great photos of the setting full moon,



came back to the room and went down to the pool. We got 6 seats by the hot tub we were at the day before. We did more lazy river and water slides and hit the infinity hot tub (today’s wristband color was yellow).



Around 11:30, we were ready to head up to the room for lunch. We tossed around ideas for the afternoon and I suggested a drive up to the North Shore and stopping at Waimea Valley. No one had heard of it, so I explained that it’s a botanical garden that you can hike through then see a waterfall. The girls were excited – the guys – not so much – but they were good sports about it. We decided to keep our bathing suits on in case we wanted to go in the water at the North Shore. We brought our sneakers and headed North – well, we stopped at Target first to pick up some water shoes for DH, who only packed flip flops and boat shoes. This time, Rob was driving. Although we got off exit 1A this time, we had the same type of merge. What did Rob do? Squeal his tires trying to get into traffic. Once again, unnecessary…but- they’re guys.

As we drove up to Waimea Valley, we hit bumper to bumper traffic. We had to pull over a few times to let police, ambulance, and fire trucks go by – many times. We found it odd that they kept having to do u-turns because they couldn’t find the location they needed to go to. However, after a few days of trying to use our GPS, we understood why…I’ll get to that later though. A little further up the road, we were still in traffic. One of the girls in the back seat said she saw a turtle on the beach. DH, who was driving, found a parking spot right across the street, so we pulled in, grabbed our cameras, and went down to the beach. And what do you know… there was a huge sea turtle laying on the beach! We took many photos and saw more turtles swimming in the water right near it.



Further down the beach, there was another sea turtle, but this one was roped off – because humans really shouldn’t be getting too close to them.



As we were leaving, we saw that the beach was nicknamed “Turtle Beach” because I guess they’re always there (mostly during the summer months when the waves are not that high). The real name of the beach is Laniakea Beach and is located on Route 83 in Hale’Iwa. We continued on to Waimea Valley. We paid our $15 per person to get in – however, I found later that we could have saved 10% if we used our DVC card…We walked the short trail (1.5 miles) up to the waterfall. Luckily, we had our bathing suits on, because we found out we could swim and sit under the waterfall. This was so awesome! For many in our group – this was the best thing we did all week! I wish we had thought to bring our water shoes though – very rocky…



Here's DH and DD



Me and DD



We then headed up the coast looking for the North Shore (we weren’t sure where we were going). We were also looking for a place to eat – I wanted to find the shrimp trucks – but no one else was interested. We stopped by a road side farmer’s market and bought a fresh pineapple and coconut. They sliced the pineapple for us right there and we all tried it – it was the BEST pineapple I’ve ever had. I’ve never been much of a pineapple fan either (except for Dole Whips). Because it was so good, we took one back whole. They also prepped the coconut so we could drink the milk. We continued up and around the northern tip of Oahu, still looking for a place to eat. After a while, we turned around and went back towards home. We found the sign for Hale’ Iwa (North Shore), so we turned.



Because everyone was so hungry, we didn’t stop at any shops. We did pull into a small park to get our bearings and figure out what we were going to do for dinner. This is where we saw our second rainbow – over the wind farm.



Since no one else wanted to eat at the shrimp truck, we kept driving and driving...following a GPS. Then Rob yelled – “Turn left now!” So DH turned left – now we’re in an Ace Hardware parking lot! So much for following the GPS. We turned around and I tried finding some Chinese places on Yelp. We found one on the way back to the resort and set the GPS on the phone this time. After many turns and entering a not-so-good area, the GPS said – “you have arrived”, but when we looked around…we were at an overgrown parking lot with a closed fence gate. Guess we’re not eating here…

Someone at the car rental place had recommended Roy’s so we set the GPS again (you’d think we would have learned by now, but we had no other way to navigate). Roy’s was close by the resort so we knew the general area, but the GPS directions actually told us we had to make a U-Turn – just because it was on the other side of the divider – not because we made a mistake. Of course, by this time, DH is saying “What the…”. So we follow the directions, make our U-Turn then need to turn right onto the correct street. We turn and guess what? The road is blocked by a gate! All we could do was laugh.

We headed back towards the resort – DH squealed tires again going over the speed bumps and pulled into the Ko Olina shopping area. They had a small Chinese place and we decided to do take-out. However, lesson learned…we should have walked around the area earlier and we would have found the Island Country Market – which had many to-go options – salads, sandwiches, etc. I’m not a big Chinese food fan… After eating dinner back in the room, we were wiped so we just hung out in the room until bedtime. We had to get up early the next morning – Amanda and I had surfing lessons…End of day 3…

 

[DisneyRegulars]

The turtles look so cool! I would have eaten at a shrimp truck with you. We go chasing the food trucks all around our city.

 

[lovetotraveltx]

Loving your trip report! Can't wait for more. We are hoping to go to Aulani next September with our 2, 20 something daughters

 

[lumpydj]

Day 4 – 7.23.13

Up early again, but not so much this time. Everyone was up and ready to leave for our surfing lessons by 7:40 a.m. They wanted us there by 8:00 a.m. and the spot was only 15 minutes away (exit 1A again). I had decided to make reservations with HawaiianFire – the same group that does the Aualni tour, but we booked it ourselves – saved about $10 per person and did not take the free shuttle.



Even though the shuttle was free for the surfers, it was an extra $50 per person for riders if there was room. Our entire group was going so that would have been a lot of extra $$. I drove this time and guess what I did? I squealed my tires merging onto the road at the end of the 1A exit – even though I had my own lane – which I forgot about. I’ve got nothing to say for myself… The directions were pretty easy to follow – because they tell you NOT to use a GPS and to follow their turn by turn directions. But holy cow - they have you drive through a campground. We would have been better off in an off road vehicle. Then, we have to park in the beach sand. I was so worried we weren’t getting out of there. But we figured we had two big strong guys to push us if we got stuck.

I have to tell you, I was so happy we booked with this group. One of the lifeguards at the Waimea Valley waterfall tried to talk us into booking surfing lessons with them. They talked about having blue cards (don’t really know the significance) and said that Waikiki is a much better place to surf. He bragged that they give everyone 90 minutes surfing then you can have another 90 minutes for an extra $5. HawaiianFire offers 90 minutes in the water too, with about 30-40 minutes of safety and surfing instructions beforehand. After that 90 minutes, I certainly didn’t want another 90 minutes – my arms and shoulders were killing me and I was tired. This group (all fire fighters) really has their stuff together. They give you shirts and reef shoes. Plus they picked this particular beach because not a lot of people go there (unlike Waikiki) and you don’t have to worry about trying to avoid everyone (swimmers have the right-of-way over a surfer surfing) – also, the waves are consistent and not too big – maybe 4 feet or so – great for learning. Their instruction beforehand was so great that both DD and I got up on the first try! Although, I had no doubts DD would be up right away, she’s very athletic and has amazing balance. I – on the other hand – not so graceful. Anyway, we had a great time surfing. They were enthusiastic and determined to have everyone stand up at least once. It did get a bit tiring swimming back out to the instructors – who are there to pick your wave and give you a little push while yelling – Paddle and Stand Up. After a short while, I started walking back out to them instead of paddling. Both DD and I were surfing pros by the end ;-)

DD & I before surfing:



On the beach instructions:





Our group for the lessons:



First try, I got up!



DD's first try - she got up too!



Going together:





Last run:



All done!




Oh – I almost forgot to mention about the Monk Seal that was sunning himself on the beach. The instructors asked everyone to stay a ways back then DEP showed up and roped him off. He was so cute with his face full of sand. I just couldn’t get over the wild life that just hangs out on the beach.







After surfing, we went back to the resort for lunch and to chill out until it was time for the Luau we had planned for that night. I went down to get a shaved ice and DD was the only other one who wanted one. I was too chicken to try the one with the sweetened condensed milk – so I went with the standard #1 – with three flavors. I got vanilla, banana, and strawberry. DD got watermelon, grape, and cherry. They were delish! The girls were watching a movie so I brought them back up to the room and so we could eat them while watching the movie. Even though we didn’t go to the pool, we did get our wristbands – today they were green.



Next up – Germaine’s Luau. We chose Germaine’s Luau over any of the others, mostly because that was the Luau that was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives with Guy Fieri on Food Network. Because we were driving ourselves, we had to get there at 5:15 – even though the Luau didn’t start until 6 p.m. Because we had printed directions – we had no trouble finding it – no U-Turns this time. I don’t think we squealed any tires either! Getting there early was a good thing because we got there before all the buses and was able to get a seat up close to the stage, get our drinks, and take some pictures. We bought our tickets on a discount site – and it worked out perfectly! We booked it through www.HawaiiDiscount.com and saved about $20 per ticket! The Luau was great – food was OK but the entertainment was wonderful. The host reminded me of Rodney Dangerfield.

Family photos out by the beach area:

Chelsea, Rob, Laura, & Kailee:



DD, DH, and me:



Laura and me with one of the Luau guys:


A couple of the Luau gals - DH thinks the one on the right had mozzarella balls hanging from her waist. He's Italian - what can I say... The one on the left was absolutely gorgeous; this photo does not do her justice...



End of day 4…

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Turtles and now super cute monk seals?!!!!! I'm in trip report heaven.
How was the dynamic between you and the other family, was it nice to have them along? How were all the girls getting along? Also, I saw lots of little kids in the surfing lesson, what was the minimum age for the surfing, and did the little ones seem to have an easier time of it?

 

[amym2]

Loved your trip report! Question about the surfing (I posted a thread about this)... you mentioned that Hawaiian Fire was who you could book through Aulani (I realize you didn't), but when I look at the Disney excursions page it only has surfing lessons through Girls Who Surf. Were there others in your surfing lessons who had come from Aulani? We're going in October, so I'm wondering if something is changing between now and then or what.

 

[lumpydj]

Turtles and now super cute monk seals?!!!!! I'm in trip report heaven.
How was the dynamic between you and the other family, was it nice to have them along? How were all the girls getting along? Also, I saw lots of little kids in the surfing lesson, what was the minimum age for the surfing, and did the little ones seem to have an easier time of it?

Everyone got along great. We had talked before the trip and set the tone - we weren't expecting to spend every waking minute together - they do what they want and we do what we want. Since I had done the research ahead of time, I had the ideas. Everyone seemed to go along with them. Also, when they had things they wanted to do, we were game. There was only one day we split up - and that was because we both had things on our own agendas that we wanted to do before we left.

The girls got along great. Because they don't know each other real well, they were very polite towards each other. They had done things together before we came just to make sure they didn't hate each other. We had no issues. On a previous trip to WDW, we let DD bring a friend (her best friend) - they basically fought the whole time - or I should say, the argued more than they got along. They are no longer friends...

You had to be 11 years old to be part of the group lesson. Those under 11 had a private lesson - and it was more expensive. I saw quite a few little ones surfing on their own before the adults got up.

Loved your trip report! Question about the surfing (I posted a thread about this)... you mentioned that Hawaiian Fire was who you could book through Aulani (I realize you didn't), but when I look at the Disney excursions page it only has surfing lessons through Girls Who Surf. Were there others in your surfing lessons who had come from Aulani? We're going in October, so I'm wondering if something is changing between now and then or what.

I just checked the Aulani excursion (without putting dates in) and the Hawaiian Fire Surf School came up (when I searched for surfing) and they had availability through the end of the year - except for Thanksgiving and Christmas. In fact, Aulani just added a second lesson time to their offering. Previously, the only time you could do through Aulani was the 10:30 time (I think). Now they also offer the 8:30 time - which we liked better because we were back at the resort by 11:00 am and had the rest of the day free.

There were others from Aulani in our surfing group, but I'm not sure if they booked on their own too or did it through the resort. Hope this helps!

 

[lumpydj]

Day 5 – 7.24.13

Today, we decided we wanted to do some snorkeling. We had to figure out what we needed to do to rent our snorkeling equipment. Ended up – if we rented them through the Rainbow Reef and chose the length of stay option – it was only $5 more than the rental for one day. PLUS – it gives us the option to snorkel in Rainbow Reef. I’m not sure if the price was less than the published price on the website of $39 because of the construction and loss of the stingray preserve and quiet pool or if it’s a permanent change, but it was only $20.



This was definitely the best option for us. The only caveat is that we had to turn our equipment back in each night – but by 8 p.m. Not a problem there! Because we are DVC members, we got a 10% discount too! They stamp your room key and your wrist band each day with a little Mickey punch. That’s how all the rental areas know you can take out the mask & snorkel and a life vest for free – plus you get in and out privileges to Rainbow Reef. Not everyone needs to be there either when you purchase the length of stay option. For anyone not there, they’ll write their names at the top of the receipt and the guest needs to bring the receipt and key card to the kiosk, and they’ll stamp the room key and wrist band at that time. We picked up all 7 sets of snorkeling gear and brought them back to the room. Today’s wristband color was hot pink.



Once everyone got organized, we set out for Electric Beach – where we heard the snorkeling was great. Once again, we needed to stop at Target first. This was becoming a habit for us. While we were at Target, we picked up more water shoes, an underwater camera, and a reef shirt for those that were getting a little too much sun. Once we packed up our supplies, we finally headed out to Electric Beach. We had both the GPS and phone GPS going in hopes of finding the area easily. I had also looked up the directions online and wrote them down – and what do you know – we had to do another U-Turn! We weren’t sure what we were looking for so we may not have done our U-Turn as soon as we should have, but we eventually headed back down the coast. The first area we pulled in looked a little suspect. The parking area wasn’t great and we were looking for a “pavilion”. The tips on the website said to enter the water to the right of the pavilion. There was no pavilion here – so we turned around and went back out onto the road – still heading south. We pulled into the next parking lot – and we saw the pavilion – SUCCESS!

We had heard that you don’t want to leave your belongings on the beach, so we tried to leave everything in the car. The only issue was – the car key. We had a watertight box, but it wasn’t big enough to hold the key – so one of us was going to have to stay on the beach. Laura and I volunteered so the guys could take the girls out through the waves. It ended up being a non-issue, because the waves were so rough, that it was impossible to snorkel – maybe SCUBA dive, but not snorkel, unless you went way out. So we decided to scrap the snorkel gear and just jump waves. That was a lot of fun – because there are no waves at the Aulani beach.





After a while, we decided to get back in the car and go to the other side of the power plant – to the first parking lot we had pulled into – but to do that – you guessed it, we had to do another U-Turn! I decided to stay on the beach while the others snorkeled because my head and ears were hurting from being pounded by the waves on the other side. I didn’t mind though… Everyone said the snorkeling was better on this side – more to see and less waves. We were hoping for turtles, but I guess this isn’t the place for them. We still had a good time.



Laura decides that she wants a group shot of all of us. She finds a place to set her camera and sets the timer. She now has to run over to us within the 10 second timer. Thing is – she had her zoom lens on so we had to stand pretty far back. She starts the timer, starts running, and gets about three steps before she falls flat on her face. This is the picture we got… you can see her foot in the picture in the lower left side of the picture from when she fell and her feet flew up.



Here’s a photo of the next attempt…



This time, Rob tries to help her and the timer starts and they didn’t run…here’s the picture from that one…



Finally – we get our group shot.



We head back to the resort. The girls decide to do Rainbow Reef since we had all the equipment anyway and because the guys weren’t interested, we returned their gear.





Boy – the Rainbow Reef is COLD! We didn’t stay in very long. We decided to return the equipment while the girls went on the waterslides and in the lazy river. Laura and I found a chair to plop our stuff then went in the lazy river and on the tube waterslide. At that time, we decided to get some Shave Ice – since it was right there – actually, we were going to try the Maui chips, we thought it was a local food – but ended up being a bag of chips – so we went next door for the shave ice. We were worried that everyone would be mad that we didn’t ask anyone else if they wanted one – but decided that we were on vacation, they can get their own. Little did we know, the girls went up to the room, saw us from the balcony, and ratted us out!



They guys came down just as we were finishing up – oh well.



We went back up to the room and everyone split up. Kailee was complaining that she was not feeling well, she was going to lay down and rest. The other two girls decided to try out the Menehune Adventure Trail – which is like the Kim Possible Adventure (now the Agent P Adventure) in EPCOT. It didn’t work too well for them though. The communicator kept losing signal. They got frustrated with it and turned it back in.

The adults decided to check out Paradise Cove – we heard there was good snorkeling there too – but we weren’t going to Snorkel. As we walked up to the Paradise Cove area, the parking lot attendants kept asking us if we were going to the luau. We said no and kept walking – looking for a way into the beach area.

Ooohh – is that a schweenie? Hurry up – get a picture. Aw, they’re too fast…



Finally at the last parking lot entrance, we asked the person there how to get to the beach. They said we could walk through the Luau area or go out to the railroad tracks and follow them to the left. We opted for the railroad tracks – even though the sign says “Road Closed – Authorized Vehicles Only” – but we weren’t driving.



There was a small beach to the left, then rocks and waves straight ahead. We saw turtles there too!





We could see the power plant at Electric Beach from there (where we had gone snorkeling earlier the day).



Look at this huge tree!



We decided it was a pretty good spot to watch the sunset and we’d have to bring the girls back there the next night to watch it. We went back to the resort to start dinner. The girls were thinking of going to the teen event that night so we had to get back to start cooking.

Tonight we were having steaks! YUM. Laura and I made the sides while the guys grilled. It ended up taking them a little longer to grill than they originally thought. They picked up the grilling tools at the Community Center and found an open grill. They had to wait for it to heat up before cooking the steaks. By the time they got back, the sides were done and waiting. The girls missed their teen event so they decided to watch a movie. Rob and Laura discussed bringing Kailee to the walk-in clinic or hospital because she’s now running a fever. But because it was 9 p.m., they decided to see how she was feeling in the morning.

End of Day 5…

 

[bdrex95]

Great report so far! We are planning a trip to Aulani next June, so this is great for my planning.

One question about the surf lessons... Did they let you keep the shirts and reef shoes? Not that it really makes any difference, but would be a cool souvenir.

Looking forward to the rest of your report!

Brian

 

[lumpydj]

We did not get to keep the shirt or shoes. We wished we could have though. They do have a store in the shopping plaza across from Aulani. We bought a bunch of stuff afterwards and they gave us a discount because we did the lessons.

Thanks for reading my report!

 

[MinnieInMI]

Thanks for your ongoing trip report...I'm finding some new ideas for our upcoming trip in February!

 

[lumpydj]

Day 6 – 7.25.13

Today is Pearl Harbor Day! One of my poor planning after-effects was that we didn’t get advanced Arizona tickets. Now, we need to get up and to Pearl Harbor by no later than 7:30 a.m. so we can ensure we get tickets. Now with the budget issues and sequestration, the memorial closes at 2 pm instead of 4 pm – so there’s fewer tickets. We’re all up (set the alarm just in case) at 6:15. Kailee says she’s feeling ok and the fever went away. We hit the road by 6:45. DH – in his infinite wisdom – decides to get in the car pool lane because he heard how bad Honolulu traffic can be during rush hour on a weekday. Somehow – he gets into the Express lane. Now, we’re trapped between 2 jersey barriers. We see our exit go by and we can’t get off.

The first exit we can take is the airport exit. Now, we need to use the GPS (God help us!). We navigate back on to H1 – but it looks like – by the signs, that we should stay to the right and not get on the highway – but GPS tells us to get on the highway. As soon as we get down the highway a little – it says – “Recalculating…take the next exit”. Here we go again. We take the next exit and once again – misunderstand the GPS – now we’re in bumper to bumper traffic heading into the Air Force Base. We get up to the little guard shack, and there’s someone there with a machine gun. We say “Sorry, we made a mistake, we need to turn around.” “Stay here sir”, he says. He walks up to the turn-around then waves us forward. He watches us make the U-Turn, then goes back to the line of traffic. I’m sure everyone behind us loved us for slowing things down…UGH!

Finally, we’re back on the road and we find the right exit. We get to Pearl Harbor by 8:00 am. I walk up to get our 7 tickets – the earliest we could get is 12:45. Now what do we do? I suggest we go on the Bowfin. I thought DH and Rob would get a kick out of it because they both work at Electric Boat designing submarines. To see a WWII sub would be pretty cool. We didn’t want to stand in the long line for the Missouri and Bowfin tickets, and we heard we could buy just the Bowfin tickets at the gift shop, where there’s no line. For $10, we get the sub tour (with audio sets) and the sub museum tour (with audio sets). Pretty cool. Oh, the Arizona tickets are free.







The Arizona and the Missouri from the Bowfin:




The Bowfin and the museum were very cool, but now it’s 9:30 am – what do we do for the next 3 hours? We talked about driving around Honolulu – then I remember about the Punchbowl. Everyone was game, so we pulled out the GPS and 2 different phone maps to navigate our way there. Talk about being off the beaten path! There’s no way we would have found this place without it! Weaving through neighborhood streets – we were worried we were lost again. Then we started seeing signs for it. Phew – we’re on the right track. I guess the Punchbowl is in a volcano crater – and you can see Diamond Head from there.



We walked around a bit, took some photos,



then decided to head back to Pearl Harbor – which was about 25 minutes away (because of all the back roads).

We get to Pearl around 11:30 – so we have lunch – there’s a little hot dog/nacho place by the sub museum. We need to get to the meeting place (theater) at least 10 minutes before our ticket time. We get there in plenty of time and get in line. They have you watch a movie about the bombing before you board the boat to the Arizona. It was so sad and somber, that everyone was very quiet on the boat ride over to the memorial. The memorial itself is a walkway that spans the sunken ship. The history of the whole event is overwhelming.







We were on the memorial for about 15 minutes, then the boat was back. We had the option to stay longer until the next boat, or take this boat back over. We decide to take the boat back over and now it’s about 1:30 or so. Laura and I had realized how close to Diamond Head we were and wanted to take the opportunity to hike up to the top. Kailee was the only other one interested in doing the hike, but her back was starting to bother her again and she wasn’t feeling well again. The rest of the group agreed to drive us there, drop us off, then they went to Tutti Fruitti Frozen Yogurt. The hike up is about .8 miles each way. Luckily, we had brought our sneakers – so we were all set for our hike. It was a little rough going because it’s all up hill and very rocky/uneven. I started second guessing my decisions about ½ way up – but then we saw these 4 older women coming back down. They said, the hike was definitely worth it. I figured – if they could do it, so could I. Then we come up on the stairs – UGH – the stairs!!!



We counted 99 steps on the second set of stairs, then another 45 on the spiral staircase.



We guessed that there was about 50 on steps on the first set of stairs we hit, but didn’t think to count. Apparently, you don't need to take the stairs, you can continue to zig zag your way up, but this was a "shortcut".

Then we finally get to the top – WHAT A VIEW! This was definitely worth the hike! It was fabulous.









We took a lot of photos – we actually found the Punchbowl from up there – and it did look like a crater from this view.



You could literally see the whole island (except for the beaches on the edge of the island because they were behind the mountains). We texted the guys when we started heading back down so they could come pick us up.

Once we get back in the car, we head back home. By this point, Kailee is really not feeling well. We stop for gas across the street from the Target and see a medical clinic. We offer to stop – but they didn’t want us to have to wait with them. They drop us off back at the resort at around 6:00 and get ready to head out to a medical center after speaking with the concierge about where to go. They suggested a hospital back out toward Honolulu – where we just came from. We offered to cook dinner and watch their other daughter while they went to a closer clinic. First – everyone wanted to get that day’s wristbands, even Kailee – today was Orange.



After going to 2 medical clinics and being told that they weren’t seeing any more patients that day, they ended up at an ER at a hospital – but not the one in Honolulu. After all was said and done, they get home around 11:30 at night with Kailee who has a kidney infection. Poor kid. We watched Pearl Harbor while they were gone – until we realized it was a 2 disk movie. We had just finished disk 1 when they got home. We all went to bed – with a lot of left-over food.

End of day 6…

 

[lumpydj]

Day 7 – 7.26.13

Today is our last full day in Hawaii. There were things we wanted to do that we hadn’t done yet. We had to go to the character breakfast, shop for souveniers, go to the Hawaiian Fire store, DH promised DD he’d go on the waterslides with her, and DD and I wanted to paddleboard. We were also hoping to catch the sunset at the area beyond Paradise Cove – where we had been to a couple days before. The day started out with our friends having to go fill a prescription for their daughter. We stayed back at the resort because we had breakfast reservations. Our friends were having a tough time getting the prescriptions filled so they didn’t come back until we were at breakfast. They asked if we wanted to drive up the coast with them, but we opted to not go so we could do everything we wanted to do.

Breakfast was pretty good. It was a buffet and they had a lot of options. They only had 3 characters though – Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy.








After breakfast, we got our wristbands – Purple was today’s color.



Then DH &I went shopping – DD went to the pool. We crossed the street to the Ko Olina Shopping Center where we had Chinese food earlier in the week. That’s where the Hawaiian Fire store is, and because I had a lesson with them earlier in the week, we got a 10% discount. We decided to check out the Island Country Market. I wish we had found this place earlier in the week! I had heard about it – that it had a better selection than the Aulani groceries but the prices were still pretty high. But because we had a car – we did our shopping at Safeway so I thought we had no reason to come here. In addition to the grocery selection (which was more than Aulani but not nearly as much as a grocery store), they had salads and sandwiches (would have been better than Chinese earlier in the week), and they had a bunch of souveniers. We decided that we had to come back later in the day with our DD and everyone else.

We headed back to the room, DH chilled in the room and I went down to the pool to meet DD – so we could go paddleboarding. That was a lot of fun. After surfing on the boards, it was easy to paddleboard. It took a little bit of practice to balance, but we got the hang of it. They only had one board available to rent – unless we wanted to wait another 40 minutes – so we decided to share one. At first, we took turns, then we tried paddling with one sitting on the front – it was a little more challenging, but fun.

While we were off on our own this morning, our friends decided to drive up the coast (past Electric Beach) after they filled their prescription. They could only go so far though as the road does not go all the way around the island – or even up to the North Shore – it just kind of ends. While they were exploring, they discovered a real cool cave.







They finally caught a photo of the schweenie!





That would have been nice to see, but we really wanted to do the other things on our list. Only so much time… Anyway, they returned to the resort as DD and I were paddleboarding. They took some pictures of us.





After paddleboarding, DD & I floated around the lazy river a couple of times – although, it wasn’t too much of a lazy float. DD pushed me around in the tube the whole way – stopping under all the falling water so I would get soaked.

One thing I didn’t mention about the pool area was all the cool carvings in the “rocks” through the lazy river and up the waterslides and around the kiddy splash area. It was fun trying to find all of them – fish, whales, seahorses, crabs, etc.



It was close to dinner time and everyone was up in the room, so we headed up for some dinner (leftovers – which there were plenty from the night before when our friends didn’t eat). We wanted to go see the sunset from the area past Paradise Cove – but DH had promised DD earlier in the week he would do the waterslides and he hadn’t yet – so they set off to do that. The rest of us walked down to watch the sunset. It was a little disappointing because it was a little cloudy and couldn’t see the actual sun setting, but we did get beautiful colors in the sky.



When we got back – we went over to the Island Country Market again and everyone bought their souvenirs. When we got back to the resort, we went to the 2 Aulani stores and picked up more stuff. Not sure how we’re going to pack all this, plus the rocks and corral we found, and have our bags not be overweight – but I guess we’ll figure that out tomorrow…

End of day 7…