Trip Report: Our First Aloha - A Spring Break 2017 Hale Koa and Aulani Report

[alldiz]

Blue Bayou is like the Mexico pavilion--it's always night in there So no, it's really the same either time.

Gotcha! Nice
Kerri

 

[kdonnel]

Blue Bayou is like the Mexico pavilion--it's always night in there So no, it's really the same either time.

We loved eating at Blue Bayou. The ambience was great!

 

[disnygirl55]

One week to go!! We are all getting so excited now! Many things to accomplish at work before we can leave, so that should help the time pass quickly.

 

[alohamom]

One week to go!! We are all getting so excited now! Many things to accomplish at work before we can leave, so that should help the time pass quickly.

Oh wow-that time seems to have gone fast! Happy packing...

 

[MAGICFOR2]

OMG! We are on the same flight, (looks like we will be seat mates) staying at the same hotels! So funny! We are taking a Red Eye from San Antonio so will spend the night at the USO. We figured by the time we got a hotel and fell asleep, it would be time to get up again. We are doing Hale Koa 4 nights and Aulani the last 3 though. Meeting up with our DS and fam (he's active duty, DH is retired AF) and also bringing DH's Aunt, Uncle and Cousin as guests.

We haven't made definite plans for specific days - most of us have been there before, and DS is afraid of being so structured we can't enjoy the beach. We have the Sunday Brunch at Hale Koa booked (I miss the NCO Club brunch in Okinawa.) And the Luau there also.
We are planning Pearl Harbor and the USS Missouri with shopping at the huge Navy Exchange. That is the best place to get your souveniers, BTW. Also you can get 'on base' at the Missouri and skip the entry fee (not sure if you have to buy a ticket when you get there, but I know there was something better about crossing the bridge and driving in on that side)


I guess we will see you in Vegas! And on the plane... And at Hale Koa and at Aulani....

 

[cgattis]

OMG! We are on the same flight, (looks like we will be seat mates) staying at the same hotels! So funny! We are taking a Red Eye from San Antonio so will spend the night at the USO. We figured by the time we got a hotel and fell asleep, it would be time to get up again. We are doing Hale Koa 4 nights and Aulani the last 3 though. Meeting up with our DS and fam (he's active duty, DH is retired AF) and also bringing DH's Aunt, Uncle and Cousin as guests.

We haven't made definite plans for specific days - most of us have been there before, and DS is afraid of being so structured we can't enjoy the beach. We have the Sunday Brunch at Hale Koa booked (I miss the NCO Club brunch in Okinawa.) And the Luau there also.
We are planning Pearl Harbor and the USS Missouri with shopping at the huge Navy Exchange. That is the best place to get your souveniers, BTW. Also you can get 'on base' at the Missouri and skip the entry fee (not sure if you have to buy a ticket when you get there, but I know there was something better about crossing the bridge and driving in on that side)


I guess we will see you in Vegas! And on the plane... And at Hale Koa and at Aulani....

Do you happen to know if non-military civil servants (with PIV badge but no CAC card) can get on base and/or shop at the PX? Thanks!!

 

[disnygirl55]

OMG! We are on the same flight, (looks like we will be seat mates) staying at the same hotels! So funny! We are taking a Red Eye from San Antonio so will spend the night at the USO. We figured by the time we got a hotel and fell asleep, it would be time to get up again. We are doing Hale Koa 4 nights and Aulani the last 3 though. Meeting up with our DS and fam (he's active duty, DH is retired AF) and also bringing DH's Aunt, Uncle and Cousin as guests.

We haven't made definite plans for specific days - most of us have been there before, and DS is afraid of being so structured we can't enjoy the beach. We have the Sunday Brunch at Hale Koa booked (I miss the NCO Club brunch in Okinawa.) And the Luau there also.
We are planning Pearl Harbor and the USS Missouri with shopping at the huge Navy Exchange. That is the best place to get your souveniers, BTW. Also you can get 'on base' at the Missouri and skip the entry fee (not sure if you have to buy a ticket when you get there, but I know there was something better about crossing the bridge and driving in on that side)


I guess we will see you in Vegas! And on the plane... And at Hale Koa and at Aulani....

Wow! That is so cool! We are in seats 12A, B, C on the 9:00 AM flight on Saturday from Vegas. Pause and say "Hi!" if you're close to us and want to say hello. Sounds like you've already had a lot of experience going there before, so that's fantastic! We will keep the Navy exchange in mind, definitely! I think we'll probably be bumping into you, but if for some reason we miss you, have a wonderful vacation with your family - we're all going to have such a great time!!!

 

[buffettgirl]

Do you happen to know if non-military civil servants (with PIV badge but no CAC card) can get on base and/or shop at the PX? Thanks!!

the Navy Exchange and commissary are not on an actual base, so anyone who has exchange and commissary privileges can shop there even if they don't otherwise have base access. I'm not sure if you'd have the proper privileges though, that's something you'd need to check. But that complex isn't actually on a base.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Do you happen to know if non-military civil servants (with PIV badge but no CAC card) can get on base and/or shop at the PX? Thanks!!

If you can get on your home base and shop you should be able to. I'm not really familiar with different civilian type badges.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Wow! That is so cool! We are in seats 12A, B, C on the 9:00 AM flight on Saturday from Vegas. Pause and say "Hi!" if you're close to us and want to say hello. Sounds like you've already had a lot of experience going there before, so that's fantastic! We will keep the Navy exchange in mind, definitely! I think we'll probably be bumping into you, but if for some reason we miss you, have a wonderful vacation with your family - we're all going to have such a great time!!!

Yep, we are on that flight! We are in 13 H and J or something like that. (Last ones in that section) Anyway, if you see a bedraggled couple in their 50's who slept all night at the USO, give us a wave! LOL I'm sure we will see you at the gate. Where do you live? We are coming from San Antonio and get into Vegas about midnight on Friday night. Our Flight out of HNL on the 1st is at 3pm and we will fly back home at 5 am on Sunday

 

[cgattis]

If you can get on your home base and shop you should be able to. I'm not really familiar with different civilian type badges.

Some will let us, some won't. And it's never clear which or why.

 

[disnygirl55]

Where do you live? We are coming from San Antonio and get into Vegas about midnight on Friday night. Our Flight out of HNL on the 1st is at 3pm and we will fly back home at 5 am on Sunday

We live in Cheyenne, WY... so we fly out of Denver, which is only 1 1/2 hr south of us. We are getting into Las Vegas at 5:00 pm on Friday, and have dinner reservations at 7:00 at Paris, so that made sense to book a hotel room there.

We head back to Vegas at 10:00 pm on Saturday the 1st, so we have a cabana booked for that last day so we can hang out and enjoy the pools after we officially check out of our room. I haven't flown a red-eye in years, since my husband was stationed over in Germany in the early 1990's.... so hopefully we'll all be able to get some sleep. We get into Vegas around 7:00 AM, and our flight to Denver leaves Vegas at 10:00 AM. Hopefully we can get some breakfast to help us pass the time until we can head back to Denver.

I'm looking forward to meeting you! We will be the mid-40's couple with a (newly) 15-year old son. He's been driving to school about a week now with me in the passenger seat, and my hair has turned even more gray. So you'll know me by my frazzled appearance and fingernails bitten to the quick. LOL!

 

[POTCfan]

Wow. I too will be splitting our spring break between Waikiki and Aulani next week, with similar days at each. Though we will be at the Hilton Hawaiian Village when in Waikiki, so we're not exactly copying you.

 

[cgattis]

I'm looking forward to meeting you! We will be the mid-40's couple with a (newly) 15-year old son. He's been driving to school about a week now with me in the passenger seat, and my hair has turned even more gray. So you'll know me by my frazzled appearance and fingernails bitten to the quick. LOL!

I know that look!!! Mine is 15.5 now but she's been grounded for grades, so we're behind on practice. Look forward to hearing how your 15YO enjoys it!!

 

[kdonnel]

Hope your having a great time!

 

[MeeskaMooska13]

Eeeeekkk! Yes, it's finally almost time! Santa brought us each one of those cool one-piece snorkel masks - the Tribord Easy Breath snorkel masks. We have all snorkeled before, but it seems like one of us ALWAYS gets the bad snorkel that leaks somewhere, so sometimes it's not very enjoyable. I'm hoping this will be a huge improvement. They have great reviews, anyway - so I'll report back. Maybe I should go snorkeling in my bathtub prior to our trip. LOL!

We will be snorkeling with the Dolphins and You excursion, but will probably try things out in the Aulani lagoon prior to that. I sure appreciate the word on Honauma Bay. We're not planning to go snorkeling there at this point, but I'll tuck that information into my back pocket to use on a whim if we decide to. And I'll DEFINITELY add it to my "for next time" list. I mean, I'm earning miles on my Hawaiian Airlines credit card, so how could I not plan a trip back??!!!

And yes, yes on the Shave Ice. Thank you so much for the recommendations - we already have Matsumoto's on our to-do list on the way back from ziplining at Climb Works. I cannot wait to try real Hawaiian Shave Ice. We will seek out the others if we have any additional time (I think this is going to be a constant refrain of mine, and I think we should have booked for two weeks!)



So nice of you to say about the photo - it's not my favorite, but we didn't take many other "entire family" photos on our cruise last year, so I was scaping the bottom of the barrel. I thought about doing a trip report, but honestly, there was not a lot to add after reading yours - you did such a super job reporting on everything. I should have done a trip report for the sheer reason of preserving our memories of the trip for posterity (because it's really a big blur now - but that might have been the amount of wine we drank on the verandah). I crack myself up, but it's so TRUE!! I do remember that DS had such an amazing time in the Vibe teen club, and we hardly ever saw him (thus, the lack of family photos). He wants to go back so badly. Poor buddy. But I know he's going to love this Hawaii adventure!

Hope you are having a great time! I would love your feedback on the snorkel masks!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

So glad we met at the airport in Vegas, cuz I never saw you again Hope you had a great trip! Ours was amazing. We all crossed things off our lists, and I wouldn't have changed anything except my knee pain.

 

[disnygirl55]

So glad we met at the airport in Vegas, cuz I never saw you again Hope you had a great trip! Ours was amazing. We all crossed things off our lists, and I wouldn't have changed anything except my knee pain.

I know it - I looked around for you now and again in the hopes that we'd bump into each other, but no luck. It was so nice to meet you, Tammie! So glad you had a great trip, and I hope that knee resolves itself one of these days. We had a great time as well, and may go back in a couple of years, perhaps in conjunction with the Pride of America cruise, so we can visit the majority of the other islands. Both Hale Koa and Aulani were wonderful, and I miss playing around in the ocean!

Hope you are having a great time! I would love your feedback on the snorkel masks!

I think the Tribord snorkel masks worked amazingly well. I love the view of both fronts and sides, and they seemed to be fog free, so we didn't have to spray any anti-fog on the lenses like those using traditional snorkel masks. They were just a breeze. I had no problem with water leaking into the mask, and I wore my contacts comfortably. After a while, the pressure around the mask kind of made both mine and my husband's jaws ache (which was a weird side effect) - but that took a long time to happen, and we were preparing to finish up for the day anyway. I think they were a good buy (thanks, Santa!). We've just never had a whole lot of luck with traditional snorkels. At least one of us always seems to get one that doesn't work very well or doesn't seal properly. It was nice that all three of us had a good experience snorkeling. As a side note, sadly, no dolphins came around us in the bay on the day we went on our "Dolphins and You" excursion, but that was on the day that there was high surf warning. The Dolphins fled, apparently. However, we saw many beautiful fish, and about five sea turtles, which I really enjoyed. All the excursions for the afternoon were cancelled, as there was no chance of encountering dolphins.

It always takes me a little while to get my life back in order after vacation, but I hope to begin a trip report fairly soon on our amazing vacation. It will be great to relive it!

 

[MeeskaMooska13]

I know it - I looked around for you now and again in the hopes that we'd bump into each other, but no luck. It was so nice to meet you, Tammie! So glad you had a great trip, and I hope that knee resolves itself one of these days. We had a great time as well, and may go back in a couple of years, perhaps in conjunction with the Pride of America cruise, so we can visit the majority of the other islands. Both Hale Koa and Aulani were wonderful, and I miss playing around in the ocean!



I think the Tribord snorkel masks worked amazingly well. I love the view of both fronts and sides, and they seemed to be fog free, so we didn't have to spray any anti-fog on the lenses like those using traditional snorkel masks. They were just a breeze. I had no problem with water leaking into the mask, and I wore my contacts comfortably. After a while, the pressure around the mask kind of made both mine and my husband's jaws ache (which was a weird side effect) - but that took a long time to happen, and we were preparing to finish up for the day anyway. I think they were a good buy (thanks, Santa!). We've just never had a whole lot of luck with traditional snorkels. At least one of us always seems to get one that doesn't work very well or doesn't seal properly. It was nice that all three of us had a good experience snorkeling. As a side note, sadly, no dolphins came around us in the bay on the day we went on our "Dolphins and You" excursion, but that was on the day that there was high surf warning. The Dolphins fled, apparently. However, we saw many beautiful fish, and about five sea turtles, which I really enjoyed. All the excursions for the afternoon were cancelled, as there was no chance of encountering dolphins.

It always takes me a little while to get my life back in order after vacation, but I hope to begin a trip report fairly soon on our amazing vacation. It will be great to relive it!

Thank you for the feedback about the snorkel masks! I think it will ask for one for my birthday! Glad you had a lovely vacay!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

I know it - I looked around for you now and again in the hopes that we'd bump into each other, but no luck. It was so nice to meet you, Tammie! So glad you had a great trip, and I hope that knee resolves itself one of these days. We had a great time as well, and may go back in a couple of years, perhaps in conjunction with the Pride of America cruise, so we can visit the majority of the other islands. Both Hale Koa and Aulani were wonderful, and I miss playing around in the ocean!



It always takes me a little while to get my life back in order after vacation, but I hope to begin a trip report fairly soon on our amazing vacation. It will be great to relive it!

It was great to meet you also, Leslie! Funny how there was so much to do that it took us in different directions! My knee feels really good now, thanks. Crazy how that is. We almost took that cruise several years ago and then opted for WDW. Maybe we will see each other around again another time!