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

Keep it coming have been enjoying your TR.
I love hearing about wonderful properties that our military families get to enjoy at good rates!!
Kerri

It is really a terrific benefit! When we were younger, we were Shades of Green devotees, so I was hoping this would be as nice as the property at Disney World, and it definitely was - I wouldn't hesitate to go back.

Joining in on your TR. Loving your photos so far! Especially all those yummy looking fruity drinks.

Welcome! Yum, yum yum! We had some great drinks. 'Cuz that's what you should do on a tropical island!

Sorry Paris was a bit disappointing. We really liked it when we stayed there in 2015. However, the last time we went to Vegas, we noticed that it had gone down hill a bit. The blue sky is a nice touch. The meal looks fabulous though. That sticky toffee pudding is totally calling me right now.

Ah, Hawaii:) The resort is beautiful. The food and drinks look great. I could do with one of those Mai Tais too:) The one with coffee liquor looks really interesting. Hope the rest of the trip is just as good.

Paris was fine, but not as nice as NY NY, in my estimation. Of course we didn't spring for any of the fancier rooms, since we were only there for such a short period of time. The front desk clerk didn't even make eye contact, and was very curt. That probably started the entire visit off on the wrong foot, so my first impression wasn't positive, and it colored our experience. It's amazing how many different things you can do with mai tais. And they were all fabulous!!
 
I am enjoying your trip report! Love all those tropical drinks....I could use one right about now :smooth:
 
TRIP REPORT TABLE OF CONTENTS


Friday, March 24

Saturday, March 25

Sunday, March 26

Monday, March 27

Tuesday, March 28

Wednesday, March 29

Thursday, March 30

Friday, March 31

Saturday, April 1

Sunday, April 2

Hello- we will be traveling down in Sept.
For some reason I am not able to open the links in this thread. Will try form my other laptop - but in the mean time ... can you tell me about the flight- how was the extra comfort? We are flying direct non-stop for JFK and have purchased the extra comfort.

Also I hear that you are not allowed to bring any bags or purses in when visiting Pear Harbor.. can you tell me - not even small tiny purses that hold a phone and small wallet?
Ok thanks.. I hope that I get those links to work!!
:o)
 
I am enjoying your trip report! Love all those tropical drinks....I could use one right about now :smooth:

Thank you! I quite thoroughly enjoyed them myself. We are throwing a 4th of July BBQ in a month, and it's going to be Hawaiian themed. Yes, there will be mai tais! I'm sure they will not be quite as pretty - I don't have any flowers to decorate the glasses, but at least we can use a piece of pineapple to up the "luau atmosphere"!

Hello- we will be traveling down in Sept.
For some reason I am not able to open the links in this thread. Will try form my other laptop - but in the mean time ... can you tell me about the flight- how was the extra comfort? We are flying direct non-stop for JFK and have purchased the extra comfort.

Also I hear that you are not allowed to bring any bags or purses in when visiting Pear Harbor.. can you tell me - not even small tiny purses that hold a phone and small wallet?
Ok thanks.. I hope that I get those links to work!!
:o)

So sorry, I have not added the links yet. Meant to do that but totally forgot. My apologies!!! I will go back and do that soon, hopefully later today! In answer to your questions, we enjoyed the extra comfort, just for the amenities of the entertainment package, pillow and blanket, and a little more room. Didn't care much about the priority boarding that comes with it, since we were all seated together. I couldn't get my seat to recline on the way over, but it was fine coming back. We played trivia and watched movies, and while it was not as comfortable as first class, it was better than coach. My hubby especially liked it, and has requested to fly extra comfort next time we fly Hawaiian. I don't think any purses at all are allowed at Pearl Harbor, even wristlets. They do have lockers available. But I made sure to wear something with pockets. I put car keys in one pocket and a little card holder with my ID and credit card in another, and carried my phone. So it was that simple. We locked everything else in the car, but traveled without a lot of "stuff" on this trip, just because of the frequency of break-ins to cars parked in the Pearl Harbor lot. But we had no issues.
 


Sunday, March 26 – Pearl Harbor and Waikiki Sunset Cocktail Cruise

We purchased the USS Arizona Memorial Narrated Tour option from recreation.gov for $7.50 each, at 60 days in advance, so that we could choose an early tour out to the memorial at 8:00 AM. We wanted to arrive before the gates opened at 7:00 AM, so that we could get parking in a convenient lot, and have time to watch the theatre presentation and see the displays before our tour began. We left the Hale Koa about 6:00 AM, and arrived and were parked and in line by 6:45 AM. That was exactly what I planned, but I was amazed at the number of people already in line before the gates even opened. Many, many tour buses and private parties were already there.

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After we walked through the gates, we headed to the desk for the USS Arizona Memorial Narrated Tour, which was NOT the correct thing to do. So they sent us away from that desk to the regular Tickets and Information desk, who exchanged our tickets for passes to pick up our headsets at the place we started. So, to repeat this for anyone in doubt, here is where you go first:

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And here is where you are sent NEXT if you have this particular tour:

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Once we were squared away, we all found that the headphones were very useful. Great narration by Jamie Lee Curtis, and it was interesting, not dry at all. We looked at the various displays, and also watched the theatre presentation, all of which made history come to life. The most amazing thing to me that became evident during the presentation was the number of things that had to happen to make this attack successful (or unsuccessful, depending on your point of view) for the Japanese. Radar was a fairly new thing, and the radar picked up the large number of Japanese bombers coming toward Oahu, but the Navy was expecting a large number of B-17 planes in from California on the same day, so they assumed it was the planes they were expecting, and therefore the navy missed the opportunity for early warning from the radar. Also, there was low manning on this Sunday morning, which resulted in fewer lives lost during the attack, but would we have had been more prepared to fight back sooner if more men were at their duty stations? It’s interesting to think how history might have been rewritten if the circumstances were different.

There were many Japanese and American citizens visiting the monument on the same day we visited, and I think this is a place of great healing and reflection, particularly for familial descendants of the attack. Another interesting thing to me is that in 1941, a great percentage of Hawaiian citizens and immigrants (about 40%) was of Japanese heritage. You can still see a huge Japanese influence in Oahu, where the numbers of those of Caucasian descent is about the same as those of Japanese descent – about 20% each. What must those Japanese immigrants and Japanese-Americans have experienced or thought during those horrible hours of destruction?


We boarded the ferry transport out to the USS Arizona Memorial at exactly 8:00.

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Everyone on the ferry was very quiet and somber, and when we tied up at the memorial entrance, everyone was reminded to be respectful of the final resting place of so many brave individuals who paid the ultimate sacrifice. This photo of the position of the memorial above the remains of the Arizona was very helpful to understand where we were in relation to the ship. The white narrow rectangle is where the memorial is, crossing the ship like you would cross a "t", with the entrance at one end, and the Shrine Room at the other end.

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Once in the memorial, you could see the rusted remains of the Gun Turret #3 poking out from above the water.

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Here is a photo I found of the Arizona in the 1950’s. The clear water gives an impression of the ship that I haven’t seen. According to a map of the site, Gun Turret #4 is the one below the highly visible Gun Turret #3. Gun Turret #4 is where more recently deceased crew members assigned to the Arizona on the date of its destruction are buried with their shipmates if they so choose.

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We walked up along one side of the memorial structure, which is all open-air out to the waters of Pearl Harbor. The guys took some time for silent reflection of the events of December 7, 1941.

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The mooring quays, which were where the ships in the harbor were moored during the attack, and where other ships resided during the salvage operations, were reinforced with these white structures, but have recently begun a five-year restoration process because they are beginning to deteriorate, and are an important part of the history of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

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Here is a look at the mooring quays (2 per ship) as they are laid out in Pearl Harbor. This photo is courtesy of the Historic Hawaii Foundation website, and is a great illustration.

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We walked down to the end of the memorial structure, called the Shrine Room. We passed the Viewing Well before we entered the Shrine Room, but it was hard to see anything in the viewing well. This is where some people drop flowers and leis in memory of those lost, but there were no flowers here this morning, probably because we were only the second or third tour boat out to the memorial. The shrine room was beautiful. The large white marble panels were recently restored in 2014, as they were beginning to erode in places. This was completed in preparation for the 75th anniversary remembrance in 2016. On the wall are carved the names of the naval sailors and marines who lost their lives on the USS Arizona on that day.

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In front of the wall are two additional monument structures to record the names and dates of death of those crew members who were interred in Gun Turret #4 after their deaths in later years.

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An interesting fact: Elvis Presley performed a concert here in 1961 to raise money for the building of the USS Arizona Memorial, so he was a major contributor to the structure.


I especially loved the plaque of the poem that Eleanor Roosevelt carried with her during the years of WWII to remind her of the importance of our military to each one of us:

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(In case you can’t see the words, here’s what it reads: Dear Lord / Lest I continue / My complacent way / Help me to remember / Somehow out there / A man died for me today. / As long as there be war I then must / Ask and answer / Am I worth dying for?)


After our somber reflective time at the WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument, we drove out in search of lunch. We all wanted to try conveyor belt sushi for the first time, and found some good reviews on Yelp for KuruKuru Sushi. It was about 15 minutes from Pearl Harbor, in the Pearl Kai Shopping Center in Aiea. It was a very small little restaurant, and a little hard to find, as it was around the corner from some other shops and faced out to the main street, but the sushi was good, the friendly servers refilled our drinks continuously, and there were indeed many locals dining inside (and that’s always a good sign!)


We then made another detour to the Waikele Premium Outlets in Waipahu, where we checked out the Vans and LeSportSac Outlets. DS got a pair of flip flops from the Vans outlet, but nothing else really appealed to us at either shop. Across the street from the outlet stores was a McDonalds, where we stopped for a REAL HAWAIIAN TREAT: Old School (read: fried) Apple Pies. Ahhhhh….. memories of childhood when apple pies from Mickey D’s were fried, not baked! And yes, they tasted as we remembered. We may have had another two or four of these during our trip on Oahu.

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We then journeyed back to Hale Koa, and at 5:00, headed next door to the Hilton property and found the kiosk for the Hawaii Nautical tours out on the beach. Too funny. We didn’t really know where to find it, but we could have literally walked out to the beach in front of Hale Koa, turned right, and followed the paved pathway right to the small hut that served as the check-in point.


We were given tickets to the tour, and soon a guide led us out to the catamaran docked in the harbor.

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The captain welcomed us, introduced the crew, and invited us to partake in some snacks before we set sail.

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After we set sail, they turned on the music, opened the bar for anything we wanted to drink (I think officially we were offered two drinks to begin, but we must have looked REALLY thirsty, because we were able to have another drink or two toward the end of the cruise, probably to finish off what they had pre-mixed to bring on board). I remember that I began with champagne, and then had some kind of rum punch. There were about 10-15 people on board, and only 2 or 3 of them were kids. They had a special non-alcoholic tropical drink for the kids, as well as some normal soda choices.


The crew invited us to have a seat on the bow of the boat, so DH and I found a comfortable spot to lounge against the windows in front of the cabin.

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DS found that he preferred to sprawl out on the “cargo net” in the middle of the bow with his non-alcoholic red solo cup.

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The hot appetizers were out by now, and included meatballs and some sweet “hot” wings. (Sorry, foodie photo fail – I didn’t want to pause from my time watching the sunset to snap more photos inside the boat.) They were all very good, and was a good snack following the sushi and apple pie earlier in the day.


The boat ride was just long enough – about an hour and a half. We had a great view of Diamond Head and the Waikiki area.

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And we watched the sunset, which was just beautiful.

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We also were entertained by a pod of dolphins swimming alongside the catamaran. So special! This was a great harbor cruise – perfect weather – the sea was a little choppy, but that made it more fun to be jostled around a little. The views were spectacular, and we had an amazing time – I highly recommend it!

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After the sunset cruise, we went back to the Hale Koa (this time walking on the path out on the beach) and stopped into Bibas Courtyard Grill, where we shared an appetizer of Blue Crab Crostini and a wood fired Margherita Pizza. Our stomachs satisfied, we went back up to the room, and off to our separate pursuits. For me, that meant time on the balcony with a POG cocktail whipped up by DH – who is my favorite bartender, and a good book on my Kindle.
 
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Nice coverage of your Pearl Harbor tour! We went out there on Monday morning. It's nice to hear that your group was reminded to be respected. Our group was a bit talkative, and the group still ahead of us was downright noisy while lining up to leave.

Wow! Your sunset cruise looks like a great experience. I was sitting at Sunset Bar watching the sunset and taking pics with the fam. We probably went in just before you got there. :rotfl2:
 
Mmmmm, fried pies. We have a hamburger joint in town that's been opened since the 60s or 70s, and they still sell fried pies, including apple, peach (Texas), cherry, and lemon. We have been to the stuff at the Arizona Memorial, but the wind picked up, so they canceled our boat trip to the actual ship. Some day we will go back and see the actual ship, but we got to do pretty much everything else there that day. The sunset cruise looks really nice.
 


Sunset cruise is at the top of my list for later this month! Thanks for your review!
 
Monday, March 27 – Part One: Kualoa Ranch

This day was so jam-packed that I am splitting this into two separate entries.

The following morning, we left Hale Koa at 6:45 AM, so that we could arrive at Kualoa Ranch by 8:00 AM, which was the check-in time for our Premier Movie Sites Tour, which was due to begin at 9:00 AM. It was kind of gray and rainy during our drive, and the highway took us north, and then along the North Shore. Right on schedule, we arrived at Kualoa Ranch, and parked in one of the gravel lots close to the ranch house. There was a smiling gentleman in a Hawaiian shirt on the front porch, welcoming the early morning visitors. The Kualoa Ranch sign was so beautiful, I had to snap a photo.

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We walked up the stairs and into the main ranch house. They had an extensive gift shop to the left, and a kitchen serving quick service food to the right. We walked out the back door to the check in desk, and were given lanyards for the 9:00 tour. They had a sitting area with picnic tables and benches under cover next to the check in desk, and we had a great view of the horses used for some of the horseback tours.

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Our tour was in a private van, and we could see it waiting off to the side for boarding time, and also a few buses for other tours.


While we were waiting, we admired the intricately carved tree by the check in counter. DS had to stick his hand right in the shark’s mouth, because when else are you ever allowed to do that, right? You can see from the octopus in the photo below, the kind of detail in the tree. It was pretty cool, and reminded me a bit of the tree of life at Animal Kingdom, just on a much smaller scale.

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Before the tour began, we also took a look at the different films that have used Kualoa Ranch for location shooting. The outside waiting area had several movie posters to look at. Since we are a movie-loving family, it was a lot of fun to see both the films / TV shows that we KNEW already had been shot at the ranch (Lost, Jurassic Park movies), and discover films that we were not aware of being made here (Soul Surfer, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, 50 First Dates, Paradise Hawaiian Style, and many more).

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Another really great surprise was a room with the history of Kualoa Ranch, including a shout-out to the Hawaiian Cowboy Ikua Purdy. This was fantastic, because the Purdy family has ties to our hometown of Cheyenne. In 1908, Ikua Purdy and some of his fellow cowboys travelled to Cheyenne, Wyoming, to compete in the 12th annual Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo. Hawaii was not known to the rest of the world at that time to have a cowboy culture, but indeed, there are several large cattle ranches in Hawaii. So imagine the surprise to the rest of the cowboys and the spectators in attendance when Ikua Purdy WON the world steer roping championship!! Since those days, Cheyenne and the Hawaiian cowboys have maintained close ties. We have several Purdy family members living here that are descendants of Ikua. I suppose they came to visit, they liked it here, and they stayed on. Our DS went to school with a Purdy classmate for several years in elementary school. In our Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum, they have a larger copy of this bronze on display (the large original bronze is on the Parker Ranch on the big island, so it was kind of surreal to see a smaller version here. There is really no direct tie I could find between Purdy and the Kualoa Ranch other than this bronze statue, as he was from the Parker Ranch on the big island, as I mentioned. I think the point is that Kualoa Ranch is proud of its cattle ranch and the cowboys who still work here, and they want to promote their ranching industry.

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At 9:00, we loaded into our touring van with about 5 other people (I want to say there were about 8 passengers total). The first area we went to was the wooded area where there was still a Jurassic Park sign in place. We talked about how, for the most part, film companies have to sign a waiver to return the land exactly as it was prior to the start of filming, unless there are certain memorabilia items that Kualoa Ranch would be interested in keeping in place for tourism reasons.

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Next, we journeyed down the road to the valley which will look familiar to Jurassic Park fans.

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This is where some of the most memorable scenes from Jurassic Park were filmed, including that big log where the tourists hid to avoid being trampled by the “Veggie-Sauruses”. It worked great for them, but not so great for us, because a carnivorous dinosaur found us, ate all three of us, and that was the end of our tour.

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Ha-Ha. Just Kidding. I’m back with more movie fun.


Next, we drove further into the interior of the island to see a major set piece from the last Jurassic World movie, the entrance, observation deck and holding paddock for the Indominus Rex dinosaur (who is pretty smart for a reptile, and does not take kindly to people watching him all day, it turns out).

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Kualoa Ranch has even preserved the observation tower deck, and was making structural improvements to the building while we were there, but we were still able to go up top and see into the Indominus Rex paddock like the actors did in the movie. And on the wall of the observation tower, there was a cool Jurassic World map of the fictional park itself, another prop from the movie.

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We then drove down the road to the coastal side of the ranch. Here is the view…. isn’t this amazing!?

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We stopped at the area which was commandeered by the military during WWII and used to build bunkers. These bunkers have been re-purposed to house more movie memorabilia, and we saw more items from Jurassic Park and Lost, in addition to those from other films.

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Very fun experience! There was even a Jurassic Park jeep parked outside for a photo opportunity, but we didn’t have a chance to take part in trying it out, as we spent so much time inside, and the tour van was ready to move on.


Our final stop was at a lush green waterside meadow overlooking a fish pond with a couple cottages that served as a key location in several movies. Chris Pratt lived here and worked on his bike in Jurassic World:

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Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore ate here in 50 First Dates:

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And Annasophia Robb lived her in her character Bethany Hamilton’s cottage in Soul Surfer:

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The beauty of this area is indescribable. I think it can be rented out for weddings, both real and fictional….

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I would highly recommend this tour, although Kualoa has several interesting tours on their website, so I don’t think you could go wrong with any of them. Our close second choice would have been the ATV tour ride, but we were glad in the end that we did the Premier Movie Sites with the van. Our guide laughingly told us that he used to guide the ATV tours, but that since they are unprotected and in the open, they are subject to a lot of dust clouds and insects, so he much prefers the comfort of the van. I have to agree – when it began to heat up, it was nice to be in the air conditioning, and water and small snacks (popcorn and M & Ms) were provided to us, so that was a nice touch. I think we saw a couple locations that weren’t included in the ATV tour as well, where the cattle grazed, for instance, which may have been too dangerous for open vehicles, and also the Jurassic World Observation Deck. I may be wrong about that – but we didn’t see any ATVs out in either area.
 
That is really cool. I didn't even know about that place. I think I am going to have to suggest this for our trip next summer. We are all big movie fans and particularly love the Jurassic Park movies. I love the photo of Tom Selleck on the wall from Magnum PI. When I was a kid, my mom dated one of the semi-regular actors on the show. We always kind of liked that show, until we didn't:rotfl2:That looks like such a cool and beautiful place.
 
Loving you TR so far! I went to Kualoa Ranch last year and we did the secret beach. I definitely want to go back and do the movie tour or the zip line.
 
Monday, March 27 – Part Two: Dole Plantation, Hale Koa Luau

We interrupt this program for a special treat: Dole Whip!

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From this place – the Dole Plantation.

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It was so crowded in the gravel parking lot, and we parked way out in the far corner. We were lucky enough to find a spot that fit our monstrous rental SUV. Phew!

We were happy to find that the Dole Plantation has a nice little café at the very back of the store, (which is primarily a gift shop where you can buy all things pineapple) called the Plantation Grille – the line was long, but moved pretty quickly. DH chose the pineapple chili dog, and DS and I shared this yummy Kalua Pork Quesadilla. The sauces drizzled on top were a sweet barbecue sauce and sour cream. Very messy, but absolutely worth it!

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The food was all very good, and we ate outside on the patio under an umbrella where we watched our friend “Kiwi the Bird” hop around and entertain us and try to steal people’s lunches. The Dole Whips came out first, and began to melt immediately in the heat, so we were forced to eat dessert before entrees. What a bummer. After lunch, we made a few purchases at the gift store, and this is my favorite: Pineapple Gummy Bears! Yum, Yum! They were pretty expensive, I must say, so we only got two bags. One for us, and one for a family friend who specifically asked for a bag if we went to the Dole Plantation. It was also his favorite treat from a past vacation.

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I also purchased some pineapple cotton candy, but I didn’t think to take a photo. It came in a small plastic tub. It was also good, but I would choose the gummy bears if I had a choice between the two.

Since it was so warm inland at the Dole Plantation, it was a relief to get back to the cooler shores by Hale Koa. We changed into some dressier attire, and headed down to cocktail hour at 5:30 at the Hale Koa Luau. The prices for this Luau were $60 per adult, and $23 for our teenager. It was a very good price for the wonderful meal, and it was nice that there was a price other than adult price for DS. It was the same way at the Koko Buffet on the first night at Hale Koa. We’ve been so used to paying “adult” price for DS’s meals on nearly every vacation (since the age of 10 at Disney restaurants), that it was like traveling back in time to 2011! LOL!!! Another note on the pricing: all seats were the same price, regardless of how close to the stage you were, and you could choose to sit at the uncovered tables near the stage, or further back, under cover, closer to the bar. We took a chance that it wouldn’t rain that evening, and booked early enough that we were able to get a seat front and center of the stage, at Table 4. I did worry about rain ruining our dinner, but it was a lovely evening, so we were very lucky.

This was our very first luau, so we didn’t know what to expect, but it seems to be standard at both luaus we attended (this one and the one at Aulani) for the guests to gather on the lawn to have a complimentary rum drink handed to them, a welcome lei either of shells, nuts, or flowers, and a family photo taken (which could be purchased later at dinner in a folder with the Hale Koa name on it.)

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Then we wandered around the luau lawn to watch demonstrations of Hawaiian cultural arts. There was a lei-making station, which seemed pretty time consuming to me and also had many little girls in line who would enjoy it more than I would, so we skipped it. There was also a headband making station, which was a braiding activity that was interesting and quick to do, so I made a headband out of palm fronds for DH. He liked it, and looked very tropical in his headband and Hawaiian shirt.

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We watched some of the entertainers climb the palm trees that encircled the lawn, which was neat. They really were comedians, and also very strong and talented. There was a bar set up behind the back rows of tables, with several bartenders who were serving many guests already at this point.

Before we knew it, we heard the call of the conch shells to get our attention.

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One of the performers, acting as an emcee for the evening, invited us all to gather around the “imu” – a Hawaiian style underground oven – which I like to simply refer to as the “pig pit”.

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It was really cool to see them unwrap the pig from its roasting place under the large leaves, and then place it on a litter to carry it to the kitchen where they shredded it to make Kalua Pork (which is just the term for pig cooked in an imu oven underground.)

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We were then invited to make our way to our seats, while the band played traditional Hawaiian tunes.

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We introduced ourselves to our table mates at our table for eight. There were a couple of other very nice families there. Soon, we were served our plated meals, which was different from the buffet-style “help yourself” meal at Aulani. On the plate were small portions of many different dishes, including the aforementioned Kalua Pork, fried rice, roasted vegetables, teriyaki beef, salmon and chicken. On the table, there was also salad as well poi, the traditional Hawaiian lavender-colored sauce made from pounded taro root. It didn’t have a lot of flavor, but poi is very healthy for you, apparently (we talked to one native Hawaiian who says that their family eats a lot of poi with every meal, and they have all lived long and healthy lives that they attribute to the poi.) It didn’t taste BAD, but also didn’t add anything special to the flavor of the meat, in my view… I had a little at both luaus and didn’t mind it at all.

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Up on stage, the entertainment began. It was a very nice theme – the different costumes, dances, and traditions of the various South Pacific Island Cultures. They paid homage to Hawaiians, Samoans, French Polynesians, Tongans, and others. Oh my goodness…. these performers were so amazingly talented, and gave us a great education on the pacific islands. There were also several fire dancing demonstrations from the various islands represented. My photos do not do the show justice. It was also very hard to get the action shots without a lot of blurriness – but here are a few of the ones that turned out decently.

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There was also a bit of audience participation, including a celebration of the couple married the longest in the audience, and honoring all the different military services in attendance. I think every service, including the coast guard, were represented by a large number of attendees. The evening ended with a rousing rendition of “God Bless the USA” sung by the performers and the audience, to end on a patriotic note. I cannot say enough good things about this luau, and enjoyed the show even better than the Aulani show, even though that one was also amazing.

After dinner, we headed back upstairs, and turned in early, since it had been a very full day, and we were headed to Aulani the next day!

Thoughts on Hale Koa: wonderfully priced, beautiful property, amazing luau, fantastic opportunity to stock up on supplies, liquor, gifts, food, clothing… you name it…. at the shoppette downstairs, which had a little of everything. I even bought nail polish and the combo detergent/fabric softener sheets that I couldn’t find back home. Very handy to use for vacation travels. We tried new types of Hawaiian rums and tropical juices, and a nice pineapple wine, bought a case of water, and took everything with us to Aulani. Only one complaint about Hale Koa… their shampoo / conditioner combination that they provided in the toiletries was horrible. Not sure which brand they buy and re-brand as their own, but it dried out my hair in the worst way. After two days of it, I bought a small bottle of conditioner from the shoppette to supplement, and it was a huge improvement. And isn’t that a silly thing to remark on as a hotel drawback?? J We are very blessed to be able to stay at this facility, and we wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. As a matter of fact, in a couple of years we are going to take the “Pride of America” Norwegian Cruise Lines sailing around most of the Hawaiian Islands, and we are going to stay another Saturday night there before flying home Sunday morning. We’ll plan to attend the Saturday night Surf and Turf buffet again at Koko at Kalia, for more crab legs and delicious food for dinner – fingers crossed that they are still offering it! If you are eligible to stay here, I highly recommend it if it fits into your plans. Make your reservations a year in advance, if you want your choice of rooms. You can always cancel it later if you change your mind. It also bears mentioning that down at the beach, a little ways further left down the paved path while facing the ocean, there is a stand (run by an independent company) that rents out beach chairs and umbrellas, paddle boards, surfboards, water trikes, small boats, large floating foam platforms, etc… to anyone, but offers reduced prices for military members. If we were staying longer, I would have definitely made use of renting their equipment to play in the water.
 
That looks so nice, both the luau and the Dole Plantation. We love the Dole Plantation. It just screams Hawaii to me. It sounds like a really nice resort. It's nice to have something more affordable for servicemen and their families, since Hawaii is so expensive. I understand about the conditioner and shampoo. Sometimes, it's just not good.
 
The Hale Koa luau is a great deal for the price. Been a while but they go back and forth on whether they will sell to non military. Sometimes its the Don't ask No tell attitude. If you are in Waikiki check at the activity desk at the Hale Koa hotel lobby and see what they say. If you are there on a grandpa trip who was in the military, you have to go.
 
That's great to hear about the luau there. I'm tired of dragging guests out to paradise cove, so I wondered how it was and it looks pretty decent.
For the money, I just love the hale koa and DH and I will often do staycations there if our son is gone with school for something. It's a great location and the beach is perfect in front. Not to make anyone all jealous (ha!) but my girlfriends and I will often just hang out at the pool for the day if we all need a 'day off' from life and we pretend we're on vacation. Did that today. (worth noting, the bar was serving alcohol at 10am, not that I know anything about that)
 
That's great to hear about the luau there. I'm tired of dragging guests out to paradise cove, so I wondered how it was and it looks pretty decent.
For the money, I just love the hale koa and DH and I will often do staycations there if our son is gone with school for something. It's a great location and the beach is perfect in front. Not to make anyone all jealous (ha!) but my girlfriends and I will often just hang out at the pool for the day if we all need a 'day off' from life and we pretend we're on vacation. Did that today. (worth noting, the bar was serving alcohol at 10am, not that I know anything about that)

I love it!! Awww..... I would love a day off from life.... today would be a good one to "beam me over" to the Hale Koa pool. Meet you there at 5:00! :flower1:
 
That's great to hear about the luau there. I'm tired of dragging guests out to paradise cove, so I wondered how it was and it looks pretty decent.
For the money, I just love the hale koa and DH and I will often do staycations there if our son is gone with school for something. It's a great location and the beach is perfect in front. Not to make anyone all jealous (ha!) but my girlfriends and I will often just hang out at the pool for the day if we all need a 'day off' from life and we pretend we're on vacation. Did that today. (worth noting, the bar was serving alcohol at 10am, not that I know anything about that)


Can I come, too??
 
Tuesday, March 28 – Iolani Palace, Aulani, Monkeypod Kitchen

As I think I’ve mentioned, we are not a sleep-in type of family. The Hale Koa’s check-out time is 11:00 am. We didn’t want to get to Aulani so early that we would have to plan for a day bag to last us a few hours until our room was ready, so we thought we could fit in one more thing to see before leaving Honolulu. My initial thoughts were either to hike Diamond Head or drive a few blocks to see Iolani Palace, the home to the last reigning king and queen of Hawaii, before the royal family was overthrown in 1893. The Palace won out, because when I booked, my ankle was still a bit weak from a hike last fall, and I wanted to give it a couple more months to return to normal before pushing it too hard. So the tour of Iolani (only about one hour long) seemed like a nice alternative.

A little history: The palace was completed in 1882, so it was the royal residence for only 11 years. It had all the modern conveniences of the time, including electrical lights, a telephone, and indoor plumbing. Doesn’t this look like the height of elegance?? Ha Ha! Well, better than an outdoor alternative, I say!

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The palace is fairly small for a royal residence, but very ornate. The memorabilia that the historical society has either restored or found after being sold off, is truly wonderful and opulent. After the monarchy was dissolved, the contents of the Palace were sold at Public Auction and have been scattered all over the world. The restoration foundation has been working to locate the contents of the palace and restore it back to its grandeur. Pieces of the King’s bedroom set (below) were recovered (by a visiting tourist who recognized an item in a photograph as now belonging to his family!), the palace china was located in California, and many other items have been found and have been restored.

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King Kalakaua, the final king, died in 1891, and his sister Liliuokalani became Queen for the couple of years the royal family was still in power. When a loyal band of royal enthusiasts tried to eventually restore the monarchy, she was imprisoned at Iolani Palace in an upstairs suite, where she made this intricate quilt, ostensibly to pass the time.

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To get there, we left Hale Koa at 8:15, for our 9:00 tour. It was only a 10-15 minute drive from Hale Koa, and that left us time to park in the parking garage across the street, which was a bargain at $3 for two hours, and also pick up our tickets at the will-call office, which was in a small Barracks building on the grounds.

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Photo by Travis Thurston posted on Wikipedia

If helpful to anyone, the parking garage is at 1099 Alakea Street, and was very convenient (except for the extremely tight parking spaces for a big old “boat” of a rental like we had). I don’t think I’ve ever parked so close to a wall in my life. I had to let the guys out before I pulled into the only spot that would work, and slither my way out of the driver’s side. I prayed that the car next to me wouldn’t leave before I did, as I wasn’t sure if they could get into their driver’s side. Luckily, there didn’t seem to be any signs of anyone needing to get out before we returned.

After parking and getting our tickets, we were invited to join the group gathering for the tour and sit in chairs on the porch outside the back entrance of the palace.

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We were given velvet booties to place over our shoes. Already, the royal treatment! (Ha ha!) Below is the front porch where we gathered to wait for the tour to begin.

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Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, and guided us all around the palace. We began by viewing the State Dining Room, with some of the china that was recovered from California.

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My favorite part was the throne room, with the thrones, scepter and sword on display.

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It also displayed these beautiful exact replicas of gowns that Queen Kapi’olani and (then) Princess Lili’uokalani wore to London in 1887 for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. The Peacock Gown worn by the Queen was my favorite, and the gown that her sister-in-law wore, called the “Black Ribbon Gown” was also beautiful. This was the sister-in-law who later succeeded her brother as the monarch upon his death, and was the last queen, the one who was imprisoned and made the quilt.

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This was a wonderful piece of history to see, and the entire story was fascinating. We ended our tour in the basement, where the kitchens were located, and some storage rooms that are now used to house some of the recovered family jewels and royal decorations.

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It was neat to know that some of the jewels are on loan from the descendants of the royal family still living in Hawaii, and are active members of The Friends of Iolani Palace, who are charged with preservation and restoration activities. We made a donation at the end of the tour to support this group. We believe their work is important to this piece of American history.

After visiting the Palace, we headed back to Hale Koa to check out. To our frustration, a bunch of road construction had cropped up, blocking our way back to Hale Koa, and leading us on a very slow and traffic-clogged detour. So we were about 15 minutes late to check out. We phoned the Hale Koa when we knew we would be late, and they were very gracious and understanding about the traffic.

Finally, we bid adieu to the Hale Koa, and packed up the car for the drive to Aulani. The first fail of my itinerary: we had planned to stop at Leonard’s Malasadas on the way, but it was now too close to lunchtime, and we just wanted to get to Aulani. We DID make time to stop at the Target very close to Ko’Olina and picked up some snacks and breakfast foods, and a couple of cheap plastic floaty toys (a chair and a blow-up lounge) to use in the Aulani lagoon.

The check-in process at Aulani was very easy. The parking garage was attached to the Waianae Tower side of the resort, which I had requested, and was granted. We were given room 1212, which is exactly what I requested for our ocean-view one bedroom villa. I requested upper floor, Waianae Tower, overlooking the pools / lagoon in an even-numbered room. I was tickled that we received it, as we don’t always have the best of luck when requesting rooms at Disney resorts.

The first order of business was to check out our views:

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A couple of my photos of our room didn’t turn out, so I have interspersed them with photos taken from Disney websites that were so helpful to me in planning our vacation. We loved our room, the location and the view. There was plenty of storage, and it was very handy to have the kitchen and the washer/dryer. I thought it would be weird to have the two small triangular balconies – one off the living room, and the other off the master bedroom – but we didn’t mind it at all. There was plenty of room.

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We walked around the Aulani property a little, peeked around the gift shops, and bought a new rash guard for DH.

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We walked down the steps from the pool area and took a closer look at the lagoon. The ocean was beautiful and inviting, but we were getting hungry, so decided to head over to across the street to Monkeypod Kitchen. It was a quick walk of about 5 minutes or less. I had made dinner reservations for 5:30, but they were able to seat us closer to 4:30, and we enjoyed a round of Happy Hour drinks before we ordered. This is the Monkeypod Mai Tai for me, which I loved (it had a honey-lilikoi foam). Not sure what that is, but it was delicious! I think DH had some sort of margarita, judging by the rim of salt around his glass.

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For dinner, DS chose the King Kong Cheese Burger (no surprise there!), and DH and I split a couple of different entrees…. the Proletariat Pizza (we love green olives on our pizza) and the Kiawe Grilled Ahi with Jalapeno mashed potatoes. We also added a side of charred brussels sprouts. It was a wonderful dinner!

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Yes, we were very happy to hang out at Monkeypod, and get the festivities started! The menfolk were already monkeying around:

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Following Monkeypod, we went back to the resort. The teens were having some activities, so we walked with DS to Aunty’s Beach House to see what there was to see. I believe it was Ukulele lessons the first night. We were hoping that he would make some friends to hang out with, and that turned out to be a great decision. Look who else we found hanging loose at Aunty’s Beach House!

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DH and I heard the sound of the band playing on the patio outside the 'Olelo Room. It was such a beautiful evening that we stayed outside at a table and listened to them and ordered a couple of drinks: True Blue Hawaii and a Mango Mojito.

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This is probably my favorite part of our Aulani stay… listening to a different band every night playing over at the ‘Olelo Room. We could also clearly hear the music wafting up to our balcony on the 12th floor, and it was perfect to listen to it every evening.

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After our drinks, we walked around the pool and lazy river. True to what we’d heard, the lazy river was closed and vacant, but we saw that the large pool area was used by a few visitors late into the night.

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