Waving Goodbye To My 20s - Aulani Trip Report - Update 9/25 Going Home (The End)

[tnbrowne2004]

I can't even wait till this trip report! Hawaii is my second place to vacation after Walt Disney World, just another one of my happy places. If you are in the Waikiki area you should try Marukame Udon, it really has the best Udon I have ever had and it also has really good fried chicken (for meat eaters ). Go early though because sometimes the line is out the door. We've always gone in the morning and never have had to wait. The curry udon is really good and it's cheap! Diamond Head is definitely a must, we do this every time we go, doesn't take that long to get up to the top and the views are great. The swap meet is also kind of fun and if you are looking for souvenirs, they are really cheap there. I think that goes on on Sunday's and Wednesday's at the Aloha Stadium.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

newbie on board! I was reading a bit of your recent trip report last night

I have yet to write a trip report, but I sure enjoy reading them When I was recovering from ankle surgeries last year, dis trip reports were my life saver! I wish I had found yours, they would have kept me busy for ages (I did read all of Frans- I enjoy hers very much and yours are similar!)

Good for you guys with all the running you do, I have done a couple of 5Ks, but nothing serious/bigger than that. I was just kinda getting into running when I hurt myself and 2 surgeries later, I'm walking again but not running yet. I was super jealous of my hubby who did the Castaway 5K last May, while I was still hobbling with cane and sometimes the good old airboot

Your plans so far sound great, maybe sometime we will get to Aulani We've been to the Big Island a couple of times, but I do want to visit Oahu.

Thank you for reading along with my trip reports! I love spending lazy weekends or evenings catching up on the Dis sometimes! Glad you hear you enjoy mine You should write a report one of these days!

Completing a 5K is awesome! 3.1 miles is a lot more than people think! Sorry to hear about the ankle surgery. I am super injury prone to my left ankle although (knocking on some wood) I haven't hurt it recently at least. I'm probably not far away from needing surgery though, at least according to my regular massage therapist. (Can't wait until Sunday 9AM!) Glad you are getting to walking again though! Run/Walk is the way to go for me! Only way I can maintain myself for long distances.

The plans are totally coming along. I hope to have my stuff for July 3rd booked by this weekend. Then to figure out July 5th to 8th!

That is great you've been to the Big Island! Those active volcanos seem they would be so great to look at and fly over. Some Sunday afternoons, I get lost in watching Buying Hawaii or something similar and their lava zones always interest me and their real estate implications. We probably won't ever get there but that would be awesome! Our next big trip after Hawaii will be Italy.

I can't even wait till this trip report! Hawaii is my second place to vacation after Walt Disney World, just another one of my happy places. If you are in the Waikiki area you should try Marukame Udon, it really has the best Udon I have ever had and it also has really good fried chicken (for meat eaters ). Go early though because sometimes the line is out the door. We've always gone in the morning and never have had to wait. The curry udon is really good and it's cheap! Diamond Head is definitely a must, we do this every time we go, doesn't take that long to get up to the top and the views are great. The swap meet is also kind of fun and if you are looking for souvenirs, they are really cheap there. I think that goes on on Sunday's and Wednesday's at the Aloha Stadium.

I can't wait to get to go on this trip! Just 4 months + 1 week to go! Glad to hear its a happy place for you We are lucky to live in an area with awesome weather year round most of the time.

Thank you for the tip about the Udon! I love a good Udon! So many places to eat and not enough time

Diamondhead is a must do for us - just need to decide which day we are going to do it in the July 5th to 8th range. Good to know the swap meet has good cheap souvenirs! We aren't huge shoppers but I know we'll have to pick some stuff up for friends over there! I'll keep that in mind for Wednesday!

 

[ljcrochet]

Let us know how you like the paradise cove luau. Dh and I did 2 different laua's when we went to hawaii pre-kids. Paradise cove was the better of the 2. I think we are going to do it with the girls when we take them in August.

 

[kastoney]

I'm finally here and all subbed up. Happy early birthday. Hawaii sounds like a magical place to spend the first moments of your 30s. And so happy the dvc worked out for you.

Your race plans looks really cool. How cool to run along the ocean like that. A lot of the hikes sound great too. Diamond head is awesome so definitely be sure to do that one.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Let us know how you like the paradise cove luau. Dh and I did 2 different laua's when we went to hawaii pre-kids. Paradise cove was the better of the 2. I think we are going to do it with the girls when we take them in August.

Will do! I know the reviews go back and forth on which luau is the better to do on the island. This one won out as it was in walking distance from the hotel, which means I can have all the mai-tais I want. What was the other luau you did?

I'm finally here and all subbed up. Happy early birthday. Hawaii sounds like a magical place to spend the first moments of your 30s. And so happy the dvc worked out for you.

Your race plans looks really cool. How cool to run along the ocean like that. A lot of the hikes sound great too. Diamond head is awesome so definitely be sure to do that one.

Thank you! I'm glad we are doing this for my 30th (especially since he got a 36 hour trip to Disney for his 30th - but that is what he gets for having a birthday right after Christmas when you work in retail) The day before we leave though is my worst day at work - Fiscal Year End. I usually don't get home until late that day but it will be nice to be able to skip all the aftermath of that and come back nice and refreshed!

I'm excited and nervous for the race plan. My left ankle is super weak. My massage therapist is recommending to me that I start training with my brace on once I get through Darkside weekend! Luckily we live near a beach so I can train on sand!

Diamondhead is totally on the list - I just got to decide when its going to be done in the 2nd half of the trip.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

July 3rd Plans

We are all booked for our plans for July 3rd! We will be spending the day at...



Starting off early in the morning!







I am a movie nerd. I see over 50 movies a year in the theatre (thank goodness for Moviepass!) so this is right up my ally. I love Jurassic Park and I loved Lost so I'm happy we get to do this. My husband always is interested in this - he was jealous when I got to do Paramount & Universal over Labor Day in 2015 and he didn't!

After the tour ends, we will shop a little at the Ranch and get lunch here:



Before we set off for our afternoon tour that my husband asked for.





It should be a relaxing afternoon on this small private island. Doubt there will be too many people there!

That ends around 2:30PM where we'll clean up and head back to Aulani for a bit.

Dinner just needs to be set but I'm thinking tonight will be Morimoto around 7:00PM once Open Table lets me reserve that table!​

 

[Ritchielace]

Kona brewery is great! Love their fish taco's. We went to the one on the Big Island but if they have it there try to time it to do the brewery tour before eating. It was awesome and free samples

 

[kastoney]

Looks like you've got another great day planned. The movie tour looks really interesting. I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff too, though since my daughter came around my movie consumption is seriously off.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Kona brewery is great! Love their fish taco's. We went to the one on the Big Island but if they have it there try to time it to do the brewery tour before eating. It was awesome and free samples

Good to know their fish tacos are great! I think a lot of their appetizers look awesome - I guess it will depend on how hungry I am when we get there on what I'm going to do. Sadly, I don't think they have the brewery on Oahu which means no brewery tour for us. At least they have all there beers! There are only 3 we can get easily here around Naples, FL so I'm glad I'll get to try some of their other options while there! We may end up doing the tour at Honolulu BeerWorks or Waikiki Brewing Company as well.

Looks like you've got another great day planned. The movie tour looks really interesting. I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff too, though since my daughter came around my movie consumption is seriously off.

Hopefully at Casey gets older, you can start enjoying all types of movies again! I'm a huge movie person - I saw over 55 movies last year in the theater (thank goodness for Moviepass) I've only seen 10 movies so far this year, but starting soon, more and more come out that I want to see. (With my husband's work schedule, I get a lot of weekends to myself - movies are easy entertainment to get out of the house & won't make me spend a ton of money)

I'm really excited for the Jurassic Park section and Lost section! I'll totally fangirl there, kinda like I did on the Universal VIP tour last Labor Day!

 

[franandaj]

The movie tour sounds like a good fit for you. I've seen others who have done the tour and I guess I haven't seen enough movies that were shot there to get excited about it, but I sounds like you've seen quite a few things that filmed there.

The beach sounds like a fun second part of the day.

 

[Cinderelly516]

We are checking in to Aulani on July 5th and staying through the 13th, looks like our trips overlap each other. Thanks for posting all the great information! We are going to try and go to Kuoloa Ranch and I just send my husband the information on the runs you posted. Hope you guys have a great trip and birthday (I am saying goodbye to my 30's with this trip lol).

 

[Vernie822]

I am so late to the party, but I am beginning to plan our Aulani days & I'm dying to see what you have for inspiration.

 

[Vernie822]

I am so going to follow along for the rest of this because this is great. I have been doing my research as best as possible but I honestly have no idea what we definitely do and don't want to do. We have 5 full days & one evening (coming over from Maui at like 4 PM so planning on just getting the rental car, checking in, doing some groceries, & maybe we'll do a restaurant dinner on our first night). I know we want to do Diamondhead/Waikiki and Pearl Harbor, though I'm debating a day at the North Shore because I think we will want to relax more than just 2 days.

I convinced my husband that a cabana was a good idea. He didn't take too long to convince! When picking a day, we have discussed having two resort only days. July 2nd will be a resort day as it will be use getting used to Hawaiian Time. He decided for July 4th to be our other resort day as he figured it would be busy around the island. This will be a good day to have 'our' spot for the pool & beach.

Now I need to do the same thing, haha! A cabana sounds like a great worry-free idea.

Diamondhead

This is the most popular hike on the island. It goes to the extinct volcano. Its an easy 0.8 mile climb to the top. I imagine we can have this done in about an hour early in the morning as they open at 6AM.

Yes! I'm hoping to do this early morning one day, & then head to Waikiki for lunch and some sightseeing. Maybe we'll plan on this being like a 6AM - 2 or 3 PM type thing with a nice dinner that night?!

My Friday Night waitlist came through and my entire reservation is confirmed! Yay for no longer having to worry about finding another hotel room for July 1st or having to worry if it will come through!

YAY!!!! That is fantastic!

Southwest Oahu Area
Kona Brewing Company - We love this beer at home!

Oooh this sounds like fun!!

Aulani Area
Paradise Cove - Luau - We’re doing this on July 2nd
’Ama’Ama - Aulani Open Air Restaurant - We’re doing this July 4th @ 6:30PM after our day in our Cabana
Monkeypod - Everyone says this is a good option. It will probably be our choice on July 1st once we get settled into the hotel and walk over!

I think we'll definitely plan on Monkeypod at least once, and 'Ama'Ama for dinner as well. I need to look into the luau, I have heard horrid things about Germaine's and I know we want to do one.

What a nice birthday gift, this sounds amazing!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

The movie tour sounds like a good fit for you. I've seen others who have done the tour and I guess I haven't seen enough movies that were shot there to get excited about it, but I sounds like you've seen quite a few things that filmed there.

The beach sounds like a fun second part of the day.

I'm a huge movie person - averaging seeing over 50 a year since moving to Naples. I get it isn't a fit for everyone though (I remember reading one person's scathing review of it but she always complained about everything that wasn't perfect so I took it with a grain of salt)

I know Aulani has their own beach as well but seeing as this one is more secluded - it should be nice!

We are checking in to Aulani on July 5th and staying through the 13th, looks like our trips overlap each other. Thanks for posting all the great information! We are going to try and go to Kuoloa Ranch and I just send my husband the information on the runs you posted. Hope you guys have a great trip and birthday (I am saying goodbye to my 30's with this trip lol).

We do slightly overlap during our trip! Is your husband a runner as well? Hopefully there is something for him to enjoy while you are there! I think I remember seeing something on July 8th/9th for races!

Hope you have a wonderful goodbye to your 30's and a great birthday as well!

I am so late to the party, but I am beginning to plan our Aulani days & I'm dying to see what you have for inspiration.

You aren't late to the party at all! I haven't even gone on the trip yet

I really need to start planning more. Between work and bridesmaids duties for my friend, I've slacked on this trip planning lately! I go to Cancun in 2 weeks for the balchorette party and then after that, I hope I can focus more on planning Hawaii. I have entirely too much to do between now and Cancun though as I need to make the scavenger hunt, buy Nail Polish for one of the games and make the cute signs for the Undie Game.

I am so going to follow along for the rest of this because this is great. I have been doing my research as best as possible but I honestly have no idea what we definitely do and don't want to do. We have 5 full days & one evening (coming over from Maui at like 4 PM so planning on just getting the rental car, checking in, doing some groceries, & maybe we'll do a restaurant dinner on our first night). I know we want to do Diamondhead/Waikiki and Pearl Harbor, though I'm debating a day at the North Shore because I think we will want to relax more than just 2 days.

As you are going on your Honeymoon, I get wanting to have some relaxation going on. Our first night is going to be something similar with taking it easy. I think we arrive around 2PM (after a long day of flights from FL to TX to there) so I think all we'll end up doing is dropping our luggage off, visiting Target for drinks, etc and probably getting dinner either in that shopping plaza or at Monkeypod. We know we'll be to bed early because we have to wake up super early for the race the next day. We actually are going to do the North Shore now after the race so we'll look like a hot mess but we'll get the major highlights!

Now I need to do the same thing, haha! A cabana sounds like a great worry-free idea.

It's your honeymoon! You should totally splurge!

Yes! I'm hoping to do this early morning one day, & then head to Waikiki for lunch and some sightseeing. Maybe we'll plan on this being like a 6AM - 2 or 3 PM type thing with a nice dinner that night?!

Sounds like a good idea to me! Hiking totally should be an early morning thing as you don't want to get too nasty! Although, we're totally going to pick up baby wipes at Target for the car as we feel it will be needed post hiking and post race and probably whatever else we end up doing!

YAY!!!! That is fantastic!

I was so happy for that email!

Oooh this sounds like fun!!

I do like my beer/alcohol!

I think we'll definitely plan on Monkeypod at least once, and 'Ama'Ama for dinner as well. I need to look into the luau, I have heard horrid things about Germaine's and I know we want to do one.

What a nice birthday gift, this sounds amazing!

I know its going to be a super touristy thing to do a luau and I'm going to approach it as that and just embrace it. We're doing Paradise Cove as its in walking distance from Aulani and thus, I can enjoy` all the Mai Tais I want and still get home safely!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

July 5th Plans

As July 4th will be spent enjoying our Cabana at the Adult Pool w/ dinner at 'Ama-Ama in the evening, I'm going to skip giving that its own post for the pre-trip.

On July 5th, we are planning on having our American History day.

We will start early in the morning at Pearl Harbor for the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial Tour (I'm planning on reserving online when they open in May)

Depending on how long that takes in the morning, we may end up at the Battleship Missouri Memorial or Pacific Aviation Museum. If we miss it, thats ok.

Lunch will be in Honolulu at either of the following options:
"The Pig & The Lady" - Modern Vietnamese Eats
"Vino Italian Tapas & Wine Bar"

The afternoon we are planning on going to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific

We'll return to the hotel for some relaxation afterwards.

Dinner will be around 7PM at Alan Wong's!​

 

[franandaj]

Sounds like a solemn day. I'll have to Google Alan Wong's. That's not one I've heard folks talk about before.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

You're going to Hawaii!!! Wow!!! I love your reports and cannot wait to hear all about your trip. I am dying to get out to Aulani. No firm plans yet but starting to gather suggestions and tidbits. Your plans all sound fantastic. So fun to have a whole new world of dining to investigate!!!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Sounds like a solemn day. I'll have to Google Alan Wong's. That's not one I've heard folks talk about before.

I don't think you can go to Oahu and not for sure have that solemn day. I feel its just part of our history.

Alan Wong's is a high end Hawaiian Restaurant. Its gets pretty decent reviews online and I'm looking forward to it! Unfortunately, I missed the Open Table opening day so we aren't doing that on the 5th anymore for dinner but I think I have a good substitute!

You're going to Hawaii!!! Wow!!! I love your reports and cannot wait to hear all about your trip. I am dying to get out to Aulani. No firm plans yet but starting to gather suggestions and tidbits. Your plans all sound fantastic. So fun to have a whole new world of dining to investigate!!!

Thanks! I'm excited to get to try all these new places. I don't feel we have enough time to do everything I want to do but at least I'll get most of the highlights done! This is probably a once in a lifetime thing as there are so many other places we want to go (next major trip for us will be Italy - either in September/October 2017 or 2018 based on funds)

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Dining Reservations

I know originally planning this trip I had certain ideas for dinner. Well today I decided to see if Open Table spots had opened for our week there and turns out they had and I missed out on getting certain restaurants on certain dates now! Oh well! I'm adjustable!

So Plans!

July 1st
7:00PM - Monkeypod Kitchen - Ko Olina

July 2nd
4:00PM - Paradise Cove Luau

July 3rd
7:00PM - Morimoto Waikiki

July 4th
7:00PM - 'Ama 'Ama

July 5th
7:00PM - Signature Prime Steak & Seafood

July 6th
7:00PM - Alan Wong's Restaurant

July 7th
6:45PM - Hoku's​

 

[AJollyHoliday]

I am not sure if you are "reader" as my husband use to describe me in our early dating days, but if you are, there is a good book about the history of Hawaii. It is called Unfamiliar Fishes. I read it before we went this past August and felt that more of the art and stories I was seeing and hearing made more sense given that I knew more about the history. There is also a beautiful novel set in Hawaii called Moloka'i. It is about the leper colony, which apparently you can visit as a museum now and I think there are a couple of residents still there. I read it while we were on vacation there and it was just such a beautiful story. When I vacation some place new, I like to read about it from a historical standpoint.

Your meals sound great. We did dinner and breakfast at 'Ama 'Ama. For breakfast, I had the cereal encrusted french toast and boy was it delicious!