Aulani Jan 19th-30th -Embrace the Ocean-Jan30th FINISHED

Malia78

Flotsam and Jetsam
Joined
Apr 30, 2012
Hi everyone. My name is Karilynn, I am 37 yrs old, work as Sys Admin in Healthcare Informatics, and claim the title of Disney obsessed among my friends and family. While Disney captures the majority of my interest, my general love of fantasy does branch off in to other things too (LOTR, HP, Star Wars etc.) and I have a very serious collecting habit. My home is 95% percent Disneyfied though I make an exception with my Harry Potter master bath.

Back to this trip, the rest of the traveling party included my parents DM and DD as well as Auntie Ruthie (DA)—an aunt in the Hawaiian sense of the word meaning no relation, just the bond of Ohana. This trip was really geared towards experiencing DVC at a home resort for the first time. DA lived in Hawaii for 25+ years and my parents both lived/worked there in the 70s—DD in the navy and DM doing post grad work at UH. They met and married on the islands and I was born in Honolulu. We left 6 weeks later but we’ve all been back over the years. So all that to say that this wasn’t really a touristy trip—we were really focusing on Aulani and trialing the DVC experience. The title of the report references one of the photopass photographers pose prompts which we replicated several times throughout the trip.

From Seattle, flying to Aulani is equivalent to flying to Orlando so were prepared for the 6 hour flight. It became a much longer day of flying due to head winds—we had to fly to San Jose, refuel, and then embark on the almost 6 hour flight to Honolulu. Needless to say we arrived a little more tired than expected—this also put us right at commute time (Honolulu commute traffic is just as ridiculous as Seattle commute traffic).

We didn’t really do much the first evening so I just have a couple photos from the room. Room rundown: a Deluxe Studio is great for two people; three people can manage well enough; 4 people is pushing the limits. I shared the sofa bed with DA. The room itself was lovely and we had nice view of the lawn in front of the conference center. We were in the IWA tower which DM will request from now on. Since DM and I got to the room first, we had a sneak peek and I may have pocketed the book mark…. ;)

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Wednesday Jan 20th

Just to get a feel for our routine, DM is up and out the door by 5:45. I’m next and I’m usually out the door by 6:30. It is then a toss up between DD and DA, though DD typically hopped up next. DA is the night owl and not a morning person so she’s typically last. The couple mornings where she inexplicably got up second and beat me to the bathroom really threw me off.

First it is off for a morning beverage. Next to Ulu’s Café (main quick service place with the biggest drink station), is this lava tube. DM and I debated throughout the whole trip whether the baby sea turtles in the tube were actually real. DM says they are but I am still not convinced...
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Wanted to get the most out of the Aulani photopass and met one of the photographers, Darren, this first day. Ran into him quite a bit after that—he was really friendly and ended up giving us food recommendations on our excursion days.
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After saying hello to Stitch, ran into DA and Aulani’s own Aunty Sonya—this introduction would lead to several wonderful interactions with Aunty Sonya later in the week.
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DM and I went for our first beach walk. There is a paved walking path turning left at the beach which goes all the way to the end at Barber’s Point. There are 4 lagoons each with its own personality. Today we just went as far as the second cove. Ultimately this would be our favorite for wave watching and sunsets. You can see the dark clouds over Aulani—the stormy northern weather would bring us some cool wave action.
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Met back with DD and a couple characters--must admit I don't really understand Duffy but who am I to pass on a character meet...he is a cute bear
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Donald pointing out my hat-us paler critters need to be sun smart.
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DA, DM, and I had signed up for the DVC Art and Nature Tour so late afternoon, we met up with the group in the Pau Hana room where I was obliviously photobombed.
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The guide works as a culture expert elsewhere when not at Aulani so his tour was really fun and informative. At the end of the tour, we all got kakui nut bracelets.

I then struck out on my own to dinner. I was the only one with enough interest in the characters to pay for the character dining experience (yes, Aulani + Disney food is a pretty penny to be sure). This was something new that the restaurant was trying—Menehune Mischief Dinner hosted by Uncle. I suppose if its run is successful, it will be brought back in a permanent way. The photo package is pictures with the #1 duck, Donald. He was thrilled to see me again--he recognized me as the one with the hat-- until he spotted my Stitch necklace. I had to explain that my Donald necklace was so big that it was too heavy to wear. He forgave me and we were back on good terms.
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Stitch and Goofy were the other characters that rotated throughout the meal. There was a little misunderstanding which I could only chalk up to the fact that our room reservation noted DM’s birthday and my parents anniversary. Well, I was dining alone (the staff were wonderful in making me feel welcome and comfortable) and apparently one of the handlers figured it was my birthday. Once the word got out and Stitch signed a coaster for me, I really didn’t know how to correct them. Needless to say, I had a wonderful unbirthday “birthday” treat along with a flower gift from Goofy.
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We ended the evening in the prettiest Infinity Pool (the adult only one would become the favorite though).
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Thursday Jan 21

Early sunrise on the beach with DM before our planned Dolphin Excursion--operative word being "planned".

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Now for the planned excursion-my mom booked this excursion through the company’s website a few days into the New Year. We had the printed confirmation for an Aulani 9:00 am pickup in hand and were out by the front ready to go. Time goes by and something isn’t right. There is a honeymooning couple apparently also waiting for the same shuttle. Well it doesn’t come. The Aulani excursion staff tries their best to troubleshoot for us, but the boat had set sail for that day. Basically a computer update over the New Year detached the website from the company’s local system. They didn’t show any pickups for Aulani. My mom got the refund but she was really disappointed. Plan B—resort Day.

Saw the fish feeding at Rainbow Reef—shout-out here-recall reading DolphinGirl47's report of being a fish feeder. Decided to dip our toes into Aulani’s most fabulous water feature, the lazy river. We got our hot pink resort bands for the day and did three loops.

Checking the character schedule, found Mickey out on the lawn.

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A little mid day beach time and a blast of photopass.

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My mom is a great cook and she really enjoyed all the Chef Demo’s on the PC cruise we took last May so, as a birthday treat, I thought it would be fun to sign up for the DVC exclusive Chef Demo with Chef Ron. He is known for his macaroon recipe and this demo was all about them—they were all delicious ( I had already eaten three of them before I remembered pictures). My favorite was the coconut cookie (a cookie made from macaroon batter) followed by the black sesame. Chef Ron made the presentation fun and at the end, I got to take a couple of the leftover coconut cookies. Divine!
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DM and I did the lobby Menehune Adventure. This is really well done and the interactive elements are fun to discover.

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Dinner in room and sunset on the beach--so many pictures to choose from so picked a handful.

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Went to the Starlit Hui show—didn’t know what to expect so we lined up early. This got us a very good position for viewing the show, but I have to say, not a huge fan of the seating. You are handed a lawn mat and directed to a spot on the ground. Sitting on the ground for an hour just isn’t comfortable for me and would have been impossible for DD with his knees. We did learn for the next time though, no need to come for the preshow and arrive just before it starts to slip in the back. Sorry photos aren't that great--the ukulele players definitely were though.

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Checking in.

From Seattle, flying to Aulani is equivalent to flying to Orlando so were prepared for the 6 hour flight.

It must be nice to have such a relatively short flight to Aulani. For us it is about 20 hours.

It became a much longer day of flying due to head winds—we had to fly to San Jose, refuel, and then embark on the almost 6 hour flight to Honolulu.

What a shame that the travel day did not go smoothly.

Honolulu commute traffic is just as ridiculous as Seattle commute traffic

I think the traffic in Honolulu is the worst I have ever encountered.

Next to Ulu’s Café (main quick service place with the biggest drink station), is this lava tube. DM and I debated throughout the whole trip whether the baby sea turtles in the tube were actually real. DM says they are but I am still not convinced...

They are not real. They are part of one of the outdoor missions of the Menehune Adventure Trail.


It is lovely to see the Stitch statue again.

There is a paved walking path turning left at the beach which goes all the way to the end at Barber’s Point.

That is good to know. We took a wrong turn a couple of times and ended up at Barber’s Point. Graham threatened me that the next time this happened, he would drop me there and I would have to make my own way back. It is good to know that this is actually possible.


Wow, this looks wild.

Met back with DD and a couple characters--must admit I don't really understand Duffy but who am I to pass on a character meet...he is a cute bear

Duffy was not there when we stayed at Aulani. I would have loved to meet him.

This was something new that the restaurant was trying—Menehune Mischief Dinner hosted by Uncle.

That sounds great.

Stitch and Goofy were the other characters that rotated throughout the meal.

That is a really nice spread of characters.

Basically a computer update over the New Year detached the website from the company’s local system. They didn’t show any pickups for Aulani. My mom got the refund but she was really disappointed.

What a shame about the mix up with your excursion.

Corinna
 
Friday Jan 22

Today begins a stretch of excursion heavy days with the four of us, starting with sunrise on the beach, Lanwai spa tour, and a chat with photographer Darren who gave us a lunch recommendation. We then headed out on our drive to the North Shore, with a brief stop at the Dole Plantation where DD won a box of chocolates and 50% off pick a pearl. Mom ended up with a beautiful black pearl and I ate the chocolates (not all in one sitting). Continued on with one quick stop for DA and her shaved ice. Some background on the waves—the swells had been pretty big (35 feet or so) for the couple days prior and would get even higher (45 feet) later on. So of course, the day we go to the North Shore, the weather is calm and the waves not really that spectacular in comparison. Oh well, we did get some awesome wave action from the beach walk on later days.
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Per Darren’s recommendation, ate at Ted’s Bakery. My pulled pork sandwich was huge—filled with piles of pork and onions. The place was very popular too and all the market places we stopped in had pies from Ted's Bakery.

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Dropped DA off to visit a friend while we visited a state park and I had my first of many encounters with Hawaiian wild chickens. Before picking DA up, stopped by Long's drugs for some snacks and saw this beautiful rainbow.
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Stopped for a pit stop at Waimea Visitor's center and then home to Aulani—chicken babies!

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Subbing in and will be back to read and comment.

ETA: OK I had some time to come back and read. Way too much to comment on, but it looks like you are having a fabulous time with lots of great character pictures!
 
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WOW-thanks for all the details! The menehune turtles are something new to me, thanks for that. Also, the Kolbi ribs from Teds look amazing, now I will have trouble deciding on that or the garlic shrimp! This might sound stupid, but do you have to be a DVC owner to do the DVC activities? We are renting points and I am wondering if the privilege passes on as it does with the parking. If so, how much were the activities you did?
 
do you have to be a DVC owner to do the DVC activities? We are renting points and I am wondering if the privilege passes on as it does with the parking. If so, how much were the activities you did?

Thanks for reading!

The Chef's Demo is a DVC exclusive that we signed up for as members--booked it ahead of time over the phone and they did verify our membership numbers. So I don't know about guests staying with rented DVC points--will probably have to call. The cost for both of us was ~$40 with tax/tip. The DVC art/nature tour is also available as separate tours for all hotel guests (probably very similar except for bracelet at the end)--there isn't a cost involved. You just gotta sign up for it in the Pau Hana room the day of. I would sign up early in the day as my experience was the free activities are very well attended.
 
Thanks for the info on the DVC Chef! That sounds like something right up my husband's & mine's alley!
 

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