Coffee on the Verandah -The Last Slide, Recap & Souvies 5/29 - Link to Aulani TR 5/31

[saintstickets]

OMG Laniwai. That's all I have to say.

Wow.

So glad you get to experience the spa at Aulani. It was my first time for a massage and well...it won't be my last!!!

I'm looking forward to your TR when you return. I was able to reminisce about our trip to Aulani is Sept 2012 thru Ellen's (podsnel) TR and I'll be able to do the same with yours! Double who hoo!!!

 

[eandesmom]

So glad you get to experience the spa at Aulani. It was my first time for a massage and well...it won't be my last!!!

I'm looking forward to your TR when you return. I was able to reminisce about our trip to Aulani is Sept 2012 thru Ellen's (podsnel) TR and I'll be able to do the same with yours! Double who hoo!!!

Hi Bill!

I definitely used both yours and Ellen's tr's as reference points, Carrie's as well (lurkyloo). So far we've done a nice mix of what I had read as well as a bit of "off the beaten path" as we've done Oahu before (pearl, Waikiki) and were looking for some new experiences.

I think it will be a fun TR...heavens knows I've taken enough pictures and we've still 2 days left!

As to the spa...I'm just so happy Jeff loved it like he did. Major spa/massage concert moment and really the fact that you and your dw, Ellen and Pods (even if he didn't embrace his inner spa goddess as much) and carrie and Patrick, loved it, made it a far easier sell ... that was so worth t!

 

[DisMomAmy]

What an amazing day at Animal Kingdom! I think we need to plan an Animal Kingdom only day on our next trip. We never seem to have enough time there. I always plan other things on our AK day since it doesn't seem like a full day park. You certainly made the most of your one day tickets!

I agree that coffee & the savanna animals is a great way to start the day.

Hope you are enjoying Aulani! I've enjoyed the pictures you've put up on facebook.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Just caught up on your last few updates. What a wonderful last morning you had. Pretty amazing to see the migration of animals! It's mornings like that that make you dream of going back at your earliest opportunity.

I have been enjoying your Hawaii pictures on FB. It looks like a beautiful trip.

 

[eandesmom]

What an amazing day at Animal Kingdom! I think we need to plan an Animal Kingdom only day on our next trip. We never seem to have enough time there. I always plan other things on our AK day since it doesn't seem like a full day park. You certainly made the most of your one day tickets!

I agree that coffee & the savanna animals is a great way to start the day.

Hope you are enjoying Aulani! I've enjoyed the pictures you've put up on facebook.

That is exactly what always happens to us and why we chose it as our one park. It was a great day, and a full one, we opened and closed the park

Love Aulani, we will be back!

Just caught up on your last few updates. What a wonderful last morning you had. Pretty amazing to see the migration of animals! It's mornings like that that make you dream of going back at your earliest opportunity.

I have been enjoying your Hawaii pictures on FB. It looks like a beautiful trip.

The animal migration was a highlight for me and a personal one which made it even more magical. Sleeping bums missed it! I would stay at AKV again in a heartbeat.

Last morning in Hawaii, sniff! Enjoying coffee on the lanai and dreading the packing...which I have to do soon

 

[Flossbolna]

Have a save trip home! Sorry that the vacation is over, but I hope you will bring a bounty of wonderful memories back home with you!

 

[Chilly]

I've been reading Carrie's TR as well so will be interesting to see what you think compared to her trip and what you've done differently and what you've visited as these are my first Hawaii TR's.

 

[eandesmom]

Have a save trip home! Sorry that the vacation is over, but I hope you will bring a bounty of wonderful memories back home with you!

Oh we did! It was a wonderful trip We will be back, no doubt about it. Survived the red eye, came home, ate breakfast and went back to bed! I like this not working the first day back thing...feels wasteful on the vacation day front from a work allotment perspective but I'd have been worthless anyway.

I've been reading Carrie's TR as well so will be interesting to see what you think compared to her trip and what you've done differently and what you've visited as these are my first Hawaii TR's.

I need to get caught up over there and see what they've done, I think I missed a couple of updates at least. We were definitely a bit more off the beaten path..

 

[Poolrat]

Welcome Home

Glad to hear you had a great time.

 

[englishrose47]

Welcome home Cynthia , you are home and I am leaving in the morning for Lake George !!!!!

 

[eandesmom]

Welcome Home

Glad to hear you had a great time.

Thanks Pat! We had an amazing trip

Welcome home Cynthia , you are home and I am leaving in the morning for Lake George !!!!!

Hi Rosie! Have a fun trip to Lake George, that always seems to be VERY entertaining

 

[eandesmom]

My magical morning had to come to a close, much as I wish it wasn't so, it was time to say goodbye to the savannah. Entering the dark room, waking up over tired kids, trying to jam all our stuff into bags and yet keep enough out for the day well, it was not fun! Complicating issues was the fact that I was having serious issues checking us in online, either using the mobile app or the website, it would hang up every time I tried to pay for the bags. Plus I kept losing the wifi connection, very frustrating. Finally we were out of there but past the 11am check out time for sure. Our plan had been to drop the bags with Bell Services, see if DME could help our boarding pass fiasco and then grab breakfast at The Mara. By the time we got down there...it was noon. And…breakfast was over. ARRGH. Guess we will have lunch.

We had all liked the look of the pita chicken so much on our arrival day…I think we all got the same thing!





Chicken Pita - chicken breast served on a warm pita with sun-dried tomato hummus, cucumber, tomato, and mixed greens with mint yogurt sauce $8.99


YUM!

After lunch we headed up to the store to do some browsing. I always love this store, so many lovely interesting items. And, I will say in my opinion the largest selection of groceries I've seen at any DVC resort store, then or since. Amazingly, I didn't find a thing to buy for myself and other than Kendall the kids were all out of funds. She found an adorable turtle charm and necklace that reminded her of Vero and chose that. Jeff on the other hand needed another item. As we were sitting there at lunch he realized something. He’d worn his suit to lunch, intending to change after. By doing so he had packed a certain item he might need to be comfortable on the plane. Amazingly there isn't much to choose from in this area and he ended up with the one pair of Mickey boxers he could find at far more than one wants to pay for such a thing but you gotta do what you gotta do!
Shopping complete we were ready for one last swim...at someplace new.

Lets go for a walk!









I wanted to see how the walk was…not bad at all. If you had little ones I probably wouldn't love the back and forth but for us, not an issue at all.
We tried for a lobby picture





It was bright in there! (or Jeff just didn't know how to work with the light lol)








Finally we made it to the pool. We'd have one hour before we needed to head back and get on the not so magical express. We intended to make the most of it!

We'd had quite a few beers left in the villa (leftover from the cruise) and so Jeff had stashed one or two in his backpack and proceeded to open them pool side. Well, open one and put it into his refillable mug. No glass at the pool!



Such a renegade

K went for a soda



And the boys, straight into the pool!



I played around with my stitching app



And got my own pool drink!



We enjoyed that last hour by (and in) the pool, listening to the trivia games and then finally checking out a slide. I admit, I had not done a single slide over the course of the trip. I’d skipped OKW, Vero and Castaway Cay. Yes, I’d been on the Aquaduck but as that is a tube slide I didn’t think it quite counted. So…up we went. I went in front of Jeff and as I went to enter the top my foot slid and BAM, my bottom hit the bottom of that slide but hard. OW! I then went flying out and down and came out laughing. As did Jeff and the other woman behind us who apparently had the same thing happen to her.

Evan then gave me his official slide "ranking" of the trip. On a scale of 1-10
Jambo - 4
Castaway Cay Pelican Plunge "slow" side - 4
Old Key West - 7
Vero Beach - 7
Kidani - 8
Castway Cay Pelican Plunge "fast" side - 10
Disney Dream Aqua Duck - 10

As for me I can't rank the slides but have my own unofficial pool ranking

Disney Dream Adult Pool - 4
Nassau Sheraton - 5
Jambo - 7
Vero - 8
Kidani - 8
Old Key West - 9

Rough landing aside, it was a great slide and a great close to the trip. All too soon our allotted hour was up and it was time to change and head back. Jeff filled his mug with his last beer, I got a last pool drink and poured it into my mug as well. Road drinks! This time we opted for the bus back to Jambo just so see how long it would take.

We collected our luggage and waited for DME. This is what the boys thought about the whole thing.



Finally we were loaded and on the road, our bus went by AOA and that was fun to get a glimpse of it.



Our DME driver was a riot, going on and on about the days of the adventurers club, recovering from Old Key West (the real one, where he’d lived for some time) and all kinds of stories. He really kept the magic alive until we got off the bus. Where we found a rain delay on our flight awaited us but did allow us time to pick up dinner to go from the On the Border Grill. I don't remember how long the delay was, and likely my phone was dead as I didn't really document a thing so it must not have been that traumatic!
With that we were home...not to return again as a group until December of 2013 and that trip won’t include Kendall. It was a GREAT trip, one of the most relaxing we have ever taken as a family and full of so many magical moments I can’t even begin to count them. I loved the fact that we really explored the resorts and even then, didn't come close to seeing everything. In many ways it was nice NOT to have park tickets as it forced us to to really relax, enjoy and explore.

For me trip highlights would be (in no particular order):

• Dinner at Olivia's
• Paddleboats at OKW
• Yee Haw Bob with the E's
• Turtle Walk at Vero
• Bike ride at Vero
• Dinners in the villas
• Castaway Cay
• Palo
• Fireworks from TOWL
• Magical Animal Kingdom Day
• My solo savanna veranda morning

So many things though, those are just the ones that are top of mind at the moment!

Here are a few of the memories that we gave, and came home with!
First, the FE gifts we handed out.

Keychains on our Nassau Day









A few special versions for the WISH family in our FE





Continued in next post

 

[eandesmom]

Continued from previous

A special little cloth for our Castaway Cay day






I also had a bunch of other small things (candy, stickers, etc) for our at sea day and broken out by age group but clearly didnt take a picture of all of it.
Some of the FE gifts we received (that I may not have posted yet, not sure)
Jeff putting his coaster to good use also notice the DIS Dad flashlight and keychain! An nicely Disneyfied work station in the garage for the plane if you ask me!









Flip flops for K



Jeffs big souvie, a signed book by Captain Gus





The tumblers Jeff and K got on the backstage safari



Our Castaway Club backpack. Which is now Eric's school backpack..although he's almost broken through one strap and is very very sad about the concept of giving it up. He's been carrying it with one strap for months now trying to get it to last the year.




My mugs!



Sadly Vero did get put in the dishwasher since then and is toast. OKW is hanging on. Interestingly enough at Aulani they have this same series as an Llelo Room mug that is adorable but&I didn't want another handwash only fiasco so picked a different one.

Evans Dream, WOD Tee's and DTD Sunglass purchase





Eric got a Disney Mickey watch but apparently I didn't take pictures, it has exchangeable bands.

Member hats from the cruise, Eric wears his a ton.



The boys AK tees and the hat Eric chose at DTD



Unfortunately I did not get a picture of K in the dress she picked out from DTD...other than this one as she and Jeff tried to de-wrinkle it!



A few tees for me







Pillowcases for the boys. Its pretty cute (and gross). They do NOT want them washed so they wont fade/smear but the reality is...well heads had oil, people drool while they sleep and both are quite faded already, the Alaska ones even more so. I do wash them of course but am careful with them and with the siggies would hold up better but love it that the kids like them so much.





Last but not least, my every day kitchen goodies, all of which are getting put to good use on a regular basis







And...that's it!

I would do this trip again in a heartbeat. Very little that I would change, more small tweaks here and there and while it was a lot of room/resort changing and a few time delays as a result, overall, it was worth it! I don't know that we will get another such trip opportunity with K before she graduates and I am so grateful we made this one happen.

Up next...as you all know we just returned from an adult only trip to Aulani...today! I will be doing a TR for that one and then a PTR for the NYE trip after that depending on how the timing goes. Still a bit leery of writing anything about that trip until more is finalized..still too many moving pieces for my comfort zone but at least the trip is at the start of my UY so heaven forbid if something happens, I won't have any issues.

I will post the link for Aulani here and it will be in the DVC trip report section. It was absolutely magical!

 

[Poolrat]

You made great use of departure Day. I know you had a late flight but still Food Drinks pool time and packing up and checking out. Great job.


That trip sounded like a great trip, very well planned. You made many family memories.

 

[jedijill]

What a wonderful trip! So sorry to see it end.

Jill in CO

 

[dizneeat]

First off, back, Cynthia!

I loved your lust updates. You really made the most of your last vacation day. And the recap of souvenirs is a great idea.

Can't wait to read about your Aulani trip!

 

[MeMom]

I would have been frowning with the boys. I never want to leave.

Nice souvenirs. I like the Vero cup. We're headed there in a few weeks, so I might bring one home.

Glad you enjoyed Aulani and had safe travels all the way around. I look forward to seeing pictures and reading about it.

 

[Chilly]

Welcome Home!

Thanks for sharing your trip with us all.

Looking forward to the next TR.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

My magical morning had to come to a close, much as I wish it wasn't so, it was time to say goodbye to the savannah. Entering the dark room, waking up over tired kids, trying to jam all our stuff into bags and yet keep enough out for the day well, it was not fun!

No! Don't let it end!

Complicating issues was the fact that I was having serious issues checking us in online, either using the mobile app or the website, it would hang up every time I tried to pay for the bags. Plus I kept losing the wifi connection, very frustrating.

See? You aren't meant to leave.

Jeff on the other hand needed another item. As we were sitting there at lunch he realized something. He’d worn his suit to lunch, intending to change after. By doing so he had packed a certain item he might need to be comfortable on the plane. Amazingly there isn't much to choose from in this area and he ended up with the one pair of Mickey boxers he could find at far more than one wants to pay for such a thing but you gotta do what you gotta do!

So…up we went. I went in front of Jeff and as I went to enter the top my foot slid and BAM, my bottom hit the bottom of that slide but hard. OW! I then went flying out and down and came out laughing.

If only the video camera was running...

We collected our luggage and waited for DME. This is what the boys thought about the whole thing.

I understand, fellas.

Our DME driver was a riot, going on and on about the days of the adventurers club, recovering from Old Key West (the real one, where he’d lived for some time) and all kinds of stories. He really kept the magic alive until we got off the bus.

Don't you love it when you get a fun bus driver? That's the best.

Jeff putting his coaster to good use also notice the DIS Dad flashlight and keychain!

Sadly Vero did get put in the dishwasher since then and is toast. OKW is hanging on. Interestingly enough at Aulani they have this same series as an Llelo Room mug that is adorable but&I didn't want another handwash only fiasco so picked a different one.

Understandable. It still doesn't make sense to me that they would bother selling non-safe items.

I would do this trip again in a heartbeat. Very little that I would change, more small tweaks here and there and while it was a lot of room/resort changing and a few time delays as a result, overall, it was worth it!

It really seemed like a fantastic trip! I'm glad you had so many good memories.

Up next...as you all know we just returned from an adult only trip to Aulani...today!

I will post the link for Aulani here and it will be in the DVC trip report section. It was absolutely magical!

Welcome home! I'm glad it was a great time and can't wait to read about it!*

*and plagiarize all of your ideas.

 

[afwdwfan]

Well, it is a shame it had to come to an end, but don't they all?

It looks like a lot of fun, despite the lack of park time. I'd love to have an opportunity to try a few different resorts and a cruise and just soak up some of the experiences that the resorts have to offer. Such a nice relaxed pace.

I can't wait to read about the Aulani trip. I hope you can get started on your TR soon so that Mark will have a chance to steal as many ideas as possible.