TeeterTots
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2014
I'm so jealous! I can not wait to go to Aulani!!! I think a few more years as we have a 5 and 2 yo! Love the cake!! Looking forward to hearing more!!!
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Waving Goodbye To My 20s - Aulani Trip Report - Update 9/25 Going Home (The End)
- Thread starter Dis_Yoda
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2008
The trip did go off with a great start! It has kept up with that as well. I'm going to be so sad on Friday when I have to leave to go back to the real world! The flight was long and sucky just because of the time it was but I'm so glad I spent the extra money for the exit row seats in order to be able to stretch out! Totally worth it!
We booked a studio - ocean view. We made no requests as I wasn't really picky. I actually love our room location as it isn't very far from the elevators, we're on the same side as the parking, Ulu Cafe, Spa, and the exit to walk to other places. I'm sure the other tower has a better view of the sunset but we have awesome sunsets in Naples so I won't be too picky
The cabana was awesome on July 4th! It was such a great way to spend the day between enjoying the cabana, the pool(s) or the ocean! Totally a splurge with the price - but I'm glad we did it as it totally kept us out longer than had we not had it.
Totally glad other people feel the same way about workout clothes in public! I get it - there are certain places I feel are super inappropiate as well as I have that one friend who when we go to one of the casual bars will still show up as she came from the gym even though we know she didn't - I just feel that means you don't care. When we do laundry either tomorrow or Thursday - I'm making sure I do my yoga capris again as with the Redeye Home - I want total comfort while still be warm (thus no Sparkle Skirts)
I think Waikiki would be a great place to stay! Totally a great location option for many of the attractions - we've having to drive a bit to get places and deal with the traffic - but its survivable.
That cake is so yummy! Its also totally made us skip dessert at dinner so much this week as why pay for dessert when you know you have yumminess at your room?
Thank you for saying I look perky. That is totally my going through the motion face and I guess I've perfected faking the perkiness! We were really happy with Monkeypod - it was a great option for being so close to the hotel. We also changed some plans and ended up eating at one of the Four Season's restaurants and were blown away with how awesome it was! A little pricey but the scenery and the food made it totally worth it.
I understand wanting to wait until the children are a bit older, especially if you want your 2 year old to remember the trip! I'm shocked at the amount of babies I've seen here!
Thank you for following along!
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2008
Early Morning
The problem with going to bed at 7:15PM is that you wake up insanely early - like 2:15AM early. I tried to sleep a bit more but failed horribly so gave into waking up and played on my phone until 4AM when my husband got up. He decided to be healthy and go to the gym. I was a lazy, lazy person and just kept playing on my phone and reading work emails! When he got back - he took a shower and we decided to go walk the beach to see the sunrise around 5:15AM. We kinda forgot we were facing west so we just got to see the sky get lighter but it was nice and relaxing way to start the morning! We also got to see a seal in the water and our first of what would be many more mongooses! We were back in the room by 6AM.
Horribly Blurry but it’s a seal!
Mr. Seal Popping Up Again
Mongoose
Sunset Point Lookout
Good Morning, Aulani!
Ko Olina Cat
We relaxed in the room for a bit but breakfast opened at 6:30AM so I went downstairs to Ulu Cafe to get us some. We didn’t get much as we figured we would eat a fair amount today. I wished they had the Malasadas in a 3 piece set rather than 6 piece as I just couldn’t eat that much fried sugar that early in the morning. My husband liked his Cruffin (Croissant Muffin!)
Cruffin, 6 Piece Malasadas, Side of Bacon and a Refillable Mug
After cleaning up, we were going to visit Dole Plantation + Some Sites around the North Shore!
The problem with going to bed at 7:15PM is that you wake up insanely early - like 2:15AM early. I tried to sleep a bit more but failed horribly so gave into waking up and played on my phone until 4AM when my husband got up. He decided to be healthy and go to the gym. I was a lazy, lazy person and just kept playing on my phone and reading work emails! When he got back - he took a shower and we decided to go walk the beach to see the sunrise around 5:15AM. We kinda forgot we were facing west so we just got to see the sky get lighter but it was nice and relaxing way to start the morning! We also got to see a seal in the water and our first of what would be many more mongooses! We were back in the room by 6AM.
Horribly Blurry but it’s a seal!
Mr. Seal Popping Up Again
Mongoose
Sunset Point Lookout
Good Morning, Aulani!
Ko Olina Cat
We relaxed in the room for a bit but breakfast opened at 6:30AM so I went downstairs to Ulu Cafe to get us some. We didn’t get much as we figured we would eat a fair amount today. I wished they had the Malasadas in a 3 piece set rather than 6 piece as I just couldn’t eat that much fried sugar that early in the morning. My husband liked his Cruffin (Croissant Muffin!)
Cruffin, 6 Piece Malasadas, Side of Bacon and a Refillable Mug
After cleaning up, we were going to visit Dole Plantation + Some Sites around the North Shore!
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2008
Pineapple Express
When originally planning this trip, I had looked up the time for Dole Plantation opening and I swore it was 9AM. We planned on really just looking on the store and getting a pineapple float but plans are always made to be broken, at least with us!
We left the hotel around 8:00AM as while google maps had said it would take about 30/40 minutes - we didn’t know if there would be traffic. There wasn’t as it was a Saturday so we made it in about 35 minutes! Since we thought it didn’t open until 9AM - we just hung out in the car and decided to set up the radio in our rental car as we were getting really annoyed with seek to find something we would listen to - so we quickly were set with Hot Country, 90s to Today, Classic Rock, Alternative Rock and Classic Hip-Hop as we knew we could probably find something we wouldn’t mind listening to during our drives around the island. Thank goodness for data on our phones! http://www.hawaiiradiotv.com/OahuRadio.html
A little before 9AM, we got out of the car and saw - they now open at 9:30AM...we had some time to kill! So we looked around until it was time for stuff to open.
View from Dole Plantation
Mmm..This means fresh Pineapple!
Red Pineapple
I have so many photos of him looking away…
While we were walking around the gardens, I found a really young kitten! It looked like its mother wasn’t far away. Plus of all places to be a stray - a pineapple farm probably isn’t a bad choice!
Hi Baby Kitty!
While we were walking around, my husband decided he wanted to take the Pineapple Express as we were here and as a funny joke about an offensive Seth Rogan/James Franco movie. At $9.50 a ticket, I wasn’t one to say no!
We got on the first train of the day at 9:30AM and were soon on our way to learn more about the Dole Plantation History and see the non-existent pineapples as the fruit in the loop for the train had recently been harvested.
It was a good way to spend 20 minutes to learn that history and what the Dole’s have planted there. It wasn’t overly special but overall a cheap activity!
We went into the store and our first stop was for the pineapple floats! I got mine in a special cup while my husband was a normal adult. The pineapple floats here were so much better than any we’ve had in the Magic Kingdom but the pineapple juice here is probably much fresher!
Pineapple Floats
They also had a demonstration for how to properly cut a pineapple so we watched that and then got to try some of what she had cut. So good! We also were given a tip to rinse your pineapple in ice water to cut some of the acid while you eat it!
We purchased some dog treats for our pups and some pineapple coconut cotton candy as it sounded interesting and headed north!
When originally planning this trip, I had looked up the time for Dole Plantation opening and I swore it was 9AM. We planned on really just looking on the store and getting a pineapple float but plans are always made to be broken, at least with us!
We left the hotel around 8:00AM as while google maps had said it would take about 30/40 minutes - we didn’t know if there would be traffic. There wasn’t as it was a Saturday so we made it in about 35 minutes! Since we thought it didn’t open until 9AM - we just hung out in the car and decided to set up the radio in our rental car as we were getting really annoyed with seek to find something we would listen to - so we quickly were set with Hot Country, 90s to Today, Classic Rock, Alternative Rock and Classic Hip-Hop as we knew we could probably find something we wouldn’t mind listening to during our drives around the island. Thank goodness for data on our phones! http://www.hawaiiradiotv.com/OahuRadio.html
A little before 9AM, we got out of the car and saw - they now open at 9:30AM...we had some time to kill! So we looked around until it was time for stuff to open.
View from Dole Plantation
Mmm..This means fresh Pineapple!
Red Pineapple
I have so many photos of him looking away…
While we were walking around the gardens, I found a really young kitten! It looked like its mother wasn’t far away. Plus of all places to be a stray - a pineapple farm probably isn’t a bad choice!
Hi Baby Kitty!
While we were walking around, my husband decided he wanted to take the Pineapple Express as we were here and as a funny joke about an offensive Seth Rogan/James Franco movie. At $9.50 a ticket, I wasn’t one to say no!
We got on the first train of the day at 9:30AM and were soon on our way to learn more about the Dole Plantation History and see the non-existent pineapples as the fruit in the loop for the train had recently been harvested.
It was a good way to spend 20 minutes to learn that history and what the Dole’s have planted there. It wasn’t overly special but overall a cheap activity!
We went into the store and our first stop was for the pineapple floats! I got mine in a special cup while my husband was a normal adult. The pineapple floats here were so much better than any we’ve had in the Magic Kingdom but the pineapple juice here is probably much fresher!
Pineapple Floats
They also had a demonstration for how to properly cut a pineapple so we watched that and then got to try some of what she had cut. So good! We also were given a tip to rinse your pineapple in ice water to cut some of the acid while you eat it!
We purchased some dog treats for our pups and some pineapple coconut cotton candy as it sounded interesting and headed north!
alohamom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2003
crystal1313
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2012
Following! We will just miss you as we arrive on the 11th. Loving your TR, thank you for sharing!!
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2008
I didnt know this, great tip!
Gotta be able to laugh at yourself! I'm not sure I"m going to be able to eat pineapple again at home after having so much amazingly fresh pineapple here. It's never tasted better!
Thanks for following along! You will love it here
So sad to be going home today - I"m just enjoying the balcony now until its time to get kicked out of the room in 75 minutes as my husband is on his last run of the trip! 
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2008
A Beachless North Shore Visit
When I was originally planning this trip, I had bought The Lonely Planet’s Oahu Travel Guide at Barnes & Noble. In it, I had read about the historic Waialua Sugar Mill that had actually been closed and now was a Soap Factory. For some reason, this really interested me, my husband was just along for the ride.
Massive Gear
Soap Factory
Inside of the factory they had the an exhibit about the old mill and then you were also able to watch them make soap. We picked up some soap as well and then walked to the Waialua Estate Coffee & Chocolate Shop that was also on this old mill. The shop wasn’t anything special so we got through it quickly.
A farmer’s market was also going on in the parking lot but we didn’t pick anything up since well, we were in a studio and cutting the fruit with a plastic knife would not be smart.
I decided I really wanted to try Matsumoto’s Shave Ice so we headed that way. We had issues finding parking as it was busy. I think the spot I ended up parking in wasn’t actually a spot but luckily we weren’t towed away in the 30 minutes it took to get some ice!
Watching them load the ice blocks and making the shave ice was really interesting! We got smalls and we were glad we did as it was still a lot of shave ice! It was also super cheap at $2.75! You could have added on ice cream, mochi, condensed milk, etc for really reasonable amounts. My husband got the Matsumoto and really enjoyed it. The colors were unnatural for the type of fruit it was but it totally made it pretty! I had the watermelon & ramune (japanese soda) and really liked it as well.
Matsumoto - Pineapple, Lemon, Coconut
Watermelon & Ramune
We both wanted real food though. In my book, I knew there was a well reviewed vegetarian cafe in the North Shore and since I figured our luau might not be enough for my husband in ways of options, I hoped this would work out. My husband liked that idea and we went driving down the road .7 miles! (We didn’t realize it was that close) We also had trouble parking and totally parked at McDonald’s and hoped we weren’t towed once again. (We weren’t)
The Beet Box Cafe was exactly how one would expect a crunchy organic vegetarian cafe to be. They only had smoothies, teas, water or kombucha to drink but they had a lot of options for food. We went with water!
My husband had the daily special and LOVED it! The lentils were well seasoned and he was surprised that he actually enjoyed the steamed kale. The fried eggs were a little runny for his liking but he wasn’t too worried about that. He finished off his bowl!
Daily Breakfast Special - Steamed Kale, Lentils, Fried Eggs, Tahini, Sunflower Sprouts
I went with a salad as I knew it was the best option for me. I really enjoyed this! It had a ton of good veggies on it and the walnuts and sunflower seeds gave it enough of a differing texture to really make it awesome.
Beet Box Salad - Local Greens, Red Onion, Cucumber, Beets, Carrots, Avocado, Walnuts, Sunflower Seeds, Sunflower Sprouts, Lilikoi Vinaigrette
It wasn’t even 12:00PM yet but we decided to head back to Aulani. We arrived back a little after 12:30PM and were greeted by a surprise as we walked into the room! My mother and her husband had a bottle of Moet Imperial delivered! We decided to not open it yet as we knew we had the luau but it was such an awesome surprise! I called her thanked her and talked a bit to see how they were doing!
We changed into our bathing suits and took 2 laps around the lazy river before heading back to the room to clean up. After our showers, we ended up taking a 90 minute nap and woke up at 4PM. I think that really helped us finally adjust to Hawaiian Time!
When I was originally planning this trip, I had bought The Lonely Planet’s Oahu Travel Guide at Barnes & Noble. In it, I had read about the historic Waialua Sugar Mill that had actually been closed and now was a Soap Factory. For some reason, this really interested me, my husband was just along for the ride.
Massive Gear
Soap Factory
Inside of the factory they had the an exhibit about the old mill and then you were also able to watch them make soap. We picked up some soap as well and then walked to the Waialua Estate Coffee & Chocolate Shop that was also on this old mill. The shop wasn’t anything special so we got through it quickly.
A farmer’s market was also going on in the parking lot but we didn’t pick anything up since well, we were in a studio and cutting the fruit with a plastic knife would not be smart.
I decided I really wanted to try Matsumoto’s Shave Ice so we headed that way. We had issues finding parking as it was busy. I think the spot I ended up parking in wasn’t actually a spot but luckily we weren’t towed away in the 30 minutes it took to get some ice!
Watching them load the ice blocks and making the shave ice was really interesting! We got smalls and we were glad we did as it was still a lot of shave ice! It was also super cheap at $2.75! You could have added on ice cream, mochi, condensed milk, etc for really reasonable amounts. My husband got the Matsumoto and really enjoyed it. The colors were unnatural for the type of fruit it was but it totally made it pretty! I had the watermelon & ramune (japanese soda) and really liked it as well.
Matsumoto - Pineapple, Lemon, Coconut
Watermelon & Ramune
We both wanted real food though. In my book, I knew there was a well reviewed vegetarian cafe in the North Shore and since I figured our luau might not be enough for my husband in ways of options, I hoped this would work out. My husband liked that idea and we went driving down the road .7 miles! (We didn’t realize it was that close) We also had trouble parking and totally parked at McDonald’s and hoped we weren’t towed once again. (We weren’t)
The Beet Box Cafe was exactly how one would expect a crunchy organic vegetarian cafe to be. They only had smoothies, teas, water or kombucha to drink but they had a lot of options for food. We went with water!
My husband had the daily special and LOVED it! The lentils were well seasoned and he was surprised that he actually enjoyed the steamed kale. The fried eggs were a little runny for his liking but he wasn’t too worried about that. He finished off his bowl!
Daily Breakfast Special - Steamed Kale, Lentils, Fried Eggs, Tahini, Sunflower Sprouts
I went with a salad as I knew it was the best option for me. I really enjoyed this! It had a ton of good veggies on it and the walnuts and sunflower seeds gave it enough of a differing texture to really make it awesome.
Beet Box Salad - Local Greens, Red Onion, Cucumber, Beets, Carrots, Avocado, Walnuts, Sunflower Seeds, Sunflower Sprouts, Lilikoi Vinaigrette
It wasn’t even 12:00PM yet but we decided to head back to Aulani. We arrived back a little after 12:30PM and were greeted by a surprise as we walked into the room! My mother and her husband had a bottle of Moet Imperial delivered! We decided to not open it yet as we knew we had the luau but it was such an awesome surprise! I called her thanked her and talked a bit to see how they were doing!
We changed into our bathing suits and took 2 laps around the lazy river before heading back to the room to clean up. After our showers, we ended up taking a 90 minute nap and woke up at 4PM. I think that really helped us finally adjust to Hawaiian Time!
2xcited2sleep
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2008
I am loving your updates! I would so love to visit Aulani and I think maybe I need to stop wishing and start planning!!
So that time change is a killer. 2am is an awfully early wake-up! Your husband gets points for going to the gym. I would have been with you! Great pictures from your early morning walk and how cool to see a seal!
Dole Plantation looks like fun. And I love your pineapple glass!!
I would have been intrigued by the soap factory too. I'm gathering that it's maybe interesting if in the area but not worth a special trip? Can't say a vegetarian restaurant would likely be on my list but your salad looks good!
Well coming "home" to a bottle of champagne doesn't suck! How nice of your mom!! An afternoon at the pool sounds divine. How did you find the lounge chair situation? Did you find empty ones easily?
So that time change is a killer. 2am is an awfully early wake-up! Your husband gets points for going to the gym. I would have been with you! Great pictures from your early morning walk and how cool to see a seal!
Dole Plantation looks like fun. And I love your pineapple glass!!
I would have been intrigued by the soap factory too. I'm gathering that it's maybe interesting if in the area but not worth a special trip? Can't say a vegetarian restaurant would likely be on my list but your salad looks good!
Well coming "home" to a bottle of champagne doesn't suck! How nice of your mom!! An afternoon at the pool sounds divine. How did you find the lounge chair situation? Did you find empty ones easily?
2xcited2sleep
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2008
Double post. Sorry!
Last edited:
2xcited2sleep
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2008
Triple post - sorry!
Last edited:
Cinderpamela
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 21, 2011
Yay! Thanks for letting us follow along on your trip.... the train ride at the Dole Plantation looks just like I remember it, lots of red dirt! ;-)
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2008
You should start planning! I knew we were going to do Hawaii for my 30th when we bought into DVC and probably started thinking more about it at least 1.5 years in advanced. Never too early to plan!
The time change was a killer but once we got our nap that day - it did help have us adjust for the rest of the trip. Coming home - my husband got like 2.5 hours of sleep and I got like 5 hours of sleep on the plane so when Saturday we went to bed by 9PM and slept 12 hours - I think we've adjusted back quickly.
Dole Plantation was a good pit stop on a longer planned travels. I wouldn't go all that way for just the Plantation though.
It would be interesting if you were in the area but not a special trip. It was probably about 10 minutes out of the way so not too bad!
I was glad for that surprise!
We found 1 lounger near the lazy river to hold our towels but it definitely was super crowded. I was glad we did the cabana on the 4th so we didn't have to worry about the loungers that day.
We did have an amazing time! My 20's are officially over! We had one major incident during the trip but I'll just have to get to that later in the trip report.
Thank you for reading along! It was a lot of red dirt - guess thats what happens when you can only use a Pineapple Plant 3 times before you have to start over again!
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2008
Paradise Cove Luau
While planning this trip, early on, we decided we would have to do a luau. Paradise Cove appealed to us as it was in walking distance from the hotel so the amount of drinking we may or may not do wouldn’t be an issue and the reviews seemed a good amount of good versus mixed. My mother had paid for our luau as part of my 30th birthday present as she gave me the option of either paying for the cabana or the luau. As the cost was about the same, I picked the luau as it was easier to prepay. We had selected the Deluxe Seating Option as the seats were close to the stage, the meal would be plated and served to us (aka no buffet visits!) and included a few other extras we liked the idea of.
A little after 4:30PM, we walked over to Paradise Cove. It wasn’t a bad walk at all and got in line for the Deluxe Seating Option. I had to go to the Box Office to pick up a physical copy of our tickets since the email confirmation wasn’t enough but I was able to handle that before they let people in.
At 5PM, they started letting people in. We were greeted with our leis and served a complimentary greeting mai tai
Sung To Upon Entering
Selfie
Once inside, we were shown to where our seats were and were told to be back at them around 6:30PM as not long after that, dinner would be served and some of the show would start.
In our 90 minutes to kill, we were told there were games, temporary tattoos, arts and crafts and shopping to look at. Our first stop was the bar as we both had $24 Cove Cards to spend! The line was little long but eh, it killed the time.
Mai Tai & Blue Hawaiian
Once we got our drinks, I decided I wanted to make one of the lei bracelets and my husband just said he would watch me. Once I was seated, the host told me to put 5 of a certain flower type on the wire, followed by a separator leaves and then 5 more of the flowers. When she went to ‘string’ it for me, it fell apart (guess I suck at putting the flowers on!) but she had back ups premade and just gave me one of those. This is when I learned that flowers on your left side meant you are married and on the right means you are single. I had put the free hair clip from the room at Aulani on my right side when I got ready that night so I quickly changed it as I’m definitely a married woman!
We decided to play a traditional Hawaiian game that involved throwing a rock and a stick between two poles. My husband did well but I sucked but we both ended up winning a shell lei so I guess it didn’t matter as long as we tried! We looked through the merchandise store and nothing called to us so we were going to call of our $24 Cove Cards for alcohol. I decided I wanted to go back to the Arts & Craft station to make a crown, despite the long line and my husband said he was going to get us more alcohol. This ended up being the perfect amount of time for us to kill before it was time for us to be seated for the main show!
Blue Hawaiian & Lava Flow
All Luau’d up!
Aren’t we cute?
View of Stage
It wasn’t long before our first course was served. The house salad and the pasta salad were definitely the winners on this plate! Macaroni Salad had entirely too much mayo for me to enjoy it. My husband felt the same way.
Course 1 - House Salad w/ Ranch Dressing, Pasta Salad, Macaroni Salad, Salmon/Tomato Mixture in the Solo Cup
After we finished the first course, we were served our main. One look at this plate and I knew my husband would not be ok with it. It was total meat overload! I really was happy with the pork and the fried chicken! The mahi mahi tasted too fishy for me to enjoy but I’m pretty spoiled in Naples when it comes to awesome mahi mahi. I never got to try the Hawaiian Chicken as I was too full and I knew if I tried some - it would be a skewed opinion.
My husband had the rice and he tried the veggies. He said that the veggies were obviously cooked with the mahi-mahi as he could taste the overwhelming fishiness on them. He left to go to the restroom and stopped by the buffet on his way back with more rice, pasta salad and three bean salad. This made him more than happy! Our server had no issues with this despite having paid for the ‘plated’ meal.
Course 2: Hawaiian Chicken, Fried Chicken, Pork, Mahi Mahi, Veggies, Pio and Rice
As we enjoyed our main course, the initial part of the show started.
We were served dessert at the end of the initial show portion as they were setting up for the hulu teaching lesson for the 80 guests that volunteered themselves. We both were rather full but I was able to enjoy the super fresh pineapple and the chocolate cake while my husband enjoyed the coconut cake.
Dessert: Chocolate Cake, Pineapple, Coconut Cake, Coconut Milk Flan Type Thing
Once the hulu lesson was over, we were told there would be a short break as once the main show started - the bar would be closed, the servers would stop serving and we shouldn’t leave our seats. This was because it would be pitch black and they wanted to not disturb everyone enjoying the show!
We really loved the show. The fire dancer was awesome (despite my lack of photos of him - I was too busy enjoying it!) The overall flow of it was nice and before we knew it, it was 9PM and it was over. Our server returned with our souvenir photo and souvenir gift (a lunch bag) and we were able to leave. While at first we thought it was going to be a bit lame before the show started, we ended up really happy with it. The show was interesting and the food was good for a mass produced product (probably about 1000 there for the show aka a lot of people to feed at once in an outdoor location) We really had fun!
Once we returned to the room, we went to bed as we had a busy day planned for Sunday!
While planning this trip, early on, we decided we would have to do a luau. Paradise Cove appealed to us as it was in walking distance from the hotel so the amount of drinking we may or may not do wouldn’t be an issue and the reviews seemed a good amount of good versus mixed. My mother had paid for our luau as part of my 30th birthday present as she gave me the option of either paying for the cabana or the luau. As the cost was about the same, I picked the luau as it was easier to prepay. We had selected the Deluxe Seating Option as the seats were close to the stage, the meal would be plated and served to us (aka no buffet visits!) and included a few other extras we liked the idea of.
A little after 4:30PM, we walked over to Paradise Cove. It wasn’t a bad walk at all and got in line for the Deluxe Seating Option. I had to go to the Box Office to pick up a physical copy of our tickets since the email confirmation wasn’t enough but I was able to handle that before they let people in.
At 5PM, they started letting people in. We were greeted with our leis and served a complimentary greeting mai tai
Sung To Upon Entering
Selfie
Once inside, we were shown to where our seats were and were told to be back at them around 6:30PM as not long after that, dinner would be served and some of the show would start.
In our 90 minutes to kill, we were told there were games, temporary tattoos, arts and crafts and shopping to look at. Our first stop was the bar as we both had $24 Cove Cards to spend! The line was little long but eh, it killed the time.
Mai Tai & Blue Hawaiian
Once we got our drinks, I decided I wanted to make one of the lei bracelets and my husband just said he would watch me. Once I was seated, the host told me to put 5 of a certain flower type on the wire, followed by a separator leaves and then 5 more of the flowers. When she went to ‘string’ it for me, it fell apart (guess I suck at putting the flowers on!) but she had back ups premade and just gave me one of those. This is when I learned that flowers on your left side meant you are married and on the right means you are single. I had put the free hair clip from the room at Aulani on my right side when I got ready that night so I quickly changed it as I’m definitely a married woman!
We decided to play a traditional Hawaiian game that involved throwing a rock and a stick between two poles. My husband did well but I sucked but we both ended up winning a shell lei so I guess it didn’t matter as long as we tried! We looked through the merchandise store and nothing called to us so we were going to call of our $24 Cove Cards for alcohol. I decided I wanted to go back to the Arts & Craft station to make a crown, despite the long line and my husband said he was going to get us more alcohol. This ended up being the perfect amount of time for us to kill before it was time for us to be seated for the main show!
Blue Hawaiian & Lava Flow
All Luau’d up!
Aren’t we cute?
View of Stage
It wasn’t long before our first course was served. The house salad and the pasta salad were definitely the winners on this plate! Macaroni Salad had entirely too much mayo for me to enjoy it. My husband felt the same way.
Course 1 - House Salad w/ Ranch Dressing, Pasta Salad, Macaroni Salad, Salmon/Tomato Mixture in the Solo Cup
After we finished the first course, we were served our main. One look at this plate and I knew my husband would not be ok with it. It was total meat overload! I really was happy with the pork and the fried chicken! The mahi mahi tasted too fishy for me to enjoy but I’m pretty spoiled in Naples when it comes to awesome mahi mahi. I never got to try the Hawaiian Chicken as I was too full and I knew if I tried some - it would be a skewed opinion.
My husband had the rice and he tried the veggies. He said that the veggies were obviously cooked with the mahi-mahi as he could taste the overwhelming fishiness on them. He left to go to the restroom and stopped by the buffet on his way back with more rice, pasta salad and three bean salad. This made him more than happy! Our server had no issues with this despite having paid for the ‘plated’ meal.
Course 2: Hawaiian Chicken, Fried Chicken, Pork, Mahi Mahi, Veggies, Pio and Rice
As we enjoyed our main course, the initial part of the show started.
We were served dessert at the end of the initial show portion as they were setting up for the hulu teaching lesson for the 80 guests that volunteered themselves. We both were rather full but I was able to enjoy the super fresh pineapple and the chocolate cake while my husband enjoyed the coconut cake.
Dessert: Chocolate Cake, Pineapple, Coconut Cake, Coconut Milk Flan Type Thing
Once the hulu lesson was over, we were told there would be a short break as once the main show started - the bar would be closed, the servers would stop serving and we shouldn’t leave our seats. This was because it would be pitch black and they wanted to not disturb everyone enjoying the show!
We really loved the show. The fire dancer was awesome (despite my lack of photos of him - I was too busy enjoying it!) The overall flow of it was nice and before we knew it, it was 9PM and it was over. Our server returned with our souvenir photo and souvenir gift (a lunch bag) and we were able to leave. While at first we thought it was going to be a bit lame before the show started, we ended up really happy with it. The show was interesting and the food was good for a mass produced product (probably about 1000 there for the show aka a lot of people to feed at once in an outdoor location) We really had fun!
Once we returned to the room, we went to bed as we had a busy day planned for Sunday!
franandaj
I'm so happy, I could BOUNCE!
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2009
I just got caught up. Sounds like your trip got off to a good start with some fun sights and good food! I'll be home in a couple days and able to comment a little more on the updates. I'm glad you liked the show, I've been to some pretty silly ones.
Cinderpamela
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 21, 2011
The fire dancer was definitely our favorite back when we went. Glad you guys had a good evening, great "chapter" on your TR!
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2008
The trip did have a really good start! I think all luaus have a bit of silliness to them but I think that was part of the fun. We didn't go in expecting to be amazed and I think that made sure we had a good time. I know the reviews for this one get really split but sometimes I wonder if its attitudes or expectations that cause some of the disappointments (same things have happened to me when I really build something up in my mind)
Hope your trip was awesome as well!
He was so awesome to watch! He has to have like no nerves left on his hand or feet to be able to do that!
I really think some people just expect too much out of things probably because of the cost involved but its vacation on islands that are known for being costly. That would be fun to see the unveiling of the pig! Growing up, one of my best friends was from the Philippines. Her family would have pig roasts at her house for certain major life events and they were so awesome to see with the way they uncovered the pit!
I'm going to try to keep updates up every 2 to 3 days - I have the next 3 segments written as I get in moods where I just want to write.
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2008
A Misty Dinosaur Attack
We woke up again around 5:00AM. My husband got dressed and went for a run - I think he ended up going 5 miles or so. I was lazy and enjoyed the room. Once he returned and showered, we got ready for what we thought was going to be a very long day at Kualoa Ranch as we had two activities booked there - The Kualoa Ranch Movie Tour & The Secret Island excursion. We packed up his backpack with our swimming gear and a change of clothes for that 2nd excursion.
We went down to Ulu Cafe to have a quick breakfast. I enjoyed a Caramel Pillow while my husband had a Chocolate Muffin. We both were super happy with our choices!
We were on the road by 7AM to head to Kualoa Ranch. We noticed on the drive there, it was a really rainy day. All the way from Exit 5 on the H1 to when we arrived at Kualoa Ranch (on the other side of the island), we had a constant light rain. Luckily, it wasn’t anything like the rain we get in Naples as there was no lightning or massive thunder. I still was super careful on the mountain roads though! Smart thing they had runaway truck ramps around those curves if people’s brakes locked up!
We arrived at Kualoa Ranch right before 8AM!
We checked in for our two activities and were given tour tickets for our 8:45AM tour and wristbands for our 11:30AM beach activity. We walked around the store and the main part of the ranch until 8:30AM when we could do the 2nd check in for our tour. They had some nice exhibits about the history of the ranch and the importance of this land to the Hawaiian Chiefs.
At 8:30AM, check in began and I was a bit worried about how crowded the tour looked to be! My worries were unfounded though as they actually had 4 tours going on at the same time - an English Tour, a Japanese Tour, a Chinese Tour and a Korean Tour. Our English Group only had about 10 people on it, which was awesome as we didn’t have to be crowded together on the bus. My husband and I each had our own seat so there was no fighting for photos out the window!
We started our tour by going into the valley. Along the right side, we were able to see the remains of the failed sugar mill that was attempted to be done on the ranch’s lands. Their yearly production was less than a day’s worth of production on Maui so it quickly went under plus there was a family tragedy that caused one of the owner’s 11 year old sons to parish.
As we went up the mountainside, we were told the history of the ranch. After Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Government seized this land for military operations for the Army. They made multiple bunkers on the mountainside. They chopped down many trees in order to create hangers for the B-17s and massive land guns. We would be stopping at one of those gun stations as they use it for movie props and photos.
Blurry Bunker
Old Ranch Gates
View Up The Mountain
Pig Statue
Bunker
Lookout Tower
Battery Cooper
Set from Hawaii Five O
Old Bunker Set Ups
Journey 2 Props
Lost Room
Jurassic World Tour Vehicle
Pad that used to hold massive gun
After our short visit to Battery Cooper, we continued into the valley.
Hurley’s Golf Course (Lost)
Mighty Joe Young - Storefront - Falling Apart
Dino Attack!!!
While were were leaving the main movie valley, we were stopped by the cows. Our tour guide ended up having to turn off the vehicle and get out to move them out of the road way!
Once we passed the cow road hazard, we were shown the housing that the Hawaiians used to live in. How high your house was with the rock walls showed your rank in the tribe. The more rocks, the higher you were!
Wild Pigs
Chinamen’s Hat
And shortly after the tour was over. It took about 90 minutes in all. We really enjoyed it as my husband and I love the movies and it was cool getting to see some of the spots and props. They do now have a more in depth tour that is 150 minutes for more than double the cost but that wasn’t an option for us when we originally booked.
It had continued to keep the cool misty rain during this entire tour and it was in the mid 70’s. My husband and I really had no desire to go on a 2.5 beach excursion in this weather as we knew we wouldn’t enjoy it one bit! As the tours are non-refundable, we knew we would eat the $70 but it was well worth it to not be miserable. We did tell them we would not be attending so the tour guide wouldn’t be waiting for us at the 11:30AM tour and we could have moved it to another day if we wanted but we passed as we knew we wouldn’t head back that way on the island after today.
We now had to figure out what we wanted to do!
We woke up again around 5:00AM. My husband got dressed and went for a run - I think he ended up going 5 miles or so. I was lazy and enjoyed the room. Once he returned and showered, we got ready for what we thought was going to be a very long day at Kualoa Ranch as we had two activities booked there - The Kualoa Ranch Movie Tour & The Secret Island excursion. We packed up his backpack with our swimming gear and a change of clothes for that 2nd excursion.
We went down to Ulu Cafe to have a quick breakfast. I enjoyed a Caramel Pillow while my husband had a Chocolate Muffin. We both were super happy with our choices!
We were on the road by 7AM to head to Kualoa Ranch. We noticed on the drive there, it was a really rainy day. All the way from Exit 5 on the H1 to when we arrived at Kualoa Ranch (on the other side of the island), we had a constant light rain. Luckily, it wasn’t anything like the rain we get in Naples as there was no lightning or massive thunder. I still was super careful on the mountain roads though! Smart thing they had runaway truck ramps around those curves if people’s brakes locked up!
We arrived at Kualoa Ranch right before 8AM!
We checked in for our two activities and were given tour tickets for our 8:45AM tour and wristbands for our 11:30AM beach activity. We walked around the store and the main part of the ranch until 8:30AM when we could do the 2nd check in for our tour. They had some nice exhibits about the history of the ranch and the importance of this land to the Hawaiian Chiefs.
At 8:30AM, check in began and I was a bit worried about how crowded the tour looked to be! My worries were unfounded though as they actually had 4 tours going on at the same time - an English Tour, a Japanese Tour, a Chinese Tour and a Korean Tour. Our English Group only had about 10 people on it, which was awesome as we didn’t have to be crowded together on the bus. My husband and I each had our own seat so there was no fighting for photos out the window!
We started our tour by going into the valley. Along the right side, we were able to see the remains of the failed sugar mill that was attempted to be done on the ranch’s lands. Their yearly production was less than a day’s worth of production on Maui so it quickly went under plus there was a family tragedy that caused one of the owner’s 11 year old sons to parish.
As we went up the mountainside, we were told the history of the ranch. After Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Government seized this land for military operations for the Army. They made multiple bunkers on the mountainside. They chopped down many trees in order to create hangers for the B-17s and massive land guns. We would be stopping at one of those gun stations as they use it for movie props and photos.
Blurry Bunker
Old Ranch Gates
View Up The Mountain
Pig Statue
Bunker
Lookout Tower
Battery Cooper
Set from Hawaii Five O
Old Bunker Set Ups
Journey 2 Props
Lost Room
Jurassic World Tour Vehicle
Pad that used to hold massive gun
After our short visit to Battery Cooper, we continued into the valley.
Hurley’s Golf Course (Lost)
Mighty Joe Young - Storefront - Falling Apart
Dino Attack!!!
While were were leaving the main movie valley, we were stopped by the cows. Our tour guide ended up having to turn off the vehicle and get out to move them out of the road way!
Once we passed the cow road hazard, we were shown the housing that the Hawaiians used to live in. How high your house was with the rock walls showed your rank in the tribe. The more rocks, the higher you were!
Wild Pigs
Chinamen’s Hat
And shortly after the tour was over. It took about 90 minutes in all. We really enjoyed it as my husband and I love the movies and it was cool getting to see some of the spots and props. They do now have a more in depth tour that is 150 minutes for more than double the cost but that wasn’t an option for us when we originally booked.
It had continued to keep the cool misty rain during this entire tour and it was in the mid 70’s. My husband and I really had no desire to go on a 2.5 beach excursion in this weather as we knew we wouldn’t enjoy it one bit! As the tours are non-refundable, we knew we would eat the $70 but it was well worth it to not be miserable. We did tell them we would not be attending so the tour guide wouldn’t be waiting for us at the 11:30AM tour and we could have moved it to another day if we wanted but we passed as we knew we wouldn’t head back that way on the island after today.
We now had to figure out what we wanted to do!
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Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!
