# Trip Report - 16 Days in Hawaii - Maui, Oahu, and Aulani!



## MarbleBob

Aloha everyone!  Welcome to my latest trip report.  My family and I are pretty big Disney fans, and while we've visited Walt Disney World and Disneyland lots of times (and even been on a couple Disney Cruises), we sure didn't think we'd be getting to Aulani any time soon!   Well that was until my in-laws announced that they wanted to take their entire family to Hawaii to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.  15 of us in total! 






So, in June 2016, we spent six nights in Kihei, Maui and then island hopped over to Oahu for six nights in a condo at the Ko Olina Resort (next door to Aulani.)  And then after the rest of the extended family headed back home, we spent a final three nights enjoying Aulani by ourselves (DW, DD16, DS13, DD9.)  

So yeah, a total of 15 nights... this was our first time visiting Hawaii and we were pinching ourselves the whole time.  Memories for a lifetime!!!

Since we only spent three nights at Aulani, I questioned whether or not to write a traditional trip report here on DISBoards.  (Especially over six months  afterwards!)But after thinking about it for a while, I think it's worth sharing our experiences because while Aulani was fantastic and we don't regret it in the least, the resort does have room for improvement (value and service wise) when compared to other flagship resorts like the Grand Floridian, The Polynesian, Disneyland Hotel, etc.  And those who are interested in exploring the island of Oahu while staying at Aulani may find some of our island experiences interesting too.  (We spent a total of nine nights on Oahu.)  






They say a picture is worth a thousand words… no clue what the how many words this collage is worth, but I hope it gives you a decent glimpse at some of the highlights from our trip.   These photos are just the tip of the iceberg... as I'll be sifting through over 5,000 of them for this TR.  In the meantime, here are a few other highlights:

Maui:

 Breathtaking sunrise at the summit of Haleakalā
Lots of beach time around Kihei (but mostly Keawakapu Beach)
Checking out the ʻIao Needle at ʻĪao Valley State Park
Experiencing the amazing Old Lahaina Luau
Driving the amazing Road to Hana
Exploring the Lava Fields at the southwest corner of Maui
Lots of good food and tasty treats!
Oahu:

Taking the boat out to see USS Arizona Memorial and then exploring the USS Missouri in Pearl Harbor
Hiking to the top of Diamond Head crater and swimming at Waikiki Beach
Shopping at the LeSportsac outlet store and Ala Moana Center in Honolulu
Exploring the lagoons in the Ko Olina Resort area
Going on the Jungle Expedition Tour in the Kualoa Ranch
Wandering through the beautiful grounds at the Byodo-In Temple
Exploring the North Shore (with a stop at the Dole Plantation)
More food and tasty treats…
And of course Aulani!!
I assume that many of you will be more interested in reading about our Aulani and Oahu experiences.  So to keep you from waiting too long... I'm starting this TR with the Maui experiences already written. 

If I've piqued your interest enough to continue, then I guess you can "choose your own adventure."    Either start with our fantastic experiences on Maui, or feel free to skip ahead to our arrival in Oahu.  (See the table of contents below for links.)


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## MarbleBob

*Table of Contents*

Background and Cast of Characters

*Maui*
Day 1 - Saturday, June 18 - Heading for Hawaii!
Day 2 - Sunday, June 19 - Part 1: Haleakalā Sunrise
Day 2 - Sunday, June 19 - Part 2: Our condo at Keawakapu Beach
Day 3 - Monday, June  20 - Part 1: Beach and Shopping
Day 3 - Monday, June  20 - Part 2: Family Photos
Day 4 - Tuesday, June 21 - Part 1: ʻĪao Valley
Day 4 - Tuesday, June 21 - Part 2: Old Lahaina Luau
Day 5 - Wednesday, June 22  - Part 1: Road to Hana
Day 5 - Wednesday, June 22  - Part 2: Seven Sacred Pools at Ohe'o
Day 6 - Thursday, June 23: Lava Fields

*Oahu*
Day 7 - Friday, June 24: Heading to Oahu
Day 8 - Saturday, June 25 -  Part 1: Pearl Harbor
Day 8 - Saturday, June 25 -  Part 2: Diamond Head
Day 9 - Sunday, June 26 - Part 1: A day at Ko Olina
Day 9 - Sunday, June 26 - Part2: An Aulani Teaser
Day 10 - Monday, June 27 - Part 1: LeSportsac, Waikiki Beach, and the Disney Store
Day 10 - Monday, June 27 - Part 2: More Shopping
Day 11 - Tuesday, June 28 - Part 1: Sushi Bay
Day 11 - Tuesday, June 28 - Part 2: Kualoa Ranch
Day 11 - Tuesday, June 28 - Part 3: The Byodo-In Temple
Day 12 - Wednesday, June 29 - Part 1: The North Shore
Day 12 - Wednesday, June 29 - Part 2: Dole Plantation
Day 13 - Thursday, June 30: Arrival at Aulani!
Day 13 - Thursday, June 30 - Part 2: Daily 'Iwa
Day 13 - Thursday, June 30 - Part 3: Exploring Aulani and Lunch at Ulu Café 
Day 13 - Thursday, June 30 - Part 4: Our Room 
Day 13 - Thursday, June 30 - Part 5: Swimming and Evening Activities

Day 14 - Friday, July 1
Day 15 - Saturday, July 2
Day 16 - Sunday, July 3


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## MarbleBob

*Background and Cast of Characters*

*Background*

So yeah, my in-laws celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this past year.  They decided that it would be fun to celebrate it by taking their family to Hawaii for a big vacation.   This included my sister-in-law and her family.  My brother-in-law and his family.  And of course my wife (Stephanie) and our family 

They surprised us about a year and a half early, so we had a lot of time to decide which islands to visit, where to stay, what excursions to do, etc.  We all went back and forth for a while, and ultimately decided to split the stay on two islands.  It was going to be Maui and Hawaii, or Maui and Oahu.  As much as we wanted to see the active lava flows at the Big Island, my immediate family REALLY wanted to visit Pearl Harbor and we also hoped to tack on some nights at Aulani.  So ultimately we voted for Maui and Oahu.  Interestingly, for various reasons, everyone else pretty much voted on the same islands too.

After the islands and dates were worked out, Stephanie's parents picked the accommodations.  They also wanted at least one fun evening to celebrate the event as an entire group at the Old Lahaina Luau (in Maui.)  And then we planned out a few other group activities like driving the Road to Hana, visiting Pearl Harbor, family photos, beach time, etc.  After that, each family was to plan out  their own agenda's and hope for the best.   Our plans all aligned with each other more often than not… and it actually worked out really well.  We had a nice balance between large group time and also being able to march to the beat of our own drum.

And last but not least, we planned to stay for a few more nights at Aulani after everyone else left.  I mean, how can you be a Disney fan with a free plane ticket to Oahu and NOT at least experience Aulani for a couple days?!?! I imagine that since you are on DISBoards, that I'm sure you'd agree about it not bing a question of "if" but instead, it's a question of "how" and "for how long"?  

I'll probably go into the details later, but we ended up renting points for a 1-Bedroom Villa from "DVC Rental Store."  Since we needed space for five, a regular hotel room wasn't going to work.  And we didn't like the idea of having two rooms that may or may not adjoin, so we opted to go the DVC rental route.  This was a first for us, but it turned out to be incredibly easy.  As a result, we're very likely to start renting points on future WDW trips.  This was also incredibly expensive (at least for our budget) and part of the reason we were a little disappointed with Aulani's overall value and service.  (For the price of three nights at Aulani for a family of five, you could be treated like kings in WDW!!!)

*About My Immediate Family*

This is my 5th trip report on the DISBoards, so some of you may already be familiar with my family and our background spiel.  If so, welcome back, and feel free to skip ahead.  And if you haven't met us yet, then hello!!!!  (And if you like this TR, feel free to check out the other ones in my signature.)






DW and I have been Disney fans most of our lives. Both enjoying the classic movies and cartoons as kids, and we each went on family vacations to WDW several times. (She had gone 4 times and I had been twice.) The first movie that we saw in a theater together was 101 Dalmatians in 1996. And when we were first dating, I remember she mentioned that as a little girl, she dreamed of going to WDW on her honeymoon. So, later when get got married, the decision on where to go for our honeymoon was a no brainer! That started the tradition of including Disney in our family vacations and we've been going back for more ever since.





In more recent years, we've branched out from WDW and developed a love for Disneyland and the Cruises.  We've had Aulani on our bucket list ever since it opened, but we figured that we'd have to wait until the kids are grown and out of college before we could splurge at that level.  Needless to say, we were super excited when Stephanie's parents broke the news about the family vacation.  We immediately started trying to figure out how we could incorporate Aulani into this vacation!!!!

Oh, and also noting, we will celebrate our own 20th Anniversary in 2017.  We thought about going back to WDW, but ultimately decided on another parents only trip to California.  We'll be doing a 4-night cruise on the Disney Wonder (from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas) and then driving back up to LA for a couple days in Disneyland before flying back home.  I'm stoked!

*Matt (me)* - Please don’t ask how/why I came up with the MarbleBob screen name, because I don't really remember. (It’s hard to believe I joined DISBoards almost 14 years ago.) I'm not related to anyone named Bob and I don't even own any marbles. Some might argue that I've lost a few marbles, but that's a different story. About me? I’m an IT manager, skateboarder, gardener, and of course, a Disney fan. I tend to go through phases where I'm super into Disney, and then I focus my interest on other things. But I always come back!!!






*Stephanie (DW)* - My best friend and awesome mother to our 3 kids. She isn't really any more or less into Disney than I am, but she's certainly more consistently plugged in. I think she's listened to almost every DIS Unplugged podcast through the years (both WDW and DL) and she's probably listened to every one of Ricky Brigante's Inside the Magic podcasts too.

Stephanie is often more of a lurker on the DISBoards, but I'm sure you'll see her chime in from time to time. She goes by the screen name of @DaeHyFoog. This goes back to a nickname from her high school days, which is Goofy Head spelled backwards.  It arguably makes a lot more sense than may stupid name of MarbleBob.  






I periodically make collages of our kids growing up with Disney. I thought it would be fun to make one out of a few scan’s from Stephanie’s trips to WDW as a kid.






*Princess (DD16) *- My oldest daughter. Obviously, that's not her real name, but that's what we've been calling her in these trip reports. As mentioned above, she's grown up going to Walt Disney World and loving Disney princesses. She outgrew the princess loving stage, but her love for Disney hasn't diminished. She also loves everything Nintendo and Japan.  She was stoked to experience a fair amount of Japanese culture on Oahu too!






*Buddy (DS13)* - Also not his real name, but this is what we usually call him around the house. He's our engineer. He loves building things with his monorail sets, Legos, Rokenbok, trains, etc. And of course, his favorite past time is playing Minecraft on the computer. His favorite Disney attractions are the trains, monorails, Expedition Everest, and California Screamin’.






*Pickle (DD9)* - She owns up to her nickname, and it fits her well. Very sweet and loving, but she can be a bit ornery and spicy too! I think she's finally outgrown the princess loving stage. She still likes them, but she's been more interested in Duffy Bear lately.  And she was stoked to get some Duffy and Shellie May stuff on this trip!





*About the In-laws*
Stephanie's family is fairly private online (most of them don't even have Facebook or Instagram), so I won't share too many details.  But you'll probably see them in photos throughout this TR, so it's probably worthwhile to at least give them high-level introductions.

*Stephanie's Parents  (Nanny and Grandpa)* - Grandpa is a HUGE Donald Duck fan! Otherwise, Nanny and Grandpa are fairly casual Disney parks fans.   (For those who have followed along with our past trip reports, you may recall that we drove from St. Louis to California with them in 2015.)  They are pretty big on Hawaii and have visited it a bunch through the years, and I guess that's why they wanted to celebrate such a special occasion with the rest of the family.  Pretty awesome!






*Stephanie's Sister and Family* - They are not really Disney fans at all, so not much to say there.  Also, this was their first visit to Hawaii too.  Nice that their boys are closer in age to Princess and Buddy.






*Stephanie's Brother and Family* - They are moderate Disney fans.  They've been to WDW once and they also tagged along on our California Road Trip in 2015.  For the sake of the TR, we'll call the kids Luke and Leia - 'cause they are big Star Wars fans.  And nice that they kids are so close in age to Pickle too!






I guess that'll do for the background and introductions.  Let's get moving on the TR!

(Oh... and in case you are wondering about the beach photos above, Stephanie found an outstanding photographer online to take some family photos for us.  It was a husband and wife team and they were awesome.  I'll share more details later.)


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## MarbleBob

*Day 1 - Saturday, June 18 - Heading to Hawaii!*
After months and months of anticipation, the big day had finally arrived!  Hawaii, here we come!!! 

The plan for the day was to fly from St. Louis to Los Angeles for a quick layover, and then fly from LAX to Maui.  We had a long day of travelling ahead!!!

We arrived at the airport around 9:30 AM.  It turns out that everyone else had just arrived too.  There wasn't a line at the self-service baggage check area, so we were able to get all our bags checked within 10 to 15 minutes.  And just like that.... we were all situated and ready to head through security.  Even though the following picture doesn't really show it, we were all pretty darn excited!





Similar to baggage check, there really wasn't any line for security, and we pretty much just walked right through.  What a break!!!

We ended up in the terminal about an hour before boarding time, so we all split up.  Much of the group went to Chili's for breakfast… but Pickle wanted to go back to the play area that we passed on the way in.   (It was created by the Magic House, which is an awesome children's museum in St. Louis.)  So Stephanie and I took Pickle down there to kill some time.  Such a cool place!






It's nice because it's all behind one gate to keep the kids from running off.  It has a bunch of play areas for kids... The MetroLink train, an airplane (with real seats and a cockpit), luggage transport items, a security area, a control tower, and an Enterprise Rent a Car area.  Too cool!!!






Inside the airplane...






And the cockpit with controls and everything!!!











The rental car station...






And finally a few nice chairs for moms to sit on 





Not much else to say about the morning, other than we were on the plane and ready to go around 10:45 AM.





The plane left on time and we had a smooth flight to LA!





We had about 40 minutes of a layover before our next flight, so we pretty much just ate the fastest thing we could find.  Which was hard, LAX terminal 4 doesn't have great food options and the place was hopping!!!

We went ahead and had tacos at the food truck that was parked just outside our gate.  LOL.









All things considered, it was actually pretty good. (Can't really judge it by the photo above, which didn't turn out well.)

So we scarfed our food, and a few minutes later, we were on our next flight.






The seats on these American Airlines planes have something like a built in iPad with tv, movies, games, flight info and stuff.  I watched a movie or two and played games on my phone to pass the time.  I love how the interactive entertainment screens have maps that show your flight path, eta, speed, etc.  Fun!






Ultimately, another smooth and uneventful flight, which is good!  And approaching Maui!  The view from the airplane was breathtaking!!!














I had never been to Maui before, so I had no idea what to expect, but the airport was open.  Once you leaving the waiting area, everything is basically open to the outside. Wow!!!
















We pretty much made a bee line towards the baggage claim area.  We waited a few minutes until the bags started rolling out.  It was a completely full flight, so it took a while to finally get ours.  It was pleasant though, especially with a few people playing live Hawaiian music to add to the atmosphere. 

I can't believe it, we are here! Yahoo!!!! 

Next step was the rental cars...  Through Costco, we had four of them reserved, one for each family with Budget Rental Car.  Unfortunately, they had a mix up...  They saw that my father-in-law had reserved four of the same vehicle and thought it must have been a mistake.  So they cancelled three of them without verifying it with him.  In the meantime, they gave three of our cars away to someone else.  Oops!  That's bad enough, but their customer service was terrible.  We ended up waiting over an hour to get things sorted out.  Not cool after a LONG day of traveling! I have never personally used Budget before, but I certainly never will again!!!  (Their service when we arrived in Oahu was even worse!)

But... We were in Hawaii, so it was hard to get mad.  More annoying than anything.  LOL.

So the drive to our condo near Kihei was going to be about a 30 to 40 minutes.  We ended up all separating and meeting there later.  Our plan was to get up early (like 3am early, and see the sunrise at the summit of Haleakalā.)  It was about 7:30 PM local time (about 11:30 PM at home), so we were already tired and hungry for dinner.  So while the others headed to the grocery store, we decided to just get some fast food and get to the condo as soon as possible.  (That 3:00 AM wake up time was going to come sooner than we'd have liked.)

So you make it all the way to Hawaii for the first time in your life, and where do decide to make your first stop?  McDonalds of course!  (Face palm)






Except for, Stephanie had read that they still have the old fashioned fried apple pies (like when we were kids.)  That was the real reason we stopped... to relive our childhood memories.  

We were zonked and starved by now and nobody really cared what they ate anyway.  So we got a couple burgers, fries, and fried apple pies.






Duuuuude....






These pies were amazingly good.  Like, I'm dreaming of eating one right now good.  I should have just skipped the burger and had a couple of these pies all to myself!

So yeah, it was time to head to the condo.  We stayed just south of Kehei at the north end of Keawakapu Beach.





It was dark by the time we left... I'm not sure what time we got to the condo, but I'd say it was around 9pm. (1:00 AM at home.)   Luckily, we didn't need a key as the condos all had key code buttons on the doors.  We already knew the combination to our unit, so we let ourselves in.  Unpacked a bit, and were asleep by 10:00 PM.  That gives us 5 hours before we leave for the sunrise.  Goodnight moon!!!!


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## MarbleBob

*Day 2 - Sunday, June 19 - Part 1: Haleakalā Sunrise*

It turns out that viewing the sunrise from the summit of Haleakalā is consistently towards the top of most "must see" lists for Maui.  (The tallest peak is 10,023 feet tall.  Wow!)  Since we had a rental car, this activity easily made our short list. 

The thing is… sunrise is at 5:30 AM and you need to give about two hours to get there from Kihei.  Which means leaving the condo around 3:30 AM. * Yikes!!!!*  But… that's really 7:30 AM back home…. And the consensus is that it's best to do this early in the trip before your biological clock adjusts to local time.  So off we went!!!!





The drive up was uneventful and somewhat boring (you're driving in the dark), until we got a couple miles from the entrance to the park….  Major traffic jam.  We had padded ourselves with about 30 minutes to get their before sunrise, but we didn't expect this!  We lost about 45 minutes due to the traffic jam, so the sun had already peaked over the horizon when we made it to the first viewing area at about 5:45 AM.  The lady at the park entrance booth said that we could all thank the crazy taxi driver when we got to the top.  Not sure what he did, but he basically blocked the road for at least 30 minutes and prevented anyone from getting into the park during that time.

I was pretty bummed out at the thought of missing the sunrise, until we pulled up and saw this!






In the realm of "good, better, best", with the *best *case having us see the entire sunrise, this was exponentially *better *than any sunrise I have seen before.   It was really moving.

Freaking cold though!!!!  I don’t recall the temperature, but it was super cold.  In the low 40's probably.





















Check out the craters…






Despite arriving a little late, it was worth it though. We spent a good 30 minutes or so watching the sunrise and the kids climbed on the rocks for a while too… and then we headed up a bit further up the road to the visitor's center.
















Oh, and it happened to be Father's Day too.  Hau'oli La Makuakane!











Looking towards the NW coast of Maui…






And then the observatory, looking almost due West.






And finally a couple panoramic iPhone photos before we head down the mountain.











We ended up leaving around 6:45 AM, as the kids were sleepy and complaining about the cold.   Stephanie and I would have loved to hike around the crater for a while though.

So yeah, the ride back down the mountain was pretty darn amazing… since it wasn't dark any longer!  I put the GoPro on the dashboard and made a time-lapse video of the drive down.






We had decided to eat at a cool breakfast joint a little west of the airport, but when we finally found it, it was closed on  Sunday mornings.  Bummer!  We explored our options for a bit and weren't feeling anything… and since we were all tired and a bit "hangry", we just stopped at McDonalds.  Can you believe it?  Our first two Hawaiian meals were are McDonalds.  Doh!  (Double face palm.)

The good news, is that we got to try their unique Hawaiian menu ("Local Breakfast Platters.")  They had Eggs, Rice, and Spam; Eggs, Rice, and Portuguese Sausage, or Eggs, Rice and both Spam and Sausage.






I don't like Spam, so I went for the Portuguese sausage platter.






It turns out that I don’t like Portuguese sausage either.  It was a little funky. 

We "enjoyed" our breakfasts, and then headed back to the condo.  I think we arrived around 9:45 AM.


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## MarbleBob

*Day 2 - Sunday, June 19 - Part 2: Our condo at Keawakapu Beach*


So yea, our first chance at seeing the condo in daylight!  Wow, this place sort of reminds of the Polynesian Resort in WDW.  Hmm…













Pretty cool!

I guess the jet lag had got to me, because this day is mostly a blur… I don’t recall too many details.  We took the kids down to the beach for a while, and then headed over to the grocery store to pick up food for the week.  We came back, had lunch, and relaxed at the beach for the rest of the day.  Trying our hardest to stay awake and adjust to the local time!

Here's the view from our balcony.   Wow!!!





And then heading down to the beach…  Here's the pool area that looks out on the beach.  Boy, it was nice!





And then down on the beach!









Again, I don't remember what we had for lunch or most of the mid-day unpacking activities.  But I do remember that white rum and POG juice are a match made in heaven!!!!





After an afternoon of relaxing… we headed down to the beach again to peak at the sunset before going out for dinner.





Breathtaking!!!!





Pretty awesome to see the sun rise out of the ocean on one side of the island and then see it set on other side that same day!











We ended up Yelping around for dinner and decided on Coconut's Fish Café.  This turned out to be a fantastic choice.  While it wasn't anything fancy, it turned out to be one of the best meals on the trip!





Apparently, they are known for their fish tacos..





We all put in our orders and had fun sharing our stories from the day while we waited.













The people who brought out our food were super friendly.  Outstanding customer service here, all around!

And the food?  It was fantastic.  Here are a bunch of photos from the group.  I'm not going to go over every item, but the consensus from everyone was that everything was outstanding!!!  (And a good value too.)

























Everyone's fried food looked amazing, but a few of us got the tacos.  Holy cow, these things were good!!!  I mean, I totally wish  that I was eating one right now.  The stuff that dreams are made of…





After eating, all the families gave their fathers day gifts to grandpa and socialized for a while.  We were all stuffed, content, and feeling sleepy.  Some of us were more sleepy than others…





So we packed up and headed back to the condo.  What a long day, but we were stoked on how it went… and very much ready to say goodnight moon!


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## MarbleBob

*Day 3 - Monday, June  20 - Part 1:  Beach and Shopping*

All right…. Our second full day in Hawaii!  The only solid plan we had for the day, was family photos on the beach around 6pm.  For an anniversary gift, we all pitched in to hire a professional photographer to take pictures of the family.  We decided to do this early in the trip, in case some of us ended up getting sun burned too soon.   So, with the evening photos in mind, we thought that we'd spend the morning exploring the beach, then do a little exploring and shopping in Kihei in the afternoon, and eventually come back in time to get ready for photos.

Heading down to the beach, it was low tide, so we walked over to the tide pools to look for critters…





We saw lots of little fish and quite a few sea urchins…  They are hard to see in this photo, the spikey things near the center are the urchins (I think.)





And looking back towards the condo…





We spent the better part of the morning just floating out in the sea.  Man, the water was so clear and everything was just vibrant and alive.  Easily the best beach I've ever visited.  Just amazing!!!!

















At some point the older kids were content to sun bathe and the younger kids were working on their sand castles… So Stephanie and I decided to go for a walk.  We went for 30 or 40 minutes before taking a selfie and turning back.









When we got back from our walk, we swam a bit longer and then we were ready to head back to the condo for lunch.

We ended up having sandwiches and chips.  Nothing special, but quick and convenient.  And then we headed into town.  First, we stopped at Kalama Park.





If you've followed any of our other trip reports, you might remember that one of my favorite activities is skateboarding.  No room in our luggage to pack our gear, but we couldn't resist checking out the skatepark...









The idea of surfing in the morning, skateboarding, and the hopping back in the ocean to cool off sounds pretty amazing.  Maybe next time!









Heading up north through town, we stopped at a couple tourist trap souvenir stands.  And eventually, we made it all the way up to the north end of town.  Snack time!!!  Hawaiian Shave Ice!  (Funny that it's "shave ice" and not "shaved ice".)

























I don’t recall what flavors everyone had, but everything was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  We ended up trying several shave ice places during the trip, and Ululani's was easily the winner.  (The ice was incredibly light and fluffy and the syrups were amazing.) Even better than the famous Matsumoto's on Oahu's North Shore.

After enjoying our treats, we browsed the gift shop next door (pickle purchased a purple sea turtle doll) and there is a farmers market next door.  Buddy couldn't resist getting a fresh tomato.  (He sometimes eats them like apples.)

We stopped at a flea market on the way back, but it was a bit too touristy.   The kids did pick up a couple necklaces though.


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## MarbleBob

*Day 3 - Monday, June  20 - Part 2:  Family Photos*

Eventually, we made our way back to the condo.  We got all cleaned up and in our nice clothes for the photo shoot.

The kids were ready before everyone else…





The photographer and his wife (Summer and Becky) were local and had already scoped out a good spot a few miles south of the condo.   Stephanie had researched quite a bit and found that https://www.capturealoha.com had reasonable prices and a great reputation.  It turned out to be a good choice.  They were great to work with, especially with us being such a large group…

We probably spent about an hour and a half taking various shots.  Individual families. Each family with the grand parents.  Just kids and grandparents.  Stephanie and her siblings with their parents.  You get the idea.  We ended up with hundreds of amazing photos.  Here are just a few….













































After photos, we drove back up north to Kihei and found another fantastic seafood joint across from the beach… Paia Fish Market.













Also very good!!!

Like the night before, we took our time eating and socializing.  We eventually headed back to the condo and relaxed for a little while before heading to bed.


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## MarbleBob

*Day 4 - Tuesday, June 21 - Part 1: ʻĪao Valley*

Day 4? We're on a roll now!  The only solid plan for today was to drive up to Lahaina in the evening for the old Lahaina Luau.  Besides the trip itself, this was the one big thing that Stephanie's parents wanted to do with everyone to celebrate their anniversary.  So this was planned well in advance… and we were all very much looking forward to it.

Like most days, the individual families sort of each went out on their own until regrouping for the main event.  We started our day out at the beach, and then we headed over to Costco and explored that area before heading up to Lahaina.

So yeah, a morning of fun in the sun!









And then we headed over to Costco to pick up a few items, and have a cheap lunch at their food court.  And then we headed over to ʻĪao Valley to go on a short hike before heading over to Lahaina.  The marker in the map below is where ʻĪao Valley  is located.





Wow, this place was super lush and green.  Much of Maui, at least in the area surrounding our condo, is more dry and arid than I would have ever guessed.  But not this place.  Super green!

You can read about the valley on Wikipedia or somewhere, but quoting from a gohawaii.com article, "Aside from its natural tropical beauty, sacred Iao Valley has great historical significance. It was here in 1790 at the Battle of Kepaniwai that King Kamehameha I clashed with Maui's army in his quest to unite the islands. Even with Iao Needle serving as a lookout point, Kamehameha defeated Maui's forces in a ferocious battle that ultimately changed the course of Hawaiian history."

So yeah, apparently a lot of people died here.  That part is a downer to think about, but it did sort of added to the exotic vibe of the place.





You can hike up to the lookout area in front of the needle, or hike down to a river and botanical garden. Here's the garden…









And here's a panorama of the upper area…





Just beautiful!













I don’t have a photo here, but down below, there is a river/stream that runs through the valley.  People actually come up here to swim in it.  It looked totally refreshing and I wanted to hop in, but we were in our Luau clothes, so I had to look jealously at the people frolicking in the water.  Ha!

After spending an hour or so exploring the valley, we hopped in the car and started making our way over to Lahaina.  It took about an hour to get over there.  What an amazing drive!





Coming around the bottom corner of the northwestern section of the island, we stopped at an overlook… where we could see back towards our condo.





We ended up arriving at the luau area about an hour early, so we decided to head over to the shopping center across the street.





The girls took the opportunity to use the restroom.   I love the signs!!!





It was sort of an older mall that was maybe past its heyday, but we had fun exploring it for a while.   And they had a cool toy store where Pickle ended up getting some hand made Hawaiian clothes made for American Girl dolls.


----------



## MarbleBob

*Day 4 - Tuesday, June 21 - Part 2: Old Lahaina Luau*


Eventually, the others arrived and we waited for the luaua to start receiving people.   Apparently, the Old Lahaina Luau is one of the best and most authentic luaus in all of Hawaii.  It was indeed pretty darn awesome, and sort of made Aulani's version seem a bit lame in comparison.

Here's Grandpa getting us all checked in.





And the rest of us all chilled out for a while…









They greeted us with Mai Tai's.  Yum!!!





And virgin versions for the kiddos too!





They showed us our table, and then we all wandered around for 30 or 45 minutes before the meal started.  They had all sorts of activities, demonstrations, games, etc.  How fun!

A few photo ops!









Learning to hula dance 









Sampling fresh coconut!





The beach!





We opted to pay a few bucks and get photos from their photographer.  They turned out pretty good, I think 









They also had a few other things/events that I didn't get pictures of, one of them being the ceremony where they unearthed the smoked pig.  Cool!

Eventually, we made our way back to our table where we enjoyed drinks and appetizers.  Unlimited drinks too, we may have went a little crazy with the drinks.





This was some sort of frozen pina colada strawberry thing.  So good!!!









They had a pretty exhaustive list of non-alcoholic drinks as well.  The girls went a little crazier than the rest of us. Trying all sorts of rainbow and fruity concoctions!









Fried taro chips…





Eventually, they sent us up to the buffet in groups.  I don't really remember all the food that they had, or what I tried.  But it was mostly good.  Not the greatest food ever, but certainly enjoyable.





Here's a link to the menu, if you are curious…  https://www.oldlahainaluau.com/menu/

And a while later, the show started.  I had expected the food to be awesome and the show to be good, but I was surprised to find the show to be awesome and the food to be good.  The show was the real star here!













I don't recall exactly how long the show lasted, probably about an hour or so.  But man, these people were talented!  I'm not a big show person, but this was truly great.  So happy that we had the chance to see it.

All in all, it was an amazing evening.  Such great memories.  Happy 50th, Dennis and Shirley!!!

After the show, we leisurely left the luau and headed back to Kihei.


----------



## MarbleBob

*Day 5 - Wednesday, June 22  - Part 1: Road to Hana*


Moving on to day 5.  We had all wanted to do the Road to Hana so we planned to do the drive today as a group.  For the most part, this worked well… even if it was challenging at times to keep all four vehicles together… without cell reliable reception.





If you aren't familiar with Maui, this is one of the most popular activities to do on the island.  The road is narrow and very windy as it snakes along the eastern coast of the island.  There are all sorts of places to stop and see.  Too much to do in a single day, so I can see why this is a highlight for repeat visitors.  (It was only about 72 miles from our condo to our final stop, but it took the whole day and evening to get there and back with all the stops.)

We originally had a plan for what places we wanted to stop and get out at, but that sort of went out the window… and we just sort of winged it.

We started off at the Kuau Store in Paia to get box lunches.   (It turned out to be true, but we had heard that there aren't a lot of places to eat on the road, and it's best to pack a lunch.)





They had a cool surfboard fence outside!





We all picked out our sandwiches and were ready to hit the road.  We made it about 5 minutes until someone had to use the restroom.  LOL.  Luckily, there were portapotties at Hookipa Lookout, so it wasn't a problem at all.  While the bathroom people took care of business, the rest of us explored a bit.

Wow, we aren't even 5 minutes into this drive, and it's breathtaking already!













I didn't upload a lot of photos of the windy roads, but it seemed as if there was a waterfall was at the corner of every turn!









Our first major stop was Twin Falls.





It's a small set of two waterfalls that you have to hike up a trail a few minutes to get to.  It sure was pretty!





The upper falls are in this photo, back behind Pickle…





And the lower falls dumped into a pool.  Here's one of my nephews jumping into it…





We spent 30 or 40 minutes enjoying the falls before heading back.  It was quite muddy, so we took a couple minutes to rinse off our legs/feet at one of the slow spots of the steam before getting back to our cars…





I don’t have photos here, but back at the farm stand, I purchase some raw sugar cane and fresh squeezed cane juice.  The idea of the cane juice sounded better than the reality.  Either it wasn't ripe enough or something, or it normally has a funky grassy taste.  I didn’t' really care for it, but I was glad that I tried it.

We hopped back on the road and drove for a while and eventually stopped at Keanae Lookout on Waialohe Point.  Another breathtaking vista!





We somehow got split up with the other cars, and not having cell service in this area, we ended up pairing up with just Stephanie's parents for the next stretch of the road…. And a few miles later, we decided to pull off at another waterfall.  I can't remember the name of this stop, but it was pretty awesome.





We hopped in the water to swim over to the waterfall, but it was pretty darn cold!!!





Everyone else ditched me, but I had it in my head that I wanted to swim out to the waterfall and I wasn't going to give up.  Ha!

Eventually, we made it to Hana and stopped for lunch at Waianapanapa State Park.  Just wow!





And we made our way down to the black sand beach.





Those black pebbles were super hot!!!  But it was pretty awesome!






I didn't get any photos of the caves, but before we left the state park, we headed over to Waianapanapa Cave.





The cave wasn't too impressive, but it smelled like rotting flesh down there, so we didn’t stay too long.  Hahaha!


----------



## MarbleBob

*Day 5 - Wednesday, June 22  - Part 2: Seven Sacred Pools at Ohe'o*


We passed through the town of Hana and kept going to our final destination, the Seven Sacred Pools at Ohe'o.  This turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip!





After passing the visitors center, you can walk down a trail towards the ocean.  Looking to the right, you see this…









And then turning to the left, you see this!









How cool!!!

The kids didn't waste any time getting into the deep water!





We swam around in this lower pool for quite a while… watching people jump off the cliffs.  Including my nephew… I asked him to hold the GoPro on this jump… LOL






And here's my brother in law…






And eventually figured out how to get to the next pool above the first waterfall.  It had some small (maybe 8 or 9 feet tall) cliffs that the kids had fun jumping into the water from…





We spent quite a bit of time here while the kids took turns jumping in.  Fun!










We spent around two hours total at this stop.  The kids could have spent all day here, but we had a long drive back to the condo ahead of us, and it was time to get on the road again.

Coming back was just as beautiful as the way out.  Every turn of the road had either some amazing view of the ocean or a beautiful waterfall flowing down from the valley's above.  This trip report can't even begin to do it justice!!!

About half way back, we saw the most vibrant rainbow.  It was just too cool.  I can't put words to it, but you could feel it in your soul when you looked at it..





Eventually, we made it back to civilization.  And by then, we were all a bit tired and hangry, so we just stopped at McDonalds out of convenience.  This time I was smarter though.  Eat less dinner, so you can have two of them fried apple pies!

Eventually, we made it back to the condo.  It was petty late, so we got cleaned up and just relaxed for a bit before heading to bed.


----------



## MarbleBob

*Day 6 - Thursday, June 23: Lava Fields*

After a few busy days, this day was pretty low key.   We didn't have firm plans up front, so we sort of played it by ear.  But like most mornings, we spent a good amount of time swimming down at the beach in front of the condo.

As this was the last full day at the condo, we were running out of food.  So we decided to head into Kihei again for lunch.  While it looked pretty good on Yelp, we ended up making a bad choice with Maui Fish and Chips.





It was counter service.  The guy at the register was friendly/smarmy at first.  They have an iPad based cash register where you swipe your card.  As a customer, you have to either tap one of the three pre-determined "tip" amounts or go out of your way to either decline or enter a different number.  Normally not a big deal, but I'd rather give a tip after I've received service.  And then have that tip be dependent up on the quality of service that I received.  In this case, I didn't want to go against the flow, so I just tipped the standard amount.  And after that, the guy wasn't so friendly/helpful anymore.  It was clear, that he was just working us to that screen, and then the show was over…and he was ready to ignore us.  After that, the service was pretty much non existent.  Sneaky!!!

The food was just OK at best.  It looked really good, especially for fried food.  But the fish wasn't very fresh and the batter was bland.





Buddy got chicken tenders.  He wasn't really enjoying them, so I took a bite.  Gross.  I think this stuff might be spoiled?!?!  I should have went back and complained, but he was over it and just wanted to be done.  So I let it slide…

An hour later, my stomach started feeling a bit queasy.   But it hit Buddy hard.  He was on the verge of having it come out of both ends and was miserable most of the afternoon.  So yeah, if you are ever in Kihei, stay away from this place.  Go down to Coconut's Fish Café instead.  Similar price, amazing food, and people who work hard to take care of you…

Anyway, after lunch, we decided to head down south to the lava fields…





You pretty much drive down the coast until the road dead ends. Apparently, this is the site of the last active lava flow in Maui.  Very different setting than the rest of the island.  First, you drive through a road that passes right over the old lava flow.  That was cool!





And then the parking area is literally right on the beach.





(That black Nissan is the car we rented.)





We explored this area for a while.  Some epic blow holes too!


















This was about an hour or so after lunch, when Buddy's stomach really started feeling upset so we headed back to the car so he could be still for a little while. 

We had also wanted to see this other spot at Makena beach that we heard about, so we stopped there for a while on the way home.  Amazing spot!   A lot of surfers and boogie boarders here too!













We eventually made it back to the resort.  We ended up watching the sunset on the beach at the condo again, since it was our last night there.  Just stunning!









At this point, Buddy was feeling much better.  And instead Princess was feeling zonked and just wanted to chill out in the condo.  So the rest of us went to look for this wood fired pizza truck that had great reviews on Yelp.  It turned out to be closed.  We waffled around a bit and eventually decided to try this place that's popular with the locals.  Zippy's.  It was sort of like a Denny's, but with Hawaiian food..

Stephanie had a Korean fried chicken salad, which she thought was one of the best means on the trip.





Buddy and Pickle each had burgers.  Which they enjoyed too!





I had this thing called a Zippy's Zip Pac.  It sounded really good, but it was just meh at best.





The fried chicken reminded me of the gross fried chicken from school.  The fish was like a glorified fish stick.  Turns out that I still don't really like Spam at all.  But... the teriyaki steak and rice were good.  So it wasn't a total bust.  Haha!

It was probably 9:30 by the time we left, so we when we got back, we mostly called it a night.  Our flight to Oahu was around 2pm, so we had plenty time to pack our things in the morning.


----------



## MarbleBob

*Day 7 - Friday, June 24: Heading to Oahu*


Not a lot to say about the morning.   We got up fairly early and spent a couple hours packing our bags and cleaning up after ourselves.

We don't have cable or watch much TV at home, so the kids were glued to the Disney Channel and Cartoon Network whenever they had the chance.  LOL.





The flight was at about 2pm and I think the goal was to drop the cars off around noon.  So that gave us time to each lunch first.  The Costco is right next to the airport, so we gassed up the car there and had lunch at their food court again.









We flew American Airlines on the way out, but today we were flying on Hawaiian Airlines.  These planes are so cool!





Goodbye Maui.  You were amazing! 





I think we were on the plane for a total of about an hour.   It was a super fast flight.  Just quick enough for them to get in the air, give you a drink, take your trash, and land.  I bet the flight itself was only 30 or 40 minutes!

Passion Fruit Orange Juice?!?!?!  Yum!!!





You can see Honolulu and Waikiki Beach off in the distance as we landed…





Wow, this is one pretty airport!













Whatever frustrations we had getting our car on Maui, this was twice as bad.  It took forever.  And then they messed up our cars and had to start over.  The ladies behind the counter were clueless and they weren't very friendly either.  It took about an hour and fifteen minutes.  Which is nuts when you have a bunch of kids getting a bit restless.  I'll never rent a car from Budget again. Ever!





But eventually, we did get our cars and off we went.  We all decided to meet up at Safeway in Kapolei to pick up groceries before heading to the condo.  And then we made our way over to Ko Olina.





So yeah, we stayed at the Ko Olina Beach Villas Resort, which is just next door to Aulani.  This place turned out to be super posh, but we were especially stoked to be so close to Aulani.

Hello Aulani, we'll be seeing you soon!!!!





So this resort is private, we rented from the owners.  Which was cool.  They gave us tours of the units and showed us around before leaving us to be.  (Their actual residence is in the area just north of Aulani.  Lucky ducks!)

Not to bore you with all the photos of the interior, here are couple…













So yeah, we got all settled in and then explored the grounds a bit.  We spent a bit of the  evening down in the pool area.  Which was fantastic.  Stay tuned for more photos of the pools!

And after all that, we're now on Oahu, next door to Aulani!  And I assume that if you are on this board and reading up to this point, you are probably interested to see how out adventures on Oahu went.   Stay tuned!


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## Amw1064

Greatest trip report ever!  We went to Aulani 2 years ago and back last summer and returning this summer as well with an added 3 days on Maui.  What a great trip for your entire family.


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## alldiz

OMG this is the best trip report ever. Your photos are amazing!!! You have the most beautiful family I was actually getting teary at the beginning with the collages from all the WDW trips. I need to do that. My DD also "grew up" at WDW.
Thanks for taking the time for such a detailed review.
I am so excited for our 1st Aulani/Hawaii trip this summer so can't wait for the rest of your report.
Thanks
Kerri


----------



## flinkerfrosch

alldiz said:


> OMG this is the best trip report ever. Your photos are amazing!!! You have the most beautiful family I was actually getting teary at the beginning with the collages from all the WDW trips. I need to do that. My DD also "grew up" at WDW.
> Thanks for taking the time for such a detailed review.
> I am so excited for our 1st Aulani/Hawaii trip this summer so can't wait for the rest of your report.
> Thanks
> Kerri



I 2nd this!!!

We're coming to Hawaii this Nov for 3 weeks and also staying in Maui for 10 days and at Aulani for 11 days. Your info is so informative and helpful, thank you!! The pics, WOW!!!! I thoroughly enjoyed every min reading your review and can't wait to read more!!!

Thank you for taking the time to write this detailed, awesome review!!! 

Cheers!!


----------



## MarbleBob

Amw1064 said:


> Greatest trip report ever!  We went to Aulani 2 years ago and back last summer and returning this summer as well with an added 3 days on Maui.  What a great trip for your entire family.



Thanks!  And I bet you are stoked to be returning this summer. 



alldiz said:


> OMG this is the best trip report ever. Your photos are amazing!!! You have the most beautiful family I was actually getting teary at the beginning with the collages from all the WDW trips. I need to do that. My DD also "grew up" at WDW.
> Thanks for taking the time for such a detailed review.
> I am so excited for our 1st Aulani/Hawaii trip this summer so can't wait for the rest of your report.
> Thanks
> Kerri



Thanks!  Yeah, making those collages from time to time are fun.  You should totally do it too!    And how exciting that you are preparing for your first trip this summer.  Hopefully, I'll have some good tips for you.



flinkerfrosch said:


> I 2nd this!!!
> 
> We're coming to Hawaii this Nov for 3 weeks and also staying in Maui for 10 days and at Aulani for 11 days. Your info is so informative and helpful, thank you!! The pics, WOW!!!! I thoroughly enjoyed every min reading your review and can't wait to read more!!!
> 
> Thank you for taking the time to write this detailed, awesome review!!!
> 
> Cheers!!



Thanks!  Wow, you are totally doing it right.  That sounds amazing!


----------



## MarbleBob

*Day 8 - Saturday, June 25 - Part 1: Pearl Harbor*

The plan for today was to do Pearl Harbor in the morning and then hike up to the top of Diamond Head Crater (overlooking Waikiki Beach) in the afternoon.  We reserved our Pearl Harbor tickets a month or two in advance, so that was pretty much set in stone.  What we didn't know at the time, was that the USS Arizona Memorial was closed for refurbishment.  (You could still take the boat out, but you just couldn't get off and see it up close.) Well, that stinks… but oh well, we still wanted to go anyway.





We arrived little over an hour before our 9am reservation.





They don't let you bring in purses, camera bags, or anything like that.  But they do have an area where you can check your bags for a couple bucks each.  Princess had one of those smallish Vera Bradley backpacks and they suggested that if we stuffed Stephanie's purse inside of it, then they'd only charge us for one bag.  That's a pretty good tip, I think…





Anyway, we had plenty of time to get our bearings, use the restrooms, and tour the museum facilities.

They had a couple museum areas with exhibits.  They were all well done and kept our kids attention really well.  (I expected that they'd get bored and just want to sit on a bench somewhere, but they never did.)  I guess it helped that they had a few interactive exhibits too.









Oh, and a model of the Arizona memorial…





At about 9am, they were ready to take us out to the USS Arizona Memorial site.  First, you watched a 20 or 30 minute movie that gave you historical perspective and context for the attack.  I think that helped the kids quite a bit.

And then we all got onto the boat.  It was probably only a 10 minute ride or so out to the site.  You can see the cranes and construction equipment off to the left of the following photo…





During the whole ride, there was a local man who was present during the attack, who told his story of what he experienced that day, and what it was like for his family afterwards.  Apparently, they don't normally do this, but he was added as a "perk" to offset the fact that we couldn't actually visit the memorial site.





It was really fascinating.  He was a kid at the time, I don't recall exactly maybe 9 or 10.  His family were local farmers or something, and he was playing in the fields above the harbor with his buddies.  When they realized what was happening, they pretty much sat and watched the whole thing.  Having him describe his experiences was pretty crazy.  And then having Japanese heritage, he shared what it was like for his family after the attack.  I can't even imaging how difficult it was for them.  It was an incredible experience.  And in hindsight, I'm glad it worked out the way it did.  If I really want to, I'm sure I'll have the change to go visit the memorial itself again, but I doubt that I'd ever have the chance to hear his story first hand again.

I wish that I would have recorded the whole thing, but here's a short clip with him speaking..






So yeah, the boat took us out to the site of the USS Arizona, we circled around it, and had the chance to see the USS Missouri too.





So the US's involvement in WWII started with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and ended with the Japanese officially surrendering on the USS Missouri.  Interesting that you have the chance to explore both places on your visit.

On our way back, we passed  a table with a WWII veteran who was willing to chat with you for a few minutes.





His name was Herb Weatherwax and he was stationed at the base, but was on a weekend pass in Honolulu when the attack started.  He was recalled back to his duty station and apparently witness most of the attack as his bus headed back over Pearl Harbor.





The kids were intrigued by him and he signed their admission tickets for them…

Sad to read that Herb passed away in December at the age of 99.

Next up, we got tickets to go see the the Battleship Missouri Memorial.  It's on the other side of the harbor, on the actual base, so you board a bus at the visitors center, and they drive you over.  That was pretty cool!

The bus takes you over the bridge the in background of this next photo…









Wow, this was also a sight to see!  While so much of Pearl Harbor is about remembering the attack and honoring the fallen, this site had more of a spirit of triumph.  Lots of American flags and nostalgia.










You are free to wander around and explore the ship on your own, or you can join a tour.  We opted for the tour first.





Our tour guide was fantastic, she really knew her stuff.  And she was pretty energetic too!

She took us all around the main deck of the ship, explaining how the guns and certain things worked.  What battle was like on the ship in general.  And so on… And then she described how the Japanese officially signed the surrender documents here, and what that was like.  Strange to think that although the ship was over in Japan at the time, that we were actually standing on the exact spot that they surrendored.  Sort of surreal.





After the tour, we were free to explore.  You could go inside and see the eating areas, kitchen, living quarters, all sorts of stuff.  Buddy really enjoyed seeing all that stuff.

We grabbed a few photos up top…









Before leaving, we browsed through the gift shop for a while.  Buddy ended up getting a USS Missouri tshirt (which he still wears a lot) and Pickle got a necklace.





Next up, we were all starving and ready for lunch.  The guy at the ticket booth suggested that we try the restaurant in the aviation museum (just down the road from the Battleship Missouri Memorial and next stop on the bus.)  We didn't actually go inside the aviation museum itself, but we decided to give its restaurant a try.

Ooh.. It has a 40's theme to it.  How cool!!!!













It turned out to be perfect for our large group.  Plenty of space for use to spread out, good food, and a very fun atmosphere!  I'd recommend it if you ever visit Pearl Harbor.

Eventually, we made our way back to the main visitors center around 2pm.  We explored around for a bit longer.  (There is so much to see here.)  Here's one of the anchors for the USS Arizona.  Huge!





All in all, this turned out to be a fantastic visit.  I enjoyed it a lot more than I would have expected.  And the kids were all engaged way more than I would have expected too.  I'm so glad that we did this!!!


----------



## kdonnel

Sorry to hear about the rental car problems. We had a similar problem with Delta. My son and I have the same first and last names but different middle names. We went to checkin for a flight at the kiosk and were told we had to see an agent. 

The agent told us that since there were two people booked on the same flight with the same name, they had canceled one. 

I told them that there were two of us, we had paid for two seats, and wanted it fixed. It was at this point the gate agent told me I would need to pay a $100 name change fee for my son. I asked why, the ticket was booked in his name?  I just got blank stares and more demands to pay a $100 name change fee. 

Two supervisors later we were finally checked in but were told never to book the two of us on the same flight or it would just happen again. From that point forward I have always had to add his middle initial to the end of his first name. It causes issues with the TSA, but so far they have always understood after a short explanation.


----------



## MarbleBob

*Day 8 - Saturday, June 25 - Part 2:  Diamond Head*

Next up, we all decided to drive over to Diamond Head State Monument, which is just southeast of Waikiki.





It's essentially a giant volcanic crater.  You drive into the center of it through a tunnel, and then you can hike up to the top of the rim from the inside.  Cool!





I don't remember exactly how long the hike was, but it was pretty hot and steep.  If you decide to do this, make sure you bring a water bottle!!!

Stephanie's parent's knew that they weren't up for the steep uphill hike, so they planned to stay back and relax under a shade tree.  The younger two girls eventually decided to stay back with them.  But for the rest of us, it was onward and upward.

And boy, it was actually a bit strenuous.  I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit winded when we finally got to the top. LOL.

But oh man… the view was absolutely worth it!









I'd say we spent nearly two hours at the park in total.  Maybe 30 minutes hiking up, 20 minutes up at the top,  20 minutes back down, and another 30 minutes goofing around in the visitors area.  The kids had shave ice and we all relaxed a bit in the shade.





We eventually headed back towards the condo, leaving the crater around 4:15 PM.   We had stopped at Safeway to get most of our groceries the day before, but we wanted to stop at Costco (in Kapolei) and pick up some additional food and snacks… So we did!  We got a bunch of Hawaiian chocolate, a giant pack of Hi-Chews, fruit, fresh cookies, fresh muffins, and lots of stuff from their "ready to eat" section.  Things like a shrimp tray, tortellini pasta salad, chicken wraps, fruit, etc.  Good stuff and good prices all around.

(Oh, and I didn't mention it earlier, but throughout the trip we tried all sorts of fresh fruit.  Papaya, a few of the most amazing pineapples that you ever tasted, watermelon, strawberries, mangos, etc.  So good!)

Anyway, we loaded up with goodies and headed back to have dinner in the condo.

After dinner, I took the kids down to the pool for an hour or two.  Such a lovely evening!  (Pool pics are still to come.)  And it was nice to soak your feet in the hot tub after so much walking earlier in the day!


----------



## MarbleBob

kdonnel said:


> Sorry to hear about the rental car problems. We had a similar problem with Delta. My son and I have the same first and last names but different middle names. We went to checkin for a flight at the kiosk and were told we had to see an agent.
> 
> The agent told us that since there were two people booked on the same flight with the same name, they had canceled one.
> 
> I told them that there were two of us, we had paid for two seats, and wanted it fixed. It was at this point the gate agent told me I would need to pay a $100 name change fee for my son. I asked why, the ticket was booked in his name?  I just got blank stares and more demands to pay a $100 name change fee.
> 
> Two supervisors later we were finally checked in but were told never to book the two of us on the same flight or it would just happen again. From that point forward I have always had to add his middle initial to the end of his first name. It causes issues with the TSA, but so far they have always understood after a short explanation.



Wow, that's a crazy story about Delta! Those employees should have been empowered to cut through the red tape and resolve that for you.  I'm sure they felt bad that they were asking you to pay $100, but had to follow the rules.  I guess, that's one of the reasons that Disney is so good with customer service. They empower (and trust) their cast members to take care of their guests with minimal fuss!


----------



## melk

Awesome trip report, as usual!  You've packed so much into these two pages I can't remember all I wanted to comment on. But really, what beautiful pictures and what a great family experience.

As an aside I've been sitting here for an hour reading this so my husband asked about it and said to stop reading because he knows I'm going to want to start planning a trip to Hawaii!!!


----------



## heaven2dc

Amazing trip so far!  Love the pics and your writing style - I agree with everyone that this is by far the best TR!  

I enjoyed the perspective of the beginning part of your trip in Maui.  Were most of the beaches in Maui mostly a brown colored sand vs white or lighter color?  My son visited Maui about 4 years ago and was on the Eastward side so I can't recall what the beaches looked like.

Love your family collages - fantastic job!


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## alohamom

WOW-your report is awesome! I am loving all the details and the portraits of the whole family on Maui are amazing. I LOVE the one of the grandkids all holding hands looking out to the ocean. Man, if I were a grandparent I would go gaga over that one!!! I also really like how you guys coordinated the whites without it looking too matchy. I am also happy you provided a couple of shots of the inside of the Ko Olina Beach Club condo, I have walked past but never been inside so they were great. I also think the panoramic of the Iao needle area is fantastic, thanks for the details so far-cant wait for more!


----------



## CateinPhoenix

Wonderful trip report!  Enjoying following along


----------



## MarbleBob

melk said:


> Awesome trip report, as usual!  You've packed so much into these two pages I can't remember all I wanted to comment on. But really, what beautiful pictures and what a great family experience.
> 
> As an aside I've been sitting here for an hour reading this so my husband asked about it and said to stop reading because he knows I'm going to want to start planning a trip to Hawaii!!!



Thanks a bunch, and happy to have you back along for the ride!  That's funny about your husband's comments.  If we didn't already have our anniversary cruise and trip to Disneyland planned, I think I might be itching to plan a return trip to Hawaii right now too!!



heaven2dc said:


> Amazing trip so far!  Love the pics and your writing style - I agree with everyone that this is by far the best TR!
> 
> I enjoyed the perspective of the beginning part of your trip in Maui.  Were most of the beaches in Maui mostly a brown colored sand vs white or lighter color?  My son visited Maui about 4 years ago and was on the Eastward side so I can't recall what the beaches looked like.
> 
> Love your family collages - fantastic job!



Thanks so much for the awesome feedback.  Yeah, the beaches that we visited were pretty much that tan colored sand.  I don't really remember any white sand beaches.  And we did visit that one black sanded beach, but apparently that's an anomaly.  I think there might be a red sand beach on the island too.  But yeah, most of it was a typical tan color.



alohamom said:


> WOW-your report is awesome! I am loving all the details and the portraits of the whole family on Maui are amazing. I LOVE the one of the grandkids all holding hands looking out to the ocean. Man, if I were a grandparent I would go gaga over that one!!! I also really like how you guys coordinated the whites without it looking too matchy. I am also happy you provided a couple of shots of the inside of the Ko Olina Beach Club condo, I have walked past but never been inside so they were great. I also think the panoramic of the Iao needle area is fantastic, thanks for the details so far-cant wait for more!



And thanks for your comments too!  Yeah, we really ended up with some fantastic photos from that family shoot.  My favorite is the one of my family jumping in the air.  We only jumped once, and it seems to have been dumb luck that it ended up so symmetrical.  But yeah, that grandkids holding hands is fun too!


----------



## MarbleBob

*Day 9 - Sunday, June 26 - Part 1:  A day at Ko Olina*

The plan for today to spend the entire day in Ko Olina.  Enjoying the resort pool, the beaches/lagoons, etc.  And also exploring around Aulani a bit.

So yeah, our resort was literally next door to Aulani… maybe a five minute walk at the most.   This next photo shows the pin marker at our resort.





So, we had the lagoon directly in front of us, and also the adjacent lagoons at Aulani and the Marriott.  Since they are all very similar, we only actually swam in ours… but they are all open to the public.

After so many early and busy mornings, the kids wanted to sleep in a bit later today.  But Stephanie, her mom, and I were up and ready to explore!  (Oh, and I forgot to mention… On this leg of the vacation, we split up into two groups.  My family stayed with Stephanie's parents.  And then her brother, sister, and their families all stayed in a separate unit a few floors down.)

So we left around 8:00 AM with the goal of walking along the beach, up past Aulani, and then over to Paradise Cove Beach (which is at the very top of the photo above.)  I had read here on the DIS, that people frequently see sea turtles up in that lagoon, so we wanted to go check it out…

This next section of the report is going to be fairly photo heavy, mostly of pictures of our resort, as we headed out to the lagoons to walk along the beaches…

So from our room we take the elevator down, and upon exiting our building, you walk past a more traditional swimming pool.





And then heading towards the beach, they have a path that sort of winds its way through a water garden area and then into the larger pool.

















And eventually, you make your way to the pools…  (I say pools, but it was one giant pool consisting of a bunch of smaller pools that were all interconnected.)









I loved all these lounge chairs that were basically at water level.  So cool!









Hot tub in the foreground…





And a pebble beach kids pool just behind it!





And all along the way, they had the most beautiful landscaping and flowers!  Here are a few of those too…

























And eventually… we made it to the lagoons.  Here are a couple photos of the lagoon in front of our resort.

That's the Marriott off in the distance…


----------



## MarbleBob

*Day 9 - Sunday, June 26 - Part 2:  An Aulani Teaser*

Once we made it to the lagoon, we took a right and started heading north towards Aulani.  Lots of peole were out for their morning walks.  It was quite pleasant!

So we came up to Aulani's lagoon and enjoyed walking around it…





We had decided to go check out the Paradise Cove Beach first, so the plan was to walk past Aulini, up through the front of the Four Seasons, and then over to the "secret entrance" to Paradise Cove through a parking lot…





And looking back towards our resort from the north side of Aulani's lagoon…









OK… This is cool!  If it wasn't such a long walk from our room, it would have been fun to bring all our beach gear here and spend a few hours swimming.









You could walk out onto the barrier rocks and get right up to the open ocean… Although the water is pretty rough (and the rocks even more so), so you'd be smart to swim on the lagoon side…





This was indeed a special spot.  Really nice and secluded...   But we didn’t see any of those turtles that I had read about.   Maybe we just had bad timing.

As cool as this place was, we were ready to go spend some time exploring Aulani…  So we headed along the sidewalk, up to Aulani's front entrance.   And.. OK.. We gotta stop for a photo!





So… I took quite a few photos, but I'll keep this to mostly a teaser.  (And go crazy later.... saving the rest for our official arrival.)   But walking in the main entrance was pretty epic!





And heading straight through the lobby looking out into the pool area..





Hey look, Mickey is down there!!!!!!!!!!





After exploring the lobby for a while, we decided to head downstairs so that we could go check out the pool areas.

On the way, we noticed several hiding menehune.  How cool!





Oh man, and I thought the pools next door were awesome!  These were off the charts!!!













After a half hour or so of exploring, we decided to head back and see if the kids were ready to head down to the beach.  First impressions of Aulani?  Uhmm... this is going to be great!!!

And oh yeah, between the resorts, there is a wedding chapel.  A couple had obviously just gotten married and were getting photos made as we walked by.  Congratulations!!!!


----------



## MarbleBob

CateinPhoenix said:


> Wonderful trip report!  Enjoying following along



Thank you so much.  Happy to have you following along!!!


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## MarbleBob

*Day 9 - Sunday, June 26 - Part 3:  Beach Time!*

We arrived back at our room around 10am and the kids were just beginning to stir.  We fed them a late breakfast, and everyone got ready to head down the to beach.   We spent a couple hours in the lagoon, came back up to the condo for a late lunch, and then spent the better part of the afternoon swimming in the pools.

























So yeah, a lot of fun in the sun today.  These pictures can't even begin to do it justice.  The air was so fresh and pure.  Sun everywhere.  Blue skies.  A great breeze.  Occasionally, you'd watch one of those pretty Hawaiian airlines planes approach from the west towards Honolulu.  Just great!

For dinner, we decided to order carry out from the Pizza Corner, which is basically across the street from Aulani.  I didn't get any photos of the pizza, but it was actually quite enjoyable.  And it was reasonably priced.  Not the best pizza ever, but definitely a big step up from a typical chain pizza place.





After dinner, we watched the sunset from the patio.  And then then we all just relaxed inside.  With Buddy and Pickle watching more silly Disney Channel shows!


----------



## sbeets

I want more!!!! I may follow your trip advice for our next family adventure


----------



## alohamom

The loungers are gorgeous! I have seen them in pools at a couple of Mexican resorts but they are usually made of concrete or something like that. They are so graceful...


----------



## Amw1064

Still loving your trip report.  I think you missed the turtles at the Paradise Cove beach because you were there to early.  We have never seen them out before 11-12:00 but we have been fortunate to see them every time we have walked over.  I have to ask, what kind of camera are you using?  I have a nice Nikon that I bring everywhere but I prefer not bringing it in the water.


----------



## MarbleBob

sbeets said:


> I want more!!!! I may follow your trip advice for our next family adventure



How cool!  Stay tuned, I'll probably have a couple more updates today...



alohamom said:


> The loungers are gorgeous! I have seen them in pools at a couple of Mexican resorts but they are usually made of concrete or something like that. They are so graceful...



Yeah, they sort of look like leaves floating on the water.  They were actually comfy too!



Amw1064 said:


> Still loving your trip report.  I think you missed the turtles at the Paradise Cove beach because you were there to early.  We have never seen them out before 11-12:00 but we have been fortunate to see them every time we have walked over.  I have to ask, what kind of camera are you using?  I have a nice Nikon that I bring everywhere but I prefer not bringing it in the water.



Thanks for the note on the turtles.  If we ever go back, we'll have to try for later in the day 

The photos from this trip report are coming from four different cameras, but mostly an Olympus Pen E-P3.  It's a smallish (micro 4/3) interchangeable lens camera.  I've had it for a little over five years now.  Starting to show its age, but it still takes decent photos.  And then there'll be a bunch of photos from our phones.  I had an iPhone 6 at the time, and Stephanie took a bunch of photos on her 6 plus.  Finally, most of the photos in the water were from a GoPro Session 4.  (The little cube in the bottom right of the photo.)  It's super small and convenient.  I mostly used it for video, but I took a fair amount of still photos too...


----------



## MarbleBob

*Day 10 - Monday, June 27 - Part 1: LeSportsac, Waikiki Beach, and the Disney Store*

The plan for the day was to head to Waikiki Beach for the morning and then do some shopping in downtown Honolulu in the afternoon.

Not sure if any of you ladies are fans of LeSportsac bags or not… But ever since they did all those the Mary Blair It's a Small World bags a few years ago, Stephanie has become a HUGE LeSportsac fan!













So, when she learned that they had an outlet store not too far from Aulani, it was a no brainer that we make a stop there one of our excursions.  The timing worked today, so we stopped at the Waikele Premium Outlets first…









And Stephanie was in heaven.  Everything was at least 30% off.  And they had some cool Hawaiian prints, and some of the shapes that were exclusive to Hawaii.













The lady in the shop was super friendly and helpful.  Just like the Vera Bradley and Dooney Disney bags, the placement of the print varies from bag to bag... and people agonize on which one to pick out.  The lady was super helpful as Stephanie tried to pick out her favorite.

And at that point, Pickle decided that she wanted to use some of her birthday money on her own bag too.  How cute!

(And I love that Stephanie still uses this as her primary purse these days.  Makes me happy every time I see it.  Now that's a souvenir!)





So there was a Vans outlet store in the same mall, so we decided to visit that shop too.









If you know me, as a skateboarder, I have a soft spot for Vans shoes.  Those are what I skate with, but I have a few pairs of the Disney and Star Wars collaborations too.  So as much as Stephanie is into LeSportsac, I'm just as into Vans.  LOL.  They had some Hawiian exclusive t-shirts on sale… three for about $20.  Crazy good deal.  So we got a few shirts and I got a cool hat designed by Yusuke Hanai.  I LOVE his artwork!





And being bald, you can never have too many hats!!!

By the time we made it to Waikiki, it was about 11:30 AM.





We actually stopped at the far south end of the beach, as we found a great parking spot!





We spent a couple hours swimming and enjoying the sun!  Oh, and the condo had some boogie boards, so we brought them too.  Probably spent most of the time riding the waves.

















There was a nice green park area between the beach and the parking section.  So pretty!





We brought a picnic lunch and ate right there on the beach.  Lovely!

Our parking spot had a two hour max, around 1:30 PM, we  had to decide whether to re-up it, or move on.  My immediate family was ready to move on (we had more shopping to do), so we parted ways with everyone else...

The other thing we wanted to do was to visit the Disney Store in at the Ala Moana Center (giant shopping mall in Honolulu.)  So we headed there next!





This place was HUGE!!!  We passed another LeSportsac store (non-outlet) and we spent a fair amount of time in there too!





And eventually, we made it over to the Disney store.  We are still suckers for Disney Stores, but even Pickle has essentially outgrown their primary target audience.  Still fun to browse around though!













They had some cool Hawaiian exclusives, but ultimately, we didn't buy anything.  (Saving our fun money for Aulani!)













Buddy and I finished browsing well before the girls, so we went and sat outside the store.  I struck up a conversation with an older Asian gentleman, and he said that they had just come from the new Japanese food court.  Hugh?  Yeah, it's a giant food court filled with Japanese food…

Oh, we are so going to go check that out!

We had recently eaten lunch, so we just explored…  This next video is unedited.  I just had the camcorder on for a few minutes while we walked around.  But it'll give you an idea of how special/unique this place is.  Oh, it was called, Shirokiya Japan Village Walk.   Very cool!!!!






We stopped a few random stores as we walked through the mall.  A Swatch watch store, Louis Vuitton, etc.  (Princess was in heaven at Louis Vuitton.  Way too pricey for our budget, but fun to look anyway.)

The other goal for the mall, was to visit the Japanese grocery store, Nijiya, way down at the far corner of the property.  Pretty much everyone in our family loves Japanese treats.  We loaded up, I tell you.  All kinds of chocolates and hard candies.  And a few other snacks/goodies too.  I bet we spent $75 on candy between the five of us.  We brought most of it back home, in case you wondered if we gorged on candy.  LOL.  At this point, we were ready for snacks, so we all picked out something and enjoyed them in their little eating area.

I got this ice cream thingy.. Ice cream covered in chocolate, covered in a waffle.





Oh man, it was out of this world.  Crazy good!





Princess had the same thing but in a green tea version…  She LOVES matcha flavored things!





Other than ramune sodas, I don’t recall what everyone had.  I was too absorbed in my own little piece of ice cream heaven…


----------



## MarbleBob

*Day 10 - Monday, June 27 - Part 2: More Shopping*

After we finished enjoying our snacks, we decided to make our way back to the car…  with a couple more stops on the way.

First, we stopped at the Sanrio store. 





They had some cool Hawaiian exclusives too!









Pickle ended up getting a couple small souvenirs to take back to her friends…





They had a Hawaiian exclusive pressed penny machine too!





We stopped at a couple toy stores.  Pickle thought it was pretty funny that they had poop emoji pens for sale. LOL.





And finally, we spent a good amount of time at the Vans store.  They had just released the Nintendo collaborations, so we had fun checking all that stuff out…





Eventually, we made it back to the car and started heading back home.  But, we stopped at another small shopping center on the way out of Honolulu.  There was a Japanese stationary store that Princess wanted to visit too…





This place was heaven for a teenage girl who is all into cute Japanese kawaii stuff.





She picked up a few small goodies, and we were finally on our way back to Ko Olina…

At this point it was dinner time, so we decided to stop to eat as we passed through Kapolei.  After missing out on the Japanese food at the food court, we decided to have sushi for dinner…  Except for when we arrived at our first choice, it was going to be over an hour before they could seat us.  We didn't feel like waiting, so we Yelped again and found sushi place #2, just down the road.  Foiled!  They had an hour wait too.  We decided that we'd just come back to the first place tomorrow as soon as they open for lunch, and cop out with Panda Express tonight.  (Panda was in the same shopping center as the second sushi joint.)

Not much to say about Panda.  It is what it is.  Except for it was a beautiful evening and they had outside seating, so it was actually quite enjoyable.

After dinner, we headed back to the resort.  I don't recall exactly what we did for the rest of the evening, but I'm pretty sure it involved watching Disney Channel and swimming at the pool!


----------



## MarbleBob

*Day 11 - Tuesday, June 28  - Part 1: Sushi Bay*

We had previously purchased tickets for the Kualoa Ranch Jungle Expedition, with our tour scheduled to start at 1pm.  So we worked the day around that.  The goal was to go back to Sushi Bay restaurant, and be there when they opened at 10:30 AM for an early lunch.  And then drive over to the eastern shore for the expedition, and after that, spend the rest of the afternoon exploring that eastern area…

If you are familiar with Oahau, I'm sure that you are already familiar with Kualoa Ranch.  But if not, it's this amazingly lush valley on the eastern shore.  A ton of movies and TV shows were filmed here.  The Jurrassic Park movies and the Lost TV show are probably the most famous.  They have all sorts of activities at the ranch, but I think the tours are the most popular.  They have two options.  One that takes you more into the valley and focuses on the movie sites.  And the other takes you along the outside of the valley and focuses more on the landscape and history (but you do get to see some movie stuff too.)   So… My sister and her family visited Oahu the summer before, and they thought that this Jungle Expedition was one of their absolute highlights of the trip.   Not wanting to miss out, we took her recommendation and and it didn't dissapoint.

But before we headed to the ranch, we stopped for an early lunch at Sushi Bay in Kapolei. 









This place has great reviews on Yelp, and after eating here, I can see why.   It was really good, but the price was outstanding.  I guess conveyor belt sushi places can be hit or miss, but since we got there right when they opened everything was freshly made.  (And good thing we got there early too.  We snagged the last open table before the waiting game began.)    Beside the conveyor belt, you can order anything they make off the menu (if you prefer to avoid the conveyor), and they have some things that you can only get on the menu.  We did a bit of both.

Also, you pay by the plate.  With each plate color having a different price.

















Tempura mushrooms… amazing!









Buddy doesn't really enjoy sushi very much, but he loves udon noodles and beef don.  He was stoked on this!  I was too, because he couldn't eat it all… and I helped.  LOL.









Everything was really good.  Possibly not for serious sushi snobs, but certainly better than average sushi, and the value was unbelievable!  Not counting the tip, it was like $45 for all five us to get stuffed.  (Without knowing the prices before hand, I expected the meal to cost at least twice that.)   This is probably why it's so busy/crowded.  And totally full of locals.  I would come back here again without hesitation! (Multiple times.)  Oh, and friendly service too


----------



## MarbleBob

*Day 11 - Tuesday, June 28  - Part 2: Kualoa Ranch*

Next up was the drive to Kualoa Ranch…  It's about an hour from Ko Olina, so probably 45 minutes from the sushi restaurant.





You have to drive through a mountain pass to there.  It sure was beautiful!









We arrived about 30 or 40 minutes before our tour started, so we had plenty of time to explore the grounds.





This map gives you a good idea of the size of the place.  The main valley stuff… there the big open fields for Lost and Jurrasic Park were filmed is off to the right.  And our tour was going to be off to the left side of the main valley ridge.





They had stables and stuff for horse rides.  Not sure what this statue was doing here, but Pickle sure got a kick out of it.





So yeah, the large valley was on the other side of this ridge, we'd be staying on its left side.





And they loaded our tour group into three of these truck thingies.









We lucked out and had the most adventurous of the three drivers.  He was pretty wild.  If you didn't know any better, you might of thought that Mr. Toad was driving!





It was probably a 45 minute to an hour tour.  Winding through off road trails up in the hills.  There were a couple of initial stops where they explained about some of the ancient Hawaiian culture.





And looking off to the left… Holy Cow!!!





Of everything we saw in all of Maui and Oahu, I think this eastern side of Oahu was the most impressive.  Just wow!

I think they called that island, "China Man's Hat" or something like that.





Anyway, we snaked our way up the valley wall, stopping at a cultural site.









They shared some of the rituals that the natives would have done at a site like this.  Really interesting!





We hopped back on our trucks and snaked further up the valley wall.  Looking out to sea, they pointed out these old man made fishing lagoons.  Apparently, these were made by hand… centuries ago.





Hmm… well this seems odd out in the middle of the jungle…





Turns out that we were driving into a set from Jurassic World.  Cool!!!





Amazing what a bit of movie magic can do for something like this!  Look at those claw marks!









A little further into the jungle, we passed another movie set.  It was under wraps because the movie hadn't been released yet.  But you could see a few things like this propeller...  It looks like it was embedded into the tree, but it was actually cut to shape and attached with wires.





I'm pretty sure, this was a helicopter under the tarps…





They were technically forbidden from sharing the name of the movie, but apparently he could get away with telling us that it rhymed with "Ping Pong."  I think Kong came out on DVD recently, I guess we need to see it, just to see if we can see this spot in the movie…

Moving on, futher up the valley wall…









This was pretty much as far up as we went.  And now time for the roller coaster ride.  I love thrill rides, but I have to admit that I was getting a little nervous with Mr. Toad up in the front.   It felt borderline reckless at a few points.  LOL.

Coming back towards the visitor center, we passed through a herd of cows.  That was unexpected.





Back at the ranch, they had a petting zoo.  There was not a chance that Pickle was going to let us just pass this by!

























We checked out the animals for a while and decided to move on.  So what did we think of the excursion?  It was pretty awesome, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.  Though, I wonder if we would have enjoyed the movie side better?  Regardless, looking out to sea from this ridge was non-stop breathtaking all the way.  

Like I said before, this was my favorite coast of all of Maui and Oahu.  Sooooo beautiful!


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## MarbleBob

*Day 11 - Tuesday, June 28  - Part 3: The Byodo-In Temple*

After the jungle tour, we decided that we had plenty of time to go visit the Byodo-In Temple… and even enough time to spare for a stop at the beach.

We didn't get out and swim or anything, but we did explore along the beachfront for a little while…













And then we headed back south towards the temple…





Instead of trying to paraphrase what this place is, I'll just quote from Wikipedia:

_The Byodo-In (平等院?) Temple is a non-denominational temple located on the island of O'ahu in Hawai'i at the Valley of the Temples. It was dedicated in August 1968 to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaii. The temple is a replica of a 900-year-old Buddhist temple at Uji in Kyoto prefecture of Japan. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a functioning Buddhist temple in the proper sense as it does not host a resident monastic community nor an active congregation. Inside the Byodo-In Temple is a 18 ft (5.5 m) statue of the Lotus Buddha, a wooden image depicting Amitabha. It is covered in gold and lacquer. Outside is a three-ton, brass peace bell. Surrounding the temple are large koi ponds that cover a total of two acres (8,000 m²). Around those ponds are lush Japanese gardens set against a backdrop of towering cliffs of the Ko'olau mountains. The gardens are home to sparrows and peacocks. The temple covers 11,000 sq ft (1,000 m2)._​
If you ever watched the Lost TV show, and you remember the scenes early on when Sun and Jin were back in Korea, at Sun's father's house.  Those scenes were filmed here.  Remembering how beautiful that was, we thought it would be fun to come here and see it first hand.

It's actually located in the back of a large cemetery.  An amazingly beautiful cemetery! Here's a photo looking back towards the cemetery from the entrance to the temple.





They charge admission in that little hut, but it was just a couple bucks each.  And totally worth it!





I'm not too familiar with Buddhist culture, so some of the rituals were lost on me.  But it was amazingly beautiful, calm, and peaceful.





The peace bell was super cool.  People would come up from time to time and ring it.  A very deep and resonating sound would come out.





Lots and lots of water features in all the nooks and crannies.  The sound of trickling water everywhere really adds to the ambiance.













Even the cats were peaceful!





I guess this giant statue (of the Lotus Buddha) inside the center of the temple is the main attraction.  He had all sorts of incense sticks burning and offerings around him.  Not wanting to disturb anyone or commit any faux pas, we took off our shoes, walked up to see up close for a second, and then we moved on…









They had a gift shop with a pressed penny machine, and the kids chose to do press a couple.





You could also purchase some fish food pellets inside the gift shop.  Buddy and Pickle each purchased little baggies full of the food, and then had a lot of fun feeding the koi.





Hi turtle!









What an amazing place!  And I'm so glad we hopped out of our comfort zone and decided to visit the temple!  If you are ever on the eastern shore, I'd highly recommend checking this place out.  I think we spent about 45 minutes total here, and that was plenty.

Around 4:30 PM, we decided to head back to Ko Olina.  Oh, I forgot to mention earlier, but the traffic through Honolulu to at least Kapolei is crazy busy during rush hour.  So we decided to get a move on, knowing that it would probably take 50% longer to get back to the condo than it did to get here.

Funny, the rest of the evening is sort of a blur for us.  Pickle was getting hangry on the way back, so we pulled off in Kapolei and got her a kids meal at KFC.  Which is strange, because we pracitcally never eat there at home.  What's even more strange, is that I don’t think Buddy or Princess got anything.  I think we then went back to the condo and had left over pizza from the other night and some of the Costco food.

I do remember that we did come back to Wal-Mart in Kapolei later that evening.  We heard that they had cheap souvenirs, so we decided to go check it out.  I remember waiting in the check out line, but for the life of me, I can't remember what we purchased. LOL.


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## alohamom

We love "Sushi Bay Kapolei". That is what both my kids call it because of the rhyming. 
I think you guys got to see some of the set stuff from the NEW King Kong movie that comes out next month called Kong:Skull Island with Tom Hiddleston as some of it was filmed at Kualoa.


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## MarbleBob

alohamom said:


> We love "Sushi Bay Kapolei". That is what both my kids call it because of the rhyming.
> I think you guys got to see some of the set stuff from the NEW King Kong movie that comes out next month called Kong:Skull Island with Tom Hiddleston as some of it was filmed at Kualoa.



I think you are right about the Kong movie!  For some reason, I thought I had recently seen an advertisement for it coming out on DVD soon, but I guess it was for the movie theaters.


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## scrappydew

I am totally loving your trip report!  We just missed each other at Aulani, we were there in early June.   We celebrated our 20th anniversary by going to Hawaii and California with the kids.  

I would move to Hawaii in a heartbeat!  Looking forward to reading more about your wonderful family.


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## disnygirl55

Great trip report - I'm loving it, and making some additional "must-do" notes in my planning for next month - can't wait to read more!


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## flinkerfrosch

MarbleBob said:


> Thanks!  And I bet you are stoked to be returning this summer.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks!  Yeah, making those collages from time to time are fun.  You should totally do it too!    And how exciting that you are preparing for your first trip this summer.  Hopefully, I'll have some good tips for you.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks!  Wow, you are totally doing it right.  That sounds amazing!




Thanks! Really loving your trip report. I keep checking to see if you've added more.
Your pics are so beautiful along with your family. You guys really did a lot!!!


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## WildGinger

Loving your trip report!  Making some notes for our trip next April!


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## MarbleBob

scrappydew said:


> I am totally loving your trip report!  We just missed each other at Aulani, we were there in early June.   We celebrated our 20th anniversary by going to Hawaii and California with the kids.
> 
> I would move to Hawaii in a heartbeat!  Looking forward to reading more about your wonderful family.



Thanks!  Happy belated 20th.  Stephanie and I will be celebrating our 20th this year.  How time flies!



disnygirl55 said:


> Great trip report - I'm loving it, and making some additional "must-do" notes in my planning for next month - can't wait to read more!



Awesome!  I'm glad you are finding it helpful for you must do list!  The problem is... there are just too many must do's!!!



flinkerfrosch said:


> Thanks! Really loving your trip report. I keep checking to see if you've added more.
> Your pics are so beautiful along with your family. You guys really did a lot!!!



Thanks!  Stay tuned, I'll have another post up here in a few minutes 



WildGinger said:


> Loving your trip report!  Making some notes for our trip next April!



Cool!  I hope you have an amazing trip in April.  That's just around the corner!


----------



## flinkerfrosch

Yay! Can't wait to read more!!!


----------



## MarbleBob

*Day 12 - Wednesday, June 29 - Part 1: The North Shore*

Wow… this TR is moving along at full steam now... We've made it to our last full day based at the Ko Olina Villas Resort.  

The plan for today was to go up and explore the north shore.  We hoped to see Turtle Beach, stop at one of the shrimp trucks, try Matsumoto's Shave Ice, and just enjoy driving along the north shore.  And we planned to stop by the Dole Plantation on the way back.





We decided to stop at Turtle Beach first.  (Technically, it's called Laniakea Beach, but everyone seems to call it Turtle Beach.)  We parked along the side of the road, crossed the street, and low and behold, there were indeed a bunch of big turtles on the beach!!!!





How cool!!!!





There were some people out snorkeling and stuff, but most people admired them from the beach….













They had a lady on duty who shared all sorts of information about the turtles.  She even knew them all by name.  And she was very diligent to remind people to keep their distance.   We probably spent about 20 minutes or so watching, and then decided to move on.

We slowly drove up the North Shore… it was way more flat and steady than I expected.  Funny, everyone always talks about driving up the North Shore, but I think this was easily the least interesting drive of the entire trip.  Probably amazing by any other standards, but after seeing so many other breathtaking shores across Maui and Oahu, this felt sort of ho hum.  I guess if we had visited during big wave season, then watching the surfers would have made it more interesting.

Eventually, we made our way to Giovanni's Shrimp Truck.









I love seafood, and to be honest, I was looking forward to trying this the whole trip.  Garlicky shrimp scampi? Yes, PLEASE!!!!





Stephanie, Princess, and I each had the shrimp scampi.  Unfortunately, it was a bit of a let down.  Certainly enjoyable (I mean, I'd love to be eating some right now), but it didn't live up to the hype.  I'd probably try one of their competitors next time.

Pickle went for the lemon shrimp, but it wasn't as good as the scampi...





Those things were super messy!  Good thing they had an outside station to wash your hands!!!

What about Buddy?  He doesn't like shrimp.  They had some other food trucks and flea market stuff in the same area, so he decided to explore a bit.  We found a dude who literally looked like Maui from the Moana movie.  Seriously… he was big like that, same hair, and similar tattoos all over his body.    Anyway, he had a little grill area and he was selling burgers, chicken and stuff.  Buddy decided to get a burger from him.  We chatted the whole time.  Super nice and interesting guy!  He was actually a fire twirler (or whatever you call them) by night, and did this to make a little extra money on the side.  He had some great stories.  Too bad that Buddy found the burger to be disgusting.  The guy was so friendly, that Buddy didn't have the heart to toss it in the trash.  So he ate it as if he was company at someone's house.  LOL.  Poor guy.  (At least he didn't get sick like at that fish place on Maui.)

We decided to head back south from here… Still wanting to try Matsumoto's Shave Ice.

We stopped a few times to get out and walk along the beach, but we never got in the water…









Eventually, we made our way back to through Haleiwa for Matsumoto Shave Ice.





I think this might be the most famous shave ice place on the islands, so we were stoked to try it!  It was in a little shopping village….





Next door to a T&C Surf Designs shop.  Remember those t-shirts from the 80's?  (I do. And the Nintendo game too!)





Anyway…  There was a bit of a line, but it really wasn't too bad.  It probably only took about 10 minutes to get through.









(I ended up getting a t-shirt with that Mastumoto's design on it.  It sort of has a fun 70's/80's vibe to it.  I love wearing it!)





So yeah, this place was a bit more upscale than Ululani's in Kihei.  I wonder how it'll compare?

This one was mine.  Ramune, peach, and passion fruit.





Buddy had sour apple, lemonade, and lemon.





Pickle had cotton candy and watermelon.





Princess had ramune with azuki beans, ice cream, and mochi!





Wow, that's a tower!





And Stephanie, had lime, guava, and cotton candy… with ice cream on the bottom.





How was it?  Well compared to any snow cone you've ever had on the mainland, it was awesome.  But we liked Ululani's a bit better.  The ice itself had a more light and airy texture at Ululani's.  The syrups were probably equally awesome though.

We browsed around in their gift shop for a while.  I picked up that shirt, and we got a couple other knickknacks too.  Fun!

If you want to watch, here's a quick clip of everyone describing what they got...


----------



## flinkerfrosch

MarbleBob said:


> *Day 12 - Wednesday, June 29 - Part 1: The North Shore*
> 
> Wow… this TR is moving along at full steam now... We've made it to our last full day based at the Ko Olina Villas Resort.
> 
> The plan for today was to go up and explore the north shore.  We hoped to see Turtle Beach, stop at one of the shrimp trucks, try Matsumoto's Shave Ice, and just enjoy driving along the north shore.  And we planned to stop by the Dole Plantation on the way back.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We decided to stop at Turtle Beach first.  (Technically, it's called Laniakea Beach, but everyone seems to call it Turtle Beach.)  We parked along the side of the road, crossed the street, and low and behold, there were indeed a bunch of big turtles on the beach!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How cool!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There were some people out snorkeling and stuff, but most people admired them from the beach….
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They had a lady on duty who shared all sorts of information about the turtles.  She even knew them all by name.  And she was very diligent to remind people to keep their distance.   We probably spent about 20 minutes or so watching, and then decided to move on.
> 
> We slowly drove up the North Shore… it was way more flat and steady than I expected.  Funny, everyone always talks about driving up the North Shore, but I think this was easily the least interesting drive of the entire trip.  Probably amazing by any other standards, but after seeing so many other breathtaking shores across Maui and Oahu, this felt sort of ho hum.  I guess if we had visited during big wave season, then watching the surfers would have made it more interesting.
> 
> Eventually, we made our way to Giovanni's Shrimp Truck.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I love seafood, and to be honest, I was looking forward to trying this the whole trip.  Garlicky shrimp scampi? Yes, PLEASE!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stephanie, Princess, and I each had the shrimp scampi.  Unfortunately, it was a bit of a let down.  Certainly enjoyable (I mean, I'd love to be eating some right now), but it didn't live up to the hype.  I'd probably try one of their competitors next time.
> 
> Pickle went for the lemon shrimp, but it wasn't as good as the scampi...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Those things were super messy!  Good thing they had an outside station to wash your hands!!!
> 
> What about Buddy?  He doesn't like shrimp.  They had some other food trucks and flea market stuff in the same area, so he decided to explore a bit.  We found a dude who literally looked like Maui from the Moana movie.  Seriously… he was big like that, same hair, and similar tattoos all over his body.    Anyway, he had a little grill area and he was selling burgers, chicken and stuff.  Buddy decided to get a burger from him.  We chatted the whole time.  Super nice and interesting guy!  He was actually a fire twirler (or whatever you call them) by night, and did this to make a little extra money on the side.  He had some great stories.  Too bad that Buddy found the burger to be disgusting.  The guy was so friendly, that Buddy didn't have the heart to toss it in the trash.  So he ate it as if he was company at someone's house.  LOL.  Poor guy.  (At least he didn't get sick like at that fish place on Maui.)
> 
> We decided to head back south from here… Still wanting to try Matsumoto's Shave Ice.
> 
> We stopped a few times to get out and walk along the beach, but we never got in the water…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Eventually, we made our way back to through Haleiwa for Matsumoto Shave Ice.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think this might be the most famous shave ice place on the islands, so we were stoked to try it!  It was in a little shopping village….
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next door to a T&C Surf Designs shop.  Remember those t-shirts from the 80's?  (I do. And the Nintendo game too!)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Anyway…  There was a bit of a line, but it really wasn't too bad.  It probably only took about 10 minutes to get through.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (I ended up getting a t-shirt with that Mastumoto's design on it.  It sort of has a fun 70's/80's vibe to it.  I love wearing it!)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So yeah, this place was a bit more upscale than Ululani's in Kihei.  I wonder how it'll compare?
> 
> This one was mine.  Ramune, peach, and passion fruit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Buddy had sour apple, lemonade, and lemon.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pickle had cotton candy and watermelon.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Princess had ramune with azuki beans, ice cream, and mochi!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, that's a tower!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And Stephanie, had lime, guava, and cotton candy… with ice cream on the bottom.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How was it?  Well compared to any snow cone you've ever had on the mainland, it was awesome.  But we liked Ululani's a bit better.  The ice itself had a more light and airy texture at Ululani's.  The syrups were probably equally awesome though.
> 
> We browsed around in their gift shop for a while.  I picked up that shirt, and we got a couple other knickknacks too.  Fun!
> 
> If you want to watch, here's a quick clip of everyone describing what they got...



So happy to read more!! 

We will be going end of Nov into Dec, so I'm going to assume we will get to see some huge waves and surfers.

The beaches were beautiful and the turtles were so cool!! 

Oh those shrimp!? I'm a HUGE seafood fan!! Yummy!!!!! 

I can't wait to try to shave ice in both Maui and Ohau! I was drooling watching that video lol 

Did you find the drive long?

Could you have kept going or did you turn around once their wasn't much left to see??

I'm curious to see how you enjoyed the Dole Plantation. We plan on stopping their first and working our way up...

Thanks again!


----------



## MarbleBob

flinkerfrosch said:


> So happy to read more!!
> 
> We will be going end of Nov into Dec, so I'm going to assume we will get to see some huge waves and surfers.
> 
> The beaches were beautiful and the turtles were so cool!!
> 
> Oh those shrimp!? I'm a HUGE seafood fan!! Yummy!!!!!
> 
> I can't wait to try to shave ice in both Maui and Ohau! I was drooling watching that video lol
> 
> Did you find the drive long?
> 
> Could you have kept going or did you turn around once their wasn't much left to see??
> 
> I'm curious to see how you enjoyed the Dole Plantation. We plan on stopping their first and working our way up...
> 
> Thanks again!



Ooh!  You are lucky to be going during the big wave season.  That should be pretty awesome!

No, the drive wasn't long at all. (Nothing like the road to Hana.)  It's probably an hour to an hour and a half to drive up to the northernmost tip.  And then factor in how many times you want to stop and get out.

Yes, we could have kept going.  In reality, we weren't all that far from the Kualoa Ranch if we had kept on driving.  But we knew that we wanted to head back to Matsumoto's and the Dole Plantation, so we figured that we'd had gone far enough at the time.

Stay tuned for the Dole Plantation.  And I think your plan of stopping there first is better than our of stopping on the way back.  Probably less crowded in the morning.


----------



## MarbleBob

*Day 12 - Wednesday, June 29 - Part 2: Dole Plantation*

After we finished at Matsumoto's, we decided to drive through town and just explore a bit.  On a whim, we decided to just turn down some random roads… to see what we'd find.  Somehow, we ended up at this cool beach park…

The older kids were over it by now and just wanted to chill in the car, but Stephanie, Pickle, and I decided to get out for a walk.









It sure was a pretty beach!

It was now probably about 2:30 PM, and we decided to head over to the Dole Plantation next.

It was cool to see all the pineapple fields along the road!





And eventually we made it!





The parking lot was packed.  We literally had to drive around for a few minutes to find a single empty space!





When you first go inside, you enter through a giant gift shop.  We probably spent a good 30 minutes looking at everything!  Lots of pineapple themed treats, and then all the clothes and touristy souvenir stuff.  It was actually a lot of fun to browse through...













I ended up getting my second t-shirt of the day here too 

We made our way towards the back of the building.  And we were sort of in a dilemma.  We were still full from Mastumoto's...  Do we want to get Dole Whips too?  Nostolgia got the best of us, and we decided to go ahead.  How often do you get to have a Dole Whip at the Dole plantation?!?!?  Except for when we got back there.  The line was so ridiculously long, it wasn't even funny.  It would have probably taken an hour to get through it. (They were pretty pricey too.) Umm…  They have Dole Whips at Aulani.  We'll just have to get some there!

We explored outside a bit.  We considered doing the train and the maze, but the place was packed and everyone was getting tired, so we decided to explore for a few minutes and move on.

















So yeah, although the place was really cool, I did sort of feel a bit let down by it.  It's totally worth a pit stop on your way up to the north shore, but I'm glad we didn't go out of our way to come here, or plan a day around it.  All in all, we spent about 45 minutes here, and that felt sufficient.  (Obviously, if you planned to do some of the paid attractions or wait in that long Dole Whip line, you could easily spend a couple hours here.)

It was about 3:30 PM when we left.  I guess getting ahead of the traffic was part of the motivation for moving on too.

We ended up back in Ko Olina around 4:00 PM.   We had pretty much eaten all of our meal food at the condo, so we stopped for a cheap dinner at the Pizza Corner again.  We ate at the restaurant this time.





Stephanie and I both got the $5 special.





The kids decided to split a traditional pepperoni pizza.

Oh, and there was a children's clothing/toy store next door, so Pickle and I explored that while the pizza was being cooked.  (She loves mermaids, and had fun looking at all the dolls.)





And a few minutes later, the food was ready.  And oh yeah, Stephanie and I got these garlic knots.  Delicious!!!





(Just in case I didn't get enough garlic at the shrimp truck.  Hahaha!)





Yum!  (Except that I'm not too big on black olives.)





After dinner, we headed back up to the resort.  Stephanie wanted to start packing and getting organized.  Our plan was to get over to Aulani early in the morning, and we didn't want to waste too much time packing before we headed over.  I married a smart woman!

I went down to the pool to take some more photos of the resort.  (I actually shared most of these photos earlier in the trip report.)

I did come across some of the family down at the pool.  They wanted to spend their last day in Hawaii relaxing at the resort.  And I couldn't blame them.  That was our plan for the next three days at Aulani!





I did walk out past our lagoon to get a few more pictures of Aulani from a distance…





So pretty!





I came back to the room around 6pm.  It turns out that the rest of the family wanted to go out to dinner as a group one last time.  We had already eaten, but oh well, what are you going to do?   Tag along and make the most of it.

Interestingly, they chose the Outback Steakhouse.  I mean it was nice and all, but I can't imagine wanting that to be my last meal in Hawaii.  Regardless, we had fun as a group sharing stories from our individual adventures on the trip.  And the kids had a second dinner care of Grandpa. Haha!  I was suckered in by some green melon margarita thingy that looked amazing on the menu, but tasted like cough syrup. Blech! 

Eventually, we all headed back to the condos to finish packing and relax a bit more before heading to bed.  And while everyone else had the last day blues, we were excited to finally arrive at Aulani tomorrow.  Yahoo!!!


----------



## flinkerfrosch

MarbleBob said:


> Ooh!  You are lucky to be going during the big wave season.  That should be pretty awesome!
> 
> No, the drive wasn't long at all. (Nothing like the road to Hana.)  It's probably an hour to an hour and a half to drive up to the northernmost tip.  And then factor in how many times you want to stop and get out.
> 
> Yes, we could have kept going.  In reality, we weren't all that far from the Kualoa Ranch if we had kept on driving.  But we knew that we wanted to head back to Matsumoto's and the Dole Plantation, so we figured that we'd had gone far enough at the time.
> 
> Stay tuned for the Dole Plantation.  And I think your plan of stopping there first is better than our of stopping on the way back.  Probably less crowded in the morning.



The Road to Hana is something we want to do as well. Your trip report for that day gave me lots of tips, so thank you for that! 
In fact, you're entire trip report so far has been so informative with great tips!!! 
Thanks to your info and pics, I have a much better visual of what I'm going to see, do, and experience! 
We were going to go in Jan, but decided on Nov/Dec. We also want to get away from the cold here in Canada. So sick of it! I'm sure you are too!!! 
Looking forward to the rest!!


----------



## jhoannam

So glad you made it back here to post your TR. Can't wait to read all about Aulani.


----------



## alldiz

Still LOVING this amazing TR.
Wow those garlic knots are no joke!! And lets just say that's a pepperoni pizza for sure

Now I am rethinking......we were mostly going to stay at Aulani for our 5 nights. After Aulani we are going on the POA cruise around islands. We were going to Pearl Harbor on shore excursion from ship on way to Airport.
We were only going to leave Aulani for the North shore excursion. Now I'm thinking about Kaulua? Ranch. Looks so beautiful, including drive there.
Choices
Kerri


----------



## PattiPB

Loving your trip report! Keep it coming!


----------



## cgattis

alldiz said:


> Still LOVING this amazing TR.
> Wow those garlic knots are no joke!! And lets just say that's a pepperoni pizza for sure
> 
> Now I am rethinking......we were mostly going to stay at Aulani for our 5 nights. After Aulani we are going on the POA cruise around islands. We were going to Pearl Harbor on shore excursion from ship on way to Airport.
> We were only going to leave Aulani for the North shore excursion. Now I'm thinking about Kaulua? Ranch. Looks so beautiful, including drive there.
> Choices
> Kerri


I know......we are only leaving for PH and north shore but I keep looking at Kualoa!!!  Too many choices!!  heehee


----------



## melk

Loving this trip report! My in-laws went to Hawaii probably 20 years ago and still talk about the road to Hana.

Looking forward to seeing Aulani!


----------



## pepperandchips

Such a fabulous report! I am learning so much and loving all your great photos. I am contemplating getting a Go Pro Hero Session after seeing some of your photos. I normally shoot with my Nikon DSLR but have found it staying in the hotel room more and more recently due to the size and weight - I actually ended up getting a Sony RX100 so that I could travel lighter, but I love the idea of being able to carry the session onto the beach and even into the water without a housing. Do you think it's worth the ~$200 investment?

I love the photos from Kualoa ranch! Not sure we'd want to take the tour, I tend to get motion sickness and yours is not the first review I've read of a rocky experience. Do you think it'd be worth visiting the beach park without doing the ranch tour? I love the photos you got of the China Man's Hat (or whatever it's called) and the cliffs/beach/coast.

Too funny about McDonalds, KFC, Panda Express, and Outback featuring into the story... it's easy to forget that fast food and chain restaurants were made for crunch times when the family is stressed and tired - so they really fit the bill after traveling!

Thanks so much for all the work that went into the report. SO helpful! Can't wait to read more and for when you get to Aulani!!!


----------



## WildGinger

Yum, the pizza looks good!  I am sad to hear you didn't love Giovanni's truck...everyone raves about that place!  Beautiful pics of the Aulani in the distance!


----------



## hilarys

Great trip report.  I love seeing all your pix of Maui as well.  We will be making our third trip to Aulani this April and your report is getting me excited.  As west coasters - Hawaii is as easy to get to as WDW so we usually get to Hawaii a little more frequently.  

I agree with you about the coast/mountains over by Kualoa ranch - absolutely gorgeous.  Oahu sometimes gets overlooked because people think it is just Waikiki, but after visiting Oahu in 2011 for the first time, I have to say it is one of my favorites of the islands.  There is a ton of natural beauty on Oahu.  

We love to tour Kualoa Ranch.  We have twice done a private tour that includes the ranch and focuses on movie locations (primarily LOST).  We took the tour in November 2015 and they were actively filming the new King Kong movie that is coming out next month.  I am sure what you saw were the left over sets.

Can't wait to read the rest of your report.


----------



## Mac Brew

Hi Matt
              Followed over from your Disney institute report.The photos are amazing.The Hawain islands look out of this world for a holiday destination.Car hire looks a bit bothersome though.Your group photos that were taken by the professional photographers are well cool something for you to look at well into the years after the holiday.It is amazing how Spam is still around to eat a lot of the younger generation won't even try it never mind eat it.You know that's the problem that we British have when coming to America on holiday there is only just so much that you can do in the time that you have we would love to fit Hawaii in some time.

        Stuart.


----------



## MarbleBob

Hi everyone.  Sorry for the absence...  I've been sick most of this week and just not feeling up to working on the computer in the evenings.  I'm starting to feel better now, so I'll probably get posting again in another day or two..




flinkerfrosch said:


> The Road to Hana is something we want to do as well. Your trip report for that day gave me lots of tips, so thank you for that!
> In fact, you're entire trip report so far has been so informative with great tips!!!
> Thanks to your info and pics, I have a much better visual of what I'm going to see, do, and experience!
> We were going to go in Jan, but decided on Nov/Dec. We also want to get away from the cold here in Canada. So sick of it! I'm sure you are too!!!
> Looking forward to the rest!!



I'm so glad that your finding the trip helpful.  You're going to love the Road to Hanna!



jhoannam said:


> So glad you made it back here to post your TR. Can't wait to read all about Aulani.



Cool.  Thanks!



alldiz said:


> Still LOVING this amazing TR.
> Wow those garlic knots are no joke!! And lets just say that's a pepperoni pizza for sure
> 
> Now I am rethinking......we were mostly going to stay at Aulani for our 5 nights. After Aulani we are going on the POA cruise around islands. We were going to Pearl Harbor on shore excursion from ship on way to Airport.
> We were only going to leave Aulani for the North shore excursion. Now I'm thinking about Kaulua? Ranch. Looks so beautiful, including drive there.
> Choices
> Kerri



Yeah, those garlic knots were super tasty!  I would strongly consider Kualoa ranch.  It's pretty awesome!



PattiPB said:


> Loving your trip report! Keep it coming!



Thanks!  I'll have another update this weekend, I hope!



cgattis said:


> I know......we are only leaving for PH and north shore but I keep looking at Kualoa!!!  Too many choices!!  heehee



Yeah, decisions... decisions!!!!  



melk said:


> Loving this trip report! My in-laws went to Hawaii probably 20 years ago and still talk about the road to Hana.
> 
> Looking forward to seeing Aulani!



Thanks!  Yeah, I could see us talking about this trip for 20 years too.  It was that good!



pepperandchips said:


> Such a fabulous report! I am learning so much and loving all your great photos. I am contemplating getting a Go Pro Hero Session after seeing some of your photos. I normally shoot with my Nikon DSLR but have found it staying in the hotel room more and more recently due to the size and weight - I actually ended up getting a Sony RX100 so that I could travel lighter, but I love the idea of being able to carry the session onto the beach and even into the water without a housing. Do you think it's worth the ~$200 investment?
> 
> I love the photos from Kualoa ranch! Not sure we'd want to take the tour, I tend to get motion sickness and yours is not the first review I've read of a rocky experience. Do you think it'd be worth visiting the beach park without doing the ranch tour? I love the photos you got of the China Man's Hat (or whatever it's called) and the cliffs/beach/coast.
> 
> Too funny about McDonalds, KFC, Panda Express, and Outback featuring into the story... it's easy to forget that fast food and chain restaurants were made for crunch times when the family is stressed and tired - so they really fit the bill after traveling!
> 
> Thanks so much for all the work that went into the report. SO helpful! Can't wait to read more and for when you get to Aulani!!!



With respect to the GoPro, I got mine on sale for about $160, but that was over a year ago.  We use it quite a bit for skateboarding, putting on our model/train/monorail, taking to Disney, and stuff.  So I think it was worth it for us.  But if I was going to use it just for one vacation, maybe not.   Oh, and the other thing, is that it's super convenient.  So small that you can add it to your bag or stuff it in a pocket without it adding much weight/bulk.  Also, you can connect it wirelessly to your phone and share any of the photos/videos on social media while you are on vacation (without brining a laptop or whatever.)

For example, here's a video of the GoPro riding on the monorail layout



 that we made...

Yes, I think it would totally be worth visiting the eastern shore without taking one of those tours.  The beaches are awesome over there.  You still can visit the ranch and walk around a bit too.  We only scratched the surface of the eastern side, and I'm sure there's lots of other cool stuff to see 



WildGinger said:


> Yum, the pizza looks good!  I am sad to hear you didn't love Giovanni's truck...everyone raves about that place!  Beautiful pics of the Aulani in the distance!



Yeah, I was expecting to love it too.  Maybe we just visited when they were having an off day or something.



hilarys said:


> Great trip report.  I love seeing all your pix of Maui as well.  We will be making our third trip to Aulani this April and your report is getting me excited.  As west coasters - Hawaii is as easy to get to as WDW so we usually get to Hawaii a little more frequently.
> 
> I agree with you about the coast/mountains over by Kualoa ranch - absolutely gorgeous.  Oahu sometimes gets overlooked because people think it is just Waikiki, but after visiting Oahu in 2011 for the first time, I have to say it is one of my favorites of the islands.  There is a ton of natural beauty on Oahu.
> 
> We love to tour Kualoa Ranch.  We have twice done a private tour that includes the ranch and focuses on movie locations (primarily LOST).  We took the tour in November 2015 and they were actively filming the new King Kong movie that is coming out next month.  I am sure what you saw were the left over sets.
> 
> Can't wait to read the rest of your report.



Thanks!  Wow, that's interesting about how Hawaii is easier to reach than WDW for you.  For us, WDW is about 1.5 day drive.  Not too bad.  Disneyland is pretty hard for us to get to (pricey for five airline tickets, or a 3 day drive.)  And of course Hawaii is pretty darn expensive for us to fly from Missouri...

How cool that you got too ee them actively filming the King Kong movie!!!!



Mac Brew said:


> Hi Matt
> Followed over from your Disney institute report.The photos are amazing.The Hawain islands look out of this world for a holiday destination.Car hire looks a bit bothersome though.Your group photos that were taken by the professional photographers are well cool something for you to look at well into the years after the holiday.It is amazing how Spam is still around to eat a lot of the younger generation won't even try it never mind eat it.You know that's the problem that we British have when coming to America on holiday there is only just so much that you can do in the time that you have we would love to fit Hawaii in some time.
> 
> Stuart.



Hi Stuart!  Glad you made it over from that last TR.  I hope you're able to fit Hawaii in on one of your future trips.  You'd love it!!!


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## olliesmom

Thank you so much for sharing this report! We are traveling to Maui in March and very much appreciate you sharing the Maui info as well. You have a beautiful family and it looks like a wonderful trip!


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## Donalyn

Really enjoying your report!  Can't wait to read about the Aulani days.  And the group family photos - amazing.


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## MarbleBob

olliesmom said:


> Thank you so much for sharing this report! We are traveling to Maui in March and very much appreciate you sharing the Maui info as well. You have a beautiful family and it looks like a wonderful trip!



Thanks so much!  I hope you enjoy Maui!



Donalyn said:


> Really enjoying your report!  Can't wait to read about the Aulani days.  And the group family photos - amazing.



Thank you!!!  Stay tuned because the Aulani stuff is coming


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## MarbleBob

*Day 13 - Thursday, June  30:  Arrival at Aulani!*

OK!  We finally made it to the Aulani section of the trip report.  Yahoo!!!  The general plan for the day… was to wish the rest of the family well on their trip back home, and then head over to Aulani around 9:30 AM.

Before we move on to the actual Aulani arrival... a little background on our plans for this part of the trip:

When we first explored the idea of staying at Aulani, we looked at the general hotel room options.  Being a family of five, we were going to need two rooms since their standard rooms only accommodate four people.  And there didn't seem to be a guarantee that we'd have them adjacent to each other.  Well, that would stink if we had to split up.  And even worse, getting two rooms was going to be super expensive.  

We decided to explore the idea of renting DVC points as an alternative.  It turns out that you could rent a Standard View One Bedroom Villa (that sleeps 5) for significantly less than two regular hotel rooms directly through Disney.  For three nights, this came out to be  138 points… or about $2,000.  So yeah, that's about $666 per night.  We felt like this was a bit crazy for our normal budget, but we also figured that we'd probably never have the chance to stay at Aulani again as a family, so we threw caution to the wind and went for it!  (This also meant that we had to be somewhat frugal throughout the rest of the trip, which played a role in a lot of our meal choices.  The trade off was totally worth it!)

Additionally, we would still have our rental car.  Parking was going to cost between $30 and $40 per day as a regular hotel guest.  But DVC members get free parking, and this benefit is passed on to whoever is using the points.  So that was another plus for renting points!

In some ways, I'd prefer not to share what it cost us to stay here, but I think it's relevant because this is significantly more expensive than the Ko Olina Villas next door.  And for our family of five, it was probably about 50% more than it would cost us to stay at the Disneyland Hotel or the WDW Grand Floridian (which can sleep five in a regular room.)  And to be honest, relative to our previous experiences at the Disneyland Hotel, Grand Floridian, Polynesian Resort, etc., the service and value just wasn't quite up to those standards. 

When the time comes, I'll share some examples where we felt like Aulani fell short of our expectations.  And this is coming from the perspective of a family of five…  If we had only required a single hotel room, we could have saved a huge chunk of change, and then the value may have been better for the money.  (In other words… a family of four staying in a regular room would probably have a different perspective on the perceived value.)  All that being said, we LOVED Aulani and don’t regret the investment one bit.  It was still awesome!  (It just could have been, well, "awesomer".)

So decision #1 was to rent a DVC points and get a one bedroom villa.  Next decision was… who should we rent from? (We had never rented points before.)  We looked closely at David's DVC and the DVC Rental Store.  They both had good reputations and offered a point protection/insurance plan (in case you need to cancel.)  The prices were similar, but the DVC Rental Store's point protection option was a little cheaper, so we decided to go through them.  And it turned out to be super easy to rent from them.  (I'm sure David's would have been equally as easy.)   I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the DVC Rental Store, and I’m pretty sure we'll use them on our next big trip to WDW.

Next question… Do we get a standard view room, or a cool view that looks out into the ocean and/or swimming pools?  We knew that we'd have great ocean views at our first two condos on Maui and Oahu, so a view at Aulani wasn't as important to us.  Also, we figured that we wouldn't be spending too much time in the room over our three nights, so we figured that having an amazing view wasn't as important here.  So yeah, decision #3 was to get a standard view.

Other considerations….  We knew that we'd be there over 4th of July weekend and that it would be super busy.  And we had read the horror stories of finding pool chairs during busy times.  (Potentially needing to get up at the break of dawn and camp out for hours before the pool opened, loosing your "claim" if you stay away too long, and stuff like that.)  We decided that it might be a good idea to rent a cabana for Saturday, ensuring that we'd have at least one day to enjoy the pools without any hassles.  Hmm… pay extra for a better view for our room, or get a cabana for at least one of the days?  That sealed the deal to go with a standard view room and to rent a cabana instead.  Stephanie did the research on which one to pick, and we put in a reservation on the first day that we were able to.  (Something like nine months out.)  Oh, and since we were staying with DVC points, they gave us the member discount for renting the cabana too!  Also, this turned out to be a good decision to reserve early, because not too long after, the price went up by at least $100… and since we reserved before the rate hike, we were locked with the old price.

And with respect to kids activities for Auntie's Beach House on this busy weekend, we knew that we'd need to reserve them early for Pickle, so we did that on the first day that we could.  It was pretty easy… you went to the website and gave them your choices.  Then they assign you activities based on the number of days that you are staying.  So for three nights, they gave us one activity and assigned a time to us.  They did give us Pickle's first choice, Coconut Kings and Queens of Comedy… but it was for Friday night at 7:30 PM.  Right at the only time when the Luau was scheduled during our visit.  Bummer!  Nothing we could do about it at the time, so we just figured that we'd play it by ear and let Pickle decided which was more important when the time came.

I guess that's about it for planning purposes….back to the trip report! 

So yeah,  at about 9:30 AM, we all headed down to the parking lot to say goodbye to the rest of the family and get our cars loaded up.  And since we'd have a kitchen in our villa, we took everyone's extra groceries.  (Score!!!)

And thinking about it again… What a generous blessing that Stephanie's parents gave to all of us.  I mean… it's one thing to stay married for 50 years, but it's another thing to consistently demonstrate what a God-centered and a loving relationship can look like.  What a great example they set for us too, and it was really cool to celebrate it with them in one of their favorite places!!!  Thanks again Dennis and Shirley!

After saying goodbye, we made the five minute trip (because, well you know, stop lights) over to Aulani.

We pulled up and let the bellmen take everything except for our backpacks with the swimming gear.

(Oh, and noting that before the trip, Stephanie purchased this awesome "AO Coolers Canvas Soft Cooler".  It folds pretty flat to fit inside our airplane luggage, but it expands big enough for at least a 24 pack of cans.  Or a few cans/bottles and enough fruit/lunch meat for our family.  We took it to the beaches a lot, on our drives, etc.  And it keeps the ice preserved amazingly well.  So yeah, we were able to keep a few perishables in it until our room was ready.  That cooler was totally worth it for this trip alone!)

When we walked up to the lobby doors, a couple of nice ladies greeted us.  They offered us some fruity water and gave us some goodies.  Stephanie received a flower lei and I received a kukui nut lei. (you'll see them in some of the photos below.)  The kids each received one of these cool Menehune necklaces.





Here's the back side of Buddy's… (he tore it to get the necklace off the card.)





So yeah, they walked us through the lobby and up to the front desk…





Obviously, the room wasn't ready, but the check-in process was super easy.  Noting that in the photo above… all those photos on the wall were taken by local kids.  Apparently, before the resort opened, they gave a bunch of school kids cameras and asked them to take photos of their surroundings.  And then they built this giant collage with them.  If I recall, the color changes even more to the left.  Maybe some blues and other colors too…

Next, we all decided to walk back out to the car and drive it over to the self-serve area of the parking garage.  And then we walked back into the lobby. This only took a couple minutes.  The garage is only a short walk.

Also worth noting, that we've purchased the PhotoPass CD's a few times at WDW and DLR.  We decided that it might be worth it to do the same here.  (And I'm glad we did.)  So while we were exploring the lobby area, we decided to get a few photopass shots!









This one is a bit cheesy, but it shows the leis pretty well…





I guess that's enough for one post.  I have enough photos and interesting stuff to share, that it'll take a few posts to get through each day.  So yeah, much more to come!


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## MarbleBob

*Day 13 - Thursday, June  30 - Part 2:  Daily 'Iwa*

Oh... I forgot to share this.  When we checked in, they gave us todays' Daily 'Iwa.





And the back side had the schedule of activities...


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## MarbleBob

*Day 13 - Thursday, June  30 - Part 3:  Exploring Aulani and Lunch at Ulu Café *

We ended up hanging out in the lobby area for a little while…  So I took a ton of photos!  Here are just a few. 
(Oh, and I have  wide angle fisheye lens attached to my camera for a few of these.  That explains the occasional strange field of view and distortions.)

Here's the lobby when you first walk in…





And looking up…





From the center of the lobby, if you look to the left, you'll find the gift shops and way down there, some stairs to get outside.





Looking to the right, you'll find a similar view, but it has the front desk, concierge, and waiting areas instead.

If you keep walking straight through the lobby, you'll step out on to a verandah overlooking the pool area.  That's where those first PhotoPass photos were taken.





Hmmm…. What's pickle looking at?





Hey look, Mickey is down there!





Looking back toward the lobby…





And back in the lobby, looking toward the front entrance…





And a couple other random photos…

















Next up, we decided to take Pickle down to get registered and ready for Aunty's Beach house…









It took a few minutes to get her set up in the system...





And then we walked inside for a couple minutes….





And then, they were still having open play, so she decided that she wanted to stay.  We were thinking about having lunch next and that concerned us to leave Pickle behind, because it was too late to sign her up for the Aunty's lunch.  But they assured us that they had enough snacks to keep her happy for a couple hours, so off we went…

We decided to try Ulu Café, which was pretty much on the other side of the swimming area.  So we took the scenic route and walked over.  (Looks like I didn't upload any photos from the walk over, but I have hundreds of photos of the pool areas, so stay tuned for some of those.)





So yeah… Ulu Café… this is the main counter/quick service restaurant at the resort.  They have a daily menu, grab and go sandwiches/salads/wraps, pizza, etc. 

I guess this was literally our first taste of one of the mediocre aspects of Aulani… The food here was just OK at best.

However, Princess and Buddy were stoked on their chicken fingers.  LOL.









Stephanie had a Kālua Pork Flatbread…  I think she liked it well enough…  but not anything to brag about on social media. LOL.





(I guess, if you've had one of these flatbreads at the various places at WDW and DLR, this was on par with those.)

I went with the special of the day, the Chicken Katsu sandwich.  It was incredibly bland and dry.  Very disappointing.





We ate here a couple times on the trip, which added to the overall impression of mediocracy.  This is compared to the excellent quick service options we've at other deluxe resorts.  (For example, Gasparilla Island Grill at the Grand Floridian, Contempo Café at the Contemporary Resort, Captain Cook's at the Poly, Tangaroa Terrace at Disneyland Hotel, etc.  Those all have some really excellent and varied dining options.  We didn't feel like Ulu Café was in the same league.  Maybe we hit it on an off week, I don't know.  But it was a bit disappointing in general.)

At the time though, who cares… we're at Aulani!!! This place is so amazingly beautiful!

Next up, we snaked our way through that northern corridor to check out the teen spa.  Some of the teen activities were scheduled here, so we wanted to check it out.  I guess we should have done our homework more thouroughly…  Because for some reason, we thought it was going to be a teen hang out area like those on the Disney Cruise Line.  But… it was mostly just a spa.  You know, for facial treatments and stuff.  And it was quite expensive to boot.  Oh well, whatever.  Let's keep exploring!

We eventually snaked our way through the hallways of the northern tower and found ourselves in the courtyard below the main verandah…





It was now about 12:30 and Buddy wanted to try the Menehune Adventure Trail.  Which is like a high tech scavenger hunt.  If you'd ever done the Kim Possible or Agent P's World Showcase Adventure at Epcot, it reminded me of that… but on steroids because they give you a tablet computer instead of an old fashioned cell phone thingy.  You check out the tablet at the Pau Hana community center, and then depending on which adventure you choose (there are a couple of them) you explore different parts of the resort going through the exercise.  For some reason, I didn't get any photos of Buddy doing this.  I think I ended up just hanging out in the main lobby with Princess while Stephanie and Buddy did the adventure.  (We did it again with Pickle the next day, and I have better pictures of that experience.)

Anyway, when we arrived at the community center, they were in the middle of a family animation activity.  It looked like people were enjoying it well enough.  Cool!









Around 1:15 PM, we were notified that our room was ready.  So we decided to go fetch Pickle from Auntys, get settled in, and then go spend the afternoon swimming.


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## MarbleBob

*Day 13 - Thursday, June  30 - Part 4:  Our Room *

Here's a scan of the map that they gave us when we purchased our PhotoPass stuff.  Noting the that they drew all those Mickey Mouse heads on there to show us where the various photographers were stationed.   (And they had some sort of scavenger hunt with that too.  Basically if you got photos taken at least five of them (or something like that), then they'd print off a free 5x7 photo for you.)

Anyway, the big red arrow points to where our room was.  Again, this is a standard view room.  The location was actually quite convenient, because we were a few doors down the hall from the elevators.  And just outside the elevators on the first floor, there was a door to get outside...





Love the carpet and wallpaper in the hallways…








Check out the carving on the door!





Walking in, the kitchen is immediately to your right…





And then coming inside a bit, the eating and main living areas are just around the corner.









Across from the table, they had laundry machines.  Nice!!!!






And looking into the main living area…





The sofa folds out into a queen sized bed, which is where Pickle and Princess slept.  And then that large carved panel below the TV folds down to reveal something slightly smaller than a twin sized bed.  That's where Buddy slept…









And then moving into the master suite…





Walking in… the bed is immediately in front of you, and then the TV and desk are just to your right.









And then this cool lamp!!!!  I know right!  (You could purchase a copy of the lamp in the gift shop.)





Towel "animal" and bookmark on the bed…





And then from the corner by the desk, looking into the bathroom area…









Closet inside the bath area…





So the bathtub has its own room with a sink, and then the toilet and shower are in a separate room further back.  And then if you take an immediate left, you are back at the front door, making a full circle in the villa.





You may have noticed from the picture of the front door, we were on the fifth floor.  I'm not sure how this worked out, because it didn't seem that high on our side.  Perhaps the inside of the resort drops down lower than the the outside does.  Regardless, how was the view?  Actually not bad at all, considering this is a standard view room.  I imagine if you were a couple floors down, it wouldn't have been as nice.  So we were pretty happy with the luck of the draw here.  We looked out over a courtyard instead of a rooftop!

Looking straight out…









And then off to the right, you'll see the pathway to the convention center area…





And then over to the left…





It was a nice big patio.  But we really didn't spend much time out there at all…  I think Princess went out every now and then to get away from the rest of us and do Snapchat/Instagram/whatever.

I'm sure that we'll be seeing more of the room in the TR, but that's the gist of it.  All in all, we were stoked with the quality and layout.  It was impeccably maintained.  This was easily the nicest Disney room we've ever stayed at.  And it sure ought to have been so for the price


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## MarbleBob

*Day 13 - Thursday, June  30 - Part 5:  Swimming and Evening Activities*

After we got settled in the room, it was about 2:30 pm.  We decided to head down to the pool and swim for a couple hours.   It was pretty crowded, but we were able to find about three or four chairs down by the largest pool without too much trouble.  I guess I didn't bring a camera or my phone, because I don't have any pool photos from this afternoon.  Again, no worries, we spent the better part of the next two days enjoying the pools and I have lots of photos from then. 

But yeah, we grabbed our wrist bands and towels before we were able to get in the water.  And then we spent a fair amount of time in the lazy river, hot tubs, and the infinity pool.  It was really a fun afternoon!!!

Eventually, it was getting close to dinner time, so we headed back up to the room.  We still had a fair amount of groceries from the previous week, so we planned to eat in our own unit tonight.   We had a smorgasbord of hot dogs, various fruits, chips/snacks, sweets, and stuff.    (And oh and hot dogs at Aulani?!?! Not anyone's first choice, but they were hold outs from earlier in the week, and they were free.  )

And somewhere between all that… Princess and Buddy went down to the "Teen Island Beach Challenge" from 4:30 to 5:15 PM.  Funny… Princess (16 at the time) is more social than Buddy (13 at the time), but she didn't enjoy it at all… and Buddy actually made friends and had lots of fun.  They said that there were about 15 kids.  Mostly on the younger end of the 13 to 17 range.   They did some scavenger hunts in the sand with plastic beach toys, and some team activity games.   Seeing as how the group was on the younger side, I can see why Buddy had more fun.  Quoting Princess, "There wasn't really anyone my age and most of the girls looked like they were around 12 years old, but acted like they were too cool for school.  It wasn't fun to be around them."  So there you have it… but I bet if there were more older kids, that Princess would have related to the group better and had more fun.

After dinner, the kids were all tired and just wanted to chill in the room.  And outside of those teen activities, there really wasn't much for them to do anyway.  (The pool closes in the late afternoon/early evening and it got dark around 7pm.)  So while they played on their devices or whatever, Stephanie and I took the opportunity to go down and throughly scope out the gift shop and explore the lobby a bit more.

Oh, and yeah… the sofa cushions had to go somewhere.  So Buddy made a fort out of them…





Heading towards the lobby…





Exploring the lobby again, we found another PhotoPass photographer…









And oh yeah, every time we drove past Aulani in the evening earlier in the week, I was mesmerized by the lanterns hanging in the tree out front.  I had to go out and get a photo!





And eventually, we went over to the other side and wandered around the pool area.  Cool to see it at night…









And down by the Halawai Lawn, they were playing the movie, Inside Out.  (Except for not too many people seemed interested in watching it.)





We had a lovely time exploring the grounds and soaking it all in… But eventually we came back to the room (probably 9pm.)  Stephanie wanted to get up bright and early to try and register Pickle for some additional activities at Aunty's tomorrow.  All in all, it was an enjoyable first day at Aulani.  Yahoo!


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## disnygirl55

Hooray! Loving your report!


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## alohamom

MarbleBob said:


> So yeah… Ulu Café… this is the main counter/quick service restaurant at the resort. They have a daily menu, grab and go sandwiches/salads/wraps, pizza, etc.
> 
> I guess this was literally our first taste of one of the mediocre aspects of Aulani… The food here was just OK at best.



The first time we stayed at Aulani (2014) the Ulu Cafe food was really, really good. Like surprising good. Enough that it factored into part of my meal planning for our next trip in 2016. I was so disappointed in the change of QUALITY that happened over the two years. I dont know if is because of the new promo that offers the Ulu Cafe food credits coming into being during that time but I was so let down. I even tasted a huge difference in the cupcake. I am not a big cupcake eater but my daughter and I had shared an amazing pineapple coconut cupcake from Mamas on our first visit that was delicious. This time round it was terrible, like I am talking bland and dry. The bottom line for me is that if we go back to Aulani I just wont spend my money at Ulu but it is a shame that this has happened.


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## STLEdge

Thanks for sharing your trip with us - these are terrific pictures and memories.  I've really enjoyed reading this so far!


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## MouseOfCards

MarbleBob said:


> And a few minutes later, the food was ready.  And oh yeah, Stephanie and I got these garlic knots.  Delicious!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (Just in case I didn't get enough garlic at the shrimp truck.  Hahaha!)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yum!  (Except that I'm not too big on black olives.)


Thanks for sharing! Suddenly hungry.


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## shari2137

Enjoying your trip report. My parents live in Kihei and one of their favorite places they have taken us to is Coconuts.


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## pepperandchips

Matt, come back! Your first day at Aulani has left the masses waiting for more details about Hawaiian Disney paradise...


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## MarbleBob

pepperandchips said:


> Matt, come back! Your first day at Aulani has left the masses waiting for more details about Hawaiian Disney paradise...



Sorry!!!!  The whole family got sick for a while, and then things have been super crazy busy at work.... working late most days the last couple weeks.  But... things are starting to settle down, and I should be able to get the TR moving again soon!

Thanks for the prod


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## pepperandchips

MarbleBob said:


> Sorry!!!!  The whole family got sick for a while, and then things have been super crazy busy at work.... working late most days the last couple weeks.  But... things are starting to settle down, and I should be able to get the TR moving again soon!
> 
> Thanks for the prod



Totally feel your pain on that. Much easier to write voluminous updates when the work hours are shorter. Just wanted to let you know that your fans are still here! (And bump the thread to the front page again since it's so helpful)


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## Terra Nova guy

Hello Matt. Well, it took me a little while but I finally came back and I've read your entire report over the last couple days. I enjoyed it a lot. Hawaii has always been on my bucket list, but being from northeast Canada it's quite a ways to travel (not to mention airfare!) so it has eluded me so far. Maybe one of these days. The scenery is fantastic and you've given me some great ideas if I ever make it that way. I think I would have to try including the Big Island in any plans though because I would love to see the active volcanoes.


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## jhoannam

MarbleBob said:


> Sorry!!!!  The whole family got sick for a while, and then things have been super crazy busy at work.... working late most days the last couple weeks.  But... things are starting to settle down, and I should be able to get the TR moving again soon!
> 
> Thanks for the prod



Hope everyone has recovered. The cold/flu going around this year is no joke. My 9 year old had the flu and her fever would not stay below 103* and lasted 5 days.


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## MarbleBob

pepperandchips said:


> Totally feel your pain on that. Much easier to write voluminous updates when the work hours are shorter. Just wanted to let you know that your fans are still here! (And bump the thread to the front page again since it's so helpful)



Thanks!!!!  So sorry to have left you hanging again  Next update is coming a few minutes!



Terra Nova guy said:


> Hello Matt. Well, it took me a little while but I finally came back and I've read your entire report over the last couple days. I enjoyed it a lot. Hawaii has always been on my bucket list, but being from northeast Canada it's quite a ways to travel (not to mention airfare!) so it has eluded me so far. Maybe one of these days. The scenery is fantastic and you've given me some great ideas if I ever make it that way. I think I would have to try including the Big Island in any plans though because I would love to see the active volcanoes.



Hi Jeff!  Glad to see that you made it back, and that you enjoyed the TR so far.  I know that Hawaii is a long way from northeast Canada, but in the spirit of Ferris Bueller, "It is so choice.  If you have the means, I highly recommend it!"







jhoannam said:


> Hope everyone has recovered. The cold/flu going around this year is no joke. My 9 year old had the flu and her fever would not stay below 103* and lasted 5 days.



No joke indeed!  I hope your family is over it and feeling well now too!


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## MarbleBob

*Day 14 - Friday, July 1: Morning  fun at Aulani!*

Hi everyone!  I apologize for leaving you hanging for the last couple weeks.  We ended up having a cycle of sickness run through our family through a lot of February and early March.  No fun!  And then, with me working in the gardening industry, our spring shipping and IT support needs have ramped up quite a bit the last couple weeks, which means I've been working a LOT more than usual.  But things are getting back to normal, and I finally have some time to get back to the TR!

Here's the daily 'IWA for today….





And the back side...





Our general plan was to try and get Pickle registered for another activity at Aunty's Beach House, spend the day at the pool, and then do the Luau in the evening.

I think I mentioned this before, but we were only able to pre-register Pickle (online) for one activity at Aunty's Beach House during our stay (Coconut Kings and Queens of Comedy.)   For any additional activities, you need to register the kids that morning.  And you need to do it very early, or else they fill up.  (Especially since we were there on the July 4 weekend.) Stephanie planned to be in line when they started taking reservations at 7am.  The thing is…. Stephanie really never adjusted to Hawaii time and she was waking up early most mornings anyway, so she went down around 5:45 AM… That's a little over an hour early, and needless to say, she was first in line.  She said that another lady showed up about 5 minutes later.  And then it was just the two of them until about 6:30 and then the line filled out pretty quickly.

So yeah, Coconut Kings and Queens of Comedy was tonight… but Pickle wanted to eat dinner with the rest of the kids at Aunty's, so Stephanie signed her up for that. When she finished with Aunty's, it was just past 7am, so she went over to the pool area to see about staking a claim.  She found a great spot just behind the large Waikolohe Pool.  Score!!!!

She called me on the phone to touch base, and the kids and I came down around 8am to get settled in, and then Stephanie went back up to the room for a little while to get ready for the day.

Wow, that is indeed a great spot!!!





And then looking forward toward the pool…





And within minutes, all the chairs were claimed….

While Stephanie was up in the room, the kids and I started off with a few rounds in the lazy river.













And when I say, a few rounds… I mean like two hours' worth of rounds… off and on.  It was so relaxing just to float along, chatting about random things, telling stories, goofing around, and simply getting lost in the flow of the moment.  Good times!!!

Sometime during the "lazy river session", we took a break and had some breakfast food.  Stephanie and Buddy went over to Ulu's and ordered a couple breakfast platters and some extra bacon too.  (If you've read any my other TR's, you'll know how much my kids love Disney bacon!!)  They brought the food back, and we enjoyed it all while sitting in our pool chairs.  Basically, they brought back bacon, eggs, and fried potatoes.  This was on par with any other Disney restaurant (at WDW or DL) serving this type of food.  It is what it is, and that's actually pretty good 

Eventually, the kids were ready to move on from the lazy river, and they wanted to sit in a hot tub for a while, so we found our way over to the Ka Maka Grotto pool area.





OK.  This. Is. Nice!





We spent another hour or two, hopping between the hot tub and the infinity pool. 









I have more photos in the next day's post, but boy… this was probably my favorite place in Aulani.  The stuff that daydreams are made of!

Around Noon or so, we were all starving and ready to eat.  We decided to hit Mama's Snack Stop and bring it back to our chairs.





I had the coconut-breaded shrimp.  It was actually pretty good.  Not amazing, but one of the better tasting things that I tried while at Aulani.





I normally like to grab a few photos of our meals on vacations, but I had my phone and regular camera up in the room.  The GoPro is fine, but it's not the best for lots of snapshots, so I guess I didn't get any other photos of what the others had…  Buddy and Princess had the chicken fingers and fries.  I'm pretty sure that Stephanie had the shrimp too.  And Pickle had a hot dog.  All in all, not a bad meal at all, especially when considering it was poolside.    Oh, and we still had cans of soda/juice from earlier in the week, and that soft sided cooler that I mentioned earlier in the TR was perfect for today.  It allowed us to keep plenty of water and soft drinks cold and ready to go!

The kids had decided that they all wanted to just chill in their chairs for a while, so Stephanie and I took the opportunity to have some alone time at adults only hot tub.  (Pretty much adjacent to where our chairs were.)   It turns out that this is a double decker hot tub.  One level up top with a waterfall, that spills into a lower level.  The top level had a few people in it, but the bottom level was nearly empty, so we settled in down there.

So here's looking over the edge of the top level, out to sea…





And then looking back up…





Oh my, how relaxing!









The funny thing is… After 20 minutes or so, Pickle needed some help, and Princess came looking for us.  She had no idea there was a lower level at first and it took a few minutes to find us.  Oops!

A little while later, Pickle and Buddy had enough fun in the sun and wanted to go back up to the room to relax.  You know iPhones, TV, and stuff…

Stephanie, Pickle, and I decided to look for some more PhotoPass photographers.









Around 2pm, it was time for the pool party with Mickey Mouse in the main pool!  Interestingly, Pickle wasn't too excited about this, but we did it anyway.









It's hard to see from just a couple photos here (I have video though), but there were a ton of people in the water.  And then Mickey and friends came out on the pool deck.  They hyped up the crowd in the water… doing the wave with everyone, dancing, and all sorts of stuff.  It was pretty high energy and turned out to be pretty cool.

And then we grabbed a couple more photos 





After the pool party, Pickle was ready to take a break from swimming too, so we decided to head up to the room and change out of our swimming gear.  Stopping to see Stitch again!





It may be another day or two before I have the next installment, but stay tuned as I hope to finish of this TR within the next week or so.

Cheers!


----------



## alohamom

Glad to hear everyone is feeling better now!



MarbleBob said:


> She found a great spot just behind the large Waikolohe Pool. Score!!!!



WOW-did she ever, those are prime seats



MarbleBob said:


> Oh my, how relaxing!



I LOVE LOVE LOVE that hot tub. 

Man, look at you guys getting right into that Shake-A-Shaka pool party, what a fun dad you must be.


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## alldiz

Awesome pics and still loving your adventure 
Kerri


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## MarbleBob

alohamom said:


> Glad to hear everyone is feeling better now!
> I LOVE LOVE LOVE that hot tub.



Yeah, that hot tub was pure awesomeness!



alldiz said:


> Awesome pics and still loving your adventure
> Kerri



Cool!  Thanks


----------



## MarbleBob

*Day 14 - Friday, July 1 - Part 2: Afternoon and Evening Fun!*

At this point, we were ready to take break from the pools, so we headed back up to the room to change into dry clothes.  Princess and Buddy were content to keep lounging in the room, so Stephanie, Pickle, and I went off to explore some more.

We did Menehune Adventure Trail with Buddy the day before, but Pickle still wanted to give it a try…  so off we went!

We stopped in the gift shop on the way down.  We found that the inventory shifted around a bit throughout our visit.  It seems like they'd bring out new clearance priced items once or twice a day.  We found a few steals in here throughout the stay, so we ended up going back a couple times each day just to see if they had anything new.

Anyway… heading down to the Pau Hana community center to get the tablet for the adventure trail…





We explored all around the lobby and Pickle was really into it.  This is a fantastic activity and I love how interactive it is.  Highly recommended!









And I love how you find random menehune all around the resort.  (Keep a lookout when you float through the lazy river.  There are tons of them!!!)





When we were finished, Stephanie had to run back to the room for a few minutes, so Pickle and I went down to return the tablet.  Cool, they were making leighs and we were welcome to join them!  We made one for Pickle and then decided to surprise Stephanie with one too!





How fun!!!









We explored around a bit more and did some more browsing in the shop down in the pool area.  Stephanie had previously spotted a bag (and/or beach towel) here, that they didn't have in the main gift shop.  And then we just walked around soaking it all in even more.

And eventually, it was time to drop Pickle off at Aunty's Beach House.  I think we dropped her off around 4:30 PM, she wanted to play for a while before they had dinner.

After leaving Pickle with Aunty, we headed back up to the room to fetch the older two for dinner.  Stopping by a PhotoPass photographer on our way…






We decided to give Ulu Café another try.





I had the seafood and bacon chowder.  It was good, but nothing special.  For perspective, I had pretty much completely forgotten about it until I just reviewed this picture…









Stephanie had a grab n go salad.  Also fine….





Princess was even less hungry, so she went with a fruit and yogurt parfait…  Also fine.

Buddy got a pizza, thinking that the rest of us would share it with him.









This was sort of meh, at best.  Maybe on par with Domino's pizza or something similar?  On the one hand, we were trying to cut back on food expenses today (so we could splurge tomorrow), but on the other hand... this stuff isn't exactly cheap.  Disney really could stand to provide better quality here.

After eating, we still had some time before the Luau started, so Princess went back to the room to chill for a while longer.  (She had a cold earlier in the trip and was pretty tired at this point.)  Buddy had enough fun doing the teen event the night before, that he wanted to do it again tonight.  (Princess had no desire to go back.)

So Buddy's plan was to do the teen event instead of the Luau, so he headed off to hang out with his new friends…

This left Stephanie and I to explore a bit more on our own.  We ended up walking around the beach for quite a while.





Oh, and I forgot to mention… apparently, there were a bunch of jellyfish in the lagoon and they discouraged people from swimming in it during our stay.  No big deal for us, because we'd spent plenty of time swimming in the adjacent lagoon earlier in the week, and we had all that beach time in Maui too.  But... that's why there weren't too many people out in the water for these photos…









We found a couple PhotoPass photographers, so we stopped a couple times for photos.

















We ended up walking past the group of teens (with Buddy) on the beach, but being considerate parents of a young teenager, we went out of our way to ensure he didn't see us.  (You know, embarrassing parents and all. )

Oh, and there was a wedding reception going on at the time too.  How cool would it be to have Mickey Mouse join your wedding party?!?!?!





Eventually, it was time for the Starlit Hui Luau, so we found Princess and headed down to the lawn area.

The lawn was about half full when we arrived.  (Oh, and they give everyone a straw mat to sit on.  How fun!)





We were happy with our spot despite not being up front...





They had some demonstrations/crafts for the kids, where they could do grass weaving, make leis, and stuff like that.  Pickle wasn't with us, but I'm sure she would have loved these activities.

The Luau itself was fun, but if we hadn't just been to the Old Lahaina Luau in Maui, we would have enjoyed this even more.  This was actually pretty lame in comparison.   Which is surprising, I expected it to be "Disneyfied" and less authentic, but for some reason, but I think the overall production could have been a lot better.  Apparently, they discontinued this and replaced it with a paid version.   Maybe that one is better now.

Regardless, it was a beautiful evening, the energy and atmosphere of the crowd was great, and we did enjoy ourselves.   It was also cool to get a good dose of Mickey and Friends here (since the whole Disney character thing is pretty subdued at Aulani in general.)









After the Luau, they had an open dance party.  Princess was having fun doing the electric slide (or whatever it's called) with everyone.  And a few minutes later, Aunty's called to have us come pick up Pickle.  We were concerned that she wasn't having fun and that maybe she had asked them to have us pick her up, but it turns out that this is normal protocol for everyone.  They're just trying to clear the place out asap.

So yeah, we fetched Pickle from Aunty's and it turns out that she had an amazing time.  She wasn't even close to being ready to leave.  LOL.

For dinner, they served the kids slices of pizza (cheese or pepperoni) and some fruit.  She said that she had pineapple and strawberries.  And they had kebabs for desert.  She said that they were chocolate covered marshmallows (with sprinkles) alternating between pieces of pineapple on the skewers.  She loved them!

She loved the Coconut Kings and Queens of Comedy too.  Pickle has a goofy sense of humor, so this was right up her alley.

Oh yeah….  When we signed up for the PhotoPass, they encouraged us to stop by the station in the main gift shop at the end of each night to have open/group event photos assigned to our account.  (They essentially said, don't wait until the next day.)  We knew that they were taking photos at the pool party, and that they took photos at Aunty's, so we went there immediately after we picked up Pickle.

This is an area where we were disappointed with Aulani's customer service compared to experiences at other Disney resorts.  We did exactly as we were instructed.  Arriving about 20 minutes before they closed the PhotoPass area.  (And we couldn't have arrived any sooner after picking up Pickle.)  The line was long and the people who worked the area were sort of grumpy.  And one of the ladies had an attitude.  Which was frustrating.  If you don't want too many people piling up in the gift shop at the end of the night, don't make a big deal about telling them to do so in the first place.  And then, maybe staff the area more appropriately.  We really would have preferred to just come back in the morning to select our photos, but we were just following instructions.  Oh well…  It's really not that big of a deal, but I expected the Aulani cast to be on point throughout our stay and this is one of a few examples where they just weren't up to Disney standards.

We did get some fun photos though.  Here are a couple from the comedy event at Aunty's 













It was probably 10pm at this point.  All in all, it was a fantastic day and we were ready to call it a night.

Good night moon.


----------



## disnygirl55

Fantastic update - loving it!


----------



## POTCfan

I felt the same way about the Starlit Hui when we went in October '15.  I definitely preferred the Old Lahaina Luau (which I've been to twice).  We are going to Oahu next week and we have tickets to Ka Wa'a (the new luau at Aulani).  I am not expecting it to be as good as the Old Lahaina Luau, but I hope it is better than the Starlit Hui.


----------



## alldiz

i don't want your trip to end! I am enjoying it so much. I love TR's from my fellow  Dis'ers who are not technology challenged and post many pics. 
So photogenic and u can see love in the photos...... priceless.


----------



## MarbleBob

disnygirl55 said:


> Fantastic update - loving it!



Thanks!!! 



POTCfan said:


> I felt the same way about the Starlit Hui when we went in October '15.  I definitely preferred the Old Lahaina Luau (which I've been to twice).  We are going to Oahu next week and we have tickets to Ka Wa'a (the new luau at Aulani).  I am not expecting it to be as good as the Old Lahaina Luau, but I hope it is better than the Starlit Hui.



Cool!  Would you be willing to come back after your trip and let us know what you thought of the new luau?  In the meantime, I hope you have an amazing trip!!!!!



alldiz said:


> i don't want your trip to end! I am enjoying it so much. I love TR's from my fellow  Dis'ers who are not technology challenged and post many pics.
> So photogenic and u can see love in the photos...... priceless.



Thanks a bunch, what a compliment!  Although this TR is winding down, the good news is... we have three more Disney trips planned over the next year, and I'll be writing TR's for them.  Just this morning, my company registered me to attend the "Disney's Approach to Employee Engagement" course at the Disney Institute.  I attended the Leadership Excellence course last year and it was amazing!  This will be held at the Grand Floridian in May.  I'll totally write a TR for it.    And then Stephanie and I are going a 4 night cruise on the Disney Wonder in October (San Diego to Cabo San Lucas) with a short visit to Disneyland afterward in October.  And then in January, I'm attending a business conference at the Wyndham Lake Buenavista (across the street from Disney Springs.)  I'm in charge of arranging the speaker presentations for the conference, and so far, I've got Lee Cockerel coming to give a presentation on leadership and customer service.  (As the former Executive VP of Operations of all of WDW, he's one of my business heroes.  I'm super stoked about this!)  That'll make for an interesting TR too


----------



## MarbleBob

*Day 15 - Saturday, July 2 - Part 1: Cabana Time!*

When we first booked Aulani, we were worried about the crowds… especially since we'd be there on 4th of July weekend.  We had read horror stories of people not finding enough chairs for their families, and that was a real concern for us…  So we decided that it might be worthwhile to rent a cabana for at least one of our full days.    However, based on our first day's experience, this turned out to not be as big of a problem as we had suspected. (As long as you were willing to go down to the pool area as soon as it opened, you could find spots.  You didn't really need to get down there at the break of dawn.  This might be different at other times of the year, though.)    Anyway, we could have saved ourselves a bunch of money and cancelled the cabana reservation after all, but we had all been looking forward to it for months, so we kept the reservation anyway 

The plan for the day was do head down to the cabana around 8:30am and spend the entire day in the pool area.  (The reservation lasted until 5pm.)  And then after the cabana, we planned to freshen up in our room for a little while before having dinner at the Makahiki buffet.

Here's the daily 'IWA for Saturday…









So yeah, we headed down to the cabana around 8:30 AM.





We were in "Cabana 4", which is over by the Ka Maka Grotto infinity pool.  Stephanie had done her research, and this was really the only location for us.  You could get a cabana over by the kiddie pool area, but it felt really isolated over there.  And then they had a couple more in the secluded adults only pool area too.  But for us, this turned out to be perfect, since we preferred that infinity pool and hot tub over all the other pools.  So stoked that we reserved early enough to get our first choice in locations!  

We were the first group to arrive, so we had fun checking it out pretty thouroughly…

A couple of these photos are using a fisheye lens, sorry for the funky distortions….









Here's the view looking straight out the front of the cabana…





And the older two already getting settled in…





So yeah, this turned out to be amazing for several reasons… 

It had a mini fridge, and we still had a fair amount of beverages from earlier in the week (essentially leftovers from Stephanie's family who left a couple days earlier.)  So that was nice! 
And then there was a little safe, so I was able to bring my nicer camera and camcorder down and leave them there when we got in the pool.  Nice! 
And then for Princess, she was content to kick back in her chair most of the day, being connected to her friends back home with her phone (and keep it charging the whole time.)  This was nice because she didn't feel the need to ditch us and head back up to the room to get "connected".
And of course, Buddy and Pickle loved having the TV as an option.  (Which we didn't use too much, but it was nice anyway. 
Oh, and the ceiling fan to keep the breeze going.   
And then a couple reserved lounge chairs up front in the sun.
Buddy was amped to get some breakfast and asked if he could go pick some stuff up for us.  Stephanie was like "sure" assuming he'd just get whatever people directly asked of him.  Somehow, he interpreted that as get an order or two of bacon for each of us.  LOL.  He spent like $25 on bacon.  "You did what?!?!?"  Oops!  At least we had the mini fridge to save it for later.  LOL.

This is what was left after we couldn't eat anymore:





We all had a good chuckle, and teased him, "No more room charging privileges for you!!!"

But yeah…. Mmmm… Disney bacon!

I had some potatoes too.  Besides that and the bacon, I don’t recall what else he brought back.





We spent the first half of the morning lounging, swimming, "lazy rivering", and stuff.  Just soaking it all in and enjoying every minute of it!

























I guess it's worth noting, that part of your experience is dependent upon how cool your neighbors are.  On the side facing the wall, those folks were cool.  Pretty low key and chill.

On the other side, they were pretty wild and loud.  They took their iHome thing and played music as loud as it could go.  It wouldn't have been that bad, except for they totally ruined the Hawaiian vibe by playing lots of Jimmy Buffet and 70's southern rock.  (Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it just distracted from the mood.)  Total tangent, but a couple months ago, we found that someone compiled a Trader Sam's playlist on Spotify.  (With the actual songs used in the background of Trader Sam's.)  Now, if they had been blasting this, I'd be giving them major kudos!

Here's the Spotify link to the Trader Sam's playlist.  It's so good!:  https://open.spotify.com/user/sfgnumber1/playlist/2FuztLcz1yHDvyZkXBDFl7

Back to regular programming... Around 11am, the attendant brought out some snacks.   A fruit tray, chips, and dried fruit.













Oh man, that fruit tray was heavenly!!!

Except for about 10 minutes later, they came back to ask if we wanted anything else.  Since we had just fished eating the fruit, we said, no thanks.  We didn't realize at the time, that they must have mean that they were ready to take our lunch order.  Because they never came back.  After an hour or so, we tried to wave them down a few times, but it didn't work out.  Thinking, surely, they'll be back soon we didn't make a deal out of it.

Around 12:30 PM, we were feeling pretty hungry and annoyed, so I went off to find the attendant.  Strange that they forgot about us, because they had checked up on our neighbors a couple times.  Truly not a big deal, I could have sought her out any time, but it was just weird that they advertise that they'll provide you service throughout the day, and they ignored us for that long.

Anyway, she came over and took our orders for lunch.

I had the fish tacos and onion rings.  This was definitely a step up from the food that we had at Ulu's.  It was actually really good.





Stephanie had the same thing, but with fruit.





Buddy had another burger… which he enjoyed quite a bit.





Pickle had another hot dog, which she also enjoyed.





For some reason, I didn't grab a photo of what Princess had.  I think she had the same thing that I did, and it was redundant to take a photo of hers…

Stephanie and I ended up having a couple frozen cocktails too.  *YUMMY!!!*





And then we relaxed for another hour or so.  Spending some time in the hot tub and whatnot.

Sometime around 2:30, they brought out a dessert tray.





Good stuff!!!!


----------



## MarbleBob

*Day 15 - Saturday, July 2 - Part 2:  Our Final Afternoon and Evening*

Around 2:45 PM, it was time to take Pickle over to Aunty's for Stitch's Space Goo.  (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Stephanie woke up at the crack of dawn and headed down to Aunty's to register Pickle for this.)

Pickle had a BLAST doing this and making her slime/goo!  Here are some of the PhotoPass photos…

















Around 3:30 PM, Buddy and I decided that we wanted to try out snorkeling at Rainbow Reef.  Being fairly blind (without my glasses) and living in the Midwest, snorkeling isn't really my thing.  I tried it once with Princess at Disney's Castaway Cay (and it was fun enough), but we've never done real snorkeling in the wild.  Someday, I'll have to rent some prescription goggles and give it a real go.  I'm saying all that to give you perspective on our experiences here.  It was actually a lot of fun.  But for someone who has real snorkeling experience, they might have thought it was lame?  The one negative thing… the water was pretty darn cold!!!!!!!!!





















I love how you find hidden Menehune all around the resort, even under water!!!!





After a half hour or so, Buddy decided the water was just too cold.  But I was still having fun.   Interestingly, despite being fairly blind, whenever I'd pull the mask off and let a thin wall of water coat the goggles, I could actually see decently for a couple minutes.  Not great, but good enough.  (If buddy got more than five feet or so away from me, I had a hard time telling him from other people.  I even confused him for another kid once, and ended up taking a selfie with a stranger.  The kid was a good sport about it though.  LOL. )

Anyway, Buddy headed over to the viewing area.  That was sort of fun to see him from the other side of the glass!









A little while later, I had enough and was ready to head out… and then around 4pm, we went to pick up Pickle from Aunty's…













She was pretty excited to show us her space goo!





We still had another hour with the cabana, so we went back and hung out there for a while…

Here's the other example of less than stellar service we received at Aulani.  The other families left their cabanas closer to 3:30 PM.  Several cast members came up to clean up their spaces around that time.  It was sort of weird.  Because instead of doing a little straightening up, they were doing full teardown cleaning of the areas while we were still in ours.  It felt very intrusive, sort of like as if you were in your room while Mouse Keeping was trying to clean it. And then they kept coming back to see if we had left yet, making it clear that they wanted us gone without actually saying so.  Frustrating, because we paid to have the cabana until 5pm.  Similar to the previous night at the photopass station, it seemed like the cast members were more interested in getting a head start to end their shift as soon as possible, instead of making sure that their guests were still enjoying themselves.  I'm sorry, Aulani cast members... to be such an inconvenience to you.  LOL.  

Again, I hate to be so picky and even bring this up.  In the grand scheme of things we had a TRULY AMAZING day.  It's just that for the price of staying at the resort, we expected at least very good service.  We've never felt like we were inconveniencing Disney staff before.  (And we've stayed at various WDW and DLR resorts a lot through the years.)  But there were actually quite a few occasions were the service just wasn't up to mainland Disney standards.  OK.  Rant over.   (And it's worth noting, that on the other hand, we also had a few encounters with truly amazing cast members too.  We're just not used to that being such an exception.)

At around 5pm, we headed back up to the room to change out of our swimming clothes and chill out a little while before dinner.  The dinner reservation was for around 6:45 PM.  We decided to take advantage of the PhotoPass and get a few last family photos…









And then we headed back to Makahiki for dinner!









Dinner was sort of a mixed bag.  We had read mediocre reviews of the place on Yelp beforehand, but we wanted to have at least one nice meal as a family at Aulani… so we decided to chance it.  The pro's were that the place is beautiful and we were seated in a great location outside.    Much of the food was pretty good, but the majority of it was just fine.  Maybe a C+/B- overall rating.  (For perspective, I'd rate something like the Boma buffet at Animal Kingdom Lodge more of an A.  This was easily a step or two below that.)













Here are a few snap shots of the buffet.  I took these pretty quickly with my phone, so they aren't great.

The sushi was fairly disappointing.  





Crab legs were easily my favorite thing on the menu.  I ate my fair share of these!





Pasta - meh...





















Desserts…













So yeah, some of the food was quite good, but most of it was just fine (at best.)  We did have a nice and attentive person taking care of us at our table.  That was cool!









After eating dinner, we wandered around the lobby for a bit longer, checking out the gift shop some more, soaking more of the atmosphere in, etc.  That lobby area is so nice!  Especially the evening.

I know that I shared a few relatively minor annoyances that we experienced throughout the day, but all in all it was pretty epic.  I wouldn't hesitate to do the whole thing all over again!


----------



## alohamom

LOL-The leftover bacon shot is priceless!


----------



## alldiz

MarbleBob said:


> Thanks!!!
> 
> 
> 
> Cool!  Would you be willing to come back after your trip and let us know what you thought of the new luau?  In the meantime, I hope you have an amazing trip!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks a bunch, what a compliment!  Although this TR is winding down, the good news is... we have three more Disney trips planned over the next year, and I'll be writing TR's for them.  Just this morning, my company registered me to attend the "Disney's Approach to Employee Engagement" course at the Disney Institute.  I attended the Leadership Excellence course last year and it was amazing!  This will be held at the Grand Floridian in May.  I'll totally write a TR for it.    And then Stephanie and I are going a 4 night cruise on the Disney Wonder in October (San Diego to Cabo San Lucas) with a short visit to Disneyland afterward in October.  And then in January, I'm attending a business conference at the Wyndham Lake Buenavista (across the street from Disney Springs.)  I'm in charge of arranging the speaker presentations for the conference, and so far, I've got Lee Cockerel coming to give a presentation on leadership and customer service.  (As the former Executive VP of Operations of all of WDW, he's one of my business heroes.  I'm super stoked about this!)  That'll make for an interesting TR too




Wow that sounds so amazing. I am in the Dental field and I wish I could have a reason to take a Disney course
I will be on the lookout for future reports....
Now off to read the next installment
Kerri


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## MarbleBob

*Day 16 - Sunday, July 3:  Going Home*

Oh no, it's time to go home!

On the one hand, we were very sad to see our amazing Hawaiian vacation come to an end, but on the other hand, it was a crammed packed two weeks and the idea of getting back to our normal routine (and sleeping in our own beds) was starting to sound good... 

Our return flight was scheduled for 12:50 PM.  So we figured that Leaving Aulani around 10am would give us enough time to return the rental car, get through security, have lunch, and then board the plane.  (And it did.)

I didn’t really get many photos on the return home… but, here we are getting ready to leave.  (Stephanie went to check out and follow up on a couple outstanding items, while the rest of us chilled in the main lobby.)





The drive to the airport and dropping off the car was pretty smooth and uneventful… and the line for security was actually pretty short.  No issues at all.





After we made it through security, we had about an hour before boarding started, so we went ahead and looked for a place to have lunch.  I don’t remember the name of the terminal we were departing from, but there weren't' a lot of eating options. They did have a small food court with a couple restaurants.  It was literally packed.  The easiest option turned out to be Burger King.  Oh well, what are you going to do?  (And funny that our first meal on Hawaii was McDonald's and our last was Burger King.  Hahahahah! )

We were flying on American Airlines again, but passed a few Hawaiian Airlines planes.  They are just too pretty!





The departure was also smooth and uneventful.

Here's a time lapse video that I made (put the GoPro in time lapse photo mode and stuck it against the window.)






And eventually, the sun set…  Just beautiful!





Not much else to say about the majority of the flight… until we came to coast west of LA.  It was around 9:30 or so.  Being July 3, there were actually a LOT of fireworks going off.  We got our first taste of them as we few over Catalina Island.  That was pretty awesome!

And I was on the wrong side of the plane, but as we made our way over LA, the plane flew a bit inland and then banked left to head up north, and then curve a little west for the final approach.  So looking out the right side of the plane, we actually flew over Disneyland.  And Stephanie and Pickle were able to see a few bursts from their fireworks show.  They actually saw one of those Mickey Mouse head bursts.  How cool!!!!!!

Here's another time lapse video of our approach into LA.






We had about an hour layover in LAX before our final leg back to St. Louis.  We had dinner at that same taco food truck again.  Eventually, we made it to St. Louis.  Stephanie's parents picked us up at the airport and drove us home!   Wow, the trip was finally over and we made it home safe and sound!!!

Stay tuned for a wrap up.   I'll share a few closing thoughts of our overall experience and I'll have a couple highlights videos too!


----------



## melk

MarbleBob said:


>




I love both of these pictures...they are just so inviting!

Happy to read in a previous post you have three trips planned as I love your trip reports, they are great reading!  When is your January trip?  We are considering a WDW trip the first week of 2018.


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## annie170

A really enjoyable trip report, Matt!  Reading through it entirely was a great way to spend a dreary Sunday afternoon.

How generous of your in-laws!  Hawaii has been on my bucket list for a long time.  One of these days.....

I'm envious of your photography skills.  The photos you captured are just amazing!

I don't think you were being picky at all regarding Aulani.  When you pay that kind of price, you expect good service. 

Lastly, would your in-laws consider adopting me?!?!


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## MarbleBob

melk said:


> I love both of these pictures...they are just so inviting!
> 
> Happy to read in a previous post you have three trips planned as I love your trip reports, they are great reading!  When is your January trip?  We are considering a WDW trip the first week of 2018.



Our January trip will be the week of Jan 22.  Looks like we'll probably miss you.  Would have been nice to finally say hello in person 



annie170 said:


> A really enjoyable trip report, Matt!  Reading through it entirely was a great way to spend a dreary Sunday afternoon.
> 
> How generous of your in-laws!  Hawaii has been on my bucket list for a long time.  One of these days.....
> 
> I'm envious of your photography skills.  The photos you captured are just amazing!
> 
> I don't think you were being picky at all regarding Aulani.  When you pay that kind of price, you expect good service.
> 
> Lastly, would your in-laws consider adopting me?!?!



Glad you found it and that helped get you through a dreary afternoon.  (It was 70 and sunny here in St. Louis today.  We've dreary wether the last week or so, and was a nice change!!!)

Hahaha about the adoption.  You aren't the first to ask that question


----------



## POTCfan

MarbleBob said:


> Cool!  Would you be willing to come back after your trip and let us know what you thought of the new luau?  In the meantime, I hope you have an amazing trip!!!!!



So the Ka Wa'a Luau was definitely better than the Starlit Hui.  I won't say it is a better value, as the Starlit Hui was free and the luau was expensive, but as far as a show goes, it was definitely better.  It was a Disney version of a luau.  And I will say it is far better than the Disney luau at the Polynesian (in Florida).  They had a little bit of a story, and tried to make it authentic to the people that grew up in Ewa (the local area).  They also worked in the story of Maui.  I guess I felt like this was a Disneyfied version in that at one point, the narrator said that Maui was their superhero.  And that did not feel real to me, I kept thinking the only reason they were talking about Maui was because of the movie Moana.  And they had fire dancing, which wasn't really a Hawaiian thing, but it is a showy, exciting thing.  And where the Old Lahaina Luau had some fake demonstrations of tattooing (tapping the needles with a hammer), this version had a rubber stamp tattoo that the kids can do.  Again, I don't think it was bad, just a little more Broadway Show than authentic luau.  And maybe it was more authentic than I am giving it credit for.  It was fun and I am glad I did it.

Oh, and thanks for the tip on the Shirokiya Japan Village Walk.  My family went there twice for dinner during our trip, though I had the same thing both times ("Aka Ramen") because I loved it so much the first time!


----------



## MarbleBob

POTCfan said:


> So the Ka Wa'a Luau was definitely better than the Starlit Hui.  I won't say it is a better value, as the Starlit Hui was free and the luau was expensive, but as far as a show goes, it was definitely better.  It was a Disney version of a luau.  And I will say it is far better than the Disney luau at the Polynesian (in Florida).  They had a little bit of a story, and tried to make it authentic to the people that grew up in Ewa (the local area).  They also worked in the story of Maui.  I guess I felt like this was a Disneyfied version in that at one point, the narrator said that Maui was their superhero.  And that did not feel real to me, I kept thinking the only reason they were talking about Maui was because of the movie Moana.  And they had fire dancing, which wasn't really a Hawaiian thing, but it is a showy, exciting thing.  And where the Old Lahaina Luau had some fake demonstrations of tattooing (tapping the needles with a hammer), this version had a rubber stamp tattoo that the kids can do.  Again, I don't think it was bad, just a little more Broadway Show than authentic luau.  And maybe it was more authentic than I am giving it credit for.  It was fun and I am glad I did it.
> 
> Oh, and thanks for the tip on the Shirokiya Japan Village Walk.  My family went there twice for dinner during our trip, though I had the same thing both times ("Aka Ramen") because I loved it so much the first time!



Wow, thanks for sharing your thougths on the Ka Wa'a Luau!  Yeah, for me, I wouldn't be disappointed about it being a little less authentic and more "Disneyish.".. if the overall quality of the production is good.  Sounds like that's the case here.  Glad you had fun with it!  Also, glad you had the opportunity to visit the Shirokiya Japan Village Walk.  That place was super cool!


----------



## MarbleBob

*Final thoughts*

So yeah, I said that I'd come back and share a few closing thoughts on the trip.  I'm sorry to leave you hanging for so long again 

In addition to all the photos that I took throughout our adventure, I also captured several hours worth of video.  Here are a few highlights...

*Part 1 - Maui*





*Part 2 - Oahu*





*Part 2 - Aulani*





All in all, it was a truly awesome, once in a lifetime experience.  I had assumed that I would love Hawaii, but it was even better than I had hoped.  I think I enjoyed the island of Maui itself a bit better than Oahu, but I liked that Oahu had a bigger variety of things to do.  If I was to come back for a relaxing beach vacation, I'd come back to Maui without a doubt.  The beaches around Kihei were easily the most beautiful beaches that I've ever visited.

And Aulani?  It really was amazing.  Truly amazing.  But in some ways, I feel like it has a lot of room for improvement compared to similar priced resorts like the Polynesian, Grand Floridian, Disneyland Hotel, etc.  It's quite expensive for a family of five.  Again, if we were a family of four in a smaller room, I think the value would have been much more in line with our expectations.  And I think they could do better with their food offerings.  We had some great meals on our 16 day trip, and unfortunately the Aulani ones were somewhat forgettable.  And finally, I feel like much of the cast was truly awesome, but we came across too many that were just OK.  (This is compared to our experiences at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and Disney Cruise Line.)   

It's worth noting that it's easy for me to separate my Aulani experience from my Oahu experience, because we did all of the Oahu sites before staying at Aulani.  For those who spend their entire experience at Aulani and mix their vacation with Oahu day trips, I think their overall impression of Aulani might be a bit more positive than ours.

I don't regret visiting Aulani in the very least.  Actually, we're super happy and stoked that we did.  But, I don't think we feel drawn to ever visit again.  If we come back to Hawaii, we'd probably put the Aulani money towards nicer accommodations, meals, and activities elsewhere.  Additionally, for similar amounts of money, I think I'd rather try visiting Tokyo Disneyland or Disneyland Paris 

I guess that's it.  Thanks to everyone for following along and providing such awesome feedback.

*What's next for us?*

I'm attending a Disney Institute training course at the Grand Floridian in May.  Stephanie will be tagging along with me, but our kids will be staying at home.  (Luckily, their grandparents are coming over to watch them while we are away.)  It'll be a quick four-day whirlwind, but we'll probably write up a TR for it.  We spent a good part of this past Sunday locking in our plans.   

I'll have two evenings in the parks (the rest in training) and we plan to try out the Skipper Canteen in MK for the first time on one of the nights, and then do the new version of Soarin' and ride Frozen the next night.  Stephanie is still trying to decide how she wants to spend her time while I'm in class.  She has a lot of great ideas, and some tough decisions to make!!!  (Oh and we plan to hit Trader Sam's before leaving for the airport!!!!)

Then... we celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary at the end of this year.  Beyond our honeymoon (at WDW of course), we've never done much more than going out to dinner on our anniversaries.  So for this milestone, we decided to do something special.  

We'll be doing a cruise from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas on the Disney Wonder in October.  And we'll stop at Disneyland for a couple days before we had back home.  We're super stoked on this one!!!

And lastly, we'll be back at WDW in January.  I have a work-related business conference in Orlando to attend.  I'm in charge of the conference programming and I've got a few things up my sleeve that I hope work out.  And then we'll probably spend the rest of the week in the parks.  This should make a very interesting TR!

I guess that's all for now.  Thanks again to everyone for reading along.  And thanks again to Stephanie's wonderful parents for including us in such an amazing 50th wedding anniversary celebration!


----------



## annie170

I appreciate your honesty regarding Aulani.  While I would love to visit Oahu, I'm not sure Aulani would be the right fit for us.

I understand completely booking a trip with a family of five.  We also have three kids, who are all grown now with families of their own.  When the values opened, we could not get a room there because it had the limit of four.  A few times we were able to get two adjoining rooms, but booking rooms for vacations was a hassle.  A friend once told me the world was designed for a family of four!


----------



## NOKA06

Amazing trip and amazing trip report! Thank you for sharing your experiences!


----------



## melk

Great final thoughts, and I finally had time to watch the videos. Very cool, I feel like I know you all after watching them!  I'm guessing you used a go pro to get the video footage.  You did a great job!  

Looking forward to reading about your next adventures


----------



## Princess Leia

Thank you so much for sharing your family trip to Hawaii. It looks like an incredible place. I don't think we'll ever make it there due to the distance and cost but I really enjoyed sharing your adventures. It does make me want to go on another family road trip. I'm looking forward to your next trip reports.


----------



## MarbleBob

annie170 said:


> I appreciate your honesty regarding Aulani.  While I would love to visit Oahu, I'm not sure Aulani would be the right fit for us.
> 
> I understand completely booking a trip with a family of five.  We also have three kids, who are all grown now with families of their own.  When the values opened, we could not get a room there because it had the limit of four.  A few times we were able to get two adjoining rooms, but booking rooms for vacations was a hassle.  A friend once told me the world was designed for a family of four!



You aren't kidding about the world being designed for a family of four.  It is pretty cool that Disney does have some resorts with rooms that actually sleep 5...  But it would be great if they had even more.  



NOKA06 said:


> Amazing trip and amazing trip report! Thank you for sharing your experiences!



Thank you for reading along and sharing your feedback.



melk said:


> Great final thoughts, and I finally had time to watch the videos. Very cool, I feel like I know you all after watching them!  I'm guessing you used a go pro to get the video footage.  You did a great job!
> 
> Looking forward to reading about your next adventures



Thanks for the feedback.  I actually had three video sources.  A lot from the GoPro, but most of it was from a traditional handheld camcorder, and some from our phones 



Princess Leia said:


> Thank you so much for sharing your family trip to Hawaii. It looks like an incredible place. I don't think we'll ever make it there due to the distance and cost but I really enjoyed sharing your adventures. It does make me want to go on another family road trip. I'm looking forward to your next trip reports.



Thanks for reading along, and I'm stoked that you enjoyed it.  I agree, family road trips are so much fun!!!  Our next family road trip is driving back to Florida in June to go on a Royal Caribbean cruise with my parents and my sisters family in June.  I'll probably skip writing a TR on Disboards since it's non-Disney, but it should be quite the adventure anyway


----------



## Vernie822

Hey Matt, I totally missed that you did a TR! Your Hawaiian adventure sounds incredible. How amazing that Stephanie's parents arranged that big family vacation. It sounds like it went really well. We recently did Maui & Oahu on our honeymoon (we stayed in Wailea & at Aulani), so our experiences seemed a bit similar.



MarbleBob said:


> Next step was the rental cars... Through Costco, we had four of them reserved, one for each family with Budget Rental Car. Unfortunately, they had a mix up... They saw that my father-in-law had reserved four of the same vehicle and thought it must have been a mistake. So they cancelled three of them without verifying it with him. In the meantime, they gave three of our cars away to someone else. Oops! That's bad enough, but their customer service was terrible. We ended up waiting over an hour to get things sorted out. Not cool after a LONG day of traveling! I have never personally used Budget before, but I certainly never will again!!! (Their service when we arrived in Oahu was even worse!)



OMG. We did Budget too in Maui. They gave us a minivan when we ordered a car, which was fine but we were honeymooning, LOL. The service was the same - took us 45 minutes to get everything ironed out, and the guy didn't seem to care. Never again. (We did Alamo on Oahu, so thankfully that was much better.)



MarbleBob said:


> Again, I don't remember what we had for lunch or most of the mid-day unpacking activities. But I do remember that white rum and POG juice are a match made in heaven!!!!



YES! I didn't even think of Rum. We did Vodka, but I think rum would've been even better!



MarbleBob said:


> We ended up Yelping around for dinner and decided on Coconut's Fish Café. This turned out to be a fantastic choice. While it wasn't anything fancy, it turned out to be one of the best meals on the trip!



Dang, I'm sad we missed that one! I had Yelped a bunch before the trip and wrote down some options. We ended up at Jawz Tacos in Kihei instead. We also did Kihei Caffe for breakfast which was amazing. I think Kihei had some of the best food options - local type stuff, and cheap!



MarbleBob said:


> On our way back, we passed a table with a WWII veteran who was willing to chat with you for a few minutes.





MarbleBob said:


> Sad to read that Herb passed away in December at the age of 99.



We met him too. I adored him, funny because I think he had the exact same outfit on when we met him, lol. So sad to hear he passed away.




MarbleBob said:


> So decision #1 was to rent a DVC points and get a one bedroom villa. Next decision was… who should we rent from? (We had never rented points before.) We looked closely at David's DVC and the DVC Rental Store. They both had good reputations and offered a point protection/insurance plan (in case you need to cancel.) The prices were similar, but the DVC Rental Store's point protection option was a little cheaper, so we decided to go through them. And it turned out to be super easy to rent from them. (I'm sure David's would have been equally as easy.) I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the DVC Rental Store, and I’m pretty sure we'll use them on our next big trip to WDW.



I love DVC Rental store. Glad you had such a good experience. We used them for a WDW trip once and it was great. I rarely think about the perspective of a family of five, since it's just me and my husband for now, but that is crazy that you'd have to do two rooms or a 1 BR. I'm glad the 1 BR worked out for you guys. Maybe they'd consider putting the pull downs in the studios or regular rooms in the future?! 



MarbleBob said:


> I guess this was literally our first taste of one of the mediocre aspects of Aulani… The food here was just OK at best.
> 
> However, Princess and Buddy were stoked on their chicken fingers. LOL.



I totally agree. We did breakfast here once, the snack shop for lunch once, and the pool bar for lunch once. Those fish tacos were pretty darn good! But overall I felt as if the quick service type food at Aulani was subpar. We did a lot of lunching in the room like you guys did, which was worth it to have the money to spend elsewhere IMO.



MarbleBob said:


> And within minutes, all the chairs were claimed….



Perfect spot! 



MarbleBob said:


> All in all, it was a truly awesome, once in a lifetime experience. I had assumed that I would love Hawaii, but it was even better than I had hoped. I think I enjoyed the island of Maui itself a bit better than Oahu, but I liked that Oahu had a bigger variety of things to do. If I was to come back for a relaxing beach vacation, I'd come back to Maui without a doubt. The beaches around Kihei were easily the most beautiful beaches that I've ever visited.



Yay! I am so glad you had such an amazing trip. My husband and I would agree - Maui was our favorite, although we loved Oahu and its activities. I am dying to go back, but I think we will take the route that you did, with a condo/villa and then maybe a night or two at Aulani just for fun!


----------



## PattiPB

Thanks for the awesome, comprehensive trip report. We often travel with extended family, and it does change the pace and dynamic of our vacations.


----------



## dolewhipdreams

You mentioned that you got the parking fee waived since you were renting DVC points. We're renting DVC points for a trip this November and I'm curious- are there any other discounts/perks you were able to take advantage of because of the points?

Great TR- loved your photos and it's getting me so excited for our trip!


----------



## MarbleBob

Vernie822 said:


> Hey Matt, I totally missed that you did a TR! Your Hawaiian adventure sounds incredible. How amazing that Stephanie's parents arranged that big family vacation. It sounds like it went really well. We recently did Maui & Oahu on our honeymoon (we stayed in Wailea & at Aulani), so our experiences seemed a bit similar.
> 
> OMG. We did Budget too in Maui. They gave us a minivan when we ordered a car, which was fine but we were honeymooning, LOL. The service was the same - took us 45 minutes to get everything ironed out, and the guy didn't seem to care. Never again. (We did Alamo on Oahu, so thankfully that was much better.)
> 
> YES! I didn't even think of Rum. We did Vodka, but I think rum would've been even better!
> 
> Dang, I'm sad we missed that one! I had Yelped a bunch before the trip and wrote down some options. We ended up at Jawz Tacos in Kihei instead. We also did Kihei Caffe for breakfast which was amazing. I think Kihei had some of the best food options - local type stuff, and cheap!
> 
> 
> We met him too. I adored him, funny because I think he had the exact same outfit on when we met him, lol. So sad to hear he passed away.
> 
> I love DVC Rental store. Glad you had such a good experience. We used them for a WDW trip once and it was great. I rarely think about the perspective of a family of five, since it's just me and my husband for now, but that is crazy that you'd have to do two rooms or a 1 BR. I'm glad the 1 BR worked out for you guys. Maybe they'd consider putting the pull downs in the studios or regular rooms in the future?!
> 
> I totally agree. We did breakfast here once, the snack shop for lunch once, and the pool bar for lunch once. Those fish tacos were pretty darn good! But overall I felt as if the quick service type food at Aulani was subpar. We did a lot of lunching in the room like you guys did, which was worth it to have the money to spend elsewhere IMO.
> 
> Perfect spot!
> 
> Yay! I am so glad you had such an amazing trip. My husband and I would agree - Maui was our favorite, although we loved Oahu and its activities. I am dying to go back, but I think we will take the route that you did, with a condo/villa and then maybe a night or two at Aulani just for fun!



Thanks for reading along!!!

Interesting that you had similar experiences with Budget.  That experience on Hawaii was enough that I'll never use them again!!!!!

Yeah, POG and Rum is a match made in heaven.  I'm sure vodka would be good too, but I'm more of a rum fain    And yeah, there sure were some great restaurants in Kihei.

It's cool that you came to similar conclusions about Maui and Oahu.  What an epic place!!!

Not sure how long ago your honeymoon was, but a belated congratulations!!!!  What a way to start off a marriage!!!!!



PattiPB said:


> Thanks for the awesome, comprehensive trip report. We often travel with extended family, and it does change the pace and dynamic of our vacations.



Thanks for reading along.  Yeah, there are certainly some pro's and con's to traveling with extended family.  In our case, I think the pro's usually outweigh the cons though 



dolewhipdreams said:


> You mentioned that you got the parking fee waived since you were renting DVC points. We're renting DVC points for a trip this November and I'm curious- are there any other discounts/perks you were able to take advantage of because of the points?
> 
> Great TR- loved your photos and it's getting me so excited for our trip!



Thanks for reading along!  With respect to other perks...  We reserved the cabana around 8 months early, and had to give them our reservation number.  The DVC points were associated with the reservation, so we got a discount on that.  But we didn't get any other discounts or similar perks.  That being said, we didn't really ask about them either, so there may be some additional ones that we didn't know about.


----------



## kelmac284

Finally found this. Was really looking forward to reading it when you had first posted but one thing about the Dis that irritates me is it doesn't seem to give you notifications most of the time so I missed this. LOVED it!! Your pictures and videos are awesome and hey Hawaii is gorgeous so you can never go wrong there!!  I have only been to Hawaii once and it was MANY years ago. 1990 to be exact and went with a friend to Oahu. Did a tour there and did things like Dole factory and a luau but go figure I got strep throat and missed quite a bit and have never been back. It is def a bucket list item but it is SO expensive and we usually travel with my parents so that makes 5 as well.  I think if we ever go we will do the same and get a timeshare or condo and then just do a day visit to Aulani vs staying there.  It does look amazing though!!

As always I am anxious for your next report. I have never done a Disney cruise or any cruise for that matter so looking forward to that.  

As for me since last time I read one of your reports we finally made it back to DW this past Dec.  We ended up flying in on xmas eve which was an adventure and we spent a week at DW in a timeshare and then 3 days at Univ at the Cabana Bay. Going at that time of year is always nuts and it was SUPER crowded but we knew it would be. We still had an amazing time and can't wait to go back again hopefully during Food and Wine which is our FAVE. My oldest is a senior and my younger one a Junior so prob won't be till after they each graduate. My younger one wants to work for Disney and is hoping to do the College program so that is a hope as well.

We also took a short trip to DL this past April to celebrate my younger one's 16th birthday. We ordered a really cool haunted mansion themed birthday cake and had dinner at Carthay Circle which we love.  

Our next trip was an impromptu that we just planned a few weeks ago and we are headed to DL in Nov on thanksgiving week. Again a super busy time and not usually what we would have chosen but with the girls being so high up in HS it is kind of a must.  My mom had bought my dad a plane ticket for DW and then he decided not to go so we had credits that were expiring and thus the idea of the trip.  We are super excited to get back and ride the train again and see the new star wars area since they took down the gates.  

Anyway really appreciate your report and will be anxiously watching for your next one.

Have a GREAT time on your cruise and happy anniversary


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## 2xcited2sleep

What a fantastic report!  I've taken quite a few notes for my "someday" trip.  Thanks so much for sharing.  I'm going to look up some of your other adventures as well!


----------



## MarbleBob

Hi Christine and Kelly.  I somehow missed your comments, but thanks again for reading and sharing the feedback.


----------



## MarbleBob

For anyone who's interested, Stephanie and I just got back from our 20th Anniversary, parents only, Disney Baja Cruise with a visit to Disneyland.  Here's the link, if you'd like to join the TR that I just started.  https://www.disboards.com/threads/2...se-and-disneyland-visit-october-2017.3640123/


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## Khokhonutt

I really enjoyed your trip report. We've done 2 trips to Hawaii, one where we spent a week on Oahu, then one where we were on Oahu for 4 days, then on the big island for a week. We've been getting the itch to go back and have considered Maui as our "next island", so the Maui portion of your report was especially interesting to me. It's actually a hard decision, as far as which island to visit goes. I absolutely loved the big island and could easily spend another week there, but Maui really does look appealing, so I'm fighting the urge to stick with what we know.

The Aulani information was also interesting. I know this may not be a popular opinion on a Disney board, but I've never gotten the draw to Aulani. There is so much to do on the islands, away from your room, I just can't see the point of the premium cost for their rooms. I have to be honest, your report helped solidify my opinion on that. Don't get me wrong, the place looks beautiful, but then everything is beautiful in Hawaii. We actually mentioned many times during our trips how nearly every place you go looks like your at the Polynesian resort, with the flowers and beautiful tended walkways. It's sad that they don't do a better job with the food. That would be a big sticking point for me. I make a point of eating local on trips and I found the local seafood and traditional Hawaiian food to be outstanding.

I'm looking forward to your new trip report. We've just started to research going on a cruise as well. I've been on one, but my wife hasn't. My experience on a cruise didn't sell me on the idea, but I owe my wife the chance to make up her own mind.  Once again, I really enjoyed your perspective and the info you shared.

Take care.


----------



## MarbleBob

Khokhonutt said:


> I really enjoyed your trip report. We've done 2 trips to Hawaii, one where we spent a week on Oahu, then one where we were on Oahu for 4 days, then on the big island for a week. We've been getting the itch to go back and have considered Maui as our "next island", so the Maui portion of your report was especially interesting to me. It's actually a hard decision, as far as which island to visit goes. I absolutely loved the big island and could easily spend another week there, but Maui really does look appealing, so I'm fighting the urge to stick with what we know.
> 
> The Aulani information was also interesting. I know this may not be a popular opinion on a Disney board, but I've never gotten the draw to Aulani. There is so much to do on the islands, away from your room, I just can't see the point of the premium cost for their rooms. I have to be honest, your report helped solidify my opinion on that. Don't get me wrong, the place looks beautiful, but then everything is beautiful in Hawaii. We actually mentioned many times during our trips how nearly every place you go looks like your at the Polynesian resort, with the flowers and beautiful tended walkways. It's sad that they don't do a better job with the food. That would be a big sticking point for me. I make a point of eating local on trips and I found the local seafood and traditional Hawaiian food to be outstanding.
> 
> I'm looking forward to your new trip report. We've just started to research going on a cruise as well. I've been on one, but my wife hasn't. My experience on a cruise didn't sell me on the idea, but I owe my wife the chance to make up her own mind.  Once again, I really enjoyed your perspective and the info you shared.
> 
> Take care.



Thanks Jeff!  I'm glad that you found my TR helpful and our thoughts/experiences with Aulani helpful too.    With respect to cruising, we've only been on Disney three times and Royal Caribbean once.  We liked the Royal Caribbean a lot, but the Disney cruises were superior in the most important ways.  Was your mediocre cruise on a Disney ship, or something else?  Id say if you haven't tried a Disney cruise yet, you owe it to both your wife and yourself to give them a chance to impress you!


----------



## Khokhonutt

MarbleBob said:


> Thanks Jeff!  I'm glad that you found my TR helpful and our thoughts/experiences with Aulani helpful too.    With respect to cruising, we've only been on Disney three times and Royal Caribbean once.  We liked the Royal Caribbean a lot, but the Disney cruises were superior in the most important ways.  Was your mediocre cruise on a Disney ship, or something else?  Id say if you haven't tried a Disney cruise yet, you owe it to both your wife and yourself to give them a chance to impress you!



Thanks again. We'll certainly check them out. My cruise experience was years ago, when our family went and I was a teenager. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just not what I tend to like in a vacation. I like to go new places and see new things. The cruise to me seemed like sitting at the same hotel and the same pools for days with a couple of stops in the ports. It does seem like cruises have changed quite a bit since then, so we'll see.


----------



## erin1715

Thank you so much for sharing your trip!  We are hoping to go to Aulani this summer and have been debating one other island to visit, and I think you've convinced me to do Maui!

That being said, would you be able to share exactly where you reserved your condo in Maui?  And even the exact place you stayed at?  I love the location right on the beach as well as the space of a condo.  Thanks!

ETA:  I found it on my own.  My only concern with renting a condo this far in advance is we can't cancel without a penalty.  I like the idea of a hotel because the ones I've found let you cancel up to a few days before with a full refund.  But I think a condo would be nice to spread out.  I think I'm going to wait to see how the booking of Aulani goes before I book the other part of our trip.


----------



## pepperandchips

Just wanted to say thank you for the beautiful report, Matt, as I’m not sure I got around to commenting much as it concluded. I’ve re-read it now and also sent my lurker husband here to enjoy your beautiful photos - we are heading to Maui and back to Aulani again for Christmas and both enjoyed reading about your family’s Hawaiian adventure. Thanks again for taking the time! It was so helpful.


----------



## Ashly Anderson

Would you reccomend Aulani for a toddler that’s 4?


----------



## MarbleBob

pepperandchips said:


> Just wanted to say thank you for the beautiful report, Matt, as I’m not sure I got around to commenting much as it concluded. I’ve re-read it now and also sent my lurker husband here to enjoy your beautiful photos - we are heading to Maui and back to Aulani again for Christmas and both enjoyed reading about your family’s Hawaiian adventure. Thanks again for taking the time! It was so helpful.



Awesome.  Thanks for the feedback, and have a Merry Christmas in Aulani!



Ashly Anderson said:


> Would you reccomend Aulani for a toddler that’s 4?


Yes!  Without hesitation, I totally would!   They have a fantastic splash zone just for younger kids, a 4 year old would LOVE the activities at Aunty's Beach House, of course the beach is amazing, the larger pool areas are totally kid friendly too...


----------



## Ashly Anderson

MarbleBob said:


> Awesome.  Thanks for the feedback, and have a Merry Christmas in Aulani!
> 
> 
> Yes!  Without hesitation, I totally would!   They have a fantastic splash zone just for younger kids, a 4 year old would LOVE the activities at Aunty's Beach House, of course the beach is amazing, the larger pool areas are totally kid friendly too...


Sorry one more question is it all inclusive?


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## MarbleBob

Ashly Anderson said:


> Sorry one more question is it all inclusive?


Unfortunately, it's not.


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## braysmommy

Thank you for the great report! We have Hawaiian cruise on DCL booked for 2020 and plan to spend 5 days on Maui before heading to Honolulu for a few nights.


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## MarbleBob

You're welcome.  Thanks for reading along and providing feedback!  

Your 2020 trip sounds AMAZING.  Best wishes, and an early "Bon Voyage!"


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## tink too

I've just found your TR, thank you for sharing your experiences and photos - they're wonderful.  We'll be visiting Oahu this summer, staying in Waikiki for 3 nights then spending a week at Aulani to relax so this has given me some insight into what to expect when we're there.


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## SueInBoston

Thank you so much for this TR !  We just found out my BF's work is sending us to Maui for 4 nights and we are extending 5 nights at Aulani.  I have very time to plan and your TR is saving me so much time and research.  I pretty much plan on just duplicating your Oahu itinerary.  (Maui is all work planned activities and excursions)

Thank you! Thank You!


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## Flossbolna

I was searching for pictures of one-bedroom villas which did not have the strange triangular balconies and found your trip report. I was thrilled to see the pictures of your Aulani villa and then thought that the poster looked familiar. I had enjoyed your DL trip report so much some years back that I went ahead and read the whole trip report over two evenings now. Another great read! Thanks for all the information in your report. I loved the Ranch tour on Oahu. I had looked into it, but wasn't so sure if it is something I would want to spend money on. But your pictures convinced me that it is worth it!

Now I am off to read the report about the Mexico cruise!


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## MarbleBob

tink too said:


> I've just found your TR, thank you for sharing your experiences and photos - they're wonderful.  We'll be visiting Oahu this summer, staying in Waikiki for 3 nights then spending a week at Aulani to relax so this has given me some insight into what to expect when we're there.



Thanks for reading along!!!  3 nights at Waikiki plus a week in Aulani sounds amazing!!  I hope you have a fantastic trip!!!



SueInBoston said:


> Thank you so much for this TR !  We just found out my BF's work is sending us to Maui for 4 nights and we are extending 5 nights at Aulani.  I have very time to plan and your TR is saving me so much time and research.  I pretty much plan on just duplicating your Oahu itinerary.  (Maui is all work planned activities and excursions)
> 
> Thank you! Thank You!



Wow, it sounds like your BF found a great place to work!!!! How cool!  Not sure if you've finished the trip or not, but I hope it was awesome!!!!



Flossbolna said:


> I was searching for pictures of one-bedroom villas which did not have the strange triangular balconies and found your trip report. I was thrilled to see the pictures of your Aulani villa and then thought that the poster looked familiar. I had enjoyed your DL trip report so much some years back that I went ahead and read the whole trip report over two evenings now. Another great read! Thanks for all the information in your report. I loved the Ranch tour on Oahu. I had looked into it, but wasn't so sure if it is something I would want to spend money on. But your pictures convinced me that it is worth it!
> 
> Now I am off to read the report about the Mexico cruise!



How cool!  It's fun to see old trip reports still being helpful/interesting to people today.  Yes, the ranch tour was totally awesome.  Definitely glad that we did that one!!!!  Thanks for reading my TR's, and I'm stoked that you are off to read about the Mexico cruise too.   Hope you have an amazing trip to Hawaii


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## Jamesmom7

MarbleBob said:


> Aloha everyone!  Welcome to my latest trip report.  My family and I are pretty big Disney fans, and while we've visited Walt Disney World and Disneyland lots of times (and even been on a couple Disney Cruises), we sure didn't think we'd be getting to Aulani any time soon!   Well that was until my in-laws announced that they wanted to take their entire family to Hawaii to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.  15 of us in total!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So, in June 2016, we spent six nights in Kihei, Maui and then island hopped over to Oahu for six nights in a condo at the Ko Olina Resort (next door to Aulani.)  And then after the rest of the extended family headed back home, we spent a final three nights enjoying Aulani by ourselves (DW, DD16, DS13, DD9.)
> 
> So yeah, a total of 15 nights... this was our first time visiting Hawaii and we were pinching ourselves the whole time.  Memories for a lifetime!!!
> 
> Since we only spent three nights at Aulani, I questioned whether or not to write a traditional trip report here on DISBoards.  (Especially over six months  afterwards!)But after thinking about it for a while, I think it's worth sharing our experiences because while Aulani was fantastic and we don't regret it in the least, the resort does have room for improvement (value and service wise) when compared to other flagship resorts like the Grand Floridian, The Polynesian, Disneyland Hotel, etc.  And those who are interested in exploring the island of Oahu while staying at Aulani may find some of our island experiences interesting too.  (We spent a total of nine nights on Oahu.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They say a picture is worth a thousand words… no clue what the how many words this collage is worth, but I hope it gives you a decent glimpse at some of the highlights from our trip.   These photos are just the tip of the iceberg... as I'll be sifting through over 5,000 of them for this TR.  In the meantime, here are a few other highlights:
> 
> Maui:
> 
> Breathtaking sunrise at the summit of Haleakalā
> Lots of beach time around Kihei (but mostly Keawakapu Beach)
> Checking out the ʻIao Needle at ʻĪao Valley State Park
> Experiencing the amazing Old Lahaina Luau
> Driving the amazing Road to Hana
> Exploring the Lava Fields at the southwest corner of Maui
> Lots of good food and tasty treats!
> Oahu:
> 
> Taking the boat out to see USS Arizona Memorial and then exploring the USS Missouri in Pearl Harbor
> Hiking to the top of Diamond Head crater and swimming at Waikiki Beach
> Shopping at the LeSportsac outlet store and Ala Moana Center in Honolulu
> Exploring the lagoons in the Ko Olina Resort area
> Going on the Jungle Expedition Tour in the Kualoa Ranch
> Wandering through the beautiful grounds at the Byodo-In Temple
> Exploring the North Shore (with a stop at the Dole Plantation)
> More food and tasty treats…
> And of course Aulani!!
> I assume that many of you will be more interested in reading about our Aulani and Oahu experiences.  So to keep you from waiting too long... I'm starting this TR with the Maui experiences already written.
> 
> If I've piqued your interest enough to continue, then I guess you can "choose your own adventure."    Either start with our fantastic experiences on Maui, or feel free to skip ahead to our arrival in Oahu.  (See the table of contents below for links.)



I’m totally creeping on you for any Maui advice. I’ve read old Lahaina is the best luau but I’m hesitant with the lack of fire dancing. This is our third luau but my parents are coming along and it’s their first trip to Hawaii and possibly their only one ever and I want the best luau experience for them. Would you still recommend it? Any personal favorites for restaurants? We like our food! Any off the wall random finds you really enjoyed? We’ve never been to Maui. They want to do the lavender farm and I want to see a rainbow eucalyptus and do the road to hanna. I want to see a black sand beach! I haven’t read through your post so these may be answered and I apologize if so.


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## NAB

Really late to the party...loved your trip report. 

It gave me insight on what to expect on our upcoming trip in April. Loved all the map visuals and pictures. I realize your trip was years ago but I’m sure landmarks haven’t moved. 

Every trip report I have seen has said Diamond Head is a chore to get up. Hope we can make it. 

The road to Hana can be done in a day, good to know. I heard you don’t want to be on it at night. 

We fly in 2 weeks early, island hop and do the last 2 nights are at Aulani then we are on the DCL Hawaii cruise around the islands and return to Vancouver. I well need the 5 sea days to recoup lol. 

Thanks for sharing , getting really excited now. I showed my husband some of it , he is the planner and organizer .


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## cgattis

Jamesmom7 said:


> I’m totally creeping on you for any Maui advice. I’ve read old Lahaina is the best luau but I’m hesitant with the lack of fire dancing. This is our third luau but my parents are coming along and it’s their first trip to Hawaii and possibly their only one ever and I want the best luau experience for them. Would you still recommend it? Any personal favorites for restaurants? We like our food! Any off the wall random finds you really enjoyed? We’ve never been to Maui. They want to do the lavender farm and I want to see a rainbow eucalyptus and do the road to hanna. I want to see a black sand beach! I haven’t read through your post so these may be answered and I apologize if so.


There is a free botanical garden along the way to Hana with plenty rainbow eucalyptus. Bring bug spray though!! I would definitely recommend being back off that road before dark.  Waianapanapa Beach was amazingly beautiful—one of the highlights of our whole trip for me!! Wear sandals not sneakers because depending on the sun, you might need to keep them on!  I thought my kids were being wimpy but it was really hot!!  I also recommend you take drinks and snacks.  You read about all these great places to stop, but we found many of them closed for the day or permanently.  I do recommend the coconut milk ice cream stand (Coconut Bob’s maybe?  Just google it.). ETA: Glen not Bob! It was fantastic.  We enjoyed driving upcountry too, to see the big ranches (DH is a cattle farmer).  We also did Haleakala but not at sunrise (just didn’t want to tackle that) and it was still very cool (and very cold at the top LOL).  Any other Maui questions, just start a thread.  Lots of DIS’ers have done combo trips.


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## Doug7856

Spectacular trip report! We're planning a trip this summer 2020 to Kauai for nine nights and Aulani for seven nights. We rented out one year of points to pay for our airfare and we're using two years of points for the seven nights at Aulani...so three years total. Your report gave us a lot to think about for planning at Oahu.

mahalo


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