# Dreams Come True in Blue Hawaii - Aulani, Kauai, Disneyland May 2017 TR, updated 7/30



## pepperandchips

Aloha, Mahalo for joining me and 



to my first big trip report like this. I'm Melinda, a disneyphile with a larger travel bug. I have been wanting to write this report for a while - ever since we returned from the trip, actually, but it's been a whirlwind of a year for me. I'm going to go ahead and totally spoil the early posts of thTR, but many of you may know me from around the boards anyway and it's been so long that I will 'fess up that this is the trip on which I got engaged to my partner (and now fiance) "R". We don't want his students to find my reports so I don't use his full name. Here we are blissed out, all freshly engaged and what not:






We are an early thirties couple and hail from Atlanta, Georgia. In fact, I asked R to take this trip in celebration of my 30th birthday. While I wouldn't actually turn 30 on the trip, R was unable to travel over my actual birthday in August due to the academic calendar, so we opted to celebrate a bit early by leaving just before Memorial Day, 2017. This Memorial Day weekend (2018) will be our wedding weekend, and I really want to share our experience and also document the memories so I can look back on the trip report and the photos in the future.






R has begrudgingly become a Disney fan (like he has a choice ) but tells me that he won't admit it if I tell anyone else, so you'll just have to take my word for it. I can't remember exactly why I had my heart set on Hawaii for my 30th but I knew I wanted to visit Disneyland, and when I researched in earnest I set my sights on Aulani (for obvious reasons) and Kauai after seeing photos of the Na Pali coast. 






We're DVC and I also had the good fortune of a friend who transferred us some points for that use year, so we were able to book Aulani on DVC points in November when the 7 month window opened. I also waitlisted Grand Californian on a hope and a prayer for our Disneyland stay, and eventually (in January, when I'd just about given up hope) our Grand Californian waitlist matched for 2 of the 3 nights we needed. We spent the last night in Anaheim at the Park Vue Inn just across the street from the Esplanade.






Mind you, it's now a full 9 (almost 10) months after this incredible vacation, and my note taking waned throughout the trip, but I have a plethora of photos and hope to help some other folks planning Aulani stays. If this report devolves into a photo dump, you can't say you haven't been warned!






Our itinerary: (will try to come back later to link posts, no promises)

Day 0: May 26 - fly to Seattle, stay in airport hotel
Day 1: May 27 - fly from Seattle to Honolulu, check in at Aulani, get groceries, enjoy resort
Day 2: May 28 - Island day, Diamond Head, brunch, hang around resort
Day 3: May 29 - Resort day, dinner at Kona Brewing
Day 4: May 30 - North Shore, Haleiwa, Shave Ice, Beach House Lunch review
Day 5: May 31 - Resort day, Ama Ama dinner
Day 6: June 1 - Travel to Kauai, Pink's Creamery
Day 7: June 2 - Kalalau Trail hike, lunch at the Hanalei Gourmet, Jojo's shave ice, beach, Dinner at Tahiti Nui
Day 8: June 3 - helicopter tour, lunch at Kountry Kitchen, fly to LA
Day 9: June 4 - arrive at Disneyland, more Disney fun, Lunch at Cafe Orleans, Trader Sam's, Uva Bar
Day 10: June 5 - More Disneyland fun, Tortilla Jo's, Soundsational, Napa Rose Chef's Counter
Day 11: June 6 - Even more Disneyland fun, switch hotels, famous Whitewater Snacks nachos, pool time, our first ever churro, World of Color dessert party 
Day 12: June 7 - last Disneyland day, lunch at Royal Street Veranda/French Market, go home 

So join us, if you like, for a report retelling of our engagement and absolutely amazing trip to Aulani, Kauai, and Disneyland!


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## pepperandchips

*Day 0: Travel Day*

R and I were both scheduled to work a full day on May 26, so we'd scheduled an evening flight for 7:45 pm to Seattle, where we'd spend the night at an airport hotel and connect in the morning on to Honolulu. We are definitely not rich, but as a dual income no kids family and with this being a big milestone birthday trip (remember, not engaged at this point) we ended up springing for an amazing rate and getting first class seats for our airfare. Unfortunately this method required multiple carriers and I never should have allowed myself to experience the absolute luxury of a sumptuous first class flight on Hawaiian airlines. But, alas, I am getting ahead of myself.

So throughout the day on Day 0, Delta kept moving around our assigned seats that I had selected when booking our airfare. I was getting irritated with this constant shuffling and, at the time I left the office, they were showing us in comfort plus seats and the Delta 1-800 number had a 3 HOUR HOLD TIME . I figured I would sort it out at the airport as I would much rather be in economy on the way to Hawaii than sitting in Atlanta.

By the time we got to the airport, they'd mostly sorted it out, but our flight ended up getting delayed a bit, so I accidentally created the first monster of the trip, and that was using my Delta American Express benefit to buy R and I both guest passes to the Sky Club. My mom used to work for Delta in what was then the Crown Room Club (now it's the Sky Club, but same thing) and so of course the Crown Rooms always seemed to me like the height of grown up luxury. It was a real treat for us to be whisked away from the hustle and bustle of one of the world's busiest airports to the serenity of the Sky Club. We had some soup, pimento cheese, crudites, macaroni and cheese, and chicken salad along with, of course, some adult libations. Eventually our flight did take off around 8:30 pm.






We were supposed to be in row 3, they ended up bumping us to row 6 after all the moving, but we were happy to just finally be departing for our amazing trip!











Bye, Atlanta!

On the flight I watched a few films including the Descendants, which is set on Kauai and Honolulu, if you have not seen it. I needed to get in the spirit!






I had some kinda crappy ravioli and R picked chicken, I think. I knew better than to order airplane chicken. Overall I would say first class on this leg was probably worth it but not something we would necessarily spring for again. It's about a 5 hour flight from Atlanta, so it was definitely a nice luxury to enjoy the first class service but I didn't think it was so exceptional that I'm spoiled forever.

In case anyone is wondering, we stayed at the Doubletree in Seattle. It is located across from the airport and they have an airport shuttle that we used both ways. We had apparently gotten on a shuttle with a plane full of people who had received hotel vouchers for a cancelled flight, so the line to check in after we got off the shuttle was LONG. There was also a video game convention at the hotel and they didn't have nearly enough staff to go around so there was a lot of trash piled up. It didn't help that it was about 2:40 am our time when we were waiting to check in. As soon as we got our room, we crashed.

Day 1: Travel to Honolulu

The next morning dawned absolutely beautiful - we loved seeing Mount Rainier from the airport.  Our flight was at 9:00 so we were pretty well starving by the time we hit the airport, so we had some crappy airport food while we waited to board.






We should not have eaten in the airport - Hawaiian airlines is amazing but I had no way of knowing that!
















Hawaiian First Class is the definition of decadent air travel. Okay, it's not Emirates or whatever, but I certainly don't usually fly this fancy. We had lay-flat seats, individual iPads for in flight entertainment, and unparalleled service.






Our seat neighbors asked us if we were on our honeymoon. We giggled. Someone is not great at keeping secrets so I had an idea that a surprise was in the works.






I couldn't get over the leg room






Hawaiian is known for serving mai tais in flight. These were our first of the trip!






We laughed a little to ourselves after being asked if we were joining them for brunch. Like uh nope we're just going to go get breakfast from somewhere else on the plane. Yes, of course, bring us food!






Some passengers made themselves quite comfortable for the long-ish flight. It was almost 6 hours, if I recall correctly.






We passed a good amount of the time during the first half of the flight eating the multi-course brunch we were served.
















The food was mostly really good. The eggs and potatoes were just ok, but it was airplane food.

Coming in to Honolulu, we passed by Ko Olina. If you look really close you can spot Aulani!






I was really excited to see paradise!

*Up next*: checking in at Aulani, sunset at the Olelo room, and dinner at MonkeyPod


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## pepperandchips

*Day 1, Continued:*

Upon our arrival into Honolulu, we had to wait for an available gate, and as a result we ended up at a gate not normally used for flights coming from the mainland. So it was a true adventure to find our way to the Alamo car rental (not helped at all by an airport employee who saw us looking around and sent us the wrong way). Eventually we were sent on our way with a Jeep that neither of us particularly cared for. It took about 30 minutes for us to get to Aulani, and our room was ready when we got there so we went from the Alamo lot to inside our room at Aulani in less than 45 minutes. It was overcast when we dropped our bags off so you will have to wait on the room view pictures, I promise they are worth it!

We knew jet lag would set in shortly and we had a limited window of productive time, so we headed straight to run the necessary errands - namely, picking up booze and food for the room.






First stop, of course, was Leonard's, for the world famous malasadas!






Yes, we did get a ton of them.






Oh yeah! Check out those bad boys! We got 6 original, 6 haupia (coconut), and 6 chocolate filled. Total including tax was $26.70 and they were so worth it! Especially hot and fresh.

Our next stop was at the Safeway in Kapolei, and after doing all of our shopping there, paying, and leaving, we saw the wal-mart literally across the street. I am sure wal-mart would have been less expensive! We did at least remember bags. We bought fruit, frozen breakfast sandwiches, frozen hash browns, some ready-made pork, tortillas, salsa, chips, lettuce, other snack stuff that I can no longer remember, two kinds of liquor, a six pack of beer, soda, sparkling water, juice, extra plates and stuff and our total was $247.87. It was a little more than I had planned to spend on room supplies but it ended up saving us in the long run considering how many meals and cocktails we made off those supplies compared to the resort prices. For example, a bottle of rum was $27.99 and two mai tais at the pool bar were $27.00 (both before tax). So I think we did okay there.

When we went back to our room, #1204, we were treated to a sunnier view from the room:
















We had requested a high floor room with one of the straight across non-triangle balconies. We did end up with a triangle balcony but ultimately really liked the room location and were glad that the high floor request was honored. I never did get over the incredible view! 

It was still a little overcast but the sun was definitely on its way out. We unpacked our groceries and relaxed in the room for a little while before heading down to check out the resort.

I took this picture in the shop to send to my sister, who LOVES Duffy:






That's a lot of Duffy and Shellie May merch!

We found the Olelo room and helped ourselves to a couple of seats on the patio. There was live entertainment, and if you have ever seen them, you will know why I won't ever forget that this duo is Sonny and Marsha Marsha Marsha. They must have said it after every single song! Still, it was pleasant, and her instrument was pretty cool. It's a washboard with a wooden handle and a rope.






From the Sunset Hour menu, we ordered the Loaded Nachos - Kālua Pork, Taro Chips, Fire-roasted Pineapple Salsa, Poi Sour Cream ($9)






These were a pretty good value for Hawaii, but they were just "pretty good" and not great. I did not feel the need to go back for them again. The taro chips were an interesting twist on your usual bar nacho.






We also ordered a round of cocktails. I had the Summer Greyhound with Absolut Vodka, Wild Turkey American Honey, Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice, Lychee, and fresh lemon juice topped with soda water. ($13.50) It was very refreshing.






R had the Island Red Sangria - Eppa Organic Red Sangria topped with Absolut Berri Acai Vodka ($13). I think he just panicked and picked something as this is not something he would usually go with at all. I don't think he liked this as much as I did mine. I tasted it and it was fine, but pretty basic.






We had a nice relaxing time just listening to the music and enjoying our drinks, soaking in the Aulani ambiance. I could see doing this several times during my trip if I had a longer stay. Our total was $37.17 not including tip. I can't describe how immense and grand the resort feels when you're inside it. There is definitely some Hawaiian magic in there air there.






At this point we were just trying to follow jet lag advice and stay awake as long as possible, so we headed across the street to Monkey Pod. Even after reading so many reviews of Monkey Pod, I was not sure what to expect. I would call it an upscale casual kind of restaurant. There is indoor and outdoor seating and live music on some nights, and while the food is good and there is an emphasis on fresh ingredients, it's nothing fancy.

We were seated next to the bar in a booth, which was fine. We were near a fountain/water feature which I recall being loud but we were just so tired it did not matter.






We each ordered a local-ish beer: I had the Maui Brewing Company Mana Wheat and R picked the Maui Brewing Company Big Swell IPA. We were pleasantly surprised by how many beers were on draft and our server did a fairly good job with his recommendations.

While I really wanted something a little more Hawaiian, ultimately one menu item caught my eye:






Hamakua Wild Mushroom & Truffle Oil Pizza - $18.95 white sauce, garlic, parmesan, fresh thyme. Anything with truffle oil is up my alley, and while I wish I had gone farther afield than "pizza" on our first night in Hawaii, this hit the spot and filled my tummy nicely.






R chose  Pete’s Fresh Fish & Chips - $23.95 day boat, troll-line caught mahi mahi tempura style, malt vinegar aioli. These were really good but for $24 the portion of fish could have been bigger. The fries were good but a little greasy.

One of us had a second beer - we might have shared it, I can't remember.

Total for three beers, a pizza, and fish & chips with tax before tip came to $70.58 . We walked back to our room and crashed immediately! We had big plans for the next day that would cause us to rise bright and early.

*Up next:* visiting Diamond Head!


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## 2xcited2sleep

I’m in!  Aulani is on my bucket list and I’m trying to learn all I can and file away tips.  Congratulations on your engagement.  I’m looking forward to the story - you’re an adorable couple!  Sounds like first-class is the “only” way to manage such a long flight.  Hawaiian Air looks amazing!  Hurrah for arrival and getting squared away with supplies.  Bringing bags, Leonard’s and Monkeypod are all on my list!  Looking forward to more!!


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## bajadahl

Thank You!  Really appreciate you adding the cost of shopping and various meals.  We are going in to Aulani in early July (kind of unexpectedly after our extended family had to cancel a different itinerary)  So I am way behind on figuring our budget.  Loving the pictures and super cute couple as well.  Congratulations!


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## Dis_Yoda

Yay for you finally doing this!  Aulani for 30th birthdays are the best!


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## John-DVC

Looking forward to the rest.  Great pictures.


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## alohamom

Following-your pics are stunning!


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## pepperandchips

2xcited2sleep said:


> I’m in!  Aulani is on my bucket list and I’m trying to learn all I can and file away tips.  Congratulations on your engagement.  I’m looking forward to the story - you’re an adorable couple!  Sounds like first-class is the “only” way to manage such a long flight.  Hawaiian Air looks amazing!  Hurrah for arrival and getting squared away with supplies.  Bringing bags, Leonard’s and Monkeypod are all on my list!  Looking forward to more!!


Thanks, Christine! Glad to have you along. Aulani is a dangerous bucket list item as now I tell R about once a week that I am ready to go back. 

The story is coming up shortly - lucky got my readers, R couldn't wait long with such a big "secret". 

We were lucky to score such an amazing deal on the first class multi-leg tickets. I think it's worth what we paid but it was only a couple hundred dollars more than the comfort plus seats were, and even though Atlanta has direct flights, I really think the shorter connecting flights helped us handle it better. 



bajadahl said:


> Thank You!  Really appreciate you adding the cost of shopping and various meals.  We are going in to Aulani in early July (kind of unexpectedly after our extended family had to cancel a different itinerary)  So I am way behind on figuring our budget.  Loving the pictures and super cute couple as well.  Congratulations!


I saved or took pictures of as many receipts as I could to try to help other people with their plans. I'm terrified to see the total, but it's all been paid for so I guess it won't hurt too much. I forgot to mention that our grocery tabs (there's another one on Kauai) also include some fancy Hawaiian coffee, for us, and for souvenirs. I couldn't resist. And thank you for your well wishes and for joining me! 



Dis_Yoda said:


> Yay for you finally doing this!  Aulani for 30th birthdays are the best!


Glad you found me  your Aulani report helped me so much! So just paying it forward!!!



John-DVC said:


> Looking forward to the rest.  Great pictures.


Thank you! Glad to have you along!



alohamom said:


> Following-your pics are stunning!



Thank you! I rented a couple wide angle lenses for this trip. I tend to stick with Point and shoot or iPhone pics on our other trips but this was one  worth lugging the DSLR for!


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## AussieDisneyfans

Following along - love all the pictures - truly beautiful.  We are hoping to get to Aluani Nov/Dec 2019, plus your title caught my eye "Dreams come true in Blue Hawaii" being an Elvis fan and that being my favorite movie of Elvis's did it for me. Congrats on your engagement.


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## pepperandchips

AussieDisneyfans said:


> Following along - love all the pictures - truly beautiful.  We are hoping to get to Aluani Nov/Dec 2019, plus your title caught my eye "Dreams come true in Blue Hawaii" being an Elvis fan and that being my favorite movie of Elvis's did it for me. Congrats on your engagement.



Thank you, glad to have you here! I love that Elvis song too and have been listening to both Blue Hawaii and the Hawaiian Wedding song an awful lot while working on wedding plans! I hope some of what we did helps with your Aulani planning. I know I read tons of reports before going to Aulani myself and they were very helpful!


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## pepperandchips

*Day 2: Diamond Head, Haleiwa Joe's, Resort Time*






So when we woke up the next day, I knew something was up. R wanted me to hike up Diamond Head in a dress.  Now, I've done plenty of easy hikes in a dress (with shorts under) in the past but I had read lots of reports on just how many stairs there were at Diamond Head so I was NOT planning on dressing for style. Since he suggested a particular dress, of course I wore it, but I pretty much knew exactly what was up. (He is a smart man, and had asked me many months before what I wanted my engagement ring to look like, and covertly ordered it. But then about a month before our trip there was an elaborate ruse about going to his brother’s house to meet a friend, and let’s just say my spidey senses were on full alert prior to the morning’s weird outfit suggestions ).

We got out of the resort pretty early and arrived at Diamond Head around 7:00 am - I had planned to arrive earlier since we were taking advantage of the jet lag and the fact that we awoke so early on our own. We were almost too late to get a parking spot in the main lot at the trail head, and it warmed up quickly while we were enjoying the park, so I really advise getting there as early as possible. 

I would also recommend looking at the Diamond Head website and at the trail maps on there - I am in slightly better health now, but after having read others’ reports on the Diamond Head experience, I knew that the enclosed stairs portions as you are nearing the top of the climb would be a likely trigger for a panic attack for me. We were able to avoid the worst of them by going “up” the “exit” - really there are people going up and down both ways, and we just took advantage of the more gradual sloping paths to reach the top rather than climbing those narrow and claustrophobic stairs. Note that if claustrophobia is a significant concern, you should not do this hike. There is an unavoidable tunnel to reach the observation station at the top. If joint pain or other health conditions are of concern to you, I would highly advise getting a map and avoiding those second and third sets of stairs like we did.





(you can see the sloping paths at the right of this picture if you look closely)






Of course, we stopped plenty of times to take tons and tons of photos. It really is a lovely view and from portions of the ascent, you can get an idea of just how populated Oahu is in areas. 
















Upon reaching the observation deck, I took about a million more pictures, we took pictures of each other, and we even got another visitor to take a photo of us. And... nothing from R... so I’m thinking “well what did I wear this dress for?”  when R asks the camera man to take one more photo of us and fishes out the ring. We have a little video of the end of the proposal, and a couple of candids of R “popping the question”. I, of course, being so excited, can’t remember all of what he said - it was very sweet and very "us" but the important part was that he asked me to watch Jeopardy with him every night for the rest of forever and of course I agreed.






Afterward, he admitted he did not think the climb would be so rigorous and he was sort of envisioning a walk in the park with not too many people around. That is NOT what Diamond Head is, so this is kinda funny in retrospect.






Obviously, Diamond Head now holds a very special place in both of our hearts as the scene of our engagement, but I really don’t understand why so many posters here on the Aulani boards have recommended skipping it recently. We loved it as our first day activity - you don’t have to plan too much (other than to arrive early) and the full experience provides an incredibly scenic view out over the island. I feel like it really set the tone and prepared us to enjoy Oahu, especially since we had no interest in visiting Waikiki or Honolulu in general. I think history and military buffs might especially enjoy those elements of this experience but even if you are just there to look at the pretty view,  I found the experience to be worthwhile. I also purchased my favorite souvenir there - a Diamond Head (Nalgene style) plastic water bottle that I use every day now and it reminds me of that beautiful morning. We found the gift options at the ranger station in the parking lot to be relatively few but worthwhile and reasonable in price.





(if only the Atlanta skyline had a lovely ocean as part of the landscape)

We were starving after all the morning’s excitement and decided to try a restaurant I’d read great things about, which served a highly recommended Sunday brunch buffet. Haleiwa Joe’s at Haiku, not unreasonably far from Diamond Head, was to be our destination. Spoiler alert: this was one of the best meals of the trip. If you can reasonably fit this stop into your island touring plans on a Sunday while you are visiting, you absolutely should. 

Upon arriving, we had a bit of a challenge finding parking (first good sign, okay this is popular!). We did snag a spot and put our name on the waiting list - the hostess told us it would be an hour so we elected to tour the expansive and lush grounds. 






We found their wedding chapel and the first of the trip’s chickens - I found them hilarious but they became old hat on Kauai. 

After we saw all there was to see, we asked the hostess about getting drinks from the bar and she told us our table was being prepared so we didn’t bother. We probably waited 10-15 minutes total including our self-guided tour, and were seated at what had to be the best table in the whole restaurant! Here was our view:






The restaurant is indoor-outdoor, sort of open air like a lot of places in Hawaii, and our table was under an overhang but basically in a “front row seat” to this dramatic vista.  We each got a passion fruit mimosa ($4.50, yes in Hawaii!) and the brunch buffet. 





















The adult price of $26.95 was a great value - the selection included fresh carved prime rib (this is their most famous dish and they often sell out at dinner, from what I gather), an omelette/eggs your way station with a fantastic entertaining chef, your typical waffles and pancakes breakfast fare, Kalua pork and rice, Hawaiian sausages, fresh fruit, a selection of salads, and a few seafood and savory offerings. The buffet was not a giant variety - there was certainly plenty to choose from - but it wasn’t the usual buffet issue of sacrificing quality for variety. 











Later we got a second round of celebratory drinks and they were $9.00 each - much better than Aulani prices. R had a Hawaiian variation on a Long Island iced tea while I had The Lime in The Coconut. We both liked them and we enjoyed lingering. While there were absolutely other tourists here, this brunch looked more like a special thing for locals. We saw a few graduation celebrations and lots of what looked like local families out before or after church. Total before tip was $84.71, maybe the best value of the whole trip considering the quality of the food and the ambiance. 





(the drive back was absolutely gorgeous - I think I'd have a wreck if this was the typical scenery from highways around home)

This installment is getting long but I don’t have many more pictures from this day so I will wrap up the whole day in one post. We drove back to Aulani and found a couple of lounge chairs at the adult pool - it was packed this day (Sunday of Memorial Day weekend) and we settled for less than ideal spots mostly in the sun and far away from the pool. We just relaxed for the balance of the afternoon, talked about what we might like to do for our wedding, and had a dole whip from Ulu Cafe. If you are an adult couple wondering whether Aulani is right for you because it’s Disney, I have to say the adult pool really makes a difference. It’s secluded and quieter, with chair service from the nearby pool bar and it was right next to a side door into Waianae Tower, so it was really quick and easy to go back up to our room. 






One thing I wanted to touch on is photopass at Aulani. We tried to take advantage as much as we could if we were at the resort at sunset, since from what I understood, I might end up with unlimited downloads through virtue of my Walt Disney World annual pass photopass inclusions. It took about 24 hours after linking my photopass card for the photos to show up on the app and mydisneyphotopass.com but it was true that they were not watermarked and available for download. Each night there were about 3 photographers on the beach or the lawn between the resort and the beach, so we visited all of them to get as many shots as we could. We have probably hundreds of photopass shots from our stay and probably 20 or so of those are what I would call “really good”. We found that one particular photographer was just not working for our style at all and avoided him on subsequent nights, but the other photographers all got at least a couple of good or flattering shots. Some of tonight’s best follow:
















We had dinner at Pizza Corner this night. We were again very tired after rising so early for Diamond Head but having refused naps to try to adjust to the time zone. We got a veggie pizza (probably large, I can't remember and the receipt doesn't say, but I know we had leftovers) and garlic knots for $34.03. The pizza took kind of a long time to come out and it was really hot inside the restaurant while we waited. I noted that the food was okay. We probably should have just gotten food from the Ulu cafe, but going across the street gave us something to do and we did snack on leftover pizza later in the trip.

*Up next:* a resort day and a visit to Kona Brewing!


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## 2xcited2sleep

What a lovely engagement story!  Congratulations!!  LOL on your spidey senses.  Good for you in playing along.  The photos are beautiful.  Thanks for the head’s up on potential claustrophobia triggers... I will definitely have to research that further.  We visited Diamond Head when I was a kid and I don’t remember that but it was a long time ago and probably didn’t bother me then.  Great brunch tip!  The view from your table is fantastic and $4.50 for a mimosa?? Definitely smart to go where the locals go!  And thanks for the photopass tip as I too have an AP!  Glad to hear you were able to find a chair at the pool (albeit not in prime location but I’ve seen a lot of reports of chair hoarding/reserving) and that the adult pool is quiet and relaxing... and importantly with bar service!


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## alohamom

Amazing place to propose and to accept. CONGRATULATIONS!


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## pepperandchips

2xcited2sleep said:


> What a lovely engagement story!  Congratulations!!  LOL on your spidey senses.  Good for you in playing along.  The photos are beautiful.  Thanks for the head’s up on potential claustrophobia triggers... I will definitely have to research that further.  We visited Diamond Head when I was a kid and I don’t remember that but it was a long time ago and probably didn’t bother me then.  Great brunch tip!  The view from your table is fantastic and $4.50 for a mimosa?? Definitely smart to go where the locals go!  And thanks for the photopass tip as I too have an AP!  Glad to hear you were able to find a chair at the pool (albeit not in prime location but I’ve seen a lot of reports of chair hoarding/reserving) and that the adult pool is quiet and relaxing... and importantly with bar service!


The pool chair situation definitely got better after Memorial Day weekend was over. We did not find it a problem to find chairs after that.

Definitely google image search "Diamond Head Tunnel" to see what I was talking about with the claustrophobia thing. There are image results for the "scary tunnel" that I marked on the below map and there are also results for the tunnel that the road goes through. We drove through the one with the road, so no issues there. The "scary tunnel" was a little unnerving but I was fine. I haven't identified fully what triggers my panic attacks, but one trigger for sure is being uncertain of my body's limits/capabilities and when I focus on that I get attacks. The second set of steps (Number 7 on the map) has 99 steps and I think it is enclosed, so I knew I would not fare well with those, and was able to avoid them. I'm in slightly better physical shape now and have my anxiety better under control, but there was no reason to invite problems if there was a way around, and there was. Here's my marked up map, if it helps anyone:








alohamom said:


> Amazing place to propose and to accept. CONGRATULATIONS!



Thank you so much!  We loved our visit and it was a great place to get engaged. I might have preferred it not being in front of 100 other people but poor R had no idea what to expect at Diamond Head and couldn't manage the secret any longer... haha!


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## Luv2trav

I am loving your trip report. Congratulations on your engagement. I was iffy on Diamondhead but now you have me convinced to do it.


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## Raeven

Following along! 



pepperandchips said:


> Yes, we did get a ton of them.



Those look so good 



pepperandchips said:


> Upon reaching the observation deck, I took about a million more pictures, we took pictures of each other, and we even got another visitor to take a photo of us. And... nothing from R... so I’m thinking “well what did I wear this dress for?”  when R asks the camera man to take one more photo of us and fishes out the ring. We have a little video of the end of the proposal, and a couple of candids of R “popping the question”. I, of course, being so excited, can’t remember all of what he said - it was very sweet and very "us" but the important part was that he asked me to watch Jeopardy with him every night for the rest of forever and of course I agreed.



I think I said it at the time but congrats again! We also love Jeopardy too


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## SweetSerenity

I can't wait to read more of this story


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## kastoney

Casually finding my way over here without any self promotion or branding at all. Funny how that happeneds   Coming back to catch up, but so here for the duration !


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## MouseOfCards

Excellent trip report! Love the great photos and your sharing the details. Thanks!


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## pepperandchips

Luv2trav said:


> I am loving your trip report. Congratulations on your engagement. I was iffy on Diamondhead but now you have me convinced to do it.


I hope that I didn't oversell it! I think if you go into it understanding what it is, it's a great thing to do on the island and not very expensive. Obviously it helps if you get a nice piece of jewelery at the top  And thank you on the congratulations. We are loving engaged life and looking forward to the wedding.



Raeven said:


> Those look so good


Oh my gosh, I was like there is no way these things will live up to the hype. SURPRISE I was wrong! They are amazing and I would physically fight someone for another one right now... 



Raeven said:


> I think I said it at the time but congrats again! We also love Jeopardy too


I love that you guys share our old people love of Jeopardy  I swear we are a 90 year old couple living in 30-something bodies

And of course I am glad you are here!


SweetSerenity said:


> I can't wait to read more of this story


Hi Shannon! Glad to have you!!! 



kastoney said:


> Casually finding my way over here without any self promotion or branding at all. Funny how that happeneds   Coming back to catch up, but so here for the duration !


What a crazy coincidence  and so glad to have you along! even if I do spam you with too many updates in my various tales of disney escapades



MouseOfCards said:


> Excellent trip report! Love the great photos and your sharing the details. Thanks!


Thank you so much! Glad you are here reading along!!!


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## pepperandchips

*Day 3, May 29: Resort Day and Kona Brew Pub Dinner*

This morning we tried to sleep in. "Tried", meaning we failed at this due to the magic of jet lag.   I forgot to mention in the previous installment that we had breakfast in the room prior to visiting Diamond Head, and we again made some great coffee we'd picked up during our grocery run. (I am finding myself justifying that $247 expense!)

We were in an Ocean View studio, so our "cooking" was limited to what we could heat up or cook in the microwave and toaster. Fortunately this worked great for breakfast as we got some frozen breakfast biscuits and frozen hashbrowns which crisped up nicely in the toaster. We'd also brought a large chef's knife and cutting board in our checked luggage so that we could cut fruit in the room. I don't think I have any room photos but our room looked pretty much as I was expecting. The only thing I wasn't expecting was that the room was really in need of a refurb, especially in the bathroom. It was very clean but the fixtures had hard water stains or mineral deposits or something and the room was just looking tired. I am posting photos below in a spoiler in case anyone wants to see them.



Spoiler: Room Pics - needs refurb








Dinged up door





hardware msising on door lock (naked bolt shown)


















We were out and on our way to the beach by 9:00 am. We decided to check out the beach since we'd done the adult pool on the previous afternoon and wanted to get chairs on the beach with an umbrella. 






The beach chairs were never that scarce, as others have also reported. The only scarcity was of umbrellas but otherwise you could always find a few available chairs.






The lagoon at Aulani is really beautiful and it is so nice that it is sheltered from the large waves. Having attempted to swim at other beaches later in the trip, I can say in retrospect that I understand why Ko Olina's protected lagoons were a nice lure for the location of the Disney resort. Kids would not have been able to swim at some of the other beaches we visited.

The photo above was taken at about 11:30, and you can see the area going over toward the non-Disney wedding chapel where I believe there is public parking and where the local visitors or non-guests were most concentrated. It was really not all that busy with folks visiting from elsewhere and certainly not a concern for us.

After a few hours in the sun, we went back up to the room and made pork tacos for lunch from our Safeway run, which we had with chips and salsa and more fruit. After lunch, we wanted to check out the lazy river, but not able to find chairs, we simply put our shoes on the ground in the shade and our clothes/cover-ups on top of our shoes. We didn't have any problem with this but did notice a lot of unattended chairs. I know they were doing the towel timer method so this is not a complaint, just a reflection of our experience.

The lazy river was fun but really too crowded mid-afternoon to be very relaxing. Also it took a few laps before I figured out how to try to minimize getting drenched in the area near the slide. I'm more familiar with lazy rivers where you only get soaked if you want to, so I wasn't crazy about the waterfall and spray nozzles in this lazy river. After we had enough fun in the lazy river, we decided to get our first shave ice of the trip!






There was a bit of a line but it moved along fine. I don't remember what flavors we got - definitely coconut and probably pineapple. We did get the condensed milk on it and it was delicious!






I took the above photo to share with the artist who created the Tamatoa vinyl sticker on my tumbler, but having the photo reminded me that we made drinks in our insulated tumblers and took them with us all over the resort and had no problems or questions whatsoever. I had considered buying the refilable mugs for this purpose but they really don't hold much, and we wanted to avoid going up to the room multiple times for refills on our adult beverages. We had a couple of freebie yeti-knockoffs from work giveaways so we brought those with us and used them throughout the trip. Just a tip in case you are considering making drinks to bring to the pool or beach.

We stayed out at the beach pretty late this day, maybe until close to 5:00 or so, and then went up to quickly shower and get ready for dinner. Prior to dinner we took advantage of the photopass photographers again. Here are some of the best shots of this night:























The first and the last picture were taken about 20 minutes apart, if you are curious at all about the light changing at sunset. My advice is just to take as many as you can so that later you can decide which ones you like best.











Sunset at Aulani really is a special time of day - there's a fresh buzz as everyone enjoys the beauty of dusk approaching. We made a point to be at the resort for sunset as much as we could in order both to enjoy it and get sunset golden hour photopass pics.

When I'd been planning out our trip, I originally thought that the previous day would go a bit differently... .  One of the things I'd planned that got nixed due to the engagement excitement and our jet lag was to visit the Kona Brew Pub located over on the southeast side of the island at the Koko Marina. I'd read @Dis_Yoda's review and while it didn't seem like a must do food-wise, R is much more into beer than he is into Disney, and in exchange for him going to Disneyland with me for several days I wanted to ensure we eventually made it to Kona as it was one of his very few requests. After a day at the resort, we were ready for some island time anyway, so it was fine for us to make the drive across to the Brew Pub.

Kona Brewing is clear across the island from Aulani, about 45 minutes away. Frankly that is less time than my commute home from work in Atlanta traffic most days, so this wasn't a big deal to us, but it's probably a bit far for most people to want to drive for dinner. As I said, we were feeling something akin to cabin fever after spending the previous afternoon and all day at the resort, so it was nice to stretch our legs and get out and see some sights.

Kona makes a handful of beers that are widely available on the mainland - in our area you can get maybe 3 or 4 at package shops or more upscale grocery stores. This brew pub, however, had 7 local rotating taps that were featuring Kona beers I'd never heard of, much less tasted. Per their website, they have 48 taps! That's a lot of choices. I only remember there being a few dozen, but 48 is seriously impressive. They offer beer flights so we decided to use this to our advantage to sample stuff we can't get at home. Each flight is 4 glasses (5 ounces each) and what I consider a good deal at $9.50.

Below is our two flights all lined up for one long view:






We went with the seven rotating taps - Purple Grain, Kona Haze, Juicy Island, Sailaway Red, Pink Boots, Vanilla Thrilla, Kua Bay, and our 8th pick was the always-available-there Hanalei IPA. I would tell you what we liked and describe these... but I didn't take notes and I don't remember! haha. I do remember that we liked almost all of them - there were one or two we each didn't like but the other person did, so it was fine. It was really fun though to try these since we can't get them at home.

My dinner photos are awful since it was fairly dark - we were seated at a nice waterside table outside at the Marina, but lighting was more suited to romance than photography. For dinner we had:






NaaLehu Nachos - Tortilla chips with kalua pork, shredded mozzarella, cheddar, tomato, jalapeno, black beans, olives, and green onion. Drizzled with lime-sour cream sauce and served with house-made fresh salsa. $17

These were pretty good and an absolutely massive portion, even though the picture doesn't really reflect how huge this platter was. They were mostly just your standard bar nachos but with kalua pork added to them, which I feel like elevated them to Hawaiian magic bar nachos. A+ in my book!

We also decided to share:






Peppercorn crusted bleu burger, topped with bacon, melted gorgonzola, caramelized onions, lettuce, and tomato. $15 (pictured is just my half, they split it in the kitchen for us, how fancy of them )

I'm not one to mince words - this was bad. I know gorgonzola has a nice natural funk to it but I'm pretty sure the gorgonzola on our burger had gone bad. We didn't really need the burger since we had so many nachos but I would not recommend the burger. Or maybe go with a simpler one. 






We each had another pint of beer - I chose a lighter style, the Wailua Wheat, and R picked the Lavaman Red. Per the Kona website: "Wailua Wheat is a golden, sun-colored ale with a bright, citrusy flavor that comes from the tropical passion fruit we brew into each batch," while the "Lavaman Red Ale is an amber ale with a subtle chocolate malt flavor that’s balanced by our delicate blend of Pacific Northwest hops. Delicious, full-bodied, and roasty, it always goes down smooth."  I can't disagree!  Each pint was $5.95, a very fair price. 

We asked about buying one of the super cool Makana series pint glasses our beers were served in, as the pub sells merchandise. After checking, our server told us that they didn't have any more of those glasses to sell but encouraged us to take ours with us if we wanted them. So I am maintaining that we did NOT steal a pint glass as we were told by someone with apparent authority to take it!  We did leave him the price of a comparable glass in his tip. Total before tip (and glass surcharge, haha) was $65.86. Again, not bad for Hawaii if you ask me.

We enjoyed our meal and the lively atmosphere of the bar. It was nice to sit outside and not be worried about mosquitoes and to have absolutely perfect weather. I would visit Kona again if we found ourselves in the area again - I think this would be a nice place to visit after the beach to just hang and drink a few beers.

*Up next: an island tour, a visit to the north shore, and why I am an overplanner...*


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## frozenheart

I still have to finish reading the rest, but after reading the proposal and crying I couldn't NOT post.  I've always lurked your dining reports and LOVE them so after reading recently and linking to this trip report ... GIRL!  I can't even.  I'm so happy for you guys!  Congratulations!  Can't wait to continue reading!


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## olafLover

.


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## pepperandchips

frozenheart said:


> I still have to finish reading the rest, but after reading the proposal and crying I couldn't NOT post.  I've always lurked your dining reports and LOVE them so after reading recently and linking to this trip report ... GIRL!  I can't even.  I'm so happy for you guys!  Congratulations!  Can't wait to continue reading!


Thank you!!! 

I always cry over other people's good news, I am glad to hear I am not alone, LOL! So glad to have you out of lurkdom and reading along!!!



olafLover said:


> thank you for your great report on the Kona Brewery Pub! We were already planing to go there on Big Island, but I might also add it to our plans after we snorkel on Hanauma!


I would have LOVED to visit on the Big Island to be able to take the Brewery tour! That's on the list for *WHEN* we someday return to Hawaii as I really want to visit the other islands!


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## olafLover

.


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## Lilsia

I am loving your trip report. My daughter and I are going for the first time to Hawaii(I have wanted to go since I was a little girl) at the end of May and staying for 17 nights. I was able to get 14 nights at Aulani and 3 nights at a hotel on Waikiki. I am beyond excited to go and it is wonderful reading trip reports and looking at your amazing photos.


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## 94bruin

Love this trip report and congrats on the engagement!

Thanks for posting pictures of your beach shots taken by the photopass photographers. Seems like a no-brainer as it's no obligation. Your pictures came out great!


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## FSU Girl

So I just read through everything. Amazing trip so far! Love how you got engaged it's so sweet. I would have been super suspicious if asked to wear a dress to go hiking in. Hawaii is gorgeous, I hope I'll get to go there one day. Flying first class also seems pretty incredible. The closest I've gotten to that is the extra space seats that give you like three extra inches of leg room. This trip is the perfect birthday/engagement trip!


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## pepperandchips

olafLover said:


> We plan for this to be an one-and-done trip (it takes us 24 hours to get there), so we try to plan everything carefully. That's why I'm happy with your trip report!


I honestly did not think we would want to go back, since I'd been to Oahu when I was a girl and wasn't dying to get back to Oahu after that, but there's just something magical about Hawaii. It's not quite a 24hour travel time experience for us though, so I totally get the careful planning to hit everything you want to in the once-in-a-lifetime trip!



Lilsia said:


> I am loving your trip report. My daughter and I are going for the first time to Hawaii(I have wanted to go since I was a little girl) at the end of May and staying for 17 nights. I was able to get 14 nights at Aulani and 3 nights at a hotel on Waikiki. I am beyond excited to go and it is wonderful reading trip reports and looking at your amazing photos.


I am so jealous! I wish I could have spent 17 nights in Hawaii but there were just too many things we wanted to do and see! Always a reason to return. Thanks for your kind words!



94bruin said:


> Love this trip report and congrats on the engagement!
> 
> Thanks for posting pictures of your beach shots taken by the photopass photographers. Seems like a no-brainer as it's no obligation. Your pictures came out great!


Of course!  I was considering whether we should arrange for one of the private photo shoots prior to our departure but ultimately I was happy with some of the photo pass photos so I am glad I saved the expense. I am hoping posting some of our photos helps others too.



FSU Girl said:


> So I just read through everything. Amazing trip so far! Love how you got engaged it's so sweet. I would have been super suspicious if asked to wear a dress to go hiking in. Hawaii is gorgeous, I hope I'll get to go there one day. Flying first class also seems pretty incredible. The closest I've gotten to that is the extra space seats that give you like three extra inches of leg room. This trip is the perfect birthday/engagement trip!


It was really not much more expensive to upgrade from the extra comfort seats to first class for the whole thing, so it was a no-brainer! It was definitely worth it for the splurge trip. You are so right, it was incredible to have such an amazing engagement trip... I know you know that from firsthand experience  at least I was not sick on mine! Glad you joined in!!!


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## pepperandchips

*May 30: North Shore Day*






What a day to be alive and in paradise! Sunrise at Aulani was gorgeous this morning and I loved soaking in this view from our balcony.






We set off in our rental, headed toward the North Shore, on an unscheduled, fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants adventure. I am an uber planner, usually with every day of vacation scheduled in at least some way. R is not like this at all - he is more spontaneous and likes the thrill of an unplanned adventure. Spoiler alert: sometimes you need plans to avoid grumpiness. 

As I was saying, we headed out with just an idea of what we wanted to do this day with no concrete plans. I loved watching the landscape of the island change around us as we headed north through the center of Oahu.






Our first stop was at a shopping center on the north shore in Haleiwa, where R wanted to check out the unique items available at the Patagonia store there. I didn't take any pictures inside the store, but R enjoyed shopping and found a souvenir or two. They have Hawaii specific merchandise and even some Haleiwa specific shirts and things. The staff here was super kind and helpful without being annoying. R picked a shirt which makes an appearance later in the trip. It was a good stop to keep my partner in crime happy!

Speaking of happiness (mine in this case), our next stop was for shave ice! Matsumoto's is THE place for shave ice on Oahu, and we wanted to beat the lines, so we stopped in around 11:00 am for a little post-breakfast dessert. It was fairly overcast at this point and there was no line at all. 






I chose three tropical flavors. I regret that I do not remember what I chose... perhaps lilikoi, coconut, and lychee? but I loved this!






R, modeling his version with sweetened condensed milk on top.






Matsumoto's is in a little strip shopping center with parking in back (see above, R modeling near the sign). We both thought this was the best shave ice of the trip with great flavor syrups and very fine, delicate ice. You cannot get this at home near us! But I love snow cones of all varieties, so this was a major hit for me. Two shave ice were $6.75.

We stopped in at the Haleiwa beach park to take a look and snap some photos. We were in search of a perfect beach to hang out at, but the weather was still iffy, so we decided to keep driving.











R had a friend living in Hawaii who recommended we visit Waimea Bay, so we drove there but could not find any parking. The skies were clearing up and many other folks had the same idea we did to visit this beach. R did not want to park back up the road and hike down to the beach park, so we had some further discussion about what our goal was for this day. At this point some of us started to get a little grumpy that we were sort of driving around aimlessly and wished that our planner had a recommendation for what to do...  

We ended up driving back toward Haleiwa and when we found some folks parked on the side of the road we decided to stop. I'd read a bit about people finding sea turtles on the beach by stopping when they saw parked cars, so when we found a place to park I was all for checking out what everyone else had stopped for. It turns out we'd found a popular surfing beach.











The geotagging from my photos and google have helped me identify this as Chun's Reef. Not a great place for swimming, but we hung out for a little bit and got some great photos so it was a neat diversion. When I previously mentioned being thankful for Aulani's protected lagoons, this surf beach is perfect evidence of the natural beach conditions in Hawaii and why Oahu's north shore is so popular with surfers. We chilled for a while and soaked in the sights, but decided to move on since we couldn't really enjoy the water.

Figuring lunch would help with our hanger and mood, we decided that we should head back into Haleiwa for some food at a place that came highly recommended.






Lunch at The Beach House coming up in the next post....


----------



## pepperandchips

*May 30, continued:*

I will take a minute here to plug the many Dis Unplugged and Dreams Unlimited podcasts where the team discussed their visits to Aulani. Specifically, Kevin and John reviewed a number of restaurants that helped us decide where we might like to visit during our island days. One of the most highly praised of these was the Haleiwa Beach House restaurant which we found without trouble and enjoyed a largely uncrowded lunch experience that was solidly delicious food without a lot of fanfare.






Interior of the restaurant






The view from our table looking the other way






As is the case with a lot of restaurants in Hawaii, the restaurant had an indoor/outdoor vibe and a lovely view to the beach park across the street. As you can see, we each ordered another local beer to sample.

For an appetizer, we went with the Kalua pork grilled cheese which had been highly recommended by the Dis team:






"Toasted pullman bread with warm goat cheese, white cheddar, pickled onion and kalua pork" ($11)

This was every bit as decadent as had been described.  The buttery, toasty bread was the perfect crunchy foil to the rich melty cheese and kalua pork. The pickled onion offered a nice acid bite to counter all the richness of the cheese and pork. It was amazing!






R opted for the poke bowl - fresh ahi tossed in beach house special poke sauce mixed with shaved red onion, sea asparagus, and topped with tobiko, scalion, and yuzu aoili on a bed of white rice. Unfortunately I lost this receipt and the menu just lists this as "market price" so I am not sure how much this was. However, it was fresh and amazing. R was delighted and I enjoyed it, even as less of a seafood eater.






Meanwhile, I ordered the Thai Barbecue Chicken Sandwich ($13)






Chicken breast marinated in coconut milk with thai herbs and spices then grilled and topped with tamarind bbq sauce, on a taro bun with green papaya slaw, fresh cilantro and kewpie. Served with french fries. This was a good sandwich and both the sandwich and poke bowl were bright and fresh tasting, and despite the barbecue sauce it had the feeling of being a "lighter" option. The taro bun was a fun change - it didn't have a distinctive flavor but the purple color was fun!

The real star of the lunch entrees, however, was the french fries.  They are like curly steak fries with that amazing batter flavor you get at Arby's (lol, yes, I am so refined). We did not finish the sandwich but we put a big dent in the fries!

I wish I had the receipt but I have reviewed my credit card statements and it looks like R must have put this lunch on his card, so I don't have a total. I think the poke bowl was somewhere around $20 and so I suspect this lunch was somewhere in the $65 range. We had great service but a nice leisurely unhurried meal. It was absolutely fabulous, a great stop on our North Shore tour, and I would definitely highly recommend it. Another recommendation that I was afraid I would be disappointed in but came out happily satisfied and delighted with!

Fed and in better spirits, we set off again in the Jeep to look for a "beach less traveled" upon the recommendations of other Disers.






I just never got over the amazing scenery through the car window at every turn. Hawaii is simply breathtaking. 

We drove basically back to Ko Olina, but opted to follow Farrington Highway north looking for the fabulous beaches that I saw recommended here on the Aulani boards. We drove through some towns, evidently venturing out of tourist territory and into some locals-only areas. Some of the roadside establishments looked pretty seedy, but we never felt unsafe. Finally we ended up at Makua Beach, one of the last beaches before the road runs out. It took about an hour and a half to get from the Beach House restaurant in Haleiwa to Makua Beach, including a stop for gas along the way.











We found a spot under some trees to hang out as there was some light drizzle literally dampening our beach experience. Unfortunately we sort of picked a spider nest to sit in - there were spiders everywhere! We'd packed a soft side cooler with some of the beers we'd picked up at Safeway previously, and we enjoyed those while hanging out on the beach. Again, there was no way to really enjoy a leisurely swim here. Just wading out any deeper than knee deep resulted in us being completely knocked down by the waves. (Which I'm sure was hilarious to see but was not at all fun) 

There were some locals hanging out on the beach too and when they went into the water they had the method down to swim under the waves. I didn't want to get completely and totally drenched so we ended up only staying for about an hour and a half. Here are some additional photos - while this wasn't the best day for our visit due to the weather, I am glad we ventured off the beaten path and this area is absolutely breathtaking.






You can see this was much less busy than the other beaches we visited and could not find parking near.






The Jeep for scale






Looking south






The "parking lot" looking north

Getting back to Aulani after this was a real headache, we hit rush hour(?) traffic and it took us a long time to travel the 16 miles back to Aulani.






We did make it back in time for sunset, which we enjoyed on the beach at Aulani. We felt the pending departure from Aulani looming ahead and were starting to really slow down and savor the last couple days at Aulani.

None of my night photos of the resort turned out great, but the resort is absolutely charming and has a sense of magic to it at night.






You could also often hear the sounds of Olelo Room's live entertainment wafting up to our balcony. We loved just lounging on the balcony soaking this in. Eventually we ended up walking over to Monkey Pod for a later dinner. This time, we were seated on the outdoor patio.

We started with:






Wood-Roasted Free Range Chicken Wings - $16.95. Kiawe-roasted free range chicken, garlic, local rosemary, tzatziki sauce.

We also shared: 






Avocado & Cucumber Salad - $13.95 tomato, maui onion, jalapeño, cilantro, organic greens, chili lime vinaigrette 

and






Big Island Cheese Burger - $14.95 big island beef, dijon aioli, sautéed onions, fontina, vine-ripened tomatoes, waipoli farm butter lettuce, house-made quick pickle 

Of course, it had been a while since our last dessert (haha) so R wanted to end on a sweet note.






Chocolate pie, $9.95.

They had talked up their pies a lot so I had really high hopes as chocolate pie is one of my very favorite desserts. This was okay. The crust was not very fresh.

We each had a couple of drinks, and of course I lost this receipt too, but the total with tip came to $110.46. I've gotta say, I think in retrospect Monkey Pod would not stay in business if it was not in walking distance of Aulani. Particularly, everything but the burger seems ridiculously overpriced looking back on our experience. $110 seems like highway robbery for this meal. Nothing of it was particularly memorable or amazing, especially compared to our outstanding lunch at a fraction of the price. Of course, we couldn't walk to the Beach House, so I guess we paid extra for the convenience factor.

Another day in paradise in the books. We headed back to the room and settled in for the night.

*Next up*: a resort day and a splurge dinner at Ama Ama


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## John-DVC

Great pictures. I agree on MonkeyPod. Outside of the happy hour stuff it is too expensive.


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## FSU Girl

It looks like such a fun day! The beach looks nice, but definitely looks more like a surfing beach than a swimming beach. Were you ever nervous about sharks? I think they have a lot more than the east coast. Your food also looked amazing. I really want to go over there, for half a second I tried to figure out if I could go for a weekend, but decided 5 seconds there and 24 hours on a plane wasn't really ideal.


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## wishiwasindisneyjen

I am absolutely loving your report. I'm taking notes for great places to try for our next trip, thank you!


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## alohamom

pepperandchips said:


> The geotagging from my photos and google have helped me identify this as Chun's Reef. Not a great place for swimming, but we hung out for a little bit and got some great photos so it was a neat diversion. When I previously mentioned being thankful for Aulani's protected lagoons, this surf beach is perfect evidence of the natural beach conditions in Hawaii and why Oahu's north shore is so popular with surfers. We chilled for a while and soaked in the sights, but decided to move on since we couldn't really enjoy the water.



I saw your picture and I realized we have been surfing here, it is a great spot!


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## 2xcited2sleep

Fun updates.  And your photos continue to be just spectacular!!    The wear & tear on the room is disappointing.  I had a similar experience at Beach Club Villas in WDW fairly shortly after renovations.  Either people are just kinda careless jerks when not in their own home or Disney doesn't choose the highest quality, most durable products.  Or a bit of both.  Great idea on the knife and cutting board for fruit -- tucking that tip away!

Kona Brewery looks like a fun stop - 48 different kinds?!?  Wow - like you said, I only see 2-3 around here.  The whole island tour looks so fun.  Would you say that an SUV is preferable for exploring?  That poke bowl looks amazing!!

So I have an odd question about the chairs on the beach.  Are you able to move them out of the rows that are set up to have a bit more of your own space?  It's probably weird (and I have issues) but I just don't like sitting that close to people.


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## tink too

Just doing a little research for a possible visit next year.  Loving your TR and fab photos.

Congratulations on your engagement, too!


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## fallonkendra

Instead of asking you if you had this started, I could have just looked at your signature 

I don't have time right now to get all caught up, but I'm here! I can't wait to read all about your engagement story 



pepperandchips said:


> This Memorial Day weekend (2018) will be our wedding weekend, and I really want to share our experience and also document the memories so I can look back on the trip report and the photos in the future.



Are you getting married on the exact date you were engaged? Because that's what we did - only one date to remember then!  



pepperandchips said:


> R has begrudgingly become a Disney fan (like he has a choice ) but tells me that he won't admit it if I tell anyone else



Haha, Luke will sometimes try to deny his love for Disney in front of people, but I just roll my eyes at him - he's the one who checks the Walt Disney World and Disneyland reddit pages every day, he's the one subscribed to all the Disney Youtube channels, etc haha. Boys.



pepperandchips said:


> I can't remember exactly why I had my heart set on Hawaii for my 30th but I knew I wanted to visit Disneyland, and when I researched in earnest I set my sights on Aulani (for obvious reasons) and Kauai after seeing photos of the Na Pali coast.



My best friend stayed at Aulani in 2017, and keeps telling me I NEED to go there. I can't wait to read your review on it!

I also turned 30 on the last day of our wedding trip - I was determined to celebrate my 30th at WDW!


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## pepperandchips

John-DVC said:


> Great pictures. I agree on MonkeyPod. Outside of the happy hour stuff it is too expensive.


Thanks for reading along! I had high hopes on happy hour at Monkeypod, Roy's, and the Olelo Room, but happy hour just doesn't work with our vacation style, apparently. We are late diners, even at home, so we never made it there in time to take advantage. It's a good tip for those who can shower faster, though! haha



FSU Girl said:


> It looks like such a fun day! The beach looks nice, but definitely looks more like a surfing beach than a swimming beach. Were you ever nervous about sharks? I think they have a lot more than the east coast. Your food also looked amazing. I really want to go over there, for half a second I tried to figure out if I could go for a weekend, but decided 5 seconds there and 24 hours on a plane wasn't really ideal.


It probably sounds foolish, but we always like to venture just a little off the beaten path. Even though it wasn't a great swimming beach I am glad we got to experience it. It reminded me a LOT of Costa Rica, actually.

I am not very aware of sharks, like.. ever, so it never even registered to me to worry about them. The lagoon at Aulani has nets or something at the outer points to keep out BIG stuff (or so I read online, I think) so we only ever saw small fishes. When we waded in at Makua we didn't get deep enough for me to think of sharks, or anything other than standing up, for that matter! It was ROUGH seas.

LOL at your trying to go for a weekend! Believe me these posts are brutal to write as I want to go back so back. I just listened to a podcast with Len Testa talking about how for the price of a week at WDW in a deluxe resort you could go to Hawaii. He's pretty much right, except for the whole AP thing making visits cheaper-per-visit. I can't wait to go back... it's more about when I will have the time to make such a long flight worth it, like you said.



wishiwasindisneyjen said:


> I am absolutely loving your report. I'm taking notes for great places to try for our next trip, thank you!


Thank you for reading along and for the kind words! I am trying to pay it forward since I read so many great reports when I was planning.



alohamom said:


> I saw your picture and I realized we have been surfing here, it is a great spot!


It was so beautiful and magically sunny when we got there! It looked like great surfing, too.


2xcited2sleep said:


> Fun updates. And your photos continue to be just spectacular!!  The wear & tear on the room is disappointing. I had a similar experience at Beach Club Villas in WDW fairly shortly after renovations. Either people are just kinda careless jerks when not in their own home or Disney doesn't choose the highest quality, most durable products. Or a bit of both. Great idea on the knife and cutting board for fruit -- tucking that tip away!


I think due to the way DVC is paid for they just don't necessarily rehab as quickly as maybe they should. Oh well, it didn't really impact our stay. Definitely bring some of your own kitchen implements! It makes the kitchenette way more manageable!



2xcited2sleep said:


> Kona Brewery looks like a fun stop - 48 different kinds?!? Wow - like you said, I only see 2-3 around here. The whole island tour looks so fun. Would you say that an SUV is preferable for exploring? That poke bowl looks amazing!!


I have to think all 48 kinds were not Kona... I only remember the 8 or so that we had (the special taps) plus their standard menu of around 10. I had no idea there were so many but the bar area did have a lot of taps so I totally believe it!

I don't think we *needed* the SUV for exploring the island but I am always worried about having luggage space, and honestly the price difference wasn't much more at all from a regular sedan. I watched the rental prices for what seems like forever but my original booking ended up staying the best deal. 

The poke bowl was good! R is a sushi fanatic so he was in heaven with all the fresh sushi-grade fish available.



2xcited2sleep said:


> So I have an odd question about the chairs on the beach. Are you able to move them out of the rows that are set up to have a bit more of your own space? It's probably weird (and I have issues) but I just don't like sitting that close to people.


You can't really move the lounge chairs around (there are just too many and there are like designated aisles for walking) but they do have short surf-type chairs that you can move around. Ironically you cannot put them all the way at the water's edge  I like to sit and read with my feet in the water and I got fussed at. But you can definitely get away from the crowd in those. And we never had an issue where people came and set right next to us. There were so many vacant beach chairs that people seemed cool with giving each other space.



tink too said:


> Just doing a little research for a possible visit next year. Loving your TR and fab photos.


Thanks for stopping by! I hope your trip plans work out!! 



tink too said:


> Congratulations on your engagement, too!


Thanks so much! The wedding is now just around the corner... 41 days!



fallonkendra said:


> Instead of asking you if you had this started, I could have just looked at your signature
> 
> I don't have time right now to get all caught up, but I'm here! I can't wait to read all about your engagement story


I'm sure mine won't make you CRY like yours did me!!! 



fallonkendra said:


> Are you getting married on the exact date you were engaged? Because that's what we did - only one date to remember then!


Well it's the same day of the year (sunday of memorial day weekend) but not the exact date - it's one day off because of the calendar. But still easy to remember and I won't necessarily need to celebrate the engagement separately! haha

I didn't realize you guys had done that! But it's smart.



fallonkendra said:


> Haha, Luke will sometimes try to deny his love for Disney in front of people, but I just roll my eyes at him - he's the one who checks the Walt Disney World and Disneyland reddit pages every day, he's the one subscribed to all the Disney Youtube channels, etc haha. Boys.


Uh huh. I obviously talked R into the Thanksgiving trip I mentioned in my facebook post turned hotwire blind deal tutorial... I wanted to go over Columbus Day but he said no. Turns out he is just fed up with sweating all the time at Disney so I guess I will sacrifice my warmth for his comfort, and ANYTHING TO SNEAK IN SOME DISNEY!!! But he loves it when we are there. 



fallonkendra said:


> My best friend stayed at Aulani in 2017, and keeps telling me I NEED to go there. I can't wait to read your review on it!


You do! Maybe an anniversary trip one year. We had a great time and it was way more affordable using DVC points (my friend transferred me a bunch of hers last year so I got a great deal)



fallonkendra said:


> I also turned 30 on the last day of our wedding trip - I was determined to celebrate my 30th at WDW!


 I can't think of a better way to celebrate! My real 30th was pretty low key but my early celebration at Hawaii and Disneyland was just perfection! I hope yours was too at WDW this year!!


----------



## pepperandchips

*May 31 - last full day at Aulani*

How is it possible we've already come to the last full day at Aulani? Ah, even visits to paradise must end, I suppose. Fortunately, we had more adventures on the horizon before heading home or I would've been despondent leaving Aulani. 

As we were planning on a pool day and Hawaii time made us early risers anyway, we headed down to the adult pool to stake out spots shortly before 9:00 am. Spoiler alert: totally unnecessary.






We had full run of the adult pool at that hour and there was barely anyone at the other pools either (although quite a number of "reserved" chairs already...)






As you can see, the adult pool gets a lot of morning shade. This is fine for me, I am usually longing for shade at the beach or pool, but my dear fiance is more of a sun fan so we decided to try some of the other pools while the crowds were slim. We had the Ka Maka Grotto pool nearly to ourselves, it was just us and a father/daughter playing in the water. (no photos, sorry)






These pools really are so beautiful, I love the immersive resort feel at Aulani and how immaculately the grounds are kept. They did fold our towels for the hour time limit this morning while we visited the other pools, but it was unnecessary. We were obviously back within the hour anyway but there were plenty of chairs for quite some time.

I really enjoyed that the adult pool (and maybe the others, though I am not sure because we never sat elsewhere) had pool chair service, so I availed myself of the oportunity to try Aulani's mai tai:






This was good, a standard mai tai but necessary to experience poolside, at least once! Two mai tais were $28.27, plus tip, so I was glad we had our stash of Safeway booze previously through the trip. I'm not sure what's more indulgent than a mai tai with a beautiful orchid brought to you in your pool chair in tropical paradise. Can't beat it!

After our mai tais, we headed up to the room and finished off our taco supplies for another lunch on the balcony. I really like this aspect of DVC accomodations, it makes vacations feel a bit more relaxed to me to have a bit of a kitchenette where I can prepare a leisurely lunch "at home" even if it's just assembling cold prepared foods. I'm sure we had another drink or two. I left my phone and camera in the room and we headed down to the pools again where we just dumped our stuff on the ground in the shade and took a couple of laps around the lazy river. The resort was MUCH less busy today than it had been over the weekend and we enjoyed the lazy river with fewer bodies bumping along. We ended the afternoon back at the beach, which is truly the highlight of Aulani for me. It is probably the biggest selling point for me to go back, with the sheltered lagoon affording a swimming opportunity where other beaches don't. 

We also had a great time interacting with other guests at Aulani's beach. I can't remember which day it was but we spent a fair amount of time just chatting in the waves with a nice lady who was there with her extended family from the northeast U.S. Lots of people asked if we were on our honeymoon so we got to tell the engagement story plenty of times!  We also had a great time chatting with one of the recreation cast members, Lance, who was really funny and entertaining. Aulani has great staff and we didn't have any unpleasant interactions.

We had a nice dinner planned so we got cleaned up and headed down to the beach again for more photopass. Sorry for the photopass overload but I found other trip reports helpful in seeing photopass locations so I am trying to showcase the different spots and different lighting you can get there for those who might be interested:






Not crazy about the back-lighting in this one above, but it shows the grass location if you don't want to get your feet sandy after cleaning up





Also on the grass, above, but facing the other way, and a much better background in my opinion at this hour






The above one came out dark, I had to lighten it up myself, but I liked the sandy feet and sunset look





Same location, this time with flash. The photographers were always trying to get us to do shakas (the hand sign) and sometimes we obliged and sometimes we told them we'd prefer not to. After seeing how the first night's pictures turned out I had no problem saying "no" to certain poses.





They tried to get us to do a variety of different cutesy poses over the few nights we did photopass, this one was one of the few successful ones.

We took the last evening in with a stroll around the Ko Olina lagoon coves






We walked over toward the chapel and past it around the corner to where the Ko Olina Villas are






Looking back at Aulani











And then back past Aulani over to the Four Seasons:











the Four Seasons was playing host to an extravagant wedding that night so that pathway was blocked off, preventing us from walking all the way around to Luau Cove. I was a little irritated, actually, but I wouldn't want pedestrians sauntering through my wedding either, I suppose.

We had dinner reservations for 'Ama 'Ama that evening at about 8:00. I had originally made the reservation for 5:30 for sunset, but we learned earlier in the week that would not work for our eating schedule so I moved it to a later time when we were there. We were seated shortly after our reservation time at a great table near the beachfront terraces. I did a pretty bad job photographing our meal, but I did take notes on what we had.

Quickly, I will note that our reservation was immediately past the last stages of sunset and when it got dark the flying termites that everyone complains about at 'Ama 'Ama did come out. They were buzzing around when we were waiting on our table and they were pretty thick and swarmy when we were seated. One got in my dress and really freaked me out for a minute. But they went away in about 5-10 minutes so I am really glad we did not kick up a fuss over it. I started with a glass of Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc ($13) and R had the Elouan Pinot Noir ($12). Neither was grossly overpriced and these are widely available at home as well. They brought us extra coasters to put on top of our wine glasses for the few minutes that the termites were around  they worked, I am glad to report!

For appetizers we had:






Fresh ahi poke at the recommendation of our server, who told us it had been swimming that morning. $18. Current menu description:  "AHI POKE WITH CRISPY RICE kochujang aïoli, kabayaki, sea bean salad" This was incredibly fresh and tasty, and I am not your gung-ho seafood eater so those are high accolades, I promise! Highly recommended.

For dinner I had the "daily catch" which was snapper, grilled and topped with macadamia nut brown butter sauce. Their fish menu allows you to choose a fish and mix and match with preparations. This was absolutely to die for. I wish I had a picture, but we were celebrating and I was trying to lay off the documenting and just savor the moment. My entree was $36.

R had Shrimp Pasta ($32)  "curry-spiced garlic shrimp, squid ink, egg linguine" and we also greatly enjoyed this. I remember it being tasty and flavorful. The server warned us about it in some way (now I can't remember what about, wow am I helpful) but we were very glad we went with it anyway.

We also ordered sides, as the menu is basically a la carte. We were tempted by "asparagus with herb-butter, fried garlic" ($11) and the truffle mac and cheese ($14). Both were disappointing and I would skip them in future in lieu of another appetizer and more fresh options.

As dinner wound down, we were treated to an unexpected surprise, though we had a bit of warning thanks to the live band which announced what was happening:






the Four Seasons wedding had arranged for fireworks! Cue the waterworks! 

I know it had nothing to do with Disney but it just felt incredibly special, enjoying our last night at Aulani celebrating romance with fireworks, which are just quintessentially Disney to me. They weren't for us, but they felt like they were for us.






Sidenote: I cannot imagine what this wedding must have cost. The fireworks alone probably cost more than my whole wedding will. There were a LOT of fireworks. It was gorgeous!

We finished the meal with dessert:






Mocha Chantilly Cake ($11) Coffee Kanten, Coffee Anglaise, Macadamia Nut Nougatine and Chocolate Gelato. I believe this was recommended by our server but I don't remember anything else about it. I probably let R have most of it and opted for another glass of wine 

the total with tax before tip was $167.53, so we made it an even $200 and went back to our room to sit on the balcony and listen to the live music from the Olelo room and pretend we never had to leave. 

There's not much left to say of Aulani, the next day includes just a couple tidbits about departure, so I understand if I lose my audience after this. After all, half the fun of trip reporting is reliving the memories. However, we are only halfway into the trip and headed off the next morning for Kauai, followed by Disneyland, so stay tuned if either of those adventures interest you!

To those of you not interested in the rest of the trip, thanks for reading and ALOHA!


----------



## Dis_Yoda

Looks like a perfect last lazy day at Aulani!  Glad you were able to enjoy the pool without as many crowds!  Sometimes its nice to leave the photo/camera behind and just enjoy!  That is special that a wedding gave you fireworks on your last night!  Awesome timing.


----------



## FSU Girl

It seems like you had the perfect last day. There are some amazing places to take photos there, I love the ones on the beach with the sunset. The giant flying bugs at dinner did not sound nice, they only like coming out after sunset? 

It's always hard when your trip is coming to an end, good thing you had other things planned it makes it more fun when there are multiple stops. 

This definitely makes me want to go to Hawaii, but I will wait until I can take a proper vacation and not a weekend crazy trip


----------



## tink too

What a wonderful way to end your Aulani stay.    I'll be sticking around because we'll probably make a stop at Disneyland too to break up the long flight(s) back to Scotland.


----------



## Nalshersmom

I am really enjoying your trip report! Our family of 5 are planning on heading there summer 2019 ( I love planning far out!) We are from Birmingham, AL and are planning on flying to Seattle for a couple of nights before heading to Hawaii (Aulani on Ohua and the big island) before stopping by Disneyland for a couple of days. Was the plane ride from Hawaii to LA also 6 hours? I love all the pics!


----------



## amalone1013

I've been reading! Just a bad commenter...

Your proposal story had me like    I love it! 

Aulani and Hawaii look just beautiful. Those are bucket list places for us! All of your photos are great I think  And you guys got some really good PP pictures! What a good tip for getting photos with your AP... Note to self, plan Aulani/Hawaii trip next time we get WDW APs 

I can't wait to hear more about your adventures! 


Oh yes, I showed Zack your Tamatoa sticker and he was super jealous.


----------



## paradesintherain

Wow, what a beautiful vacation so far, and what a special place to get engaged! 

This is making me miss Hawaii so much!


----------



## MeghanEmily

pepperandchips said:


> This Memorial Day weekend (2018) will be our wedding weekend, and I really want to share our experience and also document the memories so I can look back on the trip report and the photos in the future.



Congrats!! I missed getting caught up here before your wedding weekend, but I hope you had a wonderful time with all kinds of special memories! I enjoyed getting myself caught up here now, even if a little late.



pepperandchips said:


>



How incredibly beautiful!! After reading this report, I may or may not have started making a five-year plan for Nathan and I to do this for my 30th birthday... 



pepperandchips said:


> I'm going to go ahead and totally spoil the early posts of thTR, but many of you may know me from around the boards anyway and it's been so long that I will 'fess up that this is the trip on which I got engaged to my partner (and now fiance) "R".



Congrats!! What an amazing place for an engagement. 



pepperandchips said:


> I couldn't get over the leg room



Oh my gosh! Amazing!! This is absolutely the way to fly. 



pepperandchips said:


> Oh yeah! Check out those bad boys! We got 6 original, 6 haupia (coconut), and 6 chocolate filled. Total including tax was $26.70 and they were so worth it! Especially hot and fresh.



These look SO good.



pepperandchips said:


> our total was $247.87. It was a little more than I had planned to spend on room supplies but it ended up saving us in the long run considering how many meals and cocktails we made off those supplies compared to the resort prices. For example, a bottle of rum was $27.99 and two mai tais at the pool bar were $27.00 (both before tax).



Wow! I knew Hawaii was expensive, and Disney's also expensive, but wow! Smart move getting a lot of your food and drink for the room.



pepperandchips said:


> I would also recommend looking at the Diamond Head website and at the trail maps on there - I am in slightly better health now, but after having read others’ reports on the Diamond Head experience, I knew that the enclosed stairs portions as you are nearing the top of the climb would be a likely trigger for a panic attack for me.



Ooh, this is good to know. I'd have trouble with that, too.



pepperandchips said:


> but the important part was that he asked me to watch Jeopardy with him every night for the rest of forever and of course I agreed.



 Now that's a keeper!!



pepperandchips said:


>



So beautiful!



pepperandchips said:


>



Your photopass pictures came out great! (At least the ones that made the cut for you to share here.) I think this was my favourite one.



pepperandchips said:


>



It looks like paradise!! Also...Moana sailed onto your beach!? 



pepperandchips said:


> I was all for checking out what everyone else had stopped for. It turns out we'd found a popular surfing beach.



Neat! But I see what you meant about the surf not being good for swimming, especially for kids.



pepperandchips said:


> "Toasted pullman bread with warm goat cheese, white cheddar, pickled onion and kalua pork" ($11)



This looks amazing. Nom!



pepperandchips said:


>



So much beauty in these photos!



pepperandchips said:


> Lots of people asked if we were on our honeymoon so we got to tell the engagement story plenty of times!







pepperandchips said:


> the Four Seasons wedding had arranged for fireworks! Cue the waterworks!
> 
> I know it had nothing to do with Disney but it just felt incredibly special, enjoying our last night at Aulani celebrating romance with fireworks, which are just quintessentially Disney to me. They weren't for us, but they felt like they were for us.



Such an amazing end to your trip and your engagement/birthday celebration. How special.


----------



## pepperandchips

Dis_Yoda said:


> Looks like a perfect last lazy day at Aulani!  Glad you were able to enjoy the pool without as many crowds!  Sometimes its nice to leave the photo/camera behind and just enjoy!  That is special that a wedding gave you fireworks on your last night!  Awesome timing.


It was incredible! And thanks again for your amazing trip report. It really helped me plan and to know what to expect!!



FSU Girl said:


> It seems like you had the perfect last day. There are some amazing places to take photos there, I love the ones on the beach with the sunset. The giant flying bugs at dinner did not sound nice, they only like coming out after sunset?


It was fantastic. I loved Aulani and would absolutely recommend it especially since you guys like the villa rooms. Those flying termites were so weird - for just a small window of time it was like a horror movie and then they disappeared  People really had me freaked out about them but it was short lived so I would totally go back to 'Ama 'Ama even after dark.



FSU Girl said:


> It's always hard when your trip is coming to an end, good thing you had other things planned it makes it more fun when there are multiple stops.
> 
> This definitely makes me want to go to Hawaii, but I will wait until I can take a proper vacation and not a weekend crazy trip


Yes! I have to bribe myself with good things at the end of the trip  Otherwise I'd never come home!!!



tink too said:


> What a wonderful way to end your Aulani stay.    I'll be sticking around because we'll probably make a stop at Disneyland too to break up the long flight(s) back to Scotland.


It was a fantastic stay and a fantastic finale. Disneyland after Aulani is the way to go so that you get a break and you have something fun to look forward to after leaving Hawaii!



Nalshersmom said:


> I am really enjoying your trip report! Our family of 5 are planning on heading there summer 2019 ( I love planning far out!) We are from Birmingham, AL and are planning on flying to Seattle for a couple of nights before heading to Hawaii (Aulani on Ohua and the big island) before stopping by Disneyland for a couple of days. Was the plane ride from Hawaii to LA also 6 hours? I love all the pics!



Thank you!  I love planning far in advance too! 

Our flight left Kauai at 9:20 pm and landed at 5:50 am in LA. That would have been 2:50 AM in Kauai so I guess that flight was about 5 and a half hours? It worked out for us because we were able to have a whole day on the last day in Kauai and not "lose any time" in getting to LA. We were tired at Disneyland but so excited to see everything that it ended up working out great. 



amalone1013 said:


> I've been reading! Just a bad commenter...


girl, please. You just described my life  glad you are here even if you go back to lurking 


amalone1013 said:


> Your proposal story had me like  I love it!


I didn't even do it justice. It was so sweet! Bliss!!!



amalone1013 said:


> Aulani and Hawaii look just beautiful. Those are bucket list places for us! All of your photos are great I think  And you guys got some really good PP pictures! What a good tip for getting photos with your AP... Note to self, plan Aulani/Hawaii trip next time we get WDW APs


Yeah... it wasn't even intentional for us but it's definitely an incredible perk! I just hope they don't figure out we know and separate the Disney World photopass from Aulani. It definitely DID NOT work for Disneyland 

Aulani was amazing but I would love to return to Kauai and also see Maui. Needless to say this trip did nothing to cross Hawaii off my bucket list 



amalone1013 said:


> Oh yes, I showed Zack your Tamatoa sticker and he was super jealous.


I love it! It's still in good shape and it was only a couple bucks. I got it from Teepublic! The other side has an adorable country bears vinyl sticker with "tears will be the chaser for your wine" and Trixie on it!



paradesintherain said:


> Wow, what a beautiful vacation so far, and what a special place to get engaged!
> 
> This is making me miss Hawaii so much!



It is making ME miss Hawaii so much!  That's always the problem with writing reports, it just makes me want to go back to everywhere I've ever been!  And thank you for joining in!


----------



## pepperandchips

MeghanEmily said:


> Congrats!! I missed getting caught up here before your wedding weekend, but I hope you had a wonderful time with all kinds of special memories! I enjoyed getting myself caught up here now, even if a little late.


Glad to have you here any time! I am a little late in updating but I am FULLY COMMITTED to finishing this report!!!



MeghanEmily said:


> How incredibly beautiful!! After reading this report, I may or may not have started making a five-year plan for Nathan and I to do this for my 30th birthday...


Oh my gosh, DO IT! Any way for Nathan to book a convention and write off your travel as a tax deduction? (wait, just remembering you guys are Canadian and I have no idea how taxes work there. Don't tell me there aren't taxes or I will be packing my home up) I loved planning and reading reports and dreaming and then BOOKING OUR TRIP! It was the best kind of anticipation.


MeghanEmily said:


> Oh my gosh! Amazing!! This is absolutely the way to fly.


Yes it is, but DON'T DO IT!  I spoiled myself and now I'm back to cattle class for the rest of my travels. I turned R into a snob now too, he's always checking to see how much more extra comfort or first class would be over economy!



MeghanEmily said:


> Wow! I knew Hawaii was expensive, and Disney's also expensive, but wow! Smart move getting a lot of your food and drink for the room.


Oh my gosh, yes. That's why, despite it being kind of crass, I like to include budget information. I think I got the room food and drinks tip from @Vernie822. We saved a lot on food and we had the convenience of eating or grabbing drinks or snacks when we wanted to this way. I just wish we'd known about Wal-Mart being right there! 



MeghanEmily said:


> Your photopass pictures came out great! (At least the ones that made the cut for you to share here.) I think this was my favourite one.


I had to restrain myself from photo spamming the report, a lot of them actually came out great! And of course I hated many of them at the time but love them more and more as time goes on. I am so glad we were able to take advantage of it!



MeghanEmily said:


> It looks like paradise!! Also...Moana sailed onto your beach!?


 I watched Moana SO MANY TIMES prior to and on this trip. As well as Beauty and the Beast which I think I watched on every flight. R was like "Aren't you tired of these movies yet?" To which I responded by turning on the Moana soundtrack in the room at every opportunity 



MeghanEmily said:


> Such an amazing end to your trip and your engagement/birthday celebration. How special.


It was so amazing! Fortunately we had a bunch more fun stuff after this! I am working on an update now.


----------



## pepperandchips

I got a little behind with my reporting as we were busy GETTING MARRIED!  But I am back and wanted to continue writing in case anyone else is interested in Kauai or Disneyland as part of their Aulani vacations.

*Thursday, June 1, 2017:*











Unfortunately with this morning came our departure from Aulani. We were up at 5:30 to pack and get ready for the next travel leg. We found a decent price on gas to refill the rental car on Nimitz Highway not too far from the airport, and returned the Jeep without incident (love Alamo!)

Before long we were at our gate. Just a tip: you don't need to be so early to an inter-island flight! We had an hour to kill at the gate with not much to do. I did get a Starbucks "You Are Here" series cup as a souvenir to add to my collection, like this one:






(image lifted from the internet)

I loved the colors and the cute pineapple, plus it shows Diamond Head, where we got engaged.






We had a short and easy flight to Lihue, Kauai on Hawaiian. For anyone following along with our budget, the flights were $69 per person. You can see a cruise ship was in port!





(U. R. Here)

We picked up our car (again with Alamo) and headed straight to get some lunch at a place I'd read a lot about and was looking forward to - Pink's Creamery.






Pink's is a very casual sandwich and ice cream shop in Hanalei. It's more of a sandwich counter with just a few seats, located in a little shopping center. I'd heard a lot about their Hawaiian Grilled cheese - Kalua Pork, pineapple, and muenster grilled on Hawaiian bread and served with chips for $12. 






Well, we'd totally spoiled ourselves by trying the Kalua Pork grilled cheese at The Beach House a few days prior, as I kinda found myself disappointed by this famous grilled cheese. It was good, don't get me wrong, and I still highly recommend Pink's, it just wasn't eye-rollingly, life changingly good like the one we'd already tried. Plus I'm not much for pineapple on savory things, I don't like it on my pizza and I ended up picking most of the pineapple off of my sandwich. The good thing about Pink's is that in addition to the famous grilled cheese, they have amazing ice cream. My notes, in fact, specify that it was FABULOUS! I don't remember what each of us got (and managed not to take notes on the flavors) but all of the varieties that we tried were winners. I'm sure I had coconut, as I am predictable in that regard, and I loved what I had. 






R is happy any time you give him ice cream, so with bellies full, we set off in search of our next accomodation. (Here's where his souvenir from the Haleiwa Patagonia shop makes its cameo appearance if anyone else is into that sort of thing)





(just another view, right off the main road into and out of Hanalei)

We were staying on the North Shore of Kauai near Hanalei, a surf town with a slower pace than some of the more developed towns on the south end of Kauai, As I mentioned earlier in the trip report, I wanted to visit Kauai primarily to see the Na Pali coast, and it made sense for us to make our home base in Hanalei given the proximity to the Na Pali trailhead. I'd checked all of the options, but the only major hotel in the area is a St. Regis (ummm, too rich for our blood) and I really wanted a spectacular view, so we ended up renting a condo for our three days/two nights there. Here are some photos from the listing on the rental website, we used Kauai Vacation Rentals and the process was smooth.
















The condo was a little outdated but it was convenient and had all we needed. Also it had the view I wanted  so I was willing to accept a less than five star condo. The weather was a little overcast, but here's a sneak peek of the reason why I'd wanted to book the condo that we went with:






That mountain looming under the grey clouds is Makana, the real life version of Bali Hai, the mountain made famous in the musical South Pacific. The condo complex we rented in is called Pali Ke Kua, in case it is helpful. It was outside of Hanalei in a resort area called Princeville. This was convenient and had more than enough space for us. The only downside is that many of the vacation rentals in Princeville do not have air conditioning. Ours was no exception, so it was rather warm in the condo during the day, but it was comfortable at night.






We again visited the local grocery store, this time it was the Foodland, and picked up drinks and dinner supplies. We got stuff to make kalua pork tacos again (what can I say, we loved them) and a six pack of local beer, enough rum and coke supplies to get us through the short visit we'd be there for, and some ice cream. The total came to $54.49. We spent the evening just hanging out at the condo, catching up with social media and taking it easy. We were already on island time and loving settling in!






Next up: our hike of the Kalalau Trail, well at least the first couple of miles...


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## pepperandchips

*Friday, June 2, 2017:*

So, if you don't already know from the previous few days, I am what my family calls a bit of a princess. I'm not much of an athlete and while we "hike" fairly often on our vacations, it's usually easy hikes on at least decently groomed trails. The Kalalau trail is not at all like this, which I did know well in advance of planning the hike as I'd done quite a lot of research. 

I also knew from research to head out early. We probably parked and got started on the trail by about 8:30 or 8:40. The last of my photos from the trail was time-stamped around 12:30, so it was about a four hour adventure for us. We'd also stopped for pre-made sandwiches and water bottles at the grocery store before heading to the trailhead.

From kalalautrail.com: 

_"Ke`e Beach to  Hanakapi`ai beach:_
_This section offers a popular day hike for able-bodied hikers. Walking the first half mile will reward you with excellent views of the coast. The summer sand beach at Hanakapi’ai is a popular destination for day hikers. Swimming or wading can be dangerous, however, and is not recommended. The surf and rip currents are variable and often extremely treacherous, but worst in winter when high surf conditions prevail. BEWARE! Many drownings have occurred here._

_Camping is not permitted at Hanakapiai.  Day Hikes to Hanakāpīʻai Beach (4 miles round trip) or up to Hanakāpīʻai Falls (8 miles round trip) are allowed without a permit."_


Big photo update:
















Still relatively fresh faced, only about 30 minutes in!
















True to the promise mentioned above, at 1/2 mile into the hike the views started getting dramatic and beautiful! 






Just look at that color blue.











I also just saw a review on Tripadvisor saying that this portion of the trail is an "easy hike". I think that's so misleading. I saw some older folks that were struggling mightily. Look at the root sticking up into the trail above! This is not an adventure for the faint of heart or with mobility issues. We encountered slippery rocks, muddy trail, and very steep climbs and descents. 
















We also had to cross a few small streams. Wear old shoes or waterproof hiking boots. We both brought old shoes to leave in Hawaii (in the trash) after we were done with our hike.






There were also a few small waterfalls visible from the trail! The sound of running water was so tranquil.






Husband pictured for scale! This was one of the stream crossings that required agility and a little luck to stay dry through. We hopped across those big rocks. 
















This sign let us know we were nearing our final destination, Hanakapiai Beach. The sign says that 834 visitors have drowned. You can't really tell in the photo but the sign reflected an increasing tally as the dangerous current has caused more deaths over the years. We did not go near the water!






Hanakapiai beach is surrounded on three sides by dramatic cliffs, with a stream emptying into the ocean.  It is truly dramatic being there.






We found some nice rocks to perch on and take in the view






The beach is accessible only to hikers and those bringing sea kayaks ashore. Better them than me! That looks exhausting.






This was our view for our sandwich break. This is one of my favorite photos from the whole trip. It was simply amazing and the reward for traveling all the way to Hawaii and hiking out into the middle of nowhere. 











After our rest, it was time to head back. Something to note is that in order to get onto the beach you see in the photos above (past the rocks we were sitting on), you had to cross a rather broad stream. We didn't really want to get sandy anyway but we elected to stay on the Ke'e side of the trail rather than trying to cross the rocks. We saw a few folks fall into the stream and we knew we'd be in big trouble if one of us twisted an ankle.












Some of the informational signs we didn't even notice on the way in...






Notably more exhausted than our cute smiley selfie at the beginning! Note all the sweat on R's shirt. You can also see mud on my legs... more on that in a minute.






Some of Kauai's most famous residents, just hanging out near the beach...






Ke'e beach is pictured above. You can visit here for the day with none of the effort required to hike to Hanakapiai. It was beautiful but much busier than Hanakapiai, for obvious reasons.






And yes, that photo is gross! But it's my photographic evidence that I made it and the hike is really not a joke. All that dirt came in through tennis shoes and socks!

All in all, this was totally worthwhile and one of the highlights of Hawaii for me. There's only one experience that tops it, sight-seeing wise, which is still to come, and of course getting engaged at Diamond Head probably edges out the Kalalau trail, sentimentality-wise. But I would HIGHLY highly recommend this hike and would love to do it again. In case you were curious...






Next up: hanging around in Hanalei, more shave ice, and visiting the FAMOUS Tahiti Nui!


----------



## MeghanEmily

pepperandchips said:


> Oh my gosh, DO IT! Any way for Nathan to book a convention and write off your travel as a tax deduction? (wait, just remembering you guys are Canadian and I have no idea how taxes work there. Don't tell me there aren't taxes or I will be packing my home up) I loved planning and reading reports and dreaming and then BOOKING OUR TRIP! It was the best kind of anticipation.



Oooh, now that's an idea!! Sign us up!! And yes, we pay our taxes up here, too!  But a lot of Nathan's travel expenses can be written off when it's for work. If we can find a reliable and reasonably-priced way to ship supplies in future, maybe we'll just have to try to make this work... 



pepperandchips said:


> a lot of them actually came out great! And of course I hated many of them at the time but love them more and more as time goes on.



I do this, too. 



pepperandchips said:


> R was like "Aren't you tired of these movies yet?" To which I responded by turning on the Moana soundtrack in the room at every opportunity



Yes!! I mean really, does he even need to ask? I've got Nathan on board with Moana now, so occasionally he even requests the soundtrack when we're driving somewhere. #Disneywin



pepperandchips said:


> I got a little behind with my reporting as we were busy GETTING MARRIED!  B



Very reasonable excuse!



pepperandchips said:


> But I am back and wanted to continue writing in case anyone else is interested in Kauai or Disneyland as part of their Aulani vacations.



Yes! If we go, I'd like to include a Disneyland trip, too. I hate to travel on anything that moves, so it would be good to break up the long distance.



pepperandchips said:


>



What beautiful views you had!



pepperandchips said:


> That mountain looming under the grey clouds is Makana, the real life version of Bali Hai, the mountain made famous in the musical South Pacific.



No way! So cool! 



pepperandchips said:


>



 Beautiful!



pepperandchips said:


>



Holy smokes. Talk about a view! The water is so gorgeous!



pepperandchips said:


> This was our view for our sandwich break. This is one of my favorite photos from the whole trip. It was simply amazing and the reward for traveling all the way to Hawaii and hiking out into the middle of nowhere.



I just can't get over these pictures of paradise. Your strenuous hike was definitely worth it!


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## olafLover

.


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## WildGinger

So glad I found this trip report!  Congratulations on getting married! Your photos and trip looked amazing!  We are doing almost the same itinerary!


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## pepperandchips

MeghanEmily said:


> Yes! If we go, I'd like to include a Disneyland trip, too. I hate to travel on anything that moves, so it would be good to break up the long distance.


I do too, I get motion sick so it was much more palatable to break up the long travel with stops. I definitely advise a Disneyland stop so you're not so sad on the way home!



MeghanEmily said:


> No way! So cool!


I know, and can you believe I still haven't seen South Pacific  I'm embarrassed for myself. It is on my list though!!



MeghanEmily said:


> I just can't get over these pictures of paradise. Your strenuous hike was definitely worth it!


Oh my gosh yes it was! More gorgeous photos coming (well, not in the next installment). I took over 700 pictures on the day following this one so I am not looking forward to culling those down to just my favorites... 



olafLover said:


> I’m so yealous you got to go to the napali coast! We couldn’t go because of the mud slides! And the hike was on our wish list. Guess we’ll have to come back for that... your pictures are amazing!


Oh man, I didn't remember until just now but I do remember hearing on those podcasts I was listening to that some of the trail had been closed at various times from mud slides and other hazardous conditions! I guess we were lucky to visit when we did. And thank you for the compliment on the photos!!!



WildGinger said:


> So glad I found this trip report!  Congratulations on getting married! Your photos and trip looked amazing!  We are doing almost the same itinerary!



Thank you! It was a great trip, I hope that at lease some of the report is helpful!!! Thank you for reading along!


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## pepperandchips

*June 2, 2017 (Continued)*

After our hike, we deserved (second? ) lunch. We did have sandwiches halfway through, but we were pretty hungry. We decided to try the Hanalei Gourmet, a little local place that was highly rated for sandwiches and other lunch fare, so it sounded perfect for our casual lunch. There is indoor and outdoor seating, but I think the weather had gotten iffy so we decided to sit inside.






The restaurant is located in a converted building (an old schoolhouse maybe?) and in a little strip center. Hanalei is a really local-yokel kind of place so we really enjoyed trying some of the smaller restaurants in town. 

We decided to split two things, per the usual. We had "Da Kine" Nachos to start:






"Corn tortilla chips layered with jalapenos, four cheeses and a spicy black bean sauce. Served with our homemade salsa." Obviously we also had ours topped with a big ol' pile of kalua pork also. Are you sensing a theme to our hawaiian dining adventures? When in Rome, and all that, I suppose. 

These hit the spot perfectly and went down great with more local beers. They were also absolutely massive. Not that we needed something else to eat, but we'd ordered both things at once, so we also had " Beer Battered Fresh Fish & Chips"






Fresh fish, beer battered and deep fried. Served with french fries, Asian coleslaw and a soy wasabi sauce. Sorry, I can't recall what the fresh catch was that day, but it was delicious! (In retrospect I'm thinking it might have been Ono as we had it a few times). The batter was light and crispy, perfect for fish and chips, and the sauce they served with it was super tasty!

Undeterred by our already full tummies, I had another stop in mind. I'd actually listened to quite a lot of "Escape to Kauai" podcasts prior to our travels, and Ty spoke highly of some shave ice in the Hanalei main drag.






Of course I needed to compare it to the Aulani and Matsumoto versions, for science! 






Jojo's was the winner in at least one regard, size! 






This was good shave ice, not as good as Matsumoto's perhaps, but better than Aulani. It took FOREVER to get my order though, despite there not being a ton of people around. We sat at a little picnic table and enjoyed. 

Fed, refreshed, and entertained after doing some people watching, we moseyed back to the Pali Ke Kua to rest. I think we might have taken a nap, and we definitely both had showers! Later we went to go check out the beach at the condo complex.

It was a bit of a hike down to a pretty rocky beach, but boy was the view worth it!
















The black rocks were gorgeous, despite preventing us from getting in and enjoying the water. We had a nice evening just sitting with our feet in one of the tide ponds enjoying a couple of drinks. 

After getting cleaned up for dinner, we walked around the serene grounds and ran into some native wildlife






These are nene! (The official bird of Hawaii)

This was the view from the master bedroom of the condo - when clouds weren't obscuring the view, there was  pretty amazing vantage point looking toward the mountains. 






We decided while near Hanalei we needed to try the world famous Tahiti Nui. Part of the action in the film "The Descendants" was filmed here (the George Clooney film, not the Disney channel film). It was really hopping when we arrived a bit after 8:00. We put our name on the list and moseyed up to the bar. Of course, we had to get mai tais as this would be our last night in Hawaii, and "The Nui" claimed that theirs were famous. There were a ton of these being served.  (and no, not just to us!)






These were good, but sweet. It was pretty neat hanging out at a REAL tiki bar!

Soon our table was ready. There was some weirdness as they actually ended up moving us to accomodate a larger party, but that's just the laid back way of Hawaii. We were cool with it. We were advised that the kitchen was running a bit behind and not to order pizza, so we just made ourselves comfortable and listened to some live music.





(authentic dark tiki bar, and poor R's head, haha)






We started with a seasonal salad, topped with gorgonzola and macadamia nuts. ($14) This was good, nothing to write home about, but we appreciated the veggies.

We again chose two entrees that we would be happy sharing:






The Mac Nut Ono (fish, also known as Wahoo) $26 and served with coconut lime cilantro sauce,  rice and seasonal veggies. This was really really good. We were slurping up every bit of that sauce! You can't go wrong with mac nut encrusted fresh catch IN HAWAII!






Special Kauai prawns - $25 and served in a tasty, flavorful broth with purple mashed sweet potatoes, I believe. The only menu I can find online says served with Macadamia honey sauce over steamed bok choy, which doesn't look like what we had. It was also really good though.

Somewhere along the line we got another round of drinks - I had a dark and stormy and boy was this well executed! (you can also see the band setting up in the below photo, they were right next to our table)






So dark! (and stormy?) it was $10. R had a Hinano Tahiti beer (not pictured, $5)

The only misstep was dessert. I think it was a chocolate lava cake and it just wasn't great (also $10):






Overall we would go back - we enjoyed the ambiance, the live music, and the food was really more upscale than I was expecting for such a casual place. Our total before tip was $93.12.

*Next up*: How did I take over 700 photos in one day?! And OUR FAVORITE thing we did on the trip!


----------



## olafLover

.


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## pepperandchips

olafLover said:


> No, there was a major mudslide on that side of the island and when we were there, you couldn't go past Hanalei, you couldn't reach the trail itself! Not just part of it, all of the Napali Coast. As far as I heart it hasn't reopened yet, a little while ago it opened for residence (the road past Hanalei)



Oh how awful! I had not heard that. What a devastating impact for people who make their living from tourism. Well we were doubly lucky I guess. I hope they are recovering.


----------



## MeghanEmily

pepperandchips said:


> I know, and can you believe I still haven't seen South Pacific  I'm embarrassed for myself. It is on my list though!!



It's a classic!  I taught voice lessons part-time for a couple of years, and I always used to get a kick out of getting my adorable little girls to sing "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair" from South Pacific. So cute! 



pepperandchips said:


> Obviously we also had ours topped with a big ol' pile of kalua pork also.



Obviously! Is there any other way?



pepperandchips said:


> Jojo's was the winner in at least one regard, size!



Holy smokes, this is huge!



pepperandchips said:


>



All your pictures look like postcards. 

A great meal that night! It must have been cool to try more local-type places. We always like when we can find some of the local haunts when we're on vacation and get an idea what the personality of a place is really like.


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## pepperandchips

*June 3, 2017*

The answer to how on earth I took so many pictures on this day, is, of course, that we took a helicopter tour of Kauai.  I promise there are LOTS of photos below but a few paragraphs of background first.

A helicopter tour is never something I thought I'd be interested in, but one of the major things I'd wanted to see was the Na Pali Coast, and I'd been doing my research. Your options for seeing Na Pali are limited due to the wild and rugged terrain. You can do the hike that we did, and can go even further with a camping permit; you can explore by sea either on a boat cruise or via sea kayak (no thank you); or you can see Na Pali and the entire island by air on a helicopter tour. The idea of a helicopter tour scared the ever loving patootle out of me, so I started looking at boat excursions. The better rated ones all seemed to be leaving from an area on the diametric opposite side of the island from where we were staying, and with my motion sickness, I don't do all that well on boats anyway. I circled back to the idea of a helicopter adventure. I did more research. I hemmed and hawed. I considered our options and finally came around to the idea that the helicopter tour would be the biggest bang for our buck and the only way for us to see all of Kauai on such a regrettably short visit. I have motion sickness scopolomine patches, I think to myself... surely I will be fine? 

Then I got even deeper into the research - which size helicopter is best? Should we select a tour with doors on the helicopter or opt for the (way scarier) doors off version? After reading a LOT of reviews, we decided to go with Mauna Loa helicopters and a doors-off tour. I actually booked this only about two weeks prior to us leaving for Hawaii. We went with a 10:00 am flight and had to arrive 45 minutes prior for "check in". 

First of all, I want to preface the experience by saying it was *fantastic*. 

I would do it again in a heartbeat. The staff and our pilot were all VERY kind and professional, but this experience scared me SO MUCH! We arrived to check in at the Mauna Loa "office" which is a BUS next to a run-down looking outdoor mall thing.  A nice bus (like Magical Express) but nevertheless a BUS, that they could pack up and drive away. We check in and meanwhile I am thinking "What are you doing? This is how people die...." So they weigh us and have us sign all our papers saying we understand we're probably going to die and what-not, and we sit and wait and eventually everyone who's checked in and is waiting piles into a shuttle and we drive to the airport. Except instead of going into the regular airport, we pull onto a janky little air field with next to no security and all pile out of the bus and go under this... temporary car port type structure  with a picnic table and some plastic chairs. Meanwhile I am thinking, "Okay, this is my last day on earth, it's been nice and I almost made it to 30." 






I fidget, check my camera settings for the 900th time, watch the pilots come over and text (probably saying farewell to their wives and small children for all I know). Each party is summoned to a helicopter. I somehow, miraculously, maintain clean underpants. We're summoned, given emergency airsickness bags, buckled in, and given headsets. If you do the doors-off ride, everything you're holding has to be attached to your body. You have to tie your hair back and you can't have any loose articles. You are advised to wear tightly fitting clothing so that your clothes aren't flapping around slapping you. So here we are looking extra fly (see what I did there?) with our death mobile:






Then here is the future husband complete with gear:











We lifted off and I am totally white-knuckling it.  Our pilot tries to lighten the mood and we test out the headsets (which let you talk to each other and the pilot by depressing a button). The pilot is alarmingly young, and we start off on our journey together with me still certain my death is nigh.






Captain of the death trap, seen from my vantage.

We started out by seeing the waterfalls that were used in Jurassic Park (the original, not sure about World)






Then we flew over what felt like a thousand more waterfalls. I'm a bit of a waterfall junkie, so I quickly grew excited and almost forgot about my fear






Soon, the verdant mountains gave way to the Waimea Canyon's majestic red layers. We weren't going to be able to get there for a hike on this visit so I was thrilled to fly over.






Some moisture got on my lens at various parts of the journey but I had no ability to really wipe it off and didn't want to cause a smear on the lens for the rest of the flight, so I just sucked it up and shot through the drops...






The above photo is perhaps my favorite photo I've ever taken, though this trip (and this day) produced some good ones.There were rainbows everywhere during the flight as we flew through clouds and mist.






It's hard to believe that some of these photos were taken on the same day, let alone within minutes of each other. 






After Waimea, I saw the main event coming... Na Pali was on the horizon, as were some clouds...
















Were we really hovering over Kauai or had we found Te Fiti?
















Each view seemed more breathtaking than the last. THIS was why I was doing the scary thing!!!!











The gorgeous ocean meeting those sheer green cliffs at stretches of untouched sand beaches was just amazing. I am glad Na Pali has remained untouched. Wild and wonderful, for sure.











The clouds gave the cliffs such an ominous look at times.






If you take certain types of boat tours, you can explore these sea caves






The various colors of the ocean are just mesmerizing to me











Here was a view of the part of the island near where we were staying, from the air.






As we circled back toward the airport, we saw many more waterfalls






Next, our pilot pointed out a large, dormant volcano. WE WERE GOING INSIDE THE CRATER! This was so scary. The walls were sheer up beside us. It felt that one small breeze would smash us against the side of the volcano crater! 






I didn't die. 






But I've never been more excited to see a tiny little heliport in my life!!!






Overall, this tour is my favorite thing we did in Hawaii, and that's saying a LOT. We saw some magnificent sights, ate some great food, and lounged on gorgeous beaches, but the helicopter tour was the single most worthwhile hour we spent. Bang for your buck? This is it.

I highly recommend Mauna Loa. The pilot was fabulous, friendly and a good host, their helicopter fleet allowed us to be certain we'd have two window seats and no other passengers, and we were able to get the doors off experience I was looking for. It was $287.00 per person, so definitely a splurge, but so very worth it.


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## pepperandchips

*June 3, Continued:*

My friend Sarah had been to Kauai before we had, and she'd given me a handful of recommendations. One of her most highly recommended restaurants wasn't unreasonably far from the Mauna Loa bus, so we headed off in search of brunch. 

Our destination was Kountry Kitchen in Kapaa, an unassuming diner with an apt "Kountry" flair.






I hadn't had any Mac Nut Pancakes yet, and knew I'd better hop to it if I was going to have some before we left (in a few hours) 






I added coconut as well. This was $10.25 for the pancake with both macadamia nuts and coconut.






Hand for scale, ring for... well, I'd just gotten engaged for pete's sake! haha

I didn't know they had coconut syrup until we were leaving. The pancake was absolutely amazing though! SO GOOD. 






R had the loco moco, which is a hawaiian breakfast specialty of rice, brown gravy, hamburger, and egg. I think he might have substituted his burger for kalua pork, but neither of us can really recall.






I also had hash browns since I haven't had hash browns like this in years and was craving them. They were cooked perfectly.

After our massive and delicious meal, we walked over to the beach park and snapped a couple of photos 






It was setting in that we were about to leave Hawaii.  Back at our condo, we used the complex's pool to go for a dip while we passed the time before we needed to head to the airport for our second flight of the day.






I walked the grounds and got some photos to remember Mount Makana by... 
















A rainbow led us all the way back to the airport for our flight. 











I hated to leave Hawaii, but Disneyland would greet us in the morning!!!


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## MeghanEmily

pepperandchips said:


> We check in and meanwhile I am thinking "What are you doing? This is how people die...." So they weigh us and have us sign all our papers saying we understand we're probably going to die and what-not, and we sit and wait and eventually everyone who's checked in and is waiting piles into a shuttle and we drive to the airport. Except instead of going into the regular airport, we pull onto a janky little air field with next to no security and all pile out of the bus and go under this... temporary car port type structure  with a picnic table and some plastic chairs. Meanwhile I am thinking, "Okay, this is my last day on earth, it's been nice and I almost made it to 30."



 This is absolutely terrifying!! I don't know how you did this! I would definitely pee myself. And barf. 



pepperandchips said:


> We started out by seeing the waterfalls that were used in Jurassic Park (the original, not sure about World)



Oh my goodness, amazing!!



pepperandchips said:


> The above photo is perhaps my favorite photo I've ever taken, though this trip (and this day) produced some good ones.There were rainbows everywhere during the flight as we flew through clouds and mist.



This is a gorgeous picture 



pepperandchips said:


>



Holy cow! How incredibly gorgeous is this!? I can see why you did the scary thing. 



pepperandchips said:


> I hated to leave Hawaii, but Disneyland would greet us in the morning!!!



If you really have to leave Hawaii, I can't think of a better place to go to feel better about it


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## heaven2dc

The helicopter tour pics were amazing!!  What an experience (scary but fun it sounds)!   I noticed you had a jacket on before boarding the flight - did they make you zip it up so it wasn't loose or did you secure it on you like they instructed since they required tight clothing?


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## pepperandchips

heaven2dc said:


> The helicopter tour pics were amazing!!  What an experience (scary but fun it sounds)!   I noticed you had a jacket on before boarding the flight - did they make you zip it up so it wasn't loose or did you secure it on you like they instructed since they required tight clothing?



I zipped it prior to getting in to the helicopter - I think all of the tour companies probably send out really detailed instructions, ours did for sure. They advise you wear long pants and a jacket no matter how warm it is that day because it's pretty cold up in the helicopter and that was absolutely true! The risk of any loose articles is that they could catch in the rotors if they flew out. I was pretty scared, truth be told, but some of the story above was also for humor's sake. They did a great job letting us know what to expect and how to prepare for the flight. It was great!


----------



## ErinF

Just wanted to say I loved reading your trip report!!! Your pictures are amazing!!  I read the whole thing the last few days b/c I've only just now started frequenting this board (planning a trip for next June).  

Seems silly to say congratulations on your engagement since that was so long ago now and you've since gotten married....so I'll say congratulations on getting married and best wishes for a long and happy marriage!!  I know Hawaii will always hold a special place in your heart from getting engaged there; same for me except it's from honeymooning there back in 2000.  We went back to Maui in 2006, and are now so excited to be planning a trip for our whole family of 5 next June.  I'm in the process of renting DVC points from Aulani for 3 nights, then we'll head to Kauai for 3 nights (I was so happy to read that part of your report b/c I haven't been there yet!), and then we'll finish up with 5 nights on Maui.

I hope you continue to post about the DL part of your trip.  I love DL!  We're planning to take our 3rd trip there in March.  In fact, the last time we were there would have been just after you guys.  We were in SoCal in mid to late June 2017.


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## pepperandchips

MeghanEmily said:


> This is absolutely terrifying!! I don't know how you did this! I would definitely pee myself. And barf.


I definitely would have barfed if I had not had a motion sickness patch. There were definitely some times with the wind blowing us pretty hard that I was about to pee myself!  I made it though! And, insanely enough, I would do it again!



MeghanEmily said:


> Holy cow! How incredibly gorgeous is this!? I can see why you did the scary thing.


It was sooooooo worth it. I'd seen a post on the Bucket List Narratives blog about a Kauai helicopter tour and that's what sold me. I haven't been on their site in a while... I need to go see what I've been missing!



ErinF said:


> Just wanted to say I loved reading your trip report!!! Your pictures are amazing!!  I read the whole thing the last few days b/c I've only just now started frequenting this board (planning a trip for next June).
> 
> Seems silly to say congratulations on your engagement since that was so long ago now and you've since gotten married....so I'll say congratulations on getting married and best wishes for a long and happy marriage!!  I know Hawaii will always hold a special place in your heart from getting engaged there; same for me except it's from honeymooning there back in 2000.  We went back to Maui in 2006, and are now so excited to be planning a trip for our whole family of 5 next June.  I'm in the process of renting DVC points from Aulani for 3 nights, then we'll head to Kauai for 3 nights (I was so happy to read that part of your report b/c I haven't been there yet!), and then we'll finish up with 5 nights on Maui.
> 
> I hope you continue to post about the DL part of your trip.  I love DL!  We're planning to take our 3rd trip there in March.  In fact, the last time we were there would have been just after you guys.  We were in SoCal in mid to late June 2017.



Yay! So glad you found my report and I am glad you are all caught up. 

Thank you for the well-wishes! I definitely want to go back to Hawaii and Maui is at the top of my list right now. My friend Ashley (Vernie822) wrote a really great TR from her Aulani/Maui trip and I took so many tips from her Aulani trip! If you want to read it, it's here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/just-mauid-maui-aulani-trip-report.3552835/

I am definitely still planning to keep updating the TR with our Disneyland visit. My notes got worse as the trip progressed so the Disneyland part might be mostly photos 

Thanks for saying hi and I hope you enjoy your planning! So exciting!!!


----------



## pepperandchips

*Sunday, June 4, 2017:*

Our flight from Lihue to LAX was largely without incident, though I will say the meal we were served in Delta's first class was put to shame by that Hawaiian first class experience we had! #firstworldproblems






We landed at 6:05, collected our bags from the carousel, and summoned a shuttle. If I correctly recall, we did the super shuttle execucar service and had a nice driver in a mini van. Since it was so early there was no traffic and we arrived at Disneyland without any problems. We probably should have just taken an Uber, but I'd wanted to be sure we had a reliable ride and I don't have any complaints.

When we arrived at the Grand Californian, there was really no one around so all of the cast members were super kind and helpful.
















This was just before the refurbishment started, I think the scrims went up in the lobby the next day. I don't know what they changed but I loved the ambiance.

Bell services had taken our bags pretty immediately from the shuttle, but then we needed them again to get changed for the park, so they let us go into the baggage storage room and grab our stuff out. That was pretty neat and we had some great interactions with the cast. We also got our "First Visit" and "Celebrating" buttons since we had just gotten engaged!

By 7:20, we were on our way out to Downtown Disney. Not bad! We decided to seek out some breakfast as we had the time before park opening, and ended up in Starbucks for caffeine and snacks. We each had a pastry and a coffee ($15.60). I was apparently tired or excitedly delirious so didn't take any pictures of our food. I'm sure you can imagine coffee and croissants!

Tired but excited pepperandchips waiting on R in the esplanade:






Both parks were open to us at 8:00 this morning as resort guests, with DCA having extra magic hours for guests of the Disneyland resorts. We were actually let in a bit before 8, so our flight schedule ended up working out perfectly! 






This photo is my reminder that I took pictures of the back of each of our tickets, as we were wisely advised on the boards. In case you lose your ticket, this makes things easier for Disney to replace them.






It was a little surreal seeing these icons for the first time in real life after seeing so many photos online! Sorry for the crappy pictures, we were on a Mission (hint hint) and I didn't get my camera out yet.






Guardians of the Galaxy had not been open for very long at this point (about a week or so, I believe it opened over Memorial Day when we were in Hawaii) so it was definitely at the top of my agenda! Like pretty much everyone else entering DCA, we joined the lineup to grab GotG fastpass. This was actually super efficient, they had cast members with a stack of fastpasses and they just handed you one for each person in your party (you had to have tickets for everyone in your party if you were requesting more than one). The awesome thing about this was that they didn't actually *scan* our tickets, so we were still eligible to get another FP right away! Our return window was only about 30 minutes away. We headed for Cars Land, where were grabbed fastpasses for Radiator Springs Racers before taking in the sights:


























It was kind of icky weather this morning, sorry the photos aren't Disneyland-level glorious but I was so excited that we'd been in the park for about 15 minutes and already met Mater and Lightning McQueen!

















By 8:10 we were in the standby queue for RSR. The wait was less than 10 minutes. Not exactly a walk-on, but not a bad wait at all!






Y'all Radiator Springs Racers was everything everyone says it will be, plus some. I was not expecting to enjoy it so much but this is for sure one of my all-time favorite Disney rides! It has all the detailed touches of a Disney dark ride plus the thrill element at the end. So so cute! And I love the music  I have to admit, I like the Cars franchise much more now that I've been to Cars Land. Crazy!

Next, we hopped in line for and rode Mater's Junkyard Jamboree






We were both giggling like little kids! We absolutely LOVED this ride... I don't know why! It's got me excited for the Alien Swirling Saucer ride at DHS though. 






We decided to finish up Cars Land before using our Guardians FP, so we headed over to Luigi's Rollicking Roadsters next.






I am mildly obsessed with this ride, it is SO cute.











I did not expect to like the "little" Cars Land rides so much.






But they turned out to be one of my favorite parts of Disneyland. I loved the music and the honking! Though it took me a while to figure out that people weren't actually making the honks  I wanted to find out how our horn worked and R was like, "Ummm... I think that's just part of the soundtrack...." 







Next, we returned to use our Guardians fastpass at 9:05 (obviously). 






By 9:13 we were in front of these doors 
















We are in the back in the ride photo. Honestly, I liked Guardians of the Galaxy and would definitely continue to line up to ride it, but I didn't love the screens and still prefer WDW's Tower of Terror. But it was so thrilling to ride it right after it opened, absolutely no regrets there!!! The pre-show really is great and that Rocket animatronic is really impressive. We were off the ride by 9:20, and had gotten so much done in our first hour and a half at the park! 

.... But I'm near the photo limit so will continue in another post.


----------



## ErinF

pepperandchips said:


> Yay! So glad you found my report and I am glad you are all caught up.
> 
> Thank you for the well-wishes! I definitely want to go back to Hawaii and Maui is at the top of my list right now. My friend Ashley (Vernie822) wrote a really great TR from her Aulani/Maui trip and I took so many tips from her Aulani trip! If you want to read it, it's here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/just-mauid-maui-aulani-trip-report.3552835/
> 
> I am definitely still planning to keep updating the TR with our Disneyland visit. My notes got worse as the trip progressed so the Disneyland part might be mostly photos
> 
> Thanks for saying hi and I hope you enjoy your planning! So exciting!!!



Thanks for the link to Ashley's trip report, I will definitely check it out!!

I love planning!!! Planning is half the fun, right?  Speaking of, I just got an email this morning saying our requested Aulani days have been secured from a renting DVC member.  EEEEEK!!!  




pepperandchips said:


> Y'all Radiator Springs Racers was everything everyone says it will be, plus some. I was not expecting to enjoy it so much but this is for sure one of my all-time favorite Disney rides! It has all the detailed touches of a Disney dark ride plus the thrill element at the end. So so cute! And I love the music  I have to admit, I like the Cars franchise much more now that I've been to Cars Land. Crazy!



Oh my gosh yes--RSR is the best!!  All of Cars Land is wonderful, as you pointed out both the "little" rides in Mater's and Luigi's are super cute and fun as well.  Honestly DCA is probably my favorite of all 6 domestic parks.    Kind of crazy, but it's got 3 of my very favorite rides in RSR, Soarin', and TSMM.  And I love all the counter service places there.  Not sure how I'll feel about it once I experience Pixar Pier b/c I really loved it as Paradise Pier and think the Pixarfying of it was kind of unnecessary.


----------



## MeghanEmily

pepperandchips said:


> Our flight from Lihue to LAX was largely without incident, though I will say the meal we were served in Delta's first class was put to shame by that Hawaiian first class experience we had! #firstworldproblems



I've already warned Nathan that we'd better start saving our money and/or look for good travel rewards cards/programs, because now that I've seen your first class experience on Hawaiian, there's no other way I want to travel there. 



pepperandchips said:


> This photo is my reminder that I took pictures of the back of each of our tickets, as we were wisely advised on the boards. In case you lose your ticket, this makes things easier for Disney to replace them.



Good idea! ...and paper tickets. Weird. 



pepperandchips said:


> The awesome thing about this was that they didn't actually *scan* our tickets, so we were still eligible to get another FP right away!



Score!!



pepperandchips said:


> Y'all Radiator Springs Racers was everything everyone says it will be, plus some. I was not expecting to enjoy it so much but this is for sure one of my all-time favorite Disney rides! It has all the detailed touches of a Disney dark ride plus the thrill element at the end. So so cute! And I love the music  I have to admit, I like the Cars franchise much more now that I've been to Cars Land. Crazy!



I want to try riding this so badly! Looks amazing! Glad you had such a good experience.



pepperandchips said:


> We were both giggling like little kids! We absolutely LOVED this ride... I don't know why! It's got me excited for the Alien Swirling Saucer ride at DHS though.



Ooh, you're a good person to ask then, since I know you occasionally have motion sickness issues! I've got a FP for the alien ride for next month, and I've watched videos of it and of the cars land ride. It seems less "swirly" and more like it kind of gently whips you around a bit. I can't ride the teacups, and sometimes even get a little swimmy on a fast carousel, but I don't think this kind of movement will make me particularly motion sick. Did you find it bothersome at all?



pepperandchips said:


> Honestly, I liked Guardians of the Galaxy and would definitely continue to line up to ride it, but I didn't love the screens and still prefer WDW's Tower of Terror.



Interesting. I totally get the appreciation for the classics! Sounds like it was still fun though.


----------



## Dis_Yoda

While I love Carsland and RSR, I still don't like the Cars movies.

That is a lot of you got done in the first hour and half of opening!  Glad you were so efficient that morning!


----------



## chunkymonkey

OK I am finally all caught up to comment on your amazing engagement trip!



pepperandchips said:


> Hawaiian First Class is the definition of decadent air travel. Okay, it's not Emirates or whatever, but I certainly don't usually fly this fancy. We had lay-flat seats, individual iPads for in flight entertainment, and unparalleled service.



This looks so nice! I am saving my Hawaiian Air miles to travel in first class from NYC to Hawaii and it looks like I have enough for one ticket. Haha, I guess that means my hubby rides in coach? 



pepperandchips said:


>



Leonard's is the BEST!!
If you're ever on the windward side of Oahu try Agnes's Portugese Bakeshop - another famous malassada place and theirs are really good as well, very home-y.



pepperandchips said:


>



This looks like the perfect start to your vacation! Appetizers and drinks by the pool/beach. Nothing better than that! Those drinks look really good but I'm sure they were pricey.



pepperandchips said:


> Hamakua Wild Mushroom & Truffle Oil Pizza - $18.95 white sauce, garlic, parmesan, fresh thyme. Anything with truffle oil is up my alley, and while I wish I had gone farther afield than "pizza" on our first night in Hawaii, this hit the spot and filled my tummy nicely.



That sounds amazing! I really like Hamakua mushrooms.



pepperandchips said:


>



Aww the sweetest picture!



pepperandchips said:


>



I don't like hiking but I love Diamond Head!! Absolutely love the view and the hike is easy enough where I don't feel too uncomfortably hot or where I'm huffing and puffing.



pepperandchips said:


> Later we got a second round of celebratory drinks and they were $9.00 each - much better than Aulani prices. R had a Hawaiian variation on a Long Island iced tea while I had The Lime in The Coconut. We both liked them and we enjoyed lingering. While there were absolutely other tourists here, this brunch looked more like a special thing for locals. We saw a few graduation celebrations and lots of what looked like local families out before or after church. Total before tip was $84.71, maybe the best value of the whole trip considering the quality of the food and the ambiance.



The Lime in The Coconut is the best name for a cocktail, LOL!! What a lovely way to celebrate!



pepperandchips said:


>



I love this picture, and how it captures the silhouette of the girl leaping for joy on the beach during sunset!



pepperandchips said:


> One thing I wanted to touch on is photopass at Aulani. We tried to take advantage as much as we could if we were at the resort at sunset, since from what I understood, I might end up with unlimited downloads through virtue of my Walt Disney World annual pass photopass inclusions. It took about 24 hours after linking my photopass card for the photos to show up on the app and mydisneyphotopass.com but it was true that they were not watermarked and available for download. Each night there were about 3 photographers on the beach or the lawn between the resort and the beach, so we visited all of them to get as many shots as we could. We have probably hundreds of photopass shots from our stay and probably 20 or so of those are what I would call “really good”.



That is good to know! When I went there I dont' think they had photopass yet.



pepperandchips said:


>





pepperandchips said:


>



These pictures are stunning!! But I think it's mostly because you both are so photogenic!! Background is nice too. 



pepperandchips said:


>



Oh that is sad to hear. When we visited they had just opened less than a year and everything was so shiny and new. I hoped that they would maintain it.



pepperandchips said:


> There was a bit of a line but it moved along fine. I don't remember what flavors we got - definitely coconut and probably pineapple. We did get the condensed milk on it and it was delicious!



Yum, I love condensed or evaporated milk on shave ice!



pepperandchips said:


>



I love this picture too!



pepperandchips said:


> We went with the seven rotating taps - Purple Grain, Kona Haze, Juicy Island, Sailaway Red, Pink Boots, Vanilla Thrilla, Kua Bay, and our 8th pick was the always-available-there Hanalei IPA. I would tell you what we liked and describe these... but I didn't take notes and I don't remember! haha. I do remember that we liked almost all of them - there were one or two we each didn't like but the other person did, so it was fine. It was really fun though to try these since we can't get them at home.



Yum! Kona brewing on Big Island is a fun place to visit. I think it is more happening on Oahu though.



pepperandchips said:


> I'm not one to mince words - this was bad. I know gorgonzola has a nice natural funk to it but I'm pretty sure the gorgonzola on our burger had gone bad. We didn't really need the burger since we had so many nachos but I would not recommend the burger. Or maybe go with a simpler one.



That doesn't sound good! You'd expect gorgonzola to be stinky but that just sounds...rotten! 



pepperandchips said:


> Speaking of happiness (mine in this case), our next stop was for shave ice! Matsumoto's is THE place for shave ice on Oahu, and we wanted to beat the lines, so we stopped in around 11:00 am for a little post-breakfast dessert. It was fairly overcast at this point and there was no line at all.



Agreed! So delicious!!



pepperandchips said:


> I chose three tropical flavors. I regret that I do not remember what I chose... perhaps lilikoi, coconut, and lychee? but I loved this!



I always get lilikoi and lychee and li hing mui which is a preserved plum flavor 



pepperandchips said:


> Interior of the restaurant



It's so pretty inside! I haven't been here because when we're on the North shore we always eat at the shrimp trucks, so we're never hungry enough for a full meal at a restaurant. But this looks very nice!



pepperandchips said:


> Getting back to Aulani after this was a real headache, we hit rush hour(?) traffic and it took us a long time to travel the 16 miles back to Aulani.



Ugh yeah, the one thing I do not like about Oahu - terrible traffic!


pepperandchips said:


>



Another beautiful picture! I love your outfit!



pepperandchips said:


> As dinner wound down, we were treated to an unexpected surprise, though we had a bit of warning thanks to the live band which announced what was happening:



It was obviously just for you guys! What a perfect night. 



pepperandchips said:


>



Bali Hai! One of my favorite places! It looks so beautiful and one of those places you have to see in person to appreciate.



pepperandchips said:


> So, if you don't already know from the previous few days, I am what my family calls a bit of a princess. I'm not much of an athlete and while we "hike" fairly often on our vacations, it's usually easy hikes on at least decently groomed trails. The Kalalau trail is not at all like this, which I did know well in advance of planning the hike as I'd done quite a lot of research.
> 
> I also knew from research to head out early. We probably parked and got started on the trail by about 8:30 or 8:40. The last of my photos from the trail was time-stamped around 12:30, so it was about a four hour adventure for us. We'd also stopped for pre-made sandwiches and water bottles at the grocery store before heading to the trailhead.
> 
> From kalalautrail.com:
> 
> _"Ke`e Beach to Hanakapi`ai beach:
> This section offers a popular day hike for able-bodied hikers. Walking the first half mile will reward you with excellent views of the coast. The summer sand beach at Hanakapi’ai is a popular destination for day hikers. Swimming or wading can be dangerous, however, and is not recommended. The surf and rip currents are variable and often extremely treacherous, but worst in winter when high surf conditions prevail. BEWARE! Many drownings have occurred here._
> 
> _Camping is not permitted at Hanakapiai. Day Hikes to Hanakāpīʻai Beach (4 miles round trip) or up to Hanakāpīʻai Falls (8 miles round trip) are allowed without a permit."_



 Wow you guys did the first 2 miles? We have never attempted it. I guess I'm a self-proclaimed princess. Steve would do it but I would probably find some excuse not to go, although that beautiful beach is definitely a reason to try! 



pepperandchips said:


> Fresh fish, beer battered and deep fried. Served with french fries, Asian coleslaw and a soy wasabi sauce. Sorry, I can't recall what the fresh catch was that day, but it was delicious! (In retrospect I'm thinking it might have been Ono as we had it a few times). The batter was light and crispy, perfect for fish and chips, and the sauce they served with it was super tasty!



Yum, I am in belief that Hawaii does fish n chips as well as the British do! LOL. It's always so good there!



pepperandchips said:


> Of course I needed to compare it to the Aulani and Matsumoto versions, for science!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jojo's was the winner in at least one regard, size!



You have to do a comparison of shave ice everywhere, for research purposes of course! 



pepperandchips said:


>



Gorgeous!!!



pepperandchips said:


> The Mac Nut Ono (fish, also known as Wahoo) $26 and served with coconut lime cilantro sauce, rice and seasonal veggies. This was really really good. We were slurping up every bit of that sauce! You can't go wrong with mac nut encrusted fresh catch IN HAWAII!



Nothing quite says Hawaii to me than a plate full of mac nut crusted fish. So ONO!! This looks absolutely delicious!



pepperandchips said:


> We started out by seeing the waterfalls that were used in Jurassic Park (the original, not sure about World)



I have almost the same picture of the same waterfall!



pepperandchips said:


> The above photo is perhaps my favorite photo I've ever taken, though this trip (and this day) produced some good ones.There were rainbows everywhere during the flight as we flew through clouds and mist.



WOW this picture is amazing!! We didn't get to see the pretty rainbows like this!



pepperandchips said:


> Overall, this tour is my favorite thing we did in Hawaii, and that's saying a LOT. We saw some magnificent sights, ate some great food, and lounged on gorgeous beaches, but the helicopter tour was the single most worthwhile hour we spent. Bang for your buck? This is it.
> 
> I highly recommend Mauna Loa. The pilot was fabulous, friendly and a good host, their helicopter fleet allowed us to be certain we'd have two window seats and no other passengers, and we were able to get the doors off experience I was looking for. It was $287.00 per person, so definitely a splurge, but so very worth it.



I definitely want to do doors off next time! We did Blue Hawaiian helicopters and it was amazing! 



pepperandchips said:


> Our destination was Kountry Kitchen in Kapaa, an unassuming diner with an apt "Kountry" flair.



I've been there!  



pepperandchips said:


> I hated to leave Hawaii, but Disneyland would greet us in the morning!!!



You definitely need something to look forward to after an amazing HAwaiian vacation and Disneyland just about fits the bill!



pepperandchips said:


> Y'all Radiator Springs Racers was everything everyone says it will be, plus some. I was not expecting to enjoy it so much but this is for sure one of my all-time favorite Disney rides! It has all the detailed touches of a Disney dark ride plus the thrill element at the end. So so cute! And I love the music  I have to admit, I like the Cars franchise much more now that I've been to Cars Land. Crazy!



OMG I felt the same way!! It's just the most amazing ride ever! And I don't even love the Cars movies!


----------



## pepperandchips

ErinF said:


> Speaking of, I just got an email this morning saying our requested Aulani days have been secured from a renting DVC member. EEEEEK!!!


 Wooooooooo hoooooo!!!! So excited for you! What type of room will you guys be enjoying? So fun!



ErinF said:


> Oh my gosh yes--RSR is the best!! All of Cars Land is wonderful, as you pointed out both the "little" rides in Mater's and Luigi's are super cute and fun as well. Honestly DCA is probably my favorite of all 6 domestic parks.  Kind of crazy, but it's got 3 of my very favorite rides in RSR, Soarin', and TSMM. And I love all the counter service places there. Not sure how I'll feel about it once I experience Pixar Pier b/c I really loved it as Paradise Pier and think the Pixarfying of it was kind of unnecessary.


Yeah I don't know what to think about Pixar Pier either though I feel like we didn't even begin to scratch the surface on Paradise Pier when we were there. I liked DCA way more than I was expecting but it was hard not to fall in love with (and spend more time in) Disneyland. I was on a pilgrimage after all  I am glad I don't have to choose between the parks because I love certain parts of all of them!!



MeghanEmily said:


> I've already warned Nathan that we'd better start saving our money and/or look for good travel rewards cards/programs, because now that I've seen your first class experience on Hawaiian, there's no other way I want to travel there.


Haha! Oh no, I'm creating more monsters!!! Well if you do your travel like we did ours, that leg was booked completely separately, so you could totally keep an eye on that fare and pounce when it's at its lowest!  



MeghanEmily said:


> Good idea! ...and paper tickets. Weird.


Very weird! Fortunately I'm used to wearing my lanyard anyway so it was no trouble just popping our tickets in there but it definitely was a change from magic bands! 



MeghanEmily said:


> Ooh, you're a good person to ask then, since I know you occasionally have motion sickness issues! I've got a FP for the alien ride for next month, and I've watched videos of it and of the cars land ride. It seems less "swirly" and more like it kind of gently whips you around a bit. I can't ride the teacups, and sometimes even get a little swimmy on a fast carousel, but I don't think this kind of movement will make me particularly motion sick. Did you find it bothersome at all?


I can ride the teacups as long as we don't do any extra spin at all, and I occasionally fix my gaze on the horizon, just so you know how sensitive/not-sensitive I am. Carousels can also mess me up like you mentioned. 

I didn't have any issues at all on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, probably because it doesn't spin, like you said. It reminds me more of the parts of big thunder when you go around a curve and get propelled by centrifugal force (??? Physicist, I'm not) into your seat mate. I hope it's the same at AS2 as I really want to ride it! 



Dis_Yoda said:


> While I love Carsland and RSR, I still don't like the Cars movies.
> 
> That is a lot of you got done in the first hour and half of opening!  Glad you were so efficient that morning!


I think it's more that R and I like to talk to each other in the Mater voice... we had a whole year where R was constantly saying "she's my fiancé" in his best Larry the Cable Guy impression. I'll be honest I've only seen Cars 2 and Cars 3 once each, maybe. But I do like the first one more now. That just compliments imagineering in my opinion!!!



chunkymonkey said:


> This looks so nice! I am saving my Hawaiian Air miles to travel in first class from NYC to Hawaii and it looks like I have enough for one ticket. Haha, I guess that means my hubby rides in coach?


See you later, Steve!  Hahaha. Well... maybe you can justify the out of pocket cost for one of you since you have enough Miles for the other one. 



chunkymonkey said:


> If you're ever on the windward side of Oahu try Agnes's Portugese Bakeshop - another famous malassada place and theirs are really good as well, very home-y.


I will have to do that! I'm still constantly trying to figure out when we can get back. It's hard not to want to go back to Aulani but there are so many islands we haven't seen yet! 



chunkymonkey said:


> Aww the sweetest picture!


Thank you  I feel very fortunate we got this. 



chunkymonkey said:


> I love this picture, and how it captures the silhouette of the girl leaping for joy on the beach during sunset!


I loved that too! 

I wish I could say it was spontaneous though, that family was being obnoxious and that kid probably leapt 200 times trying to get her mom to take the perfect photo of her  at least it made for a nice photo for me! Haha



chunkymonkey said:


> These pictures are stunning!! But I think it's mostly because you both are so photogenic!! Background is nice too


You are too sweet! Thank you! 



chunkymonkey said:


> I haven't been here because when we're on the North shore we always eat at the shrimp trucks, so we're ne


My quotes keep messing up, but you reminded me that we had actually intended to eat at a shrimp truck and it didn't work out that day due to our grumpy moods! So we ended up at the beach house as a "second choice" but it ended up being just perfect! So perfect that I forgot all about not making it to a shrimp truck, so yep, gotta go back now! 



chunkymonkey said:


> Another beautiful picture! I love your outfit


Thank you! I found the dress on sale from Unique Vintage before the trip and have worn it exactly once... I need to dig it out and see if it fits and maybe take it to WDW next month! 



chunkymonkey said:


> attempted it. I guess I'm a self-proclaimed princess. Steve would do it but I would probably find some excuse not to go, although that beautiful beach is definitely a reason to try


From one princess to another, this is totally worth it! If you can do all those stairs at Diamond Head you can do this! Sooooo worthwhile! 



chunkymonkey said:


> WOW this picture is amazing!! We didn't get to see the pretty rainbows like this


Really?! Our pilot was acting like they were no big deal, but I was totally geeking out over them. I worried a little about the weather since we did this on our last day and wouldn't have been able to reschedule if the weather forced us to cancel, but we ended up with pretty good weather considering that the moody clouds just made for lovely rainbows! 



chunkymonkey said:


> You definitely need something to look forward to after an amazing HAwaiian vacation and Disneyland just about fits the bill!


Yes it does! I would have been SO SAD if I was coming straight home. I definitely needed a little West Coast pixie dust! 



chunkymonkey said:


> OMG I felt the same way!! It's just the most amazing ride ever! And I don't even love the Cars movies


 Now I miss CarsLand too! I love the music, the neon, the scenery, the rides... everything!


----------



## MeghanEmily

pepperandchips said:


> I can ride the teacups as long as we don't do any extra spin at all, and I occasionally fix my gaze on the horizon, just so you know how sensitive/not-sensitive I am. Carousels can also mess me up like you mentioned.
> 
> I didn't have any issues at all on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, probably because it doesn't spin, like you said. It reminds me more of the parts of big thunder when you go around a curve and get propelled by centrifugal force (??? Physicist, I'm not) into your seat mate. I hope it's the same at AS2 as I really want to ride it!



This is what I was thinking, too. I'm gonna give it a try!


----------



## Didi8367

What a great trip report! I've really enjoyed all of your pictures. My extended family and I are going to Disneyland and then on to Maui next summer, and I now have Loco Moco and Malasadas on my list of new thing to try, due to your trip report. So, thank you! And, congratulations on your marriage!


----------



## ErinF

pepperandchips said:


> Wooooooooo hoooooo!!!! So excited for you! What type of room will you guys be enjoying? So fun!



Thanks!! We booked an island view one bedroom.  Since we're a family of 5 we have to get the one bedroom, but I'm looking forward to having the kitchen.  I'll definitely bring and buy some groceries so we can eat in our room.



pepperandchips said:


> Yeah I don't know what to think about Pixar Pier either though I feel like we didn't even begin to scratch the surface on Paradise Pier when we were there. I liked DCA way more than I was expecting but it was hard not to fall in love with (and spend more time in) Disneyland. I was on a pilgrimage after all  I am glad I don't have to choose between the parks because I love certain parts of all of them!!



I'm trying to hold off all judgement until I see it in person.  We'll be going over spring break in early March so that we can get in one last visit before the craziness of Galaxy's Edge.  I'm pretty cynical about that b/c I just don't see how DL is going to manage those crowds.  WDW has the infrastructure and parking for all the visitors plus 3 other parks to spread out the crowds when their GE opens, but I just don't know what it's going to do to DL.


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## pepperandchips

ErinF said:


> Thanks!! We booked an island view one bedroom.  Since we're a family of 5 we have to get the one bedroom, but I'm looking forward to having the kitchen.  I'll definitely bring and buy some groceries so we can eat in our room.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm trying to hold off all judgement until I see it in person.  We'll be going over spring break in early March so that we can get in one last visit before the craziness of Galaxy's Edge.  I'm pretty cynical about that b/c I just don't see how DL is going to manage those crowds.  WDW has the infrastructure and parking for all the visitors plus 3 other parks to spread out the crowds when their GE opens, but I just don't know what it's going to do to DL.



Okay... I need your tips... I am 99.9% sure we are going back to Hawaii and more specifically, MAUI!!! 

We took a little "mini-moon" right after our wedding (the bank accounts were pretty close to zero after paying for all the wedding stuff, so we just did a quick trip to Florida) and were planning our "real" honeymoon for Italy over Christmas... long story short, the flights to Europe are astronomical right now and most of the places we were interesting in staying are closed for the holidays. So I think I have convinced the husband to go to Maui instead! I was thinking of splitting between Maui and the Big Island but based on airfare, time constraints, and car rental prices I'm not sure we're going to split this trip at all, unless my DVC waitlist comes through and we might do one night at the beginning or end in Aulani to take advantage of the many flights back to the mainland from Honolulu.

We are going to have to do a condo rental as it's all our budget will allow for, but would you stay in Kihei, Kapalua, or somewhere else entirely? Advice welcome!!!


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## ErinF

pepperandchips said:


> Okay... I need your tips... I am 99.9% sure we are going back to Hawaii and more specifically, MAUI!!!
> 
> We took a little "mini-moon" right after our wedding (the bank accounts were pretty close to zero after paying for all the wedding stuff, so we just did a quick trip to Florida) and were planning our "real" honeymoon for Italy over Christmas... long story short, the flights to Europe are astronomical right now and most of the places we were interesting in staying are closed for the holidays. So I think I have convinced the husband to go to Maui instead! I was thinking of splitting between Maui and the Big Island but based on airfare, time constraints, and car rental prices I'm not sure we're going to split this trip at all, unless my DVC waitlist comes through and we might do one night at the beginning or end in Aulani to take advantage of the many flights back to the mainland from Honolulu.
> 
> We are going to have to do a condo rental as it's all our budget will allow for, but would you stay in Kihei, Kapalua, or somewhere else entirely? Advice welcome!!!



Yay, so exciting to be going back!!!!! 

My only experience on Maui is staying along Kaanapali Beach.  It's a beautiful stretch of beach with the famous Black Rock which has some great snorkeling.  We stayed there on our honeymoon in 2000 (at the Kaanapali Beach Hotel) and then again when we went back in 2006 (at the Sheraton that's built right next to/into Black Rock).  And next summer we're planning to stay at the Westin a little further south from those 2 hotels.  I'm not sure what kind of condos are available near that area that might be beach front, but I'm sure there are some.  From what I remember Maui is pretty easy to drive around so you can visit different parts of the island no matter where you say.  I do recommend (if it fits in the budget) to take a snorkel cruise out to Molokini--that's a lot of fun!  Plus the one we did stopped another place where there were a lot of sea turtles.  It will be fun to research and plan another trip for sure!!


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## MickeyD

I just finished reading your report and loved it! We always stay at the Marriott at Ko'Olina (owners) so just "visit" Aulani. I thought I would jump in because you were asking about Maui. Our timeshare ownership allows us to stay anywhere there is a Marriott MVC, and there happens to be a very nice one on Maui that we have stayed at numerous times. It is on Kaanapali, but we have also stayed in a condo north of there heading up toward Kapalua. I would say Kihei would be easier into and out of because heading up the coast into Lahaina and Kaanapali can be a bear sometimes with traffic. Maui is super easy to navigate and basically has one road that goes around most the island. Kihei isn't nearly as pretty as Kapalua though. Keep in mind that like all the islands, Maui has a dry side, and a wet side. The more "wet" = prettier and greener.  that said, if you are going in December you will be right in the height of whale season and staying more towards Kapalua will also put you in position for "whale alley" where they all travel through, but you will also experience more rain showers there. We had downpours that lasted a short time and then went away. Much like Kauai. (we have stayed on Kauai a lot, as it is our favorite island.) Most of the condos in Maui are like what you experienced in Kauai. they do not have a/c and rely on the trade winds to cool. It can get hot and sticky. Ok, that is way more info than you wanted (LOL), hope it helps and ask away if you have any other questions.
Lisa


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## pepperandchips

Thank you so much @MickeyD that is really helpful! If I had my druthers I'd probably go back to Kauai but my husband really likes to try new things. We better go ahead and do Maui so I can get back to Kauai sooner rather than later


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## amalone1013

Wow! Hawaii has so many amazingly beautiful landscapes, more than I've ever even imagined (you know, from watching movies I know were filmed there...). I would have also been terrified on the helicopter, but these are the things we conquer our fears for, right? 

I know nothing of Hawaii except beaches and luaus and Pearl Harbor, so I feel like I've learned of so many places to look into from your TR when we make it there someday!

And off to Disney... can't be that close and not go, right?  I've never seen Lightning and Mater meet in those areas, I wonder if it was for your early morning? Cars Land is one of my favorite things out there though. It's so detailed! Before we went back in April Zack and I had an argument about the fountain in front of the Cozy Cone. We were watching the movie and I mentioned I was excited to go back for all of the details, and Zack was determined they didn't have the fountain in the park so I had to pull out an old picture  Luigi's is so cute and I love Racers, it's like the perfect Disney ride... and the majestic music as you come around the turn and see the waterfall is 

We liked Guardians more than expected, but it felt weird to not ride ToT out there! Can't wait to hear more about your day!

Also, I'm at work this morning, and I sent Zack your photo of the waterfall from Jurassic Park, and he recognized it... You know, because he only watches the original, like, 3 times a week... 


ETA: I was like wow, you recognize that photo? and got back this:


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## pepperandchips

amalone1013 said:


> Wow! Hawaii has so many amazingly beautiful landscapes, more than I've ever even imagined (you know, from watching movies I know were filmed there...). I would have also been terrified on the helicopter, but these are the things we conquer our fears for, right?


Exactly! It was so worth it, and I knew it would be worth it, but I was so scared! I can't imagine not having done the helicopter tour though. It was the single best thing we did, in my opinion. We still haven't done a luau... so maybe in December?! 



amalone1013 said:


> I know nothing of Hawaii except beaches and luaus and Pearl Harbor, so I feel like I've learned of so many places to look into from your TR when we make it there someday!


You have to go! We are going back over Christmas as Italy ended up being out of the budget/not feasible for the itinerary we wanted to do. If you keep your eye on airline sales it is probably not too expensive, especially if you guys can get to a city served by Hawaiian relatively cheaply since you're already out west. I think they have a lot of direct flights from Las Vegas and definitely a ton from California.

This time we're just staying in a condo the whole time, no aulani, no Disneyland 



amalone1013 said:


> And off to Disney... can't be that close and not go, right?  I've never seen Lightning and Mater meet in those areas, I wonder if it was for your early morning? Cars Land is one of my favorite things out there though. It's so detailed! Before we went back in April Zack and I had an argument about the fountain in front of the Cozy Cone. We were watching the movie and I mentioned I was excited to go back for all of the details, and Zack was determined they didn't have the fountain in the park so I had to pull out an old picture  Luigi's is so cute and I love Racers, it's like the perfect Disney ride... and the majestic music as you come around the turn and see the waterfall is


I don't know what it is, did imagineering just have an unlimited budget for this land?! It's so fantastic. Don't worry, more of that coming up to torture us both with.



amalone1013 said:


> Also, I'm at work this morning, and I sent Zack your photo of the waterfall from Jurassic Park, and he recognized it... You know, because he only watches the original, like, 3 times a week...
> 
> 
> ETA: I was like wow, you recognize that photo? and got back this:


That is AMAZING! Jurassic Park is a great movie. It's stood the test of time well. I love that Zack could reply with an exact scene  you guys would definitely need to visit it in that case!  Diser nkereina wrote a great report where I think they might have even visited these falls. I can't remember. I know they're on a private estate so you definitely have to do a tour to get to them.


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## Joed88

Thank you for posting this and congratulations of the engagement !  Booking a trip for next year, would you recommend Hawaiian air FC?


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## pepperandchips

Joed88 said:


> Thank you for posting this and congratulations of the engagement !  Booking a trip for next year, would you recommend Hawaiian air FC?



ABSOLUTELY! Unless you don't want to be spoiled for life, in which case maybe don't do it. We had lay-flat seats and individual iPads for entertainment. Service was top notch, flight was on time, and we got an unbeatable deal. Planning to book Hawaiian again for an upcoming trip! Much nicer than the Delta first class experience we had on the same trip.


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## pepperandchips

*Sunday, June 4, Continued:*

Since we were already in the area and I'd seen and heard about the newest rage in instagrammable food, I was left with no choice... we found the correct snack stand and acquired the cutest treat ever... Groot bread! 





They didn't have the jalapeno cheese variety so this was just your typical Disneyland resort sourdough. It was good, but we had a few bites and moved along with our day, carby Guardian in tow. The only negative thing about Groot bread was it was kinda large and annoying to carry around... see below....










Not my best photography skills, but the next stop for us was a return to Carsland to use our Radiator Springs Racers fastpasses. Once again, an absolutely awesome experience. The dark ride elements of it are just so cute and well done, far superior to Test Track's lame dark show scenes.

It had been long enough that I'd been at Disneyland without stepping foot in Walt's park so we decided to rectify that post-haste! Apparently I had some kind of vacation seizure and stopped taking photos for a few hours, but between 9:35 am (at the time I took the Carsland photo, above) and 11:11 am (next photo timestamp in Disneyland), we pulled a Fastpass for Indiana Jones, rode the Jungle Cruise (which I LOVED), and waited for and rode Pirates of the Caribbean. This was before Disneyland installed a Fastpass machine for Pirates so the line looked absolutely gargantuan but we only waited about 20 minutes or so. And despite that I have absolutely no photographic evidence, I was absolutely IN LOVE with Disneyland's pirates! I can't believe how just a few small differences make the ride feel so much more... authentic? No, that's not the right word, "charming" I guess is what I mean. Authentic pirates would probably be gross 

As you might be able to tell due to my photography fail, we were absolutely dead on our feet at this point after the overnight flight from Hawaii. I could think of nothing that would pep us up better than... 

Beignets and caffeine!




 
Seriously, what is better than sugar coated mickey shaped food? (Nothing, I tell ya!) R had a coffee and I had a diet coke. 

We knew we'd be on a hope and a prayer to get into a DVC studio before 4:00, and we had a lunch reservation to hold out for, so we moved on to redeem our fastpasses for Indy - of course, I loved the details in the queue, and being a huge fan of the Dinosaur attraction at WDW and a fan of the films, I thought this was a GREAT attraction! R doesn't love this ride mechanism either at Disneyland or at WDW, so he wasn't a big fan of the attraction. There were also a ton of annoying people on the ride with us, so R's beignet pick-me-up wasn't enough to make him appreciate the magic of this experience.




Apparently we did some wandering around, as I don't think we did the tiki room just yet...

Thankfully I'd made a reservation at Cafe Orleans - they were on a long wait otherwise. We checked in and were seated a bit early for our 12:30 reservation. We had kind of an awkward table inside, but we were so tired it was really of no consequence. Plus, I was still in the mindset that all could be cured by fried food, and I'm not sure I was wrong! Thankfully, we were in the right spot.





We started with the Pommes Frites ($7), which I'd heard raved over so many times on podcasts and other trip reports. The menu describes these as  "traditional French Fried Potatoes tossed with Parmesan, Garlic, and Parsley served with Cajun Spice Rémoulade." They were tasty! Not something I'm sure I'd seek out again, but a solid starter. Looks like they're now $8.





Just like the pommes frites, there was no way I was coming to Disneyland and specifically to Cafe Orleans without trying the Mint Julep ($4.50). It was good, but sweet. I think they've changed the recipe since I had this and I don't remember all that much about it since I was on just a few hours' sleep, but I am still glad I tried it. A once and done for me, though, since I'm not usually a fan of sweet drinks.

Despite knowing that we shouldn't get two entrees, for some reason we ordered two sandwiches to share... ?





The menu's changed and now it doesn't appear you can order this anymore, but this was the NY Strip Sandwich ($22). I found an older "Oh My Disney" post promoting this as part of a limited-time pirate menu? It says it features white cheddar sauce, bacon jam, arugula, and cherry tomatoes, and is served with sweet potato waffle fries. Looks accurate to me! I remember that we liked this and it was nice to have two different things to try.

Of course, if you don't want to get kicked out of Disneyland, you better order the Monte Cristo ($20)





Sliced Turkey, Ham, and Swiss fried in a light batter, dusted with Powdered Sugar, and served with a Berry Purée (now up a buck to $21). Since this could easily be lunch for two, especially paired with a salad or something, this isn't too much of a rip off. The portion is massive! Here's another view of this beauty:





It's four huge, deep-fried sandwich quadrants. I couldn't even finish my half. This was rich and amazing and I guess I'm glad you can't get this in Walt Disney World because I would be sick on every vacation after gorging myself on these... 

(for what it's worth, R barely remembered this until I showed him the photo, and declared the Bennigan's version of his childhood memories a superior option...  whatever!)

This was a rare occasion for me to whip out the blue DVC card for a 10% DVC Discount ($5.35), bringing our tab to $51.88 before gratuity. We settled up and headed out. We were headed to take a hobo nap (more on that in a minute) but first we stopped by Tomorrowland and pulled a Space Mountain fp for later in the day.

In short order (like so short, I was practically giddy after our 2 minute walk), we had returned back to the Grand Californian and found the pool, which had just reopened in its totality after a bit of a refurb. Like two sleepy vagabonds, we found ourselves some towels and a shady spot and slept in pool chaises for an hour or two. I can't believe I was able to sleep, yet it was a relaxing view....





You can probably tell from the deserted pool area that it wasn't really super warm that day. I did love the super plush chaise cushions. Shortly, we received our room ready text.

I was like WHAT! Our room is ready before 4:00! Okay, it was only about 30 minutes before 4:00 but still! We got our keys and headed up to room 2510...













It was pretty much what I expected. I wish Disney would stop installing super pointy bed frames to beat me in the shins in the night, but otherwise our room was comfortable. We called for our stuff and rested for a bit before heading back into the park.

(to be continued in next post)


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## pepperandchips

*Sunday, June 4, 2017, continued (part three)*

After our rest, it was nearly time to redeem our Space Mountain fastpass, so we got ready and headed back to Disneyland.  First, though, we stopped to grab Matterhorn fastpasses. I know I was at Walt Disney World during legacy fastpass, but I have no recollection of it. I gotta say, I know people love MaxPass but paper fastpass was fabulous. I wish WDW was still on this system in a lot of ways.





Anyway, as I mentioned, it was time for us to redeem our Space Mountain fastpasses! I loved the "weird" queue where you go out onto the roof! So neat.





The loading area was also particularly cool for a WDW regular.




(Stupid Lotso Huggin bear obscuring my awesome ride photo...)

As was the actual ride! Ohmygoodness, I would love it if we got an upgrade to WDW's... maybe after Tron opens?





Then-fiance/now-husband is a big Mark Twain fan, so I made him pose with the sign for the still-being-refurbed-at-the-time Mark Twain.

I didn't take any photos, but around this time we also were approached by a couple who gifted us their Big Thunder fastpasses. That was fantastic as we were headed to Big Thunder anyway! They were good right away so we used them. Did I mention in the last two seconds how much I liked paper fastpass?

At this point, R was getting inexplicably peckish, which in a Disney park generally means that his dessert hollow leg is empty. We stumbled upon the Main Street carts that were selling the new (at the time) fancy donuts.





We sprung for a butterfinger and reese's variety. It was okay, but at $5.75, probably a rip-off. I prefer the major donut chains to this especially at a quarter of the price.

By this point, it was time for our Matterhorn fp to be valid





I don't know what I was doing with my photography composition... I think these ended up on Snapchat maybe?





My notes say one thing about the Matterhorn - OUCH! 

It was a cute ride but I totally understand the criticism of this ride system. I can't imagine being tall, as it was, my teeth were practically rattling around in my head!

In order to forestall future dental work, we apparently decided to go check off one of the items from my Disneyland Must-Do list:





I bet you know where this is headed....





Trader Sam's enchanted tiki bar! It was the stuff of my dreams. And... there was no wait for a table! We swooped in on a high top that was being vacated as we waltzed in. Luck!! 





We each ordered a drink, with R choosing the "Shipwreck on the Rocks - Bourbon with freshly Muddled Lemon and Mint with Organic Agave Nectar" ($25.50 with souvenir mug) and I went for the "Shrunken Zombie Head - Reserve and Aged Rums, Tropical Juices, Falernum and Cinnamon", which is my tiki drink of choice, but I'd also been SO looking forward to collecting the white zombie head mug from Disneyland... except now it was green, just like the one I had sitting at home from Walt Disney World.  Womp womp womp. Our server was able to take the mug portion off of our bill for mine, since I didn't want another green one, so my drink was $11.50.





I'd also heard a ton of great things about the food, so we ordered some apps, including the sweet and spicy asian wings ($12) and the panko crusted chinese long beans ($9)





Sorry for the weird lighting.

Okay so I am fully expecting to get flame-blasted for this, but I was majorly let down with Disneyland's Trader Sams...  I know, I know, hear me out though. We were there for a while, and I was prepared to hang out all night if we were having a good time, but there were maybe only one or two effects that were working when we were there and absolutely NO cheese, schtick, or ham from any of the cast members. It was just dullsville. Like an effect would go off that I recognized from WDW and I would be expecting the bartenders to do or say something, and nothing would happen. Our food was fine, our drinks were fine, and I got my one new mug that you can't get at WDW, but I was just underwhelmed. I would go back though! ($60.23 after a $2.10 DVC discount on the food and before gratuity)

Next we had another fail, and I continued on my long day of photography fails, as we attempted to hit up Disneyland Hotel's OTHER famous lounge, the Steakhouse 55 Lounge. We found the restaurant after some roving of the Disneyland Hotel halls, moseyed up to a weirdly placed vacant table as far away from the other patrons' screaming children as possible , and ordered drinks. Then when we tried to order food, we were told that whatever it was that I'd been trying to order was only available if you were sitting AT the bar. Like at the high-top bar in the lounge, not just anywhere in the lounge.  And there were no open seats.  So we were like um okay and drank our drinks and moved on. Super heebie jeebie vibe in there. Major fail.

Not to be deterred, there was still one more bar on my list...





UVA Bar! I finally had a winner. Well, and it had been several hours and several drinks since the adventure started, so I was feeling fine!





As usual, we both started with a refreshing libation...  One of us had the Stone Ripper Pale Ale ($15, pretty sure this is a 20 oz pour though) and the other had the Sierra Nevada Torpedo extra ipa ($16). I'm guessing I had the Stone but I no longer remember and I am fairly sure they both tasted like... beer. 

We split a couple things, including:





The "Manchego Salad - Wild Arugula, Manchego Cheese, Shallot, Apple, Date, Candied Walnut, Toasted Walnut Vinaigrette" ($15) I never met an arugula salad I didn't like so this one was just perfect.





And the "Top Shelf Burger -  Super premium short rib/chuck/brisket blend, caramelized onion, vine ripe tomato, lettuce, house-made mustard and served with garlic fries " ($22)





It was good, maybe not $22 good, but hit the spot nevertheless. The fries were super tasty.

Total $73.27 before tip. Yeesh. I also got swindled into buying some souvenior photos of us from a roaming non-CM photographer... probably because of drinks. Nevertheless we had a lovely time and enjoyed sitting outside at Downtown Disney and watching the world go by.






Afterward, I ducked into Sephora to grab some nail polish. I had to grab this photo in the checkout line for @Dis_Yoda.  I did not get any face masks myself, but she's always posting photos of hers! What a nice treat. 

Speaking of nice treats, here was our view:





Not much of anything that's not obscured by trees, but it was still fun to step out on the balcony, enjoy the seclusion of our spot just behind the trees, but still be able to hear the fun just beyond those pine needles and leaves at California Adventure. I loved the soft glow of those lights at Paradise Pier!

Disneyland Day 2, up next.


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## pepperandchips

Oh, and thought I should mention, if anyone is not following my other report but is interested in hearing about how the wedding turned out (thank you all for your patience in hanging with me for the engagement TR! ) here it is: Off-Topic Wedding Post and 43 Bazillion Wedding Pics


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## pepperandchips

I found the photo we bought from the roving photographer at Uva Bar. It's a photo of a photo but I still like it


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## Dis_Yoda

Awesome first day at Disneyland!  You got so many rides done especially after catching the redeye!  Sorry Trader Sam's was a bust for you!  It usually is much more lively there.  I feel you on the matterhorn.  It hurt more than just my teeth!  I don't think I would go back on unless I was in a sports bra.  

Thank you for the photo of the masks . I find them to be such a lovely treat during vacation!  I can't do them at home anymore because of the high energy puppy would think they are chew toys or something.


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## MeghanEmily

pepperandchips said:


>



WHAT?!? How have I never heard of this?! It's adorable. I love Groot, and I love bread. Excellent.



pepperandchips said:


> the next stop for us was a return to Carsland to use our Radiator Springs Racers fastpasses. Once again, an absolutely awesome experience. The dark ride elements of it are just so cute and well done, far superior to Test Track's lame dark show scenes.



Sounds amazing! I really want to ride this someday!



pepperandchips said:


> I was absolutely IN LOVE with Disneyland's pirates! I can't believe how just a few small differences make the ride feel so much more... authentic? No, that's not the right word, "charming" I guess is what I mean. Authentic pirates would probably be gross



I also really want to ride THIS! Glad you were so taken by it.



pepperandchips said:


> Of course, if you don't want to get kicked out of Disneyland, you better order the Monte Cristo ($20)



Yummmmm. I'm glad they don't have it at WDW, too, because it would be very tempting to cheat on the dietary restriction thing and end up very sick. But it looks so good!



pepperandchips said:


> I wish Disney would stop installing super pointy bed frames to beat me in the shins in the night



 This is too real!



pepperandchips said:


> I gotta say, I know people love MaxPass but paper fastpass was fabulous. I wish WDW was still on this system in a lot of ways.



I miss it, too. I miss the flexibility of paper FPs.


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## buzzrelly

Joining, but I'll be back later to read!


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## buzzrelly

All caught up, and just WOW! Congratulations! What an awesome engagement story!

Your photos in Kauai were stunning. I visited Maui, Oahu, and Kauai 20 years ago and I am dying to go back. We did not go on a helicopter tour but I think it looks like something worth doing. 

Loving your DL trip…still my goal to get there someday!


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## paradesintherain

Ugh Hawaii is just beautiful, it looks like the most magical trip! That helicopter ride is the stuff of dreams, for real. 




pepperandchips said:


> We were both giggling like little kids! We absolutely LOVED this ride... I don't know why! It's got me excited for the Alien Swirling Saucer ride at DHS though.



Mater is sooooo good, definitely one of my favorite Disneyland rides. Have you ridden Aliens? I don't find it nearly as fun, somehow it seems slower, and without Mater singing along it's not near as charming. 



pepperandchips said:


>



That's adorable! I love how skeptical he looks! 



pepperandchips said:


> I can't believe how just a few small differences make the ride feel so much more... authentic? No, that's not the right word, "charming" I guess is what I mean.



Plus more drops! Really love the creaking, smoldering timbers. 



pepperandchips said:


> Seriously, what is better than sugar coated mickey shaped food? (Nothing, I tell ya!)



Correct. 



pepperandchips said:


> Just like the pommes frites, there was no way I was coming to Disneyland and specifically to Cafe Orleans without trying the Mint Julep ($4.50)



Mint Julep is missing a key component (alcohol). 



pepperandchips said:


> I didn't take any photos, but around this time we also were approached by a couple who gifted us their Big Thunder fastpasses. That was fantastic as we were headed to Big Thunder anyway! They were good right away so we used them. Did I mention in the last two seconds how much I liked paper fastpass?



Ugh I miss this aspect of paper FPs so much. And back in the day they never checked the date, so you could use FPs from other days, as long as it was after the initial time listed. 



pepperandchips said:


> My notes say one thing about the Matterhorn - OUCH!



It's the worst! It's not even fun! 



pepperandchips said:


> Okay so I am fully expecting to get flame-blasted for this, but I was majorly let down with Disneyland's Trader Sams...



I haven't been terribly impressed with either. Oops!


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## braysmommy

Thanks for the great trip report! We are doing Hawaii cruise next May and plan to spend time on the islands prior to cruise. Your helicopter pictures are AMAZING! I also need to add Patagonia to list of things to do on North Shore


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## fallonkendra

I just realized I started reading this, and never came back to finish it until now, years later   

Your pictures from the helicopter tour are incredible! So stunning! I actually did a helicopter tour years ago when I went to Vegas with my Dad, it was such an awesome way to see the Grand Canyon. I actually did vomit when I got to the helipad (but that was due to a good night in Vegas the night before, with a few too many drinks haha - I was still in my early 20's so I rallied and was fine for the entire time in the helicopter haha).

Cars Land is so great, Luke and I giggle like kids on Mater as well! And Disneyland Pirates is > WDW Pirates. Disneyland Space Mountain > WDW Space Mountain too.

Now I'm really missing Disneyland, and can't wait to go back in 2022!


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