North Shore Tour… and a Ballistic Missile Alert
Saturday, January 13, 2018
I ‘ve seen numerous mentions of how much busier Aulani can be on the weekends. With this in mind, we decided to make plans that were not centered around the resort pool areas for Saturday and Sunday.
Early in the planning, we stumbled across Oahu Private tours (no idea what thread I was reading but thanks to whomever I should be crediting!). We decided we would spend two days with them – one day for the north shore and another on the south shore. And we would only be doing the guided tour; none of us would be jumping, diving, snorkeling, or traversing the terrain. Jason is the owner of the company and he was great to work with. I had several questions throughout our planning and he was always very responsive and helpful.
Our pickup time was 8:00 a.m. and I received a text around 7:45 a.m. from our guide, Kenny, letting us know he would meet us at the main entrance. We did introductions and then jumped in the van to start our day. Little did we know there would also be an unplanned test of the emergency broadcast system in Hawaii.
As we were driving I saw the alert on my phone and sat there for a moment wondering, ‘what do I do with this information?’. My instinct was that we’d get an all-clear message and we’d move on with our day. When Brad, who was sitting in the front seat, looked back at me, in the back row, I knew he saw the alert also. About that time my phone rang and it was Jason who asked me to pass the phone to Kenny. After several yes’s and okay’s, Kenney passed the phone back to me. Jason explained the alert and said Kenny would take us back to Aulani while everyone figured out what was going on. So, we turned around and went back to Aulani. When we pulled up there were probably 30-40 people standing on the sidewalk by the driveway entrance.
The valet said to leave the car there, gave us a ticket and kept the keys. We went into the lobby, which was relatively crowded. There was a lot of emotion there; the anxiety was palpable. Kenny went to the restroom and when he returned he said that the information he was seeing via twitter from local news indicated it was a false alarm. About this time Jason called again and said the same thing and gave Kenny the go-ahead to resume, or actually start, our tour. Jason and Kenny handled a stressful and uncertain situation wonderfully.
I know there is at least one discussion thread about the false alarm, so I’ll try to keep this trip report on our experiences and refrain from entering into areas that could cause debate. But I’ll share my opinion; there are opportunities for Aulani to improve planning and communication for different types of emergencies. However, it is always easy to judge after-the-fact and my experience is that Disney often learns from situations and adapts their policies and procedures.
At any rate, we got back on our way exploring the North Shore of Oahu. First stop: Leonard’s! Okay, not the actual Leonard’s bakery storefront, but one of their food trucks that is in the Lowe’s parking lot not far from Aulani. On some level, malasadas are just donuts; but the texture of the dough was lighter and there was a lot of filling inside, in our case custard. They were so good. Spoiler alert: we did not make it back to Leonard’s and this ranks as one of my regrets for the trip.
Next, we went to Green World Coffee Farm, which is a local place that roasts their coffee on-site using beans from a variety of sources, including their farm as well as the other Hawaiian islands. It was cool having options that were 100% grown and roasted on Oahu. They have an espresso bar, store and several coffee samples available. Brad and Dave bought numerous sample-sizes of ground coffee to make in the room and take home. In hindsight, they wish they had purchased more. This is a good time to remind anyone who wants to make coffee in their room to take coffee filters. Disney provides the pre-portioned packets in a filter. If you have your own coffee, you will need filters, but if you forget them, they have some at the ABC store...
Now it was time hit the beach! This particular weekend was a surfing competition, which we didn’t see, but it did increase traffic in the area. Also this weekend there were extremely large waves, which were amazing to see. However, we learned it is nearly impossible to capture the beauty, scale and power of them with our cameras. But it didn’t stop us from taking tons of pictures! Coming from the Midwest it was a new experience to see dedicated surfing channels on TV and have wave predictions as part of the news/weather report.
We hit several beaches, including Banzai Pipeline, Waimea Bay and Laie Point. The beaches were intermixed with other stops throughout the day. I don't have much detail on the individual beaches, but all of the photos in this report are from our North Shore day. Because the waves were so massive, some beaches were closed or had no surfing signs posted. We saw a lot of people, both visitors and locals alike, staring in awe at the never-ending waves. We enjoyed seeing the ocean from several different perspectives.
Oahu Private Tours suggested comfortable shoes since we would be doing some walking. However, we wish we had also taken flip-flops for some of the beach walks. On one of the beaches, Kenny offered to take pictures of us with the water behind us. As things go, a wave much larger than any of the ones in the previous five minutes hit the shore, soaking us in the process. As the most vertically challenged of the group, Pam was drenched from her waist down. I almost lost a shoe to the ocean and Pam almost pulled Brad down when she grabbed hold of his belt, hanging on for dear life. It was quite comical and one of those things we will all remember from the trip.
We drove up to a hilltop temple called Pu'u O Mahuka Heiau. This is an amazing historical site that allows visitors to experience a bit of ancient Hawaiian culture. The vibe and connection with this place is unexplainable. It is truly a site to behold.
Center picture below is Pu'u O Mahuka Heiau.
Along the drive we stopped at a roadside fruit stand that had extremely fresh fruit. There were three different vendors in a row and they each had some of the same things but each also had their own ‘signature’ items. Dave had a coconut that he first drank the water from and then they opened it up and gave him the fruit from inside. We also had banana lumpia, which Brad, Pam and Dave all enjoyed. I’m pretty particular about bananas so I passed (don’t ask, it’s a texture thing!).
We had a late lunch at a group of food trucks in Haleiwa. Funny story about lunch... Brad handed out the shrimp and Kalbi meals since they came from the same truck (Honos). After finishing his meal, he commented that it wasn't as spicy as he expected, to which Pam said she could hardly eat hers because it was burning her mouth. We then realized that the 'S' on top meant spicy, not shrimp!!
Lunch (from top left): Tuna Poke, Savory Crepe, Spicy Shrimp, Kalbi (Short Ribs), (non-spicy) Shrimp.
The last stop was McDonald’s so I could get an apple pie. In Hawaii, McDonald's still has the traditional fried pies - not the baked ones that they have on the mainland. I should have grabbed a few while I was there! Finally, Kenney drove us back to Aulani. It was a great day and there were several things that I know we would not have seen or experienced had we tried exploring on our own.
We had a few hours before our dinner reservation so everyone just relaxed. I think Brad and I hit the pools and Pam and Dave stayed in the room. Roy’s was the plan for dinner. Initially, we planned to go the original location, but when I posted our tentative plan on the boards I received feedback that would be an unnecessary drive. Thank you for that advice! We drove to Roy’s, leaving around 7:00 p.m. for our 7:15 p.m. reservation. Dave was pacing, sure we would be late.
Roy’s was another great meal. This was a slightly later dinner, so we were not able to see much of the golf course view, but after all of the other sights we saw that day, it wasn’t an issue for us. We were seated indoors, which was also fine. Service was strong; the menu had many great options and the food tasted great.
Dinner at Roy's Ko Olina (from top center): Cocktails and Edamame, Trio of Treasures (Swordfish, Scallop, Shrimp), Shrimp Special, Blackened Ahi, Kamikaze Roll (not on the menu but recommended by the server), Filet Mignon.
After dinner, Brad and I had drinks at the Olelo Room, and were again reminded we were truly in paradise.
Up Next: Sunday Brunch and the Spa