Cass, Rob & Kira - 20 Hours at Aulani and other Oahu Adventures July 2024

Neither do I!! I just browse around reels and stories. I hardly ever post anything. Now, on FB, a totally different story! :rotfl2:

Same girl, same! :p

LOL I had the same reaction. They stacked us three deep...

Yikes! Kira would have stayed home and gone to university here if that was the case! :scared::worried:

I feel like the cheesecake factory always seems to have painfully slow service when we've gone, too! Fine when you're enjoying each other's company, but I would've been SO annoyed after your long, hot day. I'm sure you were STARVING!

What a lovely way to end the day in that perfect paradise! 🌴

I don't mind waiting a little while but Kira's came out after a little while and ours came out after a long while! :rolleyes2

That was all so interesting. I did not know a lot of that info and now I want to read up more on it. Such a cool experience!
And you know I love the Cheesecake factory!

Who doesn't love Cheesecake Factory?? :upsidedow

I bet the pool and hot tub were just heavenly after such a busy day at Pearl Harbour!
I don't think I've ever been to a Cheesecake factory where we haven't waited a bajillion minutes for our food to come 🙄
Great relaxing start to the next day! I still need to do Eggs N Things 😍 That market is amazing...maybe have been there several times 😎😂

We've thankfully had pretty decent luck before but our luck ran out that night! ::yes::

You definitely need to try it! Just don't do go during the morning rush! :cool:

Yes we love ABC stores. Ton of them in Waikiki .

We bought cereal cups and a litre of milk for our breakfasts in the room. Worked out great. I have to eat to take my pills first thing. Got my blue hoodie there too. I

There's an absurd amount of ABC Stores in Waikiki! We counted them! :rotfl2:

We love ABC stores! And we love their kimchee fried rice special they have advertised so big there

They are pretty amazing! We've been to several of them on different islands and we always find stuff we like. :goodvibes
 
We loved the ABC there. It was so overwhelming at first. I didn't realize you could purchase powder sunscreen for the scalp. I will have to remember that for our next trip to Florida. I hate wearing hats so this is a good option.
 
The great thing about this resort is that it had SEVEN hot tubs! Aulani has two! Technically three I will say since the adult one has two levels. I actually wish one of these hot tubs was adult only. But they had two really amazing hot tubs, which I will talk about in the next chapter. :thumbsup2
Aulani actually has four hot tubs, five if you want to count the two tiered adult tub separately. One of them is quite well hidden on the land area circled by the lazy river.

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We were there just after your stay for our first ever visit and yes it can be quite chaotic during the day with all the kids around everywhere.
 
We loved the ABC there. It was so overwhelming at first. I didn't realize you could purchase powder sunscreen for the scalp. I will have to remember that for our next trip to Florida. I hate wearing hats so this is a good option.

Yes! They do! :cool1:

Here it is and it's awesome! It's supposed to be $17 USD but I looked for this on several trips to the USA and couldn't find it anywhere! I finally found it at that ABC store for $24 USD. I just use it for my part line on my head and a little on the front of my hair where it is thinning and it works great! :thumbsup2

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Aulani actually has four hot tubs, five if you want to count the two tiered adult tub separately. One of them is quite well hidden on the land area circled by the lazy river.

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We were there just after your stay for our first ever visit and yes it can be quite chaotic during the day with all the kids around everywhere.

Oh WOW! I walked around several times and never saw either of those two! I saw the adult one obviously and the one at Ka Maka Grotto pool, which was extremely overfilled with kids but didn't see those other two! Boy that one on the island is really hidden! :worship:

Thanks for letting us all know! :goodvibes
 
I’ve been lurking, as I do for all of your trip reports. We were in Hawaii in March so enjoy seeing places we visited and new to us places. But I’m completely gobsmacked by the powder sunscreen! I’m blond and very pale skinned and my part is always burning. This is life changing! 😉
 
Part 2

Let's start this sucker off with some chicken! 🐔🍗:rotfl2:

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While Kira shopped, I went around and took some photos. I know I like to see what is offered in a store before I go so I took as many as I could but kept to the less busy areas. I didn't get it all but I got a decent amount so you can see what they have. :thumbsup2

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Kira spent a decent amount of time looking at shirts. She ended up getting this one.

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The sunscreen is strategically placed right at the entrance. You can see the powder sunscreen on the second-to-bottom shelf. ;)

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Kira and I got some t-shirts, we also bought her a dress, a sarong, chocolates for Rob's mom and some gifts for some friends. We spent enough to get a free gift, which you get to choose from a selection and we ended up getting a really nice beach bag with a print of the Hawaiian islands on it. If you look hard enough, it is actually in one of the above photos. It is beige and black. :magnify:

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Back to the resort, where we scored THE best parking spot ever! :worship:

We had just been talking about this particular spot earlier that morning and this was the one and only time we lucked out in getting it. :p

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Rob was all proud about getting it. :teeth:

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Kira tried on her dress once we were back in the room, I thought she looked beautiful in it. :love:

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Kira chilled in bed for the rest of the day. I didn't feel like sticking around the room all day so while Kira watched a show, Rob and I headed out.

Stay tuned to find out where we went. :thumbsup2
 
Oh I just LOVE ABC stores (Island Country Markets). I follow them on Instagram and love when they do a walk through, so fun!
 
7.49 (on sale yet) for those Pepperidge Farm cookies.....god and we thought Canada was expensive for stuff :rotfl2: to be fair,I'm all over ALLLLL the choccie macci nuts and I don't care the cost lol

That dress is so cute, she looks lovely in it :love:
 
Part 3

Rob was really bummed about missing out on Ted's bakery as he is all about pastries so I told him we could go to another bakery, one that I had written down the name of in my notes to visit, back when I was doing my trip research. I found one about 20 minutes away and it was close to a Walmart, which I also wanted to go to so off we went.

Rob dropped me off while he went to fill up the Jeep with gas.

I found what I was looking for and also got a couple of cheap tank tops for Kira and I. :thumbsup2

Spam everywhere in Hawaii! :rotfl2:

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I found Rob and we headed over to Liliha Bakery, which was right next to the Army Career Center.


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Actually, if you were wanting to join the military, this was the strip mall to go to! :rolleyes::teeth::rotfl2:

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This location also had a restaurant but we were only interested in the baked goods, which they had plenty of! ::yes::

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Loved this lady's dress! :love:

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I spotted what I came for! They only had one left though. :worried:

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They also had a lovely selection of breads and rolls and cookies and pies! It all looked so good!!!

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Everything looked great but please tell me why there is a hot dog roll. :rolleyes1:rotfl:

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These were also a little out of place but they looked so delicious! If we had an oven, I definitely would have tried these! ::yes::

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I was only looking for chocolate croissants because we were out of the ones I had purchased at Safeway and on vacation, both Kira and Rob like to have them for breakfast. There was only one left in the case so I asked the lady if she had more and she said she did. Rob perused the cases and wanted a lot but settled for some cream puffs and a beignet. I let Rob do the ordering since I wasn't sure exactly what he wanted and when she asked him how many chocolate croissants he wanted, he answered "two", which was obviously not enough so I had to shout "six please!" and honestly, I wish I had said "twelve!" :rolleyes:

Once we got our treats, we headed back to the H-1 but they were doing construction all around this area in Pearl City so it took us a bit to get onto it. No worries, I enjoyed the view. :love::cloud9:🌳


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Every day we spotted supporters out waving just before the turn off for Ko Olina. :wave2:

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Here's our Liliha's haul. I have definitely seen better looking chocolate croissants in my lifetime but I can say with absolute certainty that these were the best dang chocolate croissants that I have ever tasted! :worship::lovestruc

Kira also agreed with me! Soooooo good! 😋🤤

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Rob also enjoyed his puffs. ::yes::

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Not much longer after we had our dessert, it was time for dinner. :lmao:

Although I was tempted to order online and skip that line down at the bar, I am too cheap to not use my discount. :rolleyes2

Kira was in lazy mode so Rob and I headed down to grab it.

Here's the specials for today.

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I know I posted the food menu but I didn't realize they had the drink menu on the other side.

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I got the same lovely bartender and since it was ridiculously hot, I took her up on her offer of an ice cold water while we waited for our food. Thank goodness for an empty table and a huge umbrella! It was a scorcher today! :scared:::yes::

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With our dinner procured, we headed back. I don't think I took an actual photo of this cool looking tree on its own, so here's the tree in the background. It reminded me of a tree I once saw in Victoria, B.C. :p

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I got the fish and chips, of course! Just as delicious as the first night! 🤤

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Kira got the Caesar salad with shrimp.

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And Rob got the cheeseburger.

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Kira wasn't too keen on the salad dressing so she just ate her shrimp and Rob's fries while I shared my fries with him. It was all very good and I am really missing my fish & chips as I write this! ::yes:::sad:

I got our clothes organized and Rob went and did a load of laundry for us.

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Stay tuned for another glorious Hawaiian sunset. 🌅 :thumbsup2
 
This is a late comment, because I have just started reading your trip report, but your gift for the flight attendant was so thoughtful! It was really nice. Also, I loved Mike Wazowski the Jeep.
 
Part 4

EDITOR"S NOTE
I am not sure why some of my photos are not loading, it is a recurring problem here on the DIS lately. They are all working on my website. Hopefully they will all eventually load for everyone. Just keep hitting refresh on your browser window. ;)


It was nearly sunset but Rob and Kira weren't ready to head down and I didn't want to miss another sunset so I ran down by myself and told them they could come and find me when they were ready.

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Looking back at the beautifully lit resort. You can see how windy it was. It was a lovely wind too!

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This was probably my favourite sunset of the entire week, so I took a LOT of photos. Bear with with now. :rolleyes1:love::rotfl2:

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I was taking photos of the lagoon when my hubby came and found me. I don't know why but he just loves to take photos of me taking photos. He says it's because this is what he sees a lot. :rolleyes2:laughing:

Actually, he thought I was taking a photo of him but honestly, I had no idea he was there until he came right up on me. :rotfl2:

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Back to the sunset!

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I had to get one of Rob in there. :goodvibes

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He wanted a selfie and we did take some together but my hair kept flying all over and it was making me laugh and I couldn't stand still for another photo. :laughing: I was like "no more pictures please" and I just snuggled into him. :rotfl:

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Look at that beauty! Gorgeous sunset AND trees! With a background of the ocean. :love::cloud9::worship:

If only there was a Disney ship in that ocean, it would be perfect! ::yes::

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Kira had decided that she wanted to go over to her secret place to watch the sunset. I checked on Find My to see if she was still there.

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I texted her to make sure she was okay and to tell her that we were going to head back but we were going to walk through the resort a bit. She told us that she would meet us back at the room.

We headed through the lobby, these are the stairs we came down when we first explored the lobby.

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I am standing just a little down from the check-in area. Look how open and gorgeous this is!

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Looking down at Longboards and the lagoon.

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I have stayed at many Marriotts over the years and have never found a portrait or even a mention of the founder. Well, here it is, I found one! :teeth:

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Rob had realized today that Mike Wazowski was a plug-in Hybrid! We drive hybrids at home and have for almost 18 years now so he was determined to charge it so we went around in search for a place to plug him in. We found two spots in the valet parking lot.

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Here's the entrance of the resort, this was the only photo I ever got of it. :rolleyes:

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And the entrance sign too! :thumbsup2

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We ended up walking over to our parking garage and found where we can plug him in but both spots were taken.

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Rob was, for the rest of the trip, completely obsessed over getting him plugged in and charged. :teeth:

Spoiler alert, fully charged, his juice didn't last very long. :rolleyes: Wha-wha-whaaaaaaaahhhh.:laughing:

Stay tuned for the next chapter and for the beginning of another long but fabulous day!

It was a dino-mite! 🦖🦕⛰️
 
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The sunset pictures are beautiful, I like the one in the hotel too with the chairs . The blue and sun and trees.

I would love to have that on my phone to track my kids but they wouldn’t go for it. They want me to worry until they tell me that got home safe after hours of driving.
 
I’ve been lurking, as I do for all of your trip reports. We were in Hawaii in March so enjoy seeing places we visited and new to us places. But I’m completely gobsmacked by the powder sunscreen! I’m blond and very pale skinned and my part is always burning. This is life changing! 😉

Glad you came out of lurkdom! :wave2:


That powder stuff really is a game changer! Just using it on my scalp, it has now lasted almost a whole year and I have half of the container left still! And I shake it in a little and you can't see it, even on brunette hair! :worship:
Oh I just LOVE ABC stores (Island Country Markets). I follow them on Instagram and love when they do a walk through, so fun!
Ohhh, never thought to follow them on instagram!! :thumbsup2

7.49 (on sale yet) for those Pepperidge Farm cookies.....god and we thought Canada was expensive for stuff :rotfl2: to be fair,I'm all over ALLLLL the choccie macci nuts and I don't care the cost lol

That dress is so cute, she looks lovely in it :love:

I really don't know how anyone can afford to live there! Everything was soooo expensive and food already is ridiculously expensive without the add-on Hawaii prices! :crazy2:

I'm not a macci nut person but my MIL loves them so we always get some for her. Rob loves them too. :rolleyes:::yes::

This is a late comment, because I have just started reading your trip report, but your gift for the flight attendant was so thoughtful! It was really nice. Also, I loved Mike Wazowski the Jeep.

No comment is too late! :goodvibes

Thanks, I hope you enjoy the rest of the report. :thumbsup2

Hooray for Rockstar parking back at the resort!!! Love Kira's dress. It suits her beautifully!

I think so too! :cutie:

The sunset pictures are beautiful, I like the one in the hotel too with the chairs . The blue and sun and trees.

I would love to have that on my phone to track my kids but they wouldn’t go for it. They want me to worry until they tell me that got home safe after hours of driving.

The app will be a requirement as long as we are paying for her cell phone! :rolleyes:::yes::
 
Those donuts looks so good.
The sunset is just gorgeous!!! It's nice to see what the resort looks like since my family barely takes any photos. LOL
 
That sunset was absolutely gorgeous!! I can see why you couldn't stop snapping pictures of it. Love the selfie snuggle :) Such a sweet moment.

I'm excited to hear what you think about your DINO-mite day coming up!! I've heard from people who absolutely loved or just didn't enjoy at all; nowhere in the middle. I'm looking forward to your take on things.
 
Part 1

I was very excited for today as we were heading to the Kualoa Ranch. Rob and I did the Movie Sites Tour at the ranch last October on our cruise and I LOVED it! We are both huge movie buffs and I particularly love anything to do with the making of movies and shows so not only was it so very cool to see but the area itself is just gorgeous and I couldn't wait to share that with Kira.

Rob had gone to get the Jeep, which was now parked over in valet, charging, so Kira and I waited in the little lobby area of our tower.

Even the tower lobbies were pretty!

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I booked our tour for the day for 11:40am, which was enough time to make the hour-long journey over there after rush hour and have some breakfast before we checked in.

The drive over there is just spectacular! This is the lush part of the island with the gorgeous, green peaks that I am sure you have seen in several movies.

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To get there, you have to go through some mountains. Literally. :goodvibes

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The views are just amazing and so very worth the drive!

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Kira was awestruck and was loving the views too. 🤩

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Doesn't this look photoshopped? :laughing:

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After about an hour, we arrived at the ranch.

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Rob and I had eaten some pancakes here last year and we loved them so we decided to share an order between the three of us before our tour. We had 10 minutes before they stopped serving breakfast so Rob dropped us off and then went to park while we went in and ordered.

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We sat outside and enjoyed the views. I didn't take a photo of our view that morning but I did get a photo after our tour, which I will post later. :goodvibes

The pancakes were delicious once again!

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This is a working ranch and there's tons of wildlife all over the place.

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We had some time to kill so we checked out the store. I love this store, it has so many cool and unique items.

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Rob ended up getting this shirt. :laughing:

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I had purchased a shirt here last October, which I happened to be wearing today but I also loved this one and decided to purchase it for myself.

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Kira ended up getting the one on the right.

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We had a lot of fun in this store together. :earboy2:

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I meant to buy the sign in the back, that said East Dock, but I totally forgot about it when we actually did our shopping before leaving the ranch.

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Kira and I also got these hoodies. :woohoo:

Prices were very reasonable too. :thumbsup2

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It was time to check in now but first a pit stop. There was always a long line for these bathrooms. There are more bathrooms outside in case you need them. ;)

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Out the back and up the stairs to check in with your tickets.

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Since you need to check-in early, we still had some time to kill before the actual tour started, so we looked around a bit.

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Here are all the tours you can take here at the Ranch.

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There's so many that you can keep coming back to the ranch and take a different tour each time. As cool as the Movie Sites Tour was, we wanted to take a new one this time.

Stay tuned for the next chapter to find out which one we chose. :thumbsup2
 
That is one place I would love to visit. I love seeing movie stuff like that. Please tell me you took the Jurassic Adventure or Expedition tour!

and see you tomorrow!
 













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