Lama pa'ipa'i on the Lanai – an Aulani TR -Aloha and Mahalo Aulani! Link to PTR 11/5

[annmarieda]

I went for a salad.

Tokyo Spice Rubbed Mahi Mahi, Baby Spinach, Grape Tomatoes, English Cucumber with Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette.



I don't know if it was because I was SO hungry, or if it was just the combination but it was so delicious! Certainly as good or better than anything Id have gotten at Kona and infinitely more cost effective.

cost effective or not, it sure looks yummy.

So of course I took pictures!

I loved the flower girls dresses

So cute!

On the way there, we spotted a PP photographer and decided to do a little shoot.







One bummer about photopass in Hawaii is this. If you buy the CD there, it costs quite a bit less. But if you buy it after you get back you can add some really cute borders to it. I am not sure the borders are worth the price difference but if you were only buying a couple of shots it might well be. We bought it there, saw the borders later and I was a little bummed. The other bummer is that the photographers are not out nearly as much as I thought they might be. Well, they probably are during the day when floating around the river and definitely during the character times but not once could we find one at night when we were actually dressed up for dinner. Which bummed me out! I guess because we eat late? I had hopes of a nice picture of the two of us (non swimsuit or character lol) and it just didn't happen.

That is interesting about the pp. It is a shame you didn't get the non swimsuit pics... but the ones you did get seem to be nice ones.

Of course, seeing the pics after your dinner at Roy's... well, it is a shame that a proper pp was not around. You both were indeed all "spiffed up"

 

[afwdwfan]

The last day.

Noooooo!!!! I don't wanna leave!!!

One thing I am not sure I mentioned in the last update was that we had gotten a call in the morning that Evan was sick. It never fails, when we are gone longer than a couple of nights, my kids who NEVER get sick....do. Sigh. Makes me wonder. Anyway, so far no news was good news.

I know it is tough to look at it this way, but what can you do to help him from there anyway?

I don’t know if it was the time of day, the clarity of the water, the fact that it was our last day but OH was the snorkel karma god with us. Absolutely STUNNING fish and tons of them. Tip. Listen to Lisa Marie on day 1 at Aulani, stay to the right, near the outer rocks and WOW WOW WOW.
Just amazing. We spent a long time out there. How long, I honestly don’t know. Drifting and floating with fish, one tends to lose track of time!

I mean really look at this, how could you not!

Yeah... you were really miserable on your last day weren't you.

Looks like a lot of fun snorkeling and a great view.

He just dove.

And came up holding all of Jeffs cards!

The sigh of relief was probably heard across the pool deck. No one wanted to contemplate the nightmare of trying to get home without ID!

I hadn't even considered the ID at the airport side of it until you mentioned it. That would be horrible. I'm glad that everything was recovered.

But....

What had we done with our lunch?

I hope it wasn't in one of Jeff's Velcro pockets on the slide.

 

[scottny]

I am dizzy from the plans. LOL. They look good though.
Your lunch sounds delicious.
Your dinner looked very good too.
Yeah to meeting Kathy. I hope I do in December. I love the mug, so cute. I think I said that on FB. LOL
Nice productive morning with the meeting and laundry.
Beautiful pic with the lighthouse. The water is so gorgeous.
Looked like fun times with the family.
Glad he got his cards back.
The cucumber drink looked so good.
Caught up again.

 

[eandesmom]

Trying to slowly get caught up on on my threads that I neglected this last month.. (I seriously don't know how you do it with all your travel.)

I don't. I'm not. LOL! I keep trying...but people keep updating.

I loved your little mini TR "Almost live from Waikiki"

I admire you. While I was perfectly comfortable being solo in WDW, I am not sure how I would do on my own in Hawaii.

I envy you that you ran in Hawaii though... must have been amazing! I too would have probably stopped for pictures.

Holy cow this does look busy!!!

I think the flower makes it look even more appetizing. How strange is that? Sure looks yummy!

I don't know...I can't really see you just hanging in the hotel room... I am a bit spoiled, or jaded, or maybe both. Seasoned I guess. I have traveled so much for work over the years that it doesn't faze me being somewhere new. And this wasn't exactly new so certainly that helped. It is very good to know where is ok to go, and where is not when you go off on your own. I walked all over Chicago last Saturday but..I'd lived there for 10 years. Still, things change and you never "really" know I guess. Oddly enough I actually enjoyed my Chicago run more than the Hawaii one. Partially from just really feeling happy to be there and it being so familiar, yet new at the same time. I've ridden my bike a bazillion times where I ran...but never had run (walked lol) so it was just a really cool thing.

I thought it was such a pretty presentation with the flowers, I hated to eat them. But oh they were good!

Hooray for the card rescuer!

He made our day!!!!!!!!!!!! The CM was SO calm...he knew they'd be found.

There's nothing like fresh delicious mango that's for sure.

Love the last pictures from the lanai. I can't wait to see it for myself. It won't be soon but I'm so looking forward to it.

It was amazing, I had mango more than once on the trip but that one was by far the best.

Great pictures with the characters. Jeff looks pretty happy

Bonus that you found some good snorkeling the last day.

How late was your flight?

I'm sorry Evan was sick, hopefully nothing too serious?

Jeff was pretty happy, and no, no rum yet at that point. The snorkeling was so good the last day. Our expectations were low so I think it made a much larger impact as a result, we were giddy afterwards. Our flight wasn't until something like 8:30pm. Evan was fine, went back to school the that day. Fought it off all week and weekend but it never got worse.

Hey there Cynthia! That hike up Diamond Head sure had a great pay off with the view. I knew it had a view of the downtown area but it was cool to see the view from the top.

It was a really gorgeous view and different than Koko Head as you are so much closer to Waikiki at Diamond Head.

That was great that you had some family time for a get together while on vacation. You and your cousins are all tall and thin, definitely a family resemblance.

My one cousin is quite tall, the rest of us are pretty average height I'd think. Of course she looks taller as she has about the skinniest legs of anyone I've ever known. We used to worry about her but she is healthy as a horse! Biggest resemblance is the famous family nose.

Loved the Kathy meet up and she absolutely knows you so well with that mug! And I'm glad that you broke it in and not simply broke it. That was a funny comment!

I'd have been heartbroken if I did break it, it's adorable! It was so fun to meet her finally.

What great character photos - especially Chip and Dale. I love those varmits!

Your last day sounds like it is packed with some great activities. Unfortunately, I'm sure there's a plane waiting for you before too long.

Yeah...the looming plane...I hate knowing it is there.

"Catching a wave with Crush"

I am absolutely in awe of the pictures you had! I think watching the video must have been worth it to be in that beautiful place. And to swim with a turtle??? Just heavenly, I imagine. However, I can also imagine how hungry you were! I think I would be ready to eat everything in site. As I get caught up more... I can't wait to read where you went to satisfy that hunger.

Watching the video was worth it, small price to pay for sure. It's an incredible spot!

I could snorkel forever and ever, I absolutely love it! So relaxing. Perfect thing to do on your last day. I had a little chuckle at the cms suggestion to wait for a kid with goggles but it's hard to argue with the results! Great idea, glad all was not lost.
LOVE the character pics! So cute!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

It is so relaxing...when you are in the right spot and the water isn't too rough, or too cold and visibility is good. When all that comes together...I could drift along for hours!

We were SO skeptical, the CM was SO calm and well, he was right! Thank heavens.

 

[eandesmom]

More Cynthia torture! I just love all the photos, thank you for posting them.

20 bazilliion photos of my coffee cup and lanai view. Kind of like the safari right? Can't have too many giraffe pictures..

Your breakfast looked delish, I would have loved it! And then going snorkelling that's the way to spend the last day. Love that you did the slides again and how lucky is Jeff that the boy found his cards right away.

My breakfast was outstanding. I was actually really glad I'd had the breakfast sandwich the day before, a day off from the yogurt/fruit granola was good and add in the mango and all of a sudden it was the ultimate breakfast!

So relieved the cards were found, and right away too!

Oh, and YES, I love that you got a nice drink!

It was nice. Not my favorite but it was very refreshing, I'd absolutely agree with that.

I hate last days. They are the worse days ever.

But I see that you made good use of yours with your coffee mug and your coffee and your absolutely stunning view.

As sad as the last day is...it wasn't a rough start to it that's for sure!

Jeff does not at all look like he wants to see Chip and Dale. But those pictures and the ones with Goofy later turned out great.

Clearly hitting him up for character pictures at the end of the trip worked WAY better than at the front end. Need to remember that in December!

for great snorkeling on your last monring. And for tube slide rides...well, minus losing all of your ID. Glad that 8 year old little boy was able to save the day.

Snorkeling, Slides and a Goggled saviour...doesn't get much better than that!

Your drinks look yummy!

Uh oh...where did the lunch go?

Our drinks were yummy!

Hey, I'm caught up (although I may have skimmed a teensy bit). Your cousins look like a fun group, it was great that you could catch up. Yes, those velcro pockets don't work on water slides and the like -- the same thing happened to me at the wave pool at TL, but I never got the card back. Fortunately, it was just my room key. Maroomkey!

I am really not sure why Jeff had more in there than his room key. SO lucky that it was found

Maroomkey!

My cousins rock. It was a wonderful afternoon.

Love the characters photos! So cute.

I thought they turned out pretty cute though I swear if you look at all our PP pics...I only brought one swimsuit. That annoyed me a little, one pic not in a swimsuit, or even if a different one, would have made me happy.

Thank goodness that kid could retrieve Jeff's cards. I hate that feeling. It's the same as thinking I've lost my phone.

Worst.feeling.ever!

That mango has me drooling It looks so delicious in your pictures!

I would kill for one of those right now, yum!

If that kid would have been of age, I would have bought him a drink for saving the day!

Seriously! What was so cute is he didn't say a word. Either before he dove down, or after, just grinned. A cute little monkey grin, I wanted to hug him!

And I love the character pictures.

Thanks, it was fun interaction (Goofy was VERY huggy though). LOL!

 

[GoofyFan1515]

Last days are the worst, but it looks like you guys made the most of your last hours! Family, friends, Goofy, Chip and Dale..........how can it get any better???

You got some great pics of the view from Diamond Head, your final beach time, and of course Coffee on the Lanai! And your breakfast sandwich looked really great!

 

[eandesmom]

Distract yourself with something fun so you don't have to think about going home!

Well I think 50 bazillion photos of my coffee cup and lanai view are fun. Don't you?

Love that view over the resort grounds.

Sigh. Me too.

I'm guessing this has happened once or twice!

He was so nonchalant about it, knew it would be found but we were sweating bullets! Thank goodness.

Wow, that was lucky!! My DH had this happen a few years ago at Typhoon Lagoon, on one of the slides, with his driver's license. We asked a CM for help, she jumped in with my son's goggles on but couldn't find it. FYI, TSA will let you through airport security without ID, it just takes longer

Well, I'm not so sure now that you can. I had it happen about 10 years ago to me, flying home from DC. It was doable but I saw more than one person having serious issues on flights over the past few work trips, I think they have really cracked down. Very stressful!

The funny part of this story (it wasn't funny at the time!) is about six months later - right after Typhoon Lagoon had been closed for their annual cleaning - we got his DL in the mail from WDW! Sweet of them, right? I think I still have it as a souvenir!

Hey, a backup is not a bad thing to have!

That is indeed a BFP. I am so impress that you can get it to be as organized as you do.

It is definitely firming up. I think we've largely figured out our Universal plans so need to book that and I think I only have at most 3 extra ADR's. 1-2 haircuts and a back up ADR for the 30th, which I need to cancel (the ADR, not sure about the haircuts yet). Except the "extra" one is not in my MDE. LOL! Or maybe I already cancelled it, it isn't in TripIt either. LOL!

I do hope that Easter works out for you though... That seems to be a challenge in and of itself. I bet you will have it nailed though once that performance schedule is released.

Well the trip is on, the rest I'm really not sure when we will know. I would really prefer to be home for part of Easter but will deal with. Worse places to be that is for sure lol. Biggest drag is all the money is due between now and December, really crummy timing!!!!

AND on the girls trip!!!

We have rooms booked, will deal with ADRs when Mary Ellen gets back though really I think only one of them is a 180 must book

cost effective or not, it sure looks yummy.

It was! I really need to remember that as an option for leftover mahi. I tend to use it up with rice and beans, which is yummy too, but this really was a treat.

That is interesting about the pp. It is a shame you didn't get the non swimsuit pics... but the ones you did get seem to be nice ones. Of course, seeing the pics after your dinner at Roy's... well, it is a shame that a proper pp was not around. You both were indeed all "spiffed up"

We have such crummy luck with pictures when we are actually dressed up. Not one from Palo yet after 2 cruises, nothing in Aulani, wah!

Noooooo!!!! I don't wanna leave!!!

Me either!

I know it is tough to look at it this way, but what can you do to help him from there anyway?

Oh not a thing for him. I just worry about mucking up my parents schedules. They are already taking care of them for the week and have plans during the school day. A kid home sick is just more time for them and messes up stuff. That part makes me feel more guilty than I already do asking them for help. He was fine, went to school that day but was a bit out of it for about a week. Not enough to stay home but not 100% either for sure.

Yeah... you were really miserable on your last day weren't you. Looks like a lot of fun snorkeling and a great view.

Yeah, it was rough. Really rough!

I hadn't even considered the ID at the airport side of it until you mentioned it. That would be horrible. I'm glad that everything was recovered.

It could have been REALLY bad.

I hope it wasn't in one of Jeff's Velcro pockets on the slide.

Me either (and I'm sure the CM's that clean the pool were glad it wasn't). LOL!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Okay -

So sad to be reading about your last day. But before the last day is the next to last -

Awesome pics from Diamondhead! It looks like even I could do that one, I think. I wish we had tried harder to get up there - we tried twice but it was closed due to high winds.

So cool that you got to meet up with family! Looks like a great time - I love how families just have that connection.

Nice that you finally had the DISmeet with Cara! It is hard to work those vacation schedules sometimes.

Your breakfast looks like my favorite kind. So fun that you got to have the fresh mango, though.

Looks like a nice relaxing day. Great pics with Chip N Dale!

 

[eandesmom]

I am dizzy from the plans. LOL. They look good though.
Your lunch sounds delicious.
Your dinner looked very good too.
Yeah to meeting Kathy. I hope I do in December. I love the mug, so cute. I think I said that on FB. LOL

I hope you get to meet Kathy too! She is just lovely. Plans are coming together, I need to get over and get caught up on your activities!

Nice productive morning with the meeting and laundry.
Beautiful pic with the lighthouse. The water is so gorgeous.
Looked like fun times with the family.
Glad he got his cards back.
The cucumber drink looked so good.
Caught up again.

We were very relieved about the cards

Last days are the worst, but it looks like you guys made the most of your last hours! Family, friends, Goofy, Chip and Dale..........how can it get any better???

It really doesn't get any better! I really do like having a long last day and an evening flight, it lessens the pain quite a bit.

You got some great pics of the view from Diamond Head, your final beach time, and of course Coffee on the Lanai! And your breakfast sandwich looked really great!

HAVE to have coffee on the Lanai, it's a must! Day isn't over yet but sadly,it is winding down. I loved the little hike to Diamond Head, the viewsa re amazing!

Okay -

So sad to be reading about your last day. But before the last day is the next to last -

Awesome pics from Diamondhead! It looks like even I could do that one, I think. I wish we had tried harder to get up there - we tried twice but it was closed due to high winds.

Oh what a bummer! I didn't remember that. Wow, I had no idea they closed it for high winds. You could do that one, I think most could honestly. Maybe slowly for some, especially the stairs but even the stair sections were not long.

So cool that you got to meet up with family! Looks like a great time - I love how families just have that connection.

It really was a trip highlight, I am blessed to be related to such cool people!

Nice that you finally had the DISmeet with Cara! It is hard to work those vacation schedules sometimes.

It was so lovely to meet her, she and her family were wonderful!

Your breakfast looks like my favorite kind. So fun that you got to have the fresh mango, though.

It is one of my favorite breakfasts, I have it often...though not with the mango!

Looks like a nice relaxing day. Great pics with Chip N Dale!

It was relaxing, amazingly so even though we'd had to pack and check out.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Glad you got to hike Diamond Head before the party with your family! I remember doing it on our honeymoon, but don't remember the tunnel. Of course, I'm getting old and that was 16 years ago...
Great pics from up there too!
Cool that you were able to meet up with Cara.
Nice relaxing morning on your last day - glad you got to see some more characters. I think my girls would appreciate that too!
Yummy looking mango!

Bummer on the slide/ID mishap! Dave had that happen in AKL's pool (not on the slide I don't think), but they didn't find it in the pool at the time. Later it turned up at the front desk. We thought it odd because there were about 8 people in the pool when it went missing, we asked people if they'd seen one and whoever found it didn't ask anyone there if it belong to them. Oh well.

Curious about your lunch now...

 

[annmarieda]

Last full days are hard, but what a day you had! I think it probably could not have been more perfect?!

DVC members event - Looks fun...but I had wondered if they were a bit on the "sales pitch" side.

Breakfast - Looks pretty yummy!

Hike - OMG! What an amazing hike with such nice views..not to mention the cave!

Family get together - How wonderful to be able to spend time together like and have it seem like you have never been apart.

The dismeet - (it was a dismeet, yes?) It is always nice to get to chat with friends.

 

[eandesmom]

Glad you got to hike Diamond Head before the party with your family! I remember doing it on our honeymoon, but don't remember the tunnel. Of course, I'm getting old and that was 16 years ago...
Great pics from up there too!

The tunnel was cool! And dark, you could easily plow someone over. Amazing views.

Cool that you were able to meet up with Cara.
Nice relaxing morning on your last day - glad you got to see some more characters. I think my girls would appreciate that too!
Yummy looking mango!

It was a lovely morning all around and I really enjoyed meeting Cara and her family.

Bummer on the slide/ID mishap! Dave had that happen in AKL's pool (not on the slide I don't think), but they didn't find it in the pool at the time. Later it turned up at the front desk. We thought it odd because there were about 8 people in the pool when it went missing, we asked people if they'd seen one and whoever found it didn't ask anyone there if it belong to them. Oh well.

Curious about your lunch now...

Maybe it was found after you left the pool?

Last full days are hard, but what a day you had! I think it probably could not have been more perfect?!

It's not quite over yet...but winding down

DVC members event - Looks fun...but I had wondered if they were a bit on the "sales pitch" side.

Breakfast - Looks pretty yummy!

Breakfast was perfect. Glad I went to the mingle but probably wouldn't again

Hike - OMG! What an amazing hike with such nice views..not to mention the cave!

It was! The whole thing was just cool, really kind of lame that we'd never done it before. It's a must do!

Family get together - How wonderful to be able to spend time together like and have it seem like you have never been apart.

It is such a gift

The dismeet - (it was a dismeet, yes?) It is always nice to get to chat with friends.

Yes, it was a DISmeet, so fun!

 

[Poolrat]

I don't. I'm not. LOL! I keep trying...but people keep updating.

I hear ya. Trying now to get and stay caught up until at least Dec.


Diamond head looks like a great hike and glad you enjoyed time with family.


Last days always stink but man you made it less stinky with pool snorkel and slide time.

Almost dinner time here so where is your lunch?????

 

[eandesmom]

I hear ya. Trying now to get and stay caught up until at least Dec.

I am beginning to despair of ever being caught up anywhere!

Diamond head looks like a great hike and glad you enjoyed time with family.

It was a lovely day

Last days always stink but man you made it less stinky with pool snorkel and slide time.

Almost dinner time here so where is your lunch?????

I really do like late departure, it does lessen the pain by quite a lot, especially when you can do thinks like slide and snorkel!

 

[franandaj]

Your last day looks great! I can't imagine us doing something like that on our last day. WE would probably book the first flight out so that we got home with time to do things rather than enjoy our last day!

We would never go to the pool on a last day!

 

[eandesmom]

Your last day looks great! I can't imagine us doing something like that on our last day. WE would probably book the first flight out so that we got home with time to do things rather than enjoy our last day!

We would never go to the pool on a last day!

Well.....depending on how you look at it, we either booked the first, or the last flight. We took a red eye home so got home early am and had that whole day. As to whether we did anything useful with it is a whole 'nother story!

We are NOT early morning people so getting up early to catch a flight is immensely stressful for all involved and increases the likelihood of missing flights. One thing Aulani did REALLY well was setting it up knowing that many folks have late flights. I'll cover it in the next update but really they need to take the Luana Lounge and duplicate it everywhere! For me, there is something about heading home late where I kind of still feel like I am vacation, it eases me back into the real world in a better way then going to bed and getting up and knowing it's really over as to head straight to the airport is a reality check like no other.

That said, it was much easier to pull it off with the 2 of us than with 4, 5 or 6! Last Florida trip I think we ended up with only 1 hour of pool time. Though to be fair a lot of that was letting kids sleep in after an open to close commando park day. I still had my coffee on the verandah...and really that's all that matters. LOL!

 

[rentayenta]

Your last day looks great! I can't imagine us doing something like that on our last day. WE would probably book the first flight out so that we got home with time to do things rather than enjoy our last day!

We would never go to the pool on a last day!

Me either. M might take the kids swimming but I'd be too busy packing and taking a bazillion photos of things I already took photos of.

 

[eandesmom]

Me either. M might take the kids swimming but I'd be too busy packing and taking a bazillion photos of things I already took photos of.

Well, it is a lot different when it's just the 2 adults. When it was all of us, with the late flight it was me packing, doing laundry, dragging them up just before 11, crazy checkout, grab a bit and THEN one blessed hour at the pool.

Of course there was the 2 blessed hours I had with my coffee watching the savannah...

 

[eandesmom]

I should be doing lots of useful things today. Instead I find myself sitting on the couch doing a big fat nothing. I cannot actually say I've done nothing today, I'm just not doing anything productive at the moment! It was kind of a big morning for me in my running journey. I did my first ever 10K this morning and as luck would have it, in classic Seattle rain. Despite the weather it went quite well, vastly exceeding my expectations on every level. Shockingly I came in 6th in my age bracket and 23rd out of 224 women for 52nd overall. Frankly, in my wildest dreams I could not have predicted how well it went, not even close. Even with 4 different time validations (chip, clock, watch and Jeff seeing the clock) I can't get my arms around it. Jeff, the putz (and longtime runner) came in 3rd in his bracket, 13th for the guys and 19th overall. Of course he was mad he didn't win his bracket. LOL! The important thing is I have a time I can use, and am happy with, for entry and corral placement for the DL half. LOL! I do have my priorities!

In other news I have a few trip updates. The marching band trip to DL appears to be on. They cashed my check which is always telling. The bad news is they upped the payment schedule, we have to be paid in full before Christmas and frankly, that timing kind of sucks! Originally it went into Jan. Oh well. As for the NYE trip, other than my nephew, it is firming up as well. We have decided on 2 universal days after all and will be getting those tickets/transfers in the next month. I also made a bit of an executive decision on the MagicBands. What I learned over the last week is this.

1. They were going to send them to me no matter what.
2. They are (allegedly) actively stopping the issuing of KTTW cards, effectively forcing conversion to the bands and FP+. Lots of conflicting info on this one.

So yes, I could try to still get a KTTW card, use our paper tickets and manage it that way or, cry uncle and at least get cool colors and link the darn tickets now. The only real disadvantage that I see, at this point, is that my entire family cannot do FP+. Right now only the 3 of us could. Once those in our villa have tickets, they could but the other rooms, very likely they wont be able to at all. It is possible, as their ressies are through Disney and not through Starwood but if that happens, it will be dumb luck. They too will be stuck with FP+, only difference is they wont be able to book anything until they are actually in the park and same day.

Which bites. On many levels. I can hope that it all works out and we can pre-book. I could be very uncool and pre-book for the 4 of us. For now I am just ordering cool colors and funky names and leaving it at that. Except I did go ahead and link all our tickets. Including my yet to be picked up and activated PAP, which magically actually worked. Go figure. It is kind of wacky we will get 2 sets of bands, due to the split stay so we've done some silly names on the 2nd set and a few of us are doing different colors with each set. Of course, I am allergic to the band itself but hey, minor detail right?

When I left you in Hawaii, we had finished snorkeling, sliding and had procured a lovely refreshing beverage to have with our lunch.

Except, our lunch was missing.

Though we had managed to pack our trail mix(es) and the leftover onion chips....Jeff had made the sandwiches and put them in the fridge! Which is where they remained while we checked out, snorkeled and swam. We contemplated seeing if by some miracle they were still around but determined that too much time had passed and it would not be worth the effort to try and find out, only to be disappointed. Instead, we decided to up the scale on the total lounge lizard scale and&have food brought to us poolside!

First, we found a spot





These were our options

• Ham and Swiss Cheese Panini 12.50
• Crispy Chicken Strips with Barbecue Sauce 10.00
• Individual Cheese Pizza 9.50
• Individual Pepperoni Pizza 10.50
• Char-grilled Vegetable Wrap served with Basil Aïoli 12.00
• Turkey Wrap with Provolone, Lettuce, and Kamuela Tomatoes 12.50
• Angus Bacon Cheeseburger 14.00
• Tuna Salad on a Taro Bun 12.50
• Upcountry Romaine Caesar Salad with Chicken 12.00

Jeff went for the Ham and Cheese and I went for the Tuna

And, just in case you all wanted to know, here is what was actually in my drink.

Cucumber Lychee Fizz
Effen Cucumber Vodka, Lychee, and fresh Lemon Juice topped with Ginger Ale 9.50

Lunch arrived in cute little bamboo baskets







Seated next to us were 2 different couples, our age, also DVC members. We had the most lovely chat with them about how much we all loved Aulani and loved DVC. Pretty fun to go someplace like Aulani and see so many other adults on kid free trips. One couple didn't have kids and one did. While lunch may have been your basic poolside fare, it was good, served quickly and really hit the spot. Not long after we finished our meals, sprinkles arrived which mean it was time to pack up and take care of souvenirs! So we did. I had wanted to get 3 of the special member only DVC pin and at first they told me it was limited to 2 per member. I offered to get Jeff to come buy one and they relented, letting me get all 3. Shopping complete we stashed our loot back at the Luana Lounge and went to hit the Oleo Room. Which didn't open until 5! Okay fine, be that way. Instead we headed to Off the Hook, picked up a beverage and then went over to the couches in front of AMA AMA. At this point Jeff looked at me and said...

WHAT IS THAT RED LINE ON YOUR FACE?

Arrgh...Darn Snorkel Mask! Stupid stupid allergy!

This eased the pain



Just kidding, it didn't hurt, or itch (thankfully)



Ah, that's better.



I was holding on to that lei from the mahalo member mingle if it killed me!



Looking back you can see the neat fountain that is in AMA AMA



Our table when we dined there, was just to the left of the fountain in this picture

Or the far right of this one



The "modern" addition to Uncles House



Just about then the sprinkles came back. We didn't want Jeff's dictionary, I mean book, to get wet, so back to the umbrellas we went.



Oops! Finger fail



You can almost see the drops on the surface of the pool



Yep, there they are





The great thing about late afternoon rain on your last day at Aulani? It makes it MUCH less painful to go head to the shower and get ready for the flight home.

So we did that

This is the lounge you can hang out in and kill time before the airport



And apparently the lighting sucks or I didn't try to focus at all



They have computers you can use to check in and get boarding passes



The inside looks a LOT like the inside of the spa, lockers, shower, all of it. Exact same locker set up. It was busy so...no pics.

My notes are a little unclear here but I think what happened is that I went in, showered, was busy getting ready when I was alerted somehow that Jeff was having issues.

Apparently his reading glasses were in his locker and he couldn't read the keypad to enter the numbers right! Off to the community center I went, a bit desperate as we still needed to check in (Jeff had the CC that I needed to check and pay for our bags). They promised to send someone over. I finished up and got our check in started and found a lovely little surprise. Our flight departure was now showing at 9:05, not 8:30. Which was pretty great given that it was already almost 6!

Both of us now finally ready, bags in hand, we headed off to the Oleo Room. We had noticed that they had darn good happy hour specials.

And live entertainment!





I chose this to start, The Mango Kamiana Rita (Kamiana means non native lol)

Or really, to end. The last lama pai'ipa'i



It was still raining



Continued in next post

 

[eandesmom]

Continued from previous

We were seated at the bar, which made it fun to view all the words





I liked my beverage choice!





And loved my Ahi Poke Rice Bowl!



Jeff went for the loaded nachos



Seriously, for $14 (my dinner and drink) and $12 (Jeff’s) this was a steal as far as we were concerned. Definitely equal to the Monkeypod Happy hour for us. A much more limited menu and wouldn’t work for everyone but it was absolutely perfect and my Ahi was perfectly cooked to boot! Absolutely delicious.

With that lovely close to our day, it was time to leave. We had a few challenges on the way out.

1st, we went to the wrong floor for our car. Somehow we ended up in the land of dead, or extra, pool furniture.

Then, it took longer than expected to get to the airport.

Once there, our bag was overweight by a good 8 pounds and we did some crazy repacking right there.

Much as we might have hoped those things would keep us there, it did not.




Instead after an uneventful red-eye, and a very long wait for a shuttle (since I had spaced on pre-booking) we came home to this







YUCK!

Thank goodness I had my airline blanket with me from the flight, I used it in the shuttle!

So we did want any reasonable person would do. Instead of going to work, we both went to bed and took a nap!

Up next, a final recap and Souvenirs!