A Tale of Two Trips: Disneyland and Hawaii July 2014 Long Way Home: The End 9/13 p.40

[natebenma]

Are we there yet?

Our flight from Maui to the Big Island was 20 minutes!

The views from the plane, and from the ride to the resort were beautiful. A nice preview of what we would be seeing from the air on excursion the next day.












Lava Field



Aloha OGG Airport









Lava tube













We arrived at our resort that tried to emulate Disney.


Next up: " "Welcome Home!" " (The Hilton Waikoloa Village)

 

[justafigment27]

The Big Island! Yeah! We spent a week there last year before heading to Aulani ... I loved it and can't wait to read your thoughts (and see your beautiful pictures!).

 

[KatMark]

Beautiful final pictures around your resort on Maui, Dee.

I'm glad that Ben didn't get lost with that sea of orange.

Oh, but the ice cream that Mark got looks awfully good.

Can't wait to hear about the big island (when I return from my trip, of course).

 

[hill6]

Great update Dee. We will probably return to Hawaii in 2017 and stay at Aluani.

 

[jwwi]

The Big Island, so beautiful! You got some great shots from the plane.

 

[natebenma]

The Big Island! Yeah! We spent a week there last year before heading to Aulani ... I loved it and can't wait to read your thoughts (and see your beautiful pictures!).

Nice!

I know you said you did some snorkeling on the Big Island- heard that it is pretty decent there, but we didn't get a chance. Where did you stay and what were some of the things you did on your trip? Any beaches that you loved?

Beautiful final pictures around your resort on Maui, Dee.

I'm glad that Ben didn't get lost with that sea of orange.

Oh, but the ice cream that Mark got looks awfully good.

Can't wait to hear about the big island (when I return from my trip, of course).

Thank you!!!

The thing is, Ben would have fit right in with the group, with both attire and interests!

For $10 a cup, it better have been good!!!

We took an all day volcano tour on the Big Island. Lots to write about.

Have a fantastic trip with your buddies!!!

Great update Dee. We will probably return to Hawaii in 2017 and stay at Aluani.

Sounds like a FANTASTIC plan!!!

We came "this" close to booking a Feb trip back to Oahu.

Ben had said he wants to go back, we found a trip with a pretty decent price, but when we talked to the boys, they didn't want to do it. They didn't want to do it. They both want Europe. We will see. This coming year may be one of our last chances to travel with Nate, at least for awhile, until he graduates from college.

The Big Island, so beautiful! You got some great shots from the plane.

Thank you!

I'll have some more shots from the air coming up.

Have a fantastic trip!

 

[Wood Nymph]

You must have trained them right since someone took a picture of the "secret" sundae. It also looks like it was soft serve ice cream. I never trust those pay by weight items. I always like heavy toppings.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Hi Dee! Finally catching up on your amazing TR. DLR and Hawaii! That is really an incredible itinerary!

I'm still reading, but loving all the pictures...they are bringing back memories! We're headed back to Honolulu this fall...can't wait to see all those places again. Dukes is touristy yet fun, but it can get packed. I'd suggest Hula Grill or Tiki's if that's the case. Next time

DH and I climbed Koko Head before! It was really tiring. We rewarded ourselves with some shave ice after!

We also stayed at the Honua Kai on Maui. It's the perfect resort for families. We also did a volcano helicopter tour of the BI.
Can't wait to read the whole thing!

 

[justafigment27]

Nice!

I know you said you did some snorkeling on the Big Island- heard that it is pretty decent there, but we didn't get a chance. Where did you stay and what were some of the things you did on your trip? Any beaches that you loved?

You have a good memory! We stayed at Kona Surf & Racquet in a VRBO condo for most of the trip with one night at Volcano House inside of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We went to Hapuna Beach for our big "beach day" and it was quite nice - we also went to Punalu'u black sand beach (but just to see the turtles and walk around, not to swim or snorkel).

I am looking forward to your Hilton review - it's one of the places we looked at when trying to decided where to stay.

 

[carissa1970]

Just read all 37 pages and cannot wait to see what you did on the big island! Love your writing style.

We alternate WDW and Hawaii each summer, and have done that for 4 summers. 2016 will be the first time we island hop, from Aulani to the Big island, so I hope to get some tips!

 

[natebenma]

You must have trained them right since someone took a picture of the "secret" sundae. It also looks like it was soft serve ice cream. I never trust those pay by weight items. I always like heavy toppings.

No, that's my picture.

I was allowed to see the sundae. It was the receipt they tried to hide from me.

Ouch!

Hi Dee! Finally catching up on your amazing TR. DLR and Hawaii! That is really an incredible itinerary!

I'm still reading, but loving all the pictures...they are bringing back memories! We're headed back to Honolulu this fall...can't wait to see all those places again. Dukes is touristy yet fun, but it can get packed. I'd suggest Hula Grill or Tiki's if that's the case. Next time

DH and I climbed Koko Head before! It was really tiring. We rewarded ourselves with some shave ice after!

We also stayed at the Honua Kai on Maui. It's the perfect resort for families. We also did a volcano helicopter tour of the BI.
Can't wait to read the whole thing!

It truly was a fabulous trip! Our first time to both places, so it was all new to us. And our longest trip ever.

Yay for returning to Honolulu in the fall! I remember your trip report was the first time I really read about Hawaii and I remember you describing your quest for Shave Ice. MMMMmmmm.

I have another friend who is an expert on Hawaii and she recommends the Hula Grill as well!

For climbing Koko head! Wow!

We loved the Honua Kai. The resort was beautiful, the rooms were huge, the location was great and the snorkeling was AWESOME!

Our helicopter/volcano tour was incredible. We went up in Paradise Helicopters. Who did you use? Blue Hawaii? Paradise? Someone else?

:

You have a good memory! We stayed at Kona Surf & Racquet in a VRBO condo for most of the trip with one night at Volcano House inside of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We went to Hapuna Beach for our big "beach day" and it was quite nice - we also went to Punalu'u black sand beach (but just to see the turtles and walk around, not to swim or snorkel).

I am looking forward to your Hilton review - it's one of the places we looked at when trying to decided where to stay.

Oh wow, the stay inside of VNP sounds really neat! Sounds like you had a great stay on the BI.

I will have lots of pictures, and lots of caveats to go along with my review of the Hilton Waikoloa.

Just read all 37 pages and cannot wait to see what you did on the big island! Love your writing style.

We alternate WDW and Hawaii each summer, and have done that for 4 summers. 2016 will be the first time we island hop, from Aulani to the Big island, so I hope to get some tips!

Oh, wow! Thanks for reading everything so far and for your very kind comments.

How long will you be on the Big Island? And where are you planning on staying?

We were just there for a day, so we will see if I have any helpful hints, but I will say that Paradise Helicopters and Hawaii Forest and Trail both rate two big thumbs up!!!

 

[carissa1970]

We are looking at 7 days or more on the big island. Right now we have a week VRBO house rented on the Hilo side, but looking for something to add on the Kona side.

 

[jenseib]

We got gouged by that gas station near MCO before. skip kept telling me to keep goping and then of course this was the only one we found and I said I was backtracking and he said no just do it. I want to say it was like either $5 or $7 a gallon...whatever it was it was SUPER high.

Great shots from the plane. Wouldn't be nice if all flights were 20 minutes.

 

[eandesmom]

Finally catching up!!! You guys are snorkel junkies, I love it! Looks like the surf lesson was a big hit but wow that was crowded! I am glad the boys had less folks around for their lesson.

I feel your pain on the "last trip" discussion. We have only one as well and that's just all kinds of wierd! Evan's request is somewhere spanish speaking...so far Puerto Rico is winning but we shall see. It may well come down to whether we can get an RCI exchange or not on that front.

YAY, you've made it to the Big Island. Cracking up about the orange shirts!

Great update

 

[natebenma]

We are looking at 7 days or more on the big island. Right now we have a week VRBO house rented on the Hilo side, but looking for something to add on the Kona side.

That sounds nice!

I didn't do any research about places to stay on the Big Island. I will be hopefully be posting my review of the Hilton Waikoloa sometime this weekend.

Have you made flight arrangements yet? Would you fly into Hilo and then out of Kona?

We got gouged by that gas station near MCO before. skip kept telling me to keep goping and then of course this was the only one we found and I said I was backtracking and he said no just do it. I want to say it was like either $5 or $7 a gallon...whatever it was it was SUPER high.

Great shots from the plane. Wouldn't be nice if all flights were 20 minutes.

How is that legal???

Thank you!

We probably waited at the airport more than 5 times longer than our flight was.

Finally catching up!!! You guys are snorkel junkies, I love it!

You have no idea!

Looks like the surf lesson was a big hit but wow that was crowded! I am glad the boys had less folks around for their lesson.

Where did your guys surf?

I feel your pain on the "last trip" discussion. We have only one as well and that's just all kinds of wierd! Evan's request is somewhere spanish speaking...so far Puerto Rico is winning but we shall see. It may well come down to whether we can get an RCI exchange or not on that front.

Mark and I went to Puerto Rico for our 25th anniversary in 2012. We stayed at Las Casitas (El Conquistador). The boys did not accompany us on that trip.

February or April may be our last trip together. We came "this" close to booking a trip to Oahu again for Feb vacation because Ben said he wants to go back. But when we discussed it with the boys, they didn't want to do the same thing.

They both, miraculously came to us with the same destination as a suggestion: Europe!

If we do this is may be for a week during April vacation or for longer in the summer. Ben wants to do the World War II tribute tour. His proposed itinerary has about a dozen military museums on it!

We shall see.

Cracking up about the orange shirts!

It was really funny, same shirt color, same ages, and the kids seemed to be at the same geek level as our son (sorry Ben!)

 

[natebenma]

Who Knew the Big Island was so, Big?




As I have mentioned, I really had no familiarity with Hawaii before our trip. Our original vacation plan for Hawaii included 4 days at this resort on the Big Island, and 4 nights in Oahu, but no time in Maui. But before we booked, I discovered that the Hilton Waikoloa was not on a swimming/snorkeling beach. That really did not work for me! Friends convinced me to add a stay on Maui. I'm so glad we did!

I wanted to skip the Big Island all together, but the boys wanted volcanoes, so we arranged our trip with a single night at the Hilton Waikoloa.

Here's the problem. The resort is on the opposite side of the island from the volcanoes! How could I have known that it would be a 3 hour trip, each way, to get to the other side of the Big Island to tour Volcano National Park on the one day we would be there? I suppose the name "Big Island" should have been a clue!!!

Had I done the proper research before booking, I would have flown into/out of Hilo on the east coast of the island for a stay in that area instead of Kona, but by the time I figured that out, it was too late (expensive) to make the changes.

We knew we wanted to take a helicopter tour over the volcanos, which we could easily do from the Kona area, but I also wanted a land-based volcano experience. And I couldn't figure out how we were going to accomplish this.

Fortunately, a few months before the trip, we found a solution. A really good one. A really EXPENSIVE one. But worth every penny!

But that is an upcoming chapter.




Hilton Waikoloa Village
Thursday July 24-Friday July 25

" Welcome 'Home' "



Hilton Waikoloa Village, from the air


We had scheduled a van pickup to bring us from the airport to the HWV. I think it was about a 30 minute drive to and from the hotel (I should know this because the following day we would be doing this round trip twice)

We pulled up to the entrance way, which was quite crowded. There were 3 lanes of vehicles dropping off passengers. We looked over as one driver was pulling out and actually drove into a bellman who was trying to help guests in another vehicle! It was a light tap, and the bellman was not hurt, but this was our first impression of the resort.

Our second impression was as we got out of our van and the bellman said "Welcome Home!"

Wait, what?

Isn't that a phrase trademarked by Disney for their guests???

I have very mixed feelings about this resort. It is trying to be "Disney", but it is not. The resort is expansive and beautiful. It even has monorails and boats to help you get from place to place.

Reminiscent of Stormalong Bay at the Beach Club, the main pool is huge and even has a sand-bottom feature.

The welcome message on our room phone even told me to "Have a magical day"

But I have been to Disney. I am friends with Disney. You, sir, are NO Disney!


There are a ton of activities, an amazing watersports lagoon, lots of interesting places to eat, a Dolphin experience.

But the resort was full of screaming kids, rude parents who didn't care and slobs- there was trash left all around by guests. Don't get me wrong, I love kids, I have two of my own, but I was appalled that parents let their kids climb all over things they shouldn't and to be so loud in enclosed spaces like the monorail, without asking them to use an inside voice.

We found our room to be a bit dingy and dated. When we were walking to our room after checking in, in the hallway near the elevator, we saw a blue rubber glove on a railing. That glove stayed there the entire time we were there.

I actually found a diamond earring on the floor of our room which made me seriously doubt the room had been vacuumed thoroughly.

It could also be that I was a crank, at the end of an amazing, but exhausting, 14 day trip, with a long day of touring (11 hours) and a punishing day of traveling home ahead of us, but I was not feeling it!



Our room was in the Palace building. That is the middle building, with the two wings extending out, in the picture above.

Lots of nice features in the large room, the view was ok (although not compared to what we had everywhere else), but we weren't going to spending much time here other than to sleep.

We did spend a little time in another room (a convenience room after we had checked out) and that one was in better shape, but I was so exhausted at that time that I didn't even take any pictures. Trip Report Fail!!!!



Room 3261









Biggest Walk-in closet ever!





Balcony and View










Getting Around:










Activities Lagoon:





Backside of Water




Beach:




Pool:

 

[natebenma]

More of the Hilton Waikoloa and Dinner at Imari

Coming Soon!

 

[HockeyMomR]

Dee - Big Island is big! Looking forward to hearing about your alternate time saving, but expensive plan.

The grounds look beautiful. Agreed though your room does look tired. What a shame. The uncleanliness clues - very yucky.

Look forward to hearing more about your final days outside in beautiful surroundings!

 

[Vernie822]

Dee - So glad I have found your trip report! I remember reading one of yours before.

My fiance and I are also from the northeast (well, Pittsburgh), and we are planning our honeymoon. One of our ideas is DLR + Aulani.. So this is perfect! We are first time DL'ers too.. I am so excited to read all about your trip. And I just love your "through the years" pics in the first post. Too cute.

 

[Wood Nymph]

The first time we went to the Big Island we only stayed in Kona and made that long round trip to Volcano National Park in one day. The second time we split the trip and stayed near Hilo for a night before flying to Honolulu.