After swimming another lap around the pool, we decided that we had enough water for the day. We collected our stuff and then went back to the room to get showered and changed. We quickly returned the snorkeling gear I borrowed back to the Beach Shack and the we headed to the Pau Hana Room. We still had 6 adventures to do on the Menehune Adventure Trail. We picked up our game device and got going. We did three of the outdoor adventures. I do enjoy the games that they offer at Walt Disney World, but in my opinion Menehune Adventure Trail is by far the best of the games. It is just the right mix of challenging, educational and fun. Some of the clues are a little obscure and kept us on our toes. There were a couple of occasions were we thought the clues pointed to one location only to realize that the correct location is at the opposite end of the resort.
The game only included locations in Waikolohe Valley, but by playing, we realized just how big this area is. We got a good workout in the process. I also learned a lot about Hawaiian culture and the stories that come with it. There are a lot of landmarks around Waikolohe Valley that have cultural significance and some real hidden gems that I would never have noticed if it was not for the game. The game was pitched at a level that any school-aged child could follow it, but adults also get something out of it. I don’t know how Disney manages it, but the game seems to meet everybody at his or her level. It also included a wide variety of subject matter from Hawaiian stories, crafts, history to conservation issues. The game also had a number of great special effects. Some of them I had witnessed around the resort, but I had no idea that they were linked to the game. We had great fun that afternoon. We did three of the adventures and then we returned our game device back to the Pau Hana Room as we had other things planned.
We quickly went up to one of the shops to make sure that the photos we had taken in the lagoon, Rainbow Reef and in the lazy river had been added to our Photopass account and then we headed down to the ‘Olelo Room. On the way down, we bumped into the cast member who had sold us the Aulani Dooney and Bourke tote that Graham gave me for my birthday. We had bumped into her periodically during the trip and she always stopped to have a chat with us. That evening she asked how much of our trip we had left. We told her that the next day would be our last day. Unfortunately she would not be around that day so we said our goodbyes there and then. She gave me a fresh orchid to put into my hair, but unfortunately it fell off rather quickly.
We then headed down to the ‘Olelo Room. The reason why I wanted to go there that evening is that when we were waiting for our tour of the Grand Villa a few days earlier, the manager who came to chat with us had told us about a member exclusive cocktail, exclusive Pu‘u Kilo Punch cocktail. This is served every evening during Happy Hour and has the same pricing as the Happy Hour cocktails. I am not quite sure what was in it, but it was tasty and refreshing. Graham stuck with the Big Swell IPA. I noticed that the Happy Hour menu had changed. We decided to share some pulled pork sliders, which were very nice. Once we had finished our food and our drinks, we paid and headed over to the Rainbow Reef patio for the sunset mingle.
When we got there, one of the cast members checked our tickets and then we were invited to take a seat. We found a table and were offered some passion fruit, orange and guava juice straightaway. Shortly afterwards servers were coming round with appetizers, wine and beer. I had to smile when we were served pulled pork sliders. They were also very nice, but tasted different from the ones we had at the ‘Olelo Room. They also served crab cakes. Graham had some of those, but as I don’t eat seafood, I passed.
While people were still arriving, the DVC cast members came round the tables to introduce themselves and have a brief chat. Once everybody had arrived, they welcomed everybody, asked people to fill in the card for the raffle and showed the prize, which was a gorgeous hamper with Aulani themed goodies. I don’t think I have ever felt so torn. I so wanted to win this, but on the other hand I knew that this would be a disaster considering our limited baggage allowance.
Once everybody had arrived, they came round and gave us each an Aulani DVC lanyard. There was a formal welcome and introduction and then it was time for an icebreaker. I suppose this was loosely modeled on speed dating. We were asked to stand up and find somebody we had not met before and have a 5-minute conversation with them. We were asked to find out their names, where they come from and their favourite part of this trip. We then had to introduce them to the rest of the group. Once this had happened, we did the same with another group of people. This was actually a lot of fun.
After this there was some trivia, but again I did not picked to answer a question even though I knew the answers to all of them. They then brought around some bite-size desserts and I had a couple of mini brownies before the winner for the hamper was drawn. We did not win that one either. After this the actual sunset mingle wound up, but they invited us to tour the two-bedroom villa. We had nothing else planned that evening so we figured we may as well even though we had already seen this earlier in the trip.
There was quite a nice group going and we spent some time up there. The views were even more stunning at night with the resort all lit up. Eventually everybody started to drift away. We headed back to the room. I posted my photo of the day to Facebook and checked my emails. I set a wake up call for the next day just in case and then we went to bed.
I haven't gotten much work done today due to vacation starting in 3 days... 
