PART TWO: Aulani
6/26 – day four We woke up early and hit the beach from 8 – 11 this morning before leaving Waikiki. After a quick lunch, we hit the road for Aulani, getting there around 1 pm. The first sight of it in the distance reminded me of the first time we took a cruise and you could see the ship from far away. It was AWESOME!!!
We checked in at 1 pm, and our room wasn’t ready. I asked if she could tell me the room number (knowing they can’t) and she said “No, but I can see that your room requests have been honored; you are on a high floor in a room ending with 73.” I was beyond excited!!! It turned out we had room 1473, and our “Island/Garden view” was in fact mostly OCEANVIEW. Thank you DIS for that awesome thread!!! We changed in the hospitality room and hit the pools and beach. Literally as we walked onto the pool area, we walked into Goofy, Pluto and Mickey Mouse!!! WITHIN MINUTES OF CHECKING IN!!! Will the magic never cease!!!???
Even at this busy time of day, we found two chairs at the adult pool. There were plenty of chairs on the beach available, too. Around 3:45 we got the room ready text, so we went up and unpacked. It is a standard DVC Studio Villa, like in every property. We did not find the room dark at all as I’ve seen mentioned before, and while the lobby was reminiscent of AKL, I didn’t feel the room was much like AKL. Everything was perfectly clean and in working order. Bell services delivered within 15 minutes. After some oohs and aahs, we took off to Kapolei for shopping. We walked in and out of Safeway ($$$$$) and ended up at good old Target for our groceries. We bought about $100 worth of groceries, and it kept us fed for the entire week!!! The ride to Kapolei was all of five minutes, very convenient, and we had a quick dinner in town. That night they were showing Aladdin on the lawn below our room, so we sat on the balcony and relaxed.
6/27 – day five B is a surfer, so we took off early in the morning for the North Shore to check out some of the famous spots, even though we knew it’d be flat this time of year. Our first stop was the Dole Plantation, and I agree with other posters that it’s merely a stop on the way somewhere else. The prices there absolutely floored me! Driving north, we spent considerable time in Hale’ewa. We went to a couple of “hippie fair” stops (small flea market types), and stopped for brunch at the Café Hale’ewa which we highly recommend. It was a great, small locals spot with a small menu of awesome breakfast and lunch items. It’s on the right on the main drag at the beginning of the town center.
Drove past Waimae Bay, but put it on the list for next time, continuing up to the Banzai Pipeline. Excellent beach (my required amenities: lifeguard, bathrooms and showers) with one heck of a shorebreak. B played in the shorebreak for a long time, and it was very entertaining watching him get tossed like a rag doll. After a few hours, we took the long, slow way to get “home”. We hit the beach at Aulani for an hour or two when we got back. After eating dinner in the room, we watched the luau taking place on the lawn below our room.
6/28 – day six In our quest to find beaches all across the island, we used this day to checking out Route 93 North of Aulani, in search of a beach. We lucked out in finding Nanakuli State Beach Park (locals call is Zablan). It is a beautiful beach with all the amenities I need (l, b & s) for a relaxing day. The water was beautiful and clear, with light waves and swells lifting us up. B is a big snorkeler, and there was an off-shore reef at this location, as well as a reef that went around some corners and cliffs. Kids were jumping off the reef (about 10 feet) into the water, and B went snorkeling in that area to find some fish. He found lots of coral and tons of different fish.
That afternoon we walked over to Paradise Cove (Very easy to find – use the DIS directions and it’ll be a piece of cake for you). You can’t imagine my shock that we would luck into seeing some sea turtles!! They were absolutely beautiful and gentle. B swam with one out by the reef for quite a while! One swam up to me and used my leg to push off with his fin! We didn’t intrude on them in any way, kept our distance as best we could, and it was a truly magical experience. When we got back to Aulani, we parked at the beach for an hour or two.
That night we ordered delivery from Pizza Corner and it was really, really bad pizza. I don’t recommend it at all. Wandering the hotel that night, we hung out in the Olelo Room watching some live music, and made it to see Uncle’s storytime, which was very interesting.
6/29 – day seven We cancelled our plans to go to the Polynesian Culture Center at the last minute (we just weren’t feeling it) and put that on our next time list. Instead we spent the day at Aulani! Even at 10 am we were able to get shady seats at the lagoon, so we were set for the day. We played on the water slides and in the lazy river – neither of which was overly crowded. B snorkeled in the lagoon, and we lounged in the calm water. At around 4 we went up to our room to get showered so we could do sunset pictures.
There are either one or two photographers out from around 6:30 pm for sunset pictures. Go to all of them!!! We found the quality varied greatly in the photographers, and how much time they took with us varied as well. Don’t be afraid to ask for whatever pose you want --- you know how you look your best!
After the sunset pictures, we went to Monkeypod for dinner. It gets great reviews on the DIS, and my fish and chips was good. My husband had the fish tacos, and it was very disappointing. Very little food, no sides with it at all, and just plain boring. Order differently.
6/30 – day eight Let’s find a few more beaches today! The parking Gods were with us this entire vacation, so we were happy to get a space at Kailua Beach (l, b & s) after leaving the resort at 9 am. Another beautiful sandy bottomed beach, B snorkeled a bit further out, and had a great time when he met a crab who decided to use his back as a beach and walk all over him!!! The big trees on the beach provided me with good shade in my beach chair, and it was a great morning. In the Kailua town center we had Teddy’s Bigger Burgers (try the Hawaiian), which was a great lunch.
We took the advice of a DIS poster, and hit Hanauma Bay mid-afternoon and it was GREAT ADVICE! The place was half-empty so parking was a breeze, and we got a shady beach spot under some trees near the lifeguard stand. This was the only beach that cost us any money at all, and coming from NJ (P) and California (B) we’re used to paying either for parking or using the beach so we were thrilled!!! B snorkeled his heart out at Hanauma Bay and was thrilled with the variety of fish and wildlife he saw underwater. I was shocked by the mongoose that were hanging around on shore!
Our tram driver (Heck yeah we paid for the up and down tram service!!!) recommended we go to Uncle Clay’s House of Aloha for amazing shave ice, and he wasn’t kidding. Uncle Clay (who was there btw) makes his own syrups using locally sourced fruits, and the pineapple was wonderful. B had one of their house specialties with green tea and mochi. Definitely worth a stop---it was right on the way back to Aulani from Hanauma Bay in a little local strip mall.
After a few more hours on the beach, we packed it in. We really went to bed fairly early every night of this vacation.
7/1 – day nine Kualoa Ranch!!!! Checked in at 7:45 for our Experience Package at the ranch. We chose the Ocean Voyage catamaran tour, the Movie Sites tour and the Jungle Expedition, and did that in that order with lunch before the last tour. What a great day at an unbelievably beautiful location in a different part of the island.
The catamaran tour was so much fun! We love being out on the water, and B stood right up front to get soaked by the waves. I stood at the railing on the second level of the boat, and would you believe a couple of the waves came up that high! It was fabulous (and we saved all our electronics thankfully). The view of Chinaman’s Hat and the island was spectacular from the water. We sailed over Baby Turtle Reef, and got to see some turtles swimming around. They were so cute and little.
The movie sites tour was a lot of fun on the old school bus. We learned a lot about different shows and movies that were filmed there. Jungle Expedition went to a different part of the ranch, and it was a pretty rough ride. We liked both of these tours, but the catamaran was the best! The lunch was the same as they served in the main store, and we felt all the food was very good for buffet style. The entire day was $226 for two of us, and we felt like we got our money’s worth out of it.
Returning to Aulani, we changed immediately and hit Paradise Cove. No turtles this time, but B had some fun snorkeling and it was a great way to finish the day. After an hour at the Aulani lagoon, we had more sunset pictures taken in our bathing suits and went to the point to watch the sunset. Definitely recommend at least one night at the point to see the sunset – the view is fabulous. After sunset we had a little time left for water slides, then hit the adult hot tub for a long, relaxing soak.
7/2 – day ten Decided to pick a favorite beach to return to, and the winner was Zablan (the local beach near Aulani). Since it was Sunday, we left early to beat some of the locals because the parking lot isn’t that big. The beach was bustling all day with locals having fun, a birthday party, and a steady stream of tourists coming and going. The snorkeling was great for B – he even watched an eel get chased by some fish, and swam with another sea turtle. We walked on the reefs, and got to talking to a local about the reefs. The famous Mermaids Cave is at this beach, so we got to see the caves, and there were actually people going down into the cave to go swimming!!! Crazy people!!! We hit the local McDonald’s after we left the beach to get a famous taro pie, but that location didn’t serve them. They did have guava pie which was surprisingly awesome!
From about 3 on we were at Aulani’s beach relaxing again. We were able to get shade, and B did some more snorkeling. That evening we had casual clothes on when we did sunset pictures, and these turned out great, too. Make sure they do multiple poses for you – you never know if you’ll get a good one! We sat out at the point long past sunset talking about what an amazing trip it had been. And yes, we were talking about our return trip in two years!!!
7/3 – day eleven We did the majority of packing last night, so we hit the beach at 7:30 am for some last minute relaxing. We stayed until about 10 am, at which time the vast majority of the beach was still empty. We showered up, left at 11 and headed straight to the airport for a 3 pm flight. Dropping off the car was a piece of cake, and we wandered and relaxed in the airport before our ontime departure.
