heybets30
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2010
Wow. First - I would read everyone's post-trip reports and think, why does it take everyone so long to type up their post-trip reports?? Well, we've been back in Chicagoland since October 11, and I am just now even holding a place for my Post-Trip report! Between working F-T, Swim team practices, cub scouts, PTA volunteering, and other activities for the kids, I have no idea where the last 2 months went!!
In short:
Waikiki - a one-night stay at Outrigger Reef on the Beach - lovely hotel, would recommend it except for the kinda sucky pool for anyone under 4-1/2 feet tall! Lovely service too.
Big Island - we were ruined by staying at the Fairmont Orchid on the Gold floor before staying at Aulani. We would RUN, SWIM, BIKE back here if given the chance. Absolutely amazing 3-night stay that we should've made longer. This is where I will be waxing euphoric about our vacation. Amazing. Relaxing. Beautiful grounds. We felt a TON of aloha here. LOVE the Big Island!!! And, the random food places we ate at via TripAdvisor recommendations were spot-on delicious. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful few days.
Aulani - well, so much to say. Not all great, not all bad. Lovely room, impeccably clean grounds, kids (6 & 8 at the time) had the time of their lives here. Me & Hubby? Well, so-so. We left with an overall feeling of deceptive advertising, but thrilled that the kids had so much fun & we had Aunty's so we could safely have alone time. And, this, of course comes after staying at the Fairmont on the Gold Floor, which would ruin any visit anywhere else afterwards, Aulani's grounds are much smaller than it looks in the advertising - print/dvd/tv ads. Seriously - I look back at my photos vs. the advertising ones, and they really do try to hide that each and every outdoor amenity is right on top of each other. Next time you see pictures or tv ads, take a look - almost none are done straight on, they are all shot with upward angles. Aulani is Disneyland, just in the tropics with all water attractions. I kid you not. We had some not-so-wonderful Aloha mojo from some CMs, which also left us kinda wishy-washy. But again, Kids are BEGGING to go back for our 13th anniversary (this was our 10th), rather than wait for our 20th so that they can both still be young enough for Aunty's. We went for the kids, they had an amazing time, so our job was done.
That's the 2 minute write-up of our trip. I will be ever-so-more detailed when I can get more than 5 minutes at a computer to write-up the full trip!! I LOVE writing detailed trip stuff - hopefully others will learn from what we experienced - good, bad, and indifferent!
And, to compound things, we just decided to head to Disneyland in February, so now we're in planning mode for that - Virgin America & American have flights from ORD to LAX for $285 - cant resist!! Where does time go!!!! (I keep reminding myself that Marie Curie was left a single mother with 2 kids, and she still had time to go out to rule the scientific world & get nominated & win a Nobel Prize, so really, I should be able to type up a Post-trip report )!!!
So, more to come soon!
In short:
Waikiki - a one-night stay at Outrigger Reef on the Beach - lovely hotel, would recommend it except for the kinda sucky pool for anyone under 4-1/2 feet tall! Lovely service too.
Big Island - we were ruined by staying at the Fairmont Orchid on the Gold floor before staying at Aulani. We would RUN, SWIM, BIKE back here if given the chance. Absolutely amazing 3-night stay that we should've made longer. This is where I will be waxing euphoric about our vacation. Amazing. Relaxing. Beautiful grounds. We felt a TON of aloha here. LOVE the Big Island!!! And, the random food places we ate at via TripAdvisor recommendations were spot-on delicious. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful few days.
Aulani - well, so much to say. Not all great, not all bad. Lovely room, impeccably clean grounds, kids (6 & 8 at the time) had the time of their lives here. Me & Hubby? Well, so-so. We left with an overall feeling of deceptive advertising, but thrilled that the kids had so much fun & we had Aunty's so we could safely have alone time. And, this, of course comes after staying at the Fairmont on the Gold Floor, which would ruin any visit anywhere else afterwards, Aulani's grounds are much smaller than it looks in the advertising - print/dvd/tv ads. Seriously - I look back at my photos vs. the advertising ones, and they really do try to hide that each and every outdoor amenity is right on top of each other. Next time you see pictures or tv ads, take a look - almost none are done straight on, they are all shot with upward angles. Aulani is Disneyland, just in the tropics with all water attractions. I kid you not. We had some not-so-wonderful Aloha mojo from some CMs, which also left us kinda wishy-washy. But again, Kids are BEGGING to go back for our 13th anniversary (this was our 10th), rather than wait for our 20th so that they can both still be young enough for Aunty's. We went for the kids, they had an amazing time, so our job was done.
That's the 2 minute write-up of our trip. I will be ever-so-more detailed when I can get more than 5 minutes at a computer to write-up the full trip!! I LOVE writing detailed trip stuff - hopefully others will learn from what we experienced - good, bad, and indifferent!
And, to compound things, we just decided to head to Disneyland in February, so now we're in planning mode for that - Virgin America & American have flights from ORD to LAX for $285 - cant resist!! Where does time go!!!! (I keep reminding myself that Marie Curie was left a single mother with 2 kids, and she still had time to go out to rule the scientific world & get nominated & win a Nobel Prize, so really, I should be able to type up a Post-trip report )!!!
So, more to come soon!