Canadian Harmony
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2015
- Messages
- 1,541
We are new DVC owners but long time Disneyland goers. I have written all of my trip reports in the Disneyland Forums so I shall introduce myself for those of you who I haven't met yet!
My name is Mary and I'm from the lovely we(s)t coast of Canada, on Vancouver Island. We're more snow than rain lately, so this is perfect for me to relive our lovely trip home!
We purchased DVC in Marchl of 21 and I immediately contacted Aulani to book our Welcome Home over Christmas. We got some magic after staying online for 25 minutes, and we were able to use 2020 and 21 points to book a one-bedroom for 6 nights, island garden view in 'Ewa tower. Next I booked a rental car through Costco Travel and managed to snag a compact car for over $1100USD for the week. While I was partially fainting at the price, I was also happy to have gotten a rental at all!
I'm the main planner for the family, so with all of the changes going on in both countries, it was getting a little stressful as December wore on. My spouse and I work for the Federal Government, so I was concerned we would not be allowed to travel, especially after 'non-essential' travel was implemented a week before we were to leave! We discussed our situation and decided to go ahead anyway: we were all double vaccinated, we had done a lot of planning, and even though everything else could be refunded, our 'welcome home' could not be repeated. I arranged for our departure testing to be done at the local airport where we were leaving from the day before departure, and two weeks prior I had ordered some Switch LAMP tests through the Air Canada/Aeroplan portal for us to take with us so we wouldn't have to worry about finding testing on Oahu.
We had gone to Hawaii in 2019 as a family and had a few things we wanted to do that we didn't get a chance to do: the Aquarium and Zoo, the Pali Lookout, and horseback riding along the beach. Other than that, we didn't have much of an agenda. My family accuses me of over planning our vacations, so I made sure we had a lot of down-time at the resort.
Our trip was planned for the 23rd - 29th. My step-sister is a travel agent and she booked our flights in March as soon as I was able to get our reservation. I made sure we had all of our passports and paperwork arranged, reminders to check in on the ArriveCan app for the return, and we left in plenty of time to get to the airport, park, and check in.
The flight from the Island to Vancouver was cooooold! But the plane left on time and we arrived in YVR with a 3 hour layover.
What to do? We made it through the Border and headed to the restaurant in the international departures area for a bite to eat and a relaxing drink.
Our YVR flight left on time and I napped for an hour or so, then watched a couple of movies. We arrived on HNL and walked alllllll the way down to the rental car area, took the escalator up to the Budget desk and was soon on our way in a Nissan Altima. I have an electric car with the batteries in the trunk so we were happy to have a full trunk that would take our luggage (three large and one carry on bags). When our family goes anywhere, I usually end up being the driver, and now with google maps, my spouse now holds the phone for me so I can follow the map. I'm ex-Navy and my spouse still serves, so we have been to Oahu over a dozen times between the two of us, and know the island quite well. Still, freeways can be confusing, and I really appreciated how much easier navigation is now compared to the last time I was at Pearl Harbor (21 years ago!) when I need a paper map.
We arrived at Aulani around 7:30pm and finished the check-in process at the main desk. I had done the basics in the app - pin numbers and other little details they ask for - and we were given our room keys. We headed to room 1253 in 'Ewa tower.
The decorations in the lobby and along the main hall were beautiful.
overlooking Makahiki (below) and the garden/pool area. 'Ewa is on the left.
I sent the family down to the elevators and they were quickly dropped at the 12th floor while I self-parked the car. I found out parking was the opposite end of our tower, so I walked back into the building, turned left and walked past the main desk area, the lobby, the stairs to Makahiki, past two stores, and to the elevators. Once out at the 12th floor, it was just a little walk to the right and 1253 appeared. It was a one-bedroom with kitchen, living room (I never saw it without the beds unfolded), a vanity area with a soaker tub off the main bedroom and the shower, toilet and another sink off that and the kitchen area.
We unpacked a little and headed down to see if Ulu could fit us in for a bite to eat. We were in luck!
We had some nibbles like sushi, sliders, and edamame and we put it on our room tab. I had a skinny margarita and it was as delicious as it was beautiful.
We were starting to fade. It was about 9pm local time - 11pm for us - so we made our way back to the room with our leftovers and crashed. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve and we had some errands to run in the afternoon!
My name is Mary and I'm from the lovely we(s)t coast of Canada, on Vancouver Island. We're more snow than rain lately, so this is perfect for me to relive our lovely trip home!
We purchased DVC in Marchl of 21 and I immediately contacted Aulani to book our Welcome Home over Christmas. We got some magic after staying online for 25 minutes, and we were able to use 2020 and 21 points to book a one-bedroom for 6 nights, island garden view in 'Ewa tower. Next I booked a rental car through Costco Travel and managed to snag a compact car for over $1100USD for the week. While I was partially fainting at the price, I was also happy to have gotten a rental at all!
I'm the main planner for the family, so with all of the changes going on in both countries, it was getting a little stressful as December wore on. My spouse and I work for the Federal Government, so I was concerned we would not be allowed to travel, especially after 'non-essential' travel was implemented a week before we were to leave! We discussed our situation and decided to go ahead anyway: we were all double vaccinated, we had done a lot of planning, and even though everything else could be refunded, our 'welcome home' could not be repeated. I arranged for our departure testing to be done at the local airport where we were leaving from the day before departure, and two weeks prior I had ordered some Switch LAMP tests through the Air Canada/Aeroplan portal for us to take with us so we wouldn't have to worry about finding testing on Oahu.
We had gone to Hawaii in 2019 as a family and had a few things we wanted to do that we didn't get a chance to do: the Aquarium and Zoo, the Pali Lookout, and horseback riding along the beach. Other than that, we didn't have much of an agenda. My family accuses me of over planning our vacations, so I made sure we had a lot of down-time at the resort.
Our trip was planned for the 23rd - 29th. My step-sister is a travel agent and she booked our flights in March as soon as I was able to get our reservation. I made sure we had all of our passports and paperwork arranged, reminders to check in on the ArriveCan app for the return, and we left in plenty of time to get to the airport, park, and check in.
The flight from the Island to Vancouver was cooooold! But the plane left on time and we arrived in YVR with a 3 hour layover.
What to do? We made it through the Border and headed to the restaurant in the international departures area for a bite to eat and a relaxing drink.
Our YVR flight left on time and I napped for an hour or so, then watched a couple of movies. We arrived on HNL and walked alllllll the way down to the rental car area, took the escalator up to the Budget desk and was soon on our way in a Nissan Altima. I have an electric car with the batteries in the trunk so we were happy to have a full trunk that would take our luggage (three large and one carry on bags). When our family goes anywhere, I usually end up being the driver, and now with google maps, my spouse now holds the phone for me so I can follow the map. I'm ex-Navy and my spouse still serves, so we have been to Oahu over a dozen times between the two of us, and know the island quite well. Still, freeways can be confusing, and I really appreciated how much easier navigation is now compared to the last time I was at Pearl Harbor (21 years ago!) when I need a paper map.
We arrived at Aulani around 7:30pm and finished the check-in process at the main desk. I had done the basics in the app - pin numbers and other little details they ask for - and we were given our room keys. We headed to room 1253 in 'Ewa tower.
The decorations in the lobby and along the main hall were beautiful.
overlooking Makahiki (below) and the garden/pool area. 'Ewa is on the left.
I sent the family down to the elevators and they were quickly dropped at the 12th floor while I self-parked the car. I found out parking was the opposite end of our tower, so I walked back into the building, turned left and walked past the main desk area, the lobby, the stairs to Makahiki, past two stores, and to the elevators. Once out at the 12th floor, it was just a little walk to the right and 1253 appeared. It was a one-bedroom with kitchen, living room (I never saw it without the beds unfolded), a vanity area with a soaker tub off the main bedroom and the shower, toilet and another sink off that and the kitchen area.
We unpacked a little and headed down to see if Ulu could fit us in for a bite to eat. We were in luck!
We had some nibbles like sushi, sliders, and edamame and we put it on our room tab. I had a skinny margarita and it was as delicious as it was beautiful.
We were starting to fade. It was about 9pm local time - 11pm for us - so we made our way back to the room with our leftovers and crashed. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve and we had some errands to run in the afternoon!
