After Diamond Head, we were in need of coffee, so headed down to Hawaii Kai and stopped at Island Brew Coffeehouse. This place is right on the edge of the water and has so many different little corners for sitting and relaxing in.
Once we were caffeinated we got back in the car and drove over to see the China Walls.
Even on what seemed like a very calm day, the waves hitting the rocks were so powerful and splashed up so high...
We headed further up the coast, and stopped at the Halona Blowhole and Makapu’u lookout.
On our way back to Waikiki we stopped for lunch at The Counter in Kahala. This place is great for GF and we have been to locations on the mainland before. They have a whole GF menu for creating your own burger, and multiple safe fry options.
DH created his own burger, and we split some garlic parmesan fries - all really yummy!
On this evening we had dinner at Gyu-Kaku, which was great. So many GF options, all clearly marked on the menu. This was a treat for us because GF Korean BBQ is very hard to find at home.
To finish off the night we had tickets to the Blue Note Jazz Club to see a local artist, Tavana. It was a fun way to end out our time in Waikiki, and the atmosphere in there was really fun.
We were all packed up, we had our last breakfast on the beach and then we headed off for a walk.
We were planning on getting to Barefoot Beach Cafe, but it started raining so we turned around and headed back towards the Halepuna.
I also wanted to mention that the ABC stores were great for GF options. These photos were from the store right near the Halepuna, on Lewers St. They clearly had GF labelling around the store, and also always had two kinds of GF bread on the shelf - we couldn't find GF bread in much larger supermarkets in other parts of the island.
That was a wrap on our 6 nights in Waikiki. We absolutely loved the Halepuna, and would stay there again. We used the laundry, the gym, the pool, and garden and attended their evening reception one night. The reception provided complimentary wine, snacks and a local musician.
Every part of the hotel was very clean, well maintained and tastefully decorated.
We used the self parking option which was fine on every day except one, when we couldn't get a space we took the car to valet, which was the same price as self park anyway. Every staff member we encountered was pleasant and helpful, and there was always plenty of staff on hand when we needed anything.
Really enjoying your trip report. We went to Oahu in Dec 2019 and spent 6nts in Waikiki and then 5nts at Aulani - loved every minute of it and would love to get back soon.
We bid farewell to the Halepuna, retrieved the car from valet and headed towards the North Shore. We drove west for a bit, and up over H3 - such a pretty drive.
From Kaneohe we headed up the East coast, our first stop was Hauula for some lunch.
The Shrimp Shack was on my radar as being knowledgeable about GF options, and the staff there definitely knew what they were talking about!
We ordered a garlic shrimp and steak combo plate, and split it. We ended up having to eat in the car because it started raining again. The food was great, really tasty.
After lunch we kept going north until we reached Laie, where we checked into the Courtyard Oahu North Shore.
We had Marriott points that we used for the stay here, but I think the rate was about US$280 when I looked at booking it. We arrived around 1pm, and only waited a short time for a room to be ready. We had a King room, second floor - the walk was kind of long from the lobby, but it is a sprawling hotel.
Apparently all their King rooms are accessible, so ours has a roll in shower and was hearing accessible.
The room had a microwave, fridge, filter coffee pot and our view was out over the pool area.
The hotel was fine for a couple of nights stay, we really didn't spend much time in the room or at the hotel overall.
Tonight we had tickets to the Polynesian Cultural Centre, a handy 2 minute walk from the hotel. It was still raining, so we hung out at the hotel until it eased, and ended up arriving around 3.30pm. You do have access much earlier, so you can spend a whole day here.
On the way in you walk through the Hukilau Marketplace, a mixture of shops, stalls and food trucks. This area is open to the public, and no tickets are needed. I stopped for an ice cream - you choose your fruit and ice cream flavour and they add it fresh and make it into soft serve on the spot - GF.
We bought the Alii Luau tickets, which included entry to the PCC, a guided tour, luau dinner show and tickets to the nighttime show.
We were matched with some other adults and sent off on a guided tour. As we had arrived so late we were on limited time, dinner began seating at 4.30pm. We were a bit skeptical on the tour, but ended up staying as we did have such a short amount of time. Our guide was lovely, and knowledgeable but I do think it would have been nice to have explored on our own.
As a group we did the canoe, saw a drumming show, watched someone making poi and visited a few pavilions.
The guide delivered us to the Luau at 4.30pm, and as we entered we were given a lei, and they took our photo. Here are the leis the next day
We were seated at a table for 2 on the second tier, overlooking the stage. Everyone got a coconut drink in a pineapple!
We were given a GF menu to identify options on the buffet, we were also told we could request any items from the back if we wanted.
The entertainment during dinner was interesting, but it was kind of just happening in the background as everyone went to and from the buffet. I felt like it was a bit of a shame that no one really had a chance to concentrate on what was going on too much. We were in the middle of the service queue so we got tapped on the shoulder to go to the buffet, stood in line up there for quite some time, then came back and ate.
The food was ok, nothing spectacular - in fact the salad was probably the best thing I ate. The service was great though, the young students were full of energy and very friendly and helpful.
After dinner we walked around the Marketplace and looked at the shops, at 8pm we entered the stadium for Ha: Breath of Life, the nighttime show. This show was really great, lots of music, dancing, effects and fire. The show went for around 1.5hrs, and was high energy the whole time. They request no photos or videos during the show.
It was a great way to end the night, and then so nice to be back in the hotel room 10 minutes later.
Today we had a 2 hour ATV tour booked in at Kualoa Ranch, with a departure time of 9am. It was less than a 20 minute drive down from Laie, we arrived around 8.20am. Even at that time the parking lot was just about full, much busier than I anticipated for that time of the morning.
We checked in, and then spent some time admiring the horses.
We were able to queue up for our ATV time slot soon after, and we were allocated ATV's in order of this queue.
This guy followed us as we moved down the queue - beautiful!
Check in was quick and easy - however a couple in front of us who had not brought their drivers license with them were relegated to travelling in the back of the guides vehicle. They were very strict on sighting license.
We were fitted with helmets, given goggles and also a buff - which was appreciated. Fortunately for us, there had been rain the day before so we had hardly any dust bothering us throughout our tour.
We were allocated our ATV, and we were off!
We made several group stops throughout the tour, all were very scenic and featured some kind of movie set.
We really enjoyed this tour, 2 hours was a good amount of time and it was a good mixture of driving and stopping to see the Ranch. The guides we had were good too, one more so than the other, and they were very knowledgeable about everything we were seeing.
I would definitely recommend the 2 hour ATV tour.
Post tour we stopped by the shop to grab a couple of cold drinks, but didn't stick around much longer - we had lunch reservations to get to.
From Kualoa Ranch we headed back to Laie to shower and change for lunch. Originally pre-COVID we were booked to spend 4 nights at Turtle Bay Resort as part of this trip, however since COVID and their big remodel, we were now priced out of this option. However, I was determined to have a look around, so we booked lunch at Roy's Beach House.
We wandered around, checking out the lobby and bar. It was so calm, peaceful and really lovely inside the resort.
The pool area looked pretty busy, but such a beautiful place. The adult only pool looked great too.
We were seated at the Beach House, and that's when I stopped being impressed.
Unfortunately this meal was a disaster. I had chosen this one because I had read quite a few reviews saying they catered to dietary requirements, and had great food.
The server we had was soooooo slow, didn't know anything about the GF options, and we realised later that instead of asking the chef, he had just had a guess (and failed) at what we could choose from. He said there were no options that were GF naturally, all menu items would have to be altered.
We chose a salad and a burger, the salad came out with bread croutons on top and had to be sent back. Burger came out with no bun (fine) but fries which were not GF. DH gets so embarrassed at causing a fuss with his dietaries, but I just got really disappointed and a bit upset. It was not a great vibe at lunch.
We barely touched the food, there was no offer to comp any of it, or apologise or make anything better. I thought this was a real shame for a restaurant that services an international level hotel. Obviously this is just our experience on this day, but I couldn't recommend it.
We woke up at 3am this morning to watch the Dutch GP - then we fell asleep again around 5am for a few hours.
We couldn't wait to get to Aulani though, so we packed up pretty quickly once we got up.
We drove past the Temple in Laie to have a look on our way out.
Next stop along the way was the Sunrise Shack at Sunset Beach for breakfast.
We ordered two bullet coffees, and two bowls. The coffee tasted a bit watery to me, but it was good. There was a miscommunication when ordering the bowls, and instead of two small we got two medium - wayyyy too much for us to get through
We sat here in the sun enjoying the food and the view, it was a really nice stop.
We were back on the road at about 10.45am, and heading to Aulani!
We pulled into the driveway at Aulani around 11.50am, and joined the queue of cars waiting to get to the porte cochere.
It took about 10 minutes for us to get to the front, and when we did the cast member helping us let us know our room was already ready they took all the bags from our car, and we went to the online check in desk just off the roadway and were presented with our room keys.
The cast member here also gave us some welcome buttons
We jumped back in the car, did a lap of the driveway back to the garage, parked the car and went straight to our room - the first photo I took inside the room was timestamped 12:11pm - so we were VERY lucky.
This room was booked on rented DVC points, and we did this through an agency. I requested the 7 night stay in a DVC Hotel Room right at 11 months, and we were successful in getting these dates.
Our room was 531, the closest room to the elevators in the row of DVC Hotel Rooms on the 5th floor, Waianae Tower.
We had packed our magic bands, which were the standard resort issue free bands that we were given at WDW in 2018. I knew they were linked, but I doubted their batteries would have lasted until 2022. I tried them on the door and success - we never used our room key again. Our bands were used for the door, the parking garage, charging items to our room. So handy!
A note on magic bands, on one of our first days here there was a bunch of them for sale in the gift shop. When I went back a few days later I noticed they were gone, and I asked if they had any more - the girl told me they had needed to remove them all from sale as they were bands they had stored since pre-COVID and they had realised none of the batteries in them worked!
As we were not expecting our room to be ready, we were already dressed for the pool. We called for our bags, which arrived within minutes, then headed out for a walk to explore the resort.
We bumped into Mickey near the Pau Hana room
We spent next next few hours swimming, and this was the busiest pool day of our trip. We did get two pool chairs by the shave ice stand, but it was busy and all of the pools had lots of people in them.
For note, the first 5 days of our trip the Menehune Bridge play area was completely closed.
Also closed until Saturday 17 September was the fitness centre - but there were several complimentary fitness classes offered on the beach each day.
After an afternoon of pool time, which we were already in love with, we cleaned up and headed out. We went to the Ka Makana Ali’i shopping centre, which was a ten minute drive from Aulani. There were some shops there I wanted to pick some things up at, and we ended up deciding to have dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.
It was around 6pm on Sunday night and there was about a 20 minute wait, not too bad.
DH had a GF burger and fries, he said they were really good...
After dinner we stocked up on some groceries from Foodland and made our way back to Aulani.
The plan was a full Aulani day today, and we really soaked up the resort. Each afternoon we would get the pool bracelet and towels for the next day, so we didn't need to queue in the morning.
We got pool chairs in the Shave Ice area again, and bounced between the lazy river, the waterslides, the pools and spa all day.
I had my phone in one of those neck pouches so the photos were a bit dull.
For lunch we ordered some GF flatbreads to share from Ulu Cafe, we just ate them at our pool chairs.
Kalua Pork - GF
Pepperoni GF
In the afternoon we spent time at the beach, it was so nice to have so many options for swimming and relaxing!
On the way back to our room we stopped by the gift shop and picked up a Mickey Bar - yum!
We travel with a small electric frypan, which is helpful when we get stuck for GF options and saves eating out every night. We had bought some groceries from Foodland the night before, so tonight we made some corn tacos in the room for dinner.
DH booked into one of the complimentary gym sessions this morning, it was TRX at 10am on the beach. It was just him and one couple, he really enjoyed the session.
I did the complete opposite, and grabbed the car and went to the shops at Kapolei Commons. They have Ross, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Ulta and Target. I browsed around here for a little while, and bought some gifts at Target.
I was back at Aulani just as DH was returning from his workout, so we changed into swimwear and went to the pool.
We did our usual bounce around most of the pools, the lazy river and the spa. Stopping for a shave ice break!
We had a Happy Hour reservation at Mina's Fish House at 4pm, so prior to that we went back to the room and enjoyed a drink on the balcony - POG with a rum float seemed suitable.
Once we were dressed we walked around the lagoon, and towards the Four Seasons
We went onto the rocks and around to the little cove
There were two seals on the beach, and a local who had put up a rope and was chatting about the seals and answering questions
Minutes later a third seal popped it's head out of the water, and then a started a fight with one of the seals on the beach - those guys are loud!
We made a booking here for 4pm, and we were seated immediately. By the time we had our food served there was a long queue, and lots of people waiting for tables.
After about an hour, we moved over to The Waterman, and were seated at a low table overlooking the beach - we loved this spot!
This menu had so many good GF options marked, but we weren't hungry so we didn't order any food here - I wish we had gone back to try some though.
We ordered more drinks instead...
We watched most of the sunset from here and it was just so peaceful and a beautiful view. Once the sun was mostly down, we headed back around to Aulani.
Once back on Aulani property, we made one final stop for the evening at The Olelo Room. It was about 6.40pm at this time, and when we approached we were told it was a 30 minute wait. However, I went to the bathroom and when I came back the server was waiting with DH to seat us straight away - very lucky.
We were at a high top on the patio. It looks quite light in this photo, but the sun was mostly set - must have just been the camera on my phone.
We ordered some drinks, a lava flow and a li hing rita...
We also ordered some more food here - they made both of these dishes GF Bacon-Cheese Burger Sliders 18 Fresh Ground Chuck, Bacon, Aged Cheddar Roma Tomato, Pickles, Barbeque-Garlic Aïoli
This morning we were heading back north. We left Aulani around 8.45am, our first stop was Green World Coffee Farm but when we arrived the queue was extremely long, and we didn't want to waste too much time waiting around.
Next stop, Haleiwa. We parked just on the north side of the bridge, and walked back to Haleiwa Bowls for some coffee.
The coffee here was good, and although there were quite a few people around, the service was quick and friendly. We were here at 9.35am.
Back over the bridge, and we had a booking with Blue Planet Adventures for a kayak hire.
We had gone with the two hour hire of a double kayak. The guys here were fantastic. So helpful, friendly and relaxed - I would highly recommend this place.
DH loves kayaking, and I don't mind doing it when we are on holidays, so we had landed on this. However, this might have ended up being my favourite activity of the whole trip. The river was so calm and quiet, and every other person we passed was so cheerful and friendly.
I tried to keep my phone stowed away and just enjoyed the ride, however the best part of this was that we saw SO MANY sea turtles on the river, they were gliding up and down, and sometimes right under us. It was so magical, and I had to at least try to get a photo -
As you can see, photos don't do any justice. We went right up the river to the turning point, then back past where we boarded to the mouth of the river and the sea.
The sun was beating down, but we were able to use some shade along the way at the edges of the river. We ended up not quite using our whole two hours, but we loved every minute we spent out there.
On the way back to Aulani we stopped at the Waikele Outlets. First we had lunch at Chili's, lots of GF options and a very helpful server.
After lunch we did a lap around the shops. We bought some bits and pieces, but not too much - in the end DH bought more than me, which we still laugh about since he didn't even want to be shopping. As an Australian, I didn't find things here to be cheaper than home, but there were things I wouldn't have gotten at home, so that's what I concentrated on. The Vera Bradley outlet was good. There's also a big Safeway in this area which we picked up some more groceries at. In the afternoon, it was back to Aulani for some more pool time.
We left Aulani around 8.45am, our first stop was Green World Coffee Farm but when we arrived the queue was extremely long, and we didn't want to waste too much time waiting around.
Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.
they took all the bags from our car, and we went to the online check in desk just off the roadway and were presented with our room keys. 
