The show looked fun, otherwise. 
Thanks, we have a ton of "Izzy looking elsewhere" pictures.
Izzy was so in love with her pacis, but it seems so funny to see pictures of her using them now. Funny how she just decided she was done and she was. Same with pouches. But I miss knowing that she was getting her veggies with those.
It was crowded and I don't think we got there terribly far in advance. It is just Aulani guests - they check for room keys or pool wristbands when letting people in.
I would have to think they've seen it before, but yeah - quite mortified.Oh my gosh! I'm sure you were mortified! But i'm sure the CM's have seen this more than once. Kids (Well at least most kids!) get super excited when they see characters and try to rush at them.
Yes, indeed!It wouldn't be a true trip without some issues right?!
(and you would know, with all the issues so far in your TR!)I think the shows are 2-3 times per week. I want to say Monday, Thursday, and sometimes an extra day? And, of course, those are the days that Dug was at his retreat. (But we got there together on our return trip.
) I was surprised they didn't bring the characters down off the stage. 
First update coming up!
Happy to help. It was a lot of fun to see them come running in!
Well, makes sense - it is Disney.
It is - just a perfect length for the kids too. Like a little sample luau.
It was (mostly) a lot of fun!
It was fun otherwise, but left on kind-of a sour note. Who would've expected that?Poor Izzy not being able to dance with Minnie.
Well, you'll be on the edge of your seat...
Not too much at all.
But, apparently the CMs thought so. 
It was very cool they did that for us. Only time I've done an autograph book, so I was glad they made it complete.
Cute, but sad describes it well! Joy to heartbreak in seconds - the magic of being 2!
Haha, yes, good to know. Basically a mini-luau (show only, no food) and Disney characters show up at the end. Worth attending. And free, can't beat that!
His flight from Palm Springs left about 30 minutes late (despite being the first flight of the day). Obviously, he also arrived in San Francisco behind schedule. His connecting flight was also booked through United, but it was on Hawaiian Airlines. That apparently forced him to change terminals and go through security again, burning more precious time he needed to catch his connection. He moved along as fast as he could manage (bad back), but it wasn’t quite fast enough. 
He got to the gate just 1 minute after they closed the door. The gate agent said he was out of luck and they couldn’t do anything. He ended up going back to the counter for a United agent, as the flight was booked through them. They were not pleasant and he remembers this whole experience as being rather traumatic. Thankfully, he did end up getting a seat on another flight, but instead of arriving in Honolulu around noon, it would be around 3pm – really messing with our plans for the afternoon, not to mention potential for awful rush hour traffic leaving the city. Ugh. Not a great way to start the day, especially since our time together in Hawaii was already so limited. 
And, of course, my phone/camera decided this was another crucial moment in which it should freeze up and cease to function. I eventually managed to get it working again, but only got one blurry picture of Stitch. But, thank goodness for Photopass, cause they got these:
Izzy rushed Stitch when he first came in and got a hug, which was good. But, after that, he went up on stage and Izzy got retrained by CMs when she tried to follow. More crying. 
I have quite the little fangirl, I guess. However, I totally get her confusion – Stitch danced with her forever the previous day and now she couldn’t follow him everywhere? 
:
He got to the gate just 1 minute after they closed the door.
Oh that SUCKS! Even worse that they couldn't be nice about the situation to make it a little easier on him.Izzy got retrained by CMs when she tried to follow. More crying.
Poor Izzy.
He got to the gate just 1 minute after they closed the door.
Up next: Time to drive all the way around the island!
Ugh that's horrible about the flight. Sounds very stressful. At least Dug was able to get on the next flight..They were not pleasant and he remembers this whole experience as being rather traumatic. Thankfully, he did end up getting a seat on another flight, but instead of arriving in Honolulu around noon, it would be around 3pm – really messing with our plans for the afternoon, not to mention potential for awful rush hour traffic leaving the city. Ugh. Not a great way to start the day, especially since our time together in Hawaii was already so limited.
Does Izzy still love Frozen as much as she did back then? Or has the love died down a bit?!
Too cute. I love all the statues around the resort.
The area looks very cute. Lots of fun things to do for little kids.
I love this picture!
I know, he told me they were rather rude to him.
We still have plenty of good times coming.
Never get a stomach flu right before a trip!
They were pretty cool. Izzy loves building big things, so right up her alley.
I bet he'd love it. Izzy was too young to really care about them at the time. I'm not sure if she used them on the return visit - hard to know what she was up to then.
I love that one!
Totally a fangirl!
It was nice to have so many other young kids at Aulani for Izzy to play with.
Yes, though he did really enjoy his retreat as well.
It was really frustrating, given the situation and tight timeline we already had.
Sure is!
Aulani did a nice job of incorporating magic touches throughout the resort, it seems.
Eh, sometimes yes, sometimes no...
Thank goodness he got on another flight - it was a really awful experience for him and they basically told him they was lucky to even get on this flight.
You know, she's off and on about it. She has watched it a couple times recently and still loves it when she does.Does Izzy still love Frozen as much as she did back then? Or has the love died down a bit?!
She loved that Stitch statue.
It's a really nice place for the kids to play. Izzy really enjoyed it on our return trip, since she was old enough to be dropped off there.The area looks very cute. Lots of fun things to do for little kids.
Thanks, it was.I love this picture!
Sounded like a fun afternoon!
Not the way we were hoping to start the day, for sure. It all works out decently, though. At least he got back.
Haha, poor thing just wanted to be Stitch's shadow and those mean CMs stopped her.
I really liked Aunty's (and I liked it even more on the return trip, when she was old enough to go there on her own). Great to have as a free perk!
Yeah, such a bummer that things worked out so badly with his connection. But the rest of the day still holds lots of fun.
Thanks, I was amazed that she built that thing (but she LOVES to build things). Open house was a lot of fun!
We did do Ohana breakfast once - I think on her first trip? But, yeah, we'll have to get back there sometime.
It really was! But it all worked out okay.
Exactly, we just wanted him back and then losing that afternoon really was a bummer.Oh no! So sorry that DH missed the connecting flight. Total bummer, especially since you didn't have much time together.
It really was! Aunty's is great.
Izzy apparently took a bite of melon and decided she didn’t like it :
Whew.
And it was just right over there…I so wished they had a Dole Whip drive through:
I was excited to do this (and hadn't yet had a good opportunity during the trip), but figured we now had an extra hour to kill by skipping Dole, so I could take the long/scenic route around the island via the North Shore. I had downloaded an app called Gypsy that is a narrative tour of Oahu, so I decided to try that out to guide me and teach me things. And it worked out great – my notes say that it was like having a much more personable combo of Siri and Cliff Claven in the car with me. 
All of the parking is directly off the highway. I had to borrow an image from the internet to give you an idea of what I mean. In this, look to the right, where the black SUV is backing out from – that’s where you park:
That you have to back into. 
Across both lanes if you want to go the way we needed to. 
Oh, and did I mention that you can’t see around the large vehicles on either side of you until you are actually backed partially into a lane of the highway? Some people had a passenger get out and check and/or stop traffic for them to back out. Yeah, that wouldn’t work with just me and a 2-year-old. So, it probably took me a good 15 minutes before I could back out because I didn’t want to just rely on prayer and good timing – so I waited for another car to back out enough to block traffic in the first lane, then backed out quick and checked the second lane – when it was clear, I gunned it and was finally out of there! So, I definitely learned from that for our second trip and made sure to park where I’d be able to see and/or turn around to get out. ). I soon realized that there were just not many options for a quick bite, but I did know of one place with good food on the way…Uncle Bobo’s BBQ. You may remember this from the beginning of the trip – really good food, but I didn’t get to eat much with my stomach illness. Since I was finally feeling better, why not give it another chance? Plus, I remembered they had hot dogs on the menu for Izzy. I must have arrived at an odd time, as there were no cars or customers there at the time – very different from our first visit. I ordered and Izzy started in on the pouch I gave her while we waited for our food:
I’m not sure it was on the menu – it seemed like a specialty the locals knew about, though. The chef also told me about how he makes his own special bread and that Izzy’s hot dog bun was homemade (it was really good, I tried it!) So, it was nice to hang out at a local place and enjoy some very tasty food. I was rather sad, as this was high on my list and there really wasn’t any time to make it up (until our return trip…). So, I decided to head to the airport.
Oops. Obviously, I didn’t want to pay parking, but I was lucky that a bike security officer was there and kind enough to help me back out onto the airport road again (where was he earlier when I needed to back out?)
I could not believe she fell asleep on the way to the Dole Plantation TWICE!
The app was very cool - better than I expected. It helped me to navigate and taught me about the area, in a soothing laid-back Hawaiian way. I was glad Dug was coming back, but I knew that meant our lazy days at Aulani were over, as we'd have to kick our touring into high gear.
Oh gosh! That's always a scary thing. One time I spilled Iced Tea on the keyboard of my laptop, thankfully it wasn't much and it ended up being ok.My notes also tell me that Izzy reached for my chocolate snacks and knocked over my root beer, but luckily my laptop was out of its path and all was okay.
The water always looks so blue in Hawaii! Gorgeous shot.I stopped into a recommended parking area and enjoyed the view:
Izzy has on the perfect dress to wear to a beach in Hawaii! Too cute!
That would scare the life out of me. Good to hear that you got ot of there safe..Trying to leave that parking area was one of the scariest experiences I’d had in a while.
Glad everything went smoothly with the pickup! Looking forward to hearing how the Dole Plantation goes!!
Glad it did! Years ago, I was eating cereal near my laptop (on the same desk) and a small bit of milk splashed out and ran down the desk, hitting the side of the laptop. Everything seemed fine for about a year, then it just died - the reason I was given is that there was liquid on the motherboard and it fried it.
So, yeah, I get nervous about liquids and laptops.It really is that gorgeous too! Love the water there!
Yes, Dug's mom picked out a couple outfits like that for her. They worked great (even still fit for the return trip, I think).Izzy has on the perfect dress to wear to a beach in Hawaii! Too cute!
It scared the heck out of me too. Enough that I still clearly remember it all this time later, despite not remembering much about other parts of the trip.
We'll get there eventually....Glad everything went smoothly with the pickup! Looking forward to hearing how the Dole Plantation goes!!
