Happy in Hawaii –- Aulani & Oahu with a Toddler ~ Updated 7/20: Final Update and link to new TR!

[AZMermaid]

I'm not doing a PTR (buti hoping to do a TR) so I will jump into yours to say... my kids are going to have way too many swim suits! My mom just bought them each one today. I bought them 2 (maybe 3?) last year at the end of the season and I plan to get my daughter a cute Disney Store one when they are released. I have a serious problem.

 

[Dugette]

You got a nice early start on your first day. Isn't the H3 known for a lot of traffic?

You know, I'm not sure if the H3 gets that busy. I know the H1 does, going into Honolulu, but the H3 is kind-of a bypass. Either way, I didn't have to worry about it here, as it was the weekend!

You bus tour sounds like a lot of fun. Izzy, of sure, looks like she is having a blast.

It was fun for all of us. We could have been driving down a row of dumpsters and Izzy would have loved it, though.

Cute PP of her at the resort.

Going to sub to your new TR now.

Thanks on both counts!

I'm not doing a PTR (buti hoping to do a TR) so I will jump into yours to say... my kids are going to have way too many swim suits! My mom just bought them each one today. I bought them 2 (maybe 3?) last year at the end of the season and I plan to get my daughter a cute Disney Store one when they are released. I have a serious problem.

Haha, I guess you just need to do enough swimming to make it worthwhile! At least they are not big and don't take up much suitcase room. For what it's worth, I think Izzy only wore two swimsuits (as did I), but I had like 4 or 5 (?) packed for her. She refused to wear the Minnie one (what, is this even my kid?! ), but she loved the Ariel one ($2 Old Navy clearance ) and she wore the new rash guard/built in swim diaper one too, which was good, as it's the one I spent the most on! Maybe just assign a swimsuit to each day or something.

 

[Dugette]

One of our first sights on the tour was the old Sugar Mill from 1863:





Izzy was still enjoying the bus ride and lovely scenery:



And then there was ocean:



And the WWII bunker that was made into a movie museum:





On the way back past it, we will get off the bus to explore.

The road ahead:





There’s the horseback tour:



Random tiki guy:



Izzy enjoyed watching the horses:





Later that night, I believe, Izzy was having her small Minnie ride her plush horsie. So cute! I had high hopes for her horseback ride later in the trip.

Time for a stop at a famous movie scene:





And the one that Dug said he would photoshop a dinosaur into (but has not yet ):



There was an ATV tour as well:



Godzilla footprint:



Around this point, Izzy started getting restless and jumping back and forth between my seat and Dug’s seat. Eventually she settled down, but it was pretty rough for a bit - she was noisy and distracting to others. Here she is on the aisle side of my seat, trying to decide who to sit by:



We passed a comfortable cow:



Hey, what, there are cows here?!? I LOVE cows!:





Yes, cows!

And this movie too:



Continued in next post...

 

[Dugette]

Continued from previous post...

Izzy pointed out more cows:



And this movie:



Some little hut:



Another comfortable cow:



There goes the ATV tour:



I should mention that our tour involved the driver narrating what we were seeing. I honestly don’t remember a ton of detail, but he covered a lot of history of the land, not just movie mentions. It was interesting and enjoyable. I'd probably remember more if I wasn't distracted by a toddler and great views.

And there were lots of views like this:



Hey, there’s an ATV:



Then we returned to the bunker museum and got off the bus to walk through it:



There were displays like this for many movies that were filmed there:





There were various movie props that Izzy enjoyed playing with:



Oh, hey, I remember these guys:



Fun with shells:



Dug looks “LOST” :



More toys:







One of the most famous movies:



Pretty background from something or other:



After making it through, we got back onto the bus for a bit more touring. Another pretty view and you can see Chinaman’s Hat (the island):



Pretty soon, we were getting off the bus and back in the main area:



Izzy got a kick out of the cat and chicken (hiding in the bushes/rocks):



It was a fun visit, but time to head out of here for lunch:



Up next: Mmmmmm, BBQ!

 

[AprilRenee]

Looms like a pretty cool tour! But I totally get only catching half of what was said cause of toddler.
Is that Jurassic park spot the place where they see the triceratops and she looks at its poop? (I haven't seen that movie a million times or anything) lol

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Looks like a fun tour - though I think of all the movies referenced I have only seen Jurassic Park and then Lost for TV shows. Obviously not really toddler friendly but the ATV tour looked pretty cool

Just to help Dug out a bit ....

looking forward to hearing about lunch

 

[Imagineer5]

Looks like a wonderful tour! I love Izzy's expressions, especially the cow one. Nice you were able to get off the bus for a bit to explore the museum. Looking forward to more! Jurassic Park is one of my all-time faves, so very cool to see these photos.

 

[schmass]

Those really were some great views on the tour. So would you recommend that tour with a toddler?

The ATV tour looked like a lot of fun!

 

[hokieinpa]

Beautiful scenery! I love all of the movie sites. Cute shot at the Jurassic Park sign too!

It seems like Izzy's favorite parts were the horses and cows! Whatever keeps a toddler semi-entertained right?

I can imagine how hard it was to keep her happy on the tour with nothing to really do! It's good that she got to move around a bit and explore at the museum!

Can't wait to hear about your yummy lunch!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

And the WWII bunker that was made into a movie museum:

Ooh, that looks cool.

Time for a stop at a famous movie scene:

Cool, I've heard of that one!

And the one that Dug said he would photoshop a dinosaur into (but has not yet ):

Let's go, Dug!

Hey, what, there are cows here?!? I LOVE cows!:

Mmmm...steak...

Up next: Mmmmmm, BBQ!

I hope it was a good spot! I really wanted to try that place out.

Just to help Dug out a bit ....

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Oh that looks like a beautiful tour! How neat to see all these places! I totally get missing stuff dealing with a toddler. Those moments when they become restless can really be hard to concentrate! It's a good thing they are super cute!

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

Thanks for posting your pictures of Kualoa Ranch! It looks so lush and green.

 

[CarlaT]

Cool Ranch pictures! On the horseback tour I didn't even know there was a bunker museum. Would have liked to stop there!!
Love the Jurassik Park pic!
I would have loved to have bought the teddy bear soft robe that was in the room, but at the price I had to pass.

 

[Leshaface]

I was totally gonna say, "Where's Phil when you need him?!"

What a fun tour and so cool that so many movies were filmed there. For 50 First Dates, is that the scene where Drew Barrymore kicked Rob Schneider's butt at?!

If we didn't have a child with us, the ATV tour would be right up our alley.

 

[Dugette]

Looms like a pretty cool tour! But I totally get only catching half of what was said cause of toddler.

Yep, between the toddler and the view, who knew what was being said.

Is that Jurassic park spot the place where they see the triceratops and she looks at its poop? (I haven't seen that movie a million times or anything) lol

I guess here's the part where I should admit that I've never seen Jurassic Park. I've seen lots of clips of it, but never the whole movie. Was going to watch it before the trip, but never got around to it. I hear it's about dinosaurs, though?

Looks like a fun tour - though I think of all the movies referenced I have only seen Jurassic Park and then Lost for TV shows. Obviously not really toddler friendly but the ATV tour looked pretty cool

There were a lot more movies too, but I spared you guys the pictures of all the posters and signs. Some were really obscure, so I tried to pick some of the more recognizable ones. I've seen some of them...

Just to help Dug out a bit ....

looking forward to hearing about lunch

That is super duper awesome! Love it! I hope you don't mind that I showed Dug and he immediately shared it on all of his social media outlets. Yeah, guess he liked it. Thank you!

Looks like a wonderful tour! I love Izzy's expressions, especially the cow one. Nice you were able to get off the bus for a bit to explore the museum. Looking forward to more! Jurassic Park is one of my all-time faves, so very cool to see these photos.

It was a nice little tour. Good way to see the ranch and learn some things. Not to mention the super-exciting bus ride for Izzy. And the cows.

Those really were some great views on the tour. So would you recommend that tour with a toddler?

The ATV tour looked like a lot of fun!

I would recommend it with a toddler. It's only an hour or so and gives them a ride and a place to wander, so not bad. And it was only a small section where Izzy got restless. Otherwise, she was a pretty happy camper. And it's one of the only things you can do there with a toddler. It's such a pretty place that it's worth seeing, though. I have heard that the ATV tours are a blast, by the way.

Beautiful scenery! I love all of the movie sites. Cute shot at the Jurassic Park sign too!

It's such a gorgeous piece of land! And the movies are cool too.

It seems like Izzy's favorite parts were the horses and cows! Whatever keeps a toddler semi-entertained right?

Yes - I wonder if they just have them scattered throughout to keep the toddlers interested?

I can imagine how hard it was to keep her happy on the tour with nothing to really do! It's good that she got to move around a bit and explore at the museum!

Can't wait to hear about your yummy lunch!

Yeah, the tour wasn't too bad. It was only maybe an hour total, so not pushing patience limits too badly. I maybe should have brought a toy or something for her, but she really only had a short period of unrest. Seemed like forever in my world, but maybe 5 minutes of trying to get her to choose a seat and stay there and not bother others without upsetting her.

Ooh, that looks cool.

Indeed!

Cool, I've heard of that one!

Me too!

Let's go, Dug!

I will need you to issue this encouragement frequently for multiple things around here...

Mmmm...steak...

Somehow I doubt that's what Izzy was thinking... (hers was probably, "mmm...milk!" )

I hope it was a good spot! I really wanted to try that place out.

So good I ended up back there a second time later in the trip!

Agreed!

Oh that looks like a beautiful tour! How neat to see all these places! I totally get missing stuff dealing with a toddler. Those moments when they become restless can really be hard to concentrate! It's a good thing they are super cute!

Indeed! All I remember from that part of the tour was trying to get her to stop standing and changing seats, while trying to minimize disruption to those around us. But she was super cute the rest of the time!

Thanks for posting your pictures of Kualoa Ranch! It looks so lush and green.

You're welcome! It really is gorgeous there.

Cool Ranch pictures!

This makes me want Doritos.

On the horseback tour I didn't even know there was a bunker museum. Would have liked to stop there!!
Love the Jurassik Park pic!

Huh, I guess I didn't think about where the different tours go/don't go. Next time, I guess, huh? It was really just a lot of movie posters and some props, but still neat.

I would have loved to have bought the teddy bear soft robe that was in the room, but at the price I had to pass.

Yeah, no way was I spending that! They were nice, though.

I was totally gonna say, "Where's Phil when you need him?!"

Glad someone here is on top of these important things!

What a fun tour and so cool that so many movies were filmed there. For 50 First Dates, is that the scene where Drew Barrymore kicked Rob Schneider's butt at?!

I just checked with Dug (since I have what I call "movie memory" - meaning I forget them VERY quickly) and he said that was definitely where they filmed that!

If we didn't have a child with us, the ATV tour would be right up our alley.

I've heard that it's really fun! (The longer one, though). I wonder if you could leave DS at Aunty's and go offsite for it? Not sure if that's allowed?

 

[Dugette]

We’d had a nice morning at Kualoa Ranch and were ready for some lunch before we spent the afternoon at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Thanks to the DIS, we knew where we’d be eating and it was right between our two destinations for the day. We hit a small “traffic jam”:



It was quite pleasant, as far as traffic jams go.

Our lunch destination was a place called Uncle Bobo’s BBQ. We saw it on our left, but all the parking spots were full. We decided to drive just past it and park in the lot on the right – it was a parking lot for a park and I’d remembered reading that it was a good place to eat if the restaurant seating was full. This is the view from our parking spot:



And here we are headed over across the street. The restaurant is in a little strip mall behind the car and next to the gas station:



Not fancy, but the best local places often aren’t.

After crossing the semi-busy highway, we made it:



After making it over there, we realized that there was actually plenty more parking in back of the place. Oh, well, no point in moving the car now. But keep that in mind if you go!

We went inside to check out the menu and place our order. Because I still had a messed up stomach and wasn’t particularly hungry, we just got a couple things to share – ribs and pulled pork. They would bring the food out to us when it was ready. (Cash only here, by the way).

We found a table out front, under an umbrella, as Izzy is pointing out to you:



The table was rather sticky, but luckily we had Wet Ones to make it a bit better. We got Izzy started on a pouch and some snacks and milk. It felt like it took a long time for the food, but it was worth it. Dug LOVED everything!! Said it was fantastic and he was pretty much in BBQ heaven:



I just had a small portion of everything, but it was really tasty. I found myself wishing I could eat a lot more of it, but not feeling like my stomach was up to the challenge yet. Izzy had some too and really liked it (the pulled pork, in particular).

Strangely, during our meal, the parking spot in front of us was ridiculously active. All the other spots just remained filled, but this one was like a game of musical cars – every couple minutes one left and a new one pulled in. Izzy thought that was great entertainment and made sure to wave and say bye-bye to all the departing cars.

After wrapping up our tasty lunch, we crossed the highway again to get back to our car. And Izzy spotted the park’s playground. Eh, why not let her burn off a little steam? Maybe it will help her stroller-nap at our next destination. It was fenced in and there was one other family with two kids there. They were mostly fun for Izzy to play with, except that the little boy kept endangering his face on the slide:



Thankfully, Izzy was cautious and they never crashed. I don’t think the parents of the other kids even noticed. Izzy had a great time, mostly going down the slide over and over. That’s better:



Gotta love the ocean backdrop. Again!:



And again (with the other girl):



After a short while, we actually managed to convince Izzy to agreeably move on from the playground toward other adventures. I think we stopped to use the (not very nice) park restrooms, then got back in the car and on the road:



Not far up the highway was the Polynesian Cultural Center. We parked and Dug said we should all take a few minutes to nap in the car before heading in. Izzy had fallen asleep on the short drive and Dug was tired too. I tried to rest, but my stomach was rumbling up a storm and I decided I needed to get to a restroom ASAP. I left them napping in the car and walked across the large parking lot, hoping they’d let me in for the restroom without having a ticket on me (we pre-paid, but had to pick them up at the admission desk). Thankfully, the guard was very nice and pointed me right inside to the restrooms. After spending some time there, realizing that I was still not over my little digestive ailment, I felt okay enough to go back to the car. Glad I hadn’t eaten much, I guess.

Back to the rental car with Dug sleeping in front and Izzy sleeping in back:





I woke Dug up and we decided to get Izzy up and into her stroller (to hopefully go back to sleep). I also snapped a picture of an issue we’d recently discovered with our rental car:



At the park, we’d noticed a piece of rubber sticking straight out in front of the car. Um, not good. We hadn’t had any incidents, so we weren’t sure how it happened. But then I realized it could be tucked in, like you see in the picture. My guess is that it was like that when we did the walk-around while renting the car in the dark, so I didn’t see it. We just tucked it in periodically throughout the trip and it was fine. Thankfully, Enterprise didn’t charge us for it either. Whew!

All ready to go have fun. Or something:



We were greeted by whatever this is:



It was strangely familiar as we’d seen this at Kualoa Ranch:



It was about 1:30pm when we arrived, by the way. They don’t open until like Noon, so this was decent timing. First thing we had to do was go up to the desk to get our tickets.

So, as background, this is not the cheapest of tourist destinations and I wanted to get some sort of deal. The Entertainment Book for Hawaii had Buy One Get One Free general admission for the PCC. I was going to buy an Entertainment Book, as they were marked down to $15 towards the end of the year. But, when I got around to purchasing one, they had come out with new ones and they were full price again ($35, I think?). So, it really wasn’t a money saver at that price. However, they also had an online Entertainment Book option and it had a free trial period. So, I signed up for that before our trip, got the coupon, and cancelled after our trip (no charge).

The Polynesian Cultural Center’s website FAQ indicated that we should buy our tickets in advance and then present the coupon for a refund when we arrived. So, I had bought the tickets online (Izzy was free). Buying in advance online got us 10% off automatically.

At any rate, we went up to the desk and explained what we needed. It turns out that the cashier was a new employee (BYU students work there). He was a bit baffled at how to handle our situation in the computers and needed a supervisor to assist. Between them, they were able to figure things out for us. However, another supervisor came over and rather obnoxiously kept stating that only one discount was allowed and we had the 10% off and they couldn’t also do the BOGO. She seemed to think we were trying to take advantage. I had to very clearly state multiple times that just the BOGO was fine – I only had the 10% off because there was no way around it when buying the tickets online. At any rate, they did get it all straightened out and issued the refund to my credit card. And it was enough to be worth the trouble.

We headed inside and immediately saw wildlife:



And lots of pretty scenery:





Up next: Exploring the Polynesian Villages.

 

[Imagineer5]

Aww sorry your stomach was still acting up! That lunch place looks like DH's heaven...I'll refrain from my comments on it. (though Aria would probably enjoy the pulled pork as well).

How can someone just pull up and fall asleep for a few minutes?? Too funny, IDK how Dug does it! Though I am NOT a napper. Can't wait to see about the Polynesian Village. What a fun filled day you had!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

this TR is just filled with so many little tips for people going to Hawaii - even little things like that Uncle Bobo's has more parking around back I am sure is helpful

The BBQ looks pretty darn good - such a bummer though that your stomach was still acting up and you couldn't enjoy much of it.

Glad things worked out with the tickets to the cultural center in the end - it does look quite nice there ... though not sure I get the Power Ranger out front

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Thanks to the DIS, we knew where we’d be eating and it was right between our two destinations for the day. We hit a small “traffic jam”:

It was quite pleasant, as far as traffic jams go.

The coastline makes all the stress disappear.

We went inside to check out the menu and place our order. Because I still had a messed up stomach and wasn’t particularly hungry, we just got a couple things to share – ribs and pulled pork.

Man, that food looks really good. I wish we could have stopped there. I guess we'll have to go back!

I just had a small portion of everything, but it was really tasty. I found myself wishing I could eat a lot more of it, but not feeling like my stomach was up to the challenge yet. Izzy had some too and really liked it (the pulled pork, in particular).

Sorry your stomach ills prevented you from enjoying it more. I'm starting to see why a 2nd visit was in order.

We just tucked it in periodically throughout the trip and it was fine. Thankfully, Enterprise didn’t charge us for it either. Whew!

That's a relief. One of the rules of life: it was like that when I got here!

 

[Jennifer48]

I'm finally caught up!

Glad to hear how good Izzy was on the plane!

Doesn't sound like the movie tour at Kualoa Ranch was that entertaining. What do you think? We thoroughly enjoyed the horseback tour. We'd do it again in a heartbeat!

I'm sorry that you are still having stomach issues. Uncle Bobo's has such great BBQ!