Lama pa'ipa'i on the Lanai – an Aulani TR -Aloha and Mahalo Aulani! Link to PTR 11/5

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi, I'm all caught up! Loved your hui coverage. Looks like your favorite hangout turned out to be Monkeypod! (I hope I got the name right. ) Too bad you didn't know about the road but it looks like you still had a great hike. I think most of us have made the same mistake. Jim and his friend did it in the car before us ladies got there, so they had mapped out a plan for an alternative route.

Loved, loved, loved your dinner on the Lanai with the sunset. What a nice way to end your day!

 

[eandesmom]

Ono! If they had just said "we're only going to throw them out" I know you would've taken them. Bummer.

Seriously, they could have added that disclaimer to the ask. It was heartbreaking.

Really nice (and relaxing) sunset pictures!

Thanks! It was relaxing.

If I'm following Jeff's Mickey Bar experiences correctly, I think this might be #3 for him? (I remember reading about one that you thought was his first, but found an earlier picture of him with one.)

He thought it was his first (at Vero) but it was at a minimum his second. He definitely had one on the Wonder Alaska cruise (if you recall the creepy evil looking face he made on it with the sprinkles and sauce) and quite possibly on the Dream as well. So this is #3 or #4. He needs training though. Or shouldn't attempt one in a white shirt. That thank needs to go anyways...

mmmmm cheeseburger. Just caught up (again!) and your final choice of burgers looked like it was worth the wait & the restaurant hopping! I would guess burgers are $$ because they have to import everything to HI, right?

Actually Hawaii has a huge beef industry. Monkeypod is big on buying local and given that they called it a Big Island Burger, I'm sure the beef actually came from the big island. No way to know for sure but given that locally sourced is a platform for them, and the name, it's a safe guess. The AMA AMA one though, probably not. Listed as just "angus" so that well may be imported. either way it was resort burger prices, the one at the Captain's Grille in WDW is $15.99

You will appreciate that reading your Burger write up and seeing the drink menu reminded me that I need to call & reserve space for a Mixology seminar in October. Saw rum on the menu and ding ding the bell went off

I hope you got the one you wanted, I know they can book up fast!

What is ONO? I've never heard of it, but truth be told waste like that always makes me sad. That definitely would have helped your turkey sandwiches for 5 days issue

From Fresh Island Fish

This close relative of the King Mackerel is known in Hawaii as the Ono. In Hawaiian, Ono means "sweet, very good to eat". The name Wahoo is believed to be derived from the name Oahu due to the historic abundance of these fish close to the island. This well-known Pacific fish is deliciously cooked in a variety of ways. Ono feed near the surface in 30 to 50 fathoms along coastal ledges and are occasionally caught in open deep water. The vast majority of Ono are caught in Hawaiian waters by trollers. The fillets of the Ono are white and firm. Ono is delicious saut'ed, baked, broiled or fried.

And Wikipedia has this to say

Wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri) is a scombrid fish found worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas. It is best known to sports fishermen, as its speed and high-quality flesh make it a prize game fish. In Hawaii, the wahoo is known as ono. Many Hispanic areas of the Caribbean and Central America refer to this fish as peto.

The flesh of the wahoo is white to grey, delicate to dense, and highly regarded by many gourmets. The taste is similar to mackerel, though arguably less pronounced. This has created some demand for the wahoo as a premium priced commercial food fish. In many areas of its range, such as Hawaii, Bermuda and many parts of the Caribbean, local demand for wahoo is met by artisanal commercial fishermen, who take them primarily by trawling, as well as by recreational sports fishermen who sell their catch.

In most parts of its range, the wahoo is a highly prized sport fishing catch. It reaches a good size, is often available not too far from land, and is a very good fighter on light to medium tackle. It is known in sports fishing circles for the speed and strength of its first run. The aggressive habits and razor-sharp teeth of the wahoo can be of considerable annoyance when targeting larger gamefish, however, such as tuna or marlin.



It's called ono here as well. And it is yummy!

Your dinner on the lanai is right up my alley. Love the idea of kicking back, enjoying dinner & a sunset. I do like your dishes that you brought along -- it really is so much nicer than paper plates.

Well I can't say I liked the dishes all that much, or the silverware at least in looks, I'd have preferred something more attractive and different material but...I loved the price of them and it was definitely far better than paper.

I just realized this weekend that our trip is in 61 days --- and I have not finished even our second full day of our April/May trip. so I'm trying to catch up on dis while my photos upload!

I am behind, if I don't get moving there won't be a PTR for NYE! LOL. Not to mention being really really behind on everyone elses.

Wow! I can't believe that they actually put the fish in the trash. I always save everything until it's practically growing before throwing it away on the off chance that I might just want to eat it. Too bad they didn't tell you the whole story.

I do too. Which can make for a scary fridge!

Sounds like a wonderful dinner. Personally I love Mahi and could eat it grilled every third or fourth day (can't eat anything every day).

I could eat it once a week. We have it at least once a month, I'd do more but the gang would revolt. Very annoying of them. More often than not though I use it for blackened fish tacos and then we grill the salmon.

You NYE plans are shaping up, but I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around the whole trip. it's so complicated with so many folks. I'm glad that two are easier to plan for!

Two is much easier...hence the total lack (or almost total) of plans we made for Aulani.

Very weird about the grilling hours Some people don't start eating until 7:30 or 8pm so for them to close at 7 is a little crazy. Luckily we're oldies (or eat like oldies at least) and would have totally made the cutoff

We never eat before 7:30 so it was very annoying and what about people who wanted to grill a burger for lunch? I didn't get the hours at all.

Aw man, poor Ono That's really too bad that it had to go to waste.

Your view is so amazing at sunset. Could never get tired of that!

It was very sad, though honestly we couldn't have eaten more than we had. In fact we didn't, I had leftovers. Loved loved loved that lanai!

Also, your plans for your NYE trip sounds great! What a fantastic way to start of 2014. Did I write 2014? Dang, it just seems that we welcomed 2013..

I know! 2014...scary!

Sounds great! One of these years we'll make it to that part of the country.

It is lovely, a lot like Seattle actually in many ways so we don't really fell all that "away" other than the altitude.

I have more of a chance of being able to follow along here than with the NYE plans!

You and Jeff. He will jsut show up for the NYE trip...but then have comments about doing or not doing this or that.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.....

I still think it's probably a better view during the winter months. You have to go all the way out to the point for an unobstructed view in the summer.

That's what Jeff thinks too. We will just have to go in the winter as well then.

You did have a pretty sweet view! I would have had a hard time giving up on that too.

I became one with that lanai chair and ottoman. In fact I'd really like that furniture at home. It was comfy!

Maybe Disney can get rid of that other hotel.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.....

Exactly!

I really like the shots of the pool area lit up at night from your lanai. Looks magical!

It was! I never got tired of it that's for sure.

 

[eandesmom]

I'm glad that there are some bookings taking place and that people are starting to firm their plans up so that you can work it into the overall plan, but I still go crosseyed reading all of it. I'm impressed.

I'll feel better when everyone has flights

That really is a surprise and inconvenient. I wonder why???

the times made zero sense to me

Ok, I could buy the story about not taking the picture before, but this is just inexcusable.

Seriously no way to do it subtly given where everyone was.

Freshly caught???? That makes it even worse!!!

SOOOO much worse!

Still earning her ears???

Apparently

I'm sorry, but once I took the first bite, it wouldn't survive long enough for anymore pictures.

See, if Jeff did that...he wouldn't' have made a mess!

you guys will really like the people set up in the fort with there decorations some look better than peoples houses.

I am VERY excited to see it!

Trying to catch up before we leave in three days.

1 now, right? You are doing much better than I am. I am behind everywhere.

NYE trip plans sounding good.

getting there!

I can't believe they threw out "fresh" fish. How very sad you didnt' realize that ahead of time.

Very sad

Love the sunset pictures.

I never got tired of it!

I don't think it matters if they have lessons in Mickey bar eating or not...men still tend to end up wearing part of it.

And boys...Eric is a train wreck

We have never taken advantage of the grills while on vacation, though your fish looks really good - maybe we'll try it out when we're at WDW next time! I don't remember if you mentioned it, I guess you have to buy your own charcoal? Though, I'm really rusty on starting a charcoal grill - at home our grill is hooked up to the house gas, so it's a no-brainer! Still, maybe worth a try! Of course, that depends on what kind of fish the Publix close to WDW has to offer....

They are gas grills at Aulani, not sure about other resorts and it may depend on the resort. We got salmon at the Publix in Vero...I'd imagine that Orlando would be similar.

I'd broil versus starting a charcoal one. We did that at Vero, mostly due to the fact our room was kind of far from the grills and it was just easier. LOL! It can smell up the villa though depending on what kind of fish it is.

Yay for progress on your NYE trip! Flights help to make it so much more real. I am still watching for our January... Your ADRs look very similar to my own for January... Great minds do think alike!

Yes, the ADR's do look similar don't they! We are getting there on NYE...snags on the April DL trip though...figuring out our backup plan.

Oh my! I can't believe the fish went into the garbage like that!! What a shame...

It was heartbreaking

Your sunset pictures are just breathtaking!

It is SO gorgeous there!

Too funny about the "timeshare" conversation... and especially Jeff considering your points "where ever points" that would be Steve too...

Yes, the whole home resort thing confuses him...likely due to the fact that thinking of anything 11m out is not his idea of a need, want or desire but he's happy to let me play and plan. And facilitate. He does sort of track things...he actually asked me last night (after we watched 2 destination america Disney things he'd recorded lol) about the status of our BWV wait list add on. Unfortunately it is not where I'd like it to be.

 

[eandesmom]

Glad your NYE plans are coming together so well! I had a really great meal at Flying Fish on a previous trip, so that one definitely stands out, and dinner at O'hana followed by the pre-NYE fireworks on Poly Beach sounds like a great plan! Would love to be there for that one!!!

I ate at Flying Fish on my last girls trip, and Blue Zoo at the one before. Both were outstanding! And both I think will please all of the adults. I do hope we are 8 even though I'd pick FF over Blue Zoo food wise, I hope we "have" to go with BZ due to party size.

I am very excited about the Ohana/fireworks plan, just hope the timing works as they always seem to run late.

Too crazy about the limited use of the barbecue area. I would probably be more likely to grill up some burgers or something during the afternoon, so 4-7 seems a little strange??? And how sad you didn't realize what the guys were offering you when they asked about the Ono, and then watching them just throw it in the trash........

Aren't those odd hours? I'd have expected 11-9 or something like that. Seems overly restricted and I wonder why.

In spite of the restricted view of the total sunset from your lanai, it is still a wonderful way to end the day, and you were able to get even more beautiful pictures!

Even with the darn Marriott in the way, it was still gorgeous to be sure.

What a lovely evening.

Glad you've got a bit further with your NYE plans.

It was a lovely evening! Slowly coming along for NYE...

Aulani looks amazing! Thanks for posting.

It really is, I can't say enough wonderful things about it.

I am walking trying to prep for my surgery.

walking is good!

That is too bad about the burger and outside. The burger you got looked good.

It was a delicious burger

The bbq sounds like a nice thing to do. Too bad about the fish the guys offered you.
What a gorgeous to view to sit there and take in.
I could go for a Mickey bar.
Great updates and pics.
The NYE plans sound great too.

I do like having some meals in the villa, I can only eat out so much but oh, would have loved that fresh fish!

I can always go for a Mickey bar.

Hi, I'm all caught up! Loved your hui coverage. Looks like your favorite hangout turned out to be Monkeypod! (I hope I got the name right. )

We had a few favorite hangouts but foodwise, Monkeypod did get more of our business than anyone else, and probably will again when we go back!

Too bad you didn't know about the road but it looks like you still had a great hike. I think most of us have made the same mistake. Jim and his friend did it in the car before us ladies got there, so they had mapped out a plan for an alternative route.

Very bad map reading on my end...or total lack of prep and planning but it all worked out well I think and we got more resort time as a result which was a good thing

Loved, loved, loved your dinner on the Lanai with the sunset. What a nice way to end your day!

It was the perfect way to end the day!

 

[eandesmom]

We have PLANE TICKETS!

Our miles posted from our Denver trip so I was able to get us booked. Much to my very pleasant surprise, towards the front of the bus.

My parents had booked a few weeks ago and last week I thought I'd check to see how sold out, or not, the flight was as I was a bit worried the miles tickets might be gone which would definitely up our costs. When I looked, the only seats that had 4 in the same row didn't start until row 22, the flight appeared to be about half sold out and all the seats up front were at a higher price point or mileage level. Imagine my surprise when I went to book Friday am (in 4 separate transactions, bleh) and found seats as far up as row 9

The end result....we have our direct red eye on 12/28 arriving 12/29 on Alaska and then a one stop return on Southwest.

With using miles for 2 of the outbound tickets and some $$ of of a third in a cash and miles transaction (50K miles total used) I was able to get our tickets down to $311 per person and close to the times and flights I wanted. I'd rather be flying home direct but oh well, these aren't bad times.

Not bad for the Holidays! Thank heavens for miles, it saved about $850. Flying back on the 7th helps a ton too. If the rates go down I can get credit for all of our return flights and my outbound. But I'm not sure they will. Hopefully the rest of the gang will book soon. And for their sake I do hope the rates go down. My folks used miles for their entire trip but I'm not sure anyone else has them to use although at least my ex SIL has a companion fare ticket that will probably help her quite a bit and actually allow her to go (I hope!). Either way it should all be settled within the next 4 weeks.

I hope.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

We have PLANE TICKETS!

Hurrah! Congrats. And a great deal too!!

 

[e46m3]

I just got an Alaska Visa card too for the companion fare. What a great deal.

 

[eandesmom]

Hurrah! Congrats. And a great deal too!!

Well it was a cobbled together good deal, I also had some credits to apply which helped but I'm quite pleased with getting the flight I wanted at a price I can live with!

I just got an Alaska Visa card too for the companion fare. What a great deal.

Yes it is, I think one of our group will be using one. And I know most of my parents miles came from their Alaska card, hopefully my other sister has some miles from hers as I know she has one too. I also love Yapta, I track the flights after purchase and they will notify you if it drops. As a result, from other trips I had $128 I could apply to this booking and then (of course) just this morning, another trip dropped so both Jeff and i have $11 credits to use for future travel.

 

[jedijill]

Yay for getting tickets! I was just on SW site last night trying to figure out how many points I needed for my ticket to Puerto Rico next year.

Jill in CO

 

[eandesmom]

Yay for getting tickets! I was just on SW site last night trying to figure out how many points I needed for my ticket to Puerto Rico next year.

Jill in CO

Points or miles, when they work, can be a great thing!

 

[annmarieda]

He does sort of track things...he actually asked me last night (after we watched 2 destination america Disney things he'd recorded lol) about the status of our BWV wait list add on. Unfortunately it is not where I'd like it to be.

I am sorry for that! I can imagine that it is pretty frustrating. How long have you been on the list?

We have PLANE TICKETS!

Our miles posted from our Denver trip so I was able to get us booked. Much to my very pleasant surprise, towards the front of the bus.

My parents had booked a few weeks ago and last week I thought I'd check to see how sold out, or not, the flight was as I was a bit worried the miles tickets might be gone which would definitely up our costs. When I looked, the only seats that had 4 in the same row didn't start until row 22, the flight appeared to be about half sold out and all the seats up front were at a higher price point or mileage level. Imagine my surprise when I went to book Friday am (in 4 separate transactions, bleh) and found seats as far up as row 9

The end result....we have our direct red eye on 12/28 arriving 12/29 on Alaska and then a one stop return on Southwest.

With using miles for 2 of the outbound tickets and some $$ of of a third in a cash and miles transaction (50K miles total used) I was able to get our tickets down to $311 per person and close to the times and flights I wanted. I'd rather be flying home direct but oh well, these aren't bad times.

Not bad for the Holidays! Thank heavens for miles, it saved about $850. Flying back on the 7th helps a ton too. If the rates go down I can get credit for all of our return flights and my outbound. But I'm not sure they will. Hopefully the rest of the gang will book soon. And for their sake I do hope the rates go down. My folks used miles for their entire trip but I'm not sure anyone else has them to use although at least my ex SIL has a companion fare ticket that will probably help her quite a bit and actually allow her to go (I hope!). Either way it should all be settled within the next 4 weeks.

I hope.

Getting flights makes is so much more...real... concrete..etc. I know In my mind all is subject to change until I get those flights secured. I do envy you your ability to do red eyes. Sometime I hate paying for that first night in the hotel when we arrive so late. However... my family just refuse the red eyes.

 

[CarolynK]

Well it was a cobbled together good deal, I also had some credits to apply which helped but I'm quite pleased with getting the flight I wanted at a price I can live with!



Yes it is, I think one of our group will be using one. And I know most of my parents miles came from their Alaska card, hopefully my other sister has some miles from hers as I know she has one too. I also love Yapta, I track the flights after purchase and they will notify you if it drops. As a result, from other trips I had $128 I could apply to this booking and then (of course) just this morning, another trip dropped so both Jeff and i have $11 credits to use for future travel.

Great that you got your tickets! It's a tough time of year to get any kind of a good price - we grabbed SW tickets for December as soon as the flights opened up, but it helped that we have a CP on DH's SW account until 12/31. On our return flight there's no CP, but we bought early enough that we feel we got a decent deal.

Buying flights is so stressful, but now that's done you can relax, right?

By the way, how do you guys deal with the red eye? I looked up the flight - you land at 6 am in MCO?! What do you do until check-in?

 

[eandesmom]

I am sorry for that! I can imagine that it is pretty frustrating. How long have you been on the list?

Technically since 4/2 but it was at the 3/19 promo price. Which, with where resale is, is not that much of a difference. $115 pp, less 1K in credit plus 2 5 day park hoppers, which brought it down to about $98 and resale is going for $90 and up these days. Add in some of the fees the resale companies have and it's pretty darn close. Not to mention finding 100 point contracts or less is tough if not impossible for BWV via resale for my UY. Heck any small contract for my UY for that matter. The problem is that I need to book at DLR trip in September at the 7m window for April. I really thought we'd have the points by now but because we couldn't go on the list earlier (they can't sell in WA so I had to get on the list on my DC trip) I think we are probably out of luck on these until 12/1 at the new UY as my guess is what they have reacquired are stripped of 2012 points. So we've been evaluating options.

They are:

1. Do nothing and pay cash for the DLR trip or hope there are rooms avail whenever the points come in.

2. Buy a direct contract at one of the current webcast offers instead of the BWV waitlist

3. Buy a small contract at VGF that would cover the Cali trip but be more of an investment for rental or girls trips (Jeff is very anti GF...which is news to me and weird but whatever)

4. Keep looking for a small resale, again doesn't help the Cali situation.

My issue is I really can't stand the idea of paying cash for a room, or point rental, when it could go towards more points. Jeff's take is either option 1 or 2 and he's leaning towards 2, as am I. It's a little bit full circle, we really considered Aulani as our first DVC purchase but spent the money on our Alaska cruise instead. If we opt to move forward with something other than BWV waiting...it looks like it will be Aulani which for us, could be a very good thing at 11m. We've got a little over 3 weeks if we were going to do that promo price, and a little over a month before my 7m booking day so you never know, BWV could come through but it's sure not looking good. Much as I like the idea of our BWV points being the larger amount, there is something very tempting about Aulani. Personally I think the better investment is probably 50 at VGF and wait it out at BWV but Jeff is really leaning the other way and dead set against VGF. Probably as my option really means 50 more points in total than we'd discussed as the right number. LOL!

Getting flights makes is so much more...real... concrete..etc. I know In my mind all is subject to change until I get those flights secured. I do envy you your ability to do red eyes. Sometime I hate paying for that first night in the hotel when we arrive so late. However... my family just refuse the red eyes.

We don't give the kids a choice. Then again, we warped them early and they totally get the time benefit so that may have helped. A trip never feels real until I have flights, like the whole thing could get cancelled at any time.

 

[eandesmom]

Great that you got your tickets! It's a tough time of year to get any kind of a good price - we grabbed SW tickets for December as soon as the flights opened up, but it helped that we have a CP on DH's SW account until 12/31. On our return flight there's no CP, but we bought early enough that we feel we got a decent deal.

Buying flights is so stressful, but now that's done you can relax, right?

Well, once the rest of the group has their flights I will relax. LOL! It's a fine line on flights, buy too early and they are too much, too late and they are too much and that sweet spot of them going down...may or may not happen over the holidays!

By the way, how do you guys deal with the red eye? I looked up the flight - you land at 6 am in MCO?! What do you do until check-in?

yep, 6:14 am

It will be our 4th red eye into Orlando so we've got a routine down. It will be 7-7:30 by the time we get to the resort. We will have suits and stuff in case we want pool time and the weather works for it but will leave those at bell services. We will check in and then go out for breakfast, a nice lazy sit down one this year at Captain's Grille. Of course in this instance I think we will have to head over to guest services first (or I will) to pick up my TIW card so I can use it at breakfast. Then we hit the parks and of course MK will be first (though we may walk through Epcot and take the Monorail if folks want depending on what time we finish breakfast). This year I actually have all the boys scheduled for haircuts at Harmony Barber Shop (traditional E's first day must do but we have done walk in and wait, the ressie option is new), we should be done with that by about 1:30. If we are doing the whole magic band PF+ thing, I'll book those for MK. We may have issues getting those though, some will be able to for sure but I may not be! I will likely not be able to show having a "valid" ticket until I head to guest services to claim my PAP voucher so all that stuff will take up a bit of time in the am too.

It's a little bit of a bummer as MK has early EMH hours that day, plus the holiday crowds but it is what it is. I'd much rather be able to have a short walk to breakfast after the red eye then try to get it over at MK, it just works best for everyone to start the trip out right. Haircuts later in the week would have worked better but it's a tradition and I'm ok with that now that we have a reservation for it!

If no text yet (and not expecting it to be early at that time of year) we will likely grab snacks or light CS somewhere and kind of play it by ear. In the past we've headed back to swim, hit a different park, etc. It's an early dinner night (5) at R&C for CP so there should be enough actually scheduled to keep us busy and not crashing. It's worked well in the past.

The real question will be my dad...they are at the Swan and he is a napper so he will likely try to power nap before dinner the minute their room is ready. I think everyone else will be too full of adrenaline to be too much of an issue. I don't think it will be a late night and actually hope not or I won't get all those boys up the next day. Ideally we are back and heading to bed right after the 10:30 Illuminations.

 

[annmarieda]

Technically since 4/2 but it was at the 3/19 promo price. Which, with where resale is, is not that much of a difference. $115 pp, less 1K in credit plus 2 5 day park hoppers, which brought it down to about $98 and resale is going for $90 and up these days. Add in some of the fees the resale companies have and it's pretty darn close. Not to mention finding 100 point contracts or less is tough if not impossible for BWV via resale for my UY. Heck any small contract for my UY for that matter. The problem is that I need to book at DLR trip in September at the 7m window for April. I really thought we'd have the points by now but because we couldn't go on the list earlier (they can't sell in WA so I had to get on the list on my DC trip) I think we are probably out of luck on these until 12/1 at the new UY as my guess is what they have reacquired are stripped of 2012 points. So we've been evaluating options.

They are:

1. Do nothing and pay cash for the DLR trip or hope there are rooms avail whenever the points come in.

2. Buy a direct contract at one of the current webcast offers instead of the BWV waitlist

3. Buy a small contract at VGF that would cover the Cali trip but be more of an investment for rental or girls trips (Jeff is very anti GF...which is news to me and weird but whatever)

4. Keep looking for a small resale, again doesn't help the Cali situation.

My issue is I really can't stand the idea of paying cash for a room, or point rental, when it could go towards more points. Jeff's take is either option 1 or 2 and he's leaning towards 2, as am I. It's a little bit full circle, we really considered Aulani as our first DVC purchase but spent the money on our Alaska cruise instead. If we opt to move forward with something other than BWV waiting...it looks like it will be Aulani which for us, could be a very good thing at 11m. We've got a little over 3 weeks if we were going to do that promo price, and a little over a month before my 7m booking day so you never know, BWV could come through but it's sure not looking good. Much as I like the idea of our BWV points being the larger amount, there is something very tempting about Aulani. Personally I think the better investment is probably 50 at VGF and wait it out at BWV but Jeff is really leaning the other way and dead set against VGF. Probably as my option really means 50 more points in total than we'd discussed as the right number. LOL!

I can see that is a lot to consider. So... if I am understanding it correctly... you need points anywhere in order to book at GCV. I can understand not wanting to pay cash when you could put that toward buying.

That is so weird that BWV can't sell in WA. (is it just BWV?) Seems like that just complicates things all the more!

I will keep my fingers crossed the wait list moves in time for you.

 

[eandesmom]

I can see that is a lot to consider. So... if I am understanding it correctly... you need points anywhere in order to book at GCV. I can understand not wanting to pay cash when you could put that toward buying.

Exactly. A cash ressie at GCV for the nights we want is about 2K! Less if points rented, maybe $1400 but still. The thing is originally the Cali trip was a maybe, a mom and me for Eric and I while Evan was in NYC with my folks over spring break. But thanks to HS...Evan will now be marching down main street over spring break. There is NO way I am missing that, and frankly no way I am not staying on property. I've done both and while yes, it's more doable at DLR for sure, it's not what I want. There could be a promo that comes out but even then it's still easily 1K...and I'd rather put it towards points we planned on adding anyway. Aulani, while more $, is also 20 years longer on the contract so it does have pro's and cons.

That is so weird that BWV can't sell in WA. (is it just BWV?) Seems like that just complicates things all the more!

I will keep my fingers crossed the wait list moves in time for you.

Nope, not just BWV. Actually the only things that CAN sell direct from Disney into WA are VGC, SSR, BLT, AUL, AKV. Maybe OKW with the extension but I don't think so. When they added the THV and re-opened up SSR for sale is when they added WA to that one. None of the older resorts were ever licensed to sell here and they have no plans to do so as they are all sold out anyway. It's not just WA, it's an issue in several states.

It does complicate it though as honestly we were hoping to close in either Denver this month, or Cali next. Next opportunity wouldn't be until our NYE trip anyway so realistically if it doesn't come through by 9/13, it doesn't much matter until December anyway, though we could book with the points before closing. Chances of VGC availablity over spring break, much after the 7m date is pretty nil though. A day here and there but not the weekend I'm sure.

If we do it, we will likely pull the trigger on the 6th or so, before the promo ends on the 7th. We'd honestly then sit on the paperwork until the 16th on the off chance that either a new promo was better, or that the WL came through. Either way, I'd have points by the 19th which is the booking day.

On the positive side...if we did do Aulani we would get the 2012 points as they will bank them. If BWV doesn't come through will 12/1, no 2012 points which frankly is part of the pro of buying direct. I've been plotting points assuming the 2012 ones so...

Then again I was plotting assuming Aulani for Feb of 2015 and Jeff wants it to be April...which is more points so...it does make the "need" for the 2012 ones a bit higher. Also on the positive side, using points for both GCV and Aulani which have crazy cash rates, "pays" off the investment faster. LOL. Fuzzy DVC math.

 

[englishrose47]

The only "red eye" ever did was to England and it screwed up my internal clock brutally
of course the 5 hour time difference didn't help

 

[eandesmom]

The only "red eye" ever did was to England and it screwed up my internal clock brutally
of course the 5 hour time difference didn't help

True. I've had a few of those to Europe and really it works the same. You just have to stay up or it's a bit of a train wreck. Worst one was when I was in HS. Our band trip had us landing in London in the am and then they scheduled a BUS tour of the city afterwards. Being London, it was rainy, the bus fogged up...everyone crashed...and then of course couldn't go to sleep at night.

So we all "snuck" out to a pub...only to find all our chaperon's already there!

 

[annmarieda]

Exactly. A cash ressie at GCV for the nights we want is about 2K! Less if points rented, maybe $1400 but still. The thing is originally the Cali trip was a maybe, a mom and me for Eric and I while Evan was in NYC with my folks over spring break. But thanks to HS...Evan will now be marching down main street over spring break. There is NO way I am missing that, and frankly no way I am not staying on property. I've done both and while yes, it's more doable at DLR for sure, it's not what I want. There could be a promo that comes out but even then it's still easily 1K...and I'd rather put it towards points we planned on adding anyway. Aulani, while more $, is also 20 years longer on the contract so it does have pro's and cons.

That is crazy! When I thought about how much we paid over the last few years...it helped me to realize that we really needed DVC. THEN booking for January... the amount our room would cost at rack (and yes, I know there are discounts) Rack rate for our room for our trip is about a quarter of what we paid for our contract.

Nope, not just BWV. Actually the only things that CAN sell direct from Disney into WA are VGC, SSR, BLT, AUL, AKV. Maybe OKW with the extension but I don't think so. When they added the THV and re-opened up SSR for sale is when they added WA to that one. None of the older resorts were ever licensed to sell here and they have no plans to do so as they are all sold out anyway. It's not just WA, it's an issue in several states.

In all the times that I was in contact with a direct rep, they never mentioned anything about that to me. Seems like an important detail. He sends me info all the time.... so he knows we are in WA. But now... resale is fine at any resort,yes?

It does complicate it though as honestly we were hoping to close in either Denver this month, or Cali next. Next opportunity wouldn't be until our NYE trip anyway so realistically if it doesn't come through by 9/13, it doesn't much matter until December anyway, though we could book with the points before closing. Chances of VGC availability over spring break, much after the 7m date is pretty nil though. A day here and there but not the weekend I'm sure.

If we do it, we will likely pull the trigger on the 6th or so, before the promo ends on the 7th. We'd honestly then sit on the paperwork until the 16th on the off chance that either a new promo was better, or that the WL came through. Either way, I'd have points by the 19th which is the booking day.

On the positive side...if we did do Aulani we would get the 2012 points as they will bank them. If BWV doesn't come through will 12/1, no 2012 points which frankly is part of the pro of buying direct. I've been plotting points assuming the 2012 ones so...

Then again I was plotting assuming Aulani for Feb of 2015 and Jeff wants it to be April...which is more points so...it does make the "need" for the 2012 ones a bit higher. Also on the positive side, using points for both GCV and Aulani which have crazy cash rates, "pays" off the investment faster. LOL. Fuzzy DVC math.

That is one thing that I regret in our purchase. We had looked at direct and were told we would be able to get the previous years points... and some resale contracts have banked points.. Our contract came with nothing...and while it wasn't stripped (since all of our 2013 points were going to hit the account) our UY is december. Oh the things I could have done had we had that full set of point (or even a fraction) at the very start.

 

[eandesmom]

Despite being several days into the trip our bodies still seemed to be on Pacific Time. We woke up at 7:30 am. With no real need to be up that darn early. Oh well. Only one thing to be done in that kind of situation.

Have coffee on the lanai of course!





Yeah, another crummy day in paradise

All was quiet in the river





And seemingly everywhere else!





We lazed, enjoyed the view, I think I DISed on my phone. We had an errand to run but couldn't arrive before 10am so had some time to kill. I decided to get a little work done. The restaurant phone started ringing about that time, it was amazing how it echoed through the valley. I had wifi issues and can’t recall if I got them resolved or not. We also decided to change our dinner reservations, though for the life of me I don't really remember why. I think it was just a time change at Roys for the next night and I ended up calling.
And then it was time for breakfast



Yeah, not very exciting huh. It did the trick. We did have live entertainment over breakfast though. Some lady on the slide (not sure if was the body slide or tube slide) screamed like a banshee! If we weren’t awake by then, we were now. We also decided to debate the merits of POG (pineapple orange guava juice) versus coke as a mixer. As in which was better or worse for you. Mind you, we were NOT having rum drinks at breakfast but I was drinking some POG and somehow that parked a sugar content debate. As you might imagine, both are pretty horrendous. POG comes in at 25g per 8oz but coke is at 44g! I can confirm this as we actually have POG in the fridge right now lol. Besides, it’s 180% of my daily vitamin C...that has to counteract all that sugar a bit right? Though yikes, if you look at what I ate, strawberries, a cinnamon roll and a glass of POG…I have a sugar high and the resulting crash just looking at it right now. At about 9:30 we headed down to pick up our towels for the day and then to the ‘Ōlelo Room for coffee. This was our second cup of coffee actually using our mugs. The mugs at Aulani are not cheap, $18.99 each. So now we were down to $9.50 cups of coffee each so far. Thankfully this cup was good. The previous day I think we’d timed it wrong somehow and the coffee had been out…Kona is a lighter bean that can’t take a dark roast and as a result if it's overheated on sterno in an urn or a burner...you can REALLY tell. It was not a good cup of coffee. Today it was. We headed out on our errand. Which was to find Jeff a rash guard. He wanted/needed one for snorkeling and had spaced on getting one at home before the trip. Pathetically, inexcusably if you ask me, they didn’t sell any mens ones at Aulani. Womens either for that matter. According to the staff at The Lava Shack, which is where they sell that type of stuff, they used to have it and it sold really well. But they hadn't been offered it in months and had no idea if it would be coming back or not. The staff had told us about a surf outlet that had good options and prices so we thought we'd hit that. Of course I’d not written down the name of the shop so one of the things I'd done online that am was look it up. Address in hand, we headed into Kapeoli.

After a couple of minor wrong turns we found it, parked and went in.
My googling had been an epic fail.

We were not at a surf outlet

We were at a surfBOARD outlet. LOL! It was actually pretty darn funny, other than wasting our time a bit.

Fortunately Kapeoli has lots of options and we knew where Target was so headed there. Next door to Target was a Sports Authority and Jeff thought that might be the better option. After a bit of digging...it was. We found him a nice white, simple, O'Neil version that was on clearance for $13. SCORE! A bio stop, another coffee for the road (hey, there was a Starbucks in the Target…which has bathrooms lol) and we were off.

At 11. Sigh. Not exactly an early start to the day.. which was mildly annoying being that we'd been up since 7:30am!

Where too? Why the Northshore of course. Do over! We just hoped it wouldn't be too windy, Jeff was very concerned about that. The drive itself was easy and uneventful.



Land for sale if anyone is interested



Pretty trees



Dole plantation



Pretty crowded





And no, we didn't stop. Zero interest to be honest. Both of us had been drug to pineapple farms as teens/young adults and that was enough for us.

We wondered if they use these as Christmas Trees



Heading into Haleiwa (11:28 so less than 30 minutes from Kapolei) it started to get crowded. We drove by Mackys Shrimp Truck and could not believe the crowds lined up. It was lunch time but WOW! Jeff doesn't care for Shrimp and I am ambivalent so that really had no appeal for either of us anyway, “famous” or not. Just as we got to the beach park and turned east BAM, traffic. It seriously almost came to a stop. And didn't move between Haliewa and Waimea. It’s like 5 miles, but I swear it took 30 minutes. Which was a bit of a problem as we both really needed a bio break. We hit Waimea Bay and decided a potty stop was needed. But the lot was full so we just took turns.

Doesn't look all that full does it?



What it also was, was what Jeff had feared. Windy. The tradewinds were quite present and as a result, while it was warm and very pleasant out, it wasn't "oh I need to run and jump in the ocean right now" hot, nor did it look all that fun to try and snorkel in (fair weather snorkelers I guess lol). We decided to drive across the street and see what was up at Waimea Valley. Pulling in, we parked and walked up. It started to drizzle. Though unplanned, we were there, had a DVC discount and since neither of us felt compelled to jump in the ocean, decided to head on in.

A little bit about the valley.

History:
One of last partially intact ahupua‘a on O`ahu, Waimea Valley consists of 1,875 acres and has been a sacred place for more than 700 years of Native Hawaiian history. Waimea, “The Valley of the Priests,” gained its title around 1090 when the ruler of O‘ahu awarded the land to the kähuna nui. Descendants of the high priests lived and cared for much of the Valley until
As part of a cooperative conservation land purchase, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs acquired the property in 2006. In 2008, Hi‘ipaka LLC was established to manage Waimea Valley and hold the deed.

Highlights:
Take a casual walk on a paved path through our World Class Botanical Gardens and Historical Sites 3/4 of a mile one way or 1 1/2 miles round trip from our Ticket Booth (where you pay Admission into the Valley) to our Waterfall area.

Activities
Several activities (with paid admission) are offered throughout the day in different locations in the Valley.

Ancient Hawaiian Archaeological Sites
Ancient Hawaiian Archaeological Sites: 78 sites of interest have been identified including religious sites and shrines, house sites, agricultural terraces and fishponds.

World Class Botanical Garden Collections
The 150-acre Botanical Collection contains more than 5,000 kinds of tropical and subtropical plants including native and endangered Hawaiian plants.

Wildlife
Several native and endangered birds including the ‘alae ‘ula are found in Waimea. All five species of o'opu, a native freshwater fish can be found in Kamananui Stream. Because Waimea Valley is home to so many endangered plants and animals, we do not allow any domestic animals to be brought in. This includes birds, cats and dogs, with the exception of service animals..

Cultural Activities
Visitors to the Valley are invited to participate in several free activities (with paid admission) including Hula Implement demonstrations, Hawaiian Games, and Crafts, Music & Story Telling with Kūpuna.

Waihī Waterfall
An attraction of great interest and enjoyment is the Valley’s 45-foot waterfall. Waihï is approximately 3/4 of a mile from the Ticket booth.

Retail, Food & Beverage Services
Ku‘ono Waiwai, the Valley’s retail store, showcases the work of North Shore artists and Hawaii crafters of locally made products. The Valley’s on-site concession services uses locally grown, made-in-Hawai‘i ingredients for local dining at its best.

Let's go for a walk in the gardens!

















Which way?



Continued in next post