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

Joining in, but I will need to go back and read up. I can't wait to hear about this trip, but sleep does take precedence tonight! :rotfl:
 
Found this the other day and thought I had posted then but I guess not.

I do that all the time!! :welcome:

Enjoying the TR so far, I love Hawaii, it is so pretty there, I have been once on a cruise and stayed a couple days after but that was in like 98 pr 99, hope to be able to get there again someday but DH is reluctant to fly that far, I'll have to work on him! LOL

Can't wait to hear more! :goodvibes

It is far, depending on where you are coming from, though it takes longer to get there on a cruise! Not so bad if you split up the trip and spend some time in CA on the way there or back. We are about as close as you can be and it's still a longer flight

Ahoy there! I'm here!! I just finished your OKW/Vero/DCL/AKV tr and had to book it over here! I love your reports! Can't wait to read about your Hawaii adventures!

Mahalo and :welcome: thank you for reading my summer TR, it was a fun trip. We had an amazing time in Hawaii, it is a lovely resort, they really did a wonderful job with it.

I am in - will read tomorrow nite -
looking forward to your TR !

Aloha and :welcome:

Joining in, but I will need to go back and read up. I can't wait to hear about this trip, but sleep does take precedence tonight! :rotfl:

Aloha Allison! :welcome: sleep is NOT overrated that is for sure. Thanks for joining in, I got crazy behind on your last one but will try to do better. Very happy to have you here.
 
You always seem to have hectic journeys to the airport!

I thought our Alaska Airline flight was good last year. Great that you get a free drink.

Wish I was relaxing in Aulani right now.
 
What a beautiful first night! I wouldn't have minded the crummy Mai Tai, either. In fact, I had a lot of crummy ones on the island, and I really didn't care. :rotfl:
I'm wondering about the knife, too. I forgot to take my liquids out last trip! :rolleyes2 Jim says TSA has never been responsible for catching anyone - it is the fellow passengers or flight crew who pick up on things. So how safe do we all feel now?
I'm looking forward to your walk to the other coves - I didn't really get a feel for all of the grounds when I toured.
 


You always seem to have hectic journeys to the airport!

oh less hectic than usual if you ask me :rotfl: granted that's not saying muich

I thought our Alaska Airline flight was good last year. Great that you get a free drink.

The free drink was lovely. I really do love Alaska, it is always my first choice.

Wish I was relaxing in Aulani right now.

Me too!

What a beautiful first night! I wouldn't have minded the crummy Mai Tai, either. In fact, I had a lot of crummy ones on the island, and I really didn't care. :rotfl:


Exactly! It was still lovely, just not lovely enough to spend the big bucks and have it again.

I'm wondering about the knife, too. I forgot to take my liquids out last trip! :rolleyes2 Jim says TSA has never been responsible for catching anyone - it is the fellow passengers or flight crew who pick up on things. So how safe do we all feel now?

I lost a wine opener on the way to San Fran I think. I often forget on the liquids, I've never had those called out.

I'm looking forward to your walk to the other coves - I didn't really get a feel for all of the grounds when I toured.

Well....we will see what we explored and what we didn't....
 
In case you were wondering, I'm totes ready for an update. ;)

Lol! Update pre-empted by dueling school events. Last concert of elementary school for Eric, middle school academic awards ceremony and science fair for Evan and high school choir concert for Kendall, of course all at exactly the same time! Cloning would have been handy.

Nice early birthday present for Evan who turns 14 in 40 minutes (aaack!)....though really it's more like 22 hours....with an honorable mention at the science fair. Kind if cool that it will be read at announcements tomorrow on his actual bday.

Even nicer for me that the effect of electromagnetic fields on mealworms is over! Lol!!!

I did start the update...may even get it up tomorrow. :) hope so as the weekend is ugly between scout camp, soccer tournament and my sisters graduation.

In other words, a normal weekend I'm sure much like yours! :)
 




At 5 am I got up, I had a few work things to do so was getting up a little earlier than normal before heading in. Somehow in the process I managed to break the toilet. Went to flush, could tell the chain had come off, took the lid off, re-attached chain, went to flush again and BAM, the entire mechanism flipped up and locked up in the air. Great. Never had that happen before! I could not get it down/unlocked either. So I left it like that (well after I unhooked the chain and flushed manually lol).

Jeff had the day off anyway, right? :rotfl:

Why is it that little things like this happen just before a trip??? :crazy2: Good thing you had a repairman handy. ;)

The under two hour flight to WDW is about all I can handle with my claustrophobic self. Sadly, I don't think I will ever be able to make the Hawaii trip because of the length of the flight.

Well...that and the money. :upsidedow

I think walking around Aulani would just be an amazing thing!
 
Your meal on the plane looked delicious! Very impressive. The one time we flew to Hawaii was from Australia. I don't really remember the food though.

Can't wait to see pictures during daylight. :thumbsup2
 
Aloha Cynthia! :) Sorry to be so late- June is an insane month around here! But today it is pouring rain, so Field Day was cancelled, and I have a little time to DIS-

First off, how cool you have so much family in Hawaii! I wish I did- I would find a reason to go to every birthday party, retirement party, and envelope opening. :rotfl:

I have always heard Alaska Airlines is the best- and WOW! It looks like it really is! I had one of those uber-sweet Trader Vic's mai tais on my flight too- but paid $8 for it, I believe.

Very glad you got to Aulani in 20 minutes- that is PERFECT!

Looks like you had a fantastic trip planned- I'm looking forward to reading about how all your hikes were, since the next time we go to oahu that will be more in our plan there (we did most of our hiking on Kauai this last visit). And hey! Thanks for the shout out! :yay:

Ellen:wave2:
 
Why is it that little things like this happen just before a trip??? :crazy2: Good thing you had a repairman handy. ;)

And that he had the day off! I would have been freaking out if not as my parents were staying there while we were gone, at least on the school nights.

The under two hour flight to WDW is about all I can handle with my claustrophobic self. Sadly, I don't think I will ever be able to make the Hawaii trip because of the length of the flight.

Well...that and the money. :upsidedow

I think walking around Aulani would just be an amazing thing!

Yes, the flights are pricey, and long! You'll just have to take a cruise to Hawaii instead. Too many at sea days for me but a lot of folks love it. Of course there is that darn money thing.

Your meal on the plane looked delicious! Very impressive. The one time we flew to Hawaii was from Australia. I don't really remember the food though.

Can't wait to see pictures during daylight. :thumbsup2

Well it wasn't free but it was delicious! Daylight coming up soon!

Aloha Cynthia! :) Sorry to be so late- June is an insane month around here! But today it is pouring rain, so Field Day was cancelled, and I have a little time to DIS-

First off, how cool you have so much family in Hawaii! I wish I did- I would find a reason to go to every birthday party, retirement party, and envelope opening. :rotfl:


I know, we should go more! I do think thanks to Aulani and DVC we probably will. Hard to pull off too often but maybe every 2-3 years. Which I guess is our normal Hawaii trend if I think about it but we usually skip Oahu and I do think that will change.

I have always heard Alaska Airlines is the best- and WOW! It looks like it really is! I had one of those uber-sweet Trader Vic's mai tais on my flight too- but paid $8 for it, I believe.

Very glad you got to Aulani in 20 minutes- that is PERFECT!

I was expecting it to take longer so was thrilled with the 20 minutes!!! One of the benefits of such a late arrival. It was uber sweet, free is definitely better than $8 but still, a mai tai on a flight to hawaii either way paid or free is the way to kick it off! Or POG...or really anything! Heck I was happy with the themed trail mix.

Looks like you had a fantastic trip planned- I'm looking forward to reading about how all your hikes were, since the next time we go to oahu that will be more in our plan there (we did most of our hiking on Kauai this last visit). And hey! Thanks for the shout out! :yay:

Ellen:wave2:
Aloha and :welcome: Ellen!

We did hike! Not having the boys along freed us up a bit in that area which was kind of nice. Evan has recently informed me that hiking is NOT his idea of vacationing in Hawaii and that when we go...there will be none of that. :rotfl: This is a very new development, he's always loved hiking. He basically said he doesn't "mind" doing it here but in Hawaii, on vacation...it's a big fat NO for him.

We shall see little man, we shall see.
 
We had gone to bed at midnight, which was 3 am our time. At home, and while traveling when needed, I have a rather ridiculous set of reminders to get everyone where they need to be on time, myself included. That means I have multiple alarms in the morning, based on the day of the week so that I can ensure the kids are on track. My first alarm of the day goes off at 5:45 am. It’s titled "wake up jazz band boy". Evan needs to get up then to be on time for his carpool, whether we are driving or the other family is.

It sounds like this (if the link actually works)

Thankfully I don’t have the "ring" at the start as part of it. it is quite effective at getting me up if I am not already, especially given that my phone is plugged in, in our master bath and I can hear it from the bed.

Did I remember to turn it off for vacation?

Of course not. So at 5:45 we were up and at ‘em! And because it really was 8:45 to our overtired brains…we decided to just get up, albeit slowly. Can anyone guess what we did next?

Why we made coffee of course! And went out to enjoy it on the lanai. Want to see our view from our "standard view" room? For reference your options are Standard, Island/Garden, Pool or Ocean. Let's check it out.

I had reviewed the Aulani layout and room charts like the crazy person I am.

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As you can see....there aren't that many standard rooms period and not that many studios. I think in all scenarios you get an iteration of this same view just maybe from a different angle. I'd requested a room close to the lobby as we'd be arriving so late and highest floor possible. When we checked in, we found out we would be located here (blue circle).

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For those of you who don’t know, some of the lanai's at Aulani are angled and some are not. If you look at the published floor plans, they only show you the angled version. The building we were in (Ewa short wing) is non angled. You can see how it changes the layout with my crummy sketch.

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Good and bad things to this. The bad part is the bed on the side near the wall is REALLY close to the wall. Jeff banged himself more than once. The good part is overall the feeling of the studio is larger and the lanai is definitely a bit larger. If I were trying to put 3-4 people in a studio it would be more comfortable in a non angled room in my opinion. Our later room is angled so you'll get to see the difference.

So lets see our view!

Anyone recognize this?

Looking down

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Looking to the left

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To the right

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Sun coming up higher

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What about now?

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Ta da!

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Yes, we were in room 657. Exactly 2 floors up from lurkyloos infamous "worst view ever" room. And yes, it was better 2 floors up. I found it very humorous though that we were exactly in the same spot as really being one room off in either direction would be a lot better. Still, it did have some decent island view to go with the convention center pathway roof.

It was also in full morning sun!

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Ah...coffee

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We kept moving back into the corner into the shade

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Event lawn

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We could kind of see something in the distance so I zoomed in...

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We had to google it as we couldn’t stand not knowing what the heck that thing was! Anybody know? Could be worth a tiki head (slushie credits don't seem to fit here) or maybe a menehune.

Panorama shot

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Continued in next post
 
Of course not. So at 5:45 we were up and at ‘em! And because it really was 8:45 to our overtired brains…we decided to just get up, albeit slowly. Can anyone guess what we did next?
All this time zone talk is about to give me a headache! :faint: :rotfl2: :lmao:

Well, that was a decent enough room for a night in a standard view room. At least you could see something over the top of the convention center room. It looks to me like the non-angled lanai would definitely give you more room out there, but I guess I can look forward to seeing the comparison! :thumbsup2

We had to google it as we couldn’t stand not knowing what the heck that thing was! Anybody know? Could be worth a tiki head (slushie credits don't seem to fit here) or maybe a menehune.
Refinery, maybe? :confused3 Definitely something industrial. :lmao:
 
:rotfl: You know I am taking notes here... non angled room. :thumbsup2 maybe not a standard view though. ;) Looking at your pictures though...I kept thinking.. :scratchin it isn't so bad. (but is it really so good?) It does look like a nice place to have some coffee though. :goodvibes
 
Continued from previous

For a standard view, it was ok. If you looked up and out, there was some nice island view. I am a view and lanai junkie so honestly if I was there for a week I wouldn't be happy. I also did not like the morning sun and I’m not sure that occurred to me it would be like that on that side, were I in a standard again, I would probably request to be in a room that ended in xx6x (instead of 5x) to see if the angle of the sun wasn't quite as bad but it might be about the same. In the afternoon I am sure it was lovely though.

We did have one other lanai issue that morning. There were people out, yes as early as we were, on both sides of us. Which is cool everyone should be out on their lanai! However to our right the poor woman I swear had emphysema. It really was not the most pleasant sound and well, it didn't stop. I felt horrible for her but it really didn't suit our lazy lanai relaxation mode as well as one might have liked. Aulani is not on a busy road itself but is not far from a main throughway/highway and I think due to the location of the room the highway noise really carried down to our room as well. As you can see in the coffee picture we'd packed a portable speaker, had put the iPhone in and were playing a little Buffet to go with our coffee and that helped quite a bit. I was grateful to have it, yeah Jeff! That had been one of his big things to bring while I worried about utensils.

I had made 8:15 breakfast reservations at 'AMA 'AMA. I thought the ala carte menu looked lovely, and relatively reasonable. 8:15 out for breakfast on vacation is relatively unheard of for us but with the time difference I figured it would be perfect. And timing wise, it was. We went inside to get ready and I took photos of our arrival goodies as I knew if I didn't do it then, it wouldn't happen!

Pin for the "inconvenience" of the ongoing construction

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Jeff's arrival lei

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Mine

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Jeff however was far less convinced of the restaurant choice. He didn't know what he wanted. He really liked the idea of the buffet. We decided to head down to Makahiki and take a peek. Jeff refused to take a peek. Apparently he didn't need to. He just wanted a buffet.

"You know babe, it’s a character breakfast today"

Actually every day except Mon/Thurs so more days than not.

"I know. I want a buffet."

"Characters be da**ed. BUT just so we are clear, I am not standing in line for a picture with Mickey!"


Ok! I let the desk know that we had a ressie at 'AMA 'AMA and if they could let them know we'd be dining here instead, that would be lovely.

No sooner had we been escorted to our table than Minnie showed up. He wouldn't stand in line for Mickey (and it was pretty short!) but he sure didn't mind Minnie!

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The view from our table, we had requested to be outside. Makahiki is right next to the O'leo room so this is basically the view we’d had the previous night with our arrival drinks.

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There was a decent crowd but not crazy either. View looking back inside

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I love these torches...5 or 6 for my back deck please! or and maybe some for the upper patio too!

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Jeff headed in for his first plate. While he was gone, Goofy came by. I love how they can talk without talking!

"Where’d he go?" Goofy asked

To the buffet I replied

"Aw shucks! " he said.

"I’ll be back!" he said.

Except he never did.

Once Jeff returned, it was my turn. I'm horrible at buffet pictures but I tried!
Yogurt, fruit and Muesli.

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Meats. It was a nice selection including Portuguese sausage, chicken sausage, turkey bacon, ham with pineapple. Some nice options.

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Horrible picture, I think this may have been the French toast, etc area

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Oatmeal, grits, Hawaiian porridge

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My first plate (ok, bowls)

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My second plate

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Obviously most of what I got you didn't see in the buffet pictures! A made to order omelet, mahi mahi, some lovely Hawaiian rice, grits in the bowl and a ginormous glass of POG.

Even the condiments were a little special

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Though it is a character breakfast, it is also an activity type one along the lines of the Wilderness Lodge and Ohana. Auntie tells stories, sings and gets the kids involved.

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She had this "aloha, good morning" song that for the life of me sounded like a local jingle from my childhood (the Orowheat “good morning, good muffin” song). Cracked me up, but also got stuck in my head!

They did some group thing in the center area, she went around to the tables, got folks to sing and at some point there was napkin waving (hints of the Hoop de Doo) but I actually think that didn't happen while we were there, we just saw it later). It was very cute, well done and not overly obnoxious. Just about when Jeff was getting annyoed, it was over.

He then commented, "Hey! Goofy hasn't come by"

I had to inform him that he'd missed Goofy but he had said he would come back as I laughed internally at Mr. "I won't stand in line for a picture with Mickey" asking where Goofy was.

Continued in next post
 
Continued from previous

While we were dining two F-22's flew overhead which made Jeff awfully happy. As did the buffet and apparently I didn't take a single picture of his food! He did have 2 plates and then went back for pastries. For us it was the weakest section of the buffet, nothing terribly exciting. So instead of a pastry for dessert, I opted for a small slice of bread pudding.

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Which was a lovely finish to the meal.

It was a lovely start to the day, very relaxing and very yummy. I am glad Jeff wanted to go there although I am quite sure I'd have been just as happy and relaxed at 'AMA 'AMA it was actually quite fun to be a little immersed in the Disney bubble right away whereas wed have been more removed from it over there. I liked starting my day with Minnie and Goofy, even if we didn't stand in line to see Mickey.

Breakfast finished and stuffed to the gills we decided to go check out/in and see if our new room might be ready. First though a bio break was in order. This is the restroom near O'leo and Makahiki and I loved the sinks so much I took pictures! I want this in my powder room in a really big way...bamboo sinks!

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Heading up to the lobby we paused briefly to enjoy the view

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Apparently Jeff felt the need to take a picture of me taking a picture

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And a nice guest took one of us!

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I forgot to mention that the previous night as we were wheeling our luggage down this hall Jeff turned to me and goes...you know this reminds me of...and before he even said where I said yep, same Architect. You really do get a strong sense of AKL there I think though I also agree with the comment that Jeff made at breakfast which was basically that Aulani was a significantly upgraded and updated Poly. LOL!

This one did NOT turn out. I of course assumed we'd have lots of shots at this angle so didn't worry about it.

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Panorama

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A lovely CM named Malia checked us in, and out. She mentioned our room requests which had been ridiculously specific (Ewa long wing, rooms that end in xx, xx or xx, floor 10 or higher) and let us know that all was available was the Waianae building for a high floor. We really wanted the other side for the sunset and afternoon sun. Then she said let me keep checking and see what I can do.

And she kept checking

And checking

I can do 10th floor Ewa (and in one of my requested xx room numbers). Will that work?

Yes! It will! YAY Malia! :worship: She was a rockstar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jeff had spent part of breakfast obsessing about where he wanted our room to be and surveying the options. Not to add any pressure, :rotfl: At least what he wanted once he saw it "live" matched what I'd already requested.

It wasn't ready, which we'd expected so we went up, packed up and dropped of our stuff with bell services and headed to the pool. Our plan was to hang at the pool for a bit and depending on the room timing, at some point, run to the store for our groceries.

Wanna see the pool in the daytime?

You'll have to stay tuned!!

up next, A room with a view
Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVAN!!!!!!!!!!!

:bday:party::bday:


This was taken last night after his 8th grade academic awards ceremony (honor roll, yay!) and science fair (honorable mention, yay!)
 
:cool1: Just as I comment to one update... there is another.

Breakfast looks yummy. I like that there seems to be some aulani specific items and not just "typical disney" food.

Too funny that Jeff wasn't going to go into a line... but seemed very happy to meet with Minnie (as well as be curious about Goofy's location)

The picture of the two of you with Minnie is great! Your color combinations in pictures always seem so planned!! Jeff in his blue - next to Minnie in her blue dress with hints of the colors in your dress.... very nice picture!!!
 
:rotfl2::rotfl2: And just as I post again... ANOTHER update!!! :cool1::cool1:

First, a happy birthday and congrats to Evan. :goodvibes


Sounds like check out/in went well. I am not sure I understand though... first she couldn't meet your requests and then poof magically all of them appeared? :confused: Glad you got them though!!!

Bamboo sinks look awesome!
 

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