LIVE from Aulani- Trip Report April 5, 6, 7 2014

[Inga]

I am at Aulani and live! April 5, 6 and leaving the 7th.

My DH and I are using Hawaii as a stop over to a 5 week trek to New Zealand so we will be back on our way home early May. I am 44 and my DH is 46, we have no kids, have been DVCers for ?10 years now, and go to WDW frequently, as my signature indicates, and have been a DISer since the early days.

On to the trip report, mine is brief and to the point, as these are valuable vacationing hours!

Day 1 Saturday, April 5 2014

We left Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada on united airlines at 6:30 am (Halifax time) to Newark, linking to a Honolulu flight UA 15 direct leaving at 9:30am, arriving in Honolulu at 2pm (that's 9pm Halifax time if you are keeping track!). Long 10 hour flight but the crowd was composed, the movie lineup was vast, and they came to feed us twice (additional charge of course). Snack boxes and sandwiches which were just fine. Pillows, blankets and headsets free. Arrived in Honolulu just a few minutes behind schedule at 2:17pm.

Love the open air feel of the airport, I was not expecting it. Easy bag pick up. Headed to the pick up area for rental car shuttles. A bit hectic in this area as all busses stop in one spot so a bit crowded. We were doing Enterprise and it showed up in less than a minute. A very short ride around the corner. Enterprise has kiosks that you use which would have been great if we hadn't had a VISA incident just before we left (DH had his VISA shut down as someone was charging on his card, we think stolen while he was in NYC for work the week before) so it has buggered up and will continue to bugger up our bookings as we go through our trip as he used his VISA to book and secure everything.

Never mind, we're in Hawaii and the staff were so easy and friendly, and helpful, we went to the desk and got it done. Upgraded to a Cadillac! Is black and beautiful. Got easy directions from staff as to how to get to Aulani, and with our handy GPS headed out on the road. Traffic a bit heavy around Honolulu but still moving. I must say for most of the drive it didn't 'feel' like what I would expect Hawaii to look and feel like. A bit brown and dingy. Then turn a corner and the lushness begins.

We pulled into Aulani at 3:26pm. The valet parking folks parked the car for 30 minutes as we went to check in. We did online check in so the front desk just outside the entrance of the resort had our package. We went up to our studio at 579 with our bags as we wanted to get freshened up and moving right away. Then, the thing that drives me up the bend happened...keys don't work....d'oh! Back down to the lobby, to the front desk, they printed off new cards, checked them, wait wait wait...done! Back upstairs, DH was already in the room as the cleaning staff had let him in...hmmm...maybe we should put our stuff in the safe if they let people without keys in our room. It was a nice gesture but made me think a bit.

Got some milk from the shop to prep for breakfast tomorrow ($7 for 2 litres of milk...gasp).

DH got the car in self parking, and off to Monkeypod as we had ressies for 5 (to try and catch the last 30 minutes of happy hour). Just a short walk to the left as you leave Aulani. So easy to find. The shopping complex is quite nice. We arrived at Monkeypod a bit early so went to wait for our table at the bar. I had the white wine, DH had the Maitai, both were good. The bar area was loud and we were jet lagged. No worries, we were quickly called for our table, went upstairs to an open air seating area. I like this! Waiter was attentive and good. Food was good and prices were very reasonable as it was happy hour (got out of there for $40 + tip for 4 drinks, shared appetizer and shared pizza, not bad for Hawaii).

Headed to the ABC to pick up a few essentials, fruit, yogurt, pre made salad, chocolate covered macademia nuts...about $28 for the bag of groceries. As we have a long trip ahead,it will be both economical and more healthy to buy as much groceries as possible!

Headed back to Aulani and decided to check out the resort. The entrance way is similar to Animal Kingdom Lodge but much smaller. And crowded on a Saturday afternoon with wedding parties, arriving guests, and people standing around. Better when we came back to it after supper. Gift shop looked interesting, will have to pick up a pair of Aulani wine glasses on the trip home in May.

Walked the beach past the Marriott (it is very close, not what I expected) and the beach area is not expansive. However the resort is big and we will be hitting the lazy river tomorrow for sure. Rested on a lawn chair to watch the sun go down. Very relaxing and peaceful. Listened to parents walk by, complaining that there wasn't a bar on the beach . Nothing makes a family vacation more enjoyable than ma and pa getting loaded with the kids playing nearby.

DH had had enough due to jet lag and needed to go to bed. It was 7:30ish pm, 2:30am Halifax time...so yes, nighty night!

 

[Inga]

Mahalo!

Day 2 of our Aulani stay, April 6, 2014

Well it was a long nights of sleep, in and out, up and down. I spent 3-4am writing day one of the report . This jet lag thing becomes more impactful the older you get, I think! Anyhow, finally decided to start the day at 7am-ish.

We decided to have breakfast in the room, and my mom had given me a box of warm breakfast cereal to take with me so we started with that. Well, I need to go on a bit about this cereal (despite the fact it almost prevented me getting through the customs) which is Awesome for Disney kitchenette travels and might be my new go to breakfast food for Disney trips with a kitchenette. Check out Quaker Harvest Warm and Crunchy Granola Cranberry Almond. A 1/4 cup of milk and 25 seconds in the micro, and voila! So good. I had once tried to cook steel cut in the microwave at Disney...messy! Now, this is nowhere near the nutritional a value of steel cut oats, and there IS sugar in it, it was absolutely yummy with a banana on top. DH had two servings. It was excellent.

After a Greek yogurt and a few coffees on the DH side (I'm a prissy coffee drinker, only specialty lattes are good enough for me) we headed out to the pool in search of the water slides. We thought 8am would be quiet at the pool, and I am sure relatively it was. Still had people stalking chairs, getting arm bands, and towels, all bustling around. I knew I had to get an arm band somewhere, but instead just went for the towels, set up temporary camp, grabbed a double floaty and headed with DH to the water slide! Easy walk up, especially with DH carrying the floaty .

The cast member manning the slide mentioned that we should get our arm band next time around, and off we went down the slide after a 2 minute wait! Fun! Short but fun. Got our bands at the towel station by showing our room key, red was the colour of the day. Back up we went again, and then decided to lazy river float. I have heard/read on other posts that the lazy river is not so lazy with the kids swimming and plowing down the river, and there was those kids, but it wasn't so bad. One cycle around, we popped out.

Then headed to the adult infinity hot tub. It was a bit cooler this morning so it was tolerable, I can't imagine staying in here for too long but the view is spectacular!

We then headed down to the beach as we were inspired by a few swimmers who were swimming across the lagoon and we thought we might get a wee bit of training in. The water was cool (great for a swim) and a bit murky so you need to spot a lot so you know where you are. The waves were breaking a bit more on the way back so a little more challenging but no biggie. Have to be mindful as well of the kayaks and boards floating around. It is a bit small of a lagoon to have all those water sports around in one place, I had thought I would want to paddle with the paddle board but given it is a relatively small area (remember, I am from Nova Scotia, Canada's Ocean Playground ) I decided to not do it this trip, maybe when we return in May on our way home.

We chatted with some interesting people from LA on the beach, hung out on the beach, then as the sun was moving around and our skin is white and delicate we decided to move in to the resort area. We were at about 10 am at this point.

We went in search of the pineapple yogurt at Rip Swirl that I had heard was pretty good, but the teen spa was not open. A cast member at the front desk told me as well that I wasn't allowed to go in because it was teen use only. No biggie, it's just yogurt . We found the adult pool (love it, nice and quiet, great for reading, sleeping, lounging). Perfection. Right next to Ulu Ulu. Started to get more hungry so around 11:30 headed back to the room for lunch and had it on the deck, our salads and fruit purchased from ABC the day before. It was yum!

We decided to do the mehune game with the iPad thingy (like the Kim possible activity at Epcot). Fun way to spend 45 minutes, looking for hidden and interactive secrets on the resort. Once that adventure was over decided to have shaved ice and return the device back to the community centre. Note, the device plays loud and irritating music that you cannot control the volume to until returned to the community centre. One sure fire way to ensure they get these devices back in a timely way! I got a mango, pineapple and cherry shaved ice to share and we ate it at the community centre. It was good but I got at least a 1/2 doz ice cream headaches while eating it -approach with caution! .

Roamed down to the gift shop to check out what they had there, lots of frozen and refrigerated stuff, chips and junk. No fruit. But really cool carry on luggage from Aulani, if there was a large suitcase with this on it might have invested in it. So headed over to ABC again for a quick look. Got bananas and Greek yogurt, browsed a few places, and headed back.

We had planned on doing Monkeypod again but cancelled our ressie for the evening through Open Table app as we just went there last night and wanted to check out the Olelo room tonight for supper. Came back to the room for a little rest, then got dressed and headed out for a walk along the walking trail. It goes quite a ways to the left, three lagoons. Kinda neat.

Headed back to Olelo room at 5 at opening, sat outside so we could enjoy the live Hawaiian music for 5:30. The place filled up FAST, folks trying to get in to take advantage of happy hour and the music. There were some arguments between guests about who was waiting how long for that newly open table, but it all settled. We had 2 glasses of the house white, the spring rolls, beef natchos with cheese sauce, and the cheese plate. The cheese plate was not on the happy hour list, but it is our thing so we got it. Generous portion for a $12 cheese plate. Spring rolls and natchos were on the happy hour menu I think for $6 and $7 respectively, the wine was $7/glass. All pretty descent pricing for Hawaii! With tip we got out of there for $64.44.

We headed down to see the sunset at around 6:30. Between jet lag and 2 glasses of wine I was bagged. We rented a movie to watch and got back to the room at 7 but I remember only seeing the first 2 minutes, and out like a light went I!

 

[Inga]

PS the "Island Bananas" at the ABC market are from Guatemala! Lol

 

[WolffDVC2004]

Thanks for sharing. We will be there in May and I can't seem to get enough information. I was excited to see your Live trip report!

 

[jerseygal]

Can't wait for our Aulani May Trip!

I also read something about Dole Whip in the Teen Lounge...
Read something that you can Purchase but not stay and eat it?
Is there Dole Whip somewhere else on site?
Just love that Dole Whip! Will have to try the shaved ice that I have read so much about!

Hope that you are having a GREAT TRIP! Enjoy!

 

[BobDes]

Very helpful post! Thanks so much! We arrive this Friday afternoon and can't wait!

 

[jerseygal]

Bet that you can't wait! ENJOY BEAUTIFUL AULANI!

 

[Nora03]

Hi Inga
Enjoyed reading your trip report of Aulani. Sounds fabulous there. I hope you are having an amazing trip to New Zealand and that when you get back to Aulani you will write more. I'd love to hear all about it.

By the way, I bought some Quaker Harvest Warm and Crunchy Granola cereal and had that today for breakfast. What a good idea and delicious! I'm curious about why customs gave you a hard time about bringing them to the U.S. I bring granola bars when we travel and always declare them. Last time I think the customs official thought I was nuts, but I'm not saying I don't have food when I DO.

Looking forward to more trip report. Thanks for writing it. We have a long wait for our next trip, which will be Maui next year.