twodogs
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2012
- Messages
- 3,703
I promised myself, and a few people on this board, that I would write a trip report when we returned. We have been back about 3 weeks now, and I am finally getting settled back into work, life, kids being off school and can take a stab at it. I have never done a TR for any of our WDW or DLR trips, so it probably won't be as elaborate as some by any means. As well, note that my husband gets freaked out if there are pictures of our children online, so the pictures (if I can even get them to post) will be decidedly of the back of someone's head!
This was a first trip to Oahu and Aulani for all in our party. My DH and I went to Maui and Kauai on our honeymoon about 21 years ago, but we had not been on Oahu. This trip was me, DH, DD8, DD10 and my parents (GM and GP, for Grandmother and Grandpa for this report). The trip was important as my father is a retired military combat pilot, and my mother's father (my grandfather) was a WWII veteran. My parents really wanted to see Pearl Harbor but would never plan such a far away trip as Hawaii on their own. We had plans to take the girls to Hawaii but thought we would wait until they were a little older, however, serious illness struck our family last year and reset our timelines a bit. I decided to plan our trip and hope that my parents would join if I did all of the planning. They have joined us on the last two WDW trips as well as our last DLR trip, and they are very fit and active, so I hoped they would go with us to Aulani. They eagerly agreed, and then the planning was underway!
The trip was 8 nights in a 2 bedroom villa, booked with a cash reservation since we are not DVC. We were fortunate to book the 35% off deal that also included at $50/night ($400 total) resort credit. I booked this around Thanksgiving, and the trip started Memorial Day weekend and lasted 8 nights. Of note, the resort credit was just applied to the bill as a one-time $400 credit. It was not parceled out at $50/day, which was good because there were probably some days that we didn't eat anything at the resort.
We flew from Dallas directly to HNL on American Airlines. This would not necessarily be my first choice of airline due to the age of the planes that they use on this route, but it is our only non-stop option from Dallas. I did not want to mess with plane changes or lay overs. The flight was ok, but we had no overhead reading lights that worked in our section (which was the Main Cabin Extra section of Coach, which you typically pay extra for, but we got free due to DH having Platinum status on AA). It was a challenge when everyone in the window sections closed the shades to use their electronics, and I wanted to read a real book. It was too dark, so ended up using our phones for light. Not the best on an 8 hour flight. The kids did remarkably well on the flight. They are seasoned travelers, and they fly often, but I was still concerned about the length of the flight. They did great. AA has started serving a "meal" in coach, which is new on this route just since May. We got a chicken or veggie wrap each way which was complimentary. I had packed sandwiches and a boat load of snacks as well, so we were all set.
I have debated about how to organize this trip report, either by day or just by activity. I am going to try doing it by activity and if it starts to not make sense, I will revise it!!
This was a first trip to Oahu and Aulani for all in our party. My DH and I went to Maui and Kauai on our honeymoon about 21 years ago, but we had not been on Oahu. This trip was me, DH, DD8, DD10 and my parents (GM and GP, for Grandmother and Grandpa for this report). The trip was important as my father is a retired military combat pilot, and my mother's father (my grandfather) was a WWII veteran. My parents really wanted to see Pearl Harbor but would never plan such a far away trip as Hawaii on their own. We had plans to take the girls to Hawaii but thought we would wait until they were a little older, however, serious illness struck our family last year and reset our timelines a bit. I decided to plan our trip and hope that my parents would join if I did all of the planning. They have joined us on the last two WDW trips as well as our last DLR trip, and they are very fit and active, so I hoped they would go with us to Aulani. They eagerly agreed, and then the planning was underway!
The trip was 8 nights in a 2 bedroom villa, booked with a cash reservation since we are not DVC. We were fortunate to book the 35% off deal that also included at $50/night ($400 total) resort credit. I booked this around Thanksgiving, and the trip started Memorial Day weekend and lasted 8 nights. Of note, the resort credit was just applied to the bill as a one-time $400 credit. It was not parceled out at $50/day, which was good because there were probably some days that we didn't eat anything at the resort.
We flew from Dallas directly to HNL on American Airlines. This would not necessarily be my first choice of airline due to the age of the planes that they use on this route, but it is our only non-stop option from Dallas. I did not want to mess with plane changes or lay overs. The flight was ok, but we had no overhead reading lights that worked in our section (which was the Main Cabin Extra section of Coach, which you typically pay extra for, but we got free due to DH having Platinum status on AA). It was a challenge when everyone in the window sections closed the shades to use their electronics, and I wanted to read a real book. It was too dark, so ended up using our phones for light. Not the best on an 8 hour flight. The kids did remarkably well on the flight. They are seasoned travelers, and they fly often, but I was still concerned about the length of the flight. They did great. AA has started serving a "meal" in coach, which is new on this route just since May. We got a chicken or veggie wrap each way which was complimentary. I had packed sandwiches and a boat load of snacks as well, so we were all set.
I have debated about how to organize this trip report, either by day or just by activity. I am going to try doing it by activity and if it starts to not make sense, I will revise it!!