Mini Pandemic Trip Report to Oahu including Aulani

[DVC California]

These aren't my thing, so bear with me.

You could have fooled me! Very nice trip report and your photos are excellent. You have a beautiful family and are blessed to be able to enjoy some quality time in paradise.

Thank you for sharing and we are all looking forward to the rest of the trip.

 

[nono]

OK folks, sorry things are slowing down on my end. Work is unusually extreme right now. Thank you for all the kind comments!

After our stellar Monday, we all decided we have done "enough" for Oahu. How I plan our vacations: I open an Excel spreadsheet and list all sorts of things to do, grouped by geography. We did almost everything in the spreasheet. We were really enjoying the resort and the CMs were really interactive, and figured, when will it ever be like this again?

So, we hung out. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday until we had to fly out. Somewhere in there we had a rainy day, and after that the brown water came into the lagoon, but we managed to swim in all pools, enjoy the lazy river, and swam many a lap in the lagoon. We met many CMs. We practiced our Japanese and Hawaiian with them. We walked around a lot. We ate on property except for a pizza from Pizza Corner, which was the worst value of the trip. Just our feeling about it, but we live in pizza heaven, so...our prices stay quite competitive. The days and nights passed quickly.

Photos inside and out while raining:

 

[nono]

And then, of course it clears...



And then the rest of the days were pleasant! Though, we had a blast on the rainy day!!






And, the final poke, an order of Poke Nachos from Ulu Cafe.


The end!

 

[alohamom]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this report!

 

[distravel]

Enjoyed your trip report! Looks like you had a great time.

 

[Gracies Moms]

It can't be over already! Thanks for sharing your trip with us. We'll be there in June (praying and and crossing all fingers and toes). Thanks again!

 

[nono]

Enjoyed your trip report! Looks like you had a great time.

Thank you! Yes, we sure did. With 4 schedules to coordinate, we're down to one, two week trip per year, but I love it. We are busy the first 9-10 days, then usually chill. A one week vacation or even 10 days never gets us to the chill phase.

It has been awhile since I've been on Oahu, and I enjoyed it more than ever before.

And, sorry my mini-report turned into a maxi-report! Thanks to all for the encouragement.

 

[Dallas_Lady]

Thank you for this TR! Can you tell me a little more about the hotel you stayed at in Waikiki? How did you like it? We've booked the same one for June with our 12 & 14 year old. We've got a 2 queen bed suite with waikiki city view.

 

[nono]

Thank you for this TR! Can you tell me a little more about the hotel you stayed at in Waikiki? How did you like it? We've booked the same one for June with our 12 & 14 year old. We've got a 2 queen bed suite with waikiki city view.

I really enjoyed it. There are 2 towers (we stayed in the less desirable one), a little tighter in the bedrooms than your average Embassy Suites. But the living area was very flexible...I rearranged the furniture to fit our needs. The public areas are great. Memorabilia decorating the walls, plenty of public space...

I think your view would be what I showed for our room. In the towers, in nice weather, the emergency doors are open, so every time we stepped into the hallway, we looked left and had a framed, perfect view of the ocean. It is a very easy location to get into and out of for Waikiki. The parking is their own, which is really helpful. I mean, don't expect Turtle Bay, but having queen rooms in a property that functioned throughout the pandemic is not to be undersold. We met a few folks who were staying at Hilton Hawaiian Village (and having stayed there previously myself) and....they were not pleased. We were rather shocked that they were even opened, because it really didn't look as if it was. Now, it's been a month since we've been back, so things may have changed drastically. It is very, very hard to reopen a property that was never designed to be closed.

Any specific questions? I mean, my kids were blown away that we were in the city and yet in the water so fast. Where we live, we are 2.5 blocks from the beach, but our beach is almost the Sahara, so it is a long time to the water. So, we may be easily pleased by the property. I don't want to oversell something that may not be a big deal for you.

 

[Dallas_Lady]

I really enjoyed it. There are 2 towers (we stayed in the less desirable one), a little tighter in the bedrooms than your average Embassy Suites. But the living area was very flexible...I rearranged the furniture to fit our needs. The public areas are great. Memorabilia decorating the walls, plenty of public space...

I think your view would be what I showed for our room. In the towers, in nice weather, the emergency doors are open, so every time we stepped into the hallway, we looked left and had a framed, perfect view of the ocean. It is a very easy location to get into and out of for Waikiki. The parking is their own, which is really helpful. I mean, don't expect Turtle Bay, but having queen rooms in a property that functioned throughout the pandemic is not to be undersold. We met a few folks who were staying at Hilton Hawaiian Village (and having stayed there previously myself) and....they were not pleased. We were rather shocked that they were even opened, because it really didn't look as if it was. Now, it's been a month since we've been back, so things may have changed drastically. It is very, very hard to reopen a property that was never designed to be closed.

Any specific questions? I mean, my kids were blown away that we were in the city and yet in the water so fast. Where we live, we are 2.5 blocks from the beach, but our beach is almost the Sahara, so it is a long time to the water. So, we may be easily pleased by the property. I don't want to oversell something that may not be a big deal for you.

Thank you so much. As suburbanites, we are looking forward to being in a city, but we're planning to spend our days out and about on the island so I actually don't imagine being in the room very much.

Do you remember the name of the tower you were in?

 

[nono]

Thank you so much. As suburbanites, we are looking forward to being in a city, but we're planning to spend our days out and about on the island so I actually don't imagine being in the room very much.

Do you remember the name of the tower you were in?

Yes, Aloha Tower.

 

[davidher]

I was back in November Thanksgiving 2020. I love the Hilton Embassy Suites, clean rooms, great staff, central location, and the great coffee and shave ice from Big Wave Daves. We usually go stay two to three nights at Embassy Suites do all the touristy stuff then go stay two to three nights at Aulani without leaving the resort. We are going back the first week of April when my kid is out for spring break. We are only going because I got a Hilton Honors promotion for 150 per night at the Hawaiian Village so staying three nights, then another two at Aulani. You got me a little worried about the guests saying the hotel was a bit run down. I got such a cheap rate that I am keeping an open mind.

Bonus we were only $830.00 round trip for three flying out of Long Beach

 

[nono]

You got me a little worried about the guests saying the hotel was a bit run down. I got such a cheap rate that I am keeping an open mind.

I would also keep an open mind. I don't know if run down is the correct characterization. I think it was more ghost town, as most of the property was just closed, but they were renting rooms, and charging full rate on resort fee. Again, we were there last week of January, so by April things may be more "normal." I sure hope so. You can walk down to Big Wave Dave's for coffee. It's a good leg stretch in the morning. Have a great time!

 

[nycdisneygal]

thank you for sharing!!! I really enjoyed it. Glad you were able to go and have a good time