My No Pre-Trip Planning Spring Break 2017 all Aulani trip

[buffettgirl]

It's been gorgeous weather today. hot in the sun and nice and breezy in the shade and no humidity. Should be a great week.

 

[kdonnel]

Trying to wind down. It is 2:10am at home and I have been up since 5:00am.

For those following along and wanted more detail on AA flight 5, as there seem to be many either on this flight or considering it.

We ended up in Comfort+ in the middle seats of row 13 and one aisle seat of row 12.


This is 5-7 inches of extra leg room.


My wife was on the bulkhead.


An overview of the mini cabin (2 rows between two bulkheads)


Circa 1995 entertainment.


And finally a quick snap of the first class seats. They did not appear to be of the lay flat variety.

 

[kdonnel]

Now for the important parts. As I said earlier we landed about an hour early. We had to wait about 20 minutes for a gate to open up and even still we were on the road by 3:20 in the rental car. Ended up with a hard top Jeep Wrangler. Would have preferred a soft top but was happy to just take what was ready.

3:41pm, Malasadas in hand. Just bought 4. One for each of us. No need to eat old Malasadas when I can just drive a few minutes down the road and eat more.


We are in a pool/gardens view 1 bedroom that is part of a lock off. Are their dedicated one bedrooms at Aulani? You can just barely see the ocean from our balcony through the palm trees. This picture ended up too small. I will make them larger in future days.





Interestingly enough Disney appears to have updated the iHomes to models with lightning ports. Those that feel a need for an alarm clock still have one at Aulani. Of course it did not adjust the time correctly when my wife plugged in her phone. It currently reads 4:20am and iHomes are notoriously difficult to set.


Anyone know how to bypass the motion sensor thermostat? I have tried the various options and none seem to set it in a bypass mode. It is a bit warm for our taste.

 

[kdonnel]

Day 2

We started with breakfast at the KOA Pancake House. Had a very tasty breakfast with lots of others. It was very crowded.

After breakfast we decided now would be a good time to climb Diamond Head. We drove over and found that the parking lot was full and they were turning everyone around. After we turned around we saw that you could have got in a waiting line for a parking space. We got there about 10am and it was apparently a very popular time. We drove back down and found a parking spot in a church parking lot that was .6 miles from the parking lot in Diamond Head.

Not parking inside Diamond Head saved us $1 as you pay $1 a person to walk in or $5 a car.

We made our way to the top, those stairs at the top had my legs really burning.



After enjoying the view for awhile we headed back to Aulani, stopping at Costco on the way.

At Aulani we were only able to find chairs on the beach and went from beach to pool to beach to pool to ..... It was a very relaxing time.


Breakfast was big and our stomachs are still confused as to what time it is so we ended up skipping lunch and just snacking. We ended up splitting a California Roll and some nachos from Little 'Obihi's. Wasn't bad and hit the spot.

That night we had reservations at Ama Ama.


It was our first time eating at Ama Ama. They got a new menu on March 28th. My son got the celebration of tomatoes salad and I had a caesar salad while my daughter had a wedge salad. All the salads were very good. My wife and I both had the Mahi Mahi. I had the Corn Masa sauce and she had the brown butter sauce. My son had the Lamb and my daughter had a pasta. We also shared some brussel sprouts. For desert we split the pineapple cheesecake and a flourless chocolate cake. It was good, the view was good, but I don't think I would say it was worth the $310 we spent. We were way off on the outer edge of the restaurant and had trouble getting refills of our water and replacement silver ware when the main entrees came.

The last event of the day was a walk down to the Ko Olina marina beach park, around the park, and back to Aulani.

 

[kdonnel]

Day 3

We ate in the room for breakfast and headed over to Waimea Bay. Today it was calm enough for us to play in the waves. We have been other times where it is too rough. It is so much fun.



After a few hours we decided it was time for lunch.

We ended up eating at Kono's Cafe. The pork was so good!



We also got a shave ice at Matsumoto. It was good but we miss Aoki. I think the syrups at Aoki were better.

Then back to Aulani and more pool/ocean time.

We cooked in the room for dinner.

 

[kdonnel]

Day 4

We hung out at the resort until 5pm and then drove to Waikiki. We ate at LuLu's cafe and had a sunset view at least as good as AMA AMA. Food was tasty. Parking was easy at the Honolulu Zoo.


Today was purple arm bad. Be warned the purple wore off and died my arm, my wife's arm and my daughters swim suit.

 

[kdonnel]

Day 5

Today was a day spent on the east side of Oahu. We had a one hour raptor tour at the Kualoa ranch. It was really fun and we got really dirty.

I got to take a selfie with Kamekona and we got attacked by a dinosaur.





Then it was on to Robins Nest.....

 

[kdonnel]

Day 5 continued.

In previous trips we talked about going to Robins Nest from Magnum PI. This time we made it at low tide and had a great time. The water was so clear and calm. It was the perfect place to swim.

We did manage to lose my sons glasses so we are headed to LensCrafters at 11:15am tomorrow. Hopefully his prescription is one they have in stock.

Magnums guest house is actually at the back of the property. Looking rough.


Misc pics.

 

[happymommy]

Arrived almost an hour early. That means no gate available. So close but still trapped on the plane.

AA 5 on the 767-300 was ok but only because we ended up in the mini cabin for main cabin extra. Two rows of 2 3 2 between two bulkheads. Folks in regular economy looked uncomfortable at best.

American did serve a free meal in coach, a box lunch with a ham and cheese wrap, chips, and some brookside chocolate covered fruit. Then later pretzels. Free food in coach is new for American. First class had two meals, served with real plates and metal silverware. Smelled good.

Ours was the new 1 2 1 first class. Didn't look like lay flat seats. They got noise cancellation headphones and a tablet. Everyone else, my family included, got over head monitors every 5 rows.

Still taxiing.

Mmmm. Malasadas soon.

They actually are lay flat seats in first class. I'm booked on that round trip this summer! It's the best for the return flight. Blew a bunch of miles (transferred with a bonus from SPG) for all 4 of us to get first class. Now it's double the amount of miles; glad I booked it early!

Enjoying your photos! Wow that water is clear by Magnum PI's house. Never been there.

If you like sushi, I recommend Sushi Bay in Kapolei!

 

[alohamom]

Loving your pictures! Does it look like the Magnum house is under construction? When we went it was for sale so I hope someone purchased it to repair it...

 

[kdonnel]

Loving your pictures! Does it look like the Magnum house is under construction? When we went it was for sale so I hope someone purchased it to repair it...

Didn't see any signs of construction. It is very over grown but I could see a car parked at the house. Higgins never would have let the grounds exist in such disrepair.

I'm glad the original rumors that the purchaser was a proxy for the Obamas appears to be wrong. I would hate to see the secret service block off the coast and prevent others from swimming. It is an area used heavily by locals. If we hadn't got preoccupied with losing my sons glasses we would have stayed longer.

 

[alohamom]

Higgins never would have let the grounds exist in such disrepair.

 

[kdonnel]

Day 6

Replacement glasses, check!

Onward to Leonard's for a reward malasada.

 

[blondietink]

Didn't see any signs of construction. It is very over grown but I could see a car parked at the house. Higgins never would have let the grounds exist in such disrepair.

I'm glad the original rumors that the purchaser was a proxy for the Obamas appears to be wrong. I would hate to see the secret service block off the coast and prevent others from swimming. It is an area used heavily by locals. If we hadn't got preoccupied with losing my sons glasses we would have stayed longer.

Curious minds want to know.... where is Robin's Nest? That beach and water looks amazing and would like to try and get there.

 

[kdonnel]

Robins nest: @blondietink

There is a small beach park with some parking but we had to park along the street.


Overview


Closeup. You can see the turtle pond on the right of the park. You need to get there at low tide or be prepared to wade across a bit.


The pier that served as TC's helicopter base is the Makai pier and is also very close as are the Polo fields featured in a couple episodes.

We are probably headed back there tomorrow.

 

[kdonnel]

More day 6

After getting the glasses we headed back to the resort.

Forgot to mention we ate at My Cafe for breakfast. The fried rice was great. The kids got Cookie Butta Luva pancakes. They were the most amazing pancakes I have ever eaten.

We hung out at the resort going between the lazy river, hot tub, pool, and ocean. Another nice lazy day.

We cooked dinner in the room. The grills are a long way from our room but we wanted some grilled shrimp. Turned out great.




Off to let my wife try star trails. She forgot her shutter release (this is our no planning trip) but the conceriage gave her some tape and we are going to try taping the shutter down.

 

[MeeskaMooska13]

More day 6

After getting the glasses we headed back to the resort.

Forgot to mention we ate at My Cafe for breakfast. The fried rice was great. The kids got Cookie Butta Luva pancakes. They were the most amazing pancakes I have ever eaten.

We hung out at the resort going between the lazy river, hot tub, pool, and ocean. Another nice lazy day.

We cooked dinner in the room. The grills are a long way from our room but we wanted some grilled shrimp. Turned out great.


View attachment 229846

Off to let my wife try star trails. She forgot her shutter release (this is our no planning trip) but the conceriage gave her some tape and we are going to try taping the shutter down.

Star trails? I am curious!

 

[blondietink]

Thank you for the directions. We love Waimanalo and have been there many times to the beach, but have never seen the turtle pond area. We'll be sure to check it out in September.

 

[kdonnel]

Here is the product of her work. This was her first attempt but her and I both think it turned out great. There was a lot more traffic at the beginning of Ka'ena Point hike at 11pm than I would have thought. Luckily it appears the headlights didn't seem to effect the picture much. She took a picture every 30 seconds for almost an hour and then layered them and combined them into a single image.

She forgot for remote shutter release so we had to improvise.

We placed the foil contraption nub side on the shutter and put the hair scrunchy over it to keep the shutter pressed. Then the camera did the work of taking a picture every 30 seconds.

Here we go:

 

[alohamom]

OMG-that is awesome!