We Had the Best Trip Ever! Maholo WWoHP, WDW & Waikiki- A Jan 2012 TR

[OziJo]

wow, great updates! I love the character photos and the nature photos. I'm jealous of your main street electrical parade pics - my camera battery died and anyway wouldn't have taken such nice ones. The Move It Shake It Parade looks really great with that dusk sky behind it too!

The cabin you stayed in looks so cute!

Oh Dara you have some fantastic photos on your TR and the cabins were perfect. Our Disney Cabin in the Woods. Just as I had imagined when I booked.

We were there on the same days! We had so much fun too. It looks like our park days didn't match though. I really wanted to go to WWOHP, but it wasn't possible this trip. We have never been to IoA at all. Excellent weather! I love your trip report. Wonderful pics.

The weather was great wasn't it. Are you doing a TR Lisa? Send me a link if you do

Still loving your report!

Sounds like you had a fantastic trip

Thanks Mary

Nice that the DDs are taking the camera and using it. Definitely putting it to good use.

Thanks for sharing.

DD2 takes some great shots and knows more than me about the camera.

What a great Peter Pan interaction! Crystal Palace looks yummy. I can't wait to get back there for that French toast. I really love your trip report!

French Toast :drool: It's on the kids buffet remember

Those are some pretty awesome pics!! Great job with a new camera! Looks like a wonderful day at MK!!

Thank you Kara

I am subscribing now, but will come back later to read and catch up

Aloha

 

[OziJo]

Day 10 Fri 13th Jan

Animal Kingdom

We had a slow start to the day with DD2 dragging the chain but I wasn't worried as AK was always going to be a relaxed day. It was cool and overcast but it never rained. We all wore jackets and all except DD3 wore jeans.

We arrived by 9:30 grabbed our Maps and headed straight for Expedition Everest admiring the scenery as we went along:

In the line at Everest. So much detail as usual:

EE was so much fun we did it again straight away! We turned towards Africa wandering through the colourful street and shops with music and dancing accompanying us and joined the next safari.

The animals were out and about:

We rescued the baby elephant then went straight to the Pangani Forest Trail:

The others wanted to do EE again and I had no objections. They had looked at the guide and decided that was the only ride worth their time. So back to Asia to brave the Yeti once again

After EE it was lunchtime so we found a seat at Yak and Yeti which was really crowded. Here DH & DD3 lined up while the rest of us kept the table. This was the longest we ever waited for service. The food was good, not great but the desserts here were the best CS choices we have had. I took a picture after we'd eaten our entree but before dessert:

During lunch we decided that there was really all that much more we wanted to see so we would take the train to Rafiki's Conservation Research Centre then head home to begin packing so we could spend all day tomorrow at the parks before having to leave early Sunday morn. We enjoyed the train ride and wandering around the centre. We relaxed in the booth during the Rainforest Experience and checked out the displays.

After Rafiki's we considered doing Dinosaur but there was a bit of a wait and we all agreed to leave the park and head home.

It was sad but we were starting to look towards the next part of our trip and I was wondering about the arrangements for DME pick up and airline check-in. I wasn't expecting any DME info to arrive before the next day but I just wanted to check and make sure they had our flight details. I had given them to our TP before we left and she had said she had booked it all. Then we checked-in at the DME counter on arrival they said they didn't have any departure details. So I showed our flight details and she entered it into the computer.

I was still a bit concerned and rightly so. We stopped off at the front desk on our way back from AK and I asked if they could check it for us. She said they didn't have our details! Unfortunately I didn't have them on me at the time so when we got back to the cabin I got DH to call and he said we were all set for a 6:20am pickup.

A little later someone dropped off some DME info. It said they couldn't confirm our flight details but to bring the letter with our names and resort details and show that to the driver. I came to believe the problem was that we had a QANTAS flight number for an AA flight. It didn't seem to bother the humans we spoke to but the computer system didn't seem to be able to handle it. I know that these flights usually have both a QANTAS and an AA flight number but the AA number wasn't on on our ticket. If someone at some point had said you need an AA flight number then I would have made some inquiries. But everyone we gave our flight details to said "no problem" and it was only after we received that final notice that our flight details couldn't be confirmed that I figured it out.

At that point we decided to just turn up for the DME pick up time of 6:20 for our 9:20 flight. We arranged with bell services to pick us up in their van with all our luggage and they gave us a pick up time of 5:30. This would give us time to do check-in at the desk.

Anyway with that sorta sorted I put it out of my mind. We still had a day and a half to enjoy Disney before heading off to Waikiki.

 

[OziJo]

(Day 10 Fri 13th Jan cont)

Artist's Point & the Wilderness Lodge

Back at the Cabin we sorted out our things and packed as much as possible. We had a 6:15 pm ADR at Artist's Point and I had wanted to get there early to have a look around the Lodge. As it turned out we didn't leave until 5:30. We caught the boat and arrived at the restaurant right on 6pm. We checked in and were let in straight way. We were going to have to check out the Lodge after dinner.

We were immediately impressed by the Lodge from the short walk up the path to the restaurant itself. It was dark outside and we didn't really have time to linger so I didn't get any photos until we were seated.

Just one of the beautiful paintings in the restaurant.

We ordered and our bread and drinks arrived:

This meal was a 2 TS credit meal and it was a special event so we decided to order off plan and try a couple of appetizers. I had heard the Portobello Soup was a house specialty and we liked the sound of the beets and pear salad with white cheese:

They were both delicious and even DD2, who was acting too grumpy for my liking, had a try and said it was good. She wasn't happy because she had taken one look at the menu and thought she wouldn't like anything on it. This is typical DD2 behavior when it comes to food. If she doesn't like the sound of the menu she acts all grumpy.

I wasn't going to let it spoil my night though. Our waiter was great, very friendly and attentive asking us about Australia and saying he had a teenage daughter so understood about Grumpy and he tried to make her laugh. It didn't work though and when he walked away there were some tears. I just kept ignoring her. The rest of us where really enjoying the atmosphere and DH and I were enjoying the wine She got over it when her meal came and she found she enjoyed the Thai Style Seafood Hotpot. I mean who wouldn't when faced with this:

Our girls all enjoy seafood and we eat a lot of Thai so this was perfect for them.

DH had the Buffalo and I had the Salmon and we each tried some of the other:

Each was served with a different tasty vegetable puree and some tender baby vegetables. The Salmon was delicious and perfectly cooked with a crisp peppery skin. The Buffalo was tender as well but didn't have enough flavour for DH. I'm not much of a red meat eater but I enjoyed the Buffalo. For me it had plenty of flavour. The servings don't look like much but there was plenty and we still had room for the best part of the meal- dessert!

I had the cobbler with house specialty berry icecream:

The icecream was to die for and while the cobbler was good I could have just had an extra scoop of icecream.

DH & DD1 had the Pana Cotta:

Delicious

While DD2&3 had the chocolate cake:

DD2 said the other day she still dreams about that chocolate cake. It was crisp on the outside with a saucy centre. Yes DD2 had got over the grumps helped along by our wonderful server who brought out 3 clip on light up Tinkerbell's because he thought it might have been him who made her cry. Poor fella. I assured him it wasn't and he was pleased to see them all smiling and clipping on their Tinkerbells. Suffice to say he was rewarded with the top suggested tip

After dinner we went out to the Lodge foyer and were impressed to say the least:

It was beautiful!

There were Indian Headdresses behind glass...

...and detailed themed fixtures

The girls found a wifi hotspot and updated facebook:

This had been an ongoing theme wherever we went. I had some data on my plan but it ran out and DD1 became and expert at finding wifi hotspots for her phone.

When we went outside to catch the bus the wind had come up and it was really cold for the first time in our trip. we found some shelter and had a short wait for the bus to FW.

On the bus the girls turned on their Tinkerbell lights:

Tomorrow our final day in Disney World

 

[Travel Mum]

You know I am seriously considering the option of Hawaii in January - hurry up with your TR !! Can you tell me what you paid for flights and when you booked.

Hawaii in January is top of my list too Battymum! DD2 will turn 12 in March so I'm wondering if we can get one more trip in while she is a child fare. Plus, after having lots of Honolulu holidays with my parents while I was younger, its high time I got back there However, our airfares ex NZ are so high for HNL compared to yours from Oz because Air NZ has quite a monopoly.

So Jo, I am also very much looking forward to your HNL segment

 

[alicia1506]

this is a great trip report -- i can't wait to be back at disneyland -- also loving the light up tinkerbells

 

[OziJo]

this is a great trip report -- i can't wait to be back at disneyland -- also loving the light up tinkerbells

Your so lucky to be going back!! I can see us getting back to Disneyland and Hawaii but WDW and WWoHP may be out of reach for us as well.

 

[alicia1506]

Your so lucky to be going back!! I can see us getting back to Disneyland and Hawaii but WDW and WWoHP may be out of reach for us as well.

lol. yeah, we made a deal. a trip each year, unless something precludes it. and since we're in love with disneyland...

this year, dcl cruise to the caribbean, chicago & disneyland.

next year, cruise with my sis, me, carlo & his brother to hawaii (maybe) and visit disneyland again, with a trip back to wwohp and nyc.

2014 -- we're thinking lightening fast trip to uk/france/italy/germany/switzerland -- but may be another usa trip ... we're not yet sure.

 

[battymum]

Ive only been looking briefly but airfares to SYD-HNL seem exorbitant -I'm having a hard time trying to justify it - its pretty much the same as going to LA (which is not much less than going to the east coast)

Although if I went back to the east coast, I would want to do exactly the same trip, with a cruise and NYC as well.


Jo, sorry for thread hijack - I have a habit of doing that!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

It just goes to show, that even at WDW we can have an off day. I have one just like that...moods can change like the winds. Fun, isn't it? Glad she perked up as the meal went on...I think that sometimes Disney can be a little overwhelming and we need a break. BTW, freaky pic with those Tinkerbells...love it!!

 

[NLD]

Mmmm, AP looks so yummy!

Also love the Tinkerbell lights picture!

 

[2Monkeys]

Great report! Looking forward to reading about Hawaii!!

 

[OziJo]

Day 11 Sat 14th Jan

Last Day Disney
DHS and EPCOT revisited.

Woke up to our only really cold morning but we were keen to hit DHS early so we could ride Toy Story. Our first stop though was breakfast and we used up a few snack credits on tea, coffee, hot chocolate and pastries:

Then onto Toy Story where there was already a long wait. We grabbed a fast pass then rode Tower of Terror and Rockin' Roller Coaster...

...and headed over to ride Star Tours for the 4th and last time. This time we got Tatooine and Coruscant. Of our four rides we managed to visit Hoth, the Death Star, Kashykk, Tatooine and Coruscant. We were happy that we had experienced a good range of Star tour variations.

This time DD2 was the Rebel Spy and we thought that was a nice bit of fairy dust to end our Disney trip. When we got home we were talking about how DD2 was the rebel spy and DD1 was chosen for Indiana Jones and DD3 quietly said she wished she had been picked for something. I told her not to worry because if I had me way in 3 years time we will be going to Disney somewhere in the world and it will probably only be her DH and me. Then she reminded me that she is doing Japanese and their school does a trip to Japan which includes a stop at Tokyo Disney. So it looks like she will be heading back to Disney before the rest of us

DD2 had spotted the Turkey Leg truck. She had wanted a turkey leg from day 1 so we thought we would have lunch at Fairfax Fare. She had the Turkey leg:

The rest of us had burgers and fries:

Then it was time for Toy Story. I'm glad we chose to do DHS and Toy Story first thing over EPCOT and Soarin'. Toy Story was a lot of fun. A ride for all ages and we all had a great time. I can see why it's so popular.

We said goodbye to DHS and jumped on a bus to EPCOT hoping but not feeling too confident that we might get to ride Soarin' before it was too late.

We went straight over and grabbed fast passes but they were for 7:40. We would see how we were going. As the one who was keenest to do Soarin' it was going to be up to me if we wanted to stay that late. We had a 5:30am pick up in the morn and still had a lot of packing to do.

We rode Nemo...

...and Maelstrom. Nemo was fun but Maelstrom was umm well I have to say for the first and only time, a waste of time.

It was around about 4pm and we all decided that we would go back and spend our last evening at FW we really hadn't spent as much time there as we would have liked.

It was a good idea. We took a walk up to the Meadow and wandered around just enjoying the afternoon. It was cool but clear and perfect weather for a stroll in the twilight. Back at the cabin we did a bit more packing then took the bus to the to the settlement.

The girls found a wifi hotspot...

...while DH and I had a Margarita's in Crockett's Tavern.

DD3 and the bear in the tavern:

We had 7 cs credits left so we ordered a pizza (2 credits), nachos, a Ceaser salad and 2 chicken dinners to go leaving us with 1 cs credit unused. We had used up all our snack and table service credits and were left in no doubt that free dining had been a great success for us and had helped make our trip even more memorable.

We had experiences that we may no have had most notably the Crystal Palace Breakfast and Artist's Point. We saved by not having to pay for The HDDR and La Hacienda two things we would have done anyway and we never had to worry about how much the cs meals were costing.

We took the food back to our Cabin enjoyed our last Disney meal...

...before finishing our packing. I realised I hadn't taken any photos inside the cabin so I took these...

I didn't take one of the bathroom. Someone was always in there but it was pretty roomy with a double sink a large mirror and the usual bath/shower.

It was sad to be leaving but our thoughts were on the next leg of our journey as we headed off to bed.

Next an early morning ride on the DME and an 8 hour flight to Honolulu.

 

[battymum]

Oh yay, I was wondering what the inside of the cabins was like. What was the bedding configuration?

Did FW have a pool?
*cross fingers for another trip in three years* oh and how cool to go to Japan with school. I am sure it will cost you though.

Its hard to know when to travel without your babies isnt it - I'm sure when they are in their twenties even late teens they will happily jetset off without a thought of us- but us Mothers on the other hand cant do anything without that maternal guilt.

 

[battymum]

Oh and I love the shots of your teens on the Wifi. Nice to know mine is not the only one.

We had the sim with unlimited data - I was cursing that we let her have that.

 

[OziJo]

There was one room with a double bed and a double bunk. The girls slept in there. In the main area there was a pull down Murphy Bed that DH and I used. It was a double and we are used to a queen but it was fine. I didn't get a picture of it pulled down but you can see it's outline (with a bit of bedding sticking out ) in the pictures above, just behind the Tapestry.

The toughest thing was having only one bathroom. It did make it hard to get out early in the morning but we coped by having me not stress about it. We were on holiday after all.

There's a laundry and comfort station near the 2100-2200-2300 loop area where we were. It was always an option for one of us to use the shower there if need be but we never did.

There are two pools at FW. A smaller one especially for the cabins and one in the main rec area at the Meadow which is a lot bigger. There's so much to do at FW we only scratched the surface. It was the best place to walk and unwind.

As to the wifi, I had read your TR and decided I was only going to get limited data with talk and text. There werer times when I wished I had a bit more but I was glad I didn't get it for DD1's phone. There were enough wifi hotspots in WDW and Waikiki.

 

[OziJo]

Day 12 Sun Jan 15th

Traveling to Honolulu.

So here's the short story-

• Up early for 5:30 pickup from Cabin
• Checked in at Outpost
• DME arrived promptly at 6:20am, stopped at 4 other resorts to pick up passengers then arrived at the airport at 7:30.
• Plane was right on schedule- 3hours to Fort Worth
• Enough time at airport for lunch
• Plane on schedule- 8hours to Honolulu
• Arrived Honolulu at 5:30pm

Aloha!

We caught a taxi to Waikiki Shore and were checked in and in our apartment by 7pm to be greeted by this wonderful view:

Our home for the next 10 nights!

While I got settled and unpacked DH went out and bought Sushi for dinner. We were exhausted so after dinner we chilled out in font of the teli and had then off to bed.

We were changing down gears into relaxation mode for 8 days of sun, sand, surf and shopping.

 

[OziJo]

Day 13 Mon Jan 16th

Woke up feeling a little jetlagged. Honolulu was 4 hours behind Orlando and I was in the habit of waking up at 6am Orlando time. So by 2am I was struggling to stay asleep. I dosed on and off and finally got out of bed at 5am and made myself some coffee.

The others were awake by 6am and we had breakfast and waited for the sun to rise. We all got dressed and headed out for a walk. We were on the 15th floor and always had a short wait for the elevator. Our apartment was right on the beach and we literally walked out the back door onto the sand.

This is a shot of our apartment block from the end of the rock wall:

We were on the top floor at at the back so while we didn't have a full ocean view we had a views over the ocean, the park, the city and the mountains.

The girls and me on the rock wall:

It was a little over cast but very mild about 24 degrees. The temperature range during our stay was lows of 20-22 and highs of 26-28. There was some cloud and a little bit of rain on one day but mostly sunshine. Perfect weather for swimming and sun-baking.

I have never had such perfect beach weather for so many days. Usually it gets too humid for me here in Sydney in summer (though not this year!). All our beach holidays in Australia seem to be peppered with rainy days. We have been to the Gold Coast in Spring and the temps were about the same but it rained more than half the time. In Oahu it rains in the mountains but not as often on the coast. This is the main reason for the popularity of Waikiki.

We walked along Waikiki Beach. There was a path that went past all the exclusive resorts and to the main beach:

We then walked along the main road back to our apartment. It was Martin Luther King Jnr Day:

Back home we grabbed some towels and went back up to the main beach where DH hired surf boards and DD2&3 had a surf lesson. The surf was not that great but the girls got up on their boards and had some fun.

The main beach was crowded though and in the future we stayed on the beach outside our apartment. You could hire surf boards, paddle boats deck chairs and umbrellas. There was no surf at all here so DH and DD2, who could surf some already went up to the main beach and surfed on another couple of occasions. Otherwise we spent the time at "our" beach.

In the afternoon we decided to get the shopping out of the way and jumped on a bus to Ala Moana. I enjoyed shopping here. We walked from one end to the other. From Sears to Macy's stopping at boutiques on the way. Everyone bought something this day except for me. DD1 bought shorts and a top, DD2 bought a formal dress and some heels, DD3 bought a hoodie that had a cord you could thread your ipod earphones through while DH did the best of all buying a leather Jacket and some work shirts.

There was some amazing bargains here. Menswear especially had large discounts and DH was told that he could get his things at a further discounts as they were having a pre-sale. The sale started on Thurs but if he paid now and came back on Thurs to pick his things up he would get a further 25% off. So his Tommy Hilfiger leather Jacket which was already 40% off would be 65%!! We would be happy to come, back probably without the girls and would see if I could pick up some bargains for myself

We had Chinese for dinner in a very nice restaurant that was on the top floor of the Shopping Centre. We caught the trolley back which was fun as the driver chatted away sometimes about the sights, sometimes about nothing at all.

We'd had a busy time for our first day in Honolulu and had arranged to take a shuttle to Pearl Harbor in the Morning. So when we go back it was straight off to bed.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Fantastic updates. Great to see that you had such a lovely view in Honolulu.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Okay..I'm conflicted here...I'm sad that your WDW vacation is over, but soooo excited for your Hawaii vacation to start!! It looks like you guys picked the perfect place to stay. Had you gotten referrals from friends who had stayed there or did you just totally luck out with that place? Can't wait to hear about Pearl Harbor. If I ever make it to Hawaii, I would love to see that place!

 

[Moodyzblu]

Hawaii looks awesome ! I'd love to get there some day. Looking forward to hearing more about your stay !