Girimama33
"I've disgraced the forces of evil."
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2012
I have the best parents in the world! They decided to take the whole family on vacation for 8 days at Aulani. There were 13 of us total (most of the time)
My Mom and Dad, brother, SIL and nieces 13 and 10, sister with niece 25 and nephew 26, single sister (SS) and my family which is DH, DD (6) and myself. We had two 2 bedroom island view villas that we were able to get a CM discount for (SIL works for WDC). We were there from July 12th- 19th. My parents and brothers family were arriving about the same time on Saturday (noon). The plan was my mom and I would hit Costco and Safeway. We were going to take a cab, but my cousin (who lives in Mililani) offered to take us.
My flight ended up being delayed 3.5 hours, so my mom ended up going to Costco with my cousin and dad. We reserved Speedi Shuttle through the resort. It was very easy. The desk was in baggage claim, and the driver was ready for us. They even took us to the resort in a Mercedes SUV than their usual Mercedes shuttle van. We arrived, received our leis, and headed up to our room (some of my family was already there). For our two rooms, I placed a room request for the Ewa tower, high floor and for the rooms to be close together. My room request was honored and we had rooms 781 and 787. I guess I missed all the drama beforehand the front desk told my brothers family that the room was ready on two different occasions, when it actually wasnt. SIL was not happy and complained to the concierge. As a result, we received $100 credit, Rainbow Reef length of stay passes for our entire party, and each room received a few nice trays of chocolates with a photo of Mickey. We had Costco pizza for dinner, and then DH, SS, DN25 and I went to the Olelo room for a drink. The rest of the group went swimming.
Most of us were up bright and early for our character breakfast at Makahiki. My SIL and her girls made custom Hawaii Minnie ears for the females in our group, with the flower on the appropriate side depending on our relationship status. They were a big hit with the staff, especially Aunty. Next time, we will have to make some extras to hand out. The breakfast was yummy and a lot of fun Great way to start the week. We headed to the pool afterwards, so that we could get a spot since my cousins family would be joining us. The chair situation is no joke. By 8am there was not a lot to choose from. We had a few chairs by the Waikolohe pool and a few more in front of Ama Ama. The chairs by the pool were given away (or taken) within a half hour of us being there. That was kind of a drag. No one seemed to mess with the chairs by Ama Ama though. We had a great time with our family. I noticed A LOT of locals at the resort. My cousin mentioned that if they know someone who actually works at Aulani, they can get rooms for about $100 a night. My cousin also found out we were planning on doing the Paradise Cove Luau on Wednesday. We booked it through the resort. My cousin knows the Paradise Cove accountant, and was able to book the luau through him for half the price. We were still in the window to get a full refund on our Aulani reservation, so we canceled that without any issue and booked the orchid package for about $59 per adult with 13 people, we saved almost $700.00. We all had dinner (20 total) at Makahiki that evening. We all found the food and service very good. We watched the Starlit Hui from our room and then went to bed.
On Monday, most of our group was picked up by a Hawaii Nautical shuttle for scuba/snorkeling. Only SIL, N10, DD and I stayed at the resort. We had booked a cabana on this day. When I booked it in April, the agent told me I had the last one on the Ka Maka Landing. However, the night before our cabana day, we were told we had cabana #1, which is by the Menehune Bridge. I did not mind the location since DD really enjoyed the Menehune Bridge and the cabanas there seemed more centrally located vs. the Ka Maka cabanas. It was worth every penny. There were a couple of short downpours on Monday while we were in the cabana, which gave it another thumbs up. The rest of the group joined us about 1pm, and we continued to enjoy the pools. We had dinner in our room, but could not enjoy the movie (The Jungle Book) from our balcony because it was rained out.
On Tuesday, about 8 of us had planned to do the USS Arizona Memorial tour through the Aulani. Our driver, Bambi picked us up at 6:30am. Bambi provided a lot of interesting information about Pearl Harbor, and what transpired before the war. We arrived to the sites at about 7:15 and were handed our movie/shuttle tickets for the 8:30 showing. We toured the Bowfin and some of the other museums before our shuttle time. We were back at the resort by noon. We had lunch in the room and went down to enjoy the pools. I had an appointment at Laniwai for 3pm. They suggest you come an hour early in order to enjoy the Hydrotherapy Garden. The grounds of the outdoor hydrotherapy garden are very nice and serene. There are several different pools to try out, as well as the different rain shower heads. I had the Kilikili treatment which consists of a body scrub (I choose Pikake), a lomilomi massage and a body butter. It was divine and very relaxing. That evening, we met another cousin for dinner at Monkeypod. The restaurant was very warm and humid since it is open air and they have no air conditioning. Once the sun went down, it was not too bad in there. The food was exceptional definitely the best meal I had there, and the best drinks too. Take advantage of their happy hour if you can.
Wednesday was my SSs 52nd birthday. We had booked the Executive Lanai, which was great. Loved the view, and the service was wonderful. We had a great attendant, Lisa Marie. We found out she was originally from Anaheim as well, and went to a rival high school during the time my sisters were in school. We rented Kayaks and Paddleboards. It was a lot of fun. I was a little concerned about our Luau reservation. I know the seating was first come first served, and we were not sure if we were going to be there early enough for the pre-dinner activities. I texted my cousin and asked if his friend could arrange a table for us. We also included my Aunty and Unko on our luau reservation. His friend really hooked us up with the best seat in the house for the Orchid package (which has the best seating IMO). We were right in front of the stage. The activities were fun. We made haku leis, wrist leis, got tattoos. The food was fine compared to all the reviews I had read. Most of our group really enjoyed it. The entertainment was very good. DD loved the fire chief and was excited she got to hug him once the luau was over. The walk to and from the Aulani was very easy.
Thursday was our day to tour the island. We rented 2 minivans from the Aulani Alamo desk (via Costco). We picked up our cars and headed to Pali Lookout. It was pouring rain, so we headed to our next spot, Lanikai Beach. I used to live on Oahu 20 years ago, and would spend every day off I had at Lanikai, so I had to go back. My brother had a GPS and wanted an address. I gave him the one located on the Aulani Lanikai Beach directions card. The address took him to Kailua Beach park. When we got there, I told him we needed to go up the road more. It started raining, so we went around the corner to Lanikai, and it was not raining. I got to enjoy my favorite Beach again. We ate lunch at Deans Drive In In Kaneohe it was delicious. After that, we drove up to Kualoa Ranch and walked around. Next we drove to the North Shore and hiked Waimea Valley. After that, we went to the Dole Plantation and had a Dole Whip float rode the train and did the maze. We did some shopping in Waikiki afterwards. We were able to drop the cars off with the valet at Aulani in order to turn them in, so we did not incur any parking charges even though we came back after the car rental office was closed. We ate dinner at Off the Hook. My mom began noticing some problems with one of her eyes. She went to urgent care the next day and was told she had pink eye, and likely got it from the pools. No one else in our party got it, so I do not know how accurate that assessment was.
Friday was another cabana day. The night before, we were told we had cabana #3 on the Ka Maka Landing. When my brother and SIL went down to the pool, they noticed another name on the #3 cabana sign. They saw our name was on cabana #2 by the Menehune Bridge again. SIL was not happy, and explained that we were told our cabanas would be on the Ka Maka Landing they even had us in cabana #3 in their system. They could not do anything and offered to comp the cabana for the day. SIL had decided to secure some chairs by the Waikolohe pool since she did not want to be by the Menehune Bridge. We saw Lisa Marie again, and told her what was going on. She told us she was going to make sure that their stuff was left alone and they would be taken care of. The cabana again was great. A few of our party was over being in the sun all day, so they enjoyed being able to relax in there. We went to Ama Ama for dinner. It was really nice, but I preferred the food at Monkeypod (my mom would disagree). Also, it was difficult to see the sunset from the restaurant, but the view is beautiful with or without the sunset.
Saturday was our departure day. We had breakfast at Ama Ama Yum! I had the pancakes with macadamia nuts and vanilla caramel sauce. After breakfast, a little bit of our group would get on the Speedi Shuttle each hour and head to the airport. I hit the gift shop with my CM SIL so I could use her discount. I made sure I had some gift cards and cash for her to buy everything I needed (they are needs, right?). We had a nice flight home and sat next to some great folks. DH had such a great time that we are planning on going back to Hawaii this spring probably not Aulani (maybe a day or two at the end), but we want to go to Kauai and spend some time on Oahu with my ohana.
Overall, it was a very relaxing trip. We purposely did not plan a whole lot to do. Our last family trip to Cabo had too much jam packed into the week. This time, we wanted to make sure we had time to enjoy the resort and Boy did we! I did not end up doing any of the resort activities that are offered. We were having too much fun at the pool.
My flight ended up being delayed 3.5 hours, so my mom ended up going to Costco with my cousin and dad. We reserved Speedi Shuttle through the resort. It was very easy. The desk was in baggage claim, and the driver was ready for us. They even took us to the resort in a Mercedes SUV than their usual Mercedes shuttle van. We arrived, received our leis, and headed up to our room (some of my family was already there). For our two rooms, I placed a room request for the Ewa tower, high floor and for the rooms to be close together. My room request was honored and we had rooms 781 and 787. I guess I missed all the drama beforehand the front desk told my brothers family that the room was ready on two different occasions, when it actually wasnt. SIL was not happy and complained to the concierge. As a result, we received $100 credit, Rainbow Reef length of stay passes for our entire party, and each room received a few nice trays of chocolates with a photo of Mickey. We had Costco pizza for dinner, and then DH, SS, DN25 and I went to the Olelo room for a drink. The rest of the group went swimming.
Most of us were up bright and early for our character breakfast at Makahiki. My SIL and her girls made custom Hawaii Minnie ears for the females in our group, with the flower on the appropriate side depending on our relationship status. They were a big hit with the staff, especially Aunty. Next time, we will have to make some extras to hand out. The breakfast was yummy and a lot of fun Great way to start the week. We headed to the pool afterwards, so that we could get a spot since my cousins family would be joining us. The chair situation is no joke. By 8am there was not a lot to choose from. We had a few chairs by the Waikolohe pool and a few more in front of Ama Ama. The chairs by the pool were given away (or taken) within a half hour of us being there. That was kind of a drag. No one seemed to mess with the chairs by Ama Ama though. We had a great time with our family. I noticed A LOT of locals at the resort. My cousin mentioned that if they know someone who actually works at Aulani, they can get rooms for about $100 a night. My cousin also found out we were planning on doing the Paradise Cove Luau on Wednesday. We booked it through the resort. My cousin knows the Paradise Cove accountant, and was able to book the luau through him for half the price. We were still in the window to get a full refund on our Aulani reservation, so we canceled that without any issue and booked the orchid package for about $59 per adult with 13 people, we saved almost $700.00. We all had dinner (20 total) at Makahiki that evening. We all found the food and service very good. We watched the Starlit Hui from our room and then went to bed.
On Monday, most of our group was picked up by a Hawaii Nautical shuttle for scuba/snorkeling. Only SIL, N10, DD and I stayed at the resort. We had booked a cabana on this day. When I booked it in April, the agent told me I had the last one on the Ka Maka Landing. However, the night before our cabana day, we were told we had cabana #1, which is by the Menehune Bridge. I did not mind the location since DD really enjoyed the Menehune Bridge and the cabanas there seemed more centrally located vs. the Ka Maka cabanas. It was worth every penny. There were a couple of short downpours on Monday while we were in the cabana, which gave it another thumbs up. The rest of the group joined us about 1pm, and we continued to enjoy the pools. We had dinner in our room, but could not enjoy the movie (The Jungle Book) from our balcony because it was rained out.
On Tuesday, about 8 of us had planned to do the USS Arizona Memorial tour through the Aulani. Our driver, Bambi picked us up at 6:30am. Bambi provided a lot of interesting information about Pearl Harbor, and what transpired before the war. We arrived to the sites at about 7:15 and were handed our movie/shuttle tickets for the 8:30 showing. We toured the Bowfin and some of the other museums before our shuttle time. We were back at the resort by noon. We had lunch in the room and went down to enjoy the pools. I had an appointment at Laniwai for 3pm. They suggest you come an hour early in order to enjoy the Hydrotherapy Garden. The grounds of the outdoor hydrotherapy garden are very nice and serene. There are several different pools to try out, as well as the different rain shower heads. I had the Kilikili treatment which consists of a body scrub (I choose Pikake), a lomilomi massage and a body butter. It was divine and very relaxing. That evening, we met another cousin for dinner at Monkeypod. The restaurant was very warm and humid since it is open air and they have no air conditioning. Once the sun went down, it was not too bad in there. The food was exceptional definitely the best meal I had there, and the best drinks too. Take advantage of their happy hour if you can.
Wednesday was my SSs 52nd birthday. We had booked the Executive Lanai, which was great. Loved the view, and the service was wonderful. We had a great attendant, Lisa Marie. We found out she was originally from Anaheim as well, and went to a rival high school during the time my sisters were in school. We rented Kayaks and Paddleboards. It was a lot of fun. I was a little concerned about our Luau reservation. I know the seating was first come first served, and we were not sure if we were going to be there early enough for the pre-dinner activities. I texted my cousin and asked if his friend could arrange a table for us. We also included my Aunty and Unko on our luau reservation. His friend really hooked us up with the best seat in the house for the Orchid package (which has the best seating IMO). We were right in front of the stage. The activities were fun. We made haku leis, wrist leis, got tattoos. The food was fine compared to all the reviews I had read. Most of our group really enjoyed it. The entertainment was very good. DD loved the fire chief and was excited she got to hug him once the luau was over. The walk to and from the Aulani was very easy.
Thursday was our day to tour the island. We rented 2 minivans from the Aulani Alamo desk (via Costco). We picked up our cars and headed to Pali Lookout. It was pouring rain, so we headed to our next spot, Lanikai Beach. I used to live on Oahu 20 years ago, and would spend every day off I had at Lanikai, so I had to go back. My brother had a GPS and wanted an address. I gave him the one located on the Aulani Lanikai Beach directions card. The address took him to Kailua Beach park. When we got there, I told him we needed to go up the road more. It started raining, so we went around the corner to Lanikai, and it was not raining. I got to enjoy my favorite Beach again. We ate lunch at Deans Drive In In Kaneohe it was delicious. After that, we drove up to Kualoa Ranch and walked around. Next we drove to the North Shore and hiked Waimea Valley. After that, we went to the Dole Plantation and had a Dole Whip float rode the train and did the maze. We did some shopping in Waikiki afterwards. We were able to drop the cars off with the valet at Aulani in order to turn them in, so we did not incur any parking charges even though we came back after the car rental office was closed. We ate dinner at Off the Hook. My mom began noticing some problems with one of her eyes. She went to urgent care the next day and was told she had pink eye, and likely got it from the pools. No one else in our party got it, so I do not know how accurate that assessment was.
Friday was another cabana day. The night before, we were told we had cabana #3 on the Ka Maka Landing. When my brother and SIL went down to the pool, they noticed another name on the #3 cabana sign. They saw our name was on cabana #2 by the Menehune Bridge again. SIL was not happy, and explained that we were told our cabanas would be on the Ka Maka Landing they even had us in cabana #3 in their system. They could not do anything and offered to comp the cabana for the day. SIL had decided to secure some chairs by the Waikolohe pool since she did not want to be by the Menehune Bridge. We saw Lisa Marie again, and told her what was going on. She told us she was going to make sure that their stuff was left alone and they would be taken care of. The cabana again was great. A few of our party was over being in the sun all day, so they enjoyed being able to relax in there. We went to Ama Ama for dinner. It was really nice, but I preferred the food at Monkeypod (my mom would disagree). Also, it was difficult to see the sunset from the restaurant, but the view is beautiful with or without the sunset.
Saturday was our departure day. We had breakfast at Ama Ama Yum! I had the pancakes with macadamia nuts and vanilla caramel sauce. After breakfast, a little bit of our group would get on the Speedi Shuttle each hour and head to the airport. I hit the gift shop with my CM SIL so I could use her discount. I made sure I had some gift cards and cash for her to buy everything I needed (they are needs, right?). We had a nice flight home and sat next to some great folks. DH had such a great time that we are planning on going back to Hawaii this spring probably not Aulani (maybe a day or two at the end), but we want to go to Kauai and spend some time on Oahu with my ohana.
Overall, it was a very relaxing trip. We purposely did not plan a whole lot to do. Our last family trip to Cabo had too much jam packed into the week. This time, we wanted to make sure we had time to enjoy the resort and Boy did we! I did not end up doing any of the resort activities that are offered. We were having too much fun at the pool.
