We had a nice, week-long vacation in Hawaii to close out our summer, returning with just under a week before school starts for the boys.
We stayed on Oahu, an island we had visited in 2008. This time, we decided to try staying at the Disney Aulani Resort. This resort opened in 2011, but we simply couldn’t find availability at the resort during our summer vacations until this year, so we jumped at the chance.
We left early on the morning of Thursday the 14th and arrived in Honolulu before 11 AM local time. Luggage pickup and rental car pickup were smooth, and we drove to Ko’olina and Aulani directly without incident. We had registered online, so check-in was similarly smooth, with a nice lady meeting us curbside, handing us our keycards, pointing out the major locations of the resort from the central balcony outside the lobby, and then directing us to our room. Once we dropped off our luggage in our room and switched to comfortable clothes, we went to have lunch at the ‘Ama'Ama restaurant. This restaurant is the resort’s upscale-casual restaurant. The meal was very good, and it was both a solid refreshment after the long trip as well as an excellent introduction to the resort.
After lunch, we went to the pools. We learned that Aulani staffs rovers who go around and make sure that pool deck chairs don’t remain abandoned for more than an hour. If an identifiable group of deck chairs looks held but immediately unoccupied by guests, towels are folded over the backs of the chairs. Possessors of the chairs then have an hour to return to the chairs and unfold the towels, after which time, if the towels aren’t unfolded, their possessions may be gathered in a bag and brought to a nearby, central location for later retrieval.
We found this is a good system that prevents people from hogging large groups of deck chairs all day by dumping their stuff and seldom returning. It forces people to return to their chairs at least once an hour and discourages people from, say, hogging a set of chairs at one location at the pool, at another location at another pool, and at a third location at the beach, for example.
As with any grand resort, Aulani has an expansive collection of pools and water-based entertainment. There’s a large main pool, a smaller infinity pool, a lazy river, two slides coming off a central “volcano”, a large water play structure, an adults-only pool, an adults-only hot tub area, a couple of hot tubs, an enclosed saltwater reef containing ocean fish in which guests may snorkel with the sea life, and of course, the beach lagoon with beach and ocean sports equipment for rent.
So, our early-Thursday arrival and lunch allowed us ample time Thursday afternoon to enjoy the lazy river (photo above), the infinity pool, a hot tub, the sun, the beach, and some poolside snacks.
Dinner was at the Makahiki restaurant, the resort’s casual dinner buffet. It’s also the restaurant for the Disney character breakfast buffet, during which costumed Disney characters visit tables to greet children.
The dinner buffet turned out to be a colossal mistake, because I’m on a medically prescribed diet, and the buffet cost over $200 for the four of us. So I certainly didn’t eat my money’s worth. While the prime rib was certainly excellent, the crab and sushi were decidedly subpar.
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On Friday, we got admission to the Rainbow Reef snorkeling attraction. Rainbow Reef is the enclosed saltwater aquarium in which guests can snorkel with local Hawaiian fish. Because of the number of guests that can be there, along with the close proximity to fish and such, actual diving and use of fins isn’t allowed, so we were really just supposed to float at the top and use our hands to swim around, but it was a very nice experience. It later turned out that Rainbow Reef had a few huge advantages over snorkeling in the nearby ocean: Visibility was crystal clear, fish were abundant, and since the lagoon at the beach as constructed, there were no real coral reefs in the nearby area, so the artificial reef in Rainbow Reef was about as good as we could get
W and I entered coincidentally in time for the 10:15 AM fish feeding, and while we were there, a Disney Aulani cast member asked if we’d like to participate in the feeding. We agreed, and we were given feeding bags that consisted of weighted mesh bags containing cabbage or seaweed, carried on a line. We would swim across the pool while carrying the bag to a viewing window (for outside spectators), and the fish would follow, eating from the bag. Meanwhile, another cast member inside the pool would photograph us using a GoPro camera. (See W in the photo above.) Later, we could get the photos from the Disney PhotoPass desk in the lobby.
Hsuan and J came in later, but J shivered in the cold and didn’t return to Rainbow Reef for the entire vacation.
In the afternoon, we spent some time at the beach, but I admit to having been tremendously spoiled by the silky soft sand at Cancún. The sand at Aulani was comparatively rough, and even J gave up his construction and excavation after just a short while.
We returned to the pools and to Rainbow Reef, upgrading our single day pass to a length-of-stay pass, which also entitled us to free snorkel gear rentals for use in the beach lagoon.
That evening, we had dinner nearby at Roy’s, where Hsuan and I had two different prix fixe meals.
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On Saturday, W and I went snorkeling in the ocean. I had brought my own snorkeling gear, including fins and wetsuit top (not my complete wetsuit). W’s wetsuit no longer fit him, though he has rashguards to keep some heat in. Besides, the water isn’t that cold. His fins from Maui no longer fit either, so we picked up snorkeling gear (minus wetsuit) from the rental shack, and we proceeded to the lagoon. We had been told that a turtle nicknamed Lucky sometimes shows up in the lagoon by the resort, usually after noon. Lucky is so named because he has only three fins, the fourth presumably having been eaten by a shark. W and I snorkeled back and forth across the mouth of the lagoon and didn’t see the turtle. Visibility was very poor, though.
After lunch, W and I decided to try again. This time, upon a suggestion by a lifeguard, we decided to try walking along the shore to Paradise Cove, a few coves to the west. We had heard from the lifeguard and others that a lot of turtles tended to gather there.
At first, we passed a tiny little beach that didn’t have enough clear water for any real snorkeling. After climbing along a rock wall and path, we came to another beach cove that had some nice, clear water sheltered behind another rock wall from the ocean. We later heard that this was called Secret Beach. Very few people were sunning here. Moving further west, we finally came to Paradise Cove, which was populated by more people, and there were also booths and, apparently, a parking lot inland. This cove was also sheltered from the open ocean by a bit of a rock wall that had extended from Secret Beach. Paradise Cove itself is apparently the location of a regular, popular luau, too.
W and I got our snorkeling gear on, and sure enough, we soon encountered a couple of turtles.
There were at least three turtles in Paradise Cove, I think, and two of them were in very close proximity to the two of us. At one point, two of them had a face-to-face encounter, but they didn’t seem terribly concerned with each other or with us, apart from the potential for collision. Mostly they were swimming along the bottom and eating moss from the rocks.
After a while, W and I got tired of fighting the waves in Paradise Cove and headed back, stopping by for a swim in the calmer and shallower waters of Secret Beach, where we found yet more turtles (above).
By the time we were done with Secret Beach, we were both turtled-out and ready for the relaxing, enclosed space of the pools, the slides, and the hot tubs.
For dinner, we went across the street to the market run by the ABC Stores, and we bought some quick dinner items that turned out to take a lot longer for them to prepare than either they or we expected. I had a “pulled pork” BBQ sandwich that was really diced pork, but whatever. We brought our food back to our room.
After we ate, we went down to attend the Starlit Hui, the Aulani show that’s kind of like a luau but without the dinner and with a reduced set of hula performances. Before the show, there were children’s craft activities, too.
The Starlit Hui is kind of geared toward younger children, as expected of a Disney audience, so there’s no Tahitian hula and no Somoan fire knife dancing. It’s pretty much Hawaiian hula, though there was a big ukelele bit in the middle with two guys doing a rock/pop bit on their ukeleles. At the end, Disney characters came in to lead the audience in some dance, but most of the older people — including us — drifted off and back to our rooms.
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On Sunday, the morning was definitely overcast, and there were multiple showers. It wasn’t a deluge, but it was enough to wet our towels, keeping us going back to the towel dispensers for more.
By now, I learned that, as is his habit, J had made a number of friends among the other kids at Aulani. Two, E. and D., were twin brothers from Massachusetts. Another was Ovatari (sp?) from San Francisco, I believe, and Kyle from somewhere else. There was a girl, too, and another kid whose name I didn’t learn. It got to the point during the vacation that J would run to the pool to look for E. and D., and if they weren’t there, he’d wait around for them. Or, in reverse, I’d sometimes see E. and D. run up after some morning excursion away from Aulani and search for J in the pools. The boys were shockingly close in a very short time.
Anyway, much of Sunday morning was spent either swimming or trying to shade from the rain. Lunch, as it had been in previous days, was picked up either from the Ulu Cafe near the pools, Mama’s Snack shop (hot dogs), or ordered from the poolside dining waiters or waitresses patrolling the area. After lunch, we were able to a bit of swimming, hang around the lazy river, and go down the slides — the usual relaxation.
By late afternoon, W and J tried out the Menehune Adventure Trail activity. This is an interactive activity set around the pool area similar to, say, the Agent P interactive activity at Epcot at Disney World. The boys were given a small tablet, which directed them to various stations around the pools. Video on the tablet “communicated” with “Auntie”, who told them tales about the Menehune, little Hawaiian spirits or statues around the area. The tablet communicated with the stations to activate some visible, audio, or mechanical displays, too.
The whole thing took over an hour and a half.
We had dinner at the Monkeypod Kitchen across the street from Aulani. Tripadvisor ranks it as the best restaurant in the immediate area, right above Roy’s. Hearty fare, local beers, and half the price of Roy’s.
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On Monday, we got a PhotoPass photographer to snap some family photos (e.g. the photo at the top of this entry).
W also went kayaking in the lagoon.
I also decided I wanted to try to find a turtle in the lagoon near Aulani, rather than at Secret Beach or Paradise Cove, but our first attempt wasn’t successful, so we returned to the slides for a break.
Our second attempt in the late afternoon, however, was very successful. W and I found the turtle at the rocks at the right (west) side of the lagoon. With the visibility so poor, we didn’t see him until we were practically touching him. Unlike the turtles at Secret Beach and Paradise Cove, this one wasn’t very happy with our presence, and he dove down to hide in a deep hole below.
Afterward, I returned to Rainbow Reef with Hsuan.
Also that afternoon, W’s friend T. from school and his sisters and mom arrived at Aulani, as did another family from the boys’ school. While they went to Monkeypod for dinner, we went to ‘Ama’Ama for dinner.
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Tuesday was, again, more of the same — lots of fun and relaxation at the pools.
D. and E. were away at Pearl Harbor for much of the morning, so J spent time with some of his other friends.
Meanwhile, W also went paddle boarding.
Of course, when D. and E. came back, they couldn’t wait to get back to J.
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Wednesday was, sadly, our last day at Aulani. We had considered going to Pearl Harbor, but checking online suggested that’s an all-day excursion that requires some planning, and I really wanted to relax. We had a late, overnight flight back home, so I decided that we’d check out of our room by noon (a one hour late checkout) and then use Aulani’s Luana lounge facility for families with late departures. The Luana Lounge has locker rooms and showers, allowing people with late departures to enjoy the pools and then shower and change before departing. (Alternatively, guests who arrive before their rooms are ready may also use the lounge to shower and change to enjoy the pools while waiting for their rooms to be prepared.)
After spending the morning at the pools, Hsuan and I checked out of our room just before noon, and we checked our luggage with the baggage service.
I really wanted to enjoy Aulani and the pools while spending time with our new and old friends (including those from the boys’ school who were also, coincidentally, at the resort).
I got one last swim in at Rainbow Reef with Hsuan.
The boys spent quite a lot of time playing with their new and old friends in the pool…
Finally, we said our goodbyes and left the pool area at 4:45 PM. We got a couple of our bags, washed and dressed in the Luana Lounge.
The flight to San Francisco was uneventful, as was the final leg to Los Angeles.
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Vacation photos are on my Flickr page.
As should be apparent, I have modified these pages so that the boys’ names are no longer spelled out but have been replaced by letters. The old iWeb and iBlog based Photoblogs are too long to modify, so I have instead password protected those pages. If you want to see those again for some reason, please contact me for a username and password. For some reason, I can’t set those pages up for encrypted username and password via Safari. I don’t know why.