Rubygoose
Everybody's got a laughing place
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2012
Aloha! I'm Kati and here is the story of our family's first trip to Hawaii, March 13-21st, 2016.
If you have read my previous trip reports, you will know that we're avid DLR visitors (and that I'm terrible at actually finishing trip reports!) We're from Victoria, BC, Canada. Bryan still works for the BC Government and I'm still a teacher - I have recently finished my Special Ed studies and am working part time as an Elementary learning support specialist, while still substituting once in a while. The kids are now 8 and 6.
I won't go into much of the planning for this trip, since there really wasn't that much planning to do! Last year was a very busy year for us in terms of theme parks - we logged about 20 days in theme parks in 2015. In March 2015, we visited Busch Gardens and WDW in Florida after winning a contest, and then we took our annual summer trip to DLR in August, where we also fit in Legoland and Knott's Berry Farm. After that, I told the family that we needed a theme park break... but I didn't say Disney Break! Before we left for California, I started reading up about Hawaii. I decided that O'ahu was the best fit for our family. I knew about Aulani, but thought it would be way too expensive. We had APs for DLR last year, but they expired the day after we returned in August, so we wouldn't be able to get the discount. Well... about a week after we returned from California, I found a great deal at Aulani that was 30% off and included a meal credit for each night of our stay. Luckily the last day of the deal fell within our spring break. I went ahead and booked 4 nights and then looked around for vacation rentals for another 6 nights. I looked at a LOT of vacation rentals before deciding to bite the bullet and stay 8 nights at Aulani instead - even though the other nights wouldn't include the discounted rate. When I called Aulani to add the days onto my reservation, the CM on the phone asked me if I wanted to pay the same price for a package that included free airport shuttle and one day free car rental. Free? Well, sure! The only difference was that since it was a package, it had to be paid in full one month before our stay. That was fine, since I like having everything paid for ahead of time. So, there we had it.. 8 nights at Aulani, free airport shuttle, free one day car rental! I booked our airfare some time in September using our companion codes from Alaska Air. Later I booked 2 more car rental days using my Air Miles so that we could explore the island for a total of 3 days. Just before Christmas I ordered 2 day Go Oahu cards because they had some sort of promotion (I signed up for the email. I think I got $30 US back, or something like that. It was better than the 10% they have advertised all of the time on their site.) I also booked a Pirate Cruise after the kids' Grandpa gave us some Christmas money. So, here's the nitty gritty details... 8 nights at Aulani from March 13-21st, flying from Victoria, BC by way of Seattle to Honolulu!
March 13th, 2016
Our flight was at 6am from Victoria to Seattle. Since it's an international flight, we were supposed to be at the airport at 4am. But we've traveled enough to know that the agents don't actually show up until closer to 4:30am, so it's pointless to be there any earlier than 4:30. We clear customs in Seattle, so it's more important to have 2 hours between our connecting flight. Also, this just happened to be Daylight Savings Time clock change day! So, I set my alarm for 3:20am, which felt like 2:20am! I met a lady in the airport who was flying to Disneyland (taking the same flight as us to Seattle) and she hadn't slept at all because her friend had a baby at 10:30pm and she went to visit her at the hospital. She said that by the time she got home, there wasn't any point in going to bed. So, at least I had more sleep than she did!
We got in to Honolulu airport at about 1:30pm local time. It took us a while to find our way through the airport, which takes you inside and outside and inside again. Then we had to look for Speedi Shuttle, who, it turns out, were looking for us. Finally, we got on the shuttle and made it to Aulani!
When we got off the Speedi Shuttle, we were immediately greeted by a CM named Kenji. He asked where we were visiting from and Bryan said "Canada". I always say "Victoria" and Bryan tells me that nobody knows where that is, so just say "Canada." Kenji asked "Where in Canada?" and I explained that we are from Victoria, which is also on an Island in the Pacific. So, Kenji declared "That means you're 'Island hopping!' A very long hop!" And yes, it was a VERY long hop. We were exhausted from the 6.5hr flight from Seattle!
Kenji took us over to get some welcome water, and I had to snap a photo of the citrus Mickey heads!
He talked to us about the artwork in the lobby and gave us some information about the resort. He asked me if I was "an ABC? Oh, I guess CBC?" and I had no idea what he was talking about. He explained that CBC stands for Canadian-Born-Chinese, so I guess I am a half CBC. ? maybe? I don't know. I just consider myself Canadian! Then he brought us to the line up for check-in. He came back about 2 minutes later and brought us our check-in package, since I had checked-in online (I forgot to mention this at the time, since I was so tired from the long plane ride and had been up for about 16 hrs by this point.) Kenji took us to the lobby lanai and told us some more about the resort and where to find everything, then we headed up to our mountain view room on the 10th floor. Here's our beautiful view from room 1023. We loved this location because it was a short walk from the elevators, and it wasn't noisy at all.
We could even see the ocean a little bit.
We're not the kind of family that spends much time in the hotel room, so I didn't want to spend all the $$$ to upgrade to an Ocean View. We just don't want a view of the parking lot - we could see the top of the parking structure if we looked down. I glad we paid a little bit extra to get a mountain view rather than a standard view.
Now, for some reason, neither Bryan nor I took photos of the hotel room itself. Basically, it was the same as the Grand Californian room we had in August, only larger, more tropical, better kept and no bunk bed. The bathroom was much larger than GCH too. I really liked that the beds had a section underneath to tuck the suitcases - I assume the beds on cruise ships are like this.
We headed down to the pool for a bit, had some dinner at Ulu cafe (free with our meal credit!) and then enjoyed the sunset. It sure wasn't busy at all at the resort. (This was Sunday, March 13th. The next Sunday was the complete opposite!) We also spent $20US on 4 ice cream bars. Yikes!
We ended up going to bed at around 9pm local time, making that almost 21 hours that we were up that day (we slept a bit on the plane, but that doesn't really count!)
If you have read my previous trip reports, you will know that we're avid DLR visitors (and that I'm terrible at actually finishing trip reports!) We're from Victoria, BC, Canada. Bryan still works for the BC Government and I'm still a teacher - I have recently finished my Special Ed studies and am working part time as an Elementary learning support specialist, while still substituting once in a while. The kids are now 8 and 6.
I won't go into much of the planning for this trip, since there really wasn't that much planning to do! Last year was a very busy year for us in terms of theme parks - we logged about 20 days in theme parks in 2015. In March 2015, we visited Busch Gardens and WDW in Florida after winning a contest, and then we took our annual summer trip to DLR in August, where we also fit in Legoland and Knott's Berry Farm. After that, I told the family that we needed a theme park break... but I didn't say Disney Break! Before we left for California, I started reading up about Hawaii. I decided that O'ahu was the best fit for our family. I knew about Aulani, but thought it would be way too expensive. We had APs for DLR last year, but they expired the day after we returned in August, so we wouldn't be able to get the discount. Well... about a week after we returned from California, I found a great deal at Aulani that was 30% off and included a meal credit for each night of our stay. Luckily the last day of the deal fell within our spring break. I went ahead and booked 4 nights and then looked around for vacation rentals for another 6 nights. I looked at a LOT of vacation rentals before deciding to bite the bullet and stay 8 nights at Aulani instead - even though the other nights wouldn't include the discounted rate. When I called Aulani to add the days onto my reservation, the CM on the phone asked me if I wanted to pay the same price for a package that included free airport shuttle and one day free car rental. Free? Well, sure! The only difference was that since it was a package, it had to be paid in full one month before our stay. That was fine, since I like having everything paid for ahead of time. So, there we had it.. 8 nights at Aulani, free airport shuttle, free one day car rental! I booked our airfare some time in September using our companion codes from Alaska Air. Later I booked 2 more car rental days using my Air Miles so that we could explore the island for a total of 3 days. Just before Christmas I ordered 2 day Go Oahu cards because they had some sort of promotion (I signed up for the email. I think I got $30 US back, or something like that. It was better than the 10% they have advertised all of the time on their site.) I also booked a Pirate Cruise after the kids' Grandpa gave us some Christmas money. So, here's the nitty gritty details... 8 nights at Aulani from March 13-21st, flying from Victoria, BC by way of Seattle to Honolulu!
March 13th, 2016
Our flight was at 6am from Victoria to Seattle. Since it's an international flight, we were supposed to be at the airport at 4am. But we've traveled enough to know that the agents don't actually show up until closer to 4:30am, so it's pointless to be there any earlier than 4:30. We clear customs in Seattle, so it's more important to have 2 hours between our connecting flight. Also, this just happened to be Daylight Savings Time clock change day! So, I set my alarm for 3:20am, which felt like 2:20am! I met a lady in the airport who was flying to Disneyland (taking the same flight as us to Seattle) and she hadn't slept at all because her friend had a baby at 10:30pm and she went to visit her at the hospital. She said that by the time she got home, there wasn't any point in going to bed. So, at least I had more sleep than she did!
We got in to Honolulu airport at about 1:30pm local time. It took us a while to find our way through the airport, which takes you inside and outside and inside again. Then we had to look for Speedi Shuttle, who, it turns out, were looking for us. Finally, we got on the shuttle and made it to Aulani!
When we got off the Speedi Shuttle, we were immediately greeted by a CM named Kenji. He asked where we were visiting from and Bryan said "Canada". I always say "Victoria" and Bryan tells me that nobody knows where that is, so just say "Canada." Kenji asked "Where in Canada?" and I explained that we are from Victoria, which is also on an Island in the Pacific. So, Kenji declared "That means you're 'Island hopping!' A very long hop!" And yes, it was a VERY long hop. We were exhausted from the 6.5hr flight from Seattle!
Kenji took us over to get some welcome water, and I had to snap a photo of the citrus Mickey heads!
He talked to us about the artwork in the lobby and gave us some information about the resort. He asked me if I was "an ABC? Oh, I guess CBC?" and I had no idea what he was talking about. He explained that CBC stands for Canadian-Born-Chinese, so I guess I am a half CBC. ? maybe? I don't know. I just consider myself Canadian! Then he brought us to the line up for check-in. He came back about 2 minutes later and brought us our check-in package, since I had checked-in online (I forgot to mention this at the time, since I was so tired from the long plane ride and had been up for about 16 hrs by this point.) Kenji took us to the lobby lanai and told us some more about the resort and where to find everything, then we headed up to our mountain view room on the 10th floor. Here's our beautiful view from room 1023. We loved this location because it was a short walk from the elevators, and it wasn't noisy at all.
We could even see the ocean a little bit.
We're not the kind of family that spends much time in the hotel room, so I didn't want to spend all the $$$ to upgrade to an Ocean View. We just don't want a view of the parking lot - we could see the top of the parking structure if we looked down. I glad we paid a little bit extra to get a mountain view rather than a standard view.
Now, for some reason, neither Bryan nor I took photos of the hotel room itself. Basically, it was the same as the Grand Californian room we had in August, only larger, more tropical, better kept and no bunk bed. The bathroom was much larger than GCH too. I really liked that the beds had a section underneath to tuck the suitcases - I assume the beds on cruise ships are like this.
We headed down to the pool for a bit, had some dinner at Ulu cafe (free with our meal credit!) and then enjoyed the sunset. It sure wasn't busy at all at the resort. (This was Sunday, March 13th. The next Sunday was the complete opposite!) We also spent $20US on 4 ice cream bars. Yikes!
We ended up going to bed at around 9pm local time, making that almost 21 hours that we were up that day (we slept a bit on the plane, but that doesn't really count!)