Aulani & DL to meet Santa Update 06Jul12 Page 10 Christmas at Disney

[areweindisneyyet]

Swimming with Dolphins today.

Our plan was to catch the bus to the Sea Life Park. The bus system is so easy here. What we didn't plan on was a major accident and a small landslide which delayed our bus majorly.

We needed to be at the park by 9am so when we had no bus at 8.20 it was time for back up plan - a cab. We did get one but even this was a challenge because of traffic. Our cab driver got us there in no time for just over $50, a little more than $12.50 on the bus but we were there.

The park does not open until 10.30 however our swim was booked for 9.30am. We thought Grandpa was going in with the girls but he did not bring togs so DH was the responsible adult for supervision.

DD1 has always loved dolphins. They had no idea where we were going today, all that we had said was we were taking a bus around the island and that we should pack our togs just in case we found a nice place to swim. On our way to the bus stop DD2 saw a bus advertising the Sea Life Park and asked if we could go. I told her we would look into it.

When we arrived she said, were we always doing this She was most happy. DD1 saw that you could swim with dolphins and still noone was letting the cat out of the bag. She began to get a little moody, but this all changed as we received our wrist tags. Lifejackets were collected and off they went for their Dolphin Encounter.

A happy DD1 getting a kiss

The girls learnt lots about dolphins and were very excited. They want to save to come back and do the Royal Encounter where you can be pushed along by your feet

Over breakfast Grandpa and Grandma explained that this was their Christmas present. DD2 replied, well that's a little early Only her.

We then explored the park. Very small but great staff. We hand tossed food to the turtles which was great to watch. Even green sea turtles like their lettuce and broccoli.

The girls loved the touch tank and got to touch a baby sea turtle. Grandpa loved this.

We headed back into Waikiki just after 2. The bus ride took some time as it became part of a school run.

We headed back to Denny's for dinner (noticing a trend here) where this time I had the pecan pie for dessert.

A late night swim at the pool finished off a magical day.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I can't believe I was shopped out. A Christmas miracle.

More a case of an Aussie nightmare!

 

[aussietravellers]

We have been away on Hamilton Island since the end of November so have missed your live TR, have just done a big catch up.

LOVING your report. Seeing all of your hawaii photos brings back so many memories. We have been so many times, growing up as kids and now as an adult. Benihana at HHV is one of my favourite restaurants, have not been to Honolulu and not had a meal there, YUM. Your shopping at Ala Moana has made me drool I'm so jealous Can't wait to hear about Aulani!

DL for Christmas is going to be amazing, I see you are doing the holiday tour, we did this and loved it.

Enjoy the rest of your trip

 

[OziJo]

Sea Life Park Ala Moana Paddle Boats We are sooo following in your footsteps

 

[lovintheland]

Ok, you have inspired me!!! when I first read you were doing the dolphin thing I thought "how cool, would love to do this for my 3 as a surprise but when I checked the price it was about $180. Was gonna add to their xmas present but thought it a bit exy. After reading your post i went back and check and we can do the dolphin encounter for $104. So we will go with that. My eldest Dd has always wanted to do this at Seaworld here. She will be beyond excited, as will the other two. Would you say it was worth the $$$? it is a lot more expensive to do it here.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

That swimming with dolphins experience sounds great. I was just telling my DD13 about it and she says she absolutely wants to do that one day if we go to Hawaii.

 

[aussietravellers]

Ok, you have inspired me!!! when I first read you were doing the dolphin thing I thought "how cool, would love to do this for my 3 as a surprise but when I checked the price it was about $180. Was gonna add to their xmas present but thought it a bit exy. After reading your post i went back and check and we can do the dolphin encounter for $104. So we will go with that. My eldest Dd has always wanted to do this at Seaworld here. She will be beyond excited, as will the other two. Would you say it was worth the $$$? it is a lot more expensive to do it here.

They have a Dolphin swim at the Kahala Hotel too. Actually they had many different packages from memory. We have done the Dolphin swim at the Kahala Hotel many times and my DS has done a special kids program that was amazing (he's done it several trips). They educate them on dolphins, do a swim, teach them some hand signals, feed stingrays, collect turtle eggs at the beach and other things (not exactly sure as parents don't go). It's called Dolphin Quest. Not sure of the prices though or how they compare to Sea World.

 

[lovintheland]

Hi Aussietravellers, thanks for that, I just checked out the dolphin quest. Both it and the resort look amazing but it was a lot more expensive than both the sealife park or seaworld It's a shame because it truely sounds amazing

 

[WAMUMOF4]

looks like your having a great time I have to say I am adding so many things to our want to do lists that i think DH may end up banning me from the disboards

 

[shushh]

Ok! I'm here now!!! Ears and eyes ready for Aulani...

Your trip sounds fabulous so far. I am definitely in for the "sit and do nothing" holiday which can be hard sometimes for someone like me who doesn't want to miss out on anything!

By the way the photo of your daughter handing onto that lego box is priceless! As is the photo with the dolphin

 

[areweindisneyyet]

Ok, you have inspired me!!! when I first read you were doing the dolphin thing I thought "how cool, would love to do this for my 3 as a surprise but when I checked the price it was about $180. Was gonna add to their xmas present but thought it a bit exy. After reading your post i went back and check and we can do the dolphin encounter for $104. So we will go with that. My eldest Dd has always wanted to do this at Seaworld here. She will be beyond excited, as will the other two. Would you say it was worth the $$$? it is a lot more expensive to do it here.

The Encounter was great, they got to use hand signals for a kiss, to hold the dolphons fins, rub the belly, make them sing. If you could stretch it I would probably have gone with the $180 as they would have gone out into the deeper water with them especially if the kids are strong swimmers. If they are not strong swimmers than the dolphin encounter was perfect. My two are fish and the Royal Encounter was happening in the same pool and whilst way excited looked on with envy. NEXT TIME... They really did enjoy it and learnt lots... I have been told that the purple starfish in the touch tank feels just like a dolphin although the dolphin is less slimey and you get fish breath from kissing them

 

[areweindisneyyet]

Thanks to everyone reading along. Flew from Hawaii to LA yesterday and am now waiting for everyone to get up to hit Goofy's and then the parks this morning. It feels like we haven't left.


I will finish off Hawaii tonight and answer some more of your wonderful posts.

I have to try and find the Lego in LA. Should have got it in Hawaii but NO thought why fly it when I can just grab it there. Downtown Disney may get a new delivery Thursday!

Otherwise my brother is still in Hawaii, he may just need to come to the rescue. How can I disappoint that!

 

[australiankaren]

hey
holding my breathe for the next installment..i do love live trip reports

happy holidays

 

[alicia1506]

funnily enough, the one place we couldn't find harry potter lego was in wwohp.

and we looked as my sis, the harry potter fan is also a huge harry potter lego fan.

have you considered walmart or some of the local retailers nearby? they might have some, as they were our back up plan

 

[aussietravellers]

I have to try and find the Lego in LA. Should have got it in Hawaii but NO thought why fly it when I can just grab it there. Downtown Disney may get a new delivery Thursday!

There is a big Toys R Us near DLR on South Harbour (not walking distance). We took a cab there specifically to go to Toys R Us, it's just near an in and out burger (which we just happened to stumble upon, so a nice bonus). But you may find the lego there (if you know the name you could call ahead). There is also the Target store, up the road (Harbour I think), that may also have lego.

Looking forward to more updates

 

[Mum from oz]

That's great the girls enjoyed the dolphin experience. I did it in 2007. I can't believe you've left Hawaii already.

For Lego try the Lego store at DTD. We wanted a set we saw in DTD Orlando and were kicking ourselves we didn't get it. When we went to the Anaheim DTD store they called local Lego stores until they found one in stock and got them to hold it for us. We ended up having to go to the South Coast Plaza but it wasn't too hard as we had a car and GPS. Good Luck!!

 

[lovintheland]

How funny, the past two years our first day schedule has been ..... 1st stop Toyr R Us then Dollar Tree, then shoe store near there (can't remember name) In & Out for lunch and then Target across the road for supplies and many other things and then cab back to HoJo's . I think both times we have already added at least another suitcase at this point

 

[areweindisneyyet]

Hello....

We arrived home late yesterday afternoon. The bags are unpacked, washing is in the machine and Mickey pancakes are being made in the kitchen. We have had a marvelous time, found the Diagon Alley in DTD Lego finally on the Wed before Christmas.

Will try to get to the end of Hawaii this morning and then I shall move on to Disney over the next few days. We have house guests for a few days and back to work, here goes....

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Welcome home. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[areweindisneyyet]

On Wednesday we grabbed a quick breakfast from Starbucks downstairs from our tower (Loved having Gingerbread Latte on tap) and headed to the bus stop directly across the street to head to Pearl Harbor. The tour out the memorial is free, you watch a 23 minute movie on the history and lead up to the events of the day and then catch a boat to the memorial.

Getting to the memorial early in the day is the best bet as tour groups come in throughout the day. We were expecting to wait an hour or two before our scheduled time however when we got there at 9.10am we were placed in the 9.30am group.

Standing in front of the list of those who died on the USS Arizona always brings a tear to my eye. This time I also noticed that a number of survivors have now had there ashes and names added to the memorial as they have chosen to be placed here on dying.

After returning to shore, we wandered through the free museums which were really interesting and hands on with a great mix of factual, tactile and personal memories from the day.

The men folk took the children to the USS Bowfin submarine. There was a small charge for this. They had a great time. There is also a new USS Missouri memorial museum which is $20 per person however what we had seen was enough for the little ones and by 12.30pm we were on a bus back to Honolulu.

DH and I jumped off the bus at Ala Moana and Grandma and Grandpa took the kids back to the pool and off to dinner at Denny's. We finally did some shopping for me... YEAH and grabbed a few last bits and pieces for him and ended up eating pizza at Round Table Pizza at the Hilton Hawaiian Pizza watching College basketball and ice hockey at around 9.30pm.


Another awesome day...