Ohana means Family- Our Hawaiian adventure!

[kkmcan]

Well, here I am doing my very first trip report! I just learned how to upload my photos to photobucket and post them so I think I'm good to go.

During our week long trip I updated my facebook status with a long post about our day- what we did, pics of what we saw etc. It was intended for our families to know what we doing and seeing on vacation. I did that in the evening every single night and I looked forward to it. I then realized that it was like a Disboard trip report! So I decided that when we got home I was going to do a full blown trip report with photos and I could use my facebook posts to remember what we did each day.

Background on our trip and family- We are dh, me (Kelly), dd17 and ds14. We are a Disney lovin' family and I try to sneak in a little Disney on almost every trip that I can. As the kids get older we've wanted to focus on seeing new places and trying to new adventures before they grow up and leave us. So we've cut back on our Disneyland trips (haven't had one in 2 years, but we did have a couple of nights last year at WDW).

We never thought we could swing a trip to Hawaii mostly because of the airfare and never did I think we'd get to stay at Aulani but I am the master of Disney math and putting together trips that are within our budget. So I had a price in mind for our airfare and we wouldn't go if it didn't get down to my budget. I started watching airfare on kayak last fall and checked every so often. Nothing... then in Jan. I started looking again for either March or June. Then Aulani came out with their 4th night free promo and then I checked with Wyndham website (since the inlaws own there) to see about doing a split stay. A couple of nights at the timeshare for free and 4 nights at Aulani.

Well low and behold, the airfare came up at $401 per person for a few days before our spring break. The last 2 days before break are half days for my kids and teacher grading days so I knew they wouldn't miss much since all assignments have to be turned in the beginning of that week. So we booked our airfare Phx to Honolulu non-stop for $401pp. Not to shabby! We do have to drive to Phx, about an hour and a half away but its always hundreds cheaper than to fly out of Tucson. So we are used to it.

Once that was booked I immediately went to the Wyndham website and booked 2 nights there and then next to the Pearl Harbor website and booked our tickets there. It was crazy thinking I booked our entire trip in one afternoon. Last was car rental but I wanted to wait for the best deal.

Now for a teaser pic:

 

[kkmcan]

Onto Part 2:

I just realized I forgot to say anything about the fact that are dates were March 12-18th.

So on the 12th our flight left Phoenix at 8:00am. We got up at 3:30am and quickly got ready and left our house in Tucson at 4:15. Got to the long term parking lot, took the shuttle, checked in with plenty of time. You never know with traffic what could happen so we left extra early.

The flight was fine, a bit bumpy at times and the movies they showed weren't anything we were interested in so I slept and read the whole way there. As we neared the islands there was a buzz in the cabin. Everyone was getting excited. We saw Oahu and went right by it! WHAT! The pilot came on and said that we all the major airliners were asked to hang back for a little bit so we circled and we circled and circled some more. It must have been at least 20-30 minutes and then we landed. Phew!


We got our luggage and off we went to find the Alamo shuttle. We booked it via Discounthawaiicarrental.com and ended up with a midsize for $197 for the week. Only problem was there are no signs for Alamo. All the other shuttles have signs except Alamo. As it turns out, returning the car was difficult too as there were no signs once again on where to return the car. Tip- Pay attention to where the Alamo is located when you ride the shuttle so you can find it at the end of your vacation. You went in circles like 3 times and made a few turns just for the fun of it and then places started looking familiar until we found it. Pick up wasn't too awful since we did the kiosk with the pick your own feature. Place was packed though and cars were leaving left and right! Hurry up and pick a car!!!

We checked into the Wyndham Royal Gardens in Waikiki. It was really nice and the rooms were pretty wonderful. Newly refurbished with a view of the canal on one side and the city on the other. Really beautiful at night!

We dropped our stuff with the bell desk because our room wasn't ready and headed out to find Hula Grill. We drove over there and that was a bit of a headache. The whole downtown area is a bit of a headache. Lots of constructions, detours, one way streets. We kept missing our turn and had to go around again. UGH! We were starving and it was freakin' hot out. We found a meter parking spot, scraped together some quarters and started walking. I thought I was going to melt. We passed a Burger King and with all the whining and they fact that I was melting I suggested we bag the Hula Grill and eat there. Dh was not happy. But we needed food and shade. I promised him we'd eat there later. We just couldn't enjoy anything at that point. So we ate our first meal in Hawaii at Burger King!

 

[DisSarahK]

This is great so far…and your teaser pic is GORGEOUS!!

Thank you for the Alamo tip as I think that is who I have us booked with.

 

[Goofy442]

Great start. can't wait to hear and see pictures of Hawaii. My DH and I went to Hawaii for our honeymoon.

 

[kkmcan]

I'm back! So we're still on Day 1.

We did get checked into our room and like I said it was really very nice. Since it was a timeshare we had a mini kitchen and separate bedroom and living area as well as 2 balconies. Here's a couple of photos of our views at night.





We got settled and rested for a bit in the room. Dh and I walked down the street to pick up some snacks,waters and muffins/bagels for breakfast as well as a bottle of beer and wine. Just some things to tide us over for the next 2 days. We had Pearl Harbor first thing the next morning and knew we wouldn't have time to get breakfast or snacks.

When we got back we asked the concierge about walking to Hula Grill for dinner. They said it was about a 20 minute walk. I wasn't too sure about doing that but we decided to ask the kids about it and see what they thought. They were all for it so off we went.

As it turned out we walked right down the "Rodeo Drive" of Waikiki and it was a really nice walk. Lots to look at, lots of trees and sidewalks. My dd was oohing an awwwwing over all the shops she wanted to go into. We took a bunch of photos on our iphones but I don't know how to get those from my phone onto here. Any ideas?? Apparently we didn't take the regular camera as I don't have any photos from that walk or our dinner at Hula Grill.

We wanted the table by the water so we couldn't partake in the happy hour offerings but the bar was full anyways. So we got a nice shaded table looking at the ocean!

The kids were still full from our late lunch so they didn't want to eat. I had the fish of the day (Mac Nut Mahi Mahi- yum!) and dh got some steak meal. We had to order the famous Hula Pie I had been hearing about! Our meals came with Ice cream sandwiches (Mac nut icecream between 2 brownies) which was delish! And we got a slice of the pie so we could all share. It was huge!!! Mac nut icecream on a chocolate pie crust with chocolate fudge topping and whipped cream. Too die for! Then again I'm a total dessert person.....I didn't get a pic but look them up on google images cuz you've got to get a slice!

We had a nice walk back to the room now that it cooled off a bit and we caught the end of a free hula show in one of the courtyards in the shopping area. We stopped in another ABC store (they are on every block it seems) and bought a couple of cute flower clips for dd for her hair and an ornament souvenier.

We got ready for bed and couldn't keep our eyes open past 8:30.

 

[kkmcan]

Day 2 might end up in many multiple parts because even though we only had Pearl Harbor planned for the day we squeezed in a lot and ended up in a bunch of different places. It was a jam packed day!

We left our room at 7:45 in order to be at Pearl Harbor by 8:30 to pick up our tickets. Our ressie was for 9:30 but they require you be there an hour before to claim your tickets. The first 15 minutes of our ride we were stuck in traffic, sent through a detour and then the entrance to the freeway was closed and we were rerouted through a neighborhood. I was totally sweatin' it that we weren't going to make it. Tip: If you are visiting PH from Waikiki leave lots of time for detours, construction and rerouting. I didn't think the traffic would be bad because we were leaving the city and everyone was coming into the city. Once we got just out of the city on the freeway it was clear sailing and we ended up being 10 minutes early- 8:20! I was so relieved!

We took tons of photos of PH and I won't post them all but here's a few.













DD got her photo with the sailors as you get off the boat. So cute!

We did the audio tour and got through most of it before our tour time. So there's us and our kids. Now, someone on this board gave a good tip to sit at the back of the boat on the way back- you get some good shots of the memorial. Good advice and we managed to get a seat at the back! Thanks to whoever posted that!

We arrived back and the museum and finished the last part of our audio tour. By the time we got done, it was starting to heat up and we were getting hungry and were on information overload so we decided to skip the Bowfin and Missouri.

Our next planned stop was Costco. We wanted to pick up some beach towels, snacks, check out the snorkel gear and grab some hotdogs for lunch and order a pizza for dinner. So off we went. Now here's where I tell you that I think all these places have extremely small parking lots or just way too many people because we kept noticing that no matter where we went we had to circle lots looking for parking. Costco was an absolute madhouse! Dozens of cars were circling and following people as they came out from their shopping. We managed to get a spot by doing the same thing. We ate our hotdog lunches and ordered our pizza to be picked up when we were done shopping. The snorkel sets were $44.95 for adults and $26.99 for kids. Well, our kids are teens so they would need adult sets. That was a bit more than we were looking to spend so we decided we'd just pick up the cheap $25 sets at the ABC store. We grabbed 2 towels, some Maui Onion chips, some kettle corn, nuts, mini muffins, Mai Tai mix and our pizza. We were set.

We headed back to the room to drop off our stuff and decide what to do next. On our way back through downtown we missed on of our left turns and had to go all the way around again because of the one way streets. Man, that's such a pain in the #@*!

We didn't want to waste the rest of the day and we had been hearing about this amazing beach on the east side of the island that we'd hoped to find before heading out to Aulani. So we took a quick walk down to the ABC store, again to buy our snorkel gear. Grabbed 3 $24 sets and one $29 set (that was all they had)changed into our swimsuits and packed up our beach bag with snacks, water, towels, sunscreen etc, and off we went.

Nice drive through the mountains to get there including a cool tunnel! We stopped at on overlook to get some photos.







There it is! Lanikai Beach! Gorgeous water, white sand beach! Voted one of the top ten best beaches in the world!









That last photo is a neaby beach. I can't remember the name but just as beautiful.

We did some swimming and a little snorkeling. Water was chilly but not bad once you got used to it. In fact, that was our mantra the whole trip. Chilly, but you'll get used to it. At the end of our trip, all I wanted was hot water- hot tub time baby!


We decided since we'd have to go by Hanauma Bay to get back to Waikiki that'd we stop and try to squeeze in our snorkeling even though we weren't going to do that until the next morning. But who really wanted to drive back when we could do it now and sleep in tomorrow????

We made a quick stop at a blowhole to take some photos. Man it was windy up there!




Continued next post

 

[kkmcan]

Day 2 Part 2- We got to Hanauma Bay and they lady told us we got there just in time to see the last showing of the video that day (4:30). They didn't charge us since it was so late. We walked in and they started the video. We had about an hour to snorkel since we were told that they clear everyone out of the water at 5:45 and close at 6:00. We rushed down and got in. No time to get used to the water. Just get in!! DS wasn't too thrilled about snorkeling so he opted to sit on the beach with our stuff. (Lockers were closed at that point anyways). Surprisingly DD did get brave and snorkel with us and I'm so glad! You never know who will be want to snorkel. Our trip to Florida last only DS would snorkel. We saw tons of fish! Even the state fish! And best of all 2 sea turtles!!! I was so hoping we'd get to see a sea turtle while snorkeling!! They were eating on the coral and we watched them for a long time. Dh got a Go Pro for Christmas and he took some amazing video of one of those turtles and of our snorkeling. We got it uploaded to facebook. Maybe we can figure out how to upload here.









These shots were all taken after they closed and cleared the beach. We sprung for the shuttle ($1.25 pp) back to the top. So glad we did. We were so tired after our long day and 2 different beaches and swimming and the PH tour.

We headed back to our hotel to heat up the pizza we'd bought from Costco and have some cocktails and relax the rest of the night.

We didn't have to get up early tomorrow since we'd squeezed in Lanikai beach and Hanauma Bay. We did miss out on the Diamond Head hike but no one complained. And I thought just maybe we'd drive back to Waikiki one day that week and do it. Well that never happened, so maybe next time. We were off to Aulani tomorrow!! Whohoo! Everyone was so excited!



Daytime panoramic shot from the Wyndham.

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

I'm following your trip report. Hoping to do a similar trip next year! Love the photos.

 

[DisSarahK]

Love the picture of your daughter with the sailors--that is adorable!

Lanikai now is on my list. That beach looks gorgeous!!

 

[kkmcan]

Thanks for following everyone! I will add some more this afternoon. We are having a hard time adjusting back to our local time. At bedtime (9pm) I am wide awake and it takes hours for me to fall asleep. Then I end up sleeping in til 8:30 or 9:00am. I guess because 9pm is 6pm Hawaii time. Luckily we have still been on spring break (tomorrow Mon starts back to school) so we've all been able to sleep in. Dh has had a few days off of work so he too has been able to sleep in. Although he did catch something on the tail end of our vacation and has been so sick. He's supposed to work tomorrow but we shall see.

 

[kkmcan]

Love the picture of your daughter with the sailors--that is adorable!

Lanikai now is on my list. That beach looks gorgeous!!

Thanks! If you look up Lanikai beach on google images you won't believe the photos! They are beyond gorgeous! We've been to Nassau but never the other islands in the Caribbean so we were intent on seeing that water!

Tip: For that beach you park in the neighborhood (just not directly in front of someone's driveway) and walk to a path between the homes to get to the beach. It used to be very unknown but I think its becoming more popular. There is no parking lot.

 

[wanderlust17]

Ugh parking!! We live on Oahu and parking is nuts. Just this week (my kids spring break) we have had to leave a few places just because we couldn't find anywhere to park. We tried to go to the zoo on Friday and drove around for 45 minutes before I just gave up and took them to Chuck E Cheese. When I got there I still had to drive around for 15 minutes to find a spot. On Wednesday we tried to go to the aquarium and left for the same reason and went to the movies. LOL. It's really crazy here. And costco is always nuts no matter what!! But you really can't beat the price for lunch! We can feed 5 people for 10 bucks.

Anyway, I'm loving your report! We are going to Aulani for the first time in 11 days and I am going nuts waiting! Killing time reading trip reports. Haha. Can't wait to read about your stay there!

 

[wanderlust17]

Ugh parking!! We live on Oahu and parking is nuts. Just this week (my kids spring break) we have had to leave a few places just because we couldn't find anywhere to park. We tried to go to the zoo on Friday and drove around for 45 minutes before I just gave up and took them to Chuck E Cheese. When I got there I still had to drive around for 15 minutes to find a spot. On Wednesday we tried to go to the aquarium and left for the same reason and went to the movies. LOL. It's really crazy here. And costco is always nuts no matter what!! But you really can't beat the price for lunch! We can feed 5 people for 10 bucks.

Anyway, I'm loving your report! We are going to Aulani for the first time in 11 days and I am going nuts waiting! Killing time reading trip reports. Haha. Can't wait to read about your stay there!

 

[Goofy442]

Great pictures brings back memories when we went.

 

[kkmcan]

Day 3: We slept in and had a leisurely morning since we had already been to Lanikai beach and Hanauma Bay. Took our time getting packed up to check out.

We drove out to Aulani and pulled up to check in. That's all kind of a blur now. We were presented with our leis and nut necklaces and escorted inside. There was a short walk thru with some explanation of the lobby and then we were escorted over to registration. After having so much room in our one bedroom in Waikiki I really wasn't looking forward to all of us in a hotel room so I got the idea to ask if there was a 1 bedroom available to upgrade to. My budget was about $100 or so more per night. If they had that I was jumping on it. As luck has it the lady told me it would $127 more per night (for a std view) and I was giddy. She called her manager to ask if there was one available and was told there was an ocean view available but it was $300 more per night because of the view. We passed and I was a bit bummed but my dh wanted the Waikolohe Valley view that we had booked so he didn't want to give that up for a std view 1 bedroom. In the end it was fine. An extra tv would have been great and a full kitchen but we knew what we were getting when I booked the hotel room.

We had to wait for our room as it wasn't ready. We went to eat lunch at the Ula Café and to buy our refillable mugs. We had just finished eating when we got the call that our room was ready.

 

[kkmcan]

We got room 540 in the Wainea building. Here's our views.











We got settled. Changed and headed down to swim and check out the slides and lazy river. At this point it was pretty busy but we managed to go around the lazy river a couple of times. I loved it but the water in the river is so cold. The kids loved the slides. They did those everyday multiple times.

Dh and I walked out to the beach to check it out. It was blistering hot in the sun and I didn't last long. He wanted to walk towards the Marriott and that grassy hill. I gave up and went inside. We decided that the mid afternoons were too hot and busy and that we would swim in the mornings and evenings.







We spent the rest of the evening and the next morning just hanging around the resort.

 

[AZMermaid]

I'm following! We live in Phoenix and are going to Aulani June 2015. Wow! 401! That's a great price. I was thinking under $600 for non stop was my book it price. Who did you fly? US air?

 

[cheez]

Cool posting. Glad you had a fun time here. We might have passed you on the lazy river a time or two! Lanikai beach is next to Kailua beach and I agree is more beautiful. For those following though lanikai doesn't have bathrooms or lifeguards so be cautious. Also, please be smart with personal belongings since so many are victims of theft- don't leave anything valuable in the car. Yes traffic is the bane of our existence. Anyone coming here don't be fooled. Paradise comes with roadwork and potholes etc. Aloha

 

[kkmcan]

I'm following! We live in Phoenix and are going to Aulani June 2015. Wow! 401! That's a great price. I was thinking under $600 for non stop was my book it price. Who did you fly? US air?

Yup. US Air. I haven't seen that price since. The summer fares look to be around the $600 range. I think we just got lucky.

 

[kkmcan]

Cool posting. Glad you had a fun time here. We might have passed you on the lazy river a time or two! Lanikai beach is next to Kailua beach and I agree is more beautiful. For those following though lanikai doesn't have bathrooms or lifeguards so be cautious. Also, please be smart with personal belongings since so many are victims of theft- don't leave anything valuable in the car. Yes traffic is the bane of our existence. Anyone coming here don't be fooled. Paradise comes with roadwork and potholes etc. Aloha

We were very careful about not leaving stuff in the car. Except for one time. On our way to the airport we had a couple of extra hours to kill so went to Ala Moana mall. I was very worried about all of our stuff in the trunk but with how busy the parking lots were I didn't think anyone would have time to rip off our luggage without someone seeing. It was fine but I wouldn't recommend anyone do that.