Trip Report: Island hopping from Vancouver Island to O'ahu March 2016

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.

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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!
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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.
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We could even see the ocean a little bit.
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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!

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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!)
 
Monday, March 14

I woke up at about 2am, then again at 3am. By the time I went back to sleep, the kids woke up at around 4am and finally got back to sleep at 5. I had to keep explaining to them that they needed to adjust their bodies to Hawaii time. At 7:30 am we all finally started waking up. We got dressed and headed down to the Pau Hana room. I signed us up for our activities for the day, and then we checked in for our 8:30am breakfast at Makahiki. We had to wait in line to see Mickey, and the lineup started in the bar with all of the Hawaiian words. Annie was driving me nuts telling me what everything was in Hawaiian - I hadn't had enough sleep or food to listen!

Finally, we had our family photo with Mickey! I love that his t-shirt has turtles on it!

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After breakfast, I think we explored the resort a bit (I can't remember. I know we forgot to brush our teeth!) At 9:45 we checked in to the Pau Hana room for Family Fun Animation. We drew Sorcerer Mickey and then Painted an animation cell. It was assigned seating, and we were seated with a family from Toronto.

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I can't remember everything that we did that day, or in what order! But at some point we had lunch at Ulu, went swimming in the pools and rainbow reef and did the Menehune ipad scavenger hunt.

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I think the kids went to free play at Aunty's some time that afternoon, but I can't remember.

At 3:45pm we checked in for the Ukulele class at the Pau Hana Room. On the way, we saw this guy...

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He was going to the same place as us, so we walked together. The characters here are so casual, especially when it isn't very busy. They spend a lot of time visiting and interacting, and they aren't rushed like they are at the theme parks.

We enjoyed the music class, but ended up leaving after about 30 minutes because the kids were getting frustrated with the ukulele. My dad, who is a retired teacher, used to teach ukulele to grade 5 students, and I think my kids were just too young. The chords that they were teaching us were also quite difficult! Before they taught us the ukulele, they showed us several Hawaiian instruments. Annie got to demonstrate how to play the Uli Uli.
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She even attracted a groupie!


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That evening we had dinner at Ulu (we were already starting to get tired of it, but it was free! It would have cost us $50 for each meal without the meal credit.) We went for a swim, walked on the beach, and then watched a movie in the room (the kids enjoyed "renting" the free DVDs and Blu Ray discs from the Pau Hana Room!) It was a fun, relaxing, first day at the resort!
 
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Oops, I forgot to go into details about the character breakfast! Just as with character meals at the theme parks, it's important to check in well in advance. We had to wait to have our photo with Mickey, and then we had to wait again to be seated. Annie has an unusual food allergy, so I had to wait for the chef to come out and talk to us. Unlike at WDW, the chef didn't walk me through the buffet, but instead, he just asked what she wanted and made her own plate of food (which is what the chef at Storyteller's did.) I really enjoyed the food at the buffet! They had a lot of what I would consider non-breakfast foods, but I guess the visitors from Japan would have fried rice and fish for breakfast. On this day it wasn't very busy in the restaurant or the resort in general. The characters coming around were Minnie, Chip, Dale and Auntie. Auntie was playing the ukulele but she didn't put on a big parade or musical performance - she did the following Monday.
 
Tuesday, March 15

This was another resort day for our family. I had originally planned to take a taxi to the organic grocery store on Monday, but we really didn't feel like leaving the resort. This meant that we didn't have anything to eat for breakfast on Tuesday morning (remember, Annie has food sensitivities, so Ulu cafe wouldn't work for us for breakfast. Their lunch and dinner options were ok though.) We decided to see if we could get a table at Ama Ama at 7:15, and luckily it was very quiet and we didn't need a reservation! We had a beautiful spot overlooking the lagoon, and the chef was more than willing to make something special for Annie. I had the creps, and they were fantastic. Bryan had the Belgian waffle - they asked if he wanted ice cream on it, and he declined. The kids would have never let him have ice cream for breakfast!

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We had another relaxing day around the resort. The kids tried Boogie Boarding and played in the sand. We also spent a lot of time on the waterslide and in the lazy river.

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We switched it up and had lunch at Off the Hook. The food came in steamer boxes! I think I had fish tacos, but I can't remember. Annie had a pepperoni pizza that mostly fell apart because it was so hot.

Bryan called the Character Hotline that morning and found out what times we could find the characters. We saw Stitch, Mickey and Minnie at the back lawn. We waited around a bit for Minnie to come back out, and when she did, she didn't have a photographer with her, so we waited another 5 minutes for the Photopass photographer. In that time, Minnie visited with the kids and Annie taught her some of her figure skating moves. Minnie does a pretty good waltz jump! I also chatted with the CMs and they let us know where to sit for the starlight hui.

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That afternoon, the kids did Stitch's Space Goo at Aunty's while Bryan and I did the guided nature walk around the resort. The CM leading our tour was Cy, the same CM who instructed the animation activity and the music class. He was also in the Starlight Hui that night!

Bryan took this lovely photo while we waited on the lanai for our tour to start.
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Parents are not permitted at Aunty's during the activities, but the photopass photographers take a lot of photos! It does take quite a while to look through them at the gift shop and pick out your own kids, though.
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The kids had a blast, and kept talking about how the "Space Goo" was actually Stitch's boogers!

We didn't bother signing out a movie for the evening, since we were going to the Starlight Hui. We had dinner at (you guessed it) Ulu cafe. Boy were we getting tired of their limited selection, but you couldn't beat the price! Bryan and I each bought the refillable mug on our first day, and our meal credit included a drink from a specific shelf, so we each grabbed a little bottle of water each meal to keep for later.

We arrived pretty early for the evening show. The kids got to learn the hula before the actual show began. We had a lot of fun. Good thing we brought sweaters, because it got a bit cool in the evenings.
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We went right to bed after the show - the kids were really tired, since 9pm is midnight back home!
 
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Kati! Loving your trip report. Your kids have gotten so big! I remember following one of your DL trip reports. Beautiful family. :) looking forward to reading more as we are going to Aulani in July with our 6 & 8 year old boys. We cannot wait. Thank you for sharing!! :)
 
He came back about 2 minutes later and brought us our check-in package, since I had checked-in online.

i'm curious about this option. at what point did you do the online check-in? before you left victoria? or after you arrived at HNL, somewhere during the shuttle ride to Aulani, perhaps? is the advantage to skip the line at the check-in?
 


also, both DH and i both get sunburned very easily. would we stick out like sore thumbs if we wore long-sleeve rash guards? :)
 
I was able to check in online days before. I think I got an email saying that I could check in, then I followed the link and put in my last name and confirmation code. Then I just had to verify my address and some other info. When we left the resort, I noticed a platform next to the water station that said "online check-in" so that's where you should go once you arrive. I don't know if Kenji met us at the shuttle because we booked a package, or because it wasn't very busy, but I don't think every family is escorted in by a CM. if you do get ushered in by Kenji or any other CM, you should just mention that you checked in online.

At one point on our trip, I locked our room keys in the room and couldn't pay for our meals without them, so I went to the bell desk and there was a huge line up at check in. So check in online for sure!
 
also, both DH and i both get sunburned very easily. would we stick out like sore thumbs if we wore long-sleeve rash guards? :)
I wouldn't worry about that. Most people were wearing cover ups over their swimsuits. It gets pretty windy sometimes, so it's good to have a light sweater. Any people will be looking at the beautiful view, so they won't notice what you're wearing! :rotfl2:
 
I wouldn't worry about that. Most people were wearing cover ups over their swimsuits. It gets pretty windy sometimes, so it's good to have a light sweater. Any people will be looking at the beautiful view, so they won't notice what you're wearing! :rotfl2:

hahaha awesome! thanks for all your tips so far. :D
 
Kati! Loving your trip report. Your kids have gotten so big! I remember following one of your DL trip reports. Beautiful family. :) looking forward to reading more as we are going to Aulani in July with our 6 & 8 year old boys. We cannot wait. Thank you for sharing!! :)

Thanks for following along. Your family is going to love it! The kids were just the right age for the kids club activities- Annie thinks she's getting too old for "little kid stuff" and she had a great time.
 
Can I ask what camera you are using for the water photos? I am debating getting a waterproof camera for the trip. Thanks!
 
Can I ask what camera you are using for the water photos? I am debating getting a waterproof camera for the trip. Thanks!

It's a Fuji waterproof camera. I got it for Bryan for Christmas, since he's always bringing his NON-waterproof camera into the pool and on water rides! Whenever we go on trips, Bryan doesn't buy anything for himself, and always says "The pictures are my souvenirs" so I wanted him to have a good camera for this trip. The photopass photographers also have waterproof cameras. They are in rainbow reef, sometimes floating around the lazy river, and at the pool party.

I was looking at the Cannon waterproof one, but it was more expensive. My sister-in-law has the same Fuji one and she highly recommended it, so that's why I chose this particular camera.

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00S4KXOI8/ref=twister_B00S7ASHD2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
 
Wednesday, March 16th

This is the first of what Gavin called our "Out and About trip" days. As I mentioned earlier, I bought each of us a 2 day Go Oahu card. I really liked that I could pay for this in advance and didn't have to pay for anything at the gate. This was also the day that we had booked the free rental car that came with our vacation package.

I had originally planned to take a taxi to get groceries, or walk across the street to get groceries, on Monday or Tuesday. Well, we sure didn't want to leave the resort, so we just waited until this day to grab some groceries with our rental car. The Alamo rental car desk is just down the hallway, past the gift shop and outside. It took quite a while to get our car, and I'm not sure why, since there was nobody else there and it was only 8am. Once we finally got our car, we headed to Down to Earth Organics to grab some non-perishable snacks and breakfast items. If you have followed my other trip reports, you will know that Annie is extremely sensitive to artificial ingredients - in particular, food dyes. She was really happy with this grocery store, since she could choose anything she wanted here! They had a great bakery section, so we got some muffins for breakfast. Bryan didn't want any of the muffins, so he got a big cookie! I don't think the kids noticed. We also got three big bags of Mickey Head veggie chips. They have small bags of these at Aulani for $3 a bag, and the big bags were on sale for about $3 something. I grabbed a couple bananas for Bryan and I to eat, and the lady at the checkout suggested we try "ice cream bananas." She had already rung up our regular bananas, so I grabbed a couple "ice cream" ones for the kids. Well, this is probably the biggest scam at the organic grocery store! Not only were these bananas ridiculously difficult to peel, but Annie said it tasted just like a regular banana, and Gavin said it tasted gross!

Finally we loaded up the car with our snacks and headed towards the Dole Plantation.

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They open at 9:30am and I think we got there at around 9:20. Gavin really needed to use the washroom, so we were let in to the big gift shop/store before they actually opened. After a quick pit stop, we headed towards the ticket booth to get a ticket for the train. It turns out that the train was already full and it would be 30-45 minutes for the next one. Well, the gift shop was finally opened and Annie and I were freezing! We hadn't brought any sweaters with us in the rental car, so we went into the gift shop to warm up and maybe find some sweaters. It's a huge shop, but they didn't have any long sleeve shirts. The kids each chose and t-shirt and a stuffy and I found a t-shirt for myself.

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Finally, we got on the Pineapple Express. Gavin and I sang along with the soundtrack! It was a pretty long ride and it was a lot of fun.

Next we took a little walk through the pineapple maze. We didn't end up doing the whole thing because Bryan and I really wanted to get on the road.

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We were thinking of having lunch at the Dole Plantation, but it was so busy that we decided, instead, to hit the road and look for somewhere to eat on the North Shore.
 
Wednesday, March 16th (cont)

We headed North, away from the busyness that was the Dole Plantation. We were expecting it to be crowded at Aulani, but it really wasn't crowded at all in the beginning of the week. That must have been why I felt the Dole Plantation was so crowded! As we drove through the North Shore, I felt like we were seeing "real" Hawaii, especially compared to Ko'Olina and Aulani. We passed by a very tanned, dirty, long haired man in his 50s who was loading surf boards into the back of his VW van! Then we saw a long haired young man with no shirt, no helmet and NO SHOES riding a bicycle. Bryan wanted to stop at one of the beaches and get out and walk around, so we pulled over at Waimea Beach. I had thought about using the Go Cards and hiking around at Waimea Falls, but the kids were pretty tired, and it was already close to 1pm and we were on our way to the Polynesian Cultural Center.

We easily found a parking spot at the beach, passed by a few chickens, and then dug our feet into the sand. The waves were huge and the sand berms were also huge! Bryan and the kids had fun running away from the waves, while I watched from up top.

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We were really getting hungry by this point, so we got into the car and went to look for someplace to eat. I had looked on Yelp several times before we left home, since Annie can't eat just anywhere. I thought we'd try Shakry's Grill - well, it turns out Shakry's grill is a food truck, and the one thing that Annie would want to eat, the grilled chicken on a stick, was sold out. We ended up getting lunch at the taco food truck instead, and I just had to make sure they didn't put orange cheddar in Annie's quesadilla. None of the food trucks had kids portions, so the kids shared the quesadilla meal. Bryan had some sort of burrito and I had shrimp tacos. The kids saw someone drinking out of a pineapple, and they really wanted one. Gavin was hoping we would get to eat some pineapple at the Dole plantation, but we didn't have any there, so Bryan wanted to let the kids have a pineapple drink here on the North Shore. Turns out they were $10 each! We splurged and got 3 of them. I don't think the kids finished theirs, but I had all of mine and it was delicious! Bryan had water because he doesn't like tropical fruit. I didn't like the idea of paying $30 for drinks, but hey, we were on vacation!

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This was a really fun stop for lunch, and I would highly recommend driving up to the North Shore and experiencing the non-touristy side of O'ahu.

Next, we got back in the car and drove to the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was very confusing figuring out where to bring our Go Cards and then where the actual entrance of the Villages was. While I was waiting in line to exchange our Go Cards for our actual tickets, I saw a family waiting in line from Victoria! The little girl is in Brownies and skating with Annie, and I met the mother years ago when we were both pregnant in prenatal yoga class!

I really enjoyed the Polynesian Cultural Center. There was so much to do there, and it really didn't seem very busy because all of the villages were spread out, and if one activity was busy, we just walked a little further and then came back. The staff working there were very friendly and knowledgeable. We didn't stay for the Luau because it would have cost extra and it would end pretty late at night. Plus, it took about 1hr to drive back to Aulani, so we decided to just visit the villages on this trip.

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We left the Polynesian Cultural Center at about 4:30, and headed back through the North Shore. Before the left the food trucks, I had asked a lady at a little shop where I could find sea turtles. She told me the name of the beach and where it was, but I couldn't really remember the name. I googled "sea turtles north shore" and found what I think is the beach she told me. I plugged it into google maps and we were on our way. We pulled off the highway when we saw a group of people standing around on the beach. We had to run across the highway, but luckily a truck slowed down for us.

Seeing the sea turtles was the highlight of my day! They were fantastic! There was one all by itself and then a group of three together.

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The conservancy group did a good job of putting ropes around the turtles so that the visitors wouldn't get too close. They also had pamphlets and a lady there answering questions. Later, I found out that this beach is just steps away from where the Survivor Camp scenes of Lost were filmed!

We ended our very long "out and about trip" day by stopping at Aloha Salads for dinner, grabbed some organic milk and yogurt from Target, and gassed up the rental car at Costco. We returned the rental car to the valet at Aulani, then headed off to bed!
 
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WOW-that is a huge turtle! It is so amazing that they glide like birds in the water, I just love honu. How did you like Aloha Salads? I have it as a must try for our next trip...
 
Thanks for the camera tip! The photos are super clear =)

Loving following along. I cannot wait to see the turtles as well! And drink from a pineapple! So cool =)
 
WOW-that is a huge turtle! It is so amazing that they glide like birds in the water, I just love honu. How did you like Aloha Salads? I have it as a must try for our next trip...

I liked Aloha Salads- it was pretty much like Subway but with better quality ingredients. It took a long time for our food to be ready, though, compared to Subway. Either we weren't very hungry, or their portions were big, because none of us finished and packed up the leftovers for lunch the next day. We went to the one in the plaza with Target, and there weren't very many seats. We sat upstairs, but it wasn't very nice up there. I think most people just get their food to go.
 

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