Trip Report A little bit of Disney and a lot of luaus!

Hello all!
We're back from our "Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa" stay, and I'm finally able to get this trip report started!
(And fyi the closest I came to a spa was getting a water bubble foot bath at the kids splash area!)

Our party of 6 and a 1/2 consisted of myself Cindy, husband Gary, son Seth, daughter Aleisha (and the half), SIL Julio and our 20 month old granddaughter Una. (You may remember her as crazy girl from our Oct. 2021 WDW trip report.) Nothing has changed there!

Same cast of characters except in a different location!

We left home 9/24/22 and returned 10/5/22.
On Saturday the 24th we flew from Pittsburgh to Sacramento via Dallas. (That is a big airport)!

Before we left I bought myself a new (larger) suitcase for the trip. Someone may or may not have packed one and a half suitcases full of kid crap treasures and needed more space! When I retired my partners bought me the smaller version of this and I love it so much (and it's held up for 4 years of Disney adventures) so it made sense to buy the matching larger one! I'm glad they still offer the same pattern.

We packed up all of said stuff and headed to the airport. Our flight was at a reasonable 1:30pm so we didn't have to kill ourselves to get there.
I put this photo in to remind myself to never do this again. I wanted to save $3/day and so I parked in the economy lot. @riverside will be able to tell you how silly this decision was. There are no shuttles and it was a full on 20 minute walk with my annoying hip back to the terminal. You see that strip of brown there past my car? That is the highway surrounding the airport! But hey, I saved $3/day!

We got through security no problem that time of day and got on the monorail type thing that takes you from the land to air side.
And ps, I'm with every other human on the planet that is sick of mask wearing but Gary's oncologist has asked him to keep wearing them indoors as much as possible due to his immunocompromised state with ongoing chemo and so we do.
I tell everyone it's not going to be his cancer or covid that takes him out, it's going to be me.
See post of family fracas that occurs in a few days.

We had time to grab an early lunch so we shared Chick-fil-A nuggets, waffle fries and some Auntie Anne's nuggets.
He's happy, honestly! He doesn't earn those Grumpy shirts for nuthin!

And then on to what started out as one of the most controversial subjects of this trip.
As his illness progresses and he gets more tired (and grumpy) I try to figure out how to make things less stressful and easier for him.
Flying has become something he detests. So I proposed for the first time in our life that we try to fly first/business class and see if it is any easier for him. If you hate it or feel it is not worth it, never again I tell him.
(Remember I'm the person too cheap to park closer, I don't throw money away either).
Oh boy did the grumping and complaining begin. That's too expensive, I don't want to do that and on and on. I finally wore him down and he acquiesced.
So, how do you think it went?

Give you a little hint, that's actually a smile behind that mask as he sits in his nice wide soft seat!

Do I get to do a wifely eyeball roll yet?!
Hope you'll stay tuned for more of our adventures!

 

[MickeyCB]

Day 8- A few more beach and resort pics.

There was a pretty rainbow but it's not showing up so well with the phone camera.

After that we headed back up to the room to start packing for our departure the next day.
I don't remember what we ate but I think it was from the quick service again.

 

[MickeyCB]

Day 9-Travel back to Sac day.

We had everything fairly well packed up the evening before and while Aleisha and Julio finished up Gary and I went down to get the van and bring it up to the entrance for them to load their gear in.

One last balcony pic.

A random pic of some interesting produce that was bought during the week that I hope someone used.

As we walked down to get the van I grabbed a photo of this neat ear hat in the store.

We pulled up to the entrance to load up.

And look at my big girl with her backpack! My mom, her great grandmom, bought that for her for the trip.
I was very surprised that she carried it the whole way down from the room and in the airport some also.
Because her name is Una, she gets a lot of Unacorn stuff.

We headed off to the cray cray that is their Monday morning airport!

 

[MickeyCB]

Day 9- Let's get home, well to Sac anyway.

We pulled up to the same terminal that I dropped Seth off on Sunday at maybe 10 am. It was bananas!
It was 3 car lanes deep with people dropping people off, multiple security personnel trying to get drivers to behave, and solid walls of humans!
I realized I didn't take a photo but you get the idea. No empty sidewalks like the photos from yesterday. I told everyone to get out with all of our gear and I would return the car and catch up with them.
The car return involves a drive, a drop off, and a bus ride back.

I put this uninteresting photo in to remind myself to mention that I always take a photo of all 4 sides of the rentals when I turn them in in case someone tries to say something was damaged.
You had to go down an escalator, get on an elevator, go to the bus stop. And then ride that back to the terminal.
After all of that, they still hadn't reached the front of the luggage drop off area yet!

Sorry this is txt heavy.
When I got dropped off everyone was in line, almost at the front, to drop our luggage, all adults had to have id's, weigh the luggage and there was only one poor woman doing all of this.
But the real fun was we then had to go to the security line. I had mentioned earlier in the trip report about Aleisha not having tsa preck. "I just didn't get around to it."
She told us to all go and leave her but we didn't want to do that. It was a solid hour in the security line. When I had dropped them off, the bulk of those people on the sidewalk were in the security line that extended outside the doors and then circled back in and back and forth through multiple queues. Again, bananas!
Una was acting like a nut job in the line and Aleisha said I told you guys you could have just gone through preck. It was at that point that I realized she would have loved that hour in line without us!
Oh yeah, and Julio had to circle back to the scanners because he forgot to take his ipad out of his bag and put it on the belt.

We finally got through and hustled to our gate which wasn't far from security. I looked at the board and our flight wasn't up there. It had moved to a completely different gate that was on the opposite side of the airport. I told everyone and we all turned around and starting hustling to the other side. I remembered a bus/shuttle from when we arrived. We found that and the attendant told us to have a seat. But there was no way I was listening to her because there was an entire flight of people behind us that also needed to get on that bus! It pulled up within 2 minutes and we made it on and hustled to our next gate.

At this point Una was like, "I'm freeeeeee!"

We had fun checking out our airplane. Una loves airplanes and helipoppers!

Finally on the plane! Our seats were correct this time, in a 3 and 2 configuration.

Last view of the ocean.

And like father like daughter! She's watching some Disney movie or another and having a snack.

We got into Sac on time and the next morning you would have thought Una had a hangover, couldn't get her to wake up at all!

Next, last days adventures.

 

[MickeyCB]

Day 10-Last day in Sac.

We finally got Una to wake up and took her to the park before it got too warm.

I can do this Gramma.

What did I say?! Hah!

We headed home to go get some lunch and go to Trader Joe's for some groceries.
Look at that hair!

She somehow figured out how to get the tie downs, up.

I thought this was a neat photo. She was walking past the window and "caught" the suns rays with her hands, It fascinated her.

She helped decorate the porch with some pumpkins that were bought today during our outing.

And then it was time for bed for all of us. Una wanted to snuggle down with us.

We had to say our goodbyes at night because our flight was at an unreasonable 6am.

Day 11-an uneventful trip back to the Burgh!
We prescheduled an Uber to pick us up since it was so early and we got to the airport in plenty of time.
We had an uneventful flight and the only pic I got was Gary getting a pre flight coffee that he enjoyed!

I hope you all enjoyed following along and I apologize for more kid and less Disney content!
But, you know, doting gamma and all that!

It was a long trip for all of us but I am glad we got to spend this time with the family. Gary gets crabby when I try to get us to go to Sac, he says Una doesn't recognize him or want to hug, etc.
But last night Aleisha txtd and asked if I would like to face time. Sure I said. The phone rings through, Una looks at me and says, "where's poppop?!" I'm apparently chopped liver! Little bum!

We enjoyed Hawaii but it was all a blur. I know you need more time there if you bother to make the trip but it is all we could manage.
Aulani is flat out gorgeous and I would stay there again in a heartbeat given a chance.

If anyone has any Aulani or Hawaii questions feel free to ask, I'll answer what I can.
And I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!

Oh, and I wanted to edit to add that apparently our family fracas at the PCC didn't scare Julio off too much. I sent him a pic of a magazine about Scottish Whiskeys and he txtd back...Oh, is that where our next family vacation is going to be!
Hmmmm, I think we can use DVC points on a Scottish Castle!!

 

[Bullseye1967]

Day 10-Last day in Sac.

We finally got Una to wake up and took her to the park before it got too warm.
View attachment 680240

I can do this Gramma.
View attachment 680241

What did I say?! Hah!
View attachment 680242

We headed home to go get some lunch and go to Trader Joe's for some groceries.
Look at that hair!
View attachment 680243

She somehow figured out how to get the tie downs, up.
View attachment 680244

I thought this was a neat photo. She was walking past the window and "caught" the suns rays with her hands, It fascinated her.
View attachment 680245

She helped decorate the porch with some pumpkins that were bought today during our outing.
View attachment 680251

And then it was time for bed for all of us. Una wanted to snuggle down with us.
View attachment 680246

We had to say our goodbyes at night because our flight was at an unreasonable 6am.

Day 11-an uneventful trip back to the Burgh!
We prescheduled an Uber to pick us up since it was so early and we got to the airport in plenty of time.
We had an uneventful flight and the only pic I got was Gary getting a pre flight coffee that he enjoyed!
View attachment 680247

I hope you all enjoyed following along and I apologize for more kid and less Disney content!
But, you know, doting gamma and all that!

It was a long trip for all of us but I am glad we got to spend this time with the family. Gary gets crabby when I try to get us to go to Sac, he says Una doesn't recognize him or want to hug, etc.
But last night Aleisha txtd and asked if I would like to face time. Sure I said. The phone rings through, Una looks at me and says, "where's poppop?!" I'm apparently chopped liver! Little bum!

We enjoyed Hawaii but it was all a blur. I know you need more time there if you bother to make the trip but it is all we could manage.
Aulani is flat out gorgeous and I would stay there again in a heartbeat given a chance.

If anyone has any Aulani or Hawaii questions feel free to ask, I'll answer what I can.
And I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!

Oh, and I wanted to edit to add that apparently our family fracas at the PCC didn't scare Julio off too much. I sent him a pic of a magazine about Scottish Whiskeys and he txtd back...Oh, is that where our next family vacation is going to be!
Hmmmm, I think we can use DVC points on a Scottish Castle!!

Thank you for letting us tag along on such a great trip!

 

[Swissmiss]

Absolutely loved this TR!

 

[MinnieM123]

Excellent TR! Thanks for sharing all the interesting details and photos..

 

[Zipadeelady]

Loved your report. So glad you wrote about your experience!!

 

[riverside]

Awesome TR!! I really enjoyed it!!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Fantastic trip report

 

[Tuvalu]

Well done, my friend!

 

[rshell68]

Mahalo for sharing with us! What a wonderful report!

 

[k8einwdw]

Una was acting like a nut job in the line and Aleisha said I told you guys you could have just gone through preck. It was at that point that I realized she would have loved that hour in line without us!

I was thinking the same thing while I was reading this - an hour alone in a TSA line while someone else handles the crazy toddler is like a vacation!

I enjoyed reading along with your trip, and congrats in advance on the new grandbaby!

 

[MickeyCB]

Thank you for letting us tag along on such a great trip!

Thank you very much for following!

 

[MickeyCB]

Absolutely loved this TR!

Thanks, I like doing them. Neeeeeddd morrreee trips!

 

[MickeyCB]

Excellent TR! Thanks for sharing all the interesting details and photos..

Thanks, and you're welcome!

 

[MickeyCB]

Loved your report. So glad you wrote about your experience!!

Thanks for following along!

 

[MickeyCB]

Awesome TR!! I really enjoyed it!!

Thanks, I've really enjoyed following along on yours too!

 

[MickeyCB]

Fantastic trip report

Thanks, and already enjoying your latest!

 

[MickeyCB]

Well done, my friend!

Thanks, but we know nothing tops a @Tuvalu tale!