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 3-Aulani arrival day cont.

We learned someone else likes grandpap's dole whip!
That is one of the resort mugs on the table. They all had the same pattern in a choice of green, orange or brown.

After that I said we couldn't be this close to the ocean and not go put our feet in the water! So we walked down and took a few photos but it was so hot and we were all in travel clothes so we didn't stay long.

Luckily we got our room txt not too long after that and so we headed for the van to get our gear and go see what our room looked like.
Would we like it or would we be disappointed?

 

[Darstarr]

but I do remember Gary being in heaven eating a dole whip while gazing out at the ocean!

 

[MickeyCB]

I can't remember, is it @Loco_driver you battle it out with regarding dole whip love or someone else?
I'm in the, it's pretty darn good camp.

 

[MickeyCB]

Day 3- Aulani arrival day continues...

We got our gear from the van and headed up to our room.
It was room 950.

I was told by a fellow Disney loving person, a nurse I adored at the hospital I worked at, that I am a "hotel brat". (Picture another word that starts with B) and that was what he really called me as we discussed our favorite WDW hotel rooms one day when we should have been working and not gabbing about Disney.
Don't judge me but I did research and made a few phone calls to Aulani to put in a room request. We booked a 2 bedroom villa, ocean view, using DVC points and I was being picky about the view and the balcony. Apparently they have 2 bedrooms where the balcony is not the length of the room and cut into these weird little V's of walls that pretty much only fit 2 or maybe 3 chairs. One of our favorite things to do as a family is to sit on the balcony and check out the sites while eating, drinking, etc.

So drumroll, here's 950!

Just kidding, here's what really counts when you are staying at an ocean side resort!!
This is our view from our balcony! I hope to never get so jaded that something like this losses meaning!
It was gorgeous and while we were on the 9th floor it was in a location that we could see all of the happenings below us.
People watching, the lazy river, characters, etc. It was marvelous.

For anyone interested this room was located in the Ewa tower, left side facing the ocean and in what they call "the 50's". There are other size rooms within this not just 2 bedrooms. The Waianae tower is on the right. The center area you can see from our room is called the Waikolohe Valley.

This is the view to the right off of the balcony catching the mountains.

And to the left is the rest of the Ewa tower.

We enjoyed many meals and libations and BB's on this wonderful large balcony.

I'll post room photos in the next post. I just realized I've lost a lot of them and need to do a search.

 

[MickeyCB]

Day 3-room photos retrieved!

This is an up close pic of the wood carving on the front door.
They snuck in a little Disney there!

View as you open the door into the kitchen/dining area.
And I apologize a lot of these photos are blurry as I was trying to take pictures before the place was destroyed inhabited.
Love the light above the table.

Kitchen/dining from the living room perspective.

Powder room to the left as you step into the room.

2nd bedroom with 2 queen beds. (And Una).

That rooms bathroom. Has a tub/shower combo and a separate toilet area and a large closet, no pic, on the way to the bathroom that was large enough for Una'a packnplay with a little of it sticking out into the walkway.

The main bedroom with a king bed and spacious bathroom and separate toilet area. I lost the shower pic, it was huge.
Aleisha inferred that since Gary and I complain about tossing and turning and blanket stealing that we would like the room with the 2 queens and they could have the main bedroom. I don't like her that much. So nope.

Separate toilet with useless sliding door.

@Darstarr and @Tuvalu did you count em?! 3 toilets!!

But, here's my one and only but significant complaint about these rooms. I didn't pay attention to it at first but when Aleisha was putting Una down for a nap a little bit later she said she could hear everything out in the living room.
That's when we noticed that ALL of the doors except the door into the main bedroom were open slats!
Every room, and especially the bathrooms had slatted doors. So never mind you could hear people in the bathrooms at night, but if someone went in to shower or use the toilet the light came through the doors. It doesn't make one bit of sense because there was little to no privacy with this. They looked great but weren't very functional.

Next, a few more room photos that show off the sweet Disney touches!

 

[MickeyCB]

Day 3- arrival day and the little Disney room details...

On arrival the TV's had a welcome greeting Ka 'Ohana to the family on all of the screens.
I thought that was a fun touch!


The lamp to the right of the TV in the living room had this design on it. Little hard to see but it is Mickey surfing!

And the bathrooms had souvenirs, but only the hand soaps had an Aulani logo on them.

Bad photo but those are the hand soaps and the DVC member lanyards that the CM gave Gary earlier in the day.

More Disney on the cushions in the dining area. You can't have too many Mickey details in my humble opinion!
I am ashamed to admit I didn't notice these for a day or two. I can spot a pair of Mickey ears at a flea market 3 isles over!

My absolute favorite thing in the entire room was this lamp!! I had seen quite a few people posting pics of it on Aulani YouTube videos I watched prior to our trip and couldn't wait to see it for myself. Again blurry photo, sorry.

One cute detail I didn't notice until later was he is wearing little crocs while he plays his ukulele!

Seth arrived a few hours after we did and I went down to meet him in the lobby.
Una was taking a power nap in the meantime and when she woke up we all piled into the van to go to Costco's (a Julio request) for groceries and then on to Target for a few things they didn't have at Costco.

They were both within a 10 minute drive of the resort. Costco was interesting in that they had local beer and several other foods unique to Hawaii. I didn't take any photos because during this stop it was already about 1 am east coast time, 10 Sac time and I was just herding people along.
The grocery run was necessary though, because there was no way I was going to miss my first morning sit on that balcony without Hawaiian coffee!!

It was only about 8:30 when we all crashed but body time it was 2:30am!
Tomorrow is a resort day but somehow we still ended up with a lot of activities!

 

[Loco_driver]

I can't remember, is it @Loco_driver you battle it out with regarding dole whip love or someone else?

 

[Wilsonfamily4]

After our trip many years ago I bought two of those lamps for our master bedroom. I’ve loved them but I’m thinking I may put them on eBay someday as I’m kind of getting tired of the theme, but they really are cute.

 

[BigDis]

Late to the festivities but loving every minute of your TR!

 

[MickeyCB]

I don't get the dislike? What's not to like about creamy icecream and pineapple?!
And yes I realize I might start something here!

 

[MickeyCB]

After our trip many years ago I bought two of those lamps for our master bedroom. I’ve loved them but I’m thinking I may put them on eBay someday as I’m kind of getting tired of the theme, but they really are cute.

Oh you have to please message me first!!
It's a long story that I will get into later, but the new lamps they are selling are missing some of the wonderful vintageness of the older ones.

 

[MickeyCB]

Late to the festivities but loving every minute of your TR!

Glad you're here, more festivities to follow!

 

[MickeyCB]

Day 4-first full day in Hawaii and the sun is rising at 6:38 am!

Of course with the time change we were all up early. This is time stamped at 6:38 am.

Our first coffee and BB's (different variety today) on the balcony!

We had made a reservation for the character breakfast at Makahiki for 8am figuring with the time difference we would be up and ready to go in plenty of time.
But since this was going to be our one full resort day I had wanted to rent one of the cabanas but they were booked months in advance. When I called, because very little can be done on line here, she asked what year I wanted! So obviously we didn't get one of those.
But the do have these nice 2 person wooden chaises with an overhead tent of sorts down by the beach that are rented day of. They are called casabella's.
Gary is on a new chemo that he is supposed to stay out of the sun with it or he can get a head to toe acne type rash. He has reluctantly worn bucket hats and long sleeves here at home after I found him a Steelers bucket hat. He informed me that he was going to be in the sun in Hawaii whether he was supposed to be or not. This was my sneaky way to get him out of the sun a little.
And I figured it would be a good place for Una to land if we needed her to get out of the sun. (Hint, useless for the noncompliant kid)!

Of course there is a catch with everything. They don't open for rental till 8 am and apparently there is a long line of people when they do. So Gary and I went down there to get in line while Aleisha tried to get our reservation pushed back a little. She was successful and got it for 8:30.

Gary and I got down there and were the first in line to rent. The CM said usually there are 10 people by now, so score!
Those are the casabellas behind us and a beautiful not hot yet morning on the beach!
We rented 2 (so 4 chaises) under a palm tree. Tricky me!

On our stroll back up to the restaurant we took a few photos. This is Gary pointing out the location of our room.

And this is him in front of Mama's snack shop which hasn't opened for the day.

After this we went to the restaurant, met the kids and got ready for grandma Una to meet Mickey!

 

[fractal]

Great view and what a room (despite the slatted doors)! Gary looks like he's having a great time.

 

[Wilsonfamily4]

Oh you have to please message me first!!
It's a long story that I will get into later, but the new lamps they are selling are missing some of the wonderful vintageness of the older ones.

Really? I’m really interested to know what’s missing. I bought mine in 2012. They are really cute but do get quite dusty

 

[RememberWhen]

Loving the report! Can’t wait to see the character breakfast and the rest of your resort day!

 

[Songbird76]

I don't get the dislike? What's not to like about creamy icecream and pineapple?!
And yes I realize I might start something here!

=

Sorry, not sorry.

 

[Loco_driver]

I don't get the dislike? What's not to like about creamy icecream and pineapple?!
And yes I realize I might start something here!

I don’t dislike dole whip. I just far prefer the superior citrus swirl at MK. Also of all the dole whip flavors, pineapple is definitely my least favorite. Very odd considering my love of pineapple.

 

[MickeyCB]

Great view and what a room (despite the slatted doors)! Gary looks like he's having a great time.

He was and he really enjoyed himself during this resort day.

 

[MickeyCB]

Really? I’m really interested to know what’s missing. I bought mine in 2012. They are really cute but do get quite dusty

I have some pics later in the TR, it's more of a coloring issue.