Dreams Come True in Blue Hawaii - Aulani, Kauai, Disneyland May 2017 TR, updated 7/30

I am loving your trip report. Congratulations on your engagement. I was iffy on Diamondhead but now you have me convinced to do it.
I hope that I didn't oversell it! I think if you go into it understanding what it is, it's a great thing to do on the island and not very expensive. Obviously it helps if you get a nice piece of jewelery at the top :P And thank you on the congratulations. We are loving engaged life and looking forward to the wedding.

Those look so good :lovestruc
Oh my gosh, I was like there is no way these things will live up to the hype. SURPRISE I was wrong! They are amazing and I would physically fight someone for another one right now... :rotfl:

I think I said it at the time but congrats again! We also love Jeopardy too :rotfl:
I love that you guys share our old people love of Jeopardy :hug: I swear we are a 90 year old couple living in 30-something bodies

And of course I am glad you are here!
:love: I can't wait to read more of this story
Hi Shannon! Glad to have you!!! :flower3:

Casually finding my way over here without any self promotion or branding at all. Funny how that happeneds :-) Coming back to catch up, but so here for the duration !
What a crazy coincidence :rolleyes1 and so glad to have you along! even if I do spam you with too many updates in my various tales of disney escapades

Excellent trip report! Love the great photos and your sharing the details. Thanks!
Thank you so much! Glad you are here reading along!!!
 
Day 3, May 29: Resort Day and Kona Brew Pub Dinner

This morning we tried to sleep in. "Tried", meaning we failed at this due to the magic of jet lag. :rolleyes: I forgot to mention in the previous installment that we had breakfast in the room prior to visiting Diamond Head, and we again made some great coffee we'd picked up during our grocery run. (I am finding myself justifying that $247 expense!)

We were in an Ocean View studio, so our "cooking" was limited to what we could heat up or cook in the microwave and toaster. Fortunately this worked great for breakfast as we got some frozen breakfast biscuits and frozen hashbrowns which crisped up nicely in the toaster. We'd also brought a large chef's knife and cutting board in our checked luggage so that we could cut fruit in the room. I don't think I have any room photos but our room looked pretty much as I was expecting. The only thing I wasn't expecting was that the room was really in need of a refurb, especially in the bathroom. It was very clean but the fixtures had hard water stains or mineral deposits or something and the room was just looking tired. I am posting photos below in a spoiler in case anyone wants to see them.

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Dinged up door

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hardware msising on door lock (naked bolt shown)

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We were out and on our way to the beach by 9:00 am. We decided to check out the beach since we'd done the adult pool on the previous afternoon and wanted to get chairs on the beach with an umbrella.

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The beach chairs were never that scarce, as others have also reported. The only scarcity was of umbrellas but otherwise you could always find a few available chairs.

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The lagoon at Aulani is really beautiful and it is so nice that it is sheltered from the large waves. Having attempted to swim at other beaches later in the trip, I can say in retrospect that I understand why Ko Olina's protected lagoons were a nice lure for the location of the Disney resort. Kids would not have been able to swim at some of the other beaches we visited.

The photo above was taken at about 11:30, and you can see the area going over toward the non-Disney wedding chapel where I believe there is public parking and where the local visitors or non-guests were most concentrated. It was really not all that busy with folks visiting from elsewhere and certainly not a concern for us.

After a few hours in the sun, we went back up to the room and made pork tacos for lunch from our Safeway run, which we had with chips and salsa and more fruit. After lunch, we wanted to check out the lazy river, but not able to find chairs, we simply put our shoes on the ground in the shade and our clothes/cover-ups on top of our shoes. We didn't have any problem with this but did notice a lot of unattended chairs. I know they were doing the towel timer method so this is not a complaint, just a reflection of our experience.

The lazy river was fun but really too crowded mid-afternoon to be very relaxing. Also it took a few laps before I figured out how to try to minimize getting drenched in the area near the slide. I'm more familiar with lazy rivers where you only get soaked if you want to, so I wasn't crazy about the waterfall and spray nozzles in this lazy river. After we had enough fun in the lazy river, we decided to get our first shave ice of the trip!

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There was a bit of a line but it moved along fine. I don't remember what flavors we got - definitely coconut and probably pineapple. We did get the condensed milk on it and it was delicious!

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I took the above photo to share with the artist who created the Tamatoa vinyl sticker on my tumbler, but having the photo reminded me that we made drinks in our insulated tumblers and took them with us all over the resort and had no problems or questions whatsoever. I had considered buying the refilable mugs for this purpose but they really don't hold much, and we wanted to avoid going up to the room multiple times for refills on our adult beverages. We had a couple of freebie yeti-knockoffs from work giveaways so we brought those with us and used them throughout the trip. Just a tip in case you are considering making drinks to bring to the pool or beach.

We stayed out at the beach pretty late this day, maybe until close to 5:00 or so, and then went up to quickly shower and get ready for dinner. Prior to dinner we took advantage of the photopass photographers again. Here are some of the best shots of this night:

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The first and the last picture were taken about 20 minutes apart, if you are curious at all about the light changing at sunset. My advice is just to take as many as you can so that later you can decide which ones you like best.

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Sunset at Aulani really is a special time of day - there's a fresh buzz as everyone enjoys the beauty of dusk approaching. We made a point to be at the resort for sunset as much as we could in order both to enjoy it and get sunset golden hour photopass pics.

When I'd been planning out our trip, I originally thought that the previous day would go a bit differently... :p. One of the things I'd planned that got nixed due to the engagement excitement and our jet lag was to visit the Kona Brew Pub located over on the southeast side of the island at the Koko Marina. I'd read @Dis_Yoda's review and while it didn't seem like a must do food-wise, R is much more into beer than he is into Disney, and in exchange for him going to Disneyland with me for several days I wanted to ensure we eventually made it to Kona as it was one of his very few requests. After a day at the resort, we were ready for some island time anyway, so it was fine for us to make the drive across to the Brew Pub.

Kona Brewing is clear across the island from Aulani, about 45 minutes away. Frankly that is less time than my commute home from work in Atlanta traffic most days, so this wasn't a big deal to us, but it's probably a bit far for most people to want to drive for dinner. As I said, we were feeling something akin to cabin fever after spending the previous afternoon and all day at the resort, so it was nice to stretch our legs and get out and see some sights.

Kona makes a handful of beers that are widely available on the mainland - in our area you can get maybe 3 or 4 at package shops or more upscale grocery stores. This brew pub, however, had 7 local rotating taps that were featuring Kona beers I'd never heard of, much less tasted. Per their website, they have 48 taps! That's a lot of choices. I only remember there being a few dozen, but 48 is seriously impressive. They offer beer flights so we decided to use this to our advantage to sample stuff we can't get at home. Each flight is 4 glasses (5 ounces each) and what I consider a good deal at $9.50.

Below is our two flights all lined up for one long view:

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We went with the seven rotating taps - Purple Grain, Kona Haze, Juicy Island, Sailaway Red, Pink Boots, Vanilla Thrilla, Kua Bay, and our 8th pick was the always-available-there Hanalei IPA. I would tell you what we liked and describe these... but I didn't take notes and I don't remember! haha. I do remember that we liked almost all of them - there were one or two we each didn't like but the other person did, so it was fine. It was really fun though to try these since we can't get them at home.

My dinner photos are awful since it was fairly dark - we were seated at a nice waterside table outside at the Marina, but lighting was more suited to romance than photography. For dinner we had:

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NaaLehu Nachos - Tortilla chips with kalua pork, shredded mozzarella, cheddar, tomato, jalapeno, black beans, olives, and green onion. Drizzled with lime-sour cream sauce and served with house-made fresh salsa. $17

These were pretty good and an absolutely massive portion, even though the picture doesn't really reflect how huge this platter was. They were mostly just your standard bar nachos but with kalua pork added to them, which I feel like elevated them to Hawaiian magic bar nachos. A+ in my book!

We also decided to share:

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Peppercorn crusted bleu burger, topped with bacon, melted gorgonzola, caramelized onions, lettuce, and tomato. $15 (pictured is just my half, they split it in the kitchen for us, how fancy of them :snooty:)

I'm not one to mince words - this was bad. I know gorgonzola has a nice natural funk to it but I'm pretty sure the gorgonzola on our burger had gone bad. We didn't really need the burger since we had so many nachos but I would not recommend the burger. Or maybe go with a simpler one.

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We each had another pint of beer - I chose a lighter style, the Wailua Wheat, and R picked the Lavaman Red. Per the Kona website: "Wailua Wheat is a golden, sun-colored ale with a bright, citrusy flavor that comes from the tropical passion fruit we brew into each batch," while the "Lavaman Red Ale is an amber ale with a subtle chocolate malt flavor that’s balanced by our delicate blend of Pacific Northwest hops. Delicious, full-bodied, and roasty, it always goes down smooth." I can't disagree! :thumbsup2 Each pint was $5.95, a very fair price.

We asked about buying one of the super cool Makana series pint glasses our beers were served in, as the pub sells merchandise. After checking, our server told us that they didn't have any more of those glasses to sell but encouraged us to take ours with us if we wanted them. So I am maintaining that we did NOT steal a pint glass as we were told by someone with apparent authority to take it! :ssst: We did leave him the price of a comparable glass in his tip. Total before tip (and glass surcharge, haha) was $65.86. Again, not bad for Hawaii if you ask me.

We enjoyed our meal and the lively atmosphere of the bar. It was nice to sit outside and not be worried about mosquitoes and to have absolutely perfect weather. I would visit Kona again if we found ourselves in the area again - I think this would be a nice place to visit after the beach to just hang and drink a few beers.

Up next: an island tour, a visit to the north shore, and why I am an overplanner...
 
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I still have to finish reading the rest, but after reading the proposal and crying I couldn't NOT post. I've always lurked your dining reports and LOVE them so after reading recently and linking to this trip report ... GIRL! I can't even. I'm so happy for you guys! Congratulations! Can't wait to continue reading!
 


I still have to finish reading the rest, but after reading the proposal and crying I couldn't NOT post. I've always lurked your dining reports and LOVE them so after reading recently and linking to this trip report ... GIRL! I can't even. I'm so happy for you guys! Congratulations! Can't wait to continue reading!
Thank you!!! :flower3::flower3::flower3::flower3:

I always cry over other people's good news, I am glad to hear I am not alone, LOL! So glad to have you out of lurkdom and reading along!!!

thank you for your great report on the Kona Brewery Pub! We were already planing to go there on Big Island, but I might also add it to our plans after we snorkel on Hanauma!
I would have LOVED to visit on the Big Island to be able to take the Brewery tour! That's on the list for *WHEN* we someday return to Hawaii as I really want to visit the other islands!
 
I am loving your trip report. My daughter and I are going for the first time to Hawaii(I have wanted to go since I was a little girl) at the end of May and staying for 17 nights. I was able to get 14 nights at Aulani and 3 nights at a hotel on Waikiki. I am beyond excited to go and it is wonderful reading trip reports and looking at your amazing photos.
 


Love this trip report and congrats on the engagement!

Thanks for posting pictures of your beach shots taken by the photopass photographers. Seems like a no-brainer as it's no obligation. Your pictures came out great!
 
So I just read through everything. Amazing trip so far! Love how you got engaged it's so sweet. I would have been super suspicious if asked to wear a dress to go hiking in. Hawaii is gorgeous, I hope I'll get to go there one day. Flying first class also seems pretty incredible. The closest I've gotten to that is the extra space seats that give you like three extra inches of leg room. This trip is the perfect birthday/engagement trip!
 
We plan for this to be an one-and-done trip (it takes us 24 hours to get there), so we try to plan everything carefully. That's why I'm happy with your trip report!
I honestly did not think we would want to go back, since I'd been to Oahu when I was a girl and wasn't dying to get back to Oahu after that, but there's just something magical about Hawaii. It's not quite a 24hour travel time experience for us though, so I totally get the careful planning to hit everything you want to in the once-in-a-lifetime trip!

I am loving your trip report. My daughter and I are going for the first time to Hawaii(I have wanted to go since I was a little girl) at the end of May and staying for 17 nights. I was able to get 14 nights at Aulani and 3 nights at a hotel on Waikiki. I am beyond excited to go and it is wonderful reading trip reports and looking at your amazing photos.
I am so jealous! I wish I could have spent 17 nights in Hawaii but there were just too many things we wanted to do and see! Always a reason to return. Thanks for your kind words!

Love this trip report and congrats on the engagement!

Thanks for posting pictures of your beach shots taken by the photopass photographers. Seems like a no-brainer as it's no obligation. Your pictures came out great!
Of course! I was considering whether we should arrange for one of the private photo shoots prior to our departure but ultimately I was happy with some of the photo pass photos so I am glad I saved the expense. I am hoping posting some of our photos helps others too.

So I just read through everything. Amazing trip so far! Love how you got engaged it's so sweet. I would have been super suspicious if asked to wear a dress to go hiking in. Hawaii is gorgeous, I hope I'll get to go there one day. Flying first class also seems pretty incredible. The closest I've gotten to that is the extra space seats that give you like three extra inches of leg room. This trip is the perfect birthday/engagement trip!
It was really not much more expensive to upgrade from the extra comfort seats to first class for the whole thing, so it was a no-brainer! It was definitely worth it for the splurge trip. You are so right, it was incredible to have such an amazing engagement trip... I know you know that from firsthand experience :D at least I was not sick on mine! Glad you joined in!!! :flower3:
 
May 30: North Shore Day

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What a day to be alive and in paradise! Sunrise at Aulani was gorgeous this morning and I loved soaking in this view from our balcony.

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We set off in our rental, headed toward the North Shore, on an unscheduled, fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants adventure. I am an uber planner, usually with every day of vacation scheduled in at least some way. R is not like this at all - he is more spontaneous and likes the thrill of an unplanned adventure. Spoiler alert: sometimes you need plans to avoid grumpiness. :P

As I was saying, we headed out with just an idea of what we wanted to do this day with no concrete plans. I loved watching the landscape of the island change around us as we headed north through the center of Oahu.

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Our first stop was at a shopping center on the north shore in Haleiwa, where R wanted to check out the unique items available at the Patagonia store there. I didn't take any pictures inside the store, but R enjoyed shopping and found a souvenir or two. They have Hawaii specific merchandise and even some Haleiwa specific shirts and things. The staff here was super kind and helpful without being annoying. R picked a shirt which makes an appearance later in the trip. It was a good stop to keep my partner in crime happy!

Speaking of happiness (mine in this case), our next stop was for shave ice! Matsumoto's is THE place for shave ice on Oahu, and we wanted to beat the lines, so we stopped in around 11:00 am for a little post-breakfast dessert. It was fairly overcast at this point and there was no line at all.

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I chose three tropical flavors. I regret that I do not remember what I chose... perhaps lilikoi, coconut, and lychee? but I loved this!

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R, modeling his version with sweetened condensed milk on top.

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Matsumoto's is in a little strip shopping center with parking in back (see above, R modeling near the sign). We both thought this was the best shave ice of the trip with great flavor syrups and very fine, delicate ice. You cannot get this at home near us! But I love snow cones of all varieties, so this was a major hit for me. Two shave ice were $6.75.

We stopped in at the Haleiwa beach park to take a look and snap some photos. We were in search of a perfect beach to hang out at, but the weather was still iffy, so we decided to keep driving.

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R had a friend living in Hawaii who recommended we visit Waimea Bay, so we drove there but could not find any parking. The skies were clearing up and many other folks had the same idea we did to visit this beach. R did not want to park back up the road and hike down to the beach park, so we had some further discussion about what our goal was for this day. At this point some of us started to get a little grumpy that we were sort of driving around aimlessly and wished that our planner had a recommendation for what to do... :rolleyes1

We ended up driving back toward Haleiwa and when we found some folks parked on the side of the road we decided to stop. I'd read a bit about people finding sea turtles on the beach by stopping when they saw parked cars, so when we found a place to park I was all for checking out what everyone else had stopped for. It turns out we'd found a popular surfing beach.

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The geotagging from my photos and google have helped me identify this as Chun's Reef. Not a great place for swimming, but we hung out for a little bit and got some great photos so it was a neat diversion. When I previously mentioned being thankful for Aulani's protected lagoons, this surf beach is perfect evidence of the natural beach conditions in Hawaii and why Oahu's north shore is so popular with surfers. We chilled for a while and soaked in the sights, but decided to move on since we couldn't really enjoy the water.

Figuring lunch would help with our hanger and mood, we decided that we should head back into Haleiwa for some food at a place that came highly recommended.

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Lunch at The Beach House coming up in the next post....
 
May 30, continued:

I will take a minute here to plug the many Dis Unplugged and Dreams Unlimited podcasts where the team discussed their visits to Aulani. Specifically, Kevin and John reviewed a number of restaurants that helped us decide where we might like to visit during our island days. One of the most highly praised of these was the Haleiwa Beach House restaurant which we found without trouble and enjoyed a largely uncrowded lunch experience that was solidly delicious food without a lot of fanfare.

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Interior of the restaurant

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The view from our table looking the other way

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As is the case with a lot of restaurants in Hawaii, the restaurant had an indoor/outdoor vibe and a lovely view to the beach park across the street. As you can see, we each ordered another local beer to sample.

For an appetizer, we went with the Kalua pork grilled cheese which had been highly recommended by the Dis team:

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"Toasted pullman bread with warm goat cheese, white cheddar, pickled onion and kalua pork" ($11)

This was every bit as decadent as had been described. :cloud9: The buttery, toasty bread was the perfect crunchy foil to the rich melty cheese and kalua pork. The pickled onion offered a nice acid bite to counter all the richness of the cheese and pork. It was amazing!

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R opted for the poke bowl - fresh ahi tossed in beach house special poke sauce mixed with shaved red onion, sea asparagus, and topped with tobiko, scalion, and yuzu aoili on a bed of white rice. Unfortunately I lost this receipt and the menu just lists this as "market price" so I am not sure how much this was. However, it was fresh and amazing. R was delighted and I enjoyed it, even as less of a seafood eater.

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Meanwhile, I ordered the Thai Barbecue Chicken Sandwich ($13)

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Chicken breast marinated in coconut milk with thai herbs and spices then grilled and topped with tamarind bbq sauce, on a taro bun with green papaya slaw, fresh cilantro and kewpie. Served with french fries. This was a good sandwich and both the sandwich and poke bowl were bright and fresh tasting, and despite the barbecue sauce it had the feeling of being a "lighter" option. The taro bun was a fun change - it didn't have a distinctive flavor but the purple color was fun!

The real star of the lunch entrees, however, was the french fries. :love: They are like curly steak fries with that amazing batter flavor you get at Arby's (lol, yes, I am so refined). We did not finish the sandwich but we put a big dent in the fries!

I wish I had the receipt but I have reviewed my credit card statements and it looks like R must have put this lunch on his card, so I don't have a total. I think the poke bowl was somewhere around $20 and so I suspect this lunch was somewhere in the $65 range. We had great service but a nice leisurely unhurried meal. It was absolutely fabulous, a great stop on our North Shore tour, and I would definitely highly recommend it. Another recommendation that I was afraid I would be disappointed in but came out happily satisfied and delighted with!

Fed and in better spirits, we set off again in the Jeep to look for a "beach less traveled" upon the recommendations of other Disers.

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I just never got over the amazing scenery through the car window at every turn. Hawaii is simply breathtaking.

We drove basically back to Ko Olina, but opted to follow Farrington Highway north looking for the fabulous beaches that I saw recommended here on the Aulani boards. We drove through some towns, evidently venturing out of tourist territory and into some locals-only areas. Some of the roadside establishments looked pretty seedy, but we never felt unsafe. Finally we ended up at Makua Beach, one of the last beaches before the road runs out. It took about an hour and a half to get from the Beach House restaurant in Haleiwa to Makua Beach, including a stop for gas along the way.

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We found a spot under some trees to hang out as there was some light drizzle literally dampening our beach experience. Unfortunately we sort of picked a spider nest to sit in - there were spiders everywhere! We'd packed a soft side cooler with some of the beers we'd picked up at Safeway previously, and we enjoyed those while hanging out on the beach. Again, there was no way to really enjoy a leisurely swim here. Just wading out any deeper than knee deep resulted in us being completely knocked down by the waves. (Which I'm sure was hilarious to see but was not at all fun)

There were some locals hanging out on the beach too and when they went into the water they had the method down to swim under the waves. I didn't want to get completely and totally drenched so we ended up only staying for about an hour and a half. Here are some additional photos - while this wasn't the best day for our visit due to the weather, I am glad we ventured off the beaten path and this area is absolutely breathtaking.

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You can see this was much less busy than the other beaches we visited and could not find parking near.

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The Jeep for scale

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Looking south

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The "parking lot" looking north

Getting back to Aulani after this was a real headache, we hit rush hour(?) traffic and it took us a long time to travel the 16 miles back to Aulani.

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We did make it back in time for sunset, which we enjoyed on the beach at Aulani. We felt the pending departure from Aulani looming ahead and were starting to really slow down and savor the last couple days at Aulani.

None of my night photos of the resort turned out great, but the resort is absolutely charming and has a sense of magic to it at night.

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You could also often hear the sounds of Olelo Room's live entertainment wafting up to our balcony. We loved just lounging on the balcony soaking this in. Eventually we ended up walking over to Monkey Pod for a later dinner. This time, we were seated on the outdoor patio.

We started with:

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Wood-Roasted Free Range Chicken Wings - $16.95. Kiawe-roasted free range chicken, garlic, local rosemary, tzatziki sauce.

We also shared:

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Avocado & Cucumber Salad - $13.95 tomato, maui onion, jalapeño, cilantro, organic greens, chili lime vinaigrette

and

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Big Island Cheese Burger - $14.95 big island beef, dijon aioli, sautéed onions, fontina, vine-ripened tomatoes, waipoli farm butter lettuce, house-made quick pickle

Of course, it had been a while since our last dessert (haha) so R wanted to end on a sweet note.

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Chocolate pie, $9.95.

They had talked up their pies a lot so I had really high hopes as chocolate pie is one of my very favorite desserts. This was okay. The crust was not very fresh.

We each had a couple of drinks, and of course I lost this receipt too, but the total with tip came to $110.46. I've gotta say, I think in retrospect Monkey Pod would not stay in business if it was not in walking distance of Aulani. Particularly, everything but the burger seems ridiculously overpriced looking back on our experience. $110 seems like highway robbery for this meal. Nothing of it was particularly memorable or amazing, especially compared to our outstanding lunch at a fraction of the price. Of course, we couldn't walk to the Beach House, so I guess we paid extra for the convenience factor.

Another day in paradise in the books. We headed back to the room and settled in for the night.

Next up: a resort day and a splurge dinner at Ama Ama
 
Great pictures. I agree on MonkeyPod. Outside of the happy hour stuff it is too expensive.
 
It looks like such a fun day! The beach looks nice, but definitely looks more like a surfing beach than a swimming beach. Were you ever nervous about sharks? I think they have a lot more than the east coast. Your food also looked amazing. I really want to go over there, for half a second I tried to figure out if I could go for a weekend, but decided 5 seconds there and 24 hours on a plane wasn't really ideal.
 
The geotagging from my photos and google have helped me identify this as Chun's Reef. Not a great place for swimming, but we hung out for a little bit and got some great photos so it was a neat diversion. When I previously mentioned being thankful for Aulani's protected lagoons, this surf beach is perfect evidence of the natural beach conditions in Hawaii and why Oahu's north shore is so popular with surfers. We chilled for a while and soaked in the sights, but decided to move on since we couldn't really enjoy the water.

I saw your picture and I realized we have been surfing here, it is a great spot!
 
Fun updates. And your photos continue to be just spectacular!! :worship: The wear & tear on the room is disappointing. I had a similar experience at Beach Club Villas in WDW fairly shortly after renovations. Either people are just kinda careless jerks when not in their own home or Disney doesn't choose the highest quality, most durable products. Or a bit of both. Great idea on the knife and cutting board for fruit -- tucking that tip away!

Kona Brewery looks like a fun stop - 48 different kinds?!? Wow - like you said, I only see 2-3 around here. The whole island tour looks so fun. Would you say that an SUV is preferable for exploring? That poke bowl looks amazing!!

So I have an odd question about the chairs on the beach. Are you able to move them out of the rows that are set up to have a bit more of your own space? It's probably weird (and I have issues) but I just don't like sitting that close to people. :rolleyes:
 
Just doing a little research for a possible visit next year. Loving your TR and fab photos.

Congratulations on your engagement, too!
 
Instead of asking you if you had this started, I could have just looked at your signature :rolleyes1

I don't have time right now to get all caught up, but I'm here! I can't wait to read all about your engagement story :)

This Memorial Day weekend (2018) will be our wedding weekend, and I really want to share our experience and also document the memories so I can look back on the trip report and the photos in the future.

Are you getting married on the exact date you were engaged? Because that's what we did - only one date to remember then! :laughing:

R has begrudgingly become a Disney fan (like he has a choice :laughing:) but tells me that he won't admit it if I tell anyone else

Haha, Luke will sometimes try to deny his love for Disney in front of people, but I just roll my eyes at him - he's the one who checks the Walt Disney World and Disneyland reddit pages every day, he's the one subscribed to all the Disney Youtube channels, etc haha. Boys.

I can't remember exactly why I had my heart set on Hawaii for my 30th but I knew I wanted to visit Disneyland, and when I researched in earnest I set my sights on Aulani (for obvious reasons) and Kauai after seeing photos of the Na Pali coast.

My best friend stayed at Aulani in 2017, and keeps telling me I NEED to go there. I can't wait to read your review on it!

I also turned 30 on the last day of our wedding trip - I was determined to celebrate my 30th at WDW!
 
Great pictures. I agree on MonkeyPod. Outside of the happy hour stuff it is too expensive.
Thanks for reading along! I had high hopes on happy hour at Monkeypod, Roy's, and the Olelo Room, but happy hour just doesn't work with our vacation style, apparently. We are late diners, even at home, so we never made it there in time to take advantage. It's a good tip for those who can shower faster, though! haha

It looks like such a fun day! The beach looks nice, but definitely looks more like a surfing beach than a swimming beach. Were you ever nervous about sharks? I think they have a lot more than the east coast. Your food also looked amazing. I really want to go over there, for half a second I tried to figure out if I could go for a weekend, but decided 5 seconds there and 24 hours on a plane wasn't really ideal.
It probably sounds foolish, but we always like to venture just a little off the beaten path. Even though it wasn't a great swimming beach I am glad we got to experience it. It reminded me a LOT of Costa Rica, actually.

I am not very aware of sharks, like.. ever, so it never even registered to me to worry about them. The lagoon at Aulani has nets or something at the outer points to keep out BIG stuff (or so I read online, I think) so we only ever saw small fishes. When we waded in at Makua we didn't get deep enough for me to think of sharks, or anything other than standing up, for that matter! It was ROUGH seas.

LOL at your trying to go for a weekend! Believe me these posts are brutal to write as I want to go back so back. I just listened to a podcast with Len Testa talking about how for the price of a week at WDW in a deluxe resort you could go to Hawaii. He's pretty much right, except for the whole AP thing making visits cheaper-per-visit. I can't wait to go back... it's more about when I will have the time to make such a long flight worth it, like you said.

I am absolutely loving your report. I'm taking notes for great places to try for our next trip, thank you! :flower3:
Thank you for reading along and for the kind words! I am trying to pay it forward since I read so many great reports when I was planning.

I saw your picture and I realized we have been surfing here, it is a great spot!
It was so beautiful and magically sunny when we got there! It looked like great surfing, too.
Fun updates. And your photos continue to be just spectacular!! :worship: The wear & tear on the room is disappointing. I had a similar experience at Beach Club Villas in WDW fairly shortly after renovations. Either people are just kinda careless jerks when not in their own home or Disney doesn't choose the highest quality, most durable products. Or a bit of both. Great idea on the knife and cutting board for fruit -- tucking that tip away!
I think due to the way DVC is paid for they just don't necessarily rehab as quickly as maybe they should. Oh well, it didn't really impact our stay. Definitely bring some of your own kitchen implements! It makes the kitchenette way more manageable!

Kona Brewery looks like a fun stop - 48 different kinds?!? Wow - like you said, I only see 2-3 around here. The whole island tour looks so fun. Would you say that an SUV is preferable for exploring? That poke bowl looks amazing!!
I have to think all 48 kinds were not Kona... I only remember the 8 or so that we had (the special taps) plus their standard menu of around 10. I had no idea there were so many but the bar area did have a lot of taps so I totally believe it!

I don't think we *needed* the SUV for exploring the island but I am always worried about having luggage space, and honestly the price difference wasn't much more at all from a regular sedan. I watched the rental prices for what seems like forever but my original booking ended up staying the best deal.

The poke bowl was good! R is a sushi fanatic so he was in heaven with all the fresh sushi-grade fish available.

So I have an odd question about the chairs on the beach. Are you able to move them out of the rows that are set up to have a bit more of your own space? It's probably weird (and I have issues) but I just don't like sitting that close to people. :rolleyes:
You can't really move the lounge chairs around (there are just too many and there are like designated aisles for walking) but they do have short surf-type chairs that you can move around. Ironically you cannot put them all the way at the water's edge :rolleyes: I like to sit and read with my feet in the water and I got fussed at. But you can definitely get away from the crowd in those. And we never had an issue where people came and set right next to us. There were so many vacant beach chairs that people seemed cool with giving each other space.

Just doing a little research for a possible visit next year. Loving your TR and fab photos.
Thanks for stopping by! I hope your trip plans work out!! :flower3:

Congratulations on your engagement, too!
Thanks so much! The wedding is now just around the corner... 41 days!

Instead of asking you if you had this started, I could have just looked at your signature :rolleyes1

I don't have time right now to get all caught up, but I'm here! I can't wait to read all about your engagement story :)
I'm sure mine won't make you CRY like yours did me!!! ::yes::

Are you getting married on the exact date you were engaged? Because that's what we did - only one date to remember then! :laughing:
Well it's the same day of the year (sunday of memorial day weekend) but not the exact date - it's one day off because of the calendar. But still easy to remember and I won't necessarily need to celebrate the engagement separately! haha

I didn't realize you guys had done that! But it's smart.

Haha, Luke will sometimes try to deny his love for Disney in front of people, but I just roll my eyes at him - he's the one who checks the Walt Disney World and Disneyland reddit pages every day, he's the one subscribed to all the Disney Youtube channels, etc haha. Boys.
Uh huh. I obviously talked R into the Thanksgiving trip I mentioned in my facebook post turned hotwire blind deal tutorial... I wanted to go over Columbus Day but he said no. Turns out he is just fed up with sweating all the time at Disney so I guess I will sacrifice my warmth for his comfort, and ANYTHING TO SNEAK IN SOME DISNEY!!! But he loves it when we are there.

My best friend stayed at Aulani in 2017, and keeps telling me I NEED to go there. I can't wait to read your review on it!
You do! Maybe an anniversary trip one year. We had a great time and it was way more affordable using DVC points (my friend transferred me a bunch of hers last year so I got a great deal)

I also turned 30 on the last day of our wedding trip - I was determined to celebrate my 30th at WDW!
I can't think of a better way to celebrate! My real 30th was pretty low key but my early celebration at Hawaii and Disneyland was just perfection! I hope yours was too at WDW this year!!
 

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