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

June 3, 2017

The answer to how on earth I took so many pictures on this day, is, of course, that we took a helicopter tour of Kauai. :scared1: I promise there are LOTS of photos below but a few paragraphs of background first.

A helicopter tour is never something I thought I'd be interested in, but one of the major things I'd wanted to see was the Na Pali Coast, and I'd been doing my research. Your options for seeing Na Pali are limited due to the wild and rugged terrain. You can do the hike that we did, and can go even further with a camping permit; you can explore by sea either on a boat cruise or via sea kayak (no thank you); or you can see Na Pali and the entire island by air on a helicopter tour. The idea of a helicopter tour scared the ever loving patootle out of me, so I started looking at boat excursions. The better rated ones all seemed to be leaving from an area on the diametric opposite side of the island from where we were staying, and with my motion sickness, I don't do all that well on boats anyway. I circled back to the idea of a helicopter adventure. I did more research. I hemmed and hawed. I considered our options and finally came around to the idea that the helicopter tour would be the biggest bang for our buck and the only way for us to see all of Kauai on such a regrettably short visit. I have motion sickness scopolomine patches, I think to myself... surely I will be fine? :confused3

Then I got even deeper into the research - which size helicopter is best? Should we select a tour with doors on the helicopter or opt for the (way scarier) doors off version? After reading a LOT of reviews, we decided to go with Mauna Loa helicopters and a doors-off tour. I actually booked this only about two weeks prior to us leaving for Hawaii. We went with a 10:00 am flight and had to arrive 45 minutes prior for "check in".

First of all, I want to preface the experience by saying it was fantastic. :worship:

I would do it again in a heartbeat. The staff and our pilot were all VERY kind and professional, but this experience scared me SO MUCH! We arrived to check in at the Mauna Loa "office" which is a BUS next to a run-down looking outdoor mall thing. :sad2: A nice bus (like Magical Express) but nevertheless a BUS, that they could pack up and drive away. We check in and meanwhile I am thinking "What are you doing? This is how people die...." So they weigh us and have us sign all our papers saying we understand we're probably going to die and what-not, and we sit and wait and eventually everyone who's checked in and is waiting piles into a shuttle and we drive to the airport. Except instead of going into the regular airport, we pull onto a janky little air field with next to no security and all pile out of the bus and go under this... temporary car port type structure :confused3 with a picnic table and some plastic chairs. Meanwhile I am thinking, "Okay, this is my last day on earth, it's been nice and I almost made it to 30."

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I fidget, check my camera settings for the 900th time, watch the pilots come over and text (probably saying farewell to their wives and small children for all I know). Each party is summoned to a helicopter. I somehow, miraculously, maintain clean underpants. We're summoned, given emergency airsickness bags, buckled in, and given headsets. If you do the doors-off ride, everything you're holding has to be attached to your body. You have to tie your hair back and you can't have any loose articles. You are advised to wear tightly fitting clothing so that your clothes aren't flapping around slapping you. So here we are looking extra fly (see what I did there?) with our death mobile:

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Then here is the future husband complete with gear:

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We lifted off and I am totally white-knuckling it. :eek: Our pilot tries to lighten the mood and we test out the headsets (which let you talk to each other and the pilot by depressing a button). The pilot is alarmingly young, and we start off on our journey together with me still certain my death is nigh.

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Captain of the death trap, seen from my vantage.

We started out by seeing the waterfalls that were used in Jurassic Park (the original, not sure about World)

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Then we flew over what felt like a thousand more waterfalls. I'm a bit of a waterfall junkie, so I quickly grew excited and almost forgot about my fear

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Soon, the verdant mountains gave way to the Waimea Canyon's majestic red layers. We weren't going to be able to get there for a hike on this visit so I was thrilled to fly over.

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Some moisture got on my lens at various parts of the journey but I had no ability to really wipe it off and didn't want to cause a smear on the lens for the rest of the flight, so I just sucked it up and shot through the drops...

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The above photo is perhaps my favorite photo I've ever taken, though this trip (and this day) produced some good ones.There were rainbows everywhere during the flight as we flew through clouds and mist.

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It's hard to believe that some of these photos were taken on the same day, let alone within minutes of each other.

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After Waimea, I saw the main event coming... Na Pali was on the horizon, as were some clouds...

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Were we really hovering over Kauai or had we found Te Fiti?

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Each view seemed more breathtaking than the last. THIS was why I was doing the scary thing!!!!

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The gorgeous ocean meeting those sheer green cliffs at stretches of untouched sand beaches was just amazing. I am glad Na Pali has remained untouched. Wild and wonderful, for sure.

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The clouds gave the cliffs such an ominous look at times.

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If you take certain types of boat tours, you can explore these sea caves

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The various colors of the ocean are just mesmerizing to me

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Here was a view of the part of the island near where we were staying, from the air.

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As we circled back toward the airport, we saw many more waterfalls

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Next, our pilot pointed out a large, dormant volcano. WE WERE GOING INSIDE THE CRATER! This was so scary. The walls were sheer up beside us. It felt that one small breeze would smash us against the side of the volcano crater! :faint:

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I didn't die. :hyper:

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But I've never been more excited to see a tiny little heliport in my life!!!

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Overall, this tour is my favorite thing we did in Hawaii, and that's saying a LOT. We saw some magnificent sights, ate some great food, and lounged on gorgeous beaches, but the helicopter tour was the single most worthwhile hour we spent. Bang for your buck? This is it.

I highly recommend Mauna Loa. The pilot was fabulous, friendly and a good host, their helicopter fleet allowed us to be certain we'd have two window seats and no other passengers, and we were able to get the doors off experience I was looking for. It was $287.00 per person, so definitely a splurge, but so very worth it.
 
June 3, Continued:

My friend Sarah had been to Kauai before we had, and she'd given me a handful of recommendations. One of her most highly recommended restaurants wasn't unreasonably far from the Mauna Loa bus, so we headed off in search of brunch.

Our destination was Kountry Kitchen in Kapaa, an unassuming diner with an apt "Kountry" flair.

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I hadn't had any Mac Nut Pancakes yet, and knew I'd better hop to it if I was going to have some before we left (in a few hours) :guilty:

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I added coconut as well. This was $10.25 for the pancake with both macadamia nuts and coconut.

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Hand for scale, ring for... :duck:well, I'd just gotten engaged for pete's sake! haha

I didn't know they had coconut syrup until we were leaving. The pancake was absolutely amazing though! SO GOOD. :cloud9:

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R had the loco moco, which is a hawaiian breakfast specialty of rice, brown gravy, hamburger, and egg. I think he might have substituted his burger for kalua pork, but neither of us can really recall.

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I also had hash browns since I haven't had hash browns like this in years and was craving them. They were cooked perfectly.

After our massive and delicious meal, we walked over to the beach park and snapped a couple of photos

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It was setting in that we were about to leave Hawaii. :sad: Back at our condo, we used the complex's pool to go for a dip while we passed the time before we needed to head to the airport for our second flight of the day.

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I walked the grounds and got some photos to remember Mount Makana by... :love:

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A rainbow led us all the way back to the airport for our flight.

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I hated to leave Hawaii, but Disneyland would greet us in the morning!!!
 
We check in and meanwhile I am thinking "What are you doing? This is how people die...." So they weigh us and have us sign all our papers saying we understand we're probably going to die and what-not, and we sit and wait and eventually everyone who's checked in and is waiting piles into a shuttle and we drive to the airport. Except instead of going into the regular airport, we pull onto a janky little air field with next to no security and all pile out of the bus and go under this... temporary car port type structure :confused3 with a picnic table and some plastic chairs. Meanwhile I am thinking, "Okay, this is my last day on earth, it's been nice and I almost made it to 30."

:eek::eek: This is absolutely terrifying!! I don't know how you did this! I would definitely pee myself. And barf.

We started out by seeing the waterfalls that were used in Jurassic Park (the original, not sure about World)

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Oh my goodness, amazing!!

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The above photo is perhaps my favorite photo I've ever taken, though this trip (and this day) produced some good ones.There were rainbows everywhere during the flight as we flew through clouds and mist.

This is a gorgeous picture :lovestruc


Holy cow! How incredibly gorgeous is this!? I can see why you did the scary thing. :goodvibes

I hated to leave Hawaii, but Disneyland would greet us in the morning!!!

If you really have to leave Hawaii, I can't think of a better place to go to feel better about it :)
 
The helicopter tour pics were amazing!! What an experience (scary but fun it sounds)! I noticed you had a jacket on before boarding the flight - did they make you zip it up so it wasn't loose or did you secure it on you like they instructed since they required tight clothing?
 


The helicopter tour pics were amazing!! What an experience (scary but fun it sounds)! I noticed you had a jacket on before boarding the flight - did they make you zip it up so it wasn't loose or did you secure it on you like they instructed since they required tight clothing?

I zipped it prior to getting in to the helicopter - I think all of the tour companies probably send out really detailed instructions, ours did for sure. They advise you wear long pants and a jacket no matter how warm it is that day because it's pretty cold up in the helicopter and that was absolutely true! The risk of any loose articles is that they could catch in the rotors if they flew out. I was pretty scared, truth be told, but some of the story above was also for humor's sake. They did a great job letting us know what to expect and how to prepare for the flight. It was great!
 
Just wanted to say I loved reading your trip report!!! Your pictures are amazing!! I read the whole thing the last few days b/c I've only just now started frequenting this board (planning a trip for next June).

Seems silly to say congratulations on your engagement since that was so long ago now and you've since gotten married....so I'll say congratulations on getting married and best wishes for a long and happy marriage!! I know Hawaii will always hold a special place in your heart from getting engaged there; same for me except it's from honeymooning there back in 2000. We went back to Maui in 2006, and are now so excited to be planning a trip for our whole family of 5 next June. I'm in the process of renting DVC points from Aulani for 3 nights, then we'll head to Kauai for 3 nights (I was so happy to read that part of your report b/c I haven't been there yet!), and then we'll finish up with 5 nights on Maui.

I hope you continue to post about the DL part of your trip. I love DL! We're planning to take our 3rd trip there in March. In fact, the last time we were there would have been just after you guys. We were in SoCal in mid to late June 2017.
 
:eek::eek: This is absolutely terrifying!! I don't know how you did this! I would definitely pee myself. And barf.
I definitely would have barfed if I had not had a motion sickness patch. There were definitely some times with the wind blowing us pretty hard that I was about to pee myself! :oops: I made it though! And, insanely enough, I would do it again!

Holy cow! How incredibly gorgeous is this!? I can see why you did the scary thing. :goodvibes
It was sooooooo worth it. I'd seen a post on the Bucket List Narratives blog about a Kauai helicopter tour and that's what sold me. I haven't been on their site in a while... I need to go see what I've been missing!

Just wanted to say I loved reading your trip report!!! Your pictures are amazing!! I read the whole thing the last few days b/c I've only just now started frequenting this board (planning a trip for next June).

Seems silly to say congratulations on your engagement since that was so long ago now and you've since gotten married....so I'll say congratulations on getting married and best wishes for a long and happy marriage!! I know Hawaii will always hold a special place in your heart from getting engaged there; same for me except it's from honeymooning there back in 2000. We went back to Maui in 2006, and are now so excited to be planning a trip for our whole family of 5 next June. I'm in the process of renting DVC points from Aulani for 3 nights, then we'll head to Kauai for 3 nights (I was so happy to read that part of your report b/c I haven't been there yet!), and then we'll finish up with 5 nights on Maui.

I hope you continue to post about the DL part of your trip. I love DL! We're planning to take our 3rd trip there in March. In fact, the last time we were there would have been just after you guys. We were in SoCal in mid to late June 2017.

Yay! So glad you found my report and I am glad you are all caught up. :flower3:

Thank you for the well-wishes! I definitely want to go back to Hawaii and Maui is at the top of my list right now. My friend Ashley (Vernie822) wrote a really great TR from her Aulani/Maui trip and I took so many tips from her Aulani trip! If you want to read it, it's here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/just-mauid-maui-aulani-trip-report.3552835/

I am definitely still planning to keep updating the TR with our Disneyland visit. My notes got worse as the trip progressed so the Disneyland part might be mostly photos :laughing:

Thanks for saying hi and I hope you enjoy your planning! So exciting!!!
 


Sunday, June 4, 2017:

Our flight from Lihue to LAX was largely without incident, though I will say the meal we were served in Delta's first class was put to shame by that Hawaiian first class experience we had! #firstworldproblems

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We landed at 6:05, collected our bags from the carousel, and summoned a shuttle. If I correctly recall, we did the super shuttle execucar service and had a nice driver in a mini van. Since it was so early there was no traffic and we arrived at Disneyland without any problems. We probably should have just taken an Uber, but I'd wanted to be sure we had a reliable ride and I don't have any complaints.

When we arrived at the Grand Californian, there was really no one around so all of the cast members were super kind and helpful.

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This was just before the refurbishment started, I think the scrims went up in the lobby the next day. I don't know what they changed but I loved the ambiance.

Bell services had taken our bags pretty immediately from the shuttle, but then we needed them again to get changed for the park, so they let us go into the baggage storage room and grab our stuff out. That was pretty neat and we had some great interactions with the cast. We also got our "First Visit" and "Celebrating" buttons since we had just gotten engaged!

By 7:20, we were on our way out to Downtown Disney. Not bad! We decided to seek out some breakfast as we had the time before park opening, and ended up in Starbucks for caffeine and snacks. We each had a pastry and a coffee ($15.60). I was apparently tired or excitedly delirious so didn't take any pictures of our food. I'm sure you can imagine coffee and croissants!

Tired but excited pepperandchips waiting on R in the esplanade:

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Both parks were open to us at 8:00 this morning as resort guests, with DCA having extra magic hours for guests of the Disneyland resorts. We were actually let in a bit before 8, so our flight schedule ended up working out perfectly!

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This photo is my reminder that I took pictures of the back of each of our tickets, as we were wisely advised on the boards. In case you lose your ticket, this makes things easier for Disney to replace them.

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It was a little surreal seeing these icons for the first time in real life after seeing so many photos online! Sorry for the crappy pictures, we were on a Mission (hint hint) and I didn't get my camera out yet.

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Guardians of the Galaxy had not been open for very long at this point (about a week or so, I believe it opened over Memorial Day when we were in Hawaii) so it was definitely at the top of my agenda! Like pretty much everyone else entering DCA, we joined the lineup to grab GotG fastpass. This was actually super efficient, they had cast members with a stack of fastpasses and they just handed you one for each person in your party (you had to have tickets for everyone in your party if you were requesting more than one). The awesome thing about this was that they didn't actually *scan* our tickets, so we were still eligible to get another FP right away! Our return window was only about 30 minutes away. We headed for Cars Land, where were grabbed fastpasses for Radiator Springs Racers before taking in the sights:

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It was kind of icky weather this morning, sorry the photos aren't Disneyland-level glorious but I was so excited that we'd been in the park for about 15 minutes and already met Mater and Lightning McQueen!

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By 8:10 we were in the standby queue for RSR. The wait was less than 10 minutes. Not exactly a walk-on, but not a bad wait at all!

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Y'all Radiator Springs Racers was everything everyone says it will be, plus some. I was not expecting to enjoy it so much but this is for sure one of my all-time favorite Disney rides! It has all the detailed touches of a Disney dark ride plus the thrill element at the end. So so cute! And I love the music :love: I have to admit, I like the Cars franchise much more now that I've been to Cars Land. Crazy!

Next, we hopped in line for and rode Mater's Junkyard Jamboree

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We were both giggling like little kids! We absolutely LOVED this ride... I don't know why! It's got me excited for the Alien Swirling Saucer ride at DHS though.

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We decided to finish up Cars Land before using our Guardians FP, so we headed over to Luigi's Rollicking Roadsters next.

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I am mildly obsessed with this ride, it is SO cute.

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I did not expect to like the "little" Cars Land rides so much.

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But they turned out to be one of my favorite parts of Disneyland. I loved the music and the honking! Though it took me a while to figure out that people weren't actually making the honks :rotfl: I wanted to find out how our horn worked and R was like, "Ummm... I think that's just part of the soundtrack...." :blush:

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Next, we returned to use our Guardians fastpass at 9:05 (obviously).

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By 9:13 we were in front of these doors :eek:

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We are in the back in the ride photo. Honestly, I liked Guardians of the Galaxy and would definitely continue to line up to ride it, but I didn't love the screens and still prefer WDW's Tower of Terror. But it was so thrilling to ride it right after it opened, absolutely no regrets there!!! The pre-show really is great and that Rocket animatronic is really impressive. We were off the ride by 9:20, and had gotten so much done in our first hour and a half at the park!

.... But I'm near the photo limit so will continue in another post.
 
Yay! So glad you found my report and I am glad you are all caught up. :flower3:

Thank you for the well-wishes! I definitely want to go back to Hawaii and Maui is at the top of my list right now. My friend Ashley (Vernie822) wrote a really great TR from her Aulani/Maui trip and I took so many tips from her Aulani trip! If you want to read it, it's here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/just-mauid-maui-aulani-trip-report.3552835/

I am definitely still planning to keep updating the TR with our Disneyland visit. My notes got worse as the trip progressed so the Disneyland part might be mostly photos :laughing:

Thanks for saying hi and I hope you enjoy your planning! So exciting!!!

Thanks for the link to Ashley's trip report, I will definitely check it out!!

I love planning!!! Planning is half the fun, right? Speaking of, I just got an email this morning saying our requested Aulani days have been secured from a renting DVC member. EEEEEK!!! :cool1:


Y'all Radiator Springs Racers was everything everyone says it will be, plus some. I was not expecting to enjoy it so much but this is for sure one of my all-time favorite Disney rides! It has all the detailed touches of a Disney dark ride plus the thrill element at the end. So so cute! And I love the music :love: I have to admit, I like the Cars franchise much more now that I've been to Cars Land. Crazy!

Oh my gosh yes--RSR is the best!! All of Cars Land is wonderful, as you pointed out both the "little" rides in Mater's and Luigi's are super cute and fun as well. Honestly DCA is probably my favorite of all 6 domestic parks. :o Kind of crazy, but it's got 3 of my very favorite rides in RSR, Soarin', and TSMM. And I love all the counter service places there. Not sure how I'll feel about it once I experience Pixar Pier b/c I really loved it as Paradise Pier and think the Pixarfying of it was kind of unnecessary. :sad2:
 
Our flight from Lihue to LAX was largely without incident, though I will say the meal we were served in Delta's first class was put to shame by that Hawaiian first class experience we had! #firstworldproblems

I've already warned Nathan that we'd better start saving our money and/or look for good travel rewards cards/programs, because now that I've seen your first class experience on Hawaiian, there's no other way I want to travel there. :laughing:

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This photo is my reminder that I took pictures of the back of each of our tickets, as we were wisely advised on the boards. In case you lose your ticket, this makes things easier for Disney to replace them.

Good idea! ...and paper tickets. Weird. :laughing:

The awesome thing about this was that they didn't actually *scan* our tickets, so we were still eligible to get another FP right away!

Score!!

Y'all Radiator Springs Racers was everything everyone says it will be, plus some. I was not expecting to enjoy it so much but this is for sure one of my all-time favorite Disney rides! It has all the detailed touches of a Disney dark ride plus the thrill element at the end. So so cute! And I love the music :love: I have to admit, I like the Cars franchise much more now that I've been to Cars Land. Crazy!

I want to try riding this so badly! Looks amazing! Glad you had such a good experience.

We were both giggling like little kids! We absolutely LOVED this ride... I don't know why! It's got me excited for the Alien Swirling Saucer ride at DHS though.

Ooh, you're a good person to ask then, since I know you occasionally have motion sickness issues! I've got a FP for the alien ride for next month, and I've watched videos of it and of the cars land ride. It seems less "swirly" and more like it kind of gently whips you around a bit. I can't ride the teacups, and sometimes even get a little swimmy on a fast carousel, but I don't think this kind of movement will make me particularly motion sick. Did you find it bothersome at all?

Honestly, I liked Guardians of the Galaxy and would definitely continue to line up to ride it, but I didn't love the screens and still prefer WDW's Tower of Terror.

Interesting. I totally get the appreciation for the classics! Sounds like it was still fun though.
 
While I love Carsland and RSR, I still don't like the Cars movies.

That is a lot of you got done in the first hour and half of opening! Glad you were so efficient that morning!
 
OK I am finally all caught up to comment on your amazing engagement trip!

Hawaiian First Class is the definition of decadent air travel. Okay, it's not Emirates or whatever, but I certainly don't usually fly this fancy. We had lay-flat seats, individual iPads for in flight entertainment, and unparalleled service.

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This looks so nice! I am saving my Hawaiian Air miles to travel in first class from NYC to Hawaii and it looks like I have enough for one ticket. Haha, I guess that means my hubby rides in coach? :rotfl:


Leonard's is the BEST!!
If you're ever on the windward side of Oahu try Agnes's Portugese Bakeshop - another famous malassada place and theirs are really good as well, very home-y.


This looks like the perfect start to your vacation! Appetizers and drinks by the pool/beach. Nothing better than that! Those drinks look really good but I'm sure they were pricey.

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Hamakua Wild Mushroom & Truffle Oil Pizza - $18.95 white sauce, garlic, parmesan, fresh thyme. Anything with truffle oil is up my alley, and while I wish I had gone farther afield than "pizza" on our first night in Hawaii, this hit the spot and filled my tummy nicely.

That sounds amazing! I really like Hamakua mushrooms.


Aww the sweetest picture!


I don't like hiking but I love Diamond Head!! Absolutely love the view and the hike is easy enough where I don't feel too uncomfortably hot or where I'm huffing and puffing.

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Later we got a second round of celebratory drinks and they were $9.00 each - much better than Aulani prices. R had a Hawaiian variation on a Long Island iced tea while I had The Lime in The Coconut. We both liked them and we enjoyed lingering. While there were absolutely other tourists here, this brunch looked more like a special thing for locals. We saw a few graduation celebrations and lots of what looked like local families out before or after church. Total before tip was $84.71, maybe the best value of the whole trip considering the quality of the food and the ambiance. :cloud9:

The Lime in The Coconut is the best name for a cocktail, LOL!! What a lovely way to celebrate!


I love this picture, and how it captures the silhouette of the girl leaping for joy on the beach during sunset!

One thing I wanted to touch on is photopass at Aulani. We tried to take advantage as much as we could if we were at the resort at sunset, since from what I understood, I might end up with unlimited downloads through virtue of my Walt Disney World annual pass photopass inclusions. It took about 24 hours after linking my photopass card for the photos to show up on the app and mydisneyphotopass.com but it was true that they were not watermarked and available for download. Each night there were about 3 photographers on the beach or the lawn between the resort and the beach, so we visited all of them to get as many shots as we could. We have probably hundreds of photopass shots from our stay and probably 20 or so of those are what I would call “really good”.

That is good to know! When I went there I dont' think they had photopass yet.



These pictures are stunning!! But I think it's mostly because you both are so photogenic!! Background is nice too. :)


Oh that is sad to hear. When we visited they had just opened less than a year and everything was so shiny and new. I hoped that they would maintain it.

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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!

Yum, I love condensed or evaporated milk on shave ice!


I love this picture too!

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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.

Yum! Kona brewing on Big Island is a fun place to visit. I think it is more happening on Oahu though.

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.

That doesn't sound good! You'd expect gorgonzola to be stinky but that just sounds...rotten! :rotfl:

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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Agreed! So delicious!!

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

I always get lilikoi and lychee and li hing mui which is a preserved plum flavor :thumbsup2

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Interior of the restaurant

It's so pretty inside! I haven't been here because when we're on the North shore we always eat at the shrimp trucks, so we're never hungry enough for a full meal at a restaurant. But this looks very nice!

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.

Ugh yeah, the one thing I do not like about Oahu - terrible traffic!

Another beautiful picture! I love your outfit!

As dinner wound down, we were treated to an unexpected surprise, though we had a bit of warning thanks to the live band which announced what was happening:

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It was obviously just for you guys! What a perfect night.


Bali Hai! One of my favorite places! It looks so beautiful and one of those places you have to see in person to appreciate.

So, if you don't already know from the previous few days, I am what my family calls a bit of a princess. I'm not much of an athlete and while we "hike" fairly often on our vacations, it's usually easy hikes on at least decently groomed trails. The Kalalau trail is not at all like this, which I did know well in advance of planning the hike as I'd done quite a lot of research.

I also knew from research to head out early. We probably parked and got started on the trail by about 8:30 or 8:40. The last of my photos from the trail was time-stamped around 12:30, so it was about a four hour adventure for us. We'd also stopped for pre-made sandwiches and water bottles at the grocery store before heading to the trailhead.

From kalalautrail.com:

"Ke`e Beach to Hanakapi`ai beach:
This section offers a popular day hike for able-bodied hikers. Walking the first half mile will reward you with excellent views of the coast. The summer sand beach at Hanakapi’ai is a popular destination for day hikers. Swimming or wading can be dangerous, however, and is not recommended. The surf and rip currents are variable and often extremely treacherous, but worst in winter when high surf conditions prevail. BEWARE! Many drownings have occurred here.


Camping is not permitted at Hanakapiai. Day Hikes to Hanakāpīʻai Beach (4 miles round trip) or up to Hanakāpīʻai Falls (8 miles round trip) are allowed without a permit."

:worship: Wow you guys did the first 2 miles? We have never attempted it. I guess I'm a self-proclaimed princess. Steve would do it but I would probably find some excuse not to go, although that beautiful beach is definitely a reason to try!

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Fresh fish, beer battered and deep fried. Served with french fries, Asian coleslaw and a soy wasabi sauce. Sorry, I can't recall what the fresh catch was that day, but it was delicious! (In retrospect I'm thinking it might have been Ono as we had it a few times). The batter was light and crispy, perfect for fish and chips, and the sauce they served with it was super tasty!

Yum, I am in belief that Hawaii does fish n chips as well as the British do! LOL. It's always so good there!

Of course I needed to compare it to the Aulani and Matsumoto versions, for science! :thumbsup2

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Jojo's was the winner in at least one regard, size! :eek:

You have to do a comparison of shave ice everywhere, for research purposes of course! :thumbsup2


Gorgeous!!!

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The Mac Nut Ono (fish, also known as Wahoo) $26 and served with coconut lime cilantro sauce, rice and seasonal veggies. This was really really good. We were slurping up every bit of that sauce! You can't go wrong with mac nut encrusted fresh catch IN HAWAII!

Nothing quite says Hawaii to me than a plate full of mac nut crusted fish. So ONO!! This looks absolutely delicious!

We started out by seeing the waterfalls that were used in Jurassic Park (the original, not sure about World)

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I have almost the same picture of the same waterfall!

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The above photo is perhaps my favorite photo I've ever taken, though this trip (and this day) produced some good ones.There were rainbows everywhere during the flight as we flew through clouds and mist.

WOW this picture is amazing!! We didn't get to see the pretty rainbows like this!

Overall, this tour is my favorite thing we did in Hawaii, and that's saying a LOT. We saw some magnificent sights, ate some great food, and lounged on gorgeous beaches, but the helicopter tour was the single most worthwhile hour we spent. Bang for your buck? This is it.

I highly recommend Mauna Loa. The pilot was fabulous, friendly and a good host, their helicopter fleet allowed us to be certain we'd have two window seats and no other passengers, and we were able to get the doors off experience I was looking for. It was $287.00 per person, so definitely a splurge, but so very worth it.

I definitely want to do doors off next time! We did Blue Hawaiian helicopters and it was amazing!

Our destination was Kountry Kitchen in Kapaa, an unassuming diner with an apt "Kountry" flair.

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I've been there! :)

I hated to leave Hawaii, but Disneyland would greet us in the morning!!!

You definitely need something to look forward to after an amazing HAwaiian vacation and Disneyland just about fits the bill!

Y'all Radiator Springs Racers was everything everyone says it will be, plus some. I was not expecting to enjoy it so much but this is for sure one of my all-time favorite Disney rides! It has all the detailed touches of a Disney dark ride plus the thrill element at the end. So so cute! And I love the music :love: I have to admit, I like the Cars franchise much more now that I've been to Cars Land. Crazy!

OMG I felt the same way!! It's just the most amazing ride ever! And I don't even love the Cars movies!
 
Speaking of, I just got an email this morning saying our requested Aulani days have been secured from a renting DVC member. EEEEEK!!! :cool1:
:woohoo: Wooooooooo hoooooo!!!! So excited for you! What type of room will you guys be enjoying? So fun!

Oh my gosh yes--RSR is the best!! All of Cars Land is wonderful, as you pointed out both the "little" rides in Mater's and Luigi's are super cute and fun as well. Honestly DCA is probably my favorite of all 6 domestic parks. :o Kind of crazy, but it's got 3 of my very favorite rides in RSR, Soarin', and TSMM. And I love all the counter service places there. Not sure how I'll feel about it once I experience Pixar Pier b/c I really loved it as Paradise Pier and think the Pixarfying of it was kind of unnecessary. :sad2:
Yeah I don't know what to think about Pixar Pier either though I feel like we didn't even begin to scratch the surface on Paradise Pier when we were there. I liked DCA way more than I was expecting but it was hard not to fall in love with (and spend more time in) Disneyland. I was on a pilgrimage after all :rotfl: I am glad I don't have to choose between the parks because I love certain parts of all of them!!

I've already warned Nathan that we'd better start saving our money and/or look for good travel rewards cards/programs, because now that I've seen your first class experience on Hawaiian, there's no other way I want to travel there. :laughing:
Haha! Oh no, I'm creating more monsters!!! Well if you do your travel like we did ours, that leg was booked completely separately, so you could totally keep an eye on that fare and pounce when it's at its lowest!

Good idea! ...and paper tickets. Weird. :laughing:
Very weird! Fortunately I'm used to wearing my lanyard anyway so it was no trouble just popping our tickets in there but it definitely was a change from magic bands!

Ooh, you're a good person to ask then, since I know you occasionally have motion sickness issues! I've got a FP for the alien ride for next month, and I've watched videos of it and of the cars land ride. It seems less "swirly" and more like it kind of gently whips you around a bit. I can't ride the teacups, and sometimes even get a little swimmy on a fast carousel, but I don't think this kind of movement will make me particularly motion sick. Did you find it bothersome at all?
I can ride the teacups as long as we don't do any extra spin at all, and I occasionally fix my gaze on the horizon, just so you know how sensitive/not-sensitive I am. Carousels can also mess me up like you mentioned.

I didn't have any issues at all on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, probably because it doesn't spin, like you said. It reminds me more of the parts of big thunder when you go around a curve and get propelled by centrifugal force (??? Physicist, I'm not) into your seat mate. I hope it's the same at AS2 as I really want to ride it!

While I love Carsland and RSR, I still don't like the Cars movies.

That is a lot of you got done in the first hour and half of opening! Glad you were so efficient that morning!
I think it's more that R and I like to talk to each other in the Mater voice... we had a whole year where R was constantly saying "she's my fiancé" in his best Larry the Cable Guy impression. I'll be honest I've only seen Cars 2 and Cars 3 once each, maybe. But I do like the first one more now. That just compliments imagineering in my opinion!!!

This looks so nice! I am saving my Hawaiian Air miles to travel in first class from NYC to Hawaii and it looks like I have enough for one ticket. Haha, I guess that means my hubby rides in coach? :rotfl:
See you later, Steve! :wave2: Hahaha. Well... maybe you can justify the out of pocket cost for one of you since you have enough Miles for the other one.

If you're ever on the windward side of Oahu try Agnes's Portugese Bakeshop - another famous malassada place and theirs are really good as well, very home-y.
I will have to do that! I'm still constantly trying to figure out when we can get back. It's hard not to want to go back to Aulani but there are so many islands we haven't seen yet!

Aww the sweetest picture!
Thank you :flower3: I feel very fortunate we got this.

I love this picture, and how it captures the silhouette of the girl leaping for joy on the beach during sunset!
I loved that too!

I wish I could say it was spontaneous though, that family was being obnoxious and that kid probably leapt 200 times trying to get her mom to take the perfect photo of her :sad2: at least it made for a nice photo for me! Haha

These pictures are stunning!! But I think it's mostly because you both are so photogenic!! Background is nice too
You are too sweet! Thank you!

I haven't been here because when we're on the North shore we always eat at the shrimp trucks, so we're ne
My quotes keep messing up, but you reminded me that we had actually intended to eat at a shrimp truck and it didn't work out that day due to our grumpy moods! So we ended up at the beach house as a "second choice" but it ended up being just perfect! So perfect that I forgot all about not making it to a shrimp truck, so yep, gotta go back now!

Another beautiful picture! I love your outfit
Thank you! I found the dress on sale from Unique Vintage before the trip and have worn it exactly once... I need to dig it out and see if it fits and maybe take it to WDW next month!

attempted it. I guess I'm a self-proclaimed princess. Steve would do it but I would probably find some excuse not to go, although that beautiful beach is definitely a reason to try
From one princess to another, this is totally worth it! If you can do all those stairs at Diamond Head you can do this! Sooooo worthwhile!

WOW this picture is amazing!! We didn't get to see the pretty rainbows like this
Really?! Our pilot was acting like they were no big deal, but I was totally geeking out over them. I worried a little about the weather since we did this on our last day and wouldn't have been able to reschedule if the weather forced us to cancel, but we ended up with pretty good weather considering that the moody clouds just made for lovely rainbows!

You definitely need something to look forward to after an amazing HAwaiian vacation and Disneyland just about fits the bill!
Yes it does! I would have been SO SAD if I was coming straight home. I definitely needed a little West Coast pixie dust!

OMG I felt the same way!! It's just the most amazing ride ever! And I don't even love the Cars movies
:lovestruc Now I miss CarsLand too! I love the music, the neon, the scenery, the rides... everything!
 
I can ride the teacups as long as we don't do any extra spin at all, and I occasionally fix my gaze on the horizon, just so you know how sensitive/not-sensitive I am. Carousels can also mess me up like you mentioned.

I didn't have any issues at all on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, probably because it doesn't spin, like you said. It reminds me more of the parts of big thunder when you go around a curve and get propelled by centrifugal force (??? Physicist, I'm not) into your seat mate. I hope it's the same at AS2 as I really want to ride it!

This is what I was thinking, too. I'm gonna give it a try!
 
What a great trip report! I've really enjoyed all of your pictures. My extended family and I are going to Disneyland and then on to Maui next summer, and I now have Loco Moco and Malasadas on my list of new thing to try, due to your trip report. So, thank you! And, congratulations on your marriage!
 
:woohoo: Wooooooooo hoooooo!!!! So excited for you! What type of room will you guys be enjoying? So fun!

Thanks!! We booked an island view one bedroom. Since we're a family of 5 we have to get the one bedroom, but I'm looking forward to having the kitchen. I'll definitely bring and buy some groceries so we can eat in our room.

Yeah I don't know what to think about Pixar Pier either though I feel like we didn't even begin to scratch the surface on Paradise Pier when we were there. I liked DCA way more than I was expecting but it was hard not to fall in love with (and spend more time in) Disneyland. I was on a pilgrimage after all :rotfl: I am glad I don't have to choose between the parks because I love certain parts of all of them!!

I'm trying to hold off all judgement until I see it in person. We'll be going over spring break in early March so that we can get in one last visit before the craziness of Galaxy's Edge. I'm pretty cynical about that b/c I just don't see how DL is going to manage those crowds. WDW has the infrastructure and parking for all the visitors plus 3 other parks to spread out the crowds when their GE opens, but I just don't know what it's going to do to DL. :guilty:
 
Thanks!! We booked an island view one bedroom. Since we're a family of 5 we have to get the one bedroom, but I'm looking forward to having the kitchen. I'll definitely bring and buy some groceries so we can eat in our room.



I'm trying to hold off all judgement until I see it in person. We'll be going over spring break in early March so that we can get in one last visit before the craziness of Galaxy's Edge. I'm pretty cynical about that b/c I just don't see how DL is going to manage those crowds. WDW has the infrastructure and parking for all the visitors plus 3 other parks to spread out the crowds when their GE opens, but I just don't know what it's going to do to DL. :guilty:

Okay... I need your tips... I am 99.9% sure we are going back to Hawaii and more specifically, MAUI!!!

We took a little "mini-moon" right after our wedding (the bank accounts were pretty close to zero after paying for all the wedding stuff, so we just did a quick trip to Florida) and were planning our "real" honeymoon for Italy over Christmas... long story short, the flights to Europe are astronomical right now and most of the places we were interesting in staying are closed for the holidays. So I think I have convinced the husband to go to Maui instead! I was thinking of splitting between Maui and the Big Island but based on airfare, time constraints, and car rental prices I'm not sure we're going to split this trip at all, unless my DVC waitlist comes through and we might do one night at the beginning or end in Aulani to take advantage of the many flights back to the mainland from Honolulu.

We are going to have to do a condo rental as it's all our budget will allow for, but would you stay in Kihei, Kapalua, or somewhere else entirely? Advice welcome!!!
 
Okay... I need your tips... I am 99.9% sure we are going back to Hawaii and more specifically, MAUI!!!

We took a little "mini-moon" right after our wedding (the bank accounts were pretty close to zero after paying for all the wedding stuff, so we just did a quick trip to Florida) and were planning our "real" honeymoon for Italy over Christmas... long story short, the flights to Europe are astronomical right now and most of the places we were interesting in staying are closed for the holidays. So I think I have convinced the husband to go to Maui instead! I was thinking of splitting between Maui and the Big Island but based on airfare, time constraints, and car rental prices I'm not sure we're going to split this trip at all, unless my DVC waitlist comes through and we might do one night at the beginning or end in Aulani to take advantage of the many flights back to the mainland from Honolulu.

We are going to have to do a condo rental as it's all our budget will allow for, but would you stay in Kihei, Kapalua, or somewhere else entirely? Advice welcome!!!

Yay, so exciting to be going back!!!!! :jumping1:

My only experience on Maui is staying along Kaanapali Beach. It's a beautiful stretch of beach with the famous Black Rock which has some great snorkeling. We stayed there on our honeymoon in 2000 (at the Kaanapali Beach Hotel) and then again when we went back in 2006 (at the Sheraton that's built right next to/into Black Rock). And next summer we're planning to stay at the Westin a little further south from those 2 hotels. I'm not sure what kind of condos are available near that area that might be beach front, but I'm sure there are some. From what I remember Maui is pretty easy to drive around so you can visit different parts of the island no matter where you say. I do recommend (if it fits in the budget) to take a snorkel cruise out to Molokini--that's a lot of fun! Plus the one we did stopped another place where there were a lot of sea turtles. It will be fun to research and plan another trip for sure!!
 
I just finished reading your report and loved it! We always stay at the Marriott at Ko'Olina (owners) so just "visit" Aulani. I thought I would jump in because you were asking about Maui. Our timeshare ownership allows us to stay anywhere there is a Marriott MVC, and there happens to be a very nice one on Maui that we have stayed at numerous times. It is on Kaanapali, but we have also stayed in a condo north of there heading up toward Kapalua. I would say Kihei would be easier into and out of because heading up the coast into Lahaina and Kaanapali can be a bear sometimes with traffic. Maui is super easy to navigate and basically has one road that goes around most the island. Kihei isn't nearly as pretty as Kapalua though. Keep in mind that like all the islands, Maui has a dry side, and a wet side. The more "wet" = prettier and greener. :) that said, if you are going in December you will be right in the height of whale season and staying more towards Kapalua will also put you in position for "whale alley" where they all travel through, but you will also experience more rain showers there. We had downpours that lasted a short time and then went away. Much like Kauai. (we have stayed on Kauai a lot, as it is our favorite island.) Most of the condos in Maui are like what you experienced in Kauai. they do not have a/c and rely on the trade winds to cool. It can get hot and sticky. Ok, that is way more info than you wanted (LOL), hope it helps and ask away if you have any other questions.
Lisa
 
Thank you so much @MickeyD that is really helpful! If I had my druthers I'd probably go back to Kauai but my husband really likes to try new things. We better go ahead and do Maui so I can get back to Kauai sooner rather than later :rotfl2:
 

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