Happy in Hawaii –- Aulani & Oahu with a Toddler ~ Updated 7/20: Final Update and link to new TR!

[Imagineer5]

Went out the night before and didn’t set an alarm. Just woke up early and decided to go to Diamond Head for the sunrise. There were bugs when the sun popped up, but not before, etc. She talked about the bugs a LOT.

Bahahahah love how you remembered the whole convo

I was back at Aulani about quarter to 9. Got a lot accomplished for that time of morning!

That's great! Nice timing

I stopped at the front desk on my way in. Once again, paid down our account with my stash of gift cards (planned to just use the gift cards themselves for payment for the rest of the day). I also asked for keys to the Luana Lounge. This is the facility that you can use to change and shower on your departure day if you have a late flight out and want to use the pools after 11am room check-out.

That's cool, although you'd think they would have a better system than needing to give you 4 separate keys. Like they could be coded to work all day or something...

Cute!

He called and asked about late checkout, letting them know it was his one day to use the pools, due to him being out of town and the early closing times. They were sympathetic and actually extended our time in the room until 6pm!!!

Wow that is really awesome

Not only that, but they gave us free access to a beach casabella so that we could enjoy the water time we did have a bit more. (This was because he had talked to someone pre-trip about our disappointment with the posted pool hours we’d used to plan from their website being shortened without warning prior to our trip. They gave no indication they were “summer hours” and it messed up our planning, which included late-night pool time after sightseeing).

With that great news, we headed down for our Makahiki brunch to see Minnie once more.

So cool!

Up next: We probably should have just eaten in the room.

uh oh...

 

[schmass]

You really did get a lot done by 9am! I'm amazed that you seem to be both a morning person and a night owl. Mornings are no problem for me, but I can't stay up late at all!

That's so nice that they have a lounge there for changing after pool-time if you no longer have access to your room, but late checkout is even better!

 

[cindianne320]

Your hike looked amazing! Sorry you had a babbler on the way down... so could have been me. LOL.
Glad you got the late check out, but sounds like your brunch left much to be desired!

 

[FantasiaMagic]

Those scones you had looks super yummy! I also love those photos of Izzy and Stitch! Her shirt was really cute, did you have it made online?

 

[hokieinpa]

Ah, that scone sounds pretty amazing! Sorry the walk down Diamond Head was less than peaceful.

Glad Izzy got to meet her pal one last time! She looks like the happiest of girls!

That's so great that they extended your checkout time and gave you access to a casabella (is that like a cabana?) too! What a great way to spend your last few hours!

 

[Dugette]

Bahahahah love how you remembered the whole convo

Well, my notes helped a lot on that. But parts of it are burned into my brain after listening to every last detail of her day for that whole walk.

That's great! Nice timing

I was pretty happy with that. Not often I can claim to have crossed an island and done a famous hike all before 9am.

That's cool, although you'd think they would have a better system than needing to give you 4 separate keys. Like they could be coded to work all day or something...

The whole thing was kinda odd to me. I think I had read they did that so people would be limited to just going in and out once. But then they offered us as many as we wanted. I don't really know what they were trying to accomplish.

Cute!

Thanks!

Wow that is really awesome

I was impressed - this is the latest checkout we've ever gotten anywhere, I think! I was hoping for maybe an extra hour or two, but 6pm was amazing!

So cool!

Prior to the trip, Dug had spoken with a recreation manager or something along those lines. She had said to get in touch when we were there and she'd try to make up for the lack of pool time. Glad he finally decided to call!

uh oh...

Yeah, it's not awful, but just not worth the price of admission.

You really did get a lot done by 9am! I'm amazed that you seem to be both a morning person and a night owl. Mornings are no problem for me, but I can't stay up late at all!

Ha, I'm actually a huge night owl trapped in a morning person's schedule. I mean, it is 1am as I write this. I am way by far the most energized and productive late at night, but despite not liking mornings, I know that I can use them to my advantage. Hence, rope drops at WDW and such. And I leave for work around 6:10am these days. Not that I like it. But, ya gotta do what ya gotta do. My problem is that I am burning the candle at both ends - naturally being awake late and forced to be awake early (long commute and awful construction means I need to leave early or pay the price). Admittedly, I have fallen asleep very early a couple nights this week (well, for me - I mean like 10pm! ) I'm burning out, I guess.

That's so nice that they have a lounge there for changing after pool-time if you no longer have access to your room, but late checkout is even better!

Agreed on both counts. I was so happy to have our own room and private space!

Your hike looked amazing! Sorry you had a babbler on the way down... so could have been me. LOL.

It wasn't so bad, but it just didn't ever stop and I had no way to get away, since she was going my pace. And that was basically all I could hear. At least she kept me entertained.

Glad you got the late check out, but sounds like your brunch left much to be desired!

Yeah, the brunch was missing a key element.

Those scones you had looks super yummy! I also love those photos of Izzy and Stitch! Her shirt was really cute, did you have it made online?

The scones were so good and I wish I had one right now. Thanks on the photos - I think they captured her joy pretty well. And the shirt was actually a gift from Izzy's daycare provider - she made it for her. Love having a Disney fan as a daycare provider!

Ah, that scone sounds pretty amazing!

So yummy. Would love one right now!

Sorry the walk down Diamond Head was less than peaceful.

Definitely hard to just reflect on the natural wonder around you when someone talks about herself endlessly behind your head the whole way down.

Glad Izzy got to meet her pal one last time! She looks like the happiest of girls!

She had a great time with him!

That's so great that they extended your checkout time and gave you access to a casabella (is that like a cabana?) too! What a great way to spend your last few hours!

The casabella was a covered 2-seat lounger on the beach. So it was nice, but not quite on the level of a cabana. Very kind gesture, though.

 

[Dugette]

Where’s Minnie?

It was 11am, so we headed downstairs to Makahiki for our brunch. You may remember that we had breakfast here at the beginning of our trip as well. We booked it twice, as it’s a character meal (the only one at Aulani) and Izzy is Minnie’s biggest fan. It’s not a cheap meal, but we felt the experience was worth doing once more.

First, we checked in and waited in the line for the Mickey greeting:



The scenery is not bad from that spot :



They make the queue out of chairs:



Izzy has had a lot of practice standing in lines on her Disney trips:



After a bit, it was Izzy’s turn. Well, sort of. The previous family was taking an extra long time, so the CM told Izzy to just go on up to move them along. Sort of awkward, since Izzy didn’t know what to do and Mickey didn’t know she was coming, but it did work out. You can see the awkward first moments here :





And then Mickey realized she was there:



And it was a great meet from this point forward. Much better than our previous visit when it was merely a take-a-photo-and-move-on scenario. This time, Mickey was willing to give hugs and play:







You may wonder what he’s doing there. Well, I think the previous family had filled his hand with something and he needed to give it to his photographer :



Then he was happy to welcome Izzy back into his arms:









We even got a family picture on our camera this time (we had learned the first time that the photographer’s picture is NOT included on the Photopass CD and they instead want to sell it to you for lots of money):



I have video of the meet (and awkwardness) as well:

(click to watch)

Great meet with Mickey and it seemed like things were off to a good start.

They must have had us wait inside for a table. While we were there, Izzy declared, “Mickey loves me!” Awwww….. I tried to get her to repeat it for the camera, but didn’t have much luck:

(click to watch)

We were seated outside:



Dug went up and got Izzy a plate of food (apparently forgetting she eats toddler-sized portions):



Looks like the waitress brought her some milk too:



One thing I noticed as I waited for Dug was that birds swarm the newly-vacated tables to clean up the crumbs. Kinda gross:



Anyway, Dug and I each got some food:





Looks like I had an omelette made. And also that I finally had some appetite! (unlike our first breakfast here)

Our waitress wasn’t very on the ball this meal. She didn’t bring Dug’s coffee cup, but brought two juices instead (he didn’t order one), brought some ketchup we didn’t ask for, then disappeared for a very long time :



It was just sort of odd. Not a huge deal, though.

Izzy spotted Goofy :



He was just hanging out while Aunty led a kids activity thing. It ended up taking him pretty much forever to go around and do the meets and eventually get over to us. Once he did, though, it was a good interaction:









Izzy ended up spilling some milk on herself here:



Goofy enjoyed that, I guess:



Bye, Goofy :





And the video of the meet, complete with spilled milk:

(click to watch)

We had been waiting there a long time and still had seen no sign of Minnie (I think this actually happened before Goofy made it over). We finally found someone to ask (not sure if our server returned or if we found another) and we were told that Minnie was “out shopping”. What?! Considering only Minnie and Goofy meet in the restaurant (and Mickey outside), this seemed like kind of a big deal for an expensive character meal. And it’s not like they sent in Chip and Dale instead (which I guess they sometimes do, as I found out later). And they definitely did not inform us she was “out shopping” when we checked in. I guess that, technically, characters aren’t guaranteed. And perhaps Minnie does not have many friends in Hawaii. But I just cannot imagine showing up to Crystal Palace and having them be like, “Oh, no biggie, Pooh’s out having some honey today and Eeyore’s taking a nap.”

So, needless to say, we were rather annoyed. And we had a rather sad and upset 2 year old. The whole reason we came back was to give Izzy more time with Minnie. We asked to speak to a character handler or the like. They sent over a guy named Joe Peach – I guess he was Mickey and Minnie’s manager? He was really nice and understood completely. He asked us to come to Mickey and Minnie’s 1pm meet and greet that was scheduled on the Lawn and told us that he would help Izzy to get some special time with Minnie and a personalized autograph in her book.

We thanked him and headed off from our meal. We hadn’t been planning on going to this 1pm meet, as we wanted to get pool time in, but I was getting a major headache , so we just decided to take a little break in the room until the meet time and get some rest (and ibuprofen). I rested and Izzy watched Frozen until a bit before 1pm.

Up next: Special time with Minnie.

 

[cindianne320]

What a huge bummer that Minnie was missing, especially since there are only 3 characters! I'm hoping your special meet went well.

 

[FantasiaMagic]

That is too bad about Minnie not being at the character meal. I would think since once Minnie and Goofy meet in the place, they would try and replace her with someone else...I would be upset too. I hope the special meet makes up for it!

 

[hokieinpa]

Major disappointment for Izzy! It does seem like fun interactions with Mickey and Goofy, but that's rough when you book a meal banking on a character. Glad (hopefully) the CM came through with some special time for Izzy and Minnie later!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Oh man, I can totally understand your frustration! And I know those character meals aren't cheap in the least! That must have been so disappointing.

At least Izzy can eat more breakfast food than me.

 

[Leshaface]

However, that 22 minutes or whatever felt like an eternity. Just about the whole hike down, I was followed by a girl who was on her phone…the whole time. She was telling someone about anything and everything related to her Diamond Head visit. And I really had nothing else to do but listen, like it or not. She’s a local. Went out the night before and didn’t set an alarm. Just woke up early and decided to go to Diamond Head for the sunrise. There were bugs when the sun popped up, but not before, etc. She talked about the bugs a LOT. I’m sure it was neat to see the actual sunrise, but wow was this girl telling the long version of her story. Being the thorough trip reporter that I am, I had to get a selfie with her in the background:

What I want to know, who is on the other end of the phone listening to this story??

I had read somewhere that they had AMAZING blueberry scones that really hit the spot after hiking Diamond Head. I got a couple and ended up eating mine in the car….SOOOO good. It was moist and delicious…and filled with butter:

Writing this down! Love scones.

He called and asked about late checkout, letting them know it was his one day to use the pools, due to him being out of town and the early closing times. They were sympathetic and actually extended our time in the room until 6pm!!!

Woah major score. That is very cool they were able to do that for you guys.

The previous family was taking an extra long time, so the CM told Izzy to just go on up to move them along. Sort of awkward, since Izzy didn’t know what to do and Mickey didn’t know she was coming, but it did work out. You can see the awkward first moments here

Ha that is pretty awkward.

Dug went up and got Izzy a plate of food (apparently forgetting she eats toddler-sized portions):

Gotta get your money's worth!

Goofy would laugh of course!

So, needless to say, we were rather annoyed. And we had a rather sad and upset 2 year old. The whole reason we came back was to give Izzy more time with Minnie. We asked to speak to a character handler or the like. They sent over a guy named Joe Peach – I guess he was Mickey and Minnie’s manager? He was really nice and understood completely. He asked us to come to Mickey and Minnie’s 1pm meet and greet that was scheduled on the Lawn and told us that he would help Izzy to get some special time with Minnie and a personalized autograph in her book.

Good on you to voice your annoyance! And can't wait to see what happens at the Meet!

 

[Dugette]

What a huge bummer that Minnie was missing, especially since there are only 3 characters! I'm hoping your special meet went well.

I know - I can't believe they would have one of only 3 main characters missing and not say a word about it, substitute it, or reduce the rather high price. Now I know to always ask before I am seated, I guess (but we did not go back there on our return trip).

That is too bad about Minnie not being at the character meal. I would think since once Minnie and Goofy meet in the place, they would try and replace her with someone else...I would be upset too. I hope the special meet makes up for it!

Right, I mean it was ONLY Goofy coming around, since Mickey just meets at the entrance. Not worth the character meal $$$ for ONE character to visit while you dine.

Major disappointment for Izzy! It does seem like fun interactions with Mickey and Goofy, but that's rough when you book a meal banking on a character. Glad (hopefully) the CM came through with some special time for Izzy and Minnie later!

Yes, I'm glad that at least Mickey and Goofy were pretty good with her. And Joe (the CM) was really great, so that was positive. I just wish they had somehow made it known that Minnie wasn't going to be there, though.

Oh man, I can totally understand your frustration! And I know those character meals aren't cheap in the least! That must have been so disappointing.

It really was! Felt like a huge waste of money when we only had one character coming around while we ate. Could have had breakfast at Ama Ama, watching the ocean for cheaper. And, of course, the missing character was the one we came to see.

At least Izzy can eat more breakfast food than me.

Well, nobody said she ate it all.

What I want to know, who is on the other end of the phone listening to this story??

Haha, I was wondering that too. Apparently a very dedicated friend or relative to listen to her talk non-stop.

Writing this down! Love scones.

Yes, please have some! Maybe toss a couple in the mail to me. They are SO good. Luckily, I made some blueberry muffins tonight, so I have an acceptable substitute at the moment.

Woah major score. That is very cool they were able to do that for you guys.

It really was. I had no idea it was even an option to extend it that far. I doubt it's very common.

Ha that is pretty awkward.

Gotta get your money's worth!

Indeed!

Goofy would laugh of course!

Good on you to voice your annoyance! And can't wait to see what happens at the Meet!

Yeah, I'm generally a pretty easygoing person, but when I think something is unfair/not right/needs improvement/misleading, that's when I tend to speak up (and Dug too).

 

[Dugette]

The Minnie Meet

I found a couple of things from when we were headed up to our room:



Not that interesting, but I have video of Izzy running down the hall and pressing the elevator button:

(click to watch, if you want to)

Amusing to me now to see her little toddler walk/run, since it’s changed so much!

A bit before 1pm, we headed down to the Halawai lawn to meet Minnie and Mickey.

There was a fairly long line forming, so we joined that:



There's the special couple up there:



Looks like Dug was taking photos of the beautiful Hawaiian sky, probably wanting to remember it since we were headed back to a Minnesota winter that night:







Joe (the character manager we met at brunch) came over and chatted with us while we waited. He was very nice and told Izzy and I to go wait in the shade while he and Dug held our spots. Izzy was a bit restless for the wait and trying to find things to climb – like the speakers and she wanted to climb a tree (or to a speaker in a tree? It’s been too long for me to understand my notes anymore, haha ). I wouldn’t let her climb the tree, though, so she was upset about that and just really hot and crabby by the time it was her turn.

So, we ended up being the last people to meet M&M at this time. However, that doesn’t mean there was nobody in line behind us. In fact, there were a lot of people in line behind us that had been waiting nearly as long as we had. And they all just got sent away, after having waited that whole time. I felt really bad for them and it makes me appreciate how they close the lines at WDW vs. doing this.

We had a great meet, though. Izzy got over her grouchiness pretty quickly as she ran up to her buddies. Interestingly, after all of this wanting to see Minnie, she went to Mickey first :





Then on to Minnie:





Izzy was way too distracted to actually look at the camera in any of these pictures I have, so I’ll just give you this one:



I also have some video:

(click to watch)

Then we pulled out the autograph book:





Note that she wrote Izzy’s name in there. Mickey did the same thing. They normally do not do that, per Joe, but this was the extra special treatment. Cool.

A family shot:



And a little more one-on-one time with Minnie:







It was nice that we had a fairly lengthy and relaxed meet with them. After we were finished, Mickey and Minnie had to head off to the special room where they eat cheese, which Izzy fully approved of (as a cheese lover herself). Bye, guys :







We headed back to our room and got changed for pool time. Stopped down at the towel and wristband place by the Menehune Bridge and got our matching wristbands for the day. We headed over to the zero-entry family pool to start, as we knew a pool party was scheduled to take place there pretty soon.

Enjoying the pool:





There was also a Photopass photographer in the water who got some shots of us (to get these added, you need to go to the Photopass desk later and tell them where and approximately when you had photos taken):





And then the pool party started and Mickey made an appearance alongside the pool:



Izzy was excited:









I mean, what could possibly go wrong with this scenario :



Up next: Minnie’s fan-girl strikes again.

 

[cindianne320]

I'm glad Izzy finally got to meet Minnie and how cool that they personalized her book! Fun that Mickey showed up at the pool! Looking forward to hearing what happens next!

 

[Dugette]

I'm glad Izzy finally got to meet Minnie and how cool that they personalized her book! Fun that Mickey showed up at the pool! Looking forward to hearing what happens next!

I'm glad she did get in another Minnie meet, even if it cut into our pool time a bit. That was nice about the personalization in the autograph too. More coming right up!

 

[Dugette]

Pool Party Crasher

So, we left off here:



Notice the kids up behind Mickey? The CMs were asking them to come up for the dance party. Izzy wasn't really interested in that until Minnie waltzed on out:





I think this next photo was because I found this mom and baby’s long-sleeved swimwear interesting on this sweltering day:



At any rate, we decided to let Izzy join the other kids up on stage to dance alongside Minnie. I was a little nervous about this , as we were still in the pool, but that’s what they were encouraging and there were tons of CMs up there and other young kids. Well, guess who made an immediate beeline for Minnie?



The dance party continued, but where did Izzy go?



Well, she would be over here crying because the CM separated her from her beloved Minnie again :



Poor thing!

She did decide to venture back over, though:











So, yeah, you can see how well that went. I personally find it somewhat hilarious looking back now, though.

Izzy rejoined us in the pool after that fiasco:



Mickey is way back there by the zero-entry area now:



I think this was maybe the time that kids could meet him, but Izzy was just done with characters at that point. We headed this direction instead:



And swimming Minnie came along:





We made it though the cave and over to the area where the waterslide dumps out. Dug and I had agreed to take turns going down and watching with Izzy. I guess he went to the slide first while Izzy and I waited:



I’m not really certain if this is him or someone else coming out , but these are the pics I have:





And there he is:



I did the slide as well and it was fun. Very dark, though. Entirely a tunnel until you reach the end.

Next, we headed over to Keiki Cove, the splash pad:





Dug watched for a bit, then went to the Infinity Pool. Izzy started wanting me to just carry her around the splash pad, so we left there and went to the Infinity Pool as well.

After enjoying that, we made our way to the Lazy River. I soon realized that I’d left the camera with our stuff, so I jumped out to get that and also moved our stuff over to the Menehune Bridge seating area. Then back into the Lazy River, which (according to my notes) had a lot of bugs in it. Guess it was a good day for bugs on Oahu between that and Diamond Head.

But, ahhhhhh, lazy river :









Dug was kind enough to help Izzy and I avoid getting drenched by the waterfalls:



Up next: So, we’ve been in Hawaii for 10 days, maybe we should go in the ocean now?

 

[cindianne320]

Poor Izzy Sorry that she was denied her Minnie again!

That area looks really fun! I love waterslides, but have a love/hate relationship wearing my contacts on them!

 

[Leshaface]

Amusing to me now to see her little toddler walk/run, since it’s changed so much!

Interestingly, after all of this wanting to see Minnie, she went to Mickey first :

Of course that crazy girl.

Note that she wrote Izzy’s name in there. Mickey did the same thing. They normally do not do that, per Joe, but this was the extra special treatment. Cool.

I never even thought about them not writing names in the autograph books! What a special treat.

Very cool, didn't know they got in the water too, just thought they stayed on the sides. Fun!

I saw something like these on Shark Tank and thought they were pretty interesting! They're supposed to block like almost 99% of the rays as an alternative to sunscreen (on the body that is). But also wondered if these would be too hot for climates like Florida where these would really come in handy for blocking the harmful rays.

Poor Izzy! Good picture though to always have!

Guess it was a good day for bugs on Oahu between that and Diamond Head.

 

[Dugette]

Poor Izzy Sorry that she was denied her Minnie again!

Poor kiddo - she just wanted to have Minnie all to herself.

That area looks really fun! I love waterslides, but have a love/hate relationship wearing my contacts on them!

Yeah, I wear contacts too, so I know what you mean. The only issue I've really had is unexpected splashes to the face. Doesn't happen too often on the family/kid-friendly slides, so hasn't been too much of an issue luckily.

These kids are growing up so fast!

Of course that crazy girl.

I never even thought about them not writing names in the autograph books! What a special treat.

It was nice - I'd never thought about it either. Then again, this is the first and only autograph book we've done, so I knew nothing. (And I'm kinda glad we did it at Aulani, as there were fewer characters to get (her book is signed multiple times by the same characters) and I didn't have to lug it around parks and stuff all day. Just made sure we had it when we intended to go to a scheduled meet. )

Very cool, didn't know they got in the water too, just thought they stayed on the sides. Fun!

Yes, they get in the water! Next update will have some photos they took in the lagoon, actually (they have Go Pros). On the second trip, I got some shots in the lazy river too.

I saw something like these on Shark Tank and thought they were pretty interesting! They're supposed to block like almost 99% of the rays as an alternative to sunscreen (on the body that is). But also wondered if these would be too hot for climates like Florida where these would really come in handy for blocking the harmful rays.

That's what I wonder - I feel like it would be so hot. But I'm sure they block the sun really well.

Minnie's little groupie.

Poor Izzy! Good picture though to always have!

Poor kid, but sure makes me laugh now.