Amw1064
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2012
While we were at Aulani, I made a collage each night of our days adventure and posted every night on Facebook for all of our friends to see. I will attempt to post those here. We left Florida on Wednesday, June 10 and returned Sunday, June 21 with 10 nights and 11 days in Hawaii. It was the best trip we have ever taken and I loved it more than any of the 20 something Disney cruises we have done. For anyone thinking of going, DO IT!!!! I was so nervous of the flight that we almost didn't make the trip. Was it great, no, but was it awful, no. With all the great threads here on the disboards, I honestly felt like we had our own tour guide with us the entire time. No trip could ever be so perfect as this was. So yes, we are planning on going back. Hoping for next June. After being there for 1 day I knew it. Even my 12 year old said, "mom, this is the best trip we have ever done".
My daughter is 12 and so she did go look around Aunties but didn't stay there but for one activity. She said it was awesome and thought it was better than the kids clubs on the Disney cruises. We did a lot of the family activities. She loved the Ohana hula lessons. One night Goofy joined the class and the following week Stitch did. She also loved the Ohana ukulele lessons and the Menehue scavenger hunt. She and my husband paddle boarded a few times but mostly while we were at Aulani, we hung out by the pools/hot tubs/lazy river and slides. We did not experience any problems with the chair issue. We just checked our stuff once an hour. Honestly, everything was absolutely great.
We didn't leave Aulani until Sunday. We had a rental car and so we went to Pearl Harbor and the swap meet. I had bought the tickets ahead of time so that was simple and we loved walking around the swap meet. We had a huge list of souvenirs we needed to get for everyone and we all enjoyed doing that. Monday Abbey had a surf lesson and we drove there. Maybe 15-20 minutes. That is probably the only thing that wasn't awesome. We used Girls Who Surf (and Abbey does surf a little here in Florida) It isn't them I wouldn't recommend, it was more of their location. There were other surf groups on both sides of us but our actual class was wayyyyyyyyy far out and in front of these rocks. It really scared Abbey being out so far. She is glad she did it but would not do it again with that company if that is their location. (and I forgot to write down the other ones next to us). So if I had to have one negative thing to say about 11 days, I guess that would be it. Not exactly a bad experience but just not awesome. On Tuesday we stopped at the Dole Plantation for a dole whip and a quick look around. Drove to Waimea falls and did the hike to the waterfall and then stopped at the beach with all the sea turtles. There was at least 20 of them. They were everywhere. Had shaved ice on the way back home. Spent 10 hours and loved everything we saw. Spent the remainder of our trip at Aulani. We had hoped to go over to the south eastern side but my husband did not feel well so Abbey & I had a girls day at the resort and back to Monkeypods for dinner.
We walked over to Paradise Cove lagoon 2 different days. The first day we saw the most friendly sea turtle. He came right over to us and I was kneeling in the water and it was soon in my lap. A very awesome experience and then we went back the next week and the turtle was still over there but also a monk seal. It was just sunning on the beach for a few hours and then headed back out in the ocean. Abbey loved that. They had a person kind of protecting it and she gave Abbey a book about Hawaiian monk seal and was really friendly. She said she loved seeing kids her age so interested in the wild life. (Abbey really liked the seal) We also did the luau at Paradise Cove. We loved it and all the preshow activities. Abbey loved making anything with the flowers. Our room was nicely decorated with leis, head pieces, bracelets, etc!!!!! She also got her hair done at the kids spa.
Hope this helps out someone. You can ask me any questions about anything as I asked plenty when planning our trip. I will attempt to post my collage pictures.
My daughter is 12 and so she did go look around Aunties but didn't stay there but for one activity. She said it was awesome and thought it was better than the kids clubs on the Disney cruises. We did a lot of the family activities. She loved the Ohana hula lessons. One night Goofy joined the class and the following week Stitch did. She also loved the Ohana ukulele lessons and the Menehue scavenger hunt. She and my husband paddle boarded a few times but mostly while we were at Aulani, we hung out by the pools/hot tubs/lazy river and slides. We did not experience any problems with the chair issue. We just checked our stuff once an hour. Honestly, everything was absolutely great.
We didn't leave Aulani until Sunday. We had a rental car and so we went to Pearl Harbor and the swap meet. I had bought the tickets ahead of time so that was simple and we loved walking around the swap meet. We had a huge list of souvenirs we needed to get for everyone and we all enjoyed doing that. Monday Abbey had a surf lesson and we drove there. Maybe 15-20 minutes. That is probably the only thing that wasn't awesome. We used Girls Who Surf (and Abbey does surf a little here in Florida) It isn't them I wouldn't recommend, it was more of their location. There were other surf groups on both sides of us but our actual class was wayyyyyyyyy far out and in front of these rocks. It really scared Abbey being out so far. She is glad she did it but would not do it again with that company if that is their location. (and I forgot to write down the other ones next to us). So if I had to have one negative thing to say about 11 days, I guess that would be it. Not exactly a bad experience but just not awesome. On Tuesday we stopped at the Dole Plantation for a dole whip and a quick look around. Drove to Waimea falls and did the hike to the waterfall and then stopped at the beach with all the sea turtles. There was at least 20 of them. They were everywhere. Had shaved ice on the way back home. Spent 10 hours and loved everything we saw. Spent the remainder of our trip at Aulani. We had hoped to go over to the south eastern side but my husband did not feel well so Abbey & I had a girls day at the resort and back to Monkeypods for dinner.
We walked over to Paradise Cove lagoon 2 different days. The first day we saw the most friendly sea turtle. He came right over to us and I was kneeling in the water and it was soon in my lap. A very awesome experience and then we went back the next week and the turtle was still over there but also a monk seal. It was just sunning on the beach for a few hours and then headed back out in the ocean. Abbey loved that. They had a person kind of protecting it and she gave Abbey a book about Hawaiian monk seal and was really friendly. She said she loved seeing kids her age so interested in the wild life. (Abbey really liked the seal) We also did the luau at Paradise Cove. We loved it and all the preshow activities. Abbey loved making anything with the flowers. Our room was nicely decorated with leis, head pieces, bracelets, etc!!!!! She also got her hair done at the kids spa.
Hope this helps out someone. You can ask me any questions about anything as I asked plenty when planning our trip. I will attempt to post my collage pictures.
Aulani is truly amazing, isn't it? Worth that looooong flight from Florida! We stay as long as possible in Hawaii when we go every other year (occasionally I get to go more often, like this year! Woohoo!!). After our week at Aulani this last trip, DH and I both are more in love than we already were with Aulani. Though Maui is our favorite island, we feel that Aulani is simply outstanding and we very much enjoy every moment there! Glad to hear you guys are already planning a trip back! YAY!! 
