Except for Pearl Harbor on Friday, we stayed at our resort for most of our time in Oahu. We played a lot at the pool (I sure do love a lazy river!), did a little adventuring at the beach, and John and I each enjoyed an afternoon at the spa. Mostly we just relaxed! A pretty perfect vacation right there!
Thursday (arrival day): we got there around noon after our morning flight from San Francisco. Our room had an amazing view of the pool and ocean. Dinner the first night was early - the only one William (barely) stayed awake for all week - at the character buffet. As with all Disney dinner buffets (maybe all non-brunch buffets?), I wasn't a fan of the food. But we did get to meet Donald, Stitch, Chip and Dale and start filling up the autograph book. William was also thrilled that the server brought him a birthday button and little red velvet celebration cake. The cake wasn't that good but the attention was!
Friday: Before our afternoon trek to Pearl Harbor, William and I hit the beach for a little snorkeling and boogie boarding and sand castle building. That lasted in total an hour before we hit the pool! Poor John didn't even finish his workout before we were done at the beach! Aulani was great because they have boogie boards and sand toys that you can borrow and return. We didn't get many waves, though, since the lagoon that faces the hotels is pretty protected from the open ocean. Great for swimming and hanging out in the water but bad for boogie!
Saturday: After a yummy character brunch where we met Mickey, Minnie and Goofy, William changed from his Mickey shirt to his Stitch shirt to go to Kid's Club to make "Stitch's Space Goo," i.e. green slime. After we picked him up, we hung out by the pool most of the rest of the day. We finally got some shave ice! Shockingly, this was the only one we got for 9 days/8 nights in Hawaii! I guess there were just too many other great treats. We each had our own refillable mug, and William got copious amounts of "mixed drinks" from the refill stations. He made Lemonade, PowerAde and Sprite quite a bit. He's not allowed soda at home, and rarely gets sports drinks, so access to Sprite (and once Root Beer which he thought was gross) plus the other juices was a lot of fun for him. I did coffee in mine each morning! William was also excited to find his buddy, Stitch, in totem form along one of the walking trails.
Since we had a one bedroom unit, William had both the pull out bed under the TV and the couch/chair area in the living room. Plenty of space to spread out his stuff while we had a king size bed (and a second balcony) in the bedroom. This arrangement was great for me to get to sleep in! Though with the time change, I think 7:30 was about as late as any of us ever slept.
Monday: I'm wondering if I didn't take any photos on Sunday? Or maybe just the one of William with his new "alien Stitch" souvenir. . . .That was the day I went to the spa, so that was the entire afternoon. It was amazing! They had an outdoor water circuit (think fancy showers) plus nice indoor relaxation facilitlies. But the real winner was the "Signature lomilomi" massage I scheduled. It was the best massage of my entire life. My only thoughts during the entire thing that weren't "wow, this is the best massage ever!" were, "I need to schedule one of these for John tomorrow!"
Since John had the spa on Monday, William and I had a lot of time to ourselves. We went to the character breakfast again because the ala carte choices at the casual restaurant weren't much less expensive. And he and I do love our brunch buffets! This time it was our favorite Pluto instead of Goofy! What a nice surprise! The server told us later than Pluto is the weekday dog and Goofy is the weekend dog. Our table for two was right next to the koi pond, so we enjoyed watching them swim. And the morning feeding happened while we were there so we saw the fish swim off to the other side where the cast member was standing. When we left it was time for a Stitch meet-and-greet so we joined the line!
Later, when we went back out with our swimming suits on for the pool, there was a Duffy meet-and-greet. He is VERY popular in Hawaii because of his popularity in Asia. I made William stand in a 30 minute line because I've never seen him in Disney World and wanted the picture and autograph. Unfortunately we learned when we got up there that Duffy doesn't sign. I think a look at those paws tells you why. . .. but we did get a picture and then headed to the pool again!
Tuesday: I don't remember much except that after a late night Monday dinner at the nicer restaurant (which William also slept through), we had ice cream for breakfast to clear out the fridge/freezer and headed to the airport for our short flight to the Big Island. While I was at the desk to get some paperwork, William and Stitch enjoyed some cartoons in the lobby. That's one of my favorite Disney hotel perks.
Thursday (arrival day): we got there around noon after our morning flight from San Francisco. Our room had an amazing view of the pool and ocean. Dinner the first night was early - the only one William (barely) stayed awake for all week - at the character buffet. As with all Disney dinner buffets (maybe all non-brunch buffets?), I wasn't a fan of the food. But we did get to meet Donald, Stitch, Chip and Dale and start filling up the autograph book. William was also thrilled that the server brought him a birthday button and little red velvet celebration cake. The cake wasn't that good but the attention was!
Monday: I'm wondering if I didn't take any photos on Sunday? Or maybe just the one of William with his new "alien Stitch" souvenir. . . .That was the day I went to the spa, so that was the entire afternoon. It was amazing! They had an outdoor water circuit (think fancy showers) plus nice indoor relaxation facilitlies. But the real winner was the "Signature lomilomi" massage I scheduled. It was the best massage of my entire life. My only thoughts during the entire thing that weren't "wow, this is the best massage ever!" were, "I need to schedule one of these for John tomorrow!"
Since John had the spa on Monday, William and I had a lot of time to ourselves. We went to the character breakfast again because the ala carte choices at the casual restaurant weren't much less expensive. And he and I do love our brunch buffets! This time it was our favorite Pluto instead of Goofy! What a nice surprise! The server told us later than Pluto is the weekday dog and Goofy is the weekend dog. Our table for two was right next to the koi pond, so we enjoyed watching them swim. And the morning feeding happened while we were there so we saw the fish swim off to the other side where the cast member was standing. When we left it was time for a Stitch meet-and-greet so we joined the line!
I absolutely loved Aulani. It was nice to be there long enough to get some food, drink and snacks at Target (you know. . .cheese, pepperoni, beer and ice cream!) and really relax at the resort without worrying about theme park visits. But since it was a Disney Vacation Club property it "felt" just like our home resort at Animal Kingdom Lodge and was very familiar. A very relaxing stay!
