ihearthawaii
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2016
I love the wagon rental idea! You know much food and drinks we can haul down to the beach with that!?!
Do you remember how much it was to rent?
Trip report Aulani April 11-18 2016!
- Thread starter Iggipolka
- Start date
Do you remember how much it was to rent?
PetePanMan
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2010
great photos, report and resort
Iggipolka
<a href="http://www.wdwinfo.com/dis-sponsor/" targ
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2005
The wagon was only $35 a week, however, all the baby rental companies require a minimum weekly $100 rental. With two kids, this was easy for us to meet with the additional stuff we rented.
Another wagon option is to buy a fold up canvas wagon at Target for about $65. We've done this before and then put it in a black plastic garbage bag for checked luggage.
Iggipolka
<a href="http://www.wdwinfo.com/dis-sponsor/" targ
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2005
Oh My..I can't believe how busy usual life is after vacation. It feels like forever again that we were in Hawaii Heaven.
Saturday April 16, 2016, we were all up by 6:30am and had breakfast of fruit, bacon and fried eggs over rice. So good.
L, our 6 year old, had been wanting to ride in the Jeep with the top off, so my wife went down to the garage and took the top off the Jeep while I got the kids ready. We were out the door, when I realized that my 3 year old, T, didn't have shoes on! Whoops. Back to hunt for shoes.
Shoes in hand (not on feet), we met my wife out front of Aulani and the girls were at first nervous about the top being off the car and then thrilled. My wife really wanted to get more pickled mango, so that was her goal for this trip. I had thought we'd have a short ride and then go back to Aulani for a swim. Well, this turned out to be my grumpy day, because we ended up first at Wheeler Army Airfield where we let the girls out to climb around on some playground equipment, and then over to Schofield Barracks to pick up more wine and vodka. If you've ever been to a military base, you know that they pretty much ALL look the same with the same fast food places, same types of housing, same everything. I wanted to get to the North Shore and find a pretty beach to hang out in. But, my wife wanted to aimlessly drive around Schofield and then the kids got hungry so we ended up stopping at Burger King and even though I was hungry, I refused to eat Burger King in Hawaii. (stupid, I know). I did get to drive the jeep because my wife was eating, so that was fun.
I drove us right on out of the Base and to the North Shore, breathing and reminding myself that we're in Hawaii, just relax, enjoy the view and just remember that family is family, even on vacation. T ate everything and then promptly fell asleep. We drove through Hale'iwa (where I had wanted to eat lunch at a shrimp truck) and amazingly I remembered where the Pickled Mango sellers lived! Woo! V was thrilled to get more mango and bought two pounds of it.
I then drove to Alii Beach Park and T was still sound asleep, so V and L got to walk to the beach, while I sat in the back of the Jeep with the sleeping baby. Sigh. Again, trying to breathe, look at the glimpses of pretty water that I could see and the beautiful green mountains.....I'm in Hawaii.... I had brought snacks of canned lemon pepper tuna fish and crackers, so I had my picnic in the back of the jeep and spiked my sparkling water with a little pineapple vodka and I did feel better after that. I do get cranky when I'm hungry.
T woke up soon after my lunch and she and I walked over to the beach where we met V & L who were ready to head back to the car. Arugh. V then got grumpy at me because I wanted to spend some time at the beach! Ya..it was just one of those days. Well, T was scared by the big waves and they were HUGE! There was a red flag warning and no swimming was allowed due to rip tides and strong currents. L and I were happy playing on the beach and watching the waves. I could have stayed there for hours, but ya...other's were ready to move on. V drove, so I could continue to enjoy my sparking pineapple vodka. We circled back and got some more shave ice from San Lorenzo's, I got pineapple ice with a scoop of vanilla ice cream underneath, topped with fresh coconut shavings. Unbelievably good. T opted for just plain vanilla ice cream and even that was homemade and delicious.
Back in the Jeep. we drove across the Anahulu Stream Bridge and my wife wanted to stop at the Surf N Sea shop, the oldest surf shop in Hale'iwa. T wanted to go inside with her, but L and I are not big shoppers, so we elected to stay in the Jeep. Well, actually, we climbed on top of the Jeep and hung out on the roof! My 6 year old was just astonished at this thrill and we had a great time waving at tourists and just having fun chatting and looking at the ocean waves from the roof of the car.
My mood had improved by then (thankfully) and we were all cheerfully driving back to Aulani when the HUGE rainstorm hit! We just laughed and let the rain in. The kids covered themselves in towels and we just got wet. It only lasted for 10 minutes or so, but it was pretty funny.
It was still cool and a bit rainy when we got back to Aulani. I helped put the top back on the Jeep (easy peasy) and then I took the kids for the promised swim. My wife opted out of the swimming as she just wanted to relax in the room, but I knew the kids would be bummed if they didn't get their daily swim. The water was quite chilly, although the lazy river seemed warmer. The kids were happy though and I just love all the pools at Aulani.
My wife had surprised me with reservations at Ama Ama, for just the two of us (despite my crappy attitude, earlier in the day), so we dropped the kids off at Aunty's around 4:30 so they could have dinner there. This was the first time the kids were not happy about going to Aunty's because they wanted to stay with us. However, I had booked them both for Coconut Comedy, even though T was way too young for it, so that helped. L loves to tell (really bad) jokes, so she brought along her joke book and was fine once we got to Aunty's.
We had about an hour before our reservation, so after getting a drink to go at the pool bar (Blue Hawaiian for me, Something Punch for my wife), we decided to head over to the spa and just see if we could get another massage the next day. Sure enough! We both were able to get massages at 6pm on the 17th. Yeay! I discussed with the spa manager my (somewhat) disappointing previous massage and requested a therapist who was skilled at deep tissue. She told me she knew exactly who to book me with and that I'd be well taken care of. I had no doubt.
Ama Ama really deserves it's own page, but I'm running out of writing time.
Basically, this is a Must Do. I wasn't going to go to Ama Ama this trip due to cost and our spa splurges, but oh wow..so beyond good.
We were seated on the far left side of the restaurant, with just one table between us and the beach. There was an adorable family with a little girl who was about 3-4 years old. They were nearly done with their meal when we got our appetizers and the couple was switching off taking pictures of themselves with their daughter. I offered to take their family picture and they graciously offered to take our picture. Turns out, we live about 30 minutes away from each other in California. Too funny.
On to the food, we started with the Lobster Mac-n-Cheese and the Tuna Poke. The Mac-n-Cheese was rich, creamy and full of lobster. Very tasty. However, the tuna poke was AMAZING. So fresh and delicious, just fantastic. I had a nice glass of white wine as well. We enjoyed just being together, kid free, eating amazing food and drinking crisp delightful wine. We just don't have much time together at home and our lives are busy and stressful, so this reconnecting as a couple, not just as parents, was so important to us. We didn't order our main course until after we had eaten our appetizers, because we really just wanted to relax and take it slow. Our server was totally fine with that and we never felt rushed at all.
After we ordered our main course, Mahi Mahi for me and Red Snapper for my wife, my wife took a little walk. I noticed that the couple in front of us had left and no one was at their table yet. We were seated at a 4 top and the tables by the edge of the beach were 2 tops. I asked our server if we could move to the 2 top by the beach and we sure could as it was still her section. Yeay! So, when my wife came back, she was pleasantly surprised to find that we had a perfect sunset viewing table. Our server was also happy, because she got four people sat at the table where we originally were.
My Mahi Mahi was fantastic, perfectly cooked and seasoned. I ate the entire entree, which I rarely do, but it was just sooo good. My wife's red snapper was poached in a banana leaf, which was unwrapped table side and then a light coconut sauce poured over it. OMG..beyond good. We shared our meals and talked and drank more wine and watched the amazingly beautiful sunset.
For dessert, my wife got a caramel, coconut custard cake with cinnamon ice cream and I got molten chocolate cake with raspberries and vanilla ice cream. Can't go wrong with molten chocolate cake! Our server also surprised us with a Happy Birthday cake for my wife which was a mocha cake with a thick layer of chocolate mousse frosting. Her birthday isn't until June, but ok, why not! More chocolate! I think our server just liked us. We had also ordered a glass of Ice Wine to share, but neither of us like it. It was like drinking thick sugar water. Ugh. Thankfully, our server took it away and didn't charge us for it. We should have gotten a port to go with the chocolate. Next time.
We rolled out of Ama Ama and still had about an hour to go until the 8:30pm pick up time for the kids. Uncle was just starting his story by the fire pit, so we enjoyed listening to his story and songs and then took a slow walk on the beach, enjoying the quiet and the lapping of the waves on our toes.
We picked up the kids right at 8:30 and L absolutely LOVED Coconut Comedy and attempted to tell us all of the jokes that she heard. Both kids insisted that they were "not tired" and then T fell asleep in my arms in the elevator and L fell asleep while getting undressed and I had to wake her up to just get her shoes off. Awww...poor kiddos. I laid down with L for a moment to help her get re-settled and woke up at 7am the next day! Whoops. My wife told me the next morning, that she was waiting for me to come to bed and then realized that I already was asleep in the girl's room. Heh. L was surprised and pleased to have an unexpected slumber party with me.
So, what started out as a cranky vacation day, ended with fun and relaxation.
Going to try and upload some photos from today and also:
Next: Sunday April 17th, Our Last Aulani Day and our Cabana / Second Spa experience!
Saturday April 16, 2016, we were all up by 6:30am and had breakfast of fruit, bacon and fried eggs over rice. So good.
L, our 6 year old, had been wanting to ride in the Jeep with the top off, so my wife went down to the garage and took the top off the Jeep while I got the kids ready. We were out the door, when I realized that my 3 year old, T, didn't have shoes on! Whoops. Back to hunt for shoes.
Shoes in hand (not on feet), we met my wife out front of Aulani and the girls were at first nervous about the top being off the car and then thrilled. My wife really wanted to get more pickled mango, so that was her goal for this trip. I had thought we'd have a short ride and then go back to Aulani for a swim. Well, this turned out to be my grumpy day, because we ended up first at Wheeler Army Airfield where we let the girls out to climb around on some playground equipment, and then over to Schofield Barracks to pick up more wine and vodka. If you've ever been to a military base, you know that they pretty much ALL look the same with the same fast food places, same types of housing, same everything. I wanted to get to the North Shore and find a pretty beach to hang out in. But, my wife wanted to aimlessly drive around Schofield and then the kids got hungry so we ended up stopping at Burger King and even though I was hungry, I refused to eat Burger King in Hawaii. (stupid, I know). I did get to drive the jeep because my wife was eating, so that was fun.
I drove us right on out of the Base and to the North Shore, breathing and reminding myself that we're in Hawaii, just relax, enjoy the view and just remember that family is family, even on vacation. T ate everything and then promptly fell asleep. We drove through Hale'iwa (where I had wanted to eat lunch at a shrimp truck) and amazingly I remembered where the Pickled Mango sellers lived! Woo! V was thrilled to get more mango and bought two pounds of it.
I then drove to Alii Beach Park and T was still sound asleep, so V and L got to walk to the beach, while I sat in the back of the Jeep with the sleeping baby. Sigh. Again, trying to breathe, look at the glimpses of pretty water that I could see and the beautiful green mountains.....I'm in Hawaii.... I had brought snacks of canned lemon pepper tuna fish and crackers, so I had my picnic in the back of the jeep and spiked my sparkling water with a little pineapple vodka and I did feel better after that. I do get cranky when I'm hungry.
T woke up soon after my lunch and she and I walked over to the beach where we met V & L who were ready to head back to the car. Arugh. V then got grumpy at me because I wanted to spend some time at the beach! Ya..it was just one of those days. Well, T was scared by the big waves and they were HUGE! There was a red flag warning and no swimming was allowed due to rip tides and strong currents. L and I were happy playing on the beach and watching the waves. I could have stayed there for hours, but ya...other's were ready to move on. V drove, so I could continue to enjoy my sparking pineapple vodka. We circled back and got some more shave ice from San Lorenzo's, I got pineapple ice with a scoop of vanilla ice cream underneath, topped with fresh coconut shavings. Unbelievably good. T opted for just plain vanilla ice cream and even that was homemade and delicious.
Back in the Jeep. we drove across the Anahulu Stream Bridge and my wife wanted to stop at the Surf N Sea shop, the oldest surf shop in Hale'iwa. T wanted to go inside with her, but L and I are not big shoppers, so we elected to stay in the Jeep. Well, actually, we climbed on top of the Jeep and hung out on the roof! My 6 year old was just astonished at this thrill and we had a great time waving at tourists and just having fun chatting and looking at the ocean waves from the roof of the car.
My mood had improved by then (thankfully) and we were all cheerfully driving back to Aulani when the HUGE rainstorm hit! We just laughed and let the rain in. The kids covered themselves in towels and we just got wet. It only lasted for 10 minutes or so, but it was pretty funny.
It was still cool and a bit rainy when we got back to Aulani. I helped put the top back on the Jeep (easy peasy) and then I took the kids for the promised swim. My wife opted out of the swimming as she just wanted to relax in the room, but I knew the kids would be bummed if they didn't get their daily swim. The water was quite chilly, although the lazy river seemed warmer. The kids were happy though and I just love all the pools at Aulani.
My wife had surprised me with reservations at Ama Ama, for just the two of us (despite my crappy attitude, earlier in the day), so we dropped the kids off at Aunty's around 4:30 so they could have dinner there. This was the first time the kids were not happy about going to Aunty's because they wanted to stay with us. However, I had booked them both for Coconut Comedy, even though T was way too young for it, so that helped. L loves to tell (really bad) jokes, so she brought along her joke book and was fine once we got to Aunty's.
We had about an hour before our reservation, so after getting a drink to go at the pool bar (Blue Hawaiian for me, Something Punch for my wife), we decided to head over to the spa and just see if we could get another massage the next day. Sure enough! We both were able to get massages at 6pm on the 17th. Yeay! I discussed with the spa manager my (somewhat) disappointing previous massage and requested a therapist who was skilled at deep tissue. She told me she knew exactly who to book me with and that I'd be well taken care of. I had no doubt.
Ama Ama really deserves it's own page, but I'm running out of writing time.
Basically, this is a Must Do. I wasn't going to go to Ama Ama this trip due to cost and our spa splurges, but oh wow..so beyond good.
We were seated on the far left side of the restaurant, with just one table between us and the beach. There was an adorable family with a little girl who was about 3-4 years old. They were nearly done with their meal when we got our appetizers and the couple was switching off taking pictures of themselves with their daughter. I offered to take their family picture and they graciously offered to take our picture. Turns out, we live about 30 minutes away from each other in California. Too funny.
On to the food, we started with the Lobster Mac-n-Cheese and the Tuna Poke. The Mac-n-Cheese was rich, creamy and full of lobster. Very tasty. However, the tuna poke was AMAZING. So fresh and delicious, just fantastic. I had a nice glass of white wine as well. We enjoyed just being together, kid free, eating amazing food and drinking crisp delightful wine. We just don't have much time together at home and our lives are busy and stressful, so this reconnecting as a couple, not just as parents, was so important to us. We didn't order our main course until after we had eaten our appetizers, because we really just wanted to relax and take it slow. Our server was totally fine with that and we never felt rushed at all.
After we ordered our main course, Mahi Mahi for me and Red Snapper for my wife, my wife took a little walk. I noticed that the couple in front of us had left and no one was at their table yet. We were seated at a 4 top and the tables by the edge of the beach were 2 tops. I asked our server if we could move to the 2 top by the beach and we sure could as it was still her section. Yeay! So, when my wife came back, she was pleasantly surprised to find that we had a perfect sunset viewing table. Our server was also happy, because she got four people sat at the table where we originally were.
My Mahi Mahi was fantastic, perfectly cooked and seasoned. I ate the entire entree, which I rarely do, but it was just sooo good. My wife's red snapper was poached in a banana leaf, which was unwrapped table side and then a light coconut sauce poured over it. OMG..beyond good. We shared our meals and talked and drank more wine and watched the amazingly beautiful sunset.
For dessert, my wife got a caramel, coconut custard cake with cinnamon ice cream and I got molten chocolate cake with raspberries and vanilla ice cream. Can't go wrong with molten chocolate cake! Our server also surprised us with a Happy Birthday cake for my wife which was a mocha cake with a thick layer of chocolate mousse frosting. Her birthday isn't until June, but ok, why not! More chocolate! I think our server just liked us. We had also ordered a glass of Ice Wine to share, but neither of us like it. It was like drinking thick sugar water. Ugh. Thankfully, our server took it away and didn't charge us for it. We should have gotten a port to go with the chocolate. Next time.
We rolled out of Ama Ama and still had about an hour to go until the 8:30pm pick up time for the kids. Uncle was just starting his story by the fire pit, so we enjoyed listening to his story and songs and then took a slow walk on the beach, enjoying the quiet and the lapping of the waves on our toes.
We picked up the kids right at 8:30 and L absolutely LOVED Coconut Comedy and attempted to tell us all of the jokes that she heard. Both kids insisted that they were "not tired" and then T fell asleep in my arms in the elevator and L fell asleep while getting undressed and I had to wake her up to just get her shoes off. Awww...poor kiddos. I laid down with L for a moment to help her get re-settled and woke up at 7am the next day! Whoops. My wife told me the next morning, that she was waiting for me to come to bed and then realized that I already was asleep in the girl's room. Heh. L was surprised and pleased to have an unexpected slumber party with me.
So, what started out as a cranky vacation day, ended with fun and relaxation.
Going to try and upload some photos from today and also:
Next: Sunday April 17th, Our Last Aulani Day and our Cabana / Second Spa experience!
Iggipolka
<a href="http://www.wdwinfo.com/dis-sponsor/" targ
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2005
L enjoying the ride in the Jeep with the top off.
Thelma, feeling the wind in her hair.
V, Driving the Jeep. SKY!
Playground at Wheeler.
Jeep sleep..taken through the open roof. Pardon the kid mess in the back seat.
My picnic lunch view of the beach from the Jeep.
Alii Beach Park
L found a huge palm frond that she wanted to bring back to Aulani. We discouraged that.
Sitting on TOP of the Jeep.
They are so cute together. Once T saw L on the roof of the Jeep, she had to try it too.
Thelma, feeling the wind in her hair.
V, Driving the Jeep. SKY!
Playground at Wheeler.
Jeep sleep..taken through the open roof. Pardon the kid mess in the back seat.
My picnic lunch view of the beach from the Jeep.
Alii Beach Park
L found a huge palm frond that she wanted to bring back to Aulani. We discouraged that.
Sitting on TOP of the Jeep.
They are so cute together. Once T saw L on the roof of the Jeep, she had to try it too.
Iggipolka
<a href="http://www.wdwinfo.com/dis-sponsor/" targ
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2005
More Pictures
Raining in the Jeep!
Blue Hawaiian by the Pool
Entrance to Ama Ama with the magic floating ball
Lobster Mac-n-Cheese
Tuna Poke with wasabi avocado sauce. Yum.
Mahi Mahi with sauteed spinach, mushrooms and something else really yummy.
Red snapper poached in a banana leaf
Sunset from Ama Ama
More Sunset from Ama Ama
Raining in the Jeep!
Blue Hawaiian by the Pool
Entrance to Ama Ama with the magic floating ball
Lobster Mac-n-Cheese
Tuna Poke with wasabi avocado sauce. Yum.
Mahi Mahi with sauteed spinach, mushrooms and something else really yummy.
Red snapper poached in a banana leaf
Sunset from Ama Ama
More Sunset from Ama Ama
Attachments
crystal1313
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2012
Ok, I am really excited to try Ama Ama now! The mac n cheese looks amazing! Loving all the photos.
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