Just Maui'd -- Maui/Aulani Trip Report

[Vernie822]

Hi everyone! I'll keep this brief as my husband and I just got married, honeymooned, and moved to a new state, all within a month!

I already posted a small write-up of what we thought of Aulani, but I wanted to share some more of our thoughts including pictures. I know we learned a lot by reading trip reports here, so I hope you all can find this helpful as well.

I'm Ashley, and my husband is Justin. Here we are at Aulani:

Pre-Trip Planning:
Pre-honeymoon we had some other major life events.. our wedding! So as much as I would have liked to focus more on planning our Hawaii trip, I really couldn't. We did what we could but a lot of our time was devoted to wedding planning, however I think we did just the right amount of planning.

Here's how our itinerary shook out:
Sat 9/3: Eat, drink, be married!
Sun 9/4: Fly from PIT to LAX, spend the night at a local hotel.
Mon 9/5: Fly from LAX to OGG (Maui)
Tues and Weds: Full days in Maui
Thurs 9/8: Fly from OGG to HNL
Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues: Full days at Aulani
Weds 9/14: Fly from HNL to LAX; Get to Disneyland and have dinner @ Napa Rose chefs table.
Thurs 9/15: Disneyland
Fri 9/16: DCA
Sat 9/17: Fly from LAX to PIT.

It was definitely a jam-packed trip, but we got enough relaxing in as well. We ended up spending a lot more time at Aulani than we thought we would, but we didn't want to leave.

We originally planned on flying to LAX Sunday, and then spending Mon/Tues/Weds at Disneyland. That got us to Aulani on Thursday-Wednesday as planned, but then gave us less time in Maui than we had hoped. So we reversed it and it worked out really nicely.



Flights
We ended up booking two separate one-way flights. It worked out this way because we had enough Southwest points to cover our trip to LAX (and we were stopping in Disneyland). Also, my brother nicely gifted us a $500 United voucher he received when his flight to Germany got cancelled last summer.

We also purchased inner-island flights on Hawaiian Airlines from OGG to HNL. These were about $70 per person. I used cash back on my Discover credit card for these.

So I believe we ended up paying $1,100 for 2 RT flights, including our inner-island flights and trip insurance. Pretty good if you ask me!


PIT to LAX
Pittsburgh to LAX was uneventful. We had a layover in Phoenix with just enough time to use the bathroom and get ready to board. We did purchase Early Bird with Southwest for our flights which we don't usually do, but we were glad we did since both of our Southwest flights were pretty full.

We spent the night at the Renaissance LAX. We got a pretty good deal through Orbitz. Most of the hotels in the area had a shuttle, so it was really easy to hop on and get to the hotel. In the morning they took us to the airport for our next flight.

We had dinner at an In-n-Out burger within walking distance to the hotel. I had to try it once while in California, and it did not disappoint!

 

[Vernie822]

MAUI

I'm sure everyone here is more concerned with Aulani TR's, but I think adding Maui to our trip was a great idea. We really enjoyed the relaxed-ness of the island and my husband said while he liked the resort at Aulani better, he liked the island itself more here.

The flight from LA to Maui took about 5 hours, which wasn't a bad length at all. I think our flight took off around 8 AM west coast time, and landed around 11:30 (we landed early) Maui time. Hawaii is 3 hours behind LAX.

We rented a car through Discount Hawaii Car Rental dot com, which ended up being a great move. I checked Alamo, Southwest, etc. all leading up to the trip and ended up with a 3 day rental for $100. We rented through Budget. Almost all of the rental car places (maybe even all) at the Maui airport required you to get on a shuttle to get to the actual car pick-up area.

With our luck, we rented a Compact or Larger and were given a large, plush, luxurious...

​

Chrysler Town N Country Minivan, baby! What better way to kick off your honeymoon! My husband wasn't thrilled and the Budget guy didn't laugh and told me I should be so lucky to get a minivan, which is a $60/day vehicle... ha

[/URL][/IMG]!)​

We did stop at Target on the way to the resort for some essentials: beer, wine, and breakfast goodies. I think we also got a case of Diet Coke and water. We were thankful that we did this - it was important to stay hydrated since it was SO HOT, and I refuse to pay $15 for a drink more than maybe once at the pool!

Maui overall seemed a little less commercialized than Oahu. This was possibly as "major highway" as it got. Beautiful scenery everywhere.

We stayed at the Grand Wailea which was a very nice resort. Although, it was pretty different from Aulani. They did have some kids stuff to do, but not a whole lot. Crafts, but they weren't cheap. A lazy river (kinda, no tubes), a small waterslide, a really neat water elevator, and a kids-only area that was zero-entry like a beach. I think it even had a sand bottom.

They did have an adults only pool area, which looked really nice! We mostly stayed near the main pool area because it was close to the ocean and we switched between laying by the pool and going in the water.

On our way to the resort, we ate at Jawz Tacos. It was in Kihei, on the way to Maui. We found that Kihei was great for a less expensive meal. My husband had the California Burrito - steak, french fries, BBQ sauce, cheese and sour cream. I had fish tacos (mahi mahi). The owner and the staff were great and I think that our two meals, with one drink, came to around $20. They also brought chips to our table. Highly recommend it!

We spent a lot of time at the pool that day. I think we each had a mixed drink ($15, our first and last). Wailea had great swimming conditions while we were there. We liked the waves (Aulani's are smaller due to the lagoon), I could've spent all day in the ocean.

Our first night, we had dinner at Humuhumunukunukuapua'a, which is one of the signature restaurants at the Grand Wailea. It was good, but not as good as anything on a similar level that we ate at other restaurants.

My husband had filet and I had a catch of the day which was Monchong. It came with a truffle cream sauce and a pineapple rice. It was delicious! The fish was a thick white fish, I think they pan seared it so the outside was nice and crispy. We had a spicy beef appetizer to share.

The resort was beautiful.

The next day we had intended to drive up the Haleakala Crater to the summit. We originally planned to do a tour, but after some advice from a coworker who had gone a few months prior, we decided to drive. My husband decided the night before he wasn't so sure about it, so we took a day to think it over.

We drove to Ka'anapali that day to check out the Black Rock Beach. We also had lunch at Duke's.

People were jumping from the rocks into the water. We were not so brave.

Duke's was decent, but not my favorite meal. We also stopped by Whaler's Village in Lahaina to shop around. They had a great mix of stores, it was under construction so we didn't see everything, but it's worth a stop if you're in the area. Lots of restaurants nearby, too.

That night, we decided to walk to the Shops at Wailea from our resort. It was probably a 5 minute walk, all on a sidewalk, so it was pretty easy.

We had ice cream for dinner from Lampert's and stopped at the Honolulu Cookie Company for some cookies.. Oh my gosh, they were so good! I wish I would have picked up some more to bring home but I didn't want them to melt along the way.

Coconut caramel macadamia ice cream.. a delicious dinner if you ask me!

The next morning we were feeling brave enough to drive up (and back down) the Haleakala Crater. I kept reassuring my husband that people drove up and down it every day and didn't fall over the edge of the cliff, but he wasn't so sure. He's the most cautious person I know, in a good way.

We got up at I think 2 AM and left around 3. It is a LONG and winding ride. Definitely dress warm. We brought as much warm (and bulky) clothing as possible. I think I had on jeans, tennis shoes, a long sleeve pullover (think thin running material), a hoodie, and a windbreaker. I also wore a hat and had two hoods up. Justin had a hoodie and jeans on. We were both pretty cold, but not freezing. People had blankets with them, I thought that was a really good idea.

The drive isn't awful, but I also wasn't driving. It's long and windy. I get motion sick very easily, but this didn't bother me. There are few guardrails and it is very dark on the way up. It took us probably close to 2 hours to get all the way to the top.

There are tours you can take, which we almost did, but they're about $100/person. I think they pick up even earlier than 2 and get you back around noon. When you get towards the top, it's $20 (credit card only) per car to get in. There is the summit at the very top, and a visitors center shortly before the top. The tour buses could not get all the way to the top so they stopped at the visitors center.


Sunrise was shortly after 6, if I recall, and I think we got there around 5:15. It was a cold wait. We were probably among the first 20 people there, so we had a lot of time to chill. We were in the very front along the balcony type area to take pictures. Of course people that got there 10 minutes before the sunrise wedged their way in front of me. But hey, the sun is so huge, so it didn't matter!

You are 10,000 feet up, above the clouds. Really an amazing thing to see!

You are VERY high up!

Before sunrise

More Maui later! Including a great local breakfast spot and some $6 Mai Tais.​

 

[alohamom]

Awesome so far Vernie! Wow, the water at Ka'anapali looks like it was really calm when you were there. Thanks for the shots of the Honolulu Cookie Company store, I am now drooling. We LOVE them soooo much, we buy about $50 bucks worth to bring back every time we go. We are down to 3 from our August trip...

 

[Vernie822]

MAUI Cont'd

After a great (and tiring) time at Haleakala, we decided to stop for breakfast on our way back to Wailea. In my little bit of research, I'd done some digging on Yelp and Trip Advisor and wrote down some restaurants I thought we would like.

Driving down the crater! Oy vey.

One of those was Kihei Caffe, a really cute spot about a block from the beach. Justin had the pork fried rice (a house favorite) and I had banana mac french toast made with Hawaiian sweet bread. We did bagels in our room for most of the trip, so this was a treat.

Justin definitely picked a winner, but my french toast (with coconut syrup) was right up my alley.

We spent the rest of the day (our last full day in Maui) at the pool. We hit up a local pizza place called Manoli's right on the golf course in Wailea for happy hour. We easily walked maybe 7-8 minutes from the Grand Wailea. They had a great happy hour menu from 3-6, and then I think it started up again from 9-12.

I think getting to happy hour at least once was a good idea on our part. Drinks are cheap and we loved the food, too! You do save a little by doing it this way.

We liked the food and the service so much, we came back here for pizza on our last day.

Our last day was pretty uneventful. We spent almost the entire morning/afternoon in the pool. We were flying to Oahu that night at 7 PM.

We ended up swimming, then showering and getting ready mid-afternoon. The Grand Wailea held our bags then gave us a temporary room to change and shower in before we left, which was great. We stopped at Manoli's for pizza and Thursday Night Football that afternoon before we headed to the airport. Their pizza was great, we had half pepperoni, and half shrimp pesto (my pick, and it was great).

We had some time to kill at the airport. We were finished returning our rental car and got through security really quickly. There are SO MANY inner-island flights and we were so anxious to get to Aulani!

We flew via Hawaiian Airlines, the crew was really friendly and they served POG juice on the flight. The total flight time was probably a half an hour, it was really quick and easy.

Next up.. getting to Aulani!


​

 

[Vernie822]

AULANI - Day 1

Now for the BEST part of the trip... Aulani!

We loved Maui, we really did. But once I spent a few hours in the sun at Aulani, I was in love.

When we first got to Oahu, we stopped at the Target in Kapolei. It was pretty close to Aulani, just one exit down on the highway. Definitely worth a stop for some essentials. We got bagels for breakfast, ham, cheese and buns for lunch, coffee creamer, chips and dip, pineapple (so fresh, yum), Diet Coke, water, margarita mix, vodka, wine, and some random things. About $100 later, we were set!

We got to Aulani pretty late. Our flight landed at 8 and it was close to 10 by the time we got to the resort. It was so dark, so we didn't see much that evening aside from the lobby and our room.

We rented a studio ocean view using our points. It was 150 points for 6 nights in September.

This was the main area in our room. It definitely reminded me of the rooms at Animal Kingdom lodge!

After a good night's sleep, I was up SO EARLY. I didn't mention this prior, but we had a pretty hard time adjusting to the time change in Aulani. After our wedding, we were so exhausted that adjusting to California time wasn't too bad. We had to be up early for our flight and we were so exhausted that we just went to bed early and woke up just fine.

The first 2 nights in Hawaii, we were in bed by 8 pm and up by 5:30 AM. Finally, when we did the Haleakala Crater, we had to be up so early that by the time we got up the next morning, we had slept in a bit and our bodies had adjusted.

I still was getting up early at this point, so I was up around sunrise and had some coffee on the balcony!

Our room was in the Ewa tower, which is to the left if you're looking towards the ocean.

To the left of Aulani is the empty lot where rumor has it they're building an Atlantis, and to the right is the new Four Seasons. We were kind of in an off-shoot of the tower, so beneath us was the lawn, and to the right was the main tower.

I swear I saw *something* swimming in the water. This is really zoomed in, may have been a whale. Or it may have been nothing.

Since we were up so early, we took a walk down to the beach and around the resort.

We walked all the way to the left of the resort along the path. We saw a ton of people running, walking, and working out along the way. Here's a view looking towards the resort.

Our room was in the wing sticking out on the right side of the resort. Right beneath that to the right is a turquoise and white wedding chapel. We saw A TON of weddings. At least a few each day! We asked a Photopass CM and she told us that there are weddings there all the time. It's the Ko'Olina wedding chapel, not Disney's.

We saw these posted near the pool:

We didn't see many people putting towels down on chairs. That didn't mean that it wouldn't be crazy later in the day, though!

We decided to check out Ulu Cafe for breakfast.

I had to try the Malasadas - they were really good! My husband had a breakfast burrito with eggs, salsa, cheese and guacamole. We decided against refillable mugs for this trip since we had a coffee maker and water in the room.

A little while later, it was time to hit the beach!

As you can see there are rock formations within the water. This helped to calm the ocean a bit. In Maui, there was nothing like this, so there were a lot more waves for body surfing, boogeyboarding, and swimming. We ended up really liking that we got to experience both, because this water made me feel a lot better when snorkeling!

I really hate when I can't see the bottom of water (terrified I'll step on something sharp), so I loved the water here. It was extra calm. I love swimming and Justin was excited to see some sea life. We ended up renting the snorkeling gear from the surf shop by the beach. It was $39/person for the entire stay, and they took a DVC discount which knocked off 10%.

We snorkeled a lot that morning! We just did lunch in our room, since we had dinner plans at Ama Ama that night.

On our way back to the room later that day, we decided to check out the lawn and grill area (which were visible when we looked down off of our balcony).

The grills were available something like 4-8 pm each day. There were also some picnic tables nearby. It seemed like a lot of families had been using them. When we walked down to go to dinner later that night, it was covered in people's trash, food wrappers and containers, etc, which was unfortunate. We intended on getting some fresh meat or fish to grill, but never got around to it.

This was the movie area on the lawn. They showed two movies while we were there, Inside Out and Princess and the Frog.

This was looking up at the Ewa Tower, where we were staying, from the lawn:

That night, we had dinner at Ama Ama.

It's to the left of the pool area, by Aunty's Beach House. We tried to time our reservation so that we'd be there for sunset, and it worked out great. I believe our reservation was for 6 or 6:30 PM. We were a few minutes early which was not a problem.

This was the view from our table.

We did the Ama Ama meal for two, which included a sampling of 4 appetizers, a chateaubraind for two with a bernaise and a red wine sauce, veggies and potatoes, and dessert. It was an incredible meal and we really enjoyed it!

This was cooked so perfectly! The bernaise sauce was so good.

Sunset view from our table.

The two desserts that were included are the ones on top below, a lemon grass creme catalana (similar to creme brulee), and a mocha lace chantilly cake. The bottom two (I think gelato and a chocolate sphere) were given to us for our honeymoon.

Overall, this was an amazing meal and we were so glad we chose the meal for two! We were both wanting steak, although I also thought the lobster mac and cheese sounded great, which ended up being one of our appetizers. We were full without being stuffed, and we headed back to the room for a drink on the patio.

We were able to watch some of Inside Out, though it was hard to see through the rails on the 15th floor!

​

 

[Vernie822]

Awesome so far Vernie! Wow, the water at Ka'anapali looks like it was really calm when you were there. Thanks for the shots of the Honolulu Cookie Company store, I am now drooling. We LOVE them soooo much, we buy about $50 bucks worth to bring back every time we go. We are down to 3 from our August trip...

Thanks! Yes the water was pretty calm. It ended up being enough to swim and enjoy ourselves in the water without being too rough! I seriously loved the Honolulu Cookie Company and now feel compelled to order some for Christmas gifts, haha! I wish we would have had more while we were there. We did just get a sampling for ourselves to share and loved trying all of the different kinds.

 

[Vernie822]

AULANI - Day 2

The second day brought an early morning for something we had both really been looking forward to: Pearl Harbor! I followed DIS instructions and got online 60 days beforehand to order tickets. We really weren't sure what tour would be right for us. The free tour ended up being perfect for us. There is a ton to see and do there aside from just the tour.

My husband was super excited.

Our tour was for 8:00 AM. I think we got there around 7:10. I think we had left Aulani at maybe 6:30? My memory is a little foggy on that one. But our tour was for 8 and when we picked up our tickets, they offered us the 7:30 tour. We only had about 15 minutes to look around beforehand, but we figured we were already there so why not.

The above photo is in one of the areas where you could look around before or after your tour.

Everyone lined up before the tour to board a little ferry. We took the small ferry over to the memorial.

The USS Arizona Memorial itself was really, really cool. We had a guide named Chris who was awesome and was a veteran volunteer. He was so knowledgeable and answered as many questions as he could. We did not have a ton of time in the actual memorial itself.

This is looking down into the water from the memorial. You could see the oil rising from the water. Chris told us that oil still continues to rise, I think at a few drops per minute.

He also explained to us how important it was to be respectful. A lot of men were entombed inside the ship, and others who have passed since WWII have chosen to be buried with their brothers - I found that part to be really touching. It was a moving experience, for sure.

Of course there were a few disrespectful folks in the bunch, talking, laughing, etc. during the guide's explanations. Someone even had the nerve to jump in right between Chris and a woman next to us, stick a selfie stick out (OVER OPEN WATER), and take pictures. Then walk away. All while Chris was telling us that this was a grave site and to be respectful.

Fun fact, my dad's father (my grandfather) had only one sibling, a brother. As a young man, my great uncle served as a pilot in WWII. Unfortunately he was killed (not in Pearl Harbor). His name was Thomas Karl, and that is who my dad, and now my brother, are named after. My sister is in the Air Force ROTC at Penn State, and is studying to hopefully become a pilot in the Air Force. So a lot of this was really interesting to learn about, especially how the naval airplanes could land ON a ship. Whoa.

After our tour, we continued to browse all of the exhibits. There was so much to see there.

We also saw a Pearl Harbor survivor whose name is Herb Weatherwax. He was so sweet. He said he has lived in Hawaii his entire life!

After that, we went to the Swap Meet at Aloha Stadium. It was $1/person to get in. It was fun, but we didn't end up buying anything other than food!

Aloha Bakehouse had delicious breads for $5! Justin went with the Meatlovers Special, it was so delicious. Kind of like a pepperoni and cheese bread with a couple other types of meat mixed in, and the bread was a touch sweet.

There were a lot of food vendors, craft vendors, and clothing vendors. We stopped at one shop that had a bunch of nuts, fruits, etc. for sale. Justin chose the honey roasted macadamia nuts, and I chose garlic and onion ones. The garlic and onion were my favorite. They were so delicious. Justin really liked the honey roasted.

Overall, a fun little thing to do, but we didn't find anything amazing we'd want to buy!

We spent the rest of the day swimming, snorkeling, and laying poolside.

Justin's dream came true when he found the chili cheese fries at Mama's Snack Stop. They were a very reasonably priced snack, at around $8.50.

And then we saw Pluto on the way back! It was a common thing for us, we'd see characters everywhere. It was pretty fun and definitely added to the resort.

Earlier in the day, we had stopped at the plaza across the street from Aulani. I think we came back with Bandaids (I had a hurt toe) and some POG juice.

It was then that we crafted our own cocktail, POGka!! It was soo good.. just some vodka in POG juice, but we loved it.

While we got ready for dinner that night, I watched a beautiful wedding from our balcony. The same lawn where the movie was playing the night before was also used for weddings and character meets.

That night we decided to head over to Monkeypod in the plaza across the street. We'd considered driving towards Kapolei for dinner, but instead just agreed we'd stay local since we'd already been out that morning.

The plaza across the street is definitely walkable, but there is a shuttle that runs to and from places in Ko'Olina. We saw plenty of families with little ones in strollers walking to and from!

Monkeypod was PACKED. It was after happy hour time (we should have planned better) but we didn't think to make an Open Table reservation. The hostess said it would be at least 45 mins to an hour, but we could also sit at the bar for full service. So we chose to sit at the bar. If you have a larger party, definitely consider making a reservation. We used OpenTable multiple times on the trip, and it was easy to log on that same day to make reservations.

They had a ton of great beers to choose from, but I went with the ACE Hard Pineapple Cider. Justin had a pulled pork sandwich and I had the fish and chips for dinner. We also shared a basket of the garlic parmesan truffle fries.

Missing a pic of the fish and chips - whoops!

Overall, Monkeypod was good, not great. It was slightly expensive, at around $65 (pre-tip) for the meal, which consisted of 2 entrees, an appetizer, and a drink. Justin's sandwich was $17 and didn't come with fries. I think mine was $22 and did come with fries, and plenty of fish. I took half of it home. I think there were 3 planks of fish total. I think the price was okay, but I also think I've eaten way better food for way less!

And that ends our second day at Aulani.​

 

[Vernie822]

AULANI - Day 3

Our third day at Aulani was so much fun, and one of my favorites!

A day or two before, we had TRIED to walk on the beach towards Paradise Cove. If you are standing at Aulani looking towards the right, you will see the Four Seasons. Paradise Cove is just after that. However, the public path at the Four Seasons kind of ends, and it's really really rocky. We tried to go that way and got maybe halfway, but it was so rocky and we decided not to go any farther and just walk.

The walk on the sidewalk was sooooo much easier. We left Aulani, made a left, walked towards the Four Seasons, and then walked towards Paradise Cove. There was a big opening in the fence with a path towards the water. I cannot stress enough how much easier this was!

We had taken our snorkel gear from Aulani, and we were out to see some sea turtles!

So where Aulani has a net between the rock formations to keep larger animals out, Paradise Cove does not. We were a little nervous about that but we could see really well in the water. The more I snorkeled, the more comfortable I got. We ended up going pretty far out, close to the rock formations.

This is Paradise Cove looking to the left. You can see the rock formations - this is what separated Paradise Cove and the Four Seasons! It was pretty treacherous but do-able if you had proper shoes on (not flip flops like us).

We saw so many fish! Many more than we saw at Aulani. They were so vibrant and colorful. We also saw some sea turtles. They came very close to us. We saw a sign that said it is important not to touch them, so we didn't get closer than a few feet away from them. It was such a neat experience and I highly recommend it to anyone. Even if you're not into snorkeling, they still come pretty close to you. There were a few families with young kids and the young kids were able to see the sea turtles, too! We talked to a family who said they came often (they were locals) and they had seen monk seals there before.

No seals for us! We were there for probably an hour and a half before a tour bus came with a TON of people and it got really crowded. We ended up back at the resort for lunch.

We just ate at Mama's Snack Stop that day, I had chicken tenders and Justin had a hot dog and we split the fries that came with the tenders. We also got a drink to share and it probably came to $20 total. It was nothing memorable and I certainly wouldn't eat there every day, but it did the job for a quick lunch. My husband looooved the chili cheese fries that they served there. I think he ate them 3 or 4 times!

That night, we did the luau at Paradise Cove. I searched for a bit to get discount tickets. We ended up doing the Orchid Package which was the middle level package. It included a $16 Cove Card for each person as well as the buffet dinner and show.

They gave us leis on our way in.

The white tables at the front of the photo below are for the Deluxe luau guests. The green tables are for the Orchid Package. This is the vantage point I had during the show. The Deluxe was more expensive, I can't remember by how much. They bring the Deluxe guests a plated dinner, so they do not have to get up for the buffet. I believe they also had $24 Cove cards instead of $16.

The green tables toward the front of the photo below are still Orchid. The tables placed diagonally in the back of the photo were the regularly priced tickets.

I honestly think any of the spots were great. The show is kind of to your left or right, depending on what side you sit on.

The package included a complimentary Mai Tai punch upon your entry, as well as a $16 Cove Card per person. The Cove Card could be used for merchandise or drinks at the bar. They even had non-alcoholic drinks for kids! Most of the drinks were between $7-10. The mixed drinks were $8, so Justin and I each got two with our Cove Cards. It was plenty of alcohol! They also had lots of water available for free.

They had some fun activities beforehand. I made a flower crown, and they had flower bracelets, too. We also tried the two games that they had, one where you threw a wooden pole/spear into a target, and another bowling-type game.

There was a pre-meal ceremony in which they talked about all of the foods they'd be serving. There's a pig on that board below, which goes in the pit!

They called us up to the buffet. You better be able to carry all of your food at once, because you only get one trip up! Of course I'm sure you could go back for seconds if you'd like, but the show started a bit after we'd started eating.

The food was actually really good. Not $100/person good, but you also get the show and all of the alcohol, so I really did think the price tag was worth it.

The plate above included salad, rice, fried chicken, macadamia crusted mahi mahi, kalua pig, lomi lomi salmon, pasta salad, mac salad, and a dinner roll. The mahi mahi wasn't great and the pig was a little too salty, but overall the food was really good for mass-produced food. I asked one of the staff members how often it sold out, and he said in the summer time every show sells out. They do a show each night and there are 1300 seats - so that's a lot of people!

The show was really great and we could see pretty well. Everyone stayed seated for the show, but they did allow people to come up onstage and dance.

After dinner and quite a few drinks. You can see my flower crown above!

The fire dancer was a highlight of the show.

All of the traditional outfits and dances really added to the show. It was definitely entertaining!

Overall, I would highly recommend the Paradise Cove luau. We easily walked to and from the show. It was a lot of fun, the food was good, and the show was outstanding! I don't think we'd need to go again if we went back to Oahu, but I do recommend it for those interested. I think that week we actually heard that Disney was doing away with the Starlit Hui in lieu of a luau, so that is an option in the future as well.

We really had an awesome day at Paradise Cove (snorkeling and then at the luau).


​

 

[ihearthawaii]

How fun! Did Aulani know or care that you took the snorkels off property?

 

[nkereina]

Great report! We just got back from our honeymoon there as well (trip report coming soon!), and your trip sounds a lot like ours! Love reading it!

 

[BariTravis]

Great report so far! We are planning on going to Aulani in May (Just waiting for our 7month window!).
I'm getting some great ideas from your TR and congrats on marriage!

 

[jerseygal]

CONGRATS on your marriage!!! Our family was at Aulani two years ago and we LOVED IT, BEAUTIFUL resort to honeymoon! Our next trip one day will be combined with Maui also!

 

[scrappydew]

Really great trip report! Congratulations, also!

 

[Amw1064]

Congratulations on your marriage. Loved reading your report. We are thinking of either adding Maui or Disneyland to our trip next summer. We have been fortunate to go to Aulani summers of 2015 & 2016. We absolutely love it!

 

[Vernie822]

How fun! Did Aulani know or care that you took the snorkels off property?

Thanks! They did not; we actually just went down and snorkeled pretty much every day, so we already had it with us. I should have asked first, though they didn't mention anything about taking it off property/to rooms/etc.

Great report! We just got back from our honeymoon there as well (trip report coming soon!), and your trip sounds a lot like ours! Love reading it!

Thank you!! I hope you guys had a great trip!!

Great report so far! We are planning on going to Aulani in May (Just waiting for our 7month window!).
I'm getting some great ideas from your TR and congrats on marriage!

Thank you! Happy to help any way I can - if you have questions let me know. You will LOVE it!!

CONGRATS on your marriage!!! Our family was at Aulani two years ago and we LOVED IT, BEAUTIFUL resort to honeymoon! Our next trip one day will be combined with Maui also!

Thank you so much!! It was an amazing resort... I cannot wait to go back. Maui definitely was a huge highlight as well!

Really great trip report! Congratulations, also!

Thank you!

Congratulations on your marriage. Loved reading your report. We are thinking of either adding Maui or Disneyland to our trip next summer. We have been fortunate to go to Aulani summers of 2015 & 2016. We absolutely love it!

Thank you so much! We absolutely loved it and I cannot wait to go back someday. Squeezing all 3 in was a lot - we mainly only did it because we had the vacation time and the ability to do so - but it was such a great trip!

 

[Vernie822]

AULANI - Day 4

Day 4 was kind of sad because we knew it was our last full day at the resort (next day would be North Shore), so we wanted to make the most of it.

We saw in the Daily Iwa a few days earlier that there would be a Mahalo Member Mingle on Monday morning. We were able to sign up and get our tickets (free) at the DVC info center. If you walk into the lobby from the front and make a right, you'll see the check in/out desk. If you keep walking and hang a left, the DVC models are back that way along with the spa. They had the tickets available there. We went on either Saturday or Sunday and there were still plenty available.

I think it started at 9 AM. They gave us pins with the year we joined.

The Member Mingle was in the ballroom. It was basically a short event with muffins, croissants, juice, coffee, etc. They played some trivia games and did drawings for prizes. They also talked about the island, different excursions you could do, and things like that. It was fun and it was nice to get to chat with some other people.

After the Mingle, we hit the pool! It was pretty overcast, so we didn't snorkel that day. We spent a lot of time in the pool (this goes for every day) in the lazy river. We would just go around and around... I could've spent the day in there! We did the slide a few times (so fun) and even chilled in the adult pool area for a bit. The adult pool area was nice, albeit a tad boring.. just not a lot to see there! We enjoyed the kids pool area because of the lazy river, slides, etc. We did spend some time in the 18+ jacuzzi that overlooked the ocean... that was sooooo relaxing.

We met Minnie by the pool that day!

We tossed around a few ideas for dinner that night: Noe (Four Seasons), Fish House (Four Seasons), Longhi's (Marriott, I think), Roy's, or one of the places across the street. I think at one point we ended up booking Longhi's, but changed our minds and cancelled it for Roy's. We were really enjoying light breakfasts and lunches with a nicer dinner.

It was Monday, and Justin's beloved Steelers were playing Monday Night Football. I want to say the game started at 1:30 (7:30?) give or take. We were out of sandwich components, so we decided to eat at the Off the Hook pool bar for lunch that day. I had the fish tacos and Justin had a burger. They each came with a side. I also had a Bikini Blonde Lager from Maui Brewing Company, which I'd had earlier on our trip and loved it. I think our total for lunch with tip was maybe $40-ish.

It started raining, so we ended up in our room for a bit before heading out to dinner. I had a glass of Riesling in bed while we watched the football game, as you do in Oahu!

We took a walk that night before going out to dinner. We had booked a later dinner since we had no idea what we wanted to do that night!

This area is to the left of Aulani, when you're looking at the lagoon. I really liked that the paths tied everything together.

Looking at Aulani from the grass to the right of that path:

To the left of Aulani is the new Four Seasons.

We saw a snail in the grass, which was photo worthy.

We grabbed a few Photopass pictures at sunset... there are photographers everywhere in the evening!

We saw Goofy on the way in... He was moving from one place to the next, but we were able to say hi and grab a quick picture.

We decided to stop in the Olelo Room for a drink before our dinner. This is the lobby from the outside of Aulani:

The Olelo Room is kind of behind the area w/ the red umbrellas. I think the red umbrellas belong to Makahiki (the buffet).

They had some drinks and food on happy hour special. I wish we would have thought to come here sooner, because the food sounded great too. There were a couple families with small kids having happy hour apps for dinner, which I think is an awesome idea! They even had live music which just added to the fun atmosphere.

I had the Beach Peach Cooler and Justin had the DVC special drink, the Pu'u Kilo Punch. We both really liked our drinks!

We left there for dinner at Roy's, which as at the Ko'Olina Golf Club. If you make a right out of the front of the resort, Roy's is a short walk down the road, then across the street. It wasn't a bad walk, but was not very well lit in some spots.

They gave us edamame to start (hey, I prefer bread but.. it was a nice gesture!) I've eaten edamame before, but I usually buy them without the shell. So we just sat there eating the whole edamame.. until we googled it because it was hard to chew and found that you don't actually eat the whole thing.. oops.

We started with chicken spring rolls.

Justin had short ribs and I had the "trio of treasures" which included a piece of prosciutto crusted mahi mahi, a scallop, and shrimp. Everything we ate was delicious, and among one of the best meals we had on our trip.

​

 

[alohamom]

I LOVE the short ribs at Roys, so much that I googled the recipe and make them at home now. Fairly easy but they take a loooong time.

We saw a few of those snails along the walkways in August, I couldnt believe how big they were!

 

[Vernie822]

I LOVE the short ribs at Roys, so much that I googled the recipe and make them at home now. Fairly easy but they take a loooong time.

We saw a few of those snails along the walkways in August, I couldnt believe how big they were!

My husband loved them!! He is usually a filet, ribeye, or strip steak eater, but he felt like he had already had the usual steak/potato/green veggie combo too many times so he branched out. We were so impressed with them! We did the Chefs Table at Napa Rose a few nights later and one of the dishes they served me (my main) was short ribs with a pomegranate accompaniment.. out of this world good!!

 

[pepperandchips]

Here and loving your report! The food reviews are great. We are planning an Aulani/Disneyland trip for June so I loved seeing your report pop up. Great tips on how to get places. THank you so much for sharing!!

 

[crystal1313]

Congrats on your wedding! Loving your report, thank you for sharing! I really want to dine at Roy's next trip and try the dinner for two at Ama Ama from your photos! Looks super yummy =)