Aulani Trip Report - July 2023

[EllieBride]

Introduction:
Hi Disboards friends!

This is my first attempt at a trip report - I hope that it proves to be helpful for those of you in the planning stages. This was our first trip to Aulani and I loved reading the reports that others have shared as I worked on my own planning.

Our cast of characters for this trip included myself, husband, and our 10-year-old son and daughter (twins). This was their first trip to Hawaii. I visited once before, around 20 years ago, as part of a Hawaiian cruise that sailed from Vancouver. I have always wanted to return.

Our family trip came about for two main reasons. First, we are DVC members and are beginning to “age out” of WDW. Although we/I still love it, it has become very expensive! We went in May 2022 and purchased the Genie+ and virtual lines for ROTR and GOTG. Ugh. All of the extra costs were really off-putting. During this trip, we went to Discovery Cove for a day (loved it) and Universal for a day. We packed an overnight bag for our trip to Universal and stayed one night there at the Lowe’s Royal Pacific, which included the Express Pass for the parks. We LOVED having the Express Pass and that you do not need to schedule rides in advance. Highly recommend it. I thought this was so much better than messing around with the Genie+ and constantly getting my phone out.

Second, we were already flying from the midwest to Phoenix for our kids to compete in their taekwondo world championships. We thought that since we were already on the west side of the country (3 hour time change for us), the added travel for Hawaii wouldn’t be so bad (an additional 3 hour time change). In total, our trip was 13 days! In retrospect, I don’t think we will combine the taekwondo trip with an extended vacation again. It was a long time to be away. And even though we did laundry in our DVC villa, we had so much luggage because the tournament required uniforms and an entire suitcase of martial arts gear. Thankfully, we had a friend who offered to take that suitcase home with them from Phoenix so we didn’t have to drag it to Hawaii.

Phoenix temperatures were in the 110s+ during our visit. It was hotter than HOT. This is definitely not the best time of the year to visit unless you love heat. Besides competing for three days straight at the convention center, we spent a lot of time in the pool with our friends.

I look forward to sharing some highlights from the trip. I hope you enjoy reading it.

 

[EllieBride]

Flights, Hotel, and other Transportation Logistics:

Flights:
We used our Delta miles to purchase one-way tickets to Phoenix. We purchased one-way direct tickets from Phoenix-Honolulu via Hawaiian Airlines and one-way direct flights from Honolulu back to Detroit on Delta. I bought all of the flights in September 2022, when they were first released. For the Delta flights, this ended up being the best available pricing. I saw that the price on the Hawaiian Airlines flight dropped a few months prior to the trip, but unfortunately, they did not offer a price adjustment.

Aulani:
We stayed seven nights in a dedicated 2-bedroom villa, ocean-view. The cost for this room was 588 points, plus $356.16 in taxes (due at check-in). We normally get a 1-bedroom when we are at WDW, but decided to splurge for this trip. Since we were staying a full week, it was really nice to have the extra beds and floor space. We all loved it and will probably never want to go back to a 1-bedroom again.

Also, our membership points are at BCV and VGF, so we had to wait until the 7-month booking window opened. This was very nerve-wracking for me because our travel dates and flights were already booked. I considered the option of transferring points or renting ours out in order to rent Aulani points, but ultimately, I decided to wait it out. We were able to get what we wanted, although the 2-bedroom oceanview sold out a lot quicker than what I had read in previous reports, considering how many points were needed for this category.

We arrived at Aulani around 1:30 p.m. and were happy that our room was ready for check-in. We were in ‘Ewa tower, which I had requested, on the 12th floor. The view of the ocean and pools was lovely, but I thought that having two small, separate “triangular” balconies was awkward. I would have preferred one larger one, I think. My husband enjoyed reading out on the balcony quite a bit.

Aulani is a beautiful resort, as is the entire Ko Olina area. I’ll plan to share more details and thoughts throughout the report, including some of the restaurants we dined at.

Rental Car:
For transportation, I reserved an SUV from National Car Rental - Emerald Aisle. My employer offers discounted/guaranteed rates which weren’t too bad. We selected a Highlander upon arrival and really liked it.

 

[OKW Lover]

Looking forward to reading more about your travels. We were at Aulani in June.

 

[Quiltsndisney]

Excited to hear more. I am two months out today for my first aulani trip.

 

[DaisyNY]

Following along…our first trip is in September, DVC members too!

 

[Quiltsndisney]

Following along…our first trip is in September, DVC members too!

When. i get there the 26th. love my DVC points

 

[EllieBride]

Looking forward to reading more about your travels. We were at Aulani in June.

Thanks for following along.

Excited to hear more. I am two months out today for my first aulani trip.

Thanks for reading. I am already thinking about when we might be able to go back.

Following along…our first trip is in September, DVC members too!

Welcome and thanks for following along. How exciting that your trip is getting so close.

 

[EllieBride]

Aulani Day 1 - arrival day

We checked in on a Sunday and didn’t have too much planned. Our flight left Phoenix at 7am local time, so we had been up since about 4:30am.

After settling into the room, I took the kids to the pool while my husband went to Target to pick up some groceries. We usually only use the kitchen for light breakfasts and snacks, so this was our first time buying stuff for real dinners.

The kids and I attended ‘Ohana Ho’okani Pila at Aunty’s Beach House for ‘ukelele lessons. This was a fun, short activity and we enjoyed it. Afterwards, we had chicken tacos back in our room. Since we needed to arrive for our deep-sea fishing charter at 4:45am the next morning, we decided to take a drive to the Waianae Boat Harbor so that we would know where we were going in the morning. It was a little farther away than I expected, about 30 minutes. Right about the time we got there and located the correct pier, we discovered my daughter was crying in terrible pain from her ears. We originally thought her ears were just plugged up from the flight, but once we saw her crying, we knew it was something else. We figured it was an ear infection from all of the time she spent in the pool while we were in Phoenix . This isn't the first time she's had ear problems.

It was already getting late and the only urgent care we could find that was still open was located about 45 minutes away, on the opposite side of Ko Olina from where we were. It was scheduled to close at 8pm and we pulled in with about ten minutes to spare. The building was pitch dark and looked closed, but we found one door unlocked. Unfortunately, they told us that they weren’t taking any more patients because it was nearly closing time. We literally BEGGED them to see our daughter and they took pity on us and agreed. We got out of there around 8:30pm, but still had to find the nearest pharmacy to fill the prescription for her ear infection. It was after 9:30pm before we made it back to Aulani (which felt like 12:30am since we were still on Phoenix time). It was a very long day and the trip was not off to the best start, but we were grateful to have gotten her started on ear drops.

We decided that my daughter and I would skip the next day’s fishing charter since we weren’t sure how she would be feeling. I helped get clothes picked out for my son so that he would be ready to go in the morning. I was disappointed, but promised her we would do some shopping while the guys were gone and she seemed ok with this plan.

Next up: some pics from our first day and details on how the fishing trip went .

 

[EllieBride]

Aulani Day 1 - a few pics

Already loving our first views of Hawaii and the beautiful water

 

[alohamom]

Following along, I am loving all the details!

That is very cool that your children are proficient enough in taekwondo to participate in the world championships, what a fun family event that must have been.

Sorry to hear about your daughter's ear but glad to hear you were able to get her something for it.

I am not sure if you are ever planning to go back to Hawaii but one $$$ tip I always pass along to people from Detroit, Buffalo and any other US border city is to price your flights out from Toronto (YYZ airport code).
Not only is it sometimes substantially cheaper but the US-CND exchange makes the 3 hour drive really worth it. For example, I happen to be looking at flights from Toronto (where we live) to Honolulu in January. The price as of today is $584 Canadian/per person/round trip which is about $445 USD. The price out of Detroit is around $800 USD/per person/round trip. Keep in mind you would probably need a hotel stay on either side of the flights or at least on the return but that still saves a ton of money for a family of four. Just an fyi...

Looking forward to the fishing info, that is something my hubby has on his bucket list for Hawaii.

 

[EllieBride]

Following along, I am loving all the details!

That is very cool that your children are proficient enough in taekwondo to participate in the world championships, what a fun family event that must have been.

Sorry to hear about your daughter's ear but glad to hear you were able to get her something for it.

I am not sure if you are ever planning to go back to Hawaii but one $$$ tip I always pass along to people from Detroit, Buffalo and any other US border city is to price your flights out from Toronto (YYZ airport code).
Not only is it sometimes substantially cheaper but the US-CND exchange makes the 3 hour drive really worth it. For example, I happen to be looking at flights from Toronto (where we live) to Honolulu in January. The price as of today is $584 Canadian/per person/round trip which is about $445 USD. The price out of Detroit is around $800 USD/per person/round trip. Keep in mind you would probably need a hotel stay on either side of the flights or at least on the return but that still saves a ton of money for a family of four. Just an fyi...

Looking forward to the fishing info, that is something my hubby has on his bucket list for Hawaii.

This was our third year attending the ATA Taekwondo World Championships. Last year, our daughter qualified to compete for a world championship in one event - combat sparring. You need to finish the regular season in the Top Ten among the world competitors (or win your regional district championship) to qualify for Worlds. This year, our son finished in the Top Ten and won his district championships in all four of his events - traditional form, traditional weapon, combat sparring, and traditional sparring. I know he was really hoping to win, but he handled the disappointment well and is ready to keep working toward his goals. Last night, they both earned their second degree black belts.

Thanks for the great tip about flying out of Toronto. I will definitely look into that next time. Is there a preferred airline that you recommend? How about onsite parking at the airport? It's been many years since I've driven to Toronto, but my old college roommate and I used to make the trip all the time just for a long weekend.

 

[EllieBride]

Aulani Day 2 - fishing charter
My husband and kids really enjoy fishing in our local ponds and rivers, so naturally, deep-sea fishing was on their bucket list of activities. I think this was the very first thing that I researched and booked and we included it as part of our kids’ Christmas present last year.



While researching the options, I looked for a charter that operates near Ko Olina. I ended up booking the 8-hour private charter with Boom Boom Sportfishing, which is based out of the Waianae Boat Harbor. Their website says it is about a 15-minute drive from Aulani, but I think it took us closer to 25-30 minutes. We encountered a road closure due to an early morning accident about one mile from the harbor and needed to make a small detour, which added a little time.

All of our advance communication was with Captain Tony. He was always prompt and helpful to answer my questions (yes, there is a restroom on the boat). They required a 50% deposit to make the reservation and the remainder was charged on the day of the charter. Gratuity for the captain and crew was additional.

As mentioned in my last update, my daughter and I were planning to sit this out due to her ear infection. But my husband felt bad about us not going and he talked me into it at the last minute. So we quickly got ready and made the decision to go. All four of us took Bonine medication to help prevent seasickness. My daughter and I are most prone to motion sickness, but the Bonine worked well for us on previous cruises, so we thought that would do the trick.

We arrived at the harbor at 4:45am and followed the instructions to find the boat. Captain Downing and Jaden, the deckhand, were ready and waiting for us. They were both friendly and we enjoyed getting to know them throughout the day. We boarded and were soon off on our adventure. Our goal for the day was to catch big fish - preferably marlin or ahi tuna.

As we left the harbor, Jaden got right to work setting up seven fishing lines. We headed out to deeper water and after about an hour, I was already beginning to feel sick. I fought it off as long as I could, but the rolling eventually got the best of me. Being sick was what I had feared most and I was super bummed. After about two more hours of being sick over the side of the boat, I asked my husband to request that we head back early. I felt terrible about disappointing my family, but I just couldn’t take it anymore . Jaden was really kind and helped move me to a better location on the boat and said it would take about an hour to return to the harbor. Situated in my new spot with my bucket, I was able to doze off for a little bit.

To be continued…

 

[alohamom]

This was our third year attending the ATA Taekwondo World Championships. Last year, our daughter qualified to compete for a world championship in one event - combat sparring. You need to finish the regular season in the Top Ten among the world competitors (or win your regional district championship) to qualify for Worlds. This year, our son finished in the Top Ten and won his district championships in all four of his events - traditional form, traditional weapon, combat sparring, and traditional sparring. I know he was really hoping to win, but he handled the disappointment well and is ready to keep working toward his goals. Last night, they both earned their second degree black belts.

Thanks for the great tip about flying out of Toronto. I will definitely look into that next time. Is there a preferred airline that you recommend? How about onsite parking at the airport? It's been many years since I've driven to Toronto, but my old college roommate and I used to make the trip all the time just for a long weekend.

WOW, that is amazing congrats to your kids!

We have flown many different routes with various airlines, I usually go with WestJet, Air Canada and there is a decent route on United that stops in Denver we have done twice. I like that route because it breaks the flight up a bit and we can get out of the plane, stretch our legs etc.

What tends to happen is one major carrier will put a YYZ-HNL route on sale and then the others follow suit.
I use Google flights to track the prices for possible vacation times for us and then create an alert for it.
As far as where to park, honestly the best for me is ParknFly ( https://www.parknfly.ca/location/toronto-airport-parking/ ) but you can also do a hotel with parking included ( https://parksleepfly.com/toronto-airport-hotels-with-parking-yyz ) or ( https://www.stayparktravel.com/toronto-pearson-airport-hotels-with-parking-yyz.htm )

 

[DisneyRita]

Excited to hear more. I am two months out today for my first aulani trip.

Me too- going in September!

 

[EllieBride]

Me too- going in September!

Thanks for following along. Your upcoming trip will be here soon! Look forward to hearing what you have planned. I am already beginning to make notes for next time, LOL.

 

[EllieBride]

Aulani Day 2 - fishing charter, continued
About 4 hours into the trip, we finally saw some action on the lines - YAY! The first catch was a skipjack tuna, which is a smaller variety of tuna. My son and husband were happy to have caught something. Soon enough, there was another fish on the line and we woke my daughter up from her nap inside of the cabin so she could help reel it in. It was another skipjack. I was able to open my eyes to watch them, but had no desire to move from my perch atop the cooler, LOL.



At some point, I began to question why we weren’t back at the harbor yet. I was recognizing different parts of the island that we were passing and it didn’t seem like we were even close. I was still feeling pretty crummy, but since I wasn’t actually getting sick at this point, I didn’t say anything. I suspected that my husband had okayed us staying on the water (he swears that he didn’t). By the time we finally got back, we had been on the water for 9 HOURS!

Before it ended, they caught two more fish, both were wahoo, and that was really fun to see because they are a bigger fish and it took some work to bring them in. Jaden thought that they had hooked a shark because the second one was such a fighter. Although we didn’t land the ahi tuna, we were happy to get something. Jaden cleaned all of the fish before we arrived back at the harbor and bagged up some of it for us to take.







Even though I was sick for much of the charter and couldn’t fully enjoy it, I would still recommend Boom Boom if this is something you are interested in. The boat and crew were nice and I don’t fault them for staying out on the water as long as they did. Catching and selling fish is how they make money and they wanted to ensure that we caught something. I could have pushed the issue more about returning, and more importantly, I am glad that my husband and son got to enjoy the trip. My daughter slept through most of it and said she was trying not to get sick, too. Be sure to pack plenty of water, food/snacks, and sunscreen. We had a cooler tote bag that we brought, but there is a frig on the boat you can use.

Following the fishing trip, we relaxed in the room for a bit and my husband made us dinner - chicken parmesan and pasta. The kids and I also walked over to the shopping area across the street from Aulani and my daughter bought a cute little necklace that was in her price range. She wore it throughout the trip. We stopped by the Aulani gift shops to begin checking out the merch. My son was disappointed that the Stitch plush he had spotted the day before was already sold out. He loves Stitch!

Happy to answer any questions about the charter.

 

[fantasia73]

Aulani Day 2 - fishing charter, continued
About 4 hours into the trip, we finally saw some action on the lines - YAY! The first catch was a skipjack tuna, which is a smaller variety of tuna. My son and husband were happy to have caught something. Soon enough, there was another fish on the line and we woke my daughter up from her nap inside of the cabin so she could help reel it in. It was another skipjack. I was able to open my eyes to watch them, but had no desire to move from my perch atop the cooler, LOL.

View attachment 780997

At some point, I began to question why we weren’t back at the harbor yet. I was recognizing different parts of the island that we were passing and it didn’t seem like we were even close. I was still feeling pretty crummy, but since I wasn’t actually getting sick at this point, I didn’t say anything. I suspected that my husband had okayed us staying on the water (he swears that he didn’t). By the time we finally got back, we had been on the water for 9 HOURS!

Before it ended, they caught two more fish, both were wahoo, and that was really fun to see because they are a bigger fish and it took some work to bring them in. Jaden thought that they had hooked a shark because the second one was such a fighter. Although we didn’t land the ahi tuna, we were happy to get something. Jaden cleaned all of the fish before we arrived back at the harbor and bagged up some of it for us to take.

View attachment 780998

View attachment 780999

View attachment 781000

Even though I was sick for much of the charter and couldn’t fully enjoy it, I would still recommend Boom Boom if this is something you are interested in. The boat and crew were nice and I don’t fault them for staying out on the water as long as they did. Catching and selling fish is how they make money and they wanted to ensure that we caught something. I could have pushed the issue more about returning, and more importantly, I am glad that my husband and son got to enjoy the trip. My daughter slept through most of it and said she was trying not to get sick, too. Be sure to pack plenty of water, food/snacks, and sunscreen. We had a cooler tote bag that we brought, but there is a frig on the boat you can use.

Following the fishing trip, we relaxed in the room for a bit and my husband made us dinner - chicken parmesan and pasta. The kids and I also walked over to the shopping area across the street from Aulani and my daughter bought a cute little necklace that was in her price range. She wore it throughout the trip. We stopped by the Aulani gift shops to begin checking out the merch. My son was disappointed that the Stitch plush he had spotted the day before was already sold out. He loves Stitch!

Happy to answer any questions about the charter.

Check out the Relief Band for motion sickness. It sends an electrical pulse into the pressure point of your wrist. It works wonders for me.

 

[EllieBride]

Check out the Relief Band for motion sickness. It sends an electrical pulse into the pressure point of your wrist. It works wonders for me.

Thanks for the suggestion. I was wearing the regular sea-band bracelets that apply pressure inside of the wrist, but I'm not familiar with the ones that sent an eletrical pulse.

 

[EllieBride]

Aulani Day 3 - surfing lessons
For today’s adventure, we had booked surfing lessons for the kids on the north shore at the Jamie O’Brien Surf Experience, located at Turtle Bay Resort. Unfortunately, we had to cancel my daughter due to her ear infection. She was disappointed, but my son couldn’t wait to go! This was a bucket list item for him.

We left Aulani at 7am, which was plenty of time to get there for our 8:45am check in time. Our first stop was at Leonard’s Malasadamobile Wagon in Waipahu. It’s located in the Waikele Shopping Center, near Lowe’s. Something that I learned about my family during this trip is that they can be very skeptical of anything they are not familiar with. They were giving me the third degree about “what’s a malasada?” I’ve never had one until now and all I could say was that I heard good reviews about them on the Disboards.

We checked out the menu and the kids ordered the dobash (chocolate filled) and my husband and I ordered the custard filled. The person working the window also gave us a haipua (coconut filled) to try, which was amazing - and I normally don’t like coconut. We also got a couple of cinnamon sugar, which were good, but we were already pretty full after eating the first one.





We resumed our drive to the north shore, taking HI-99 and enjoying all of the beautiful sites along the way and making notes of places we will check out next trip. It took us about 40-45 minutes to get there from Leonard’s.

After arriving at Turtle Bay Resort, we checked my son in for his lessons. We met his instructor, Chris, who we immediately liked and felt comfortable with. He got my son prepped for his lesson and the rest of us headed up to the pool level to watch from a great lookout point over the water.



To be continued…

 

[EllieBride]

Aulani Day 3 - surfing lessons, continued
I can easily give a 5-star rating to the Jamie O’Brien Surf Experience. I was really pleased with the 1:1 attention they gave my son during his lesson. He was on his feet and riding a wave on his second attempt. It was so fun to watch! He even got to see some sea turtles as he was surfing, which was a highlight. We took lots of photos and videos from the lookout point. 90 minutes went by in a flash. I think he could have surfed all day if we’d let him.





We confirmed our reservation for a second lesson for our last day of the trip, with hopes that our daughter would be able to join by then. We also asked if Chris could work with our son again and he said he was happy to.

Following the lesson, we enjoyed some beach time at the resort, then had a nice lunch at the Beach House by Roy Yamaguchi. We ordered the Edamame Guacamole Dip as an appetizer, along with the roasted turkey sandwiches for the adults. The kids probably had grilled chicken. Husband and I split a Mai Tai, which was the perfect amount for a lunchtime drink.

After lunch, we started the journey back towards Ko Olina. We stopped by the North Shore Macadamia Nut Company to see what they had. It was a cute place to stop, with lots of nuts, coffees, and local crafts to shop for. I bought a small bag of caramel-coated macadamia nuts to bring home. It seems like this is a popular place for tour buses to stop and has the potential to get busy.

Our next stop was in the town of Hale’iwa for shave ice. I would have really enjoyed having more time to browse through all of the shops in Haleiwa, but traffic and parking were a challenge and my family was beginning to get tired. We passed by Matsumodo’s, which had a crazy long line! We headed toward the end of the strip and made our way to Kaimana Shave Ice instead. I had read some good reviews about this place and was excited to give it a try. Husband and I shared one called “the North Shore” and it was incredible. Ingredients included mango, pineapple, coconut, sweet cream, and macadamia nut ice cream. The kids were less adventurous and had blueberry. This is the cutest little shop, with beautiful outdoor seating in the back. I definitely recommend it and hope we have a chance to go back some day.







Following our afternoon treat, we headed back to Aulani for a rest and showers before our dinner reservation.

To be continued.