15th Anniversary trip....trip report

does anyone know if I can use the back pack as a carry on and the Mickey bag as my purse? We are flying on Alaska and they don't provide dimensions for the personal item, only the carry on. Thanks!!! View attachment 180824

I don't know for sure about Alaska, but usually what the airlines care most about for your personal item is that it fits under the seat in front of you. I'd guess that you'll be fine, but hopefully someone else will have a more definitive answer.

I'm looking forward to reading all about your trip! I'm also from the Bay area, and we're planning our Sept. trip. I'm particularly interested in what you think about the Ama Ama casabellas.
 
Update: we are here! I was able to take both bags with no issue on Alaska. We had a great flight and everything went smoothly. It took quite awhile to get a shuttle at the airport, and I thouht it was super odd no one ever confirmed our names or anything, but we finally a got to Aulani. Check in was chaotic. So many others checking in and we were early. Arriving around 1pm. Our room was ready and we were upgraded to island view instead of standard view which was awesome. We are on the 3rd floor facing the four seasons and have a view of the adult pool. We have tried the lazy river, both slides, the ocean, the beach entry pool (sorry, still trying to find my way around let alone remember names of things) and checked boys into Aunty's. We ended up having a snack at ulu before swimming because I was cranky and needed to eat, meanwhile the boys wee bouncing off the walls. We ate dinner at off the hook and though yummy, it was pricy, but we were expecting that. We ran to island country market to get some beer for my DH and cider for me. Only issue we have had is that we think our room wasn't cleaned all the way. The bedding was out on the couch, there was hair in the bathtub, a major pet peeve of mine, and the counters don't look cleaned off..I think it may have been partially cleaned, but the last finishing touches were missed, because things like garbage cans were empty, etc. if it is the same result I will say something. It's kinda nice being on the same floor as the lobby. I am hoping the newness of the resort wears off tomorrow and the boys calm down a bit and get back to themselves. They were a bit cranky too, but given they were awakened 2 hours earlier than normal, I understand. So far we are loving it!!
 
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I am going backwards and adding more about arrival day, day 1. So DH and I got up at 4am. I awakened the boys around 4:50. They were so tired, I felt bad. But they quickly remembered why they were getting up and they were in a great mood! Yay! We headed to my parents house and was right on time at 5:30am. Got loaded fast and made a quick stop at the doughnut shop. Mmmm, doughnuts!!

Got on the road and there was no traffic! Awesome! We had decided to park at the OAK airport. I found a coupon for $8 off a day. We didn't want to worry about catching a shuttle and being dependent on someone else to get us to the terminal on time, especially with 4 people who had never flown before. Walk to the terminal was super fast and before I knew, we had checked our two bags. Yes, we only had two checked bags for 6 people ;) We got through security without a hitch, and I have to say the employees at OAK were so helpful, and really put me at ease. We quickly found a Starbucks, grabbed some water and caffeine then headed off to our gate to eat our yummy doughnut breakfast.

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Our flight was super smooth! No issues at all, except for the grown woman who screamed in fear at the descent in Honolulu. Scared DS6 briefly, but I told that everything was ok and distracted him with the view from our window. ;) When leaving, the pilot of the plane thought I was a stewardess with Alaska! LOL. He was convinced I was!! I must have a twin! When the flight crew heard the boys had not flown, or my parents, they were shocked and gave them wings. SO cool!

Like I said above, we waited quite a LONG time for the shuttle. It was so hard to wait! All we wanted to do was get to the resort! We were joined by another family and had a quick, traffic free trip to Aulani. Check in was chaotic, we got our lei's and necklaces, etc, but never tried the fruit water. SO many people! I was expecting a huge line, but it was not bad at all. Check in was fast and room was ready and upgraded to island gardens view. Yay! DH put the charging on our room key, which was so convenient (he had said before he didn't want to do that. ) My dad put the charging on their room keys too, and it worked out great. Front desk CM said I needed all room keys to get towels/wristband, but we never found that to be the case. They would check one card, then ask who else was with us and didn't see their room keys.

We got to the room and it was gorgeous! So pretty and a great, peaceful view. The cleaning looked like the maid was maybe interrupted as it was mostly clean, but some odds and ends left behind. I called the next morning to ask for a full cleaning and linen change just in case. ;)

We promptly hit the pools/beach!!

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We got the boys finalized at Aunty's and got their wristbands. Totally easy process after doing the online registration. We could not find my parents. We split up and never met up with them again. I felt so bad. We finally saw them later that night. We decided we were hungry and ate at off the hook. I think we all had the burger. Yum! My drink with dinner at Off the Hook!

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At some point we went to island country market. I wanted to check way more stuff out but DH was in a hurry for some reason! We ended up just getting milk and some beer and cider to tide us over until Costco Wednesday. I had brought Cheerios for breakfast until then. And I had also packed a ton of snacks. Fruit rope, protein bars, goldfish, beef jerky. The beef jerky did not last long and I forgot to buy more at Costco. Oops! The rest of the snacks we hardly touched, and I was shocked because my kids usually eats ton while swimming, but I think they were having too much fun to eat!
 

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We are having a blast!!! Best vacation ever!!!!
Sorry, there's already a thread named that!! Hahaha!! Having just booked my stay last week, I'm so thrilled to see multiple posters say that exact thing!!!

Hope the rest of your trip is fantastic and can't wait to hear the rest!! :)
 
My expectations have been exceeded. The cast members here are just incredible. Every single one has been so friendly and proud of their resort and I just love talking to everyone. :) I find that most guests are the same. Only encountered one rude guest so far in our 5 days here. Not bad!! I could stay here forever and DH feels the same. We are even seriously considering DVC! Ask me any questions you have!!
 
My expectations have been exceeded. The cast members here are just incredible. Every single one has been so friendly and proud of their resort and I just love talking to everyone. :) I find that most guests are the same. Only encountered one rude guest so far in our 5 days here. Not bad!! I could stay here forever and DH feels the same. We are even seriously considering DVC! Ask me any questions you have!!

Sounds amazing!

Did you end up using the Ama Ama casabellas? I'm wondering how you liked them, and if they were shady.
 
@kungaloosh22 we ended up cancelling the casabellas once we saw were they were at. If it was just my husband and I we would have totally kept them. But we quickly realized that our kids do not sit still very much and the casabellas were pretty far from the pools. Thy looked so nice though!! It was hard to cancel, but in the end, he right choice for us. I will try to take a photo for you. They have a killer view. :)
 
@kungaloosh22 we ended up cancelling the casabellas once we saw were they were at. If it was just my husband and I we would have totally kept them. But we quickly realized that our kids do not sit still very much and the casabellas were pretty far from the pools. Thy looked so nice though!! It was hard to cancel, but in the end, he right choice for us. I will try to take a photo for you. They have a killer view. :)

Thank you, I'd love a picture if you have a chance (if not, I understand!). I can imagine they aren't in the best place for most kids.
 
@kungaloosh22 , here's the photos of the Ama Ama deck casabellas.

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First photo is the upper deck view, then the actual upper deck, then the lower deck and the lower deck view. They are the furthest point away from the pools in front of Ama Ama. I'd say great location for a beach day, although a bit far if you went back and forth a lot. A little far from us for the pools as we mainly hung out near the lazy river and the menehune play area. :)
 
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@crystal1313 thank you so much! These pictures are great. The decks look so private and shady, with gorgeous views. This helps our planning, and I really appreciate that you took the time to get these photos. :worship:
 
No problem @kungaloosh22 ! These were taken in the morning around 9am (it was our last morning and I realized I hadn't taken photos!) So later in the afternoon they will be more sunny. But I liked that there were umbrellas as well as the shade on the casabellas. :)
 
Day 2 was my parents anniversary. They had dinner at Ama Ama that night. We got up and around fairly early, but not as early as I predicted with the time change, thank goodness!! I think the boys got up around 7am. We had reservations at Ama Ama for breakfast at 8. My parents were tired so opted not to join us. We had a great table and my DH and I both had the vanilla caramel macadamia nut pancakes. Mmm!! The boys both had the Mickey waffles with caramel sauce. We all liked everything and we had a wonderful server.

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We got ready and hit the pools!! While we were there the Menehune play area was closed until mid day Friday I believe. So that area was fairly non crowded early am and became our home base for the week. It was right near the elevators for our room and worked out wonderful.

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I forgot to mention that on day 1 we went to aunty's and got the boys wrist bands and finished registering them. It was a pretty quick process. They really wanted to go to aunty's so we dropped them off for free play a little before my parents reservation. Boys had the comedy show tonight too but wanted to have free play first. They loved the comedy show and even DS8 who does not like public speaking, stood up and told a joke! Yay!! Boys decided they wanted cereal for dinner!! So DH fed them before aunty's and then we checked out oleo room for drinks and appetizers!! So yummy. We got the sliders and the nachos. They were both good but the nachos were my favorite.

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My parents met up with us after their dinner and they just raved about Ama Ama. Meanwhile, our server at oleo room was fantastic. She was so friendly and we really enjoyed talking with her. :) she was the first of many cast members to tell us how well Disney takes care of them and that she loves working there. Shortly after we went and picked up the kids. They had fun but were tired!! We all headed back to the room and got the boys to bed. We went to bed fairly early, around 9:30 I think. The next day would be early for my parents and I.
 
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Day 3 my parents and I were getting up early to go to Pearl Harbor. DH and my boys were staying at the resort. I was ready before everyone else and went down to Alamo to pick up our car. I was almost done with everything when my parents joined me. We waited while to get our car. I saw my first and only mongoose while pulling out of the Aulani driveway! Lol. We had 9am tickets for the Arizona. Luckily I had the waze app on my phone and that totally helped us navigating to PH. Only took a wrong turn once to Ford island! Oops!! It was so congested there and I got stuck in the security lane which ended up ok since they said people get lost there all the time and they stopped traffic so I could turn around ;) We had to park pretty far away for PH and it wasn't an official lot so I worried about the rental, but everything turned out ok. We had plenty of time before our tour and checked out part of the museum. For me, this was very emotional experience. My neighbors growing up, her father was a PH survivor, and I just thought of him the entire time. It was very moving and sad, and a beautiful tribute to those who sacrificed so much for our country.

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We walked all around the area after our tour and read all the plaques. Then we headed to Costco. We were going to do the swap meet and didn't end up going there. Costco had so much amazing stuff!! I should have just done my shopping there!!! They had bathing suits, dresses, cover ups, floatys, spf 50 hats, cute shirts for boys, Hawaiian shirts, sarongs, Mac nut everything!! Lol. I was good and stayed focused and we bought three meals we could cook in the villa, yummy muffins for breakfast, a case of beer for my dad and DH, a bottle of coconut rum and POG juice for drinks for my mom and I, some more milk, sandwich rolls and deli meat, a bag of kettle chips, and a pineapple. Wanted other fruit but it was expensive!! It was about $180 for all of it. We got Mac n cheese and ravioli from the fresh made stuff, plus scalloped potatoes and two sets of tri tip in the frozen section. They worked out great!

We got back to them room an got lunch ready and headed down to the pools. DH was near the Menehune bridge play area again and we just played and relaxed. We cooked the scalloped potatoes and tri tip for dinner that night. Yum.

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Day 4. Today we spent all day at the resort. DH and I have our anniversary dinner at Ama Ama.

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Last photo of DS8 cracks me up because every time there's a waterfall on the lazy river he would push me or DH or his grandparents in it and thought it was the funniest thing in the world! Lol! Looking back I realized I didn't take many photos this day, I think because DH I left a bit early to go get ready for Ama Ama.

EDIT: Oh and the boys had their second event at aunty's, Stitch's Space Goo. They totally loved it! They were tired after and opted to leave Aunty's and went back to the room and my parents made the ravioli dinner that night. The boys love ravioli, so they were excited! Also, that night my parents took the boys to the Starlight Hui. They said it was great and that DS6 got a bit tired and that a very tall man sat right in front of them at the last minute and filmed the whole things, so a big chunk of their view was blocked by a camera :confused3
 
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Day 4 continued. Dinner at Ama Ama!! It was incredible!! We had a fantastic waiter, Owen, who Was moving to the mainland in two days. He never, ever rushed us and gave us some fantastic suggestions!! First up, I ordered a Mai tai in a pineapple....the only thing I really wanted to do while on the trip besides a family photo (lol, remember that for later on in the report). The Mai tai was super good and has a passion fruit froth on top!! Yum!

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Next up, we tried the poke. Something we have never tried before. It was so delicious!! Our waiter recommended it. I'm so glad we tried it!!!

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For our main course we also went with the waiters suggestion of the snapper. We normally are not fish eaters. More like steak. I occasionally have seafood. The snapper was also super good and tons of it. I could not finish mine.

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We stayed so long that we even got to see he sunset!! It was beautiful!! Such a gorgeous view from Ama Ama.

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During the beautiful sunset, the table behind us decided to take a photo. I would have been ok with it had they asked, but they didn't and just pushed their way in between our table and the couple next to us and proceeded to take a ton of photos with the picture takers rear end basically right in my face. I was not thrilled but luckily it didn't last long. I personally would have never done that, and after they did so, they came back for more photos a couple min later, again without asking. Oh well. I have to say, this and only one other time I will talk about later, were the only times I saw other guests being rude. Overall all the guests and every single cast member we met were so friendly. On to day 5!
 

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