Aulani TR 07/06/2013-07/14/2013
Cast is me, DW, DD(17), DD(14). We are DVC members and decided to do something special this year, given that DD17 graduated high school and is off to college in about 6 weeks, DD14 graduated from middle school, and DW and I hit the big 50 this year. So, I cashed in this years points, borrowed into next years points, used credit card points for airline tickets and rental car. Booked 6 nights on points, and 2 nights with cash.
I learned much from lurking this forum, but didnt have time to research as much as I would like. So, disclaimer upfront is that I may repeat what may be obvious to others whove poured through the forums more than I.
Left Columbus, OH at 8:00 on 07/06, with a 90 minute stop in Phoenix, and then landed at HNL around 2:15 pm local time. Both flights on time, so we were fortunate to have no issues on arrival day. Biggest hassle was waiting on about 15-20 minutes for the plane to get access to park at the gate. We walked to baggage claim, rather than taking the shuttle. Turns out the walk is quite far and a bit confusion to find the right baggage claim area. But it felt good to walk after a 6 hour flight from PHX.
Shuttle to rental car and were on our way to Aulani around 3:20. Traffic was somewhat light and we arrived at Aulani by 4:00. We pulled up and were greeted by several CMs to help us get luggage of the car and park our car temporarily while we checked in. Self-park is complementary to DVC members. We were greeted by Juko, who asked our names and handed us our room keys right at the front door no registration desk required (we checked-in online). The unloading area reminds me of pulling up to AKV or WL.
We reserved a 1BR pool view for first 5 nights, and island view for last 3 nights. We originally thought of staying near Waikiki for the first couple nights, but then decided to just stay at Aulani the entire trip rather than moving hotels, finding a large room near Waikiki, etc. We are waitlisted for last three nights for pool view, so hopefully that will come through so we dont have to move mid-week. We are in room 306, which is the lobby floor. Nice view of pool area, though too low to see much of the ocean. It appears that ocean view for similar room location start around the 6th floor.
We unpacked, and spent some time walking the resort to see where things
are. I also went to Monkeypods website and made a reservation for 7:00pm. No problem. DW and I drove to Safeway to get food for our room, while the girls explored the pool. Siri was not very helpful getting us to Safeway, as we passed Safeway from H1 and had to exit and drive back. As with most grocery stores, they have a loyalty card that provides a discount or sales prices on many items. We dont have a Safeway card. At checkout we told the cashier that we were from out of town, so she gave us a new card and told we could fill out the application later. All told we saved about $40, with grocery bill of about $120 were generally only planning to eat breakfast, and have some snacks for the room. This is our usual plan when visiting WDW well see how it goes here.
Came back unloaded groceries and got ready to go to Monkeypod. Monkeypod is right across the street, so no car required, and theres a small parking lot there anyway. Monkeypod was hopping. Its a nice open-air, two story restaurant with several unique items ranging from burgers, to seafood, and several pizzas.
The kids went to check on the animation class that was offered at 8:30, but when they went down no one was there, so they went to the hot tub for about an hour. Its been a long day, and since were on Eastern time, our body thinks it 2:30-3:00am by now. So, its time for bed. Tomorrows plan includes exploring Aulani in the morning, and then driving over to Wakiki beach for early afternoon.
Cast is me, DW, DD(17), DD(14). We are DVC members and decided to do something special this year, given that DD17 graduated high school and is off to college in about 6 weeks, DD14 graduated from middle school, and DW and I hit the big 50 this year. So, I cashed in this years points, borrowed into next years points, used credit card points for airline tickets and rental car. Booked 6 nights on points, and 2 nights with cash.
I learned much from lurking this forum, but didnt have time to research as much as I would like. So, disclaimer upfront is that I may repeat what may be obvious to others whove poured through the forums more than I.
Left Columbus, OH at 8:00 on 07/06, with a 90 minute stop in Phoenix, and then landed at HNL around 2:15 pm local time. Both flights on time, so we were fortunate to have no issues on arrival day. Biggest hassle was waiting on about 15-20 minutes for the plane to get access to park at the gate. We walked to baggage claim, rather than taking the shuttle. Turns out the walk is quite far and a bit confusion to find the right baggage claim area. But it felt good to walk after a 6 hour flight from PHX.
Shuttle to rental car and were on our way to Aulani around 3:20. Traffic was somewhat light and we arrived at Aulani by 4:00. We pulled up and were greeted by several CMs to help us get luggage of the car and park our car temporarily while we checked in. Self-park is complementary to DVC members. We were greeted by Juko, who asked our names and handed us our room keys right at the front door no registration desk required (we checked-in online). The unloading area reminds me of pulling up to AKV or WL.
We reserved a 1BR pool view for first 5 nights, and island view for last 3 nights. We originally thought of staying near Waikiki for the first couple nights, but then decided to just stay at Aulani the entire trip rather than moving hotels, finding a large room near Waikiki, etc. We are waitlisted for last three nights for pool view, so hopefully that will come through so we dont have to move mid-week. We are in room 306, which is the lobby floor. Nice view of pool area, though too low to see much of the ocean. It appears that ocean view for similar room location start around the 6th floor.
We unpacked, and spent some time walking the resort to see where things
are. I also went to Monkeypods website and made a reservation for 7:00pm. No problem. DW and I drove to Safeway to get food for our room, while the girls explored the pool. Siri was not very helpful getting us to Safeway, as we passed Safeway from H1 and had to exit and drive back. As with most grocery stores, they have a loyalty card that provides a discount or sales prices on many items. We dont have a Safeway card. At checkout we told the cashier that we were from out of town, so she gave us a new card and told we could fill out the application later. All told we saved about $40, with grocery bill of about $120 were generally only planning to eat breakfast, and have some snacks for the room. This is our usual plan when visiting WDW well see how it goes here.
Came back unloaded groceries and got ready to go to Monkeypod. Monkeypod is right across the street, so no car required, and theres a small parking lot there anyway. Monkeypod was hopping. Its a nice open-air, two story restaurant with several unique items ranging from burgers, to seafood, and several pizzas.
The kids went to check on the animation class that was offered at 8:30, but when they went down no one was there, so they went to the hot tub for about an hour. Its been a long day, and since were on Eastern time, our body thinks it 2:30-3:00am by now. So, its time for bed. Tomorrows plan includes exploring Aulani in the morning, and then driving over to Wakiki beach for early afternoon.
