Aulani TR - Sharks, Horses, a sub-scooter and Mickey!

(Continued from previous post - part 4)

...... loose as a goose and ready for…….

Our 8:15 reservations at Ama Ama. What did you think I was going to say? Get your mind out of the gutter. The DISboards is family oriented! :lmao:

After getting cleaned up (and now that you hopefully have cleaned up your thoughts!), we made our way down to the restaurant. It was a very pleasant night. We were early so we walked along the beach path, watched a few minutes of the outdoors movie and eventually made our way to Ama Ama. Someone that obviously thought they were a VIP, showed up without reservations and was perturbed that they were not allowed in immediately. He asked to speak to the manager or the executive chef. I was so proud of the CM. She was very tactful and diplomatic but politely told this person that he would have to wait and the wait would be at least an hour since he did not have reservations. He stepped back in a huff to confer with his companions, so I walked right up and said in a voice loud enough for him to hear, “The name is Browning and we have reservations for two at 8:15”. I know, it’s a bit childish but the CM appreciated it, mouthed to me “thank you” and then said loud enough for him to hear this as well, “Right this way Mr. Browning, your table is waiting.” I purposefully avoided looking at Mr. Important as we passed by but I could feel the stare. Tough cookies mister. I made reservations months ago. It serves you right!

Unfortunately, that was the highlight of our meal. We were really anticipating this meal but it did not live up to our expectations. The waiter was great but the food was, well….average. Here were our choices…

We started off with a couple of adult beverages. We were in Hawaii so why not try something local. I had a Liliko'I Mojito (old lahaina light rum, liliko'I aka passion fruit, organic agave nectar, mint and fresh lime juice topped with soda water). DW had a tropical ginger lemonade (skyy infusions pineapple vodka, ginger, and housemade lemonade with a splash of grenadine). They were both VERY sweet…too sweet for us. I couldn’t even finish mine.

For appetizers, I had the Maui onion soup au gratin and DW had the heirloom tomato and mozzarella buratta cheese with a white corn vinaigrette and baby basil. My onion soup was over cooked and the cheese on top was burned. Not lightly singed like it should be but burned black. DW’s appetizer was good but not great.

For our entrées, DW had the catch of the day which was mahi mahi served with island vegetables and potato puree. She got it grilled with a lemon-caper brown butter. I had the Harris Ranch natural Angus beef grilled New York Striploin with potato puree and farmer’s market vegetables served with shallot-red wine sauce. Her fish was dry. My steak was as well. Both were overcooked.

We decided to not try a dessert at this point. It was an expensive “okay” meal. Maybe we had an off night because others have raved about Ama Ama. But based on our experience, if I had to choose one special meal, I would walk across the boulevard to Roy’s….hands down.
 
And a nice way to end the trek with more beautiful scenery

425.jpg

:rotfl: Leave it to you. :rotfl2:

Mark - did you put your eyeballs back in their sockets yet. :rolleyes1

That's actually a great shot, as they all are. Your pictures look better than ever on my new computer. The colors are so incredibly vibrant and those waves are pretty amazing.

I was watching some show on the the Discovery channel or Weather Channel and they reported that there is a huge number of people who end up in the water going on rocks like that. They showed some pretty impressive rescues.

OK - back to read.
 
The couples massage sounds great! What a great way to unwind after shopping. I love those necklaces. That place looks so cool. Now that's what I'm talking about.

Sorry that dinner did not live you to your expectations. That is a bummer and I hate when that happens. Your mojito sounds yummy. It was really that sweet? And where are the food pics? That's why I have started using my phone for food pics. Much less obtrusive.
 
OH - and YEAH :cool1: that we are going to have a DIS meet in October. Maybe some food & wine around the world? I can't wait to go back. That was SO fun!
 


:rotfl: Leave it to you. :rotfl2:

Mark - did you put your eyeballs back in their sockets yet. :rolleyes1
I admire God's beauty in all shapes and forms...just some shapes and forms more than others. :rotfl2:


The couples massage sounds great! What a great way to unwind after shopping. I love those necklaces. That place looks so cool. Now that's what I'm talking about.
Kinda guessed this would be DW's favorite day...shopping...massage...dinner

Sorry that dinner did not live you to your expectations. That is a bummer and I hate when that happens. Your mojito sounds yummy. It was really that sweet? And where are the food pics? That's why I have started using my phone for food pics. Much less obtrusive.
I have not had any luck at all taking food pics. I don't use a flash so as to try and not disturb the other guests. Maybe one day I'll figure it out.


OH - and YEAH :cool1: that we are going to have a DIS meet in October. Maybe some food & wine around the world? I can't wait to go back. That was SO fun!
I'm looking forward to F&W next year and meeting you and Denny. I just wish it would hurry up and get here!
 
Okay folks (at least the few that are still following this TR), it's time to wrap this up.

Sunday – September 9th

Today is our last day. Checkout time is 11:00am but our flight does not leave until 6:45pm. We took our time. I was up early and watched the Saints-Redskins game on TV. It was 7:00am local time. It was the first opening day game I’ve missed in years. With the way it ended, I’m glad I missed it. We made our reservations for Aulani before the regular season NFL schedule was released. After it was released, I tried to get our Aulani reservations changed by bumping it up one day and then leave on Saturday instead of today. We would fly into New Orleans, go to the game and then leave for home after the game. Diehard fan, right? I never could get the first day reservation change and we had to go ahead and book our flight so we weren’t able to swing it.

We checked out without any problems. Our plans were to ride around today and take in the sights until it was time to be at the airport. Where did we go? Why back to the North Shore of course. But along the way we had two places we wanted to visit. The first was to stop here…

448-1.jpg


Yup…we visited the Dole Pineapple Plantation. The place was packed! Two tour buses arrived when we did and there was a foreign film crew there taping a show. We didn’t have time for any tours so we just browsed the gift shop and … and … and … you know the answer … we got a Dole Whip!!! No pics because it was all gone before I thought to take one so here is one from Dole…

449.jpg



Our next stop was here…

450.jpg



That’s right, we drove across the island to see a non-mobile van that had graffiti all over it! This is the famous Giovanni’s shrimp truck. You have to be looking for it because it is off in a hole beside the road with a couple of other similar “restaurants”. As you can imagine, there are not many choices. There is shrimp scampi, shrimp hot and spicy, shrimp with lemon and butter, garlic hot dog, rice and mac salad. That’s it. They also have canned drinks, bottled water and souvenir t-shirts. DW got the shrimp scampi (it should be called garlic shrimp) and I chose the shrimp with lemon and butter. You get plain white rice with each order as well. It was everything that we had read and expected. Real good food, an adequate amount and a reasonable price. The total for our two orders and two drinks was $16.

(Continued in next post)
 
(Continued from previous post)

Now that we were properly fed, it was time to go into the town of Haleiwa and walk around. There are surf shops, art galleries, REAL restaurants and plenty of other places to see for both tourists and locals alike. After a visit to NUMEROUS shops, we were back on the road to the beach as well as a few other people…

450a.jpg



Looks like plenty of others had the same idea on this Sunday. Finding a place to park is difficult. There are very few parking spaces so we did like everyone else and pulled off the side of the road. We were at Laniakea Beach aka “Lani’s Beach” aka “Turtle Beach”.

451.jpg


452.jpg


453.jpg



A tour bus had just dropped off a ton of people and they were crowded around something on the beach. They finally moved out of the way and here is what they were looking at…

454.jpg


455.jpg


Within a few minutes, this one decided to join the party

456.jpg


457.jpg


I’m not sure what Fido here was trying to catch but he was having a ball trying

458.jpg



A few more pics of the area

459.jpg


460.jpg


461.jpg


(Continued in next post...part 2)
 


(Continued from previous post...part 2)

We were back in the car and heading up the beach to the area known as Sunset Beach. Along the way we took a detour (Garmin got us lost again) and I saw an interesting sight. There were dozens of these, a good breeze but none of them were turning. Go figure.

462.jpg



We finally made it to Sunset Beach

463.jpg


464.jpg


465.jpg



Some of the flora of the area

466.jpg


467.jpg


468.jpg
[


More of the beach

469.jpg


470.jpg


471.jpg


(Continued in next post...part 3)
 
(Continued from previous post...part 3)

For those not familiar with the North Shore, during the early winter months, the waves are the best for competition surfing. From early November to late December each year, the area plays host to the “Vans Triple Crown of Surfing” contests. There is the Reef Hawaiian Pro at Ali’I Beach Park in Haleiwa, the O’Neill World Cup at Sunset Beach and the Billabong Pipeline Masters at Ehukai Beach aka known as the Banzai Pipeline. In addition, there is the Quiksilver Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational at Waimea Bay. DD and DSiL are returning to Aulani this month and they plan on making their way to the North Shore to try and catch one of these events. While we were there, the waves were small but I found these pics by Clark Little that might interest you

472.jpg


473.jpg


474.jpg


475.jpg


476.jpg



And here are some pics of the type of surfing competition expected while DD and DSiL are there in December

477.jpg


478.jpg


479.jpg


(Continued in next post...for the last time)
 
(Continued from previous post and final entry)

It was getting time to make our way to the airport. Nothing exciting happened on the way. Dropping the car off was uneventful. We grabbed a bite at one of the airport restaurants. It was decent. As we were going through the TSA screening, I forgot to take my keys out of my pocket so I set the alarm off. Nothing to do now but swab me for explosives! Sighhhh. I guess I passed inspection or didn’t look too much like a terrorist.

The flight from Honolulu to Dallas was blah. Since this was an overnight flight, they only showed one movie and then it was lights out around 9:30pm. DW nor I slept very well. These long legs don’t like airline seats very well. As we were approaching DFW, the Captain announced the gates for various connecting flights. We didn’t have but an hour layover so we knew we needed to get a move on to the announced gate. There was only one problem. The gate announced for our flight to Jackson, MS was abandoned. There was no one there…NO ONE!! Not only was there no one at this gate, we were at the far end of the concourse. It was about 7:50am on Monday morning and nobody was at any of the Customer Service desks yet either.

We made our way back to the main terminal and found a flight board and the gate we were supposed to board at was wayyyyy over in a different concourse. The flight was scheduled to leave at 8:20am and it was just past 8:00 now. Do you remember at the beginning of this TR I told of our honeymoon trip and how they held the flight while I dealt with Kojak and then ran through the airport? Well, this time there was no Kojak to deal with but it was deja vu all over again! DW and I were hoofing it through the airport!!

We finally arrived at the correct gate. The airline employee saw us as we arrived and asked if we were the Browning’s. “Yes ma’am,” I said out of breath. “They announced the wrong gate on the flight from Honolulu”, hoping to invoke some sympathy. Nope. She checked our boarding passes and away we went to board the plane. Obviously someone didn’t think we were coming because we had to shoo people out of our reserved seats. We made it nonetheless and arrived in Jackson, MS a little worse for the wear but safe and sound. A 2 hour drive and we were home.

Final thoughts
Aulani was amazing. Disney’s imagineers outdid themselves and constructed a very nice resort in the middle of paradise. We had a few disappointing moments (migraine, speeding ticket, no shark excursion) but we’ve come to expect these hiccups on our trips. If we have the chance to return one day, we wouldn’t hesitate. The next time I think we’ll stop in California somewhere to break up the long flight. As I mentioned earlier, DD and DSiL are going to Aulani from 12/14-12/20/12 for their delayed honeymoon. I know they will enjoy themselves and I can’t wait to see their pictures of the new resort construction, the North Shore surfing competition and the other places they plan on visiting that we didn’t have time to see. I close out this trip report and bid you Aloha with a few pictures I took at Aulani one evening

480.jpg


481.jpg


482.jpg
 
Beautiful pictures!

Thanks for the report! Aulani did indeed look amazing. I'm glad you got to explore the island as well.

The turtles must be neat to see up close and personal like that.

And I'm guessing in retrospect that you're happy you didn't get to the Saints/Redskins game. Then again, I'm an Eagles fan, so I have no room to talk.

Sorry for the airport troubles. Your pilot wasn't named Garmin by any chance, was he?
 
Beautiful pictures!

Thanks for the report! Aulani did indeed look amazing. I'm glad you got to explore the island as well.

The turtles must be neat to see up close and personal like that.

And I'm guessing in retrospect that you're happy you didn't get to the Saints/Redskins game. Then again, I'm an Eagles fan, so I have no room to talk.

Sorry for the airport troubles. Your pilot wasn't named Garmin by any chance, was he?

Thanks Mark. I wish I would of had some frame of reference to show the size of those turtles. They were huge! There was a person that did nothing all day but place a red rope around the turtles to keep people from getting too close. You couldn't get closer than about 6 feet.

Eagles fan, huh? Ouch!! I feel your pain! :(
 
Great report and great photos. Thanks so much for all the insight. We leave in 11 days and hadn't done nearly enough research (not like we normally do) because we have been to HI a number of times. But it's our first time to Aulani and our first extended time on Oahu (most of our trips have been to Maui). Your trip report has served to prod us into learning more and we learned most of it from you! So thank you. thank you. thank you.
 
Still here! Quick skim of your pics this morning = amazing. I know the last ones weren't yours, but they could be, right? :thumbsup2 I'll be back tonight to look at them in more detail! all I can say now is NICE!
 
DFW is a pretty big airport and I know the tram moves fast, but sheesh! So glad you didn't miss your flight because that would have s......., well you know! Those overnight flights are killer. I had one like that coming home from Tahiti. So tired when I got home. I think I slept for 24 hours straight when I got home.

Your final pictures are so lovely. Too bad there weren't any big waves so you could have practiced your photography skills. I hope your DD and DSIL have an awesome time this month.

Aulani really is a fabulous place. Thanks for doing such an awesome TR.

Oh - I almost forgot - those turtles are HUGE! Wow! And everything looks so cool on my new computer screen. I can even see pictures here at work. Shhhhhh!

So what's next on the agenda? I know about F&W and am so excited for a meet. But I have a feeling you probably have something else planned in the interim.
 
Great report and great photos. Thanks so much for all the insight. We leave in 11 days and hadn't done nearly enough research (not like we normally do) because we have been to HI a number of times. But it's our first time to Aulani and our first extended time on Oahu (most of our trips have been to Maui). Your trip report has served to prod us into learning more and we learned most of it from you! So thank you. thank you. thank you.
I am so glad I could provide a bit of info for your upcoming trip. The DISboards have been great for my family in our research for our trips. I hope you have a fantastic time at Aulani. You'll be arriving about the time my DD and DSiL are leaving. Thanks for the kind words.


Bill.

Great TR. I wish the football season was as nice.

Who Dat!
I started to text you after that debacle on Sunday. I was hoping you didn't go to the game. We need for Dallas to go far into the post season so they don't fire their coach and go after Sean P!!


DFW is a pretty big airport and I know the tram moves fast, but sheesh! So glad you didn't miss your flight because that would have s......., well you know! Those overnight flights are killer. I had one like that coming home from Tahiti. So tired when I got home. I think I slept for 24 hours straight when I got home.

Your final pictures are so lovely. Too bad there weren't any big waves so you could have practiced your photography skills. I hope your DD and DSIL have an awesome time this month.

Aulani really is a fabulous place. Thanks for doing such an awesome TR.

Oh - I almost forgot - those turtles are HUGE! Wow! And everything looks so cool on my new computer screen. I can even see pictures here at work. Shhhhhh!

So what's next on the agenda? I know about F&W and am so excited for a meet. But I have a feeling you probably have something else planned in the interim.
Hmmmm....searching the DISboards during work? Don't tell anyone but I do the same thing!! I'm trying to get the hang of this camera stuff. I wish I could take more trips to practice. Sounds like a good excuse, doesn't it?

We really had a great time at Aulani. Here I am the planner in the group and DD is leaving for Aulani in 4 days and they have not planned anything!!! That acorn fell WAYYYYY far from the tree!

No plans at this time involving Disney until our meet up next October and that I am really looking forward to. DW wants a new kitchen floor and counters so that takes care of our usual May trip. It looks like DS1 is possibly moving to Charleston so I might have to help him move! :thumbsup2
 
No plans at this time involving Disney until our meet up next October and that I am really looking forward to. DW wants a new kitchen floor and counters so that takes care of our usual May trip. It looks like DS1 is possibly moving to Charleston so I might have to help him move! :thumbsup2

Hey - a kitchen remodel is extremely important. Priorities.

Charleston? Wow - so jealous. I just loved it there. Can't wait to stop there again in April on the way back from HHI.
 
I started to text you after that debacle on Sunday. I was hoping you didn't go to the game. We need for Dallas to go far into the post season so they don't fire their coach and go after Sean P!!

With the recent losses, I did not "lobby" some of our vendors for tickets as I felt our season was essentially over (boy was I right).

I agree we need Dallas to finish strong.

BTW, I went to Soldier Field to see the Bears / Seahawks game last week (work related boondoggle) and I have to say they run a classy operation at Solider field - not like most NFL stadiums... 'cept for my Superdome.
 
I started to text you after that debacle on Sunday. I was hoping you didn't go to the game. We need for Dallas to go far into the post season so they don't fire their coach and go after Sean P!!

With the recent losses, I did not "lobby" some of our vendors for tickets as I felt our season was essentially over (boy was I right).

I agree we need Dallas to finish strong.

BTW, I went to Soldier Field to see the Bears / Seahawks game last week (work related boondoggle) and I have to say they run a classy operation at Solider field - not like most NFL stadiums... 'cept for my Superdome.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts

Top