Hi All, thanks so much for following along! I really enjoy reading all of your comments and am so grateful that people actually enjoy reading!
Day 5 - Aloha to Aulani! (Apologies in advance as most of the photos are in the bottom half of the post!)
The alarm went off early, and the sun and beautiful weather were calling us. We had scheduled on our itinerary to go to Diamond Head for the famous hike that morning! We contemplated it for a little while, but decided to sleep in instead. After experiencing the chaos of the KCC Farmer's Market, we were not keen on doing anything that could involve too many crowds, let alone go on a hot hike!
I walked to the nearby Hiking Hawaii Cafe at the Hilton Doubletree Hotel to pick up acai bowls for our breakfast. They were, unfortunately, overpriced and not very good - too stingy with the toppings and we were both just left with a lot of acai smoothie once all the toppings were eaten! Nothing could come close to Haleiwa Bowls from our day at the North Shore!
We still had our rental car for a few hours, so we decided to drive to Ala Moana Shopping Center -- this is a fairly upscale mall near Honolulu and Waikiki. I wanted to check out the
Disney Store and DH agreed because he figured there'd be air-conditioning. DH didn't really get his wish (it's a half-indoors, half-outdoors mall), so instead he sat at a nice coffee place while I took a stroll around the mall. (It was Honolulu Coffee Company - DH told me he really enjoyed it!)
The Disney Store didn't have anything specific to Hawaii, and neither did the mall except for perhaps one or two "local" boutiques. (I add the asterisks because I'm not sure if they are actually local or just aimed at tourists). Everything else was pretty much your standard fancy mall, with familiar brand names. I did find a local bakery but it literally only sold one type of cookie (in multiple flavors). The cookie seemed really delicate and crumbled at the slightest touch when I sampled a piece, so I decided against buying some to take home.
We did realize, however, that the mall had a Musubi Cafe in it! This was great news because it was the last item on our Honolulu to-try list, and we wouldn't have to drive anywhere for it. (We had wanted to check it out on our first day but were a bit lost, so we hadn't wind up going). Musubi Cafe is actually located in this wonderful food court at a corner of the Ala Moana Center with a ton of really great-looking quick-service dining options. We didn't wind up eating lunch there, because DH had wanted his last meal in Honolulu to be at another okazuya (all of our meals on the rest of the trip would be eaten in Ko Olina, since we were returning the rental car that day). But I looked at all the different stalls and people's dishes as they walked by, and they all looked quite mouth-watering! I'd highly recommend you check it out if you're looking for a place to get a quick bite. It looks especially great for families because people can order different types of food from different stalls, but still enjoy eating the meal together. The musubis were delicious, too (DH's favorite musubi of the trip!)
We headed to Nuuanu Okazuya in Honolulu for lunch. If yesterday's okazuya was a casual, homey restaurant, this was even more so - it essentially felt like we were eating in the owner's apartment. There were couches and tables, and a bookshelf for customers to browse. When the employee (likely owner) finished serving customers, he plopped himself down on the couch and watched the Food Network on TV in the middle of the restaurant! I browsed some books as I ate my meal - the shelf had a lot of cookbooks on Hawaiian and Hawaiian-Japanese cuisine and I loved taking a peek at the different recipes!
The food was affordable and of a good quality. To me, it wasn't as good as the Masa & Joyce Okazuya we ate at yesterday, but I think it was because the vegetables were cold rather than warm (the meats/proteins were warm). Notwithstanding that, the place truly seemed like a small community restaurant, as if we were eating a home-cooked meal. As I understand it, you typically get to pick whatever you want at an okazuya, so most people will get rice or noodles, and then just pick some choices of different meats or vegetables. DH picked up a chicken katsu, and while he agreed that the food overall wasn't as good as yesterday's okazuya, he raved about the chicken katsu for the rest of the trip. I didn't quite understand it (isn't breaded chicken just always breaded chicken? It's good, but how good can it get?) but according to DH it was just the right preparation, with everything in the correct proportions.
We picked up our bags from the AirBnB, and drove back to the Sheraton Hotel in Waikiki to return the car to Avis. (The first reason we rented from the Avis at Sheraton was so we wouldn't have to wait in a long line at the airport. The second reason was so we could order an Uber and wait somewhere easily accessible and comfortable with our suitcases (as opposed to a side of the road somewhere) when it came time to head to Aulani). The Uber came promptly and he drove us to Aulani! The cost for the Uber was around $55, and took around 40-45 minutes.
Welcome to Aulani!
The architecture is so intricate and beautiful!
We had checked in online, so we were promptly given leis and provided with our room keys right as we drove up. It was around 2:15 when we arrived, but our room was already ready. While our request for a king-size bed wasn't met, we were told we were upgraded from an Island View to a Partial Ocean view. We were fine either way, and I had known we were coming to Aulani at a busy time, so we just went with the flow.
Partial Ocean View indeed!
We explored the resort, and each enjoyed a delicious shave ice! It was a little too sweet (DH bemoaned not being able to stop by Aloha Shave Ice one more time) but nonetheless still tasty. While the Mickey ears were adorable, they were awfully difficult to eat! About 30-40% of my shave ice actually fell off the container and onto the floor, but it was worth it to get the cute ears at least once!
All the shave ice flavors!
DH got condensed milk on his!
We hopped into the pools and went around the lazy river for a bit and also tried the slides. We also shared an adorable Mickey spam musubi (how many musubis is too many for a Hawaiian vacation?!) and hung around the pools till evening. After we got cleaned up, we headed to Monkeypod Kitchen across the street for dinner.
Up close and personal with a Mickey musubi! (Can someone teach me how to rotate photos on here?)
I had made a reservation at Monkeypod a few weeks ago, because I knew Aulani would be busy and was afraid the restaurant might be too. That probably wasn't necessary - the restaurant was huge, so while there were lots of people dining there, there was also plenty of space. I'm afraid I don't remember what we ate (I know we had some tasty wings, but that's because we always get wings... I literally had wings for dinner this evening), but it was all pretty good, and we loved just sitting in restaurant, enjoying the ocean breeze and each others' company. I had read mixed reviews of Monkeypod - some people love it, and others seem to think that people love it just because it's not Aulani food - but the food was of a high quality and service was excellent, so we had no complaints at all. I think DH even treated himself to a nice slice of coconut pie for dessert!
We stopped by the Island Country Markets store nearby to pick up a big bottle of water for our room, and walked back over to Aulani. A great day!
A towel swan and a Mickey-shaped towel bundle was in our room when we checked in! I rarely get towel animals at WDW or at
Disneyland, so this was a delightful surprise!
Stay tuned for Day 6 - beach time at Aulani and an excellent luau!
I am flying out tomorrow morning to Walt Disney World! Unfortunately, that means I'll have to disappear again this weekend. But Iife should be back to normal on Monday, so I should be able to finish up the whole trip next week! Thanks so much for following along patiently and I hope you're all enjoying it as much as I am!
I wish they had that lamp for sale! I saw it in the "Welcome to DVC" area. Plus, there is never a bad time for Dole Whips.. I literally have one a day when I'm at Disney World!
