Sunday
Lyft $80 to LAX
5 hour flight to Honolulu with Hawaiian, the flight and seats were great, but they did not cater for vegetarians or people with any food allergies, lucky we had some snacks!
We had stupidly booked a shuttle through Flight Centre, which was okay after over an hour wait on our luggage.
Checked in to the Outrigger on the reef hotel, this is our second stay here and you can still feel the Aloha as you walk down the lobby. The staff are lovely. Our one bedroom suite was gorgeous, but the fold out couch still has terrible mattresses, squeaky and springy. The wifi was shocking, but the pool and beach view from the lanai made me so happy! The pool is lovely and it’s a great bit of beach, though it is too reefy for us to swim in, though perfect for the Friday night or 4th of July fireworks.
My parents were staying at Outrigger on the beach, so when I refer to beach, I am talking about that bit of the beach. And the first thing we did was head up to that bit of beach. Lunch at Dukes, which has few vegetarian, df and gf options yet we still ate there most days. Their fish tacos were amazing with some Korean sauces, but the tortillas are wheat. The hula pie is still the highlight, I am not a great fan of their cocktails.
A swim at the hotel to finish off, a light meal from ABC.
Monday
My parents got sun beds at the beach so we went out there for the first half of the day. Dukes for lunch, and pool in the afternoon. We went to Ala Moana to do some shopping and finished at PF Changs. We used Lyft every time, as it turned out around the same price as getting public transport.
Tuesday
Breakfast at Eggs n Things, it was a 40 minute wait, lucky we brought games! The food was good though.
Then to our pick up for Oahu Nature tours – tour of the north shore. Our tour guide Tori was super knowledgeable about the environment and surrounds, we learnt a bunch, and really enjoyed most of the stops (would have loved to have swapped one beach stop for enough time for the train ride at the dole plantation). You cruise around and up to the North Shore. Byodo Temple was this beautiful Buddhist temple in the middle of a lush rainforest. We saw the China Mans Hat, and heard some of the mythology behind it.
Late lunch at Funis shrimp shack, with vegan options! Loved the spicy garlic shrimp, especially the sauce on the rice YUM! Also free dessert, popsicle or shave ice. We were lucky to spot green turtles on the beach, Tori knew a lot about turtles. The dole plantation was very cool, just wish we had have spent a bit more time there, but it was a long day and we did see a lot!
Light dinner at Cheeseburger walk, nice and quick after a long day.
Wednesday
Pool all day
CPK for dinner, we can’t go back there not enough vegan or gf options.
4th of July, fireworks on the beach in front of the hotel, a good viewing spot, we went early and chilled on the beach until it started.
Thursday
Beach, Dukes, Ala Moana and Genki sushi for dinner, lots of great options for vegetarians.
Friday
Beach
Dukes
Pool
Pf changs
Parents over
Saturday
Hawaii23 85 plus tip to Disney Aulani resort, they have excellent drivers.
Lunch ulu café – grabbed the refillable mug and used it over and over $19, it was great value over the 4 days. Ulu Café had some GF and vegan options, but not enough for four days, the GF flatbread got a bit boring after a while.
Aulani waited until 3 to check in, we were lucky to get sunbeds so just chilled there and in the pool until we got our suite. The suite was beautiful, it was a 1 bedroom DVC suite, we had a king bed, the kids had separate beds, we had a bathroom with shower and toilet and a spa in a separate bathroom adjoining the bed room. Great kitchen, massive fridge, big lanai, we couldn’t have asked for more.
Pool
Lazy river
Menehune trail, you can get this from the community room, they do the indoor one in the morning, outdoor from 3pm, you can also sign up for free activities there and borrow dvds.
Sunday
Lazy river
Water slides
2p goofy pool party
Chiefs luau
We went to this last time at the other location, and to be honest, this one felt so crowded, the activities felt less, and the staff felt overwhelmed with the amount of people at times. Arriving they seemed to have no idea how to make people enter in an orderly fashion, we weren’t sure where to go, they said follow your bus driver, my husband said we came by lyft, she just kept saying to stay in your bus group, which wasn’t helpful at all. Lots of queuing, to enter, for drinks, for activities, it felt like the same amount of people in half the space. It was $438 for two adults and two children. The dancers were amazing, the food was okay, not a lot of gf and vegetarian options, one of the other really. We had an okay time, we won’t be back.
Was a bit difficult to get a lyft home, ended up going with uber.
Monday
Lazy river
Kids at Aunties – last time the kids LOVED Aunties Beachhouse, so we pre registered before we left. It definitely helped, though you don’t get a free activity with pre registration anymore.
12p animation at the community room, we drew stitch, and did a cell painting, we all chose stitch, but there was Mickey and Minnie, and maybe someone else?
Borrowed dvds
3p outside menehune trail when it opened
Kids back to aunties beach house
Lazy river
Food delivered, uber eats, we were so over the options at the resort. The Mexican was good!
Tuesday
Waterslides
Lazy river
Snorkelling (if we did this earlier we would have got a 4 day pass, everyone loved it)
Lunch at ulu one more time!
Auntys beach house one more time
Lazy river and waterside, a stroll around the local shops
Makahiki - The Bounty of the Islands for dinner, this buffet is amazing, but it deteriorates for every food allergy you add, so we all could eat, but if you eat meat, dairy and wheat, you are going to love it!
Packing up our suitcases, realising we are 10kg over!
Wednesday
Hawaii 23 transport to the airport 65 plus tip, another great driver!
Flying with Jetstar. Staff were really cranky, one tried to give my anaphylactic (to nuts) a meal that we didn’t order that was a pesto base, lucky I saw or that could have been deadly. After flying with such kind airlines it was a bit of a downer that we had to return with them.
