Disney World Christmas

On the Wednesday before Christmas, we spent some time enjoying the holiday decorations in Disney World. We did some shopping at Disney Springs with friends, then met our DVC guide at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

He gave us a tour of a grand villa at Kidani Village, as well as showing us the concierge area at Jambo House.

Yesterday Susan and I toured the Epcot resorts to see the Christmas decorations and the gingerbread houses. At the Yacht Club a lighthouse and train set was on display. 

The Beach Club had a carousel, and there was a smaller gingerbread house at the Boardwalk. We ran out of time to see the houses at the Monorail resorts.

Sea World’s Christmas Celebration

We visited Sea World’s Christmas Celebration a couple of times in December. The first time was on the first of the month. I met Susan and the kids there after work so we could pick up free ornaments for being passholders. 

We then made a circuit around the park, grabbing some drinks and snacks at the Christmas booths around the park. With the passholder discount, the sampler lanyard makes Sea World’s booths a much better deal than Epcot’s. Only drawback is they are only open in the evenings on Friday to Monday. I also rode Ice Breaker, the coaster they opened in 2022. It’s fairly intense. 

We returned tonight to finish our lanyard and to watch the Sea of Trees.

World Celebration

While we were in Hawaii, most of the construction walls had been removed in Epcot’s World Celebration. On Sunday I met Susan at Epcot after work. She had already walked around the World Showcase with friends so I joined them for a few rides in World Nature and World Discovery.

A new statue of Walt had also been installed, called “Dreamer’s Point”.

There were still walls around the new Communicore Hall. It’s now not opening until 2024. Disney also debuted a new fireworks show in early December, but we didn’t stay for that.

Friday after work I met Bryan and some friends for a couple of rides at Hollywood Studios, and to enjoy the Christmas decorations there.

Earlier today Susan and I ran errands and stopped for lunch at the new Portillo’s in Clermont. Susan had been invited to a special pre-opening event. It was pretty good.

Flight home

 

Tuesday morning after breakfast we packed up our stuff and left the rental house for our last day in Kauai. I had wanted to visit the Kīlauea Lighthouse but it was closed everyday we were on the island. Lots of stuff on Kauai were like that - closed midweek or not open until evening. Still we drove as close to the lighthouse as we could to admire the view. 

From there we headed south past Lihue to Poipu, where we checked out some shops and ate pizza for lunch at Old Koloa Town. It rained intermittently throughout the day. Also like almost everywhere we stopped in Kauai, there were chickens wandering around. 

After lunch we continued west to Waimea, then drove up a ridge to a viewpoint about half way of the canyon. The southwest of Kauai, like Oahu or Big Island, is mostly grassy hills, rather than the many trees on the rest of the island. 

Finally we headed to the Lihue airport for our flight home. We flew a red eye to LAX, then this morning flew home. Both flights we upgraded to Delta comfort plus. 

Kauai

We spent three nights on Kauai. Much of our time we hung out at our rental house, cooking and eating breakfast and dinner, reading, and watching some T.V.  Yesterday we drove to Haena Beach, about a half hour to the west of Princeville. It was only 10 miles, but the road was narrow and windy, with many one lane bridges. Swimming wasn’t allowed, but we got our feet wet, and there was a cool cave across the street that we explored before heading back. 

Almost everyone I’ve known that has been to Kauai has said how beautiful it is, and that is true.  It was very green, especially the Nepali coast where we were. Unless you like to surf or snorkel or hike though, there’s not nearly as much to do here as Oahu, Maui, or the Big Island.

Today we drove down to Wailua. We looked at the river and a waterfall, had some lunch, and checked out some shops, there and in nearby Kapa’a. We then headed back to Princeville for our last night in the rental house.

Oahu to Kauai

 

Friday was our last full day at Aulani, and we mostly spent it hanging out by the beach, although we also spent some time in the lazy river and took photos with Santa Stitch.  Just before sunset we went down to the beach and took more photos, then had our last dinner in the villa. 

This morning we checked out of Aulani and headed to the airport for our flight to Kauai.  We flew Southwest, and it was the shortest flight we’ve ever done. Once we got to the Lihue airport, we picked up rental minivans, stopped by Costco for provisions, and drove a little under an hour to the north side of the island. 

We rented a house in Princeville on the Napali coast. Once we unpacked, we headed to Hanalei Bay to look around and grab some mix plates for dinner. This was the first time we had visited Kauai.

Honolulu

This morning after breakfast we drove up to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, or the Punchbowl. We took about 10 minutes to drive around the cemetery, another ten to look around the memorial, and another ten to walk up to the scenic lookout, which has great views of Honolulu.  

We then headed down to the Capital District, to see the statue of King Kamehameha, the Iolani Palace, and the State Capitol building. I considered touring the palace but didn’t think the price and time were worth the effort. 

From there we went to the Ala Moana Center, and walked around and did some shopping. 

We then had a late lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. We had eaten at a Hard Rock when we were in Honolulu back in 1996, and even though it was in a different building I don’t consider it a new one to add to my total. From there we drove by Waikiki Beach, then back to Aulani for dinner.

Aulani

A Grand villa at Aulani consists of three bedrooms and three bathrooms. Two of the bedrooms have two queen beds, the third has a king. It also has a family room with a sofa bed and a sleeper chair, and a dining room and kitchen. Our villa was at the end of one wing of the resort, which gave us a great view but meant a fairly long walk to the elevators, It had a very large balcony that ran the entire length of the villa. 

Wednesday morning we spent a couple of hours down at the pool area and in the lazy river, then made lunch in the villa. In the afternoon we spent time at the beach. 

In the evening Susan and I went on the “Culture through Nature” tour. Aulani has several nice restaurants and lots of activities to fill up the day, including character meet and greets. It was also decorated for Christmas. We had dinner in the villa and hung out until it was time for bed.

North Shore

This morning we made breakfast in our villa, then went down to the pool area for a couple of hours. Besides several pools and hot tubs, Aulani has two slides and a lazy river.

 

In afternoon we headed toward the North Shore. We stopped at the Dole Plantation to look around. There was an intermittent drizzle all day so the maze was closed and we decided not to spend the money to ride the train.

We then drove to Haleiwa and had a late lunch at the Beach House restaurant. After that we walked around the stores and ate Matsumoto shaved ice. We then stopped at Ted’s Bakery and picked up some pies for later.

Finally we drove to Turtle Beach to watch the sunset and try to spot sea turtles but didn’t see any. We then headed back to Aulani, which took a little over an hour, and enjoyed some pie.

Pearl Harbor

This morning we got up early, checked out of our room, checked our luggage with the bell services, and drove to Pearl Harbor. I hadn’t read the fine print on the reservation so we were a little surprised when the rangers at the entrance told us bags were not allowed in the memorial unless they were clear and we could put them back in the car or pay to check them. We got there around 9 am, and our reservation to go to the Arizona was at 9:45 so we didn’t have time to watch the movie before it. Instead we looked through the exhibits about the lead up to the war and the attack. I also spent a few minutes looking for the visitor center I remembered and have a photo of from our visit in 1996, but apparently it’s not there anymore. 

When our reservation time was up, we entered a theater for a short ranger talk, then got on the boat over to the memorial. The memorial is built over the remains of the USS Arizona, a battleship which was sank during the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. The boats go out to the memorial every 15 minutes; they drop off one group then pick up the previous one.

After our 15 minutes at the memorial, we waited to watch the next showing of the movie.  It’s almost 30 minutes long, so they only show it twice an hour. We then looked around the gift shop and headed out. We spent about 2 hours at the memorial; we could have easily spent a couple more by adding the tour of the USS Missouri and the USS Bowfin, a WW2 submarine. Instead we drove west to Costco to eat some lunch and buy food and supplies for the remainder of our stay on Oahu.

We headed back to Aulani, where we met our friends and checked into the ocean view Grand Villa we would be sharing with them for the next five nights. We made some dinner in the villa and then went to a Disney Vacation Club event.

Hawaii

Yesterday morning we got up very early and drove to MCO, where we caught a flight to JFK. There we boarded a flight to Honolulu, Hawaii. This was our first trip to Hawaii since 2005, and to Oahu since 1996, before Jenn was born. We have been using our Delta status whenever possible, so we stopped at the Sky Lounge in both MCO and JFK before the flights.

We were able to book the flights for not too many miles in July, so we decided to splurge to upgrade to Delta One first class for the 11 and a half hour flight between JFK and Honolulu. It was really great having more room and nicer screens, but I didn’t like being separated from Susan by a wall. Free alcoholic drinks made up for it though. 

We picked up our luggage and our car and realized we need to always get something bigger than a full-sized car when all four of us go on a trip with a large suitcase each. We barely managed to get everything in and drove about a half hour west to Aulani, the Disney resort at Ko Olina. 

Our first night we stayed in a two bedroom villa on the second floor. The second floor is nice because even though it didn’t have a great view it’s between the shops and lobbies on the third floor and the pools and restaurants on the first. It was dinner time by the time we finished check in, so we looked around the shops then grabbed some pizzas and refillable mugs from Ulu Cafe and ate them in our room. We went to bed soon after.