Aulani Waves and Disneyland Days: An Ohana Adventure - Day 6 ‘AMA ‘AMA have me a spam cocktail

[bambikate]

Introduction and Index

Day 6 - ‘AMA ‘AMA have me a spam cocktail
Full resort day, swimming, lazy river, Minnie ear making, beach, swimming in the sea, bodyboarding, meeting Angel, Olu and Moana, dinner at ‘AMA ‘AMA and drinks at Mina’s Fish House at the Four Seasons Oahu.

Today’s agenda was way more chilled than the day before and included a full resort day and lots of delicious food and drink!

Excited to make the most of this beautiful resort we had breakfast in the room and were down to the pools before 9am. One of the only negatives for us about Aulani we had found was the fact it was hard to find loungers in the daytime - sometimes you’d have to wander round a few times to find one, which was very annoying. You got a coloured wrist band per day to make sure it was only resort guests using the pool (you can get them (and pool towels) the evening before for the next day, so you don’t have to queue in the morning, which we did tend to do).

Arriving this early meant we had our pick of chairs, which was great.

We all went in the pools for a while and sunbathed on the loungers.





At 11:30am, the girls and I went for our light up Mickey ears class. We booked this before we went and it cost $26 plus tax for non light up ears and $36 plus tax for light up ears each (you can just go in and accompany someone if only one of you wants to make them) but we all did.

Another thing that wasn’t the best was communication, you pre booked this online and nowhere did it tell you you had to come in at some point before and pre choose the colour lights of your ears and what colour flowers and accessories you wanted?! Somehow every other person got the message and had pre selected theirs, so when we went in they asked for our name and said “oh you’ve not preselected your ears and decorations - that’s OK we can do it now!” It turned out fine and we were able to choose there and then but it was just a bit annoying - I wonder if an email went to my junk folder, maybe?









Whilst we did the class, Andy sunbathed and had a pre 12pm mai tai - heaven!



We all really enjoyed the ear making - it was so cute and a lovely souvenir to keep; it took around an hour in total.

This is the Stitch statue where everyone would return their leis when they were done with them. (We did too at the end of our stay) To be respectful, you should always return the Lei to its natural habitat by burying them or scattering the flowers in a natural environment like the ocean or flower beds.

Hawaiians believe that we get the flowers from the land so when we are done using them, we return them to the land - apparently you must never throw them in the bin.

A cast member told us that they will collect them once or twice a day and return them to nature for the guests.

For lunch, we went to Ulu Cafe and the girls had kids chicken tenders and fries each, which came with ranch and celery and carrot, Andy and I got a chicken Caesar salad each which was delicious.





Once our food had gone down, we decided to move from the pool area to the beach and found some loungers. The sand was SCORCHING hot, we genuinely burnt the soles of our feet just from walking on it for 30 seconds it was unbearable! To combat this, we would wear our shoes right down to the water’s edge and only take them off on the wet sand.

The girls hired bodyboards, which were free to hire for Aulani guests. We did budget for and hoped to hire paddle boards (and life jackets) but unfortunately they were only able to be used for solo use - I had seen parents and kids sharing them and assumed we could do the same but were told that it could only be kids 9 and under with an adult, which was a shame. The girls didn’t feel comfortable enough on their own boards so we left it. Annoyingly, the Four Seasons next door had paddle boards big enough for 2 adults but again they were only for hotel guests of that resort.

Around 2:30pm we went to go and meet Olu the Turtle - Hawaii’s Duffy and Friends character. Whilst waiting, we saw Daisy and Angel walk past.





Every morning at 8am you could call ‘CHIP” (2447) from your room telephone and it would tell you what characters you could see that day, where they would be and at what times - later on in the day this is also in the app. We thought this was cute and would jot down any we might want to go and see.

It used to make us giggle when they would say the afternoon times because they would say both 'o'clock' and 'p.m' "one o clock pm"

It was quite funny when we were waiting in line some people were like “who are you waiting to see?” And we said “Olu” and they were like “Who?!” Haha. A lot of people did know who he was though as a lot of people ended up in the queue to see him. We were first in line and only waited ten minutes.

He’s so adorable!

We also saw that Moana had no queue so met her too

The girls were feeling in need of a refreshment and went to Ulu Cafe to get a dole whip, as they started serving the machine got stuck and wouldn’t fill up more than halfway - the cast member said Izzy could have it for free!



We chilled for a bit longer and then the girls did the water slide a few times then went up to our room to get ready.


A few months beforehand we had floated the idea to the girls now they are getting older of having a bit of time independent from us and they loved the idea so we started to plan a date night in and settled on ‘AMA ‘AMA.

I did ask the girls if they wanted to come to ‘AMA ‘AMA but they didn’t really like the sound of the menu and said they would rather get a pizza and have more pool time.

We bought pizzas from Ulu Cafe for the girls and they had these whilst we got ready and had a couple of drinks including this random Snoop Dog sparkling wine we got at Target



Also, these yummy Hawaiian crisps (they were both delicious!)





We went over a few safety rules, including only pools with lifeguards (I think they were all lifeguarded) and made sure they knew where we would be, where they could and couldn’t go and the fact they must always have their phones and magic bands on them (I bought those waterproof phone covers on lanyards) and they must stick together at all times.

They loved having some independence and it’s something they definitely want to build into future trips, which is fine by us!

Ready!

[bambikate]

The girls headed off to Ulu Cafe to get more unlimited fizzy drinks Andy and I strolled down to ‘AMA ‘AMA for a delicious evening!





I had booked a table at a time based on when sunset would be that day to try and asked for a table facing the beach (most of them do anyway).

These gorgeous fresh leis were available to purchase - I didn’t note it down but I think they were $170+ each! We had bought some traditional fresh orchid leis for me and the girls from the refrigerators at ABC Island Country Stores, earlier that day; they were such a good price only about $10 each! I wore mine that evening and the girls wore theirs the next day.



Sunny!



We were seated near the far end of the restaurant with the most spectacular view of the ocean and the sun setting.

At first, they had some sheer blinds which took the edge off the blinding sun, which were raised when the sun wasn’t quite so blinding.



Dinner was a four course tasting menu and we opted for the wine pairing too. To start, Andy and I chose a cocktail each - I chose the Ode to Mango and Andy chose the Honey-Need-List.

Menus





Ode to Mango



Honey-Need-List



I loved mine but Andy said he wasn’t so keen on his. We were given some bread to nibble on whilst we chose our courses and then an amuse bouche which was a delicious meatball but I’m sure it had a much classier official name!





We chose venison tartare to start (black garlic and truffle, cured egg yolk, forrest greens and sourdough.



Andy quadruple parked at one point!



For appetisers, we both chose pork belly (Scanlan sauce, onion, kiawe honey, Okinawa sweet potato)



For mains we both chose Kobe ribeye (Shi≈≈≈≈o chimi, shallot mushroom, fondant potato, tomato and Demi)



A magnificent sunset - we felt so so lucky at this point.







There was a live singer singing acoustic versions of Disney and non-Disney songs at Off The Hook, which is attached to ‘AMA ‘AMA, which was being played into the restaurant too.

She had such a gorgeous voice and at one point during dinner, some chords started playing and I instantly recognised it - it was "At last I see the light" from Tangled. I started tearing up - this is my favourite Disney song and it was absolutely perfect.





For dessert, I chose the Citrus Bar (Lilikoi ganache, white chocolate pistachio crunch, kalamansi curd and gingersnap tuile) This was 10/10 hands down.



Andy had the chocolate mousse (milk chocolate macadamia nut crunch, cinnamon whipped cream, Kona coffee anglaise ) The top of this was designed to look like Mokoliʻi the little island we had driven past near Kualoa Ranch, which the locals refer to as “Chinaman’s hat”.



I had checked in a few times periodically with the girls and they were having a great time, which made me feel happy and relaxed.

We finished our incredible experience around 7:30pm and popped over to see the girls, they seemed disappointed our meal had been so quick and said we should go and have a drink as they were having so much fun - we looked at each other and suggested we check out Mina’s Fish House for a cocktail at the Four Seasons next door.



Mina’s Fish House was packed, it had live music and an incredible atmosphere. I was nervous about being turned away with it being so busy but they said they had space at the bar (which is where we wanted to be anyway!)

We had been wanting to visit here for months having seen their famous ‘Spam’ cocktail on an Ordinary Adventures Vlog! (Don’t worry it doesn’t contain any spam!)

Our bartender was very charismatic and chatty with us, with a lot of flair whilst making drinks, which is always so fun when you’re sitting at the bar - it made for such a fun experience!

Cocktail menu





We already knew what we were going to have - the ‘If Can, Can!” This was your choice of spirit, (gin tequila, vodka or rum) with orange curaçao, lime, pineapple and orgeat I chose rum and Andy chose tequila - they were STRONG! But also gorgeous.

We had a great forty minutes or so chilling and enjoying the live music and atmosphere. We were offered another round but declined as they went straight to our heads!







We walked back to Aulani and joined the girls poolside then went up to our room to get into swimwear so we could join them in the pool for the rest of the evening

[Wonder]

Great day! Sounds like a lovely chance to recharge the batteries and enjoy the resort... imagine if you picked up one of those Leis without noticing the price though!

[bambikate]

Originally Posted by Wonder

Great day! Sounds like a lovely chance to recharge the batteries and enjoy the resort... imagine if you picked up one of those Leis without noticing the price though!

See more...

Thank you - such a special day, one of our faves. Oh my gosh can you imagine! Haha TFR x

[smithlane]

What a great day! Those light up Minnie ears look fab.
I love that you and Andy had a date night, your meal and that view look incredible! When Jim and I used to leave the kids for a short time when they were about Izzy and Immy’s age, they too were always disappointed when we returned 😂. It’s lovely that they feel grown up and independent 😊

[Pep]

Another great day that sunset at Dinner was breathtaking 😍

[bambikate]

Originally Posted by smithlane

What a great day! Those light up Minnie ears look fab.
I love that you and Andy had a date night, your meal and that view look incredible! When Jim and I used to leave the kids for a short time when they were about Izzy and Immy’s age, they too were always disappointed when we returned 😂. It’s lovely that they feel grown up and independent 😊

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Haha glad it wasn't just us then! Ahh thank you - would definitely go back to 'AMA 'AMA again TFR x

Originally Posted by Pep

Another great day that sunset at Dinner was breathtaking 😍

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So beautiful and memorable! TFR!