Aulani Waves and Disneyland Days: An Ohana Adventure - Day 8 Happy hour in Hawaii

[bambikate]

Introduction and Index

Day 8: Happy Hour in Hawaii
Watching the sunrise, Starbucks breakfast, resort time, meeting Shellie-May, dinner at Monkeypod, sunset photos on the beach, family drinks at Mina’s Fish House at the Four Seasons Oahu, swimming in the rain.

Today was our last full day in Hawaii

We were up super early today as we were keen to see the sunrise. We went out to the beach area, it was so tranquil and the sky looked so pretty, although it wasn’t really the best place to see it.



















We wandered over to Starbucks by about 6:30am.







We bought a breakfast croissant, egg bites, a breakfast roll, a breakfast wrap, a coffee, a strawberry açai and an iced white mocha and enjoyed these at the restaurant.









We also went for a browse in ABC stores for some last minute souvenirs



Walking back over



Andy and I did some packing to make the final pack tomorrow slightly easier, whilst the girls enjoyed the water slides.





Whilst in the lazy river Izzy spotted Olu pretending to check people in to the restaurant



For lunch, we kept things simple with Ulu Cafe. I decided I would give a poke bowl a try after trying the tiny sample of poke earlier in the holiday. You could get set ones with specific ingredients or a fully customisable create your own option, so I chose the latter. It was a 10/10 - sooo tasty and fresh. I would say they are a bit too big and as they’re expensive, I wish they did half portions. Andy chose the Tropical açai bowl with granola, bananas, pineapple, mango, coconut chips and honey and gave it a 7/10 I think it was a bit mushier than he would have liked.





A little boat excursion they had



After lunch we all spent time on the beach and in the sea.

Then we went to go and meet Shellie May - she was ADORABLE! And we also saw Mickey again!

Mickey!




We then went back up to our room for some snacks and drinks, TV and balcony time and got ready for our early dinner reservation at Monkeypod (4:20pm - so we could be there for Happy Hour 3:30-5pm).

It was so convenient having Monkeypod just across the road, we only went once on our trip but we 100% would go back again (and more than once) as the food, drink, service, atmosphere and price were all great and it was 5 mins away from Aulani, well lit and had a safe crossing.

We were seated upstairs in the middle of the room. It was packed upstairs, downstairs and outside. In order to participate in the happy hour you just have to make sure you order before 5pm. Our server also said you could pre-order the drinks to be brought out later in the meal and still be on the offer, which was great! He also said they’re super relaxed on the 5pm rule and said if he didn’t get back to our table to just gone 5 to take the order it would still be included on it no worries.

The happy hour was $2 off draft beers, $3 off wines by the Glass, $4 all handcrafted culinary cocktails (normally $17) and for food:
Half off all appetizers (with the exception of the poke tacos, lobster devilled eggs, potstickers, & lomilomi)
Pizzas only $12 (normally $22) (with the exception of the bourgeois pizza)
Mocktails were not on offer and cost $10 each.

For drinks, Andy and I HAD to have the famous Monkeypod Mai Tai, which is kula organic silver and dark rums, lime, house-made macadamia nut orgeat, bols orange curacao and a honey-lilikoi foam. We were also super happy to see the girls could also join in with this as they had the Virgin Monkeypod Mai Tai - POG juice, lime, mac-nut orgeat, honey-lilikoi foam and a slice of Maui pineapple! All 4 of us gave our drinks 10/10 and said they were one of the best drinks of the holiday.

Virgin Monkeypod Mai Tai



Monkeypod Mai Tai



We got two Kalua Pork & Pineapple pizzas (kalua pork, macnut pesto, roasted pineapple, jalapeño, green onion),



House Cut Fries with wholegrain mustard aioli, monkeypod ketchup,



roasted chicken wings (roasted free range chicken, garlic, local rosemary, red pepper, yogurt-feta) and a



meat pizza which I can’t see on the menu any more.

[bambikate]

All the food was brilliant we thoroughly enjoyed everything we ordered and it made it better that it was such good value.

Later on in the meal we had another round of Mai Tais and as dessert Andy and I tried their Margarita, which was excellent







For the girls’ dessert, they shared a banana cream pie which they said was delicious (laie vanilla pastry cream, local apple banana, laie vanilla whipped cream, caramel, homemade pie crust)



Thoroughly happy and relaxed and reminiscing on what a fantastic holiday we had all had, we headed back.

One thing I had really hoped to do before we left Hawaii was to get a sunset beach family photo.I had contemplated paying for a portrait session but then I had heard that the Photopass photographers are on the beach too and they will do it for free (apart from paying for photo pass itself, obviously) (but obviously you don’t get them all to yourselves for an hour or whatever you would get with a portrait session).

We headed over in our nice clothes from the meal and saw some families getting the most incredible shots with a stunning sunset behind them.

The sun was setting and we got in line behind another family, there were two photo pass photographers with their own lines.

Our photographer was taking her time with previous family taking the most amazing pictures - they had a little baby and she was doing everything to get the perfect shot - I knew we had a great photographer but I was also worried we would miss the sunset!

It was finally our turn and she literally did such a great job, she was FANTASTIC. Not only did she make our night buy she also captured memories we can cherish forever in these amazing shots. We were the last family that evening and we were so grateful. We made sure we told her how thankful we were and we couldn’t wait to see them. She showed us a couple on her viewfinder. She was excited too!

And here are just a few!







Around 7pm after hanging around on the beach a little longer, we decided wanted to go back to Mina’s fish house as we had loved it so much. We knew kids were welcome but assumed we would have to have a table away from bar (as per Disney’s usual policy) but to our surprise, they said it wasn’t a problem for kids to be seated at the bar.

The girls were really happy about this and we had a great bartender again. Super engaging with the girls and made a huge fuss of them - asked what they wanted and basically made to order with POG juice and a flower.



They loved watching him make ours which of course we had to get the ‘If Can Can’ again! Andy had gin this time and I had tequila. We loved them so much, this is definitely getting added to our home bar menu!





It was such a memorable thing to do with the girls we all loved it so much. A perfect end to the most perfect trip to Hawaii! There was a live singer, creating a great relaxed vibe, we could have stayed there all night!

But... We wanted a final evening dip in the pool!







We walked back to Aulani and to our room to change then headed down to the Ka Maka Grotto for a late night swim whilst Andy picked up some cocktails from the pool bar and some fizzy drinks in the refillable mugs for the girls from Ulu Cafe.



I got a ‘Lava Flow’ (Don Q Rum, Cream of Coconut, Strawberry Purée and Pineapple Juice) essentially a Pina colava like at WDW and on the cruise ships. It was delicious but very filling. Andy got a long island iced tea.



It started to pick with rain - the first rain of the holiday! It wasn’t very heavy and was still warm so we just hid under towels for a bit.





We used the hot tub and the pools for a bit then went back to our room to shower, chill and watch some TV before bed.

[Cutiepie]

A perfect day love all the photos😁 x

[Pep]

Lovely day monkey pod looked good and your family photos on the beach are fab.

[Wonder]

Sounds like a fabulously relaxing last day in Hawaii, all the drinks you had sound fabulous!

I love a Pina Colava from WDW, fantastic you were able to get an Aulani version.

The family photos on the beach are gorgeous, what a relief you didn't pay for a shoot when you were able to use your photo pass and got such a good photographer!

[Pumba75]

Really enjoying reading along and your lovely photos.
On my bucket list to go one day! 🥰

M x

[bambikate]

Originally Posted by Cutiepie

A perfect day love all the photos😁 x

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Ahh thanks so much x

Originally Posted by Pep

Lovely day monkey pod looked good and your family photos on the beach are fab.

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Loved Monkey Pod so much - ahh thank you so much

Originally Posted by Wonder

Sounds like a fabulously relaxing last day in Hawaii, all the drinks you had sound fabulous!

I love a Pina Colava from WDW, fantastic you were able to get an Aulani version.

The family photos on the beach are gorgeous, what a relief you didn't pay for a shoot when you were able to use your photo pass and got such a good photographer!

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Ahh thank you - it was so fun! Yeah they're so nice aren't they! Yum!

Yes, we were so pleased with them - thank you so much! TFR!

Originally Posted by Pumba75

Really enjoying reading along and your lovely photos.
On my bucket list to go one day! 🥰

M x

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Ahh thank you I appreciate that - thank you for reading! x

[smithlane]

Oh Kate what a perfect end to the perfect week in Hawaii!
I absolutely love those sunset family photos of you all, I bet you’re chuffed with them.
All your cocktails sound amazing and I’m adding them to my list to try!