I am late writing about our final segment in Oahu. This is probably because of two reasons, the first being the hustle and bustle of returning back to normal life at home, but as well the last part of our vacation was probably not as fun as the previous stay.
The hotel that we stayed at Hilton Hawaiian Village while being probably our most expensive accommodations, was the least impressive. Our room was at the end of the building and did not have a very good view. The hotel room itself was very dated, and very much in need of a renovation. Dust collected, the carpet worn and room layout in need of modernization. The exterior property itself was beautiful, and from the outside looking in, very impressive. The pools however, were very cold. The one that we made use of the most was gross. It was frequently overcrowded with small children who undoubtedly made their contributions to the heavily chlorinated swimming poor waters. I remember being in Mexico where their pool was so full of sunscreen that it would layer out if your sunglasses went in the water. It was the same case.
We like night life, or should say, we liked night life. The kids going to sleep early at around 7 PM took away any benefit of the shows that occurred at the hotel. There was live music regularly. Even strolling down Waikiki the one time we did it was tiring.
One would think that staying at the Disney resort would be quite expensive, but Waikiki was even more expensive than that! I remember being thinking a $5 snow cone at Disney was a total rip off, but it was $9 in Waikiki! They had beachchair and umbrella rentals which cost about $100 for a set, and you can even keep them out until sunset as a closed at 5 PM! The beach was mediocre. There was minimal shade, and rocks in the water made wading less enjoyable than the man-made lagoons in Ko Olina.
We attended to timeshare talk at the hotel. They do have a very nice suite, of course for a very nice price, but is new and modern and had a fantastic view. For this we received a credit to use at the hotel property. We ate at the Bali Steakhouse, probably the fancier restaurant at the hotel. The steakhouse was such a letdown. Food wise, the best meal we had was actually a Sunday brunch at Orchids. The bill at Orchids was I popping, probably around $75 US per person, but in the end Bali cost more than that with amateur service and not as much food. It is surprising that our most worthwhile meals were probably back at Disney.
Despite this, here is a video of Everett telling me that I should go back home to work while the rest of the family stays in Hawaii.
I started getting a cold the last day or two of the vacation to top it all off. We did splurge on business class seats on the way back which was fantastic. Unfortunately, I did not get to enjoy a fantastic nighttime dinner that Shannon did. The Beans, especially Everett love to sleeping on the plane, popped on his eye covers and went to sleep right away, the two of them sleeping the entire flight back.
