If you’re dreaming of an island getaway with a sprinkle of Disney magic, Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa in Ko Olina, Hawai‘i, is your tropical wish come true. While many come for the stunning beaches and sunsets, the heart of an Aulani vacation lies in its incredible resort activities — thoughtfully designed for families, kids, couples, and Disney fans of all ages.

Whether you’re seeking adventure, relaxation, cultural experiences, or character encounters, here’s your guide to the can’t-miss activities that make Aulani so unforgettable.

Splash Into Waikolohe Valley

The Waikolohe Valley Pool Area is the central hub for aquatic fun — and it’s included with your stay!

• Waikolohe Stream & Lazy River – Float along the tropical garden stream or ride the currents at your own pace.
• Volcanic Vertical – Brave this body slide that zips you through lava tubes.
• Menehune Bridge – Kids love this interactive water playground with slides, water jets, and a climbing structure.

Plus, enjoy multiple pools, including an adults-only Wailana Pool, an infinity-edge pool with ocean views, and serene whirlpools.

Meet Moana, Mickey & More

One of the best parts of any Disney vacation? Character meet and greets!

At Aulani, you can meet:

• Moana – Chat about wayfinding and adventure!
• Mickey and Minnie – Dressed in island attire.
• Stitch, Donald, Goofy, and more – Say aloha and snap a tropical selfie.

Keep an eye on the Daily ‘Iwa (Aulani’s activity schedule) for character times and locations.

Immerse Yourself in Hawaiian Culture

Aulani is more than a resort—it’s a celebration of Hawaiian tradition. Dive into cultural experiences that bring island heritage to life:

KA WA‘A: A Luau at Aulani

Enjoy this signature luau experience featuring:

• Authentic Hula dancing, storytelling, and live music.
• Buffet dinner with Hawaiian specialties (and kid-friendly options!).
• Pre-show activities like lei-making and temporary tattoos.

It’s a must-do for the whole family!

Cultural Classes & Crafts

Join local artisans and Cast Members in hands-on experiences like:

• Ukulele lessons
• Lei making
• Hula dancing
• ‘Ohana crafts at Pau Hana Room (Aulani’s community hall)

Many of these are complimentary or included in your stay!

Snorkel in Rainbow Reef

Want to explore underwater wonders without leaving the resort? Rainbow Reef is Aulani’s private snorkeling lagoon, teeming with tropical fish.

• Safe and calm for beginners.
• Great for all ages (ages 5+).
• Watch from the viewing windows if you’d rather stay dry!

This is a small upcharge, but it’s a magical add-on worth considering.

Aunty’s Beach House: Disney Kids Club

Parents, rejoice! Aunty’s Beach House is a complimentary kids club for ages 5–12 with:

• Interactive games, movies, Hawaiian storytelling
• Surprise character visits
• Arts & crafts, science fun, and more

You’ll need to reserve time in advance, but it’s one of the best perks of staying at Aulani — giving kids AND parents some magic time apart.

Relaxation & Rejuvenation

When it’s time to unwind, don’t miss:

• Laniwai Spa – Indulge in massages, facials, and the hydrotherapy garden.
• Beachfront Lounging – Reserve a cabana or simply enjoy the golden sands of Ko Olina Lagoon.
• Sunset Fire Pit Storytelling – Gather with Kupuna (elders) for Hawaiian legends under the stars.

Bonus: Nighttime Magic

Just like the Disney Parks, Aulani shines at night:

• Movie Nights Under the Stars – Family-friendly Disney classics in the open air.
• Live Hawaiian Music – Found at ‘AMA‘AMA, The ‘?lelo Room, and poolside.
• Menehune Adventure Trail – An interactive scavenger hunt around the resort, filled with magical surprises.

Plan Your Aulani Adventure

With so many included activities and magical touches, Aulani offers an enchanting vacation experience that blends authentic Hawaiian culture with Disney storytelling.

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The final result!

It’s been a while since I cooked something from The Unofficial Disney Parks Cookbook, written by Ashley Craft. So I decided to try my hand at the Friar’s Nook Loaded Buffalo Chicken Tots.

The Unofficial Disney Parks Cookbook

Ms. Craft came up with this recipe to closely approximate the delicious item served at The Friar’s Nook in the Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland. It looked like it would make a scrumptious, filling meal!

The ingredients

INGREDIENTS:

½ of a 32-ounce package of frozen tater tots
1 cup shredded cooked chicken breast
1 tablespoon buffalo sauce
3 tablespoons blue cheese dressing
3 tablespoons blue cheese crumbles
2 medium stalks of celery, trimmed and diced

Crispy tater tots

The first step is to cook the tater tots according to the package instructions. Ms. Craft suggests when making the copycat Friar’s Nook tots to stir the tots two or three times while they’re cooking so that they brown evenly. She also recommended that you cook your tots slightly longer than the suggested cook time on the package so that the tots can hold up all the toppings without getting soggy.

Buffalo chicken

Next, divide the cooked tots amongst three bowls. In a large bowl, toss the chicken with buffalo sauce. I used pre-cooked frozen chicken that was cubed. I heated them in the microwave and then shredded the cubes using two forks. No one in my family is a fan of super-spicy food, so I used mild buffalo sauce.

The next step is to top the tater tots with the chicken. Next, drizzle the blue cheese dressing on top. I used a yogurt-based blue cheese dressing from Bolthouse Farms that I really love.

Next, sprinkle the celery on top.  The last step is to sprinkle the blue cheese crumbles over the whole thing. And then, of course, it was time to eat!

I’m glad I followed Ms. Craft’s advice, because the tater tots in the bowl stayed crispy even with the saucy chicken mixture on top. The meal was very filling because of the protein from the chicken!

If you don’t own a copy of this cookbook, I seriously suggest you check it out. It’s a great way to recreate some of the magic of Disney in your own kitchen!

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The Disney Wonder

When you’re vacationing with Disney, whether that’s Disneyland, Walt Disney World, or on the Disney Cruise Line, it’s easy to forget that the real world exists. You’re immersed in a fantasy world where childhood dreams come true and magic happens all around you.

But the truth is, a Disney vacation IS part of the real world, and like it or not, sometimes things go wrong. In past blogs I talked about having to go to a medical clinic in Walt Disney World, losing my driver’s license in Animal Kingdom, and taking a fall in Disneyland. Today I wanted to talk about something we never thought we’d need to do: visiting the ship’s doctor on a Disney Cruise.

The Disney Wonder in port

Towards the end of our recent cruise to Alaska, someone in our party became ill in the middle of the night. At first, we weren’t sure what to do. We called Guest Services, who put us in touch with the nurse on duty. When we explained the situation, the nurse let us know about the three tiers of service that the onboard Disney Cruise Line Health Center offered.

First, there was emergency medical services. This would happen if someone onboard had a life-threatening, serious emergency. That individual would be evacuated from the ship and brought to the nearest hospital. This was clearly not the case for us.

The second was urgent care, in which we would go to the Health Center without an appointment to get something taken care of right away. She warned us that this was quite expensive and shouldn’t be done unless we were seriously concerned about someone’s condition. This also was not the case for us.

The third option, which is what we opted for, was to make an appointment with the Disney Cruse ship’s doctor during regular operating hours. There would be a charge, but the nurse said that in most cases, guests can get reimbursed by their insurance carriers.

On the Disney Wonder, the Health Center is located on the first deck

We arrived at our appointment promptly at 10:00am the next morning. On the Wonder, the Health Center is located on the first deck. All personnel were masked, and some also wore face shields.

We were escorted into an examination room where a nurse carefully checked the patient’s vitals. The nurse pointed out that there was a bathroom adjoining the room in case anyone needed it.

Dr. Alyssa met us very soon afterwards. She gave the patient a thorough examination and gave us instructions for care. She also gave us a small amount of prescription medication in case we needed it.

The doctor also wrote us a letter to excuse us from that day’s shore excursion so that we could get a refund. Since the patient was a minor, she said usually they only will refund for the patient and one adult. However, she requested that both parents get the refund, and this request was honored.

She also gave us an itemized bill that we could submit to our insurance for reimbursement. I’m happy to say that we were reimbursed the full amount. She told us to call back that evening to report on how the patient was doing.

All in all, the medical personnel at the Health Center on a Disney Cruise did a great job in calming our fears, making the patient feel better, and helping us to navigate the complexities of the end of our cruise. I hope this post helps you to understand what your options are if someone becomes ill during your Disney Cruise.

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Now showing at a theater near you!

I am an MCU fan. I watch every movie and every TV show. And I want to live at Avengers Campus in Disneyland’s California Adventure. Since my entire family enjoyed the first two Ant-Man films (Ant-Man followed by Ant-Man and the Wasp) we were looking forward to seeing Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. I’m going to attempt to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible, but I will openly discuss things that were also shown in the trailer. So if you want to go into Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania without having any information about it whatsoever, you might want to stop reading.

The premise for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is that Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), who took over the mantle of Ant-Man from his mentor Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), is enjoying his life and his new-found fame after helping the Avengers save the world. He’s in a good relationship with the current Wasp, Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and spends a lot of time with her predecessor, her mother, Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer).

However, he can’t seem to keep his teenaged daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton, and in a small sequence of flashbacks, Abby Ryder Forston) out of trouble. Determined to help the world just like her dad, she’s been in jail for civil disobedience and she is dabbling in dangerous technology to better understand the quantum realm.

The name of the film has the word Quantumania in it, so it should come as no surprise that the Langs and the Van Dynes find themselves traveling in the quantum realm, which is being threatened by the mysterious Kang (Jonathan Majors).

The scenes in which Scott is in the real world were my favorite. Paul Rudd perfectly embodies Scott Lang as a lovable guy who is seriously out of his depth but doing the best that he can. Even though he’s fought with the Avengers, deep down he’s still the guy who got fired from Baskin Robbins all those years ago.

Jonathan Majors is outstanding as Kang. He is menacing even when he is quiet, and in scenes where he is behaving in a perfectly reasonable manner, something about his performance still left me uneasy. His scenes with Michelle Pfeiffer are appropriately tense and dramatic. In many ways, these two carried the film.

The visuals are stunning, and there are several very trippy scenes in which our heroes have to traverse very strange and unusual landscapes. Both the design and execution of the quantum realm is top notch.

But Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is certainly not without its flaws. The large cast inevitably means that some characters seem to be just along for the ride. Hope Van Dyne does not have an emotional arc at all. While her character does things mechanically to help the good guys, we don’t get a clear feeling of who she is or what she wants. I don’t blame the actress for this. There simply wasn’t enough for her to do. Hank also suffers from a lack of good material to work with, but he had more of an emotional life than Hope.

And I realize that the majority of this film takes place in the quantum realm, but Michael Pena’s hilarious take on Luis was sorely missing. In some ways, he was the heart of the first two films, and his absence bothered me.

One of the major things that bothered me about Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is something I’ve been saying a lot when it comes to Marvel films: The huge, epic CG battle at the end was wearying. I was so numb to it that I found myself checking the time during it. It wasn’t until we got away from the cast-of-thousands sequence and really focused on a fight scene between Kang and Ant-Man that I truly got involved in the story again.

Is Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania my favorite MCU film? No. Did I enjoy it as much as the first two Ant-Man films? No. Am I glad I saw it? Absolutely. Just temper your expectations. If you go into this film looking for big, beautiful visuals and a fun time, you won’t be disappointed.

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Completed egg maps with prizes

It’s springtime at Disneyland, and that means it’s time for the Eggstravaganza Egg Hunt! For the third time, I decided to do the Downtown Disney version of this hunt. And I discovered some surprises along the way! (Can you say FREE experiences?)

How the Eggstravaganza Works

The Eggstravaganza is a fun activity. You can buy a map which comes with stickers. The map will give you a general location for each oversized egg that looks like a Disney character. Once you find that egg, you put the corresponding sticker on the map. When you’re done, you can show your map to a Cast Member to receive a prize in the form of a plastic egg emblazoned with a Disney character.

We purchased our map at World of Disney

We purchased our map in World of Disney. We used a Disney Vacation Club discount and the total came to $9.69. You can also use a Magic Key discount for the map. Map in hand, we were on our way to find eggs!

This is where we redeemed our map and collected our prize

About the Hunt

Note: If you are planning on doing the 2023 Eggstravaganza at Downtown Disney this year, stop reading! I’m going to provide a couple of photos that show the location of some of the eggs. If you’re thinking about doing this next year, you can go ahead and keep reading. The locations of the eggs are changed every year.

We found Pluto!

In the past, the majority of the eggs were hidden in shop windows so that guests did not have to enter most locations to find the eggs. This year, many more eggs were actually inside the locations. I’m sure this is because Disney wants you to be tempted to buy something once you are in a shop. (It worked. We made purchases at the Lego Store and LovePop.)

Photo op inside the Dress Shop

Inside the Dress Shop, there is a photo op where you can turn yourself into an egg. This is not a Magic Shot. This is the old-fashioned method of sticking your head through a hole in a giant flat egg.

Crafts station with FREE crafts!

While looking for the egg at Tortilla Jo’s (this one was tricky), we came across a free crafts station. Cast Members were handing out coloring sheets and paper chef’s hats that guests could decorate.

The Lego Store had its own hunt and prize – for FREE!

Inside the Lego Store, we made another discovery! In addition to having an Eggstavaganza egg hidden in the store, the Lego Store hid several eggs made of Legos. They were handing out sheets and pencils so guests could find them all and redeem their sheet for a prize. The best thing about this? It was all free! It was fun finding the Lego eggs, and we left with our paper bunny ears and stickers.

We found Daisy!

Once again, the Eggstravaganza at the Downtown Disney District was fun, relatively inexpensive, and a very pleasant way to spend a few hours during Spring Break. If you’re looking for something fun to do with your family during springtime that doesn’t involve a park, I suggest you check it out!

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