Introduction

This is the story of our anniversary trip to Aulani and Walt Disney World, starting with our Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings vow renewal and six days at Aulani and ending up in Orlando for Disney’s Fairy Tales Weddings’ Bridal Showcase plus a dessert-less anniversary dessert party in Epcot’s Italy Pavilion!

Also on the itinerary were major sightseeing all over Oahu and our first peek at New Fantasyland, plus dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant and Monsieur Paul. And three different Disney cakes!

The Trip

Who is in your party?
Carrie & Patrick, with special guest appearance by wedding-photographers-turned-pals Nate & Jensey Root!

When did you go?
February 1–10, 2013

Where did you stay?
Aulani + The Contemporary Resort

Where did you eat?

• Alan Wong’s Restaurant (Oahu)
• ‘Ama ‘Ama (Aulani)
• Makahiki Restaurant (Aulani)
• Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck (Oahu)
• Matsumoto’s Shave Ice (Oahu)
• Zippy’s (Oahu)
• Poke Stop (Oahu)
• Ted’s Bakery (Oahu)
• Biergarten
• Be Our Guest Restaurant
• Monsieur Paul
• The Wave

Any special plans, events, etc.?

• DFTW Vow Renewal at Aulani
• USS Arizona Memorial & USS Missouri
• Doris Duke’s Shangri-La
• ‘Iolani Palace
• Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve
• Kualoa Ranch Movie Tour
• North Shore Driving Trip
• Laniwai Spa Day
• Aulani’s Starlit Hui
• Dole Plantation
• Polynesian Cultural Center
• New Fantasyland
• DFTW Bridal Showcase
• “Dessert-less” Dessert Party at Italy Overlook for IllumiNations

Vow Renewal Planning Thread

I’m putting all the nuts-and-bolts details of planning a wedding or vow renewal at Aulani in this thread over on the DIS’ Weddings & Honeymoons board.

Introduction

When Aulani debuted, I was desperate to get out there. But then I started reading reports of overpriced, underwhelming food; a location in the boonies that meant commuting to see any of Oahu’s tourist attractions; and crowded pool and beach areas overrun with locals and tourists who had nothing else to do out there. The only thing that might tempt me, the availability of Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings, was similarly unappealing due to its high price tag, large room-night requirement, and hefty per-person food and beverage minimums that made it unfeasible for a small vow renewal.

Then Disney introduced its Memories Collection of elopement-style events at Aulani, and suddenly I was interested again. Every other year we do something at Disney to celebrate the anniversary of our Disney wedding, and if our Tower of Terror 3rd anniversary dinner party topped our IllumiNations 1st anniversary dinner party, I knew our 5th anniversary was going to have to be pretty spectacular to top that! I started talking with the Roots, who became our friends after shooting our wedding and have since made guest appearances in several of our Disney trip reports. We’ve loved spending previous anniversaries with them, but it’s gotten harder to connect since they moved to Nashville and their schedule has filled up with weddings around the globe. So the idea of getting to take a whole trip with them was very appealing (to us, anyway!).

As soon as they were in, I started planning. I found a Disney Vacation Club member to rent points from for our stay, slashing the cost of accommodation by 50%. I contacted Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings and put a deposit down on a Memories Collection vow renewal. I used our frequent flyer miles to book all our flights.

And then Disney announced a huge construction project to fix some of the things Aulani guests were complaining about (like crowded pools and a lack of inexpensive food options). The gorgeous, ocean-view Wedding Garden became a dirt pit on its way to becoming an expanded pool area, and construction walls went up around most of the other ceremony sites. I almost canceled the trip three times (basically every time Disney announced another phase of construction, with its accompanying depression-inducing photos of more construction walls). But when you’ve already made nonrefundable deposits on your ceremony and accommodation, it’s hard to swallow the idea of losing all that money, so I stuck it out.

Planning

The one thing I don’t like about our anniversary is its proximity to Christmas. Who wants to be planning some big trip (or a whole production like a vow renewal) during the holidays? So a lot of my planning was done just about a month before we left. Among my resources were…

• This detailed DIS Boards trip report (no photos, unfortunately, but tons of info!)
• The Oahu Revealed guidebook by Andrew Doughty
• This thread on Chowhound’s Hawaii board

Change of Plans

Originally we were going to spend 10 nights in Hawaii, dividing our time between Aulani and either a resort in Waikiki/Honolulu or flying to the Big Island for a few days to see the volcano. Then Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings announced its second Bridal Showcase would be held a few days after our vow renewal. Since going to these things is kinda my job, I had to cut short the Hawaii part of our trip, book a day of travel between Hawaii and Florida, and add three days at Walt Disney World to our anniversary plans. Rough, I know… 

To entice Patrick into continuing with me on the WDW leg of the trip, I made a dinner reservation at Biergarten, a place he’s always wanted to eat but I never let him, and promised at least one full day of exploring New Fantasyland. To entice myself, I added a dessert party in an Epcot venue I’d always wanted to try (Italy Overlook, the staircase that runs up the side of the front building) and a custom anniversary cake made by the Contemporary Resort.

Click here to read about Day 1!