Disney

A rock formation rises in the distance as a stream flows through the Waikolohe Valley at the Disney resort of Aulani in Hawaiʻi. Actually, the Waikolohe Valley is the name of the pool area in between the two Aulani towers. If you know Disney, you know they have a name and a backstory for everything instead of just “pool area”. So the mountain off to the side is known as Puʻu Kilo, the stream (a lazy river tube ride) is Waikolohe Stream, and the main pool (that is not visible here) is the Waikolohe Pool.

The sun sets past the lagoon and ocean near the Disney resort of Aulani on the island of Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi, as seen during our June 2023 visit. As you may know from reading the trip report, we went for a walk just about every evening that we were there. Part of that was to work off some of the calories we had eaten (do vacation calories even count?), part of that was to unwind from the day (not that we were stressed, but it is always good to relax at the end of the day), and part of that was to enjoy the beautiful scenery and sunsets.

Evening View The ʻEwa tower of Aulani - A Disney Resort and Spa is seen across Koholā Lagoon in Hawaiʻi during our June 2023 visit. Each evening during our stay, we would go for walks along the Ko Olina lagoons. The views from our walks were quite nice, to say the least. The Ko Olina resort area is along a series of four lagoons, and a path goes along the edges of each one.

A palm tree is silhouetted against the sunset sky in the Ko Olina resort area in Hawaiʻi, as seen on one of our evening walks during our Hawaiʻi 2023 trip. Each evening, around the time that the sun was setting, we would go for a walk along the Ko Olina lagoons. We would start at Aulani, walk to the end of the walkway (or until we reached the end of the lighted part if it was dark), and then walk back.

The View A nighttime view of the Aulani resort and the surrounding Ko Olina area in Hawaiʻi, as seen during our 30th anniversary trip. For our 30th anniversary, we wanted to do something special. As you may recall, we took a trip to the Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi for our 25th anniversary. Why not do something similar, but visit a different island? And why not go with friends? The Riedels’ 30th anniversary is just a couple of months before ours.

Looking out at the blue water of the Caribbean from our stateroom verandah on the Disney Fantasy during our 2022 Disney Cruise. Every morning during our cruise, one of the first things I would do after waking up was to wonder where I was. After my mind had cleared enough for me to remember that we were on a cruise, the second thing I would do was to go outside on our verandah and have a look.

Peering at a pier in George Town, Grand Cayman, as seen during our 2022 Disney Cruise. During our stop in Grand Cayman, I was looking for interesting things to photograph, as I always do in new places. We found a small beach, and that beach had some nice views of the cruise ships that were anchored out in the harbor. As I was taking photos of the ships, I decided to include this pier in one of the photos.

Two groups of chairs appear to be having conversations in the water at Serenity Bay Beach on the island of Castaway Cay during our 2022 Disney Cruise. I do wonder what these chairs are talking about, don’t you? The three chairs farther out into the water seem to be talking about the two chairs at the water’s edge, while those two chairs seem to be oblivious to the other three.

The Walt Disney World Swan hotel is seen across the water in this view from our July 2022 Florida trip. During our trip, we took an afternoon to visit the Epcot Resorts, as we often do. As you might notice from this photo, some clouds came up, and they were rather serious-looking clouds, too. As you might guess, those clouds did bring us some rain, too. We did not get too wet, so it was all good.