So it happened to come about that I traveled around a bit back in April. I started off with a one-way ticket to Hawaii that I had to use before it expired, and then somehow the whole thing expanded to include the Tokyo Disney Resort, Walt Disney World, and the Disney Fantasy.

Because various members of the hard-working/good-looking AllEars Blog team have already written extensive blogs about all those places, I figured the most efficient way to share some of the highlights of my trip might be to hit some highlights and show some photos.

First stop: The Aulani Disney Resort at Ko Olina, Oahu. This was of necessity a brief visit of a few hours, as I only had a couple of days total in Hawaii and was not staying there.

Top Ten Things I Noted at Aulani:

1. It takes about 20-30 minutes to drive from Waikiki to Aulani during low traffic.
2. Parking is 35 bucks a day. $35! And they only validate at the big restaurants or at the spa, and only for spa services–not for retail purchases.
3. The lobby is nice and airy, and reminds me a great deal of the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
4. The big restaurants close between lunch and dinner, so if you go there between 2pm and 5pm, you may not be experiencing them that day.
5. You can currently tour the DVC model rooms which are beautiful and seem to have a layout a little like what I remember of the Bay Lake Towers rooms at the Contemporary.
6. The friendly CMs there have a general sense of expecting future resort expansion down the beach, but no one would cop to knowing anything specific.
7. There is a developing shopping/eating complex across the road from Aulani which should provide more choices for retail consumption.
8. The lagoon in back of Aulani is very pretty, however it was closed while I was there, secondary to some environmental spillage in the area.
9. The menehune are terribly cute and appear to figure in an interactive discovery game, similar to the Agent P Adventure at EPCOT, available to resort guests.
10. DVC members get two free parking spaces per room, so try to be one of those.