Aulani

SEJ101 wrote:

All I know is Cast members get half off the rooms

Not that that’s helpful to you

@bexruns This sounds AWESOME! I hope that you guys get to go!

We haven’t been there yet, but we’ll be going in about 3 weeks. I’d be happy to help if you have any specific questions I can answer from our own planning. If not, maybe I can find out on our trip and let you know when I get back.
If it helps, we’re a family of four and staying in a 2 BR DVC villa (we’ve been hoarding and borrowing points to splurge on this trip).
We’re flying from Philadelphia with a 2 hour stopover in Dallas on the way there, and from Honolulu back wo Philly with a 2 hour stopover at LAX on the way back (overnight flight). The long travel time is the only part I’m not looking forward to!

Thank you! I’ll be glad to give you my opinions when I get back.

Sure thing. Right now we’ve budgeted about 30% more for food than we would a trip to WDW. There are quite a few tours that are linked on the Aulani website and the price for each is listed. I’ve done some comparison to the cost of tours run by other companies and they seem comparable in price (+/- 20%).

The only tour we’ve reserved is the Majestic Circle Island Tour, which is $110 per person. We chose it because it’s a full day (8-9 hours) and covers a lot of sites on the island (guided tour of Diamond head, Hanauma bay, Halona blowhole, Makapu‘u Lookout, Waimanalo Hawaiian Homestead and the Waimanalo Bay Recreational Area, Nu‘uanu Pali Lookout, Byodo-In Temple and the Valley of the Temples, the North Shore, Waimea Valley, and Dole Plantation), so I think it’s a good value even though a bit expensive. We are going to tour Pearl Harbor ourselves, including the Arizona Memorial which is free.

One really expensive item is the Luau at Aulani. Since we’ve never been to Hawaii and this is a “once in a lifetime” trip, I decided that it should include the luau. At a $129 per person though, that’s that one item I’m just a little skeptical will be a good entertainment value, but I’ve keeping an open mind (what’s left of it).

Hi Everyone,

We got back from our trip to Aulani last Tuesday, and I thought I would share our experience. I’ve never written any type of trip report before, so please bear with me – it’s mostly in outline form until the end. Also, I took many many pictures, but haven’t figured out how to embed them within these forum posts yet – sorry.

One the trip there was myself, my wife, and two daughters aged 13 and 11, and we were there from Friday, 11 August – Monday, 21 August 2017.

Friday, 11Aug17
Arrived in Honolulu, rented a 4-door Jeep Wrangler, and drove to Aulani
Were welcomed with Lei and tropical fruit infused water
We ate dinner at Monkeypod in the shopping center across the street from Aulani. Our meals and drinks were excellent.
We walked down to the ABC store for supplies, then went back to the room for an early bed time.
 
Saturday, 12Aug17
Recuperation. Simply a beach and pool day.
Dinner at Makahiki

 
Sunday, 13Aug17

Long day of touring -Majestic Island tour

Going on this excursion early in the trip was one of the best decisions we made. The tour was expensive at $113 per person, but for 8+ hours of touring through the most popular sites, we got to see so much, and it gave us ideas for our own day trips later in the week.
The tour guide, Alex was great and very knowledgeable having grown up on the island.

Tour highlights:
• Headed east from Ko Olina along the H1 on the southern side of the island.
• Drove past Honolulu and Diamond Head crater. I would have preferred to stop and hike up to the top, but that was not on the itinerary.
• Traveled further east to Koko Crater, Hanauma Bay. Beach where Blue Hawaii with Elvis was filmed.
• Saw the Haloma Blowhole
• Area of Haloma where the famous From Here to Eternity kiss scene was filmed
• Traveled up the East Coast, then up into the mountains to Pali Lookout, the site of the Battle of Nu’uana, the last Hawaiian battle uniting all the islands under King Kahehameha.
• Visited the Byodo-in Buddhist Temple
• Stopped at Fumi Shrimp for lunch on the East side of the island
• Drove North to Sunset Beach on North Shore
• Waimea Valley Botanical Gardens
• Headed back through the middle of the island past some of the Dole pineapple fields while the guide explained the planting process and crop rotation. We then stopped at Dole Plantation. This was more of a tourist shopping center than anything else.

Returned back to Aulani and had dinner at Off the Hook lounge

Monday, 14Aug17
Beach and Pool
Went down the vertical volcano slide and the tube slide
Dinner at AMA AMA and watching the beautiful sunset

 
Tuesday, 15Aug17
Pearl Harbor Tour.
This was a short 3 hour excursion led by our guide, Rocky. I enjoyed the historical perspective he gave along the ride from Aulani to Pearl Harbor.
It was a very moving experience overall.
Got back, and feeling tired, we watched Big Hero 6 and Moana
My wife and younger daughter took an ‘Ohana ukulele lesson
My older daughter and I went for a nice walk and took pictures
We opted for some early evening swimming and casual dinner at Off the Hook
My older daughter then took a teen ukulele lesson
 
Wednesday, 16Aug17
Swimming all day, my younger daughter got stung by bee
We went snorkeling in the Aulani rainbow reef salt water cove
Attended the Ka Wa’A – A Luau at night
This was expensive ($129 per person), but was a once in a lifetime type of event. The staff made a lot out of the time by providing interactive stations before the dinner and show, including poi making, temporary tattoos, lei making, ink stamping. The band was great, the food was decent for a large buffet, and the show was very entertaining.

 
Thursday, 17Aug17
Tried snorkeling at Hanauma Bay park (which we had seen during our Majestic Island tour) but couldn’t get parking (it’s very limited, and closed once it reaches capacity)
Stopped at a shopping center to re-group and figure out what to do. There, we bought warm malasadas at a Leonard’s bakery truck. That definitely made up for disappointment of not being able to snorkel where we had planned
Filled with one of the best treats I have ever had, we were fueled up to drive all the way across the island to the North Shore, then Haleiwa for lunch, then Waikiki, then back to Aulani. Lots of driving, but worth it!
Awesome Snorkeling at Sharks Cove on North Shore. We saw so many tropical fish.
We then ate lunch at Haleiwa Joe’s in Haleiwa
Drove all the way back down to Waikiki beach (and Parked in the most narrow parking garage in the world).
Walked along the beach and had dinner at Duke’s in Waikiki

Friday, 18Aug17
Got up early, reserved pool chairs at 8:00am
Swam in the pool
Went to the beach, Got boogie boards and swam out to the ropes in the cove
Ate lunch
I was lazy while the girls went swimming in rainbow reef and then down tube slide into the lazy river
Dinner at Makahiki

Storytelling around the fire with Uncle Ito. We learned how a lazy villager named PK asked the Menehune to work on the village Dam project since head to done as much as the other villagers, and made them poi as a gift. The Menehune completely finished the dam, and PK was rewarded. We learned the Menehune work chant: Koo Kulu, Koo Kulu, Hana Hana…. Koo Kulu, Koo Kulu, Hana Hana……

 
Saturday, 19Aug17
Breakfast Buffet at Makahiki
There was a 20 min wait for picture with Mickey, then 15 min to get seated. This was not a great system.
Walked over to Paradise Cove (short walk north of Aulani) and went snorkeling.
Saw a wolf seal, my daughter decided to name him Floppy
Went back to our room, cleaned up, and we went on the Menehune Adventure Trail (we went on 2 out of 4 outdoor adventures)
Then headed across the street to the shopping center for some souvenirs
Monkeypod for dinner again.

My wife and I then dropped the kids off at the room and went to Oleo for a quick drink

Sunday, 20Aug17
Beach day, boogie boards, and my older daughter got stung by a jellyfish. That put a bit of a damper on the day, but she was a trooper.
Lunch at Off the Hook and then tried the F’Real milkshakes – awesome idea and technology I hadn’t seen before.
Dinner at Ama Ama
Took a sunset stroll after dinner
Another Storytelling with Uncle Ito about the Menehune helping a villager build a canoe

 
Monday, 21Aug17
Breakfast at Ulu Cafe, sat outside
Took a goodbye walk of Aulani
Said our goodbyes and headed to the airport for our long trip home.

 
Pros/Cons

Pros
This would be a long list if I itemized everything. The resort is just stunning, cast members outstanding, there are a lot of activities to fill your day, and the beach is gorgeous.
There is so much to do and see on Oahu, that we could have used another 2-4 days easily. We spent 5 full days relaxing at the resort and 4 very active days. This felt like a good mix for us.

The two excursions we went on were well worth it. They were great experiences, with great guides. We almost chose to drive to Pearly Harbor ourselves (you need to reserve your tickets exactly 60 days before your visit, or take a chance by showing up early in the morning to get one of the 1300 tickets they allot for the day), but paying the $50 per person for the historical perspective provided by our tour guide was a good value in my opinion.

Cons
Everything I read prepared me for greater expense than compared with WDW, so I was prepared for spending ~ 20% more for everything, especially food. I found that 20% more was an underestimation for many of the meals.
I think the resort could benefit from another casual sit down restaurant. Makahiki was a decent buffer for dinner and breakfast, but after eating there twice, that was enough.
Off the hook is a pool-side grill (think Hurricane Hanna’s at Beach Club), which was a great option for those long pool days, but with a very limited and standard menu, nothing we would want every night.
Ama Ama had great food, but was over-the-top expensive. I think the quality compares most comparably to California Grill and Flying Fish. However, it was more expensive than what we have ever spent at California Grill, and probably around double our most expensive meal at Flying Fish. When this is the only non-buffet sit down dinner option, I think it’s an issue.

It was crowded. We expected that since August is a busy time. This was never really an issue, except it made getting pool chairs an exercise in early morning strategy that I’d rather not deal with on vacation. You can get your wrist bands and towels starting at 8:00am. Aulani has a strict policy of removing your belongings from pool chairs if you aren’t using them for 1 hour, and I completely understand why that is a justified procedure. It makes sense during the crowded days, getting down to the pool by 7:30 to linger over a set of chairs, and then get in line at exactly 8:00 to get a set of four towels to place on the chairs (which can only “reserve” the chairs for 1 hour before cast members remove your belongings), get back to the room for a quick breakfast, then back down to the chairs a little before 9:00 was annoying. OK, Ok, I know that sounds like whining when you’re spending the day in paradise, but I seems like there must be a better way to handle this. Ok, I’ll accept my status as a whiner now.

Picture sales at the luau at character breakfast: Photographers take family pictures at these events and then walk around the tables to sell picture packages. The cheapest option was $35 for a CD of all the pictures. They were nice pictures, and we bought them on both occasions, but when you spend over $400 for a family of four at the luau, the $35 CD feels like a money grab.

If you have any specific questions, just let me know. Mahaolo!

@mazzalag WOW!!! Your vacation sounds like it was a DREAM! Awesome! I would love to go there one day for sure!