Aulani Cabanas, Executive Lanai, and Casabellas

lizard1 · Jul 7, 2015

I'm planning a trip for next year and am looking for a bit more information than I've been able to find by searching.

Is there a map with the locations of these marked available somewhere? I found an older one, but that was pre construction, so I don't know what if anything has changed. Is the executive lanai still available? What is the preferred location for a cabana if the lanai isn't available? At the beginning of June is renting one necessary or are plenty of chairs available? If I don't care about the fan and TV is there an advantage to getting a cabana over a set of casabellas?

Thanks for any information.

Girimama33 · Jul 7, 2015

I have not seen a good map that lists all of these areas yet. I have utilized all 3 on my trips.
Do you have any kids traveling with you? What will your party size be?
The Executive Lanai is still available. I preferred the EL to the cabanas because the view is much better and the space has more seating. There is not much of an advantage IMO...only the electric features and closer proximity to the pools.
If you have small kids, the Menehune Bridge location is great, but noisy (mainly water noise). The Ka Maka landing area is good for families with older kids and quieter than the MB area. There are cabanas by the adult pool which would be ideal if you do not have any kids with you.
There are single casabellas on the beach. There are also two decks at the edge of the Ama Ama deck (looking towards the lagoon) - one has 2 casabellas and the other has 3. This is a nice option as well. It is pretty shady over there, but very quiet.
I am not sure how the availability is in June. It may not be at capacity yet, but I am unsure. It was always at capacity when I was there, so having something booked was great for us.

BobNed · Jul 7, 2015

Here is a good write up about the cabanas:
http://www.dvcnews.com/index.php/re...cabanas-at-aulani-disney-vacation-club-villas

AZMermaid · Jul 7, 2015

We were there the first week of June. We could always find one chair somewhere, but if you wanted more than one together and/or in the best spots, you had to be down there early. I got three chairs at the main pool one Thursday morning at 7:20, the front row surrounding the pool was all taken and about half the second row. I actually got us chairs on the side near where the non tube slide comes out. We liked it here because there was only one row of chairs so it wasn't so crowded and there was a big step there the kids could play on. It was also right next to food and bathrooms.

We reserved the cabana near the Menhuene Bridge two days. I have preschoolers, so this was a good spot for us... Except it was far to the bathrooms. We realized the second day our room was closer (and nicer). We felt like it was a nice splurge, but since we have no trouble being at the pool before 7:30 and we found that spot we liked, we should have skipped the second day. We were at our chairs a lot and never had them marked for not being there for an hour. Honestly, I saw them tagging chairs in the main area, but never in our little alcove area. We made sure to check in the one time we were away for a bit.

Eta- after 3 or so, there were plenty of chairs, even in the front rows

lizard1 · Jul 8, 2015

Thanks for the information. It is helpful to know about availability of regular chairs because I doubt we'll be out that early in the morning to secure chairs.

Where is the executive lanai located? How is its proximity to the pool? I'm leaning towards the executive lanai if it has availability. How far in advance does it book?

We will have 10 in our party including 3 kids, the youngest being 6. If we can't get the lanai, what location is preferred? The Kamaka area?

Girimama33 · Jul 8, 2015

There is only one executive lanai. As soon as you know you want it, try and book it. You can book it 12 months in advance, I believe. The lanai is located at the end (in the center) where the resort meets the beach. There is seating for 8 where the cabana only has seating for 6. It is just a minutes walk to the pools...everything is fairly close. The closest restroom is at Ama Ama.
If you book a cabana, the Ka Maka area would probably be preferred. The choice is given based on booking, so if people have booked before you, you could end up in the other areas. You can also consider the casabella decks by Ama Ama. Reserving both decks (a total of 5 casabellas) would be cheaper than booking the executive lanai or cabanas. You just do not get the fruit tray or waters, but you do get service there (which was great).

AZMermaid · Jul 8, 2015

We reserved by the Menhuene bridge because we wanted to be able to sit and relax while the kids played. You can not really see the Infinity pool from the Kamaka area, so it would not have worked for this purpose for us- although the location was more central to food and bathrooms. If my youngest was 6 and I didn't need to be on top of her on the pool, this would work for us, but my kids are very good swimmers. My 4 year old can swim laps freestyle, backstroke and butterfly (Okay, one lap butterfly) and my 3 year old can swim 15 yards unassisted pretty easily, so I think by 6, I could maybe watch them from afar. Well, maybe.... 6 seems young still... I saw a lot of 6 year olds in floaties. But, if you just wanted it more as a holding spot, this would be a good area. We will go back in 4-5 years when my kids are 7 and 8, so Kamaka would be better then. My son would probably be too tall for the bridge area by then.

There is no way all 10 of you could be in one cabana at one time. It was tight with 4 in the cabana, although there is outside seating too, so maybe 6-7 would be comfortable. I think I know where the lanai area is and that would be a nice spot for a large group. If it is where I am thinking, it is more open and more private.

lizard1 · Jul 8, 2015

How far back from the pool is the KaMaka area? My child that will be 6 on the trip can swim okay, can do a lap or two and knows how to tread water. I've watched her from the side of the pools at WDW this year and she has another whole year to improve her skills.. but is it too far that she could be easily out of my sight if I glance away? Even if I'm confident in her swimming skills, I don't necessarily trust others who may be around. I don't think Mehune bridge is a good fit for us because my 11 and 9 year olds would not be interested and therefore my 6 year old won't either.

I wouldn't plan on all of us using a cabana at one time, especially since some don't think they'll want to use it at all. However, for eating and for those that NEED to stay out of most of the sun, it would be helpful to have a granteed spot.

wdrl · Jul 8, 2015

lizard1 said:
How far back from the pool is the KaMaka area?

In my opinion, the Ka Maka cabanas are too far from the main pool to let you keep an eye on a young child playing in the main pool.

The Ka Maka cabanas are much closer to the Ka Maka grotto pool, but it still would be difficult to keep an eye on a youngster playing in that pool. There are a couple rows of deck chairs between the Ka Maka cabanas and the grotto pool, and with guests milling about it would be virtually impossible to keep line of sight on a little one.

Here is a photo that shows the view from one of the Ka Maka cabanas with the Ka Maka grotto pool in the background (photo courtesy of BowlingAriel:

By the way, there are lifeguards at the grotto pool, if that is of any comfort.

chainkid · Jul 9, 2015

We were at Aulani first week of June this year and rented the executive lanaii for our first day at the resort as we had 4 couples. Since our room wasn't ready till after 4 PM this allowed us to unwind from a long flight and have a private area. It became unbearably hot by about 2PM especially in the cassabellas that let no air in. I cancelled the rest of the week as we found plenty of seating at the beach together and it was far more comfortable with a breeze. If you wanted to be at pool area there were plenty of seats but we preferred the beach. I'm glad we rented the first day as it allowed us a place to sleep in the morning but not worth the money in my opinion when other seating was readily available this week.

4DisneyAddicts · Jul 10, 2015

I am just back from an Aulani/Disneyland trip and am 2 posts in to a trip review. I included info on the cabanas there because I wanted to share my experience. I was traveling as a total party is 13, 6 of us adults. I reserved a cabana for 3 of our 7 days for the adults to use since most of the kids are teens and would just be stopping by to check in with us.

Bottom line, we never used a cabana. The first day we were assigned one by the menhune bridge (kids area) despite being one of the first to book (or at least that's what I was told when I booked in early December) and requesting one at the family pool area. As previous posts indicated, we found other seating areas to be better location (closer to beach and pools) and were able to get them because our husbands were willing to go down early to establish our "territory" (by 6am). Being an east coaster made this easier as we were up early nearly every day. The guys just had to stay at the seats but since there were 3 of them they would take turns getting coffee and breakfast.

We didn't miss having the cabana at all and saved about $1000. The picture above was one of the semi private (and free) patios we used. Each pool day we had a different location and they were all good.

Aulani Cabanas, Executive Lanai, and Casabellas

lizard1

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Girimama33

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BobNed

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AZMermaid

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lizard1

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Girimama33

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AZMermaid

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lizard1

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wdrl

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