Decided to do a trip report for our Aulani stay so I can share the many photos that we took along the way. We like to eat and so many of the photos will have to do with food - hopefully you'll join us for the adventure!
We checked into Aulani on 12/3/11 for a extended weekend stay. We had a late start getting there because my daughter goes to Saturday school and ended that day at 1:20 PM. It had been a big secret that we had kept from the kids that we were going to Aulani. They LOVE going to hotels and the fact that this was a Disney hotel would make it extra special!
My wife and I had done such a great job of keeping it from them until the day of the trip. My mother had dropped her off at school that morning because I had to work that morning and on the way to school, my daughter mentioned to my mother that I was picking her up from school afterwards. To which my mother said, "Oh, that's right, because you're going to that Disney hotel, right?" My daughter responded to this with "WHAT??? REALLY!??"
In all fairness, I hadn't told my mother specifically not to tell the kids about the fact that we were going to Aulani but really didn't think that it would have come up during conversation …
My fault (kicking myself under the table)
In any case, we picked her up from school and headed off to Aulani after two stops at Foodland (local supermarket) to pick up some odds and ends and Costco to pick up steaks, eggs, and milk. After which, we were headed to our home for the next 2 days! We had rented points to stay at a 1 BR pool view villa since we had tied up all of our points for a 1 wk stay at BLT this summer. We had done online check in 10 days prior and once we got there, after the customary lei greeting, they handed us our room keys which were all ready to go and we headed off to our room with bellman Jonathan with our luggage.
We quickly unloaded our groceries into the kitchen while Jonathan brought in our bags. At the end, he asked whether we had any reservations for dining for our stay. I mentioned that I had checked online for reservations for the character breakfast at Makahiki for tomorrow morning but everything seemed to be sold out. He offered to check with the concierge to see if there was anything that could be done and we quickly agreed. I headed off to self park the car (valet had graciously offered to keep the car on the side for the short time while we checked in and brought up our bags) and when walking back to our room, ran into Jonathan who was walking back to our room with a 8:15 AM reservation at Makahiki for the next morning!
Needless to say, we tipped well, lol! 
While the family continued to unpack, I rushed around the villa to take pictures before we totally destroyed it.
Kitchen:
Bathroom with rain shower:
Close up of shower:
Bath with look through into the master bedroom:
Close up of bath:
Vanity in master bath:
Bed in master bedroom:
Living room with bunk bed under the TV pulled out:
Dining table with kitchen in background and two munchkins eating a snack of cinnamon rolls brought from home:
Living room with the sofa bed (folded up):
Balcony in living room:
View from balcony (pool view room):
View from balcony (pool view room) - looking to left:
View from balcony (pool view room) - looking to right:
View from balcony (pool view room) - looking up at the Ewa tower:
Details of columns along outside of building by our balcony:
More to come!
We checked into Aulani on 12/3/11 for a extended weekend stay. We had a late start getting there because my daughter goes to Saturday school and ended that day at 1:20 PM. It had been a big secret that we had kept from the kids that we were going to Aulani. They LOVE going to hotels and the fact that this was a Disney hotel would make it extra special!
My wife and I had done such a great job of keeping it from them until the day of the trip. My mother had dropped her off at school that morning because I had to work that morning and on the way to school, my daughter mentioned to my mother that I was picking her up from school afterwards. To which my mother said, "Oh, that's right, because you're going to that Disney hotel, right?" My daughter responded to this with "WHAT??? REALLY!??"
In all fairness, I hadn't told my mother specifically not to tell the kids about the fact that we were going to Aulani but really didn't think that it would have come up during conversation …
My fault (kicking myself under the table)In any case, we picked her up from school and headed off to Aulani after two stops at Foodland (local supermarket) to pick up some odds and ends and Costco to pick up steaks, eggs, and milk. After which, we were headed to our home for the next 2 days! We had rented points to stay at a 1 BR pool view villa since we had tied up all of our points for a 1 wk stay at BLT this summer. We had done online check in 10 days prior and once we got there, after the customary lei greeting, they handed us our room keys which were all ready to go and we headed off to our room with bellman Jonathan with our luggage.
We quickly unloaded our groceries into the kitchen while Jonathan brought in our bags. At the end, he asked whether we had any reservations for dining for our stay. I mentioned that I had checked online for reservations for the character breakfast at Makahiki for tomorrow morning but everything seemed to be sold out. He offered to check with the concierge to see if there was anything that could be done and we quickly agreed. I headed off to self park the car (valet had graciously offered to keep the car on the side for the short time while we checked in and brought up our bags) and when walking back to our room, ran into Jonathan who was walking back to our room with a 8:15 AM reservation at Makahiki for the next morning!
Needless to say, we tipped well, lol! While the family continued to unpack, I rushed around the villa to take pictures before we totally destroyed it.
Kitchen:
Bathroom with rain shower:
Close up of shower:
Bath with look through into the master bedroom:
Close up of bath:
Vanity in master bath:
Bed in master bedroom:
Living room with bunk bed under the TV pulled out:
Dining table with kitchen in background and two munchkins eating a snack of cinnamon rolls brought from home:
Living room with the sofa bed (folded up):
Balcony in living room:
View from balcony (pool view room):
View from balcony (pool view room) - looking to left:
View from balcony (pool view room) - looking to right:
View from balcony (pool view room) - looking up at the Ewa tower:
Details of columns along outside of building by our balcony:
More to come!
I promise that I will get more pictures of this area before we leave. 
This was going to cause a problem because we had dinner reservations in about 45 minutes from now and we had to figure out how to feed the kids. For anybody else who wants to order dinner for their kids at the kids club, REMEMBER TO PUT IN YOUR ORDER BY 4:30 PM that day. 
My goodness, it all looks like an Aulani brochure. 
Cute. 
I guess you do too, eh? 
