Aulani - reserve dining or activities?

[Happy99]

we will be at Aulani June 22-29. We are a family of four, our children are young adults at 20 and 18. We will have a car for the entire time and have been to Oahu twice before. We don't plan on doing any Aulani offsite excursions we will do those on our own.

What should be booked in advance for the resort itself? I know we would like to do the star gazing. Do you need reservations for it? How about the Star Lit do we need reservations for it?

Thanks

 

[JoeA]

We just booked a cabana for early June!

 

[AZMermaid]

You do not need reservations for Starlit Hui. I just booked AMA AMA dinner and the character breakfast for my early June stay. I booked two cabana days long ago. Spa stuff can be booked in advance too- not sure how early. 6 months?

 

[Girimama33]

Things to book early:
Cabana/Executive Lanai
Ama Ama Sunset Dinner
Any paid resort experiences (like the stargazing)

If you know you want to attend the Makahiki Breakfast or a spa appointment, I would make a reservation ahead of time as well, but there may be availability the day of.

If you want to visit the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, you should go on the their website in order to reserve your time.
Kualoa Ranch Tours (especially the ATV and horseback riding).

 

[Aunt Cawa]

We were able to book the stargazing the same day. One of the things to take into consideration for that is the weather. We were there in October and the weather was iffy some days. It is also offered more than once a week. We really enjoyed it!

 

[Happy99]

Thank you

anyone done zip lining in either Oahu or Kauai? We have never been but my adult children and I would like to do it)
We do plan on doing the ATV tours in Oahu so we will contact them after the holidays and set that up

We have been to Pearl Harbor twice so I think we will skip it this time around

 

[teacherlisa1978]

How early can you book dining and cabanas? We will be there at the end of August.

 

[AZMermaid]

I booked mine about 10 months out.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

So I guess this is one big advantage of being an Aulani owner - I can't book my stay until the 7 month window, so guess I could possibly out of luck for the cabana that i'd like to reserve

 

[AZMermaid]

I think you will be fine at 7 months!

 

[amystevekai&bump]

I think you will be fine at 7 months!

Thank you

 

[lifesgr8]

what is the stargazing? How much is the cost?

Do you have to pay for the snorkeling at aulani? Do they offer snorkeling equipment for kids or should I buy some and bring it with us?

Does Aulani offer surfing lessons?

 

[Anal Annie]

We didn't pre-book anything thru Aulani. Well, we HAD booked a cabana for a day right after we booked at our 7 mo. window but once we got there we decided it was unnecessary and we canceled it. They are pretty pricey and we had one booked for a day at the Sheraton on Maui for only $75 / day. THAT was a great deal in comparison and we thoroughly enjoyed it. For what Aulani charges for a day we would've felt compelled to NOT LEAVE IT for a minute. Aulani charges way too much for them IMO. We found the wi-fi around the pool area was spotty at best and the family cabanas we were most interested in had like NO wi-fi reception (the further away from the lobby you get the worse it was).

We did a zipline on Maui which we found last minute while we were there. There don't seem to be a whole lot of them offered on Oahu. We booked surf lessons ahead of time on our own for the north shore and of course we booked Pearl Harbor as soon as the window opened for our dates. Ama Ama was outside of our budget (we decided to eat at Roy's once instead) but we were able to get a ressie at Makahiki the day of. Monkey Pod across the street is good - you can ressies there the day of as well. We were there last August and the resort was 100% full.

 

[shelly3girls]

How early can you book dining and cabanas? We will be there at the end of August.

Cabanas can be booked up to 12 months in advance. The location of your cabana is based on when you booked it and your request. It is first come first serve based on booking date. I booked one 11 months and one 7 months in advance and was able to get a cabana but had to take one near the bridge for the later reservation. I greatly prefer to be near the infinity pool. If my kids were younger I would've been happy with the bridge.

 

[Mduff]

How about dining? How far in advance can I book Ama Ama? I want to go there to celebrate my 50th birthday

 

[shelly3girls]

I booked our dining about 6 months in advance. It turned out that I really only needed to book for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. All other days the restaurant appeared half empty. I could not imagine having a difficult time getting seating if you are flexible with time. Of all the places we ate, Monkeypod had the longest wait so I just made reservations earlier in the day.

 

[kittyab]

I gotta ask, what is the advantage of booking the cabana?

Besides star gazing, what are the other resort activities you can book?

 

[AZMermaid]

For us, it's not having to go down to the pool at 8AM to get chairs and worry we will lose them if we get up. I gave it booked for two days, but if the chair situation isn't as bad as people report, we will cancel the second day.

 

[shelly3girls]

I gotta ask, what is the advantage of booking the cabana?

Besides star gazing, what are the other resort activities you can book?

We booked the cabana for Christmas Day knowing the resort was going to be a zoo. This way we could enjoy the morning and then go down to the pool for the day. We liked having the refrigerator for all of the drinks and treats we brought down to the pool. It gave us the freedom to go everywhere and do everything that we wanted to without worrying about our stuff. My husband also like getting out of the sun and watching football on the TV.

I booked it one other day. It was the day that DH went golfing and it was just me and the kids. I thought it would be nice to have a homebase. Again, this was the week of Christmas so the pool area was crazy. On the good weather days you could not find lounge chairs anywhere if you went past 9 AM. We had many other pool days that I did not feel that it was necessary or worth the money. If my children were all teenagers I do not think the cabana would be necessary at all.

If my children were younger and needed a nap I would want to cabana. The younger children could easily nap on the sofa or chairs. It is a personal thing and you can certainly have a great time without a cabana. Only you know if the money is worth it for you.