Aulani: What's the One Thing You Wish You Knew?

[owensjro]

Sorry if some of these have been posted before...I read this thread awhile ago and can't remember if these were mentioned.

- There are ice water stations all around the pool area. No need to buy bottles of water while on property. Just go up and grab a cup of ice water. They kept them well stocked throughout the day.

- Ulu cafe offers a rotating sandwhich and hot plate menu along with their normal items. While we were there we saw these items on various days for the hot plates:
roast turkey
roast pork loin
baked chicken
meatloaf
beef stir fry
baked white fish

The hot plates were very large and came with a couple of scoops of rice or mashed potatoes and mixed veggies. We split these between two of us and easily had enough food.

- Just something odd we noticed....they didn't charge us tax at little opihi's (the snack shack that is semi outside the property on the lagoon). So buying mickey bars and drinks at that location saved a few pennies over buying them at Ulu. I confirmed this happened on multiple days so it wasn't just a fluke.

- If you love the robes and have decided to buy one, go to the spa and check out their robes. They are the same overall but they are a dark brown on the outside and are longer than the white robes. They ended up fitting much better and were the same price.

- Menehune trail slight spoiler: Do the indoor trail if you have young kids. One of the spots gives a small prize.

- The fire pit story telling had different stories about the menehune when we went at two different times one night. We went at the same time two nights in a row and the story was the same. So it may that each time slot has a specific story. We were surprised at how quickly the seating filled up for the story so arrive a little bit early.

- If your kids love trains the Ko'olina train gives rides on Sundays. We didn't do it but we saw it go by while eating dinner at Monkeypods. http://www.hawaiianrailway.com/

Jim

 

[AZMermaid]

Oooooh thanks for the info on the train! My son is a train NUT!

 

[sumlee]

Great tips! Thanks!

 

[Marquito38]

I wish my wife and I explored the area of Kapolei a little sooner in our trip.An found some really nice inexpensive restaurants just down the road from Costco. We loved a Thai place there so much(Thai Lao) we made that a destination most days for lunch after.

 

[E&Cmom]

Following along since I am about to book Aulani for the end of August for 7 days. We were originally going to do a 4 days Waikiki and 3 day Aulani combo but DH thinks we should just do Aulani and who am I to argue. It will be our first time there.

We are not DVC member . I have a choice between a standard room or a deluxe studio (both garden view). Which is better? We will be going with our soon to be 11 year old and 7 year old. Thanks.

 

[owensjro]

Following along since I am about to book Aulani for the end of August for 7 days. We were originally going to do a 4 days Waikiki and 3 day Aulani combo but DH thinks we should just do Aulani and who am I to argue. It will be our first time there.

We are not DVC member . I have a choice between a standard room or a deluxe studio (both garden view). Which is better? We will be going with our soon to be 11 year old and 7 year old. Thanks.

On our trip we had three rooms total (split stay) and ended up trying both a standard hotel room and a studio. For us, a standard room was better simply because it had two beds as opposed to a bed and a pullout sofa. Our daughter prefers her own bed.

Jim

 

[WDW_Diane]

Following along since I am about to book Aulani for the end of August for 7 days. We were originally going to do a 4 days Waikiki and 3 day Aulani combo but DH thinks we should just do Aulani and who am I to argue. It will be our first time there. We are not DVC member . I have a choice between a standard room or a deluxe studio (both garden view). Which is better? We will be going with our soon to be 11 year old and 7 year old. Thanks.

You might try booking on dvcrequest dot com before going through Aulani. Big savings.

 

[alohamom]

On our trip we had three rooms total (split stay) and ended up trying both a standard hotel room and a studio. For us, a standard room was better simply because it had two beds as opposed to a bed and a pullout sofa. Our daughter prefers her own bed.

Jim

We are also doing a split stay-how did they manage you when you moved rooms? Did they make you check out at 11 and reenter the new room at 3? I know this sounds like a weird question but I am wondering what I am going to do with our suitcases etc when we switch rooms.hoping they would keep them for us but you never know...

 

[owensamo]

We are also doing a split stay-how did they manage you when you moved rooms? Did they make you check out at 11 and reenter the new room at 3? I know this sounds like a weird question but I am wondering what I am going to do with our suitcases etc when we switch rooms.hoping they would keep them for us but you never know...

Yes - we had to check out and back in again.

We arrived around 1 on Saturday, and our Standard Hotel room wasn't ready so we left our bags with Bell Services, and they delivered the bags to our first room. They did give us a lounge access card if we wanted to change for the pool, etc. before the room was ready, but we didn't use it - well, we did, but just to take pictures of the lounge later.

We went down around 10 am on Sunday to check out of the hotel room and into our studio room - swapped out cards, etc, but the room wasn't ready yet. We could have left our bags with Bell Services again, but didn't have any cash left for tips, so instead we took the bags and put them in the trunk of the car we had parked in the parking structure.

Our Sunday was mostly Menehune trails outside, then we went over to Monkeypod for lunch, and a little shopping. Our room was ready shortly after we got back, which was perfect timing.

 

[Cinderpamela]

We are also doing a split stay-how did they manage you when you moved rooms? Did they make you check out at 11 and reenter the new room at 3? I know this sounds like a weird question but I am wondering what I am going to do with our suitcases etc when we switch rooms.hoping they would keep them for us but you never know...

We did a split stay in December and it was really easy. I just called bell services to come get our luggage and hold it for us. Then checked out of the one room and into the other down at the front desk. Our new room was not ready, but we had changed into our suits before checking out and were all ready to hang out poolside until our new room was ready.
When we got the text that our room was ready it also included the room number so I just headed up there with our keys. Once there I called bell services to let them know that our room was ready and to bring our luggage up. Could not have been easier.

If you want to you can always bring your luggage down to Bell Services on your own, but it was worth the extra tip to us for not having to lug it down to Bell Services and back up to our room again.

 

[alohamom]

Yes - we had to check out and back in again

We did a split stay in December and it was really easy. I just called bell services to come get our luggage and hold it for us Could not have been easier.

Wonderful! Thanks so much, you have both totally eased my mind. I thought this "check out-check in" was going to be a tricky day because it is also my dd's b-day and we are taking her for private surfing lessons which are booked for 11. I just didnt want to have to take all of our luggage etc and have it in the car while we are at the North Shore but it is great to know I can leave it with Bell Services.

 

[lovetotraveltx]

Does anyone know of a store or type of store that sells those secure totes you can lock at your chair? Thought we had something but it didn't work out!

Thank you!

 

[alohamom]

Does anyone know of a store or type of store that sells those secure totes you can lock at your chair? Thought we had something but it didn't work out!

Thank you!

You could try a branch of the AAA? They have all types of travel accessories

 

[Anal Annie]

Does anyone know of a store or type of store that sells those secure totes you can lock at your chair? Thought we had something but it didn't work out!

Thank you!

I was going to order a PacSafe bag but decided they were too expensive. Instead I went to Target and bought a short 4' cable lock like you might use on a bicycle - I can't find the same exact one on the website but it was pretty light and the cable is about as thick as a pencil or something - it has a combination lock and is 4' long for like under $10. Here is something similar:

http://www.target.com/p/master-lock-cable-combination-lock-5/-/A-14440016#prodSlot=medium_1_16&term=locks

Then I also bought a small flexible lock to put on the zipper on our bag so that I can lock the contents of the bag up too. The lock I found was also around $6 or $7 and was similar to this:

http://www.target.com/p/embark-cable-tsa-lock-cabana-orange/-/A-15055153#prodSlot=medium_1_23&term=locks

We will use this setup at the pool / beach when we get into the water and I plan to bring it to the North Shore when we go surfing too (they warned us not to leave valuables in the car).

 

[lovetotraveltx]

I was going to order a PacSafe bag but decided they were too expensive. Instead I went to Target and bought a short 4' cable lock like you might use on a bicycle - I can't find the same exact one on the website but it was pretty light and the cable is about as thick as a pencil or something - it has a combination lock and is 4' long for like under $10. Here is something similar:

http://www.target.com/p/master-lock-cable-combination-lock-5/-/A-14440016#prodSlot=medium_1_16&term=locks

Then I also bought a small flexible lock to put on the zipper on our bag so that I can lock the contents of the bag up too. The lock I found was also around $6 or $7 and was similar to this:

http://www.target.com/p/embark-cable-tsa-lock-cabana-orange/-/A-15055153#prodSlot=medium_1_23&term=locks

We will use this setup at the pool / beach when we get into the water and I plan to bring it to the North Shore when we go surfing too (they warned us not to leave valuables in the car).

Good idea. then I can just lock up my own beach bag. Thanks!

Where are you all tying it up to?

 

[carissa1970]

Does anyone know of a store or type of store that sells those secure totes you can lock at your chair? Thought we had something but it didn't work out! Thank you!

Do you have a travel store near you? We have one that sells only luggage, travel bags, accessories for travel, etc.

I bought a KYSS (or KISS?) bag online, and it comes with a lock on a chain attached to the bag and has a code to unlock. We used it on our cruise last summer, at the beaches in ports, by the pools, at WDW resort pools, at Aulani and other beaches on the island, Legoland, water parks, you name it. We love it. It is personalized, too. If you choose this option, go for the bigger size. You will be happier.

 

[Anal Annie]

Good idea. then I can just lock up my own beach bag. Thanks!

Where are you all tying it up to?

I figured with a 4' cable we'd be able to lock it either to the lounge chair or around the umbrella pole if we have one. At the surf lessons they said they have a tent on the beach where we can lock it to something. It was the cheapest solution I could come up with.

 

[Girimama33]

I was going to suggest a cable lock as well, but wasn't sure how effective it would be without the actual bag locking closed..great idea about the smaller lock for the bag. I suggest only locking the bag to one chair. I was chastised for 5 minutes by an attendant at Aulani for having my KYSS bag locked to two chairs. When I locked it to one chair, I never had a problem.

 

[jerseygal]

Thanks for the KYSS suggestion...I will try AAA for all
BEACH TYPE SETTINGS!

 

[Aunt Cawa]

Is Crime that rampant at Aulani that cable locks are needed?