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

[eeyorefanuk]

Hi for two adults what would you book at aulani BEFORE you arrive
- restaurant
- refillable drinks

What else please

 

[eeyorefanuk]

It is looking like we will be there mon, tues, wed night

Is there anything that goes on particularly on these nights

 

[nemofans]

Tues night is the Starlit Hui show.
I would also book spa appts, like massages!
On Mon, i think they have a catamaran outing to go snorkeling. We arrived too late on Mon to do it.

 

[tino0120]

Hi for two adults what would you book at aulani BEFORE you arrive
- restaurant
- refillable drinks

What else please

We were also 2 adults that had an amazing time at Aulani.
For restaurants, we did both Disney Character Breakfast at Makahiki and 'Ama'Ama. (Both reserved before arrival)
Disney Character Breakfast was fun if you like to have a little dose of Disney Magic in your vacation.
AmaAma has some good view, fresh seafood, and some delicious dishes.
If you don't have another plan (like Luau), definitely try them out.
We didn't buy the refillable mug. We bought 24 bottles of water from Target and half of the time we were off the resort, so we didn't feel like it was needed to buy the mug.
For excursion, I definitely recommend trying out the Kualoa Ranch for ATV or horseback riding tour! (Aulani has this excursion on Thursday tho. But if you are renting car, highly recommended. We had a great time!)

 

[nemofans]

Something to know if you are staying in regular hotel room (not DVC) is that ULU Cafe has a microwave and toaster to use. I brought indiv cereal bowls for breakfast for my kids, so we just brought those to ULU and bought milk for them. If I had known about the microwave & toaster, I would have brought other breakfast stuff.

 

[MickeyLovestheU]

We went in mid January and learned that the Hawaii resident rate changes the resort on weekends. An extreme increase in guests on Saturday and Sunday pools were crowded. CM's told us they had 130 one night stays Saturday into Sunday. Quick Service breakfast took more than a half hour to acquire on Sunday Morning and the line was so long we saw guests mistakenly taking dirty trays off the garbage can outside where the line started. Tuesday through Friday night was perfect and went by too fast.

 

[gioiamama]

We went in mid January and learned that the Hawaii resident rate changes the resort on weekends. An extreme increase in guests on Saturday and Sunday pools were crowded. CM's told us they had 130 one night stays Saturday into Sunday. Quick Service breakfast took more than a half hour to acquire on Sunday Morning and the line was so long we saw guests mistakenly taking dirty trays off the garbage can outside where the line started. Tuesday through Friday night was perfect and went by too fast.

As a Hawaii resident I can confirm that yes this is true. Many of us will take a stay-cation to the resort arriving early Saturday and leaving late Sunday. I personally prefer to stay two nights but weekends can get crazy during high times. My family and I choose to go during the offseason when the resort is not busy as it's not my idea of relaxing when we have to wake up at the crack of dawn to find our spot by the pool! Ps...our rates aren't that low either. In fact for our next stay I'm seriously considering renting points!

 

[eeyorefanuk]

Ula cafe. We have a free quick service breakfast. Is it just like say Saratoga in wdw choices? any recommendations.

Has anyone had this offer before? Wondering if it has to be breakfast or can use for lunch?

Thanks

 

[Amw1064]

Ula cafe does not have the normal Disney choices in food. It is all a bit different. (at least at lunch or dinner) We didn't ever go in there at breakfast.

 

[eeyorefanuk]

I tried to find a menu but couldn't

Wonder what things offered for breakfast

 

[nemofans]

At Ulu Cafe, I had their egg & cheese croissant sandwich one day & the french toast another. The sandwich was good, but not the french toast. We tried the donuts there and they were not good. My kids didn't like them either. I really liked the banana muffins. They also had oatmeal which we didn't try. I ordered a pizza from there one night which was good. There are a few choices for lunch/dinner meals which change each day. Some days my Dh liked the meal choices, other days he didn't. My kids never wanted the meal choices there. They liked the kids already made meals on the left side fridge section, like pbj sandwich or tuna sandwich both with fruits and veggies and came with a drink. They had salads in there too.
My kids liked the california rolls at the snack stand by the beach. DH & I liked the Blue Hawaiian frozen beverage at that stand too!

Some bits of info for those of you that have the Disney Visa & plan on using reward dollars there.
First, you can use your rewards card to pay for things at Ulu Cafe and the lobby store instead of charging to your room. I don't know about the other stands just b/c we didn't try it.
Second, we had a big amount on our rewards card to use which I wanted to apply towards our hotel room to greatly knock down that price. However, they charged the total cost of our room to our credit card the day we arrived, so I could't apply any of the reward dollars to it when I checked halfway through our trip. I wish I knew they would do that b/c I would have them use the rewards card to do that at check in. I was able to use rewards dollars on everything else we charged to the room, but I was still left with $700 that could have helped towards the room cost.

 

[AZMermaid]

We both had and enjoyed the breakfast burritos at Ulu. My son got the yogurt and fruit prepackaged meal and I think my daughter had the French toast and ate it. They have a ton of muffins and pastries and we enjoyed all the ones we tried, especially the macadamia nut muffin.

 

[tino0120]

I tried to find a menu but couldn't

Wonder what things offered for breakfast

http://www.disboards.com/threads/aulani-ulu-cafe.3215809/
Here is a photo of the breakfast menu for Ulu cafe that somebody posted on the other post!

 

[Amw1064]

I brought a Disney rewards visa as well. You could use it anywhere at the resort. For the kids armband, paddle board rentals, snacks, food, gift shop, etc. We are DVC and do not pay for room but had $59 in taxes and I used it to pay for that as well. On arrival I took charging off of our room cards and the final night I went down and paid for any balance with my rewards card.

 

[AZMermaid]

We had that issue as well. We weren't paying for the room (DVC) but they charged the first $1000ish to our card before we went down and added gift cards to the bill. It ended up that they only had to charge another $30 at the end of the stay and we spent all our gift cards and Disney Visa money. I want to say they were willing to refund the charged amount, but we didn't have way more gift cards than the additional uncharged balance if that makes sense. I want to say we had an extra $100 or so in gift cards that they could not apply at the time we went to the desk and we knew we still had breakfast at Ama Ama and the photopass CD to cover, so it worked out okay. We just used the gift cards to pay for those directly. She did mention we could not put gift cards onto the room balance before there was a balance, so it seems like you have to find the sweet spot when there is a balance, but not so high a balance that they process the charge. Taking room charging off would have been a good idea.

 

[eeyorefanuk]

http://www.disboards.com/threads/aulani-ulu-cafe.3215809/
Here is a photo of the breakfast menu for Ulu cafe that somebody posted on the other post!

Thank you so much

 

[rms123]

A few questions:
There are conflicting posts about bringing your own beverages (including alcohol) down to the pool. I'd love to make some mixed drinks and bring some beer down. Will they allow that?

Was there anything you wished you had brought for the kitchen? Do they have blenders?

Is there a minimum age for the rainbow reef?

Thanks!

 

[nemofans]

There is a sign at the gate leading to beach that says no alcohol beyond this point. I am sure you could bring down your own by the pool, just nothing in glass bottles.

 

[BraveCruiser]

Hi for two adults what would you book at aulani BEFORE you arrive
- restaurant
- refillable drinks

What else please

If you want to do Pearl Harbor, I would recommend doing the excursion from Aulani and book early. The presale tickets sell out quickly and if you try to just go there and get a ticket, it's likely your timed ticket to the Arizona will be later in the day from when you arrive. The excursion has the same restrictions but our tour operator was able to get us tickets for morning so that we didn't have to spend as long there. If you have a car and are driving to Pearl Harbor, I recommend being there when they open so you can get in and out.

 

[SingingMom]

Book any excursions ahead of time. There are very few that include transportation, if you haven't rented a car.

Make some time to visit another beach. We were very disappointed with Aulani's man made lagoon.