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

[phyllis1966]

I am clearly in the minority on this one, but I'm not traveling 4800 miles to sit by a pool or on a beach all day, every day. Aulani is a beautiful resort but Hawaii has a lot to offer as well. Even after 7 visits, I still like to get out to see and do other things. An hour or two by the pool or snorkeling in the lagoon each day is more than enough for me. Consequently, I "need" a car just to keep my sanity.

Besides, me being out and about frees up a chair by the pool for other guests.

Well, DD and I are in that minority right beside ya! Although DH could lie about most days, we need some activities and sightseeing. My perfect day is breakfast, touring/activity, late afternoon pool/beach time, dinner, then maybe a nice evening walk along the beach or something. At DH's request, I left one day for pool/beach with no touring, and DD and I were bored after a couple of hours. There was so much to see in five days and I loved every minute of it!

 

[cindyzig]

To each their own, right?
I used to live on Oahu for many years and was just there in July. When I go in March, I will be in Maui for a week sightseeing, and then Waikiki a few days for some sightseeing. When we go to Aulani, we are staying there for a few days in order to enjoy a resort my family loves. If we don't want to leave, it is our choice not to. Not every HI vacation is the same for us.

We have been to HI several times, and we discovered we do not want to leave this amazing resort this trip. We still have several things to check off our to do list including Menehune Trail, walking to the other coves to look for seals and turtles, and more relaxing and playing. We switched from a studio OV room, and were able to upgrade with points to a one bedroom OV (that didn't show up on the DVC availability), and we are enjoying time on the lanai watching whales off and on everyday. There are many whales right now!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Great, thank you all, my wife is under the impression that DVC members get free parking.... but that does not sound like the case..

Just to reconfirm - members staying on points get free parking.

 

[OrcaPotter]

Just curious, but those of you who bought groceries for your kitchen, how often did you make dinners and what kind of dinners? What would also be the cheapest place for fresh fish?

 

[Billinaz]

The trick to renting a car at Aulani is to just book with Alamo for the single day you need it. You won't incur any parking charges that way.

I also understand its possible to just book on-line from your room and then walk downstairs to get the car. I've heard you can often get a better rate than just walking up to the counter.

But it is much more expensive that way.

The cost for a minivan from Alamo for a week, plus the greedy parking fee, is less than 2 days rental there.

 

[DIS_MIKE]

Hi everyone! First off, Aulani is the greatest place on earth..BUT Did anyone else find the pool hours disappointing? Many of us are used to the WDW pool areas open until at least 11. Aulani seemed to close the entire area at 6-7pm the entire time I was there. I didn't bring it up to anyone, however when you're out exploring the rest of the island you normally don't return until the evening hours. I was eager to enjoy the infinity pool but I was out of luck.

Another thing that I didn't take into consideration was the lack of gas stations in Ko Olina. ZERO LOL..so I had to go back a few exits to top off my mustang before dropping it off at Alamo. I learned the first time though. Rental prices seemed reasonable; roughly $100 per day. I also had a voucher from the resort for 1 free rental which was nice. I ended up with a Honda Fit which made it easy to park in Honolulu.

 

[AZMermaid]

Just curious, but those of you who bought groceries for your kitchen, how often did you make dinners and what kind of dinners? What would also be the cheapest place for fresh fish?

We plan to make dinner 3 or 4 nights that we are there (out of 7). We are going to do the in room meal one day and then hopefully use the leftovers to make chicken and rice burritos another day. My kids are little though, so I am pretty sure we will have a good amount of left overs. We are planning on buying a marinated pork tenderloin at Safeway (they have these here at our Safeway, so hopefully there too). They are easy, just throw them in the oven for 45-60 minutes and we will have that with rice as well. We will probably do a simple spaghetti night one night and then hmmm.... can't remember our last plan! I have hot dogs written down, but that for some reason I thought I scratched that idea!

 

[OrcaPotter]

We plan to make dinner 3 or 4 nights that we are there (out of 7). We are going to do the in room meal one day and then hopefully use the leftovers to make chicken and rice burritos another day. My kids are little though, so I am pretty sure we will have a good amount of left overs. We are planning on buying a marinated pork tenderloin at Safeway (they have these here at our Safeway, so hopefully there too). They are easy, just throw them in the oven for 45-60 minutes and we will have that with rice as well. We will probably do a simple spaghetti night one night and then hmmm.... can't remember our last plan! I have hot dogs written down, but that for some reason I thought I scratched that idea!

That sounds like a good plan. There will only be 3 of us, so I think Safeway will likely be our cheapest option.

 

[MrHappy]

The one thing I wish I knew... was that suntan lotion "rubs off" in the salt water. My DW, very fair skinned, put on tons of SPF55 before going on a snorkel trip to three places (on Maui to the crater and turtle cove and stuff). On the boat trip between locations she got a 2nd degree sunburn and couldn't do anything else the rest of the trip. Wish we knew..

Also if you like tacos, Maui Taco (on all islands), had the best fish tacos.

 

[apple9117]

This thread has so much valuable info!

 

[smduja]

Bump! Loved reading every entry. We will be at Aulani in 52 days. can hardly wait.

 

[CoffeeCup]

Does Aulani offer an excursion to the Polynesian Cultural Center? We'll have a rental car, but we don't want a long drive back at night? We'll stay at Aulani 5 nights before our cruise.

 

[phyllis1966]

Does Aulani offer an excursion to the Polynesian Cultural Center? We'll have a rental car, but we don't want a long drive back at night? We'll stay at Aulani 5 nights before our cruise.

Yes! It was worth every penny...we all enjoyed the day, the show after the luau is not to be missed, and having transportation back to Aulani was a godsend. I highly recommend it. I booked it from home on Aulani's website.

 

[Mduff]

I have Ama Ama booked for our last night of our 10 day stay in August....will I be disappointed if I wait all week to eat there? I also have it booked for the day we're going to Pearl Harbor but not sure if we'll be enjoying it as much if we're tired. I want to cancel one of these so someone else can book it, but can't decide which night to cancel

 

[The Fox Menagerie]

Thanks for all of the great tips on this thread, we are really looking forward to our first visit to Aulani in June!

 

[calif disney 1]

We just returned home last night from a fantastic trip to Aulani. We rented a car (my kids are older and my son likes to surf). After a morning relaxing having coffee and going for a run, we would jump in the car and drive. Went to the North Shore twice, (Dole plantation, was really fun to see). We went to all the beaches, and had a great time. On day 3 we drove to Sandy Beach, but came in the back way off of H-3. What a beautiful drive. Can't say enough about Sandy beach. However, if you are not experienced at body surfing and not a strong swimmer, with fins, I would not recommend going into the surf. Anyhow, in the late aternoons, we would return, and enjoy all that Aulani has to offer. The days there seem to be very long, with enough time to enjoy alot. Oh, and Monkeypod kitchen, across the street, is a great place or dinner and drinks. Expensive....but well worht it.

 

[Dugette]

I have Ama Ama booked for our last night of our 10 day stay in August....will I be disappointed if I wait all week to eat there? I also have it booked for the day we're going to Pearl Harbor but not sure if we'll be enjoying it as much if we're tired. I want to cancel one of these so someone else can book it, but can't decide which night to cancel

We had dinner at Ama Ama the last night of our 10-day trip last November. It was at sunset and a really nice way to end our trip and soak up the last little bit of Aulani. I also highly recommend breakfast there - we had a great view of the ocean and it was pretty quiet and the food was good.

 

[chateau]

Which characters are present for the breakfast buffet?

 

[Dugette]

Which characters are present for the breakfast buffet?

I can speak from experience that they do NOT make any guarantees. The best thing to do is to ask that morning to see who is there that day - or else, you may find that "Minnie went out shopping", as happened to us. That said, from walking by daily for a week, Mickey usually greets at check-in and Minnie and Goofy visit the tables. But they do not promise any of them and told us that Chip and Dale have been there sometimes too. In general, to my knowledge, the only characters at Aulani at all are: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Chip, Dale, and Stitch.

 

[happymommy]

No one has mentioned much the new Super Walmart right near Costco in Kapolei as an alternative for a few grocery items. It may not have quite as much groceries as Target, but they do have some.
Remember, all the stores (Target, Coscto, Walmart, and Safeway) carry beer, wine, and hard liquor in Hawaii. I hate that here in Maryland we have to go to a separate liquor store!

We cook almost all dinners in during our two week stays at Ko Olina, but do eat lunch out often when we're running around.

If you are up in Kailua, definitely go to Willow Tree (right near the Safeway grocery store) for their Korean food! My husband is Korean, and we've always loved that restaurant (we've been going there since 1995). Their portions are huge. It's nice that I have an 18 year old boy to help me finish my food!

If we have extra food at the end of the trip, we used to give it to the housekeeping. Now at the Marriott (timeshares), they have large bins in all the lobbies to collect for the local food banks. Those bins fill up quickly! I like that idea.

We bring one suitcase with spices, small condiments, and also don't forget it's nice to bring things like plastic food storage containers (for leftovers), aluminum foil, baggies, drink mix like Crystal Light (I keep a pitcher in the fridge always, then we drink more). Bringing these things helps cut down on our first day shopping (usually we hit Target the day we arrive for essentials, then Costco the next day to really stock up),