Sorry for the auto-correct in the title! I can't figure out how to fix it! A little about the trip - we are a family of 4 from Nashville, TN. This trip was a combination 40th birthday for me and 15th wedding anniversary for us. We enjoy Disney but are not fanatics. We have been to Disney World twice and have done 2 cruises on the Disney Fantasy. I think Disney (especially the cruise line) does a good job of making things fun for kids but also offering opportunities for the parents to relax. I booked our trip with Costco - it included all flights, 5 nights at Aulani and 5 nights on Maui (this review is only about Aulani), plus a rental car on each island. After pricing the trip on Costco, I priced it booking everything separately - the cost savings was almost $2500 using Costco. I was impressed with their communications and the ease of booking everything at once.
We left Nashville on Wednesday, May 24th, on a 6:05 a.m. (central time) flight with a connection in Los Angeles and when we walked off the plane in Honolulu it was 6:05 p.m. (central)/1:05 p.m. (Hawaii). 12 hours of travel was tough on our 2 kids - ages 8 (girl) and 11 (boy), but the excitement of being in Hawaii seemed to outweigh the exhaustion initially (this was NOT the case on our return trip).
After retrieving our bags we got on the shuttle to Alamo rentals - it looked like all car rentals were offsite. We quickly got a car and were on our way to Aulani Traffic was relatively light and we were pulling into the resort about 40 minutes after leaving Alamo - it was around 3:00 p.m. Hawaii time.
Check-in was a breeze. I had initially wanted the 1 bedroom villa because it provided more room for a family of 4, plus a washer-dryer and full kitchen, but the price difference compared to a deluxe studio was over $1500 so we booked the studio. At check-in we were asked if we wanted to upgrade to a 1 bedroom villa for $120/night. Maybe it was the exhaustion kicking in or maybe it was the fact that we would be doubling our space plus I could easily do laundry, but we took the upgrade. And I was so glad we did! As I started to work on this report, I had loads of laundry in the washer and dryer and my kids were each comfortably asleep on a pull out couch and fold-down twin while my husband watched TV in the bedroom. I think we would have been tight in the studio and while it would have worked out, if you can do more space - especially for the laundry - it is worth it. We were the last room on the 16th floor overlooking the mountains and Ko Olina golf course. Amazing views, huge balcony and very quiet - perfect room!
After our bags arrived we quickly unpacked and the kids got ready for the pool while I pulled myself together for a trip to Target. We had decided to have breakfast in the room each day and also to have some snacks and adult beverages available to save money where it made sense. The Target was a close drive and had everything I needed. It helped that it was set up exactly like our Target at home so I could move quickly. I got 2 boxes of cereal, milk, POG juice, pineapple juice, coffee, coffee filters, 2 boxes of Cliff bars, chips, a snack tray, 4 yogurts, bananas, big bag of mini oranges, a bottle of wine, a bottle of rum, a six-pack of beer, a box of crackers, and 3 bottles of sunscreen for $160. I thought the prices were comparable to what I would have spent at home. We easily saved $600 over the 5 days with breakfast, snacks and drinks in the room.
Once I was back and unloaded, I was ready to check out the resort. We walked around and the kids swam while my husband and I enjoyed our first tropical drinks of the trip. Everyone was getting hungry and so we ate at Makahki for convenience. We were very pleased with the buffet (and I am not a buffet person as you will learn in my review of Paradise Cove luau). By 7:00 everyone looked like they might fall asleep at the table so we hustled to bed.
As expected, we were all up by 4:00 a.m. (Thursday, May 25th) due to the time change. After breakfast in our room, we took a long walk on the path in front of the resort which I highly recommend for either exercise or a leisurely stroll - I ran on the path each morning. It was good for everyone to get some fresh air, exercise and sunshine after such a long travel day before. Once we got back, we purchased 2 of the refillable mugs to share (coffee for adults in the morning and then soda for kids in the afternoon) and found a good location to sit for the day under an umbrella by the main pool. I was determined to not be a "chair hog" and so only 2 chairs for our family since I knew the kids would not sit.
Thursday was a beach/pool day and we loved every minute - it really was a perfect day. The resort was not crowded at all (though we didn’t realize how good it was until the madness of Saturday and Sunday) and the kids swam and went on the lazy river and both water slides multiple times. We had lunch at Off the Hook and everyone thought it was very good.
We got registered for Aunty's Beach House and the kids were so excited to go that I stopped by the spa to see if they had any late afternoon appointments. Luckily, they had 2 massage slots left, so I signed us up and we checked the kids into Aunty's. We were very impressed with the spa facilities and the service - it was worth the relatively high price tag and really helped us get into "vacation mode." After picking up the kids and grabbing them a pizza from Ulu Café (well, 2 pizzas because my husband thought they were "personal pan" size and they were actually large), my husband and I had anniversary dinner reservations at Ama Ama.
Our dinner was nice - we had a great view and excellent service. I found the food to be above average but not amazing. They have eliminated the shared dinner special that I had seen on prior versions of the menu so everything is a la carte. We shared the crab cake appetizer and then each had the fish of the day. We split the brussel sprouts and the truffle mac and cheese. While good, this was not our favorite meal of the trip and while Ama Ama is convenient and has great views, the price tag vs. food would not make me rush back for another dinner (or breakfast as you will read shortly).
Friday we had breakfast in the room and then got in our rental car and headed for the Dole Plantation and the North Shore. Dole Plantation was fun, although with the prices they charge and the volume of people we saw visiting, I think they could invest in some upkeep on their facilities. Old, cracked plastic chairs for enjoying our Dole Whips was a little disappointing. We only did the train tour, which was fun and informative. They said the maze would be 1-2 hours and we didn't want to spend that much time. Continuing our drive, we enjoyed the amazing views and stopped along the way for various photo opportunities. I missed the boat on planning for food trucks because I just didn't think my kids would enjoy it. We ended up at Waikiki Beach for a really late lunch at Duke's which was fun. Traffic back to Aulani was bumper to bumper - it took us almost 2 hours. I would highly recommend building traffic into your plans - I was surprised at how bad it was at 4:00 p.m. Once back to the resort, we headed to the pool for a late afternoon swim - the main pool stayed open until 10:00 this day. We had leftover pizza and snacks in the room for dinner.
Saturday was our next beach/pool day. By now the resort was getting significantly more crowded. We were still up really early and so able to secure 2 chairs and an umbrella by the main pool area. By 9:00 a.m. there were no chairs without a towel on them. As the chair saving issue has been posted on extensively, I will say that I found the problem as widespread and comparable to what we saw on our 2 Disney cruises except that I saw much more enforcement of the policy on the cruise. People insist on getting multiple chairs when you only see 1-2 people ever sitting. People put items on chairs and then left for hours at a time. The enforcement of any policy seemed light to non-existent. We ate lunch again at Off the Hook and again everyone was very happy with their meals.
Saturday night was the Paradise Cove luau. I chose Paradise Cove because of its convenience to Aulani. The reviews were average and that is what it was - average. I chose the mid-level package which was still incredibly expensive and despite arriving right after the doors opened, our seats were almost on the back end of one side near the rear of the seating. My children couldn't see anything. Luckily, before the show started I spotted a group of 4 seats where a family had clearly never arrived and so we moved there and could see much better. The food at the luau was a buffet. I am not a big outdoor buffet/picnic person and something about seeing all those trays of food sitting in the heat and sun just made me feel a little ill. My husband thought it was great for the record! Also, be careful about what shoes you wear to Paradise Cove. You are basically on a dusty dirt/gravel parking lot surface most of the time. We all had worn nicer clothing and thus our "nicer" sandals and they were a dusty mess by the end of the night. I saw a number of women in sandals with a heel and they were stumbling on the gravel (or maybe it was the mai tai drinks causing their problems?).
Sunday morning we had 9:00 a.m. tickets to Pearl Harbor. We left Aulani at 7:15 and arrived at Pearl Harbor at 8:00. This gave us a full hour to tour and listen to the audio tour before the boat shuttle to the Arizona Memorial. This was an amazing experience and highly recommended. I was on the National Park website at the 60 day mark to secure our tickets - especially since this was Memorial Day weekend. We really enjoyed the tour, especially our 11 year old who had studied Pearl Harbor and World War II in school this year.
After Pearl Harbor we drove back to Aulani and stopped at Monkey Pod for an early lunch. I was little nervous because both online and even from people we talked to at the resort this restaurant had received such mixed reviews - people either loved it or hated it! We fell into the camp of loved it - there were so many great choices and our server was really attentive and helpful. I definitely think it is a great option for getting offsite for a meal!
We headed back for one last swim on Sunday afternoon and the pool was a zoo. There was not a chair in sight at the pool and it was blazing hot at the beach (so hot the sand was burning our feet!). Finally my husband spotted a family leaving and we were able to grab a single chair. Originally I had early dinner reservations at Roy's but after a long day, my kids begged to swim longer and eat at Makahki - they thought it was great and really wanted to go back. Despite my feelings on a buffet, at least it is indoors and the food seemed to be very monitored and kept at appropriate temperatures, so we decided to go there again.
Monday we had a flight to Maui at 2:30. We had used up all our breakfast items so decided to try Ama Ama for breakfast. Most disappointing meal of our trip. Our 8 year old ordered the breakfast platter. It was a tiny portion of scrambled eggs (could not have even been 2 eggs), 4-6 small potatoes and 1 small piece of bacon. No fruit was included. It was the smallest meal I had ever seen - even for a kid. At this point on vacation, I felt like I needed something a little healthier so ordered what appeared to be the better choice - an egg white frittata. What I received was a massive pancake-sized egg mixture literally floating in a thick layer of oil and giant globs of pesto. I am really not picky (despite the buffet issues - ha!), but this was inedible. I asked my server if he could please remove it from our bill and he acted like I could only substitute something else. When I insisted I didn't want anything else he finally agreed but it was a little awkward. On the other hand, my husband and son thought their meals were fine.
Overall, I am glad we chose Aulani as our home base for Oahu. It was a great location, beautiful resort and a really well-done pool area with the slides and lazy river. At the end of the trip, we decided that we loved our time on Maui more and if we ever get the chance to return to Hawaii would want to go back to Maui and probably make it over to the Big Island to see the volcanoes. Happy to answer any questions as I found this forum to be very helpful in my planning!
We left Nashville on Wednesday, May 24th, on a 6:05 a.m. (central time) flight with a connection in Los Angeles and when we walked off the plane in Honolulu it was 6:05 p.m. (central)/1:05 p.m. (Hawaii). 12 hours of travel was tough on our 2 kids - ages 8 (girl) and 11 (boy), but the excitement of being in Hawaii seemed to outweigh the exhaustion initially (this was NOT the case on our return trip).
After retrieving our bags we got on the shuttle to Alamo rentals - it looked like all car rentals were offsite. We quickly got a car and were on our way to Aulani Traffic was relatively light and we were pulling into the resort about 40 minutes after leaving Alamo - it was around 3:00 p.m. Hawaii time.
Check-in was a breeze. I had initially wanted the 1 bedroom villa because it provided more room for a family of 4, plus a washer-dryer and full kitchen, but the price difference compared to a deluxe studio was over $1500 so we booked the studio. At check-in we were asked if we wanted to upgrade to a 1 bedroom villa for $120/night. Maybe it was the exhaustion kicking in or maybe it was the fact that we would be doubling our space plus I could easily do laundry, but we took the upgrade. And I was so glad we did! As I started to work on this report, I had loads of laundry in the washer and dryer and my kids were each comfortably asleep on a pull out couch and fold-down twin while my husband watched TV in the bedroom. I think we would have been tight in the studio and while it would have worked out, if you can do more space - especially for the laundry - it is worth it. We were the last room on the 16th floor overlooking the mountains and Ko Olina golf course. Amazing views, huge balcony and very quiet - perfect room!
After our bags arrived we quickly unpacked and the kids got ready for the pool while I pulled myself together for a trip to Target. We had decided to have breakfast in the room each day and also to have some snacks and adult beverages available to save money where it made sense. The Target was a close drive and had everything I needed. It helped that it was set up exactly like our Target at home so I could move quickly. I got 2 boxes of cereal, milk, POG juice, pineapple juice, coffee, coffee filters, 2 boxes of Cliff bars, chips, a snack tray, 4 yogurts, bananas, big bag of mini oranges, a bottle of wine, a bottle of rum, a six-pack of beer, a box of crackers, and 3 bottles of sunscreen for $160. I thought the prices were comparable to what I would have spent at home. We easily saved $600 over the 5 days with breakfast, snacks and drinks in the room.
Once I was back and unloaded, I was ready to check out the resort. We walked around and the kids swam while my husband and I enjoyed our first tropical drinks of the trip. Everyone was getting hungry and so we ate at Makahki for convenience. We were very pleased with the buffet (and I am not a buffet person as you will learn in my review of Paradise Cove luau). By 7:00 everyone looked like they might fall asleep at the table so we hustled to bed.
As expected, we were all up by 4:00 a.m. (Thursday, May 25th) due to the time change. After breakfast in our room, we took a long walk on the path in front of the resort which I highly recommend for either exercise or a leisurely stroll - I ran on the path each morning. It was good for everyone to get some fresh air, exercise and sunshine after such a long travel day before. Once we got back, we purchased 2 of the refillable mugs to share (coffee for adults in the morning and then soda for kids in the afternoon) and found a good location to sit for the day under an umbrella by the main pool. I was determined to not be a "chair hog" and so only 2 chairs for our family since I knew the kids would not sit.
Thursday was a beach/pool day and we loved every minute - it really was a perfect day. The resort was not crowded at all (though we didn’t realize how good it was until the madness of Saturday and Sunday) and the kids swam and went on the lazy river and both water slides multiple times. We had lunch at Off the Hook and everyone thought it was very good.
We got registered for Aunty's Beach House and the kids were so excited to go that I stopped by the spa to see if they had any late afternoon appointments. Luckily, they had 2 massage slots left, so I signed us up and we checked the kids into Aunty's. We were very impressed with the spa facilities and the service - it was worth the relatively high price tag and really helped us get into "vacation mode." After picking up the kids and grabbing them a pizza from Ulu Café (well, 2 pizzas because my husband thought they were "personal pan" size and they were actually large), my husband and I had anniversary dinner reservations at Ama Ama.
Our dinner was nice - we had a great view and excellent service. I found the food to be above average but not amazing. They have eliminated the shared dinner special that I had seen on prior versions of the menu so everything is a la carte. We shared the crab cake appetizer and then each had the fish of the day. We split the brussel sprouts and the truffle mac and cheese. While good, this was not our favorite meal of the trip and while Ama Ama is convenient and has great views, the price tag vs. food would not make me rush back for another dinner (or breakfast as you will read shortly).
Friday we had breakfast in the room and then got in our rental car and headed for the Dole Plantation and the North Shore. Dole Plantation was fun, although with the prices they charge and the volume of people we saw visiting, I think they could invest in some upkeep on their facilities. Old, cracked plastic chairs for enjoying our Dole Whips was a little disappointing. We only did the train tour, which was fun and informative. They said the maze would be 1-2 hours and we didn't want to spend that much time. Continuing our drive, we enjoyed the amazing views and stopped along the way for various photo opportunities. I missed the boat on planning for food trucks because I just didn't think my kids would enjoy it. We ended up at Waikiki Beach for a really late lunch at Duke's which was fun. Traffic back to Aulani was bumper to bumper - it took us almost 2 hours. I would highly recommend building traffic into your plans - I was surprised at how bad it was at 4:00 p.m. Once back to the resort, we headed to the pool for a late afternoon swim - the main pool stayed open until 10:00 this day. We had leftover pizza and snacks in the room for dinner.
Saturday was our next beach/pool day. By now the resort was getting significantly more crowded. We were still up really early and so able to secure 2 chairs and an umbrella by the main pool area. By 9:00 a.m. there were no chairs without a towel on them. As the chair saving issue has been posted on extensively, I will say that I found the problem as widespread and comparable to what we saw on our 2 Disney cruises except that I saw much more enforcement of the policy on the cruise. People insist on getting multiple chairs when you only see 1-2 people ever sitting. People put items on chairs and then left for hours at a time. The enforcement of any policy seemed light to non-existent. We ate lunch again at Off the Hook and again everyone was very happy with their meals.
Saturday night was the Paradise Cove luau. I chose Paradise Cove because of its convenience to Aulani. The reviews were average and that is what it was - average. I chose the mid-level package which was still incredibly expensive and despite arriving right after the doors opened, our seats were almost on the back end of one side near the rear of the seating. My children couldn't see anything. Luckily, before the show started I spotted a group of 4 seats where a family had clearly never arrived and so we moved there and could see much better. The food at the luau was a buffet. I am not a big outdoor buffet/picnic person and something about seeing all those trays of food sitting in the heat and sun just made me feel a little ill. My husband thought it was great for the record! Also, be careful about what shoes you wear to Paradise Cove. You are basically on a dusty dirt/gravel parking lot surface most of the time. We all had worn nicer clothing and thus our "nicer" sandals and they were a dusty mess by the end of the night. I saw a number of women in sandals with a heel and they were stumbling on the gravel (or maybe it was the mai tai drinks causing their problems?).
Sunday morning we had 9:00 a.m. tickets to Pearl Harbor. We left Aulani at 7:15 and arrived at Pearl Harbor at 8:00. This gave us a full hour to tour and listen to the audio tour before the boat shuttle to the Arizona Memorial. This was an amazing experience and highly recommended. I was on the National Park website at the 60 day mark to secure our tickets - especially since this was Memorial Day weekend. We really enjoyed the tour, especially our 11 year old who had studied Pearl Harbor and World War II in school this year.
After Pearl Harbor we drove back to Aulani and stopped at Monkey Pod for an early lunch. I was little nervous because both online and even from people we talked to at the resort this restaurant had received such mixed reviews - people either loved it or hated it! We fell into the camp of loved it - there were so many great choices and our server was really attentive and helpful. I definitely think it is a great option for getting offsite for a meal!
We headed back for one last swim on Sunday afternoon and the pool was a zoo. There was not a chair in sight at the pool and it was blazing hot at the beach (so hot the sand was burning our feet!). Finally my husband spotted a family leaving and we were able to grab a single chair. Originally I had early dinner reservations at Roy's but after a long day, my kids begged to swim longer and eat at Makahki - they thought it was great and really wanted to go back. Despite my feelings on a buffet, at least it is indoors and the food seemed to be very monitored and kept at appropriate temperatures, so we decided to go there again.
Monday we had a flight to Maui at 2:30. We had used up all our breakfast items so decided to try Ama Ama for breakfast. Most disappointing meal of our trip. Our 8 year old ordered the breakfast platter. It was a tiny portion of scrambled eggs (could not have even been 2 eggs), 4-6 small potatoes and 1 small piece of bacon. No fruit was included. It was the smallest meal I had ever seen - even for a kid. At this point on vacation, I felt like I needed something a little healthier so ordered what appeared to be the better choice - an egg white frittata. What I received was a massive pancake-sized egg mixture literally floating in a thick layer of oil and giant globs of pesto. I am really not picky (despite the buffet issues - ha!), but this was inedible. I asked my server if he could please remove it from our bill and he acted like I could only substitute something else. When I insisted I didn't want anything else he finally agreed but it was a little awkward. On the other hand, my husband and son thought their meals were fine.
Overall, I am glad we chose Aulani as our home base for Oahu. It was a great location, beautiful resort and a really well-done pool area with the slides and lazy river. At the end of the trip, we decided that we loved our time on Maui more and if we ever get the chance to return to Hawaii would want to go back to Maui and probably make it over to the Big Island to see the volcanoes. Happy to answer any questions as I found this forum to be very helpful in my planning!
