Are reservations in advance necessary?

[princessluna14]

We will be staying at Aulani for 5 nights in May. I noticed today that the website will allow me to make dining reservations for our trip now. I don't really have our itinerary fleshed out, as I was hoping to adopt a more spontaneous approach to this trip than I normally do for our WDW trips. Do I need to book far in advance at Aulani like you do at WDW? Will I be able to book on the fly a day or two in advance while we are there? Or perhaps even do walk-ups?

 

[thedogatemyhomework]

for makahiki on a weekend or holiday...absolutely. for ama ama...don’t think I’ve ever seen them full.

 

[soniam]

If you want a very specific time, like sunset, for Ama Ama, then you should book early I think. I was looking for our mid-July trip, and sunset was already booked for several of the days at Ama Ama. There were still decent times, like earlier (5:30) and 7:30 onward.

 

[Erino'North]

I suggest you book in advance for Makahiki if there is a specific time you'd like to dine with the characters. We were a party of four and booked about 5 weeks out for the breakfast buffet. We also booked Ama Ama once for breakfast but it wasn't necessary; the view is lovely from the restaurant.

 

[princessluna14]

Thank you all!

 

[TagsMissy]

For Ama'Ama dinner yes, otherwise as long as you are a bit flexible you should be ok unless you want a character meal at a certain time.