Aulani Frustrations

[Mommy2Corinne]

FYI Menehune Bridge area reopened yesterday (5/20).

 

[AZMermaid]

Thank you for the update!

 

[alohamom]

Even tho you were comp'd your parking, I would write a formal email to Guest Relations regarding the lack of notification of a "scheduled" maintenance. As you said, the areas that were closed were a huge factor in your choosing Aulani over Atlantis and perhaps if you knew they would be unavailable, you would have chosen elsewhere or another time. Disney needs to know this has happened and how unhappy you were about it so that communications can be improved for the future and you never know, they may take it a step further and comp you with something on top of the parking which I actually think you deserve.
Thank you for taking the time to post about this as well, it makes me aware for the next time to check and see (via email) if there is anything going to be shut down, sorry this has happened to you and your kids and I am glad to read you made the best of it.

 

[nhmomx2]

We are heading to our first Aulani trip in a few months...I'm truly surprised by the early pool closing time given that there is so little else to do. I know the pools "close", but is it like Disney where they close meaning the lifeguards leave and the slide shut down, but you can still swim or they completely shut down? Also, do you still have beach access once the pools close? My sister will be staying at the Ko Olina Beach Resort next door while we are at Aulani...I'm wondering if they are similar?!

 

[Mommy2Corinne]

We are heading to our first Aulani trip in a few months...I'm truly surprised by the early pool closing time given that there is so little else to do. I know the pools "close", but is it like Disney where they close meaning the lifeguards leave and the slide shut down, but you can still swim or they completely shut down? Also, do you still have beach access once the pools close? My sister will be staying at the Ko Olina Beach Resort next door while we are at Aulani...I'm wondering if they are similar?!

The pools completely close (they basically rope off all the entrance areas). There is no swimming once they are officially closed. I'm not sure about the beach...I would guess you could still wander down there at your own risk? We did notice though while we were sitting at AMA AMA on our last afternoon for lunch that they had a camera on the ceiling near the edge of the open air part (that we actually were talking about and assume could point towards the beach?). Just an observation...not sure what to make of it.

 

[nhmomx2]

That really is unfortunate and early!! Hoping we can still catch a bit of a moonlit swim at least if the need arise to cool down after a long day. Thank you!

 

[Pooh2]

We (party of two adults) were pretty disappointed that the lazy river closed so early.

The "Pool Closed due to unexpected incident" sign was up quite a bit while we were there. So often, that we did not even venture into the big pool with the slides. I've never seen so many toddlers/babies all collected in one spot, not surprising that there were frequent "unexpected incidents".

I agree with an up thread poster that for health reasons, Disney ought to prohibit non-potty trained customers from using the pool.

On our last night, all the pools ended up closed earlier than posted so we went down to the cove for a swim.

 

[fairytalelover]

We just got back and we had the same frustrations! Very disappointing.

 

[kdonnel]

It seems like Aulani has had complaints about the food since it opened. The resort is walking a fine line trying to cater to Asian tastes and mainland US tastes.

My kids have always wanted to try new things so I never noticed a problem. We have also never been ones to enjoy pool food. Pool food is usually bad no mater what resort. Instead we plan on providing our own lunch generally from the ABC store across the street, their deli and prepackaged meals are extensive.

We have definitely experienced water issues though. The ocean was closed one trip for two days due to a sewage leak. Definitely something out of Disney's control.

I remember on our first Disney cruise that the Mickey pool was closed way more often than it was open due to crapping kids. Yet if Disney didn't allow diaper wearing kids into the pool at Aulani parents would complain loud and often. Again a fine line. And perhaps a bit of bad vs good luck. On subsequent DCL cruises I don't remember the pool closing at all and on other Aulani trips the ocean wasn't closed.

 

[MouseOfCards]

We just got back and we had the same frustrations! Very disappointing.

We (party of two adults) were pretty disappointed that the lazy river closed so early.

The "Pool Closed due to unexpected incident" sign was up quite a bit while we were there. So often, that we did not even venture into the big pool with the slides. I've never seen so many toddlers/babies all collected in one spot, not surprising that there were frequent "unexpected incidents".

I agree with an up thread poster that for health reasons, Disney ought to prohibit non-potty trained customers from using the pool.

On our last night, all the pools ended up closed earlier than posted so we went down to the cove for a swim.

Yep, very disappointing. They should definitely do something about it.

 

[JW9DVC]

So I get it being able to buy a hot dog. A one bedroom does have a stove and microwave though.

 

[CaliAdventurer]

These pool stories are terrifying me. Gaross. And the beach these days seems the same gamble. I love Aulani and though we have never had any problems with food, outages, or even the time of closure- It would not be nice to listen to pool noise until midnight, espicially since we go to bed (and awaken) much sooner with the time difference from the mainland- I may have to rethink pool destinations in future. Its all fun and game until someone gets MRSA...

 

[icc2515]

The "Pool Closed due to unexpected incident" sign was up quite a bit while we were there. So often, that we did not even venture into the big pool with the slides.

I wonder what make Aulani different than WDW. I have never seen a pool closed for anything other than regular maintenance or a thunderstorm.

 

[Hammill9508]

Thanks for sharing. We were starting to start making plans to go there, but we are both night owls and it seems like this place closes up at dusk.

 

[mariemarie]

One of the things that we love about Hawaii in general, not just the Aulani, is that things settle down early. The sun sets earlier, meals are earlier and it's truly relaxing. We go to the Aulani and the Big Island in a few weeks, and I'm actually really excited for the quiet that exists as early as 8:00. If I want to be active after that, I'll go to the parks. Hawaii is for relaxing, not stressing over closures because you're still in paradise and living on Island Time. Just my two cents.

 

[lorenni]

My daughter is what we call a pool pooper. Something about the water.... We know this about her and so even though she is normally potty trained, she still wears a swim diaper (she's 3). We make her go ahead of time, which helps, but often the water gets things moving. As soon as we know she went, we get her out and change her... But think of a tea bag. I've seen them clear the pool at our swim lessons over a dozen times (not for her thankfully) although they don't drain it (gross....). So, I could totally see if someone else has a pool pooper, unbeknownst to them, yeah, it could totally happen that there is major accidents with no swim diaper on.

If you know this then you should not take your daughter into public pools. PERIOD. And for exactly the reason you describe - the diaper does not keep feces from getting in the pool.

 

[marx]

I did go speak with one of the concierge CM's about our frustrations over closures yesterday...

We've been to Aulani three times with no issues on our first or third trips. But on our second trip we had issues with Aunty's, the pool area and a restaurant. In each case I spoke to the manager of the area (none were available to talk immediately, but each called me back and/or met with me). Each manager fixed the issue and/or compensated me in some way.