Aulani itinerary for resort-only (no Oahu tour)

[grayexpectations]

HI there...soon we’ll be there in HI! (Me, DH and DD7)

DH and I have been to Hawaii before...Our DD7 is our souvenir, so I guess the math is around 8 years ago. We toured Oahu and only visited Aulani for a shave ice before our flight home.

This time we are starting at Aulani to get over jet lag (we are East Coasters) before going over to the big island for a week with extended family. We plan on doing lots of touring on the big island and wanted to just relax at Aulani without a big agenda. HOWEVER...I’m realizing that labor shortages mean that we could be very hangry and not get a table at a restaurant when we need it. No big deal for most families, but our daughter has SEVERE allergies to two Hawaiian staples (tree nuts/coconuts and sesame). Disney table service has always been more careful than quick service for us. So we are now in the cycle of trying to secure restaurant reservations and spiraling into doing actual planning for what was supposed to be the “no plan portion” of the trip. Because let’s face it, if you’re on Disboards, planning is your default setting.

Keeping that in mind, would love advice on our resort-only itinerary...

DAY 1 (arrival)

• 1pm Private ground transfer from airport with leis since Aulani no longer has them at arrival
• After check in
  • buy allergy safe snacks from shops in case we are hangry at 4am when restaurants are closed
  • shop while we’re shopping for food and maybe pin trade at 3pm
  • get a Menehune tablet from Pau Hana room in case we are up at 4am and want to have an activity before the pool opens
  • get towels/pool wristbands for same day and next day
  • pool/characters/unpack
  • We are taking our own snorkel gear so we know it fits and we can try it out on this day in the ocean before we do Rainbow Reef the rest of the time.
• 5pm Makahiki dinner

DAY 2 (first full Aulani day)

• If up super early, eat safe snacks bought in shops and do Menehune thing
• 5:30am go across street to Island Coffee/ABC for breakfast
• 7:45 get in Rainbow Reef line to sign up for fish feeding/snorkeling
• 8am reserve day activities at Pau Hana
• Pool or Pau Hana activities we signed up for
• 11am eat lunch at pool (use safe food from room if we don’t feel comfortable with chef there)
• 11:30 - DH goes to spa 1hr before his massage starts
• 12pm - Aunty’s (if we get a reservation)
• 2pm - DH leaves spa
• afternoon - pool/Pau Hana activities/characters, maybe nap
• get towels/pool wristbands for next day
• Dinner is triple booked...
  • 4:45pm Mina’s Fish House (we would miss sunset views but get a fine dining experience - this is the only Mina’s we could get and we are waitlisted for sunset times this day and the next day)
  • 5:45pm Makahiki
  • 6:15pm Longhi’s at the Marriott (sunset view)

DAY 3 (second full Aulani day and hopefully more adjusted to the time change)

• 7am breakfast Makahiki
• 7:45 get in Rainbow Reef line to sign up for fish feeding/snorkeling
• 8am reserve day activities at Pau Hana
• Rainbow Reef/Pool/Pau Hana activities we signed up for
• 11am eat lunch at pool (use safe food from room if we don’t feel comfortable with chef there)
• 12pm - Aunty’s (if we get a reservation) and I go to spa 1 hr before my massage starts
• 2pm - I leave spa
• afternoon - Rainbow Reef/pool/Pau Hana activities/characters, maybe nap
• get towels/pool wristbands for next day
• Dinner is double booked...
  • waitlisted for sunset at Mina’s Fish House (will drop other reservations for this one)
  • 5:30pm Makahiki
  • 6:45pm Longhi’s at the Marriott (sunset view)
• stargazing if we got a reservation

DAY 4 (fly to big island)

• Breakfast
  • 7:15am Makahiki
  • Waitlisted at La Hiki Sunday Brunch
• Rainbow Reef/Characters/pool
• 11:30am Private transfer to airport
• Lunch at airport at Mickey D’s

Any glaring issues/gaps? Advice? Must-do’s on property or in walking distance of Ko Olina?

 

[alohamom]

• get a Menehune tablet from Pau Hana room in case we are up at 4am and want to have an activity before the pool opens

I might be wrong but I think the tablets for the Menehune hunt are time limited and can only be borrowed during the time Pau Hana room is open which I think is 9am or 10am till 7pm.
So if you were thinking of holding on to them from the evening before so that you can use it very early in the morning, I don' think that will work.

get towels/pool wristbands for same day and next day

Last time I was at Aulani (which was pre-covid) you could only get day of wrist bands, not the next days

I think otherwise you have a pretty solid plan!

Since you are bringing your own snorkel gear and plan to use it in the ocean, I would suggest going over to Paradise Cove/Secret Beach/Lanikuhanou Beach
There are two ways to get there and I strongly suggest taking the street. You can get to it by walking in front of the Four Seasons but you have to walk over a very rocky section.
To take the street way, basically you go out of the Aulani driveway entrance, turn left onto the side walk and head toward the cross walk.
Instead of crossing over tot he small shopping center, you cross toward the Four Seasons and follow the sidewalk until you get to a parking lot on your left.
You head into that parking lot and in the middle of the back of it, there is a walkway of chain link fence that you follow down to the beach.
It might be a 5 minute walk, if that.

There are better YouTube videos that show this way but this is just to give you an idea of what the fence lined walk way looks like. The walking starts around the 3:45 mark of the video

 

[Paul Stupin]

HI there...soon we’ll be there in HI! (Me, DH and DD7)

DH and I have been to Hawaii before...Our DD7 is our souvenir, so I guess the math is around 8 years ago. We toured Oahu and only visited Aulani for a shave ice before our flight home.

This time we are starting at Aulani to get over jet lag (we are East Coasters) before going over to the big island for a week with extended family. We plan on doing lots of touring on the big island and wanted to just relax at Aulani without a big agenda. HOWEVER...I’m realizing that labor shortages mean that we could be very hangry and not get a table at a restaurant when we need it. No big deal for most families, but our daughter has SEVERE allergies to two Hawaiian staples (tree nuts/coconuts and sesame). Disney table service has always been more careful than quick service for us. So we are now in the cycle of trying to secure restaurant reservations and spiraling into doing actual planning for what was supposed to be the “no plan portion” of the trip. Because let’s face it, if you’re on Disboards, planning is your default setting.

Keeping that in mind, would love advice on our resort-only itinerary...

DAY 1 (arrival)

• 1pm Private ground transfer from airport with leis since Aulani no longer has them at arrival
• After check in
  • buy allergy safe snacks from shops in case we are hangry at 4am when restaurants are closed
  • shop while we’re shopping for food and maybe pin trade at 3pm
  • get a Menehune tablet from Pau Hana room in case we are up at 4am and want to have an activity before the pool opens
  • get towels/pool wristbands for same day and next day
  • pool/characters/unpack
  • We are taking our own snorkel gear so we know it fits and we can try it out on this day in the ocean before we do Rainbow Reef the rest of the time.
• 5pm Makahiki dinner

DAY 2 (first full Aulani day)

• If up super early, eat safe snacks bought in shops and do Menehune thing
• 5:30am go across street to Island Coffee/ABC for breakfast
• 7:45 get in Rainbow Reef line to sign up for fish feeding/snorkeling
• 8am reserve day activities at Pau Hana
• Pool or Pau Hana activities we signed up for
• 11am eat lunch at pool (use safe food from room if we don’t feel comfortable with chef there)
• 11:30 - DH goes to spa 1hr before his massage starts
• 12pm - Aunty’s (if we get a reservation)
• 2pm - DH leaves spa
• afternoon - pool/Pau Hana activities/characters, maybe nap
• get towels/pool wristbands for next day
• Dinner is triple booked...
  • 4:45pm Mina’s Fish House (we would miss sunset views but get a fine dining experience - this is the only Mina’s we could get and we are waitlisted for sunset times this day and the next day)
  • 5:45pm Makahiki
  • 6:15pm Longhi’s at the Marriott (sunset view)

DAY 3 (second full Aulani day and hopefully more adjusted to the time change)

• 7am breakfast Makahiki
• 7:45 get in Rainbow Reef line to sign up for fish feeding/snorkeling
• 8am reserve day activities at Pau Hana
• Rainbow Reef/Pool/Pau Hana activities we signed up for
• 11am eat lunch at pool (use safe food from room if we don’t feel comfortable with chef there)
• 12pm - Aunty’s (if we get a reservation) and I go to spa 1 hr before my massage starts
• 2pm - I leave spa
• afternoon - Rainbow Reef/pool/Pau Hana activities/characters, maybe nap
• get towels/pool wristbands for next day
• Dinner is double booked...
  • waitlisted for sunset at Mina’s Fish House (will drop other reservations for this one)
  • 5:30pm Makahiki
  • 6:45pm Longhi’s at the Marriott (sunset view)
• stargazing if we got a reservation

DAY 4 (fly to big island)

• Breakfast
  • 7:15am Makahiki
  • Waitlisted at La Hiki Sunday Brunch
• Rainbow Reef/Characters/pool
• 11:30am Private transfer to airport
• Lunch at airport at Mickey D’s

Any glaring issues/gaps? Advice? Must-do’s on property or in walking distance of Ko Olina?

One fun thing we discovered after eating one evening at Longhi’s last month. The Marriott Ko Olina’s version of a Luau takes place right on the lawn by the restaurant, so if you get the right table, you can actually enjoy your meal while watching the show!
It happened for us around 6 pm on a Tuesday night, totally by chance, but we really enjoyed it.

I’d check the schedule for when the luau is happening during your stay, and then request a table with a view of it when you make your reservation.

 

[alohamom]

One fun thing we discovered after eating one evening at Longhi’s last month. The Marriott Ko Olina’s version of a Luau takes place right on the lawn by the restaurant, so if you get the right table, you can actually enjoy your meal while watching the show!
It happened for us around 6 pm on a Tuesday night, totally by chance, but we really enjoyed it.

I’d check the schedule for when the luau is happening during your stay, and then request a table with a view of it when you make your reservation.

We have stayed a couple of times at the Marriott and you can also watch it from the adult hot tub as well as from parts of the big quiet pool on the lawn.

 

[grayexpectations]

I might be wrong but I think the tablets for the Menehune hunt are time limited and can only be borrowed during the time Pau Hana room is open which I think is 9am or 10am till 7pm.
So if you were thinking of holding on to them from the evening before so that you can use it very early in the morning, I don' think that will work.



Last time I was at Aulani (which was pre-covid) you could only get day of wrist bands, not the next days

I think otherwise you have a pretty solid plan!

Since you are bringing your own snorkel gear and plan to use it in the ocean, I would suggest going over to Paradise Cove/Secret Beach/Lanikuhanou Beach
There are two ways to get there and I strongly suggest taking the street. You can get to it by walking in front of the Four Seasons but you have to walk over a very rocky section.
To take the street way, basically you go out of the Aulani driveway entrance, turn left onto the side walk and head toward the cross walk.
Instead of crossing over tot he small shopping center, you cross toward the Four Seasons and follow the sidewalk until you get to a parking lot on your left.
You head into that parking lot and in the middle of the back of it, there is a walkway of chain link fence that you follow down to the beach.
It might be a 5 minute walk, if that.

There are better YouTube videos that show this way but this is just to give you an idea of what the fence lined walk way looks like. The walking starts around the 3:45 mark of the video

Thank you so much!! This is great advice!

 

[grayexpectations]

One fun thing we discovered after eating one evening at Longhi’s last month. The Marriott Ko Olina’s version of a Luau takes place right on the lawn by the restaurant, so if you get the right table, you can actually enjoy your meal while watching the show!
It happened for us around 6 pm on a Tuesday night, totally by chance, but we really enjoyed it.

I’d check the schedule for when the luau is happening during your stay, and then request a table with a view of it when you make your reservation.

You’re right! U fortunately we are Thu-Sun. Too bad but thanks for the tip!