Aulani Luau

[William Z00mer Groom III]

I am sorry to state that at this time i can't recommend the Luau at the Aulani. As a Member of the DVC Aulani Resort from opening and attending the old Starlight Hui. my family and i was very disappointed with the treatment and the performance. Below is the review i sent to the the resort after returning back from Hawaii this time.
No matter how hard Disney tries no one will ever be 100 percent satisfy. Also saying this, Programs should be managed and examined to ensure the standard that is offered to your guest is maintained. Saying this an area that should be examined and revalidated is your Luau. I have been to Hawaii many times and have attended many Luau’s. I hate to say it but the one at the Aulani is the worst I have ever attended. This is hard to state since I really have tried a lot of luau’s on the island and to name yours the worse takes some explaining. First I would like to let you know that every time we have visited we have attended the Starlight Hui and have totally enjoyed it and have wanted the Aulani to host a luau. So I guess for the show you could say the Starlight Hui would be a base line of a show we would expect from the Aulani. So when we heard that you now had a luau we paid the extra for a chance to enjoy a Disney Luau. The luau was on the 3rd of Febuary, and if you check you will see that it started over an hour and half late. We stood in line since 4:45 since our tickets stated entrance at 5:15 and were not admitted in till after 6:30. Now Parents with small children take timed events in to account when planning meals and bed times, as any family orientated company would know “Disney!”, so a delay like this affects children. To add to the frustration no one explained why we were delayed until 5:45 when we found out that a wedding earlier in the day is why they were delaying the Luau. Suggestion, if you are going to delay a show find a way to entertain the guest while they wait. I know more than one set of guest left not only because of the delay but because of the lack of caring. What would it of took to bring some fruit around for the kids waiting in line and/ or having a character travel through the line to entertain the guest. The only cast member you had that even tried to keep the magic was Chris from DVC who went around playing with kids, high fiving with his silver glove and handing out stickers. So you could guess at this point I was not very happy with the Aulani or Disney, and even if you don’t want to take credit, this luau was on Disney property and pretty much billed as a Disney Luau. The meal was a real disappointment, I don’t know if it was because the food had been sitting around for an extra hour and a half of if this is what you think tourist will eat. The pork was like leather, the serving line were in disarray, the butter knifes where on the ground, and final insult no coconut cake, you really need to watch Lilo and Stitch. Finally the show started and guess what, the stories were the same as told at Uncles and Monia’s storytelling, and as my wife stated they told it better. Now think about it your Disney, we came to the show because of that, we expected as Walt would say “You're dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway”, and as kids at heart we also are looking for that Disney Magic. We as Disney members and fans expect more from Disney then a low budget milk the tourist company, no we are looking for and expect the quality that Disney himself would expect for his kids. Now I am not looking for you to refund the cost of the Luau, but as a DVC member and this being our home resort, I am letting you know that this needs to be addressed sooner than later.

 

[alldiz]

Thanks for your honest review. I am very much looking forward to my 1st Aulani stay. I have been debating between Paradise Cove Luao and New Aulani Luao. I have been leaning toward new Aulani one. I was hoping to have any bumps in the luao worked out by Summer.

However....bumps in the road is not telling the same stories that were heard at the Story telling. We planned on going to a few of those.
I am hoping that starting late is an extreme rare occurance because that is totally unacceptable.

Did you enjoy Paradise Cove if you have been there and was it a really good luao?
Thanks
Kerri

 

[Midoria]

Thanks for your honest review. I am very much looking forward to my 1st Aulani stay. I have been debating between Paradise Cove Luao and New Aulani Luao. I have been leaning toward new Aulani one. I was hoping to have any bumps in the luao worked out by Summer.

However....bumps in the road is not telling the same stories that were heard at the Story telling. We planned on going to a few of those.
I am hoping that starting late is an extreme rare occurance because that is totally unacceptable.

Did you enjoy Paradise Cove if you have been there and was it a really good luao?
Thanks
Kerri

I've been to two luaus, one of them being Paradise Cove. They had the normal pre-show interactive activities the better luaus do. We made lei. But, the thing I remember most about PC is that it took forever for us to eat. I could tell that the staff was trying to stretch time because the lady on the stage kept talking unnecessarily, and even resorted to prayer at one point. People around me as well as my family began to get restless. The food and entertainment were okay. I felt the PC luau had cheesy elements that I did not care for like having male members in the audience come up and wiggle in grass skirt or putting a spotlight on a young lady’s behind during the Tahitian dance number. Lots of people were laughing, though. It just depends on what kind of entertainment that you’re looking for.

Just a tip. If you are searching for different luaus on the web, be aware of the spelling. I don't know if the search engines will correct it. Probably, but you still want the best results possible.

 

[William Z00mer Groom III]

Thanks for your honest review. I am very much looking forward to my 1st Aulani stay. I have been debating between Paradise Cove Luao and New Aulani Luao. I have been leaning toward new Aulani one. I was hoping to have any bumps in the luao worked out by Summer.

However....bumps in the road is not telling the same stories that were heard at the Story telling. We planned on going to a few of those.
I am hoping that starting late is an extreme rare occurance because that is totally unacceptable.

Did you enjoy Paradise Cove if you have been there and was it a really good luao?
Thanks
Kerri

I have been to both of the Luau's in that part of the island and found them both not that great. The two i have liked are the ones at the Hale Koa and the one at the polynesian culture center.

 

[jlwhitney]

We did the luau back in November at Aulani and loved it. We were so glad we booked it. They told us when we picked up the tickets that if we wanted a closer seat to the front to get in line around 4, but only one person had to . So that is what we did and it worked out great. Food was all fresh, hot and tasty. No real issues at all when we did it.

 

[Brancaneve]

We were at Aulani in 2013 when the Starlight Hui was free. I have to say it was the BEST Disney show/experience that I have ever seen. I'm sad to hear that now we have to pay for it. We are returning in a few months and I think we will save our money and skip it. Sigh....

 

[blondietink]

I have heard that the luau at the Marriott Fia Fia is the best, but it is only one or two nights a week. We are trying to decide if we want to see that or the old Lahina luau on Maui.

 

[DVCjj]

I have heard that the luau at the Marriott Fia Fia is the best, but it is only one or two nights a week. We are trying to decide if we want to see that or the old Lahina luau on Maui.

Old LaHaina Luau on Maui was very well done and I would highly recommend it. I had no desire to go to any Luau (even Aulani's during 1st part of trip) but we went along with DD/DSIL on Maui because it was very highly rated.
DH didn't want to go either but was impressed with how well it was done and liked it. Large attendance but very well organized. Servers were outstanding. Food was good, not great... but we didn't expect gourmet.

We were very glad we went. Very nice experience. This was two weeks ago.

 

[KBinCO]

We went to Paradise Cove and it was great for our family- both in cost and in what it was.

We were also on the ground level at the resort with the Aulani luau right out our door. We watched it the day after paradise cove.

The show definitely looked NICER, more upscale, more performers. I didn't eat the food but imagine it's better than paradise cove looking at the options. However, we were still glad we chose paradise cove... ESPECIALLY because we had the room we did with access to the Aulani luau. We liked the change of location, the luau on the beach, the canoe rides and the overall setting, as well as all the audience participation. That kept my kids into it even though it was long and they were tired. Every time they were invited on stage, it perked them up. So while I thought the Disney one was nice, we were glad we saved money and got the luau we went to.