Aulani - sorry another question from me!!

[amystevekai&bump]

Hi again

I've just been reading some old threads about Aulani and how difficult it can be to get pool chairs and I wondered if someone who has visited in mid August could give me some advice please?

We are a family of four (with two boys aged 8 and 11). This vacation is all about 'chilling', so the thought of getting to the pool before 8am just to stake out a couple of chairs together seems mad!

Our boys are water babies and will therefore not sit down, so we will only need two chairs - does that make life easier later in the morning? Will we be able to come down after breakfast at say 9.30am and get spots by the pool so that we can watch the boys? DH and I usually take in turns to be with them, but this year at AKL we were able to watch them in the pool from our loungers - is this possible at Aulani?

Finally - if indeed the chair situation is difficult, would you recommend us hiring a cabana or a spot in the executive lanai, so that we could at least have one day where we don't have to worry about finding a spot and staying put all day? I am a sun worshipper, so I'm not interested in something totally in the shade - so does that rule out the cabana/casabellas? As there are only four of us, would the executive lanai be a waste? Plus - How are the locations of both - are there any good spots for us to watch the boys from, or will that be impossible? I understand its first come first served for these things - so how early can you book them?

Sorry for so many questions - just trying to do as much planning now, so that we can do as much 'chilling' as possible when we get there!!

Many thanks for any thoughts

 

[Girimama33]

If your boys are going to be using both the Ka Maka pool and the Waikolohe, plus the water slides and lazy river and the lagoon...then NO..there is no spot where you can get a few loungers in order to keep an eye on them the entire time. The area is huge.
In mid August it will still be close to capacity. That does not slow down until after Labor Day.
Later in the day, you may find a couple chairs together, but it is not a guarantee. Later in the morning (9:30ish), I always saw availablility on the deck below Ama Ama, overlooking the lagoon. In this area, you would not be able to see any of the pools.
Cabana/Executive Lanai are totally subjective. The cost is a lot for what you get, but I find if the money is not an issue...it is a great splurge with added peace of mind when the resort is near capacity. Our last visit, we had two cabana days and the Exec Lanai on one day. Both offer sunny and shaded spots. The lanai does not come with the electricity features the cabanas have (fan, fridge, tv), but has a much better view. If you did a cabana, you would want one in the Ka Maka area, but they are not guaranteed. The Menehune Bridge cabanas are more centrally located, but it is noisy, and not sure if your older boys would want to play there.
I have already booked the Exec Lanai for our trip in March. DH loved the view from there, and wanted to book it again. I think the week we are there may be the start of Spring Break season, so I wanted to make sure I had a spot if necessary.
I am sure after this post you may have more questions, so ask away.

 

[DisneyMomJen]

We were at Aulani this past mid August. Our first morning I went out at 8:30 and could NOT get chairs anywhere but the beach. We learned our lesson and went out very early each morning after to get chairs. Hope this helps!

 

[JessLCH]

We were there in late August and it was quite crowded during the week, and downright mobbed on the weekend. We prefer to sit at the beach anyway so did that each day. The pool area is so crowded with chairs packed in tightly, not relaxing for us. Your best bet is to get fresh towels the evening before and go down early am for pool chairs. Our kids are older and just went back and forth between pools and beach. The only time I enjoyed the pools was early morning and late afternoon/evening when the crowds thinned out.

 

[moonlightgraham]

If your boys are going to be using both the Ka Maka pool and the Waikolohe, plus the water slides and lazy river and the lagoon...then NO..there is no spot where you can get a few loungers in order to keep an eye on them the entire time. The area is huge.
In mid August it will still be close to capacity. That does not slow down until after Labor Day.
Later in the day, you may find a couple chairs together, but it is not a guarantee. Later in the morning (9:30ish), I always saw availablility on the deck below Ama Ama, overlooking the lagoon. In this area, you would not be able to see any of the pools.
Cabana/Executive Lanai are totally subjective. The cost is a lot for what you get, but I find if the money is not an issue...it is a great splurge with added peace of mind when the resort is near capacity. Our last visit, we had two cabana days and the Exec Lanai on one day. Both offer sunny and shaded spots. The lanai does not come with the electricity features the cabanas have (fan, fridge, tv), but has a much better view. If you did a cabana, you would want one in the Ka Maka area, but they are not guaranteed. The Menehune Bridge cabanas are more centrally located, but it is noisy, and not sure if your older boys would want to play there.
I have already booked the Exec Lanai for our trip in March. DH loved the view from there, and wanted to book it again. I think the week we are there may be the start of Spring Break season, so I wanted to make sure I had a spot if necessary.
I am sure after this post you may have more questions, so ask away.

We're almost six months out from our Aulani trip and wanted to book a Cabana or Executive Lanai for at least one day. Did you call the resort directly to make the ressie or can MS handle it?

 

[Anal Annie]

Amy, I covered some of this in my trip report that I am writing (if you haven't read it yet). We were just there from Aug 8-15 and the resort was completely FULL. If you go a couple of weeks later I think the crowds thin out because of school. But chairs WITH AN UMBRELLA were hard to grab together if you aren't down there by 8:00 AM. And they are packed in so tightly there is not a lot of room to find one here & one there & try to put them together. They are already arranged pretty tightly.

There is a HUGE Japanese client base there (at least 50%) and they are SUPER EARLY risers. The CM's said they start coming down around 6:-6:30 to get chairs. They will put one Croc on one, another Croc on another, a hat on one and a refill mug on another. In August you WILL want an umbrella - it is much too hot in August not to have one. The sun is intense (I am also a sun worshiper but trust me, you WILL want a shade break). Those chairs with umbrellas WILL go first. My DS didn't want to be on the beach but as another poster mentioned you can probably find chairs down there if you come down later. Or possibly on the deck area in front of Ama Ama. I tried to get down there to the pool by 8:00 and picked up towels and brought our pool bag and some other items to get 3 chairs WITH AN UMBRELLA. I usually did this while DH and DS were getting dressed or finished putting on their sunscreen or whatever. We were always back down there by 8:30 or 8:45. One morning we went down together and found chairs then went to the Ulu Cafe for breakfast - but it was still early (between 8-8:30). It would be a good idea to pick up towels the night before if you want to go down earlier to grab chairs (the towel huts don't open until 8:00).

I personally did not think the cabanas were worth the $300 DVC rental rate. We WERE going to rent one and had called to reserve one at about 6 months out but once we were there we quickly figured out there were many other things we'd rather spend that money on so we canceled it. (Note that when I called to reserve at 6 months we were already 4th on the list so if you decide to rent one do it early!)

 

[amystevekai&bump]

If your boys are going to be using both the Ka Maka pool and the Waikolohe, plus the water slides and lazy river and the lagoon...then NO..there is no spot where you can get a few loungers in order to keep an eye on them the entire time. The area is huge.
In mid August it will still be close to capacity. That does not slow down until after Labor Day.
Later in the day, you may find a couple chairs together, but it is not a guarantee. Later in the morning (9:30ish), I always saw availablility on the deck below Ama Ama, overlooking the lagoon. In this area, you would not be able to see any of the pools.
Cabana/Executive Lanai are totally subjective. The cost is a lot for what you get, but I find if the money is not an issue...it is a great splurge with added peace of mind when the resort is near capacity. Our last visit, we had two cabana days and the Exec Lanai on one day. Both offer sunny and shaded spots. The lanai does not come with the electricity features the cabanas have (fan, fridge, tv), but has a much better view. If you did a cabana, you would want one in the Ka Maka area, but they are not guaranteed. The Menehune Bridge cabanas are more centrally located, but it is noisy, and not sure if your older boys would want to play there.
I have already booked the Exec Lanai for our trip in March. DH loved the view from there, and wanted to book it again. I think the week we are there may be the start of Spring Break season, so I wanted to make sure I had a spot if necessary.
I am sure after this post you may have more questions, so ask away.

Thanks ever so much for posting I think I might try for a cabana in the Ka Maka area for one of our days, although I do also fancy the executive lanai area too! I am now roughly 11 months out - is it too early to ring yet? (As I'm in the UK I don't really want to ring more than once as I get it will be an expensive call!)

Thanks again, you've been really helpful

We were at Aulani this past mid August. Our first morning I went out at 8:30 and could NOT get chairs anywhere but the beach. We learned our lesson and went out very early each morning after to get chairs. Hope this helps!

This is what I'm worried about - I suspect we will be awake early, but I know we will want lazy breakfasts and not actually sit by the pool until nearer 10am - when people say they are getting to the pool early, are they just seat saving or actually sat out?

We were there in late August and it was quite crowded during the week, and downright mobbed on the weekend. We prefer to sit at the beach anyway so did that each day. The pool area is so crowded with chairs packed in tightly, not relaxing for us. Your best bet is to get fresh towels the evening before and go down early am for pool chairs. Our kids are older and just went back and forth between pools and beach. The only time I enjoyed the pools was early morning and late afternoon/evening when the crowds thinned out.

Did you then stay on your seats all day - I'll want to go in the pool/lazy river as a family - don't want to have to be obsessive over guarding my seat!

If you enjoyed the late afternoon - did you have a seat all day or is it easy to get seats late in the day? Maybe we could do a few early mornings and a few later afternoons and steer clear during the heat of the day?

Amy, I covered some of this in my trip report that I am writing (if you haven't read it yet). We were just there from Aug 8-15 and the resort was completely FULL. If you go a couple of weeks later I think the crowds thin out because of school. But chairs WITH AN UMBRELLA were hard to grab together if you aren't down there by 8:00 AM. And they are packed in so tightly there is not a lot of room to find one here & one there & try to put them together. They are already arranged pretty tightly.

There is a HUGE Japanese client base there (at least 50%) and they are SUPER EARLY risers. The CM's said they start coming down around 6:-6:30 to get chairs. They will put one Croc on one, another Croc on another, a hat on one and a refill mug on another. In August you WILL want an umbrella - it is much too hot in August not to have one. The sun is intense (I am also a sun worshiper but trust me, you WILL want a shade break). Those chairs with umbrellas WILL go first. My DS didn't want to be on the beach but as another poster mentioned you can probably find chairs down there if you come down later. Or possibly on the deck area in front of Ama Ama. I tried to get down there to the pool by 8:00 and picked up towels and brought our pool bag and some other items to get 3 chairs WITH AN UMBRELLA. I usually did this while DH and DS were getting dressed or finished putting on their sunscreen or whatever. We were always back down there by 8:30 or 8:45. One morning we went down together and found chairs then went to the Ulu Cafe for breakfast - but it was still early (between 8-8:30). It would be a good idea to pick up towels the night before if you want to go down earlier to grab chairs (the towel huts don't open until 8:00).

I personally did not think the cabanas were worth the $300 DVC rental rate. We WERE going to rent one and had called to reserve one at about 6 months out but once we were there we quickly figured out there were many other things we'd rather spend that money on so we canceled it. (Note that when I called to reserve at 6 months we were already 4th on the list so if you decide to rent one do it early!)

Annie, will definitely check out your trip report . In fact it was your posts on an old thread that I found which triggered me to start this thread now! I saw you were worried about pool chairs for your trip this year - was it as stressful as you had feared?

I am looking at our Aulani trip as a chance to really relax and unwind - I don't want to be panicking about getting chairs and then have to clock watch if I leave my chair for too long (I am a sucker for the lazy rivers at the WDW water parks, so if the Aulani one is anywhere near as good as those, then I will be in them for quite a while each day! and I don't want to worry about losing a seat - so perhaps a couple of days of renting cabanas might be worth it for us?

Off to check out your report now!

 

[Anal Annie]

This is what I'm worried about - I suspect we will be awake early, but I know we will want lazy breakfasts and not actually sit by the pool until nearer 10am - when people say they are getting to the pool early, are they just seat saving or actually sat out?

They were saving well before 8:00 and then out at least by 9:00 or shortly afterward it seemed. We were always there early on our resort days.

Did you then stay on your seats all day - I'll want to go in the pool/lazy river as a family - don't want to have to be obsessive over guarding my seat!

Personally, we stayed ALL DAY and ate lunches down there too. We took turns sometimes going up to the room to charge phones or make a sandwich etc. I brought a cable lock to tether our bag to the chairs and a combination lock to close the bag up (so we could leave our cell phones, Kindles etc locked up while we were in the pool).

If you enjoyed the late afternoon - did you have a seat all day or is it easy to get seats late in the day? Maybe we could do a few early mornings and a few later afternoons and steer clear during the heat of the day?

The one day we got down there late we had to go sit on the deck in front of Ama Ama. It's a nice area and overlooks the lagoon - but you can't watch your kids in the pool from there - and it gets the full late afternoon sun.


Annie, will definitely check out your trip report . In fact it was your posts on an old thread that I found which triggered me to start this thread now! I saw you were worried about pool chairs for your trip this year - was it as stressful as you had feared?

I am looking at our Aulani trip as a chance to really relax and unwind - I don't want to be panicking about getting chairs and then have to clock watch if I leave my chair for too long (I am a sucker for the lazy rivers at the WDW water parks, so if the Aulani one is anywhere near as good as those, then I will be in them for quite a while each day! and I don't want to worry about losing a seat - so perhaps a couple of days of renting cabanas might be worth it for us?

Off to check out your report now!

We were able to relax and had several "resort only" days. But we DID go down EARLY and just spent the entire day 3 different days. I think we had enough "stuff" scattered around "our spot" and were "regulars" enough in the same general area that the CM's sort of "knew us". I really didn't worry too much about leaving our stuff and I don't think we were ever gone THAT long (except for our last day when we walked up toward Paradise Cove to look for sea turtles). For the most part we were in / out and back & forth all day. It really went by FAST!!

 

[AZMermaid]

I booked my cabana days about 10 months out by calling 808-674-6200.

 

[Girimama33]

If you want a cabana in the Ka Maka area, make sure you book ASAP. They assign them by choice based on when you book it. I booked ours for our last trip about 3 months before, and I was told I had the last one for each day. We always ended up by the Menehune Bridge, which was fine with us for various reasons, but you may not want one located there since your kids are older.

 

[E&Cmom]

I was there at the end of August/early September. Part of that hit over Labour Day weekend so it was busy. We never got up to the pool before 8AM and every day except for the holiday Monday in which we ended up at the beach we found at least 2 chairs. It sometimes took longer especially since we wanted some shade but we found some. It was never the prime spots right in from of the pool or bridge . A few times we found some on the last or second to last rows in from of the big pool but my favourite spots we more secluded. As you are going down the stairs between the two big paddles to the beach there is a row of chairs to your right that look towards the lagoon. I often found spots there. I liked it since it was more secluded minus the people going up and down the stairs, had more shade, a view of the lagoon and had great wi fi. I am guessing that the wi fi for the lagoon is in the quick service restaurant on the beach. I got better reception there than by the pool area.

We are a family of 4 but only really needed 1-2 seats since the girls always wanted to be in the water so DH and I would trade off and go with them.

I also noticed after 5PM a lot of people would clear out so evening so using the pools in the evening is good as well.


ETA: Just adding that once we found our seats we did not stay there all day. We are not ones to sit out in the sun all day. We usually stayed until 11:30-noon and then went to do other activities (family classes , Menuhune adventure game, Aunty's for the girls, walked to the store across the street, one day did geocaching, etc). At time we would come back to the pools in the evening and do a few more hours then.

 

[moonlightgraham]

I booked my cabana days about 10 months out by calling 808-674-6200.

Thanks! I called today and booked an Easter Day cabana along with Ama Ama dinner reservations. Should be an unforgettable day!

 

[lovetotraveltx]

I was there August 4 to 9 and the chairs were a nightmare. Mostly because my husband was just diagnosed with a major health problem and needed an umbrella all day.

Our dd's are in their 20's so we could sit by adult pool which is empty but my family didn't like location. Every chair was saved by 8:00 am, with 1 near an umbrella. The CM's don't start their chair policing, (one-hour without a person), till around 9 so you have to hound them and tell them what chairs you are wanting when the hour is up. Might still have 1 maybe 2 scattered that were empty but not by infinity pool!

 

[drmrchk]

Is the chair issue only a problem at the pools? Or is it equally as tough to find chairs on the beach? We'll have 3-4 of our 7 days complete resort days,and we have a big group (5 adults, 1 teen, 3 school age and 1 preschooler, 10 all together). So we'll need probably 7-8 chairs.

We'll be there over NYE....I know December is typically less full, but I know from booking that the resort will be packed until about the 2nd for the holidays. Given the weather will less people stake out or is it about the same all year round? We're coming from below zero weather that time of year so 70 with rain is balmy to us...but I know some people are acclimated to the warmer. Any insights for us that time of year?

Also that time of year do we want/need to bother with a cabana? Could we all fit in one? Money isn't an issue, but having a place to crash and read and whatever I think will be important, and maybe just as a splurge one day. We are only 85 days out....we were under the impression we couldn't book anything until 90 days (turns out its just golf)....is there any point in even calling or will they be gone? Not having been before, how do we even know where we'd like to be on the waiting list???

 

[AZMermaid]

With that many people, I think you would need 2 Cabanas. There is an Executive Lanai, but I think that seats 8. I would call- it can't hurt, but they can be booked far in advance, I booked mine over 10 months in advance for next May/June. From what I read, if you want pool seating for that many people, I would plan to be down there before 8, maybe even 7:30 that time of year. This would make a cabana worth it for me- maybe not two though. I am not sure about the beach though.

 

[Girimama33]

Is the chair issue only a problem at the pools? Or is it equally as tough to find chairs on the beach? We'll have 3-4 of our 7 days complete resort days,and we have a big group (5 adults, 1 teen, 3 school age and 1 preschooler, 10 all together). So we'll need probably 7-8 chairs.

We'll be there over NYE....I know December is typically less full, but I know from booking that the resort will be packed until about the 2nd for the holidays. Given the weather will less people stake out or is it about the same all year round? We're coming from below zero weather that time of year so 70 with rain is balmy to us...but I know some people are acclimated to the warmer. Any insights for us that time of year?

Also that time of year do we want/need to bother with a cabana? Could we all fit in one? Money isn't an issue, but having a place to crash and read and whatever I think will be important, and maybe just as a splurge one day. We are only 85 days out....we were under the impression we couldn't book anything until 90 days (turns out its just golf)....is there any point in even calling or will they be gone? Not having been before, how do we even know where we'd like to be on the waiting list???

During the X-mas/NY holiday, the resort will be very busy. Chairs last a little longer at the beach, but not much longer.
We were at Aulani in July with a group of 13 people - 10 adults and kids 13, 10 and 6. We booked only one cabana for two different days, and the executive lanai on one day. We had no issues having a larger group in the cabana or exec lanai. We were all usually in and out of there at different times anyway. I recommend the lanai especially...a little cheaper with a great view/location.
I was so grateful I had booked them previously. I loved knowing I did not have to stalk chairs out for our resort days.
We are going back in March when Spring Break begins and I have already booked the Exec Lanai...this time there will only be three of us.

 

[AZMermaid]

I think you could get away with a larger group at the lanai since it is by itself, but I am not going to lie, if there was a group double the max size next to me at my cabana, I'm reporting it. Now, if they truly only had 6, maybe 7, there at a time, I wouldn't be bothered, but if there were 10 people in a space meant for 6- I'm saying something.

 

[Pooh2]

We were there last week. The chair policy did not appear to be enforced. Though, they did take the time to inform us of this policy each time we got our wrist bands and towels.

One afternoon, we wanted a place to sit to eat our snack while taking a break from swimming but all the chairs had towels on them, some had personal belongings. Very few actually had people in them.

We sat down for about 20 minutes on the end of some chairs near the pool for a few moments to enjoy our snacks and watch the Mickey show.

Most people appeared to be using chairs just to store their stuff so they were not available to those who just wanted to sit for a short time between pool time. Maybe they should have an area near the pool to store your towel and stuff to relieve this problem some.

I would guess that if the chairs have only a hotel towel on them (appeared to be the majority of chairs), you can move the towel and sit in the chair and it would not be a big deal.

We spent most of our time down by the lagoon in the water. The majority of the chairs on the beach were empty except for the first row and some of the second row.

 

[Girimama33]

I think you could get away with a larger group at the lanai since it is by itself, but I am not going to lie, if there was a group double the max size next to me at my cabana, I'm reporting it. Now, if they truly only had 6, maybe 7, there at a time, I wouldn't be bothered, but if there were 10 people in a space meant for 6- I'm saying something.

If they were not bothering you at all...why would it matter how many people were in and out of the cabana?
We found most people just minded their own business...thank goodness.
I am not sure if this is something they enforce considering our cabana attendants always knew the amount of people going in and out of the cabana, and even brought over additional deck chairs to the cabana without us asking for them.

Try to enjoy yourself. Personally, I wouldn't get hung up on something like that unless they were doing something that actually affected our stay...and that would apply if there were only two people in the cabana or ten.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

Thanks ever so much for all of your replies

I think I'm going to try and book a cabana and the executive lanai for two days and then at least I have two days where we know we won't be stressed and can come and go as we please! The cabana will be great if the boys want to watch tv whilst I sunbathe and from what I can see, the executive lanai looks a nice spot to be to see the ocean - is that right?

Can I just ask a couple more questions (sorry) - do you pay a deposit to secure the reservation, pay in full or just give them a credit card and pay upon arrival?

We can't book Aulani until our 7 month window - will I have to wait until I have a reservation number before I can book the cabana etc?

Thank you so much, you've all been so helpful