Aulani: What's the One Thing You Wish You Knew?

[Princess KP]

spend more time at the resort!

Since we were in Hawaii, we felt we needed to do everything on the island in case we don't get to go back! We had a wonderful time but wish we had spent more time at Aulani relaxing and exploring

EXACTLY!! We scheduled 2 full days to spend at the resort and it still wasn't long enough. When touring the island, we would be out all day so it was just a place to sleep. Seems kind of a waste when you have this beautiful resort. Guess I'll just have to plan another trip!

 

[jpeka65844]

spend more time at the resort!

Since we were in Hawaii, we felt we needed to do everything on the island in case we don't get to go back! We had a wonderful time but wish we had spent more time at Aulani relaxing and exploring

I'm so glad to hear this. We honestly don't want to do anything else "planned" except for Pearl Harbor and were beginning to feel a little guilty for not trying to "do it all." It will probably be a once-in-a-lifetime (or 30 years) trip for us.....

I just want to wake up, hit the beach, eat lunch, hit the pool, nap, wake up eat dinner, etc.....you get the idea.....

 

[luv2sleep]

I agree. It's just wonderful hanging there all week. I rented a car last time and it was a waste because we never used it. Next time I'm just taking the shuttle and doing excursions if we want to go far. The resort is heaven!

 

[SingingMom]

I'm so glad to hear this. We honestly don't want to do anything else "planned" except for Pearl Harbor and were beginning to feel a little guilty for not trying to "do it all." It will probably be a once-in-a-lifetime (or 30 years) trip for us..... I just want to wake up, hit the beach, eat lunch, hit the pool, nap, wake up eat dinner, etc.....you get the idea.....

I am in the minority here. I'm sorry we spent so long at the resort. Although beautiful, the beach was a major disappointment. It is a man-made cove, with strange sand and lounge chairs lined up one right after another, very close to each other. The pool areas were great, but I wanted an island beach with waves. The beach where DD and DH did their surf lesson was more of what I expected Hawaii to be. I liked Aulani, but wouldn't return. I'd rather a shorter flight to Bermuda for their beaches.

 

[Anal Annie]

I'm so glad to hear this. We honestly don't want to do anything else "planned" except for Pearl Harbor and were beginning to feel a little guilty for not trying to "do it all." It will probably be a once-in-a-lifetime (or 30 years) trip for us.....

I just want to wake up, hit the beach, eat lunch, hit the pool, nap, wake up eat dinner, etc.....you get the idea.....

Hawaii is BEAUTIFUL (all of the islands) and has so much to do. This past summer our trip to Aulani was my 5th time to Hawaii. Aulani is truely wonderful BUT if all you want to do is go sit on a beach you can do that a LOT cheaper by just going someplace on the mainland or the Caribbean or Mexico. For a FRACTION of the cost. IMHO to go to Hawaii as a "once-in-a-lifetime" experience and do nothing is a big waste of time and money. It is VERY expensive just to GET there and it takes a LONG time. Yes, plan a few days to just sit and enjoy this beautiful resort BUT don't short yourself on sightseeing around these magnificent islands. That would be a disservice to both yourself on this very special trip AND to these wonderful islands. Once you have been multiple times you can just sit and veg. But don't do that on your first trip. JM2C.

 

[LisaT91403]

I see both sides of this discussion. I have been to Aulani twice (my 2nd and 3rd visits to Oahu), Maui a couple of times and Lanai once. Coming from Los Angeles, Hawaii is super-easy -- MUCH closer and easier than going to the Caribbean or Bahamas. So...definitely not a once-in-a-lifetime trip!

We do enjoy staying at the resort and just hanging out. But after our second trip, I felt like I kinda missed out on "Hawaii". We had fun at the pools and it was relaxing, but they could have moved the resort here to L.A. and I would have enjoyed it just as much (or more...because I wouldn't have had to pay airfare!) I agree that the beach is a big disappointment. I want waves!

If you are coming from far away, I think you need to do a long enough trip that you can spend some "relaxing, Magical" days at Aulani...but then go to some of the other islands to explore. You can get inter-island flights for a good price, and it's worth if it's a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

 

[luv2sleep]

For a once in a life time far away trip when you haven't been to Hawaii before I agree that I wouldn't just hang at the resort. However, living in CA, having been to Hawaii several times and seen all of the major islands, and being an Aulani owner I can definitely see the appeal of flying 5 hrs to just veg and enjoy the resort. Once I'm over it I can explore Oahu and island hop.

 

[WDW_Diane]

Hawaii is BEAUTIFUL (all of the islands) and has so much to do. This past summer our trip to Aulani was my 5th time to Hawaii. Aulani is truely wonderful BUT if all you want to do is go sit on a beach you can do that a LOT cheaper by just going someplace on the mainland or the Caribbean or Mexico. For a FRACTION of the cost. IMHO to go to Hawaii as a "once-in-a-lifetime" experience and do nothing is a big waste of time and money. It is VERY expensive just to GET there and it takes a LONG time. Yes, plan a few days to just sit and enjoy this beautiful resort BUT don't short yourself on sightseeing around these magnificent islands. That would be a disservice to both yourself on this very special trip AND to these wonderful islands. Once you have been multiple times you can just sit and veg. But don't do that on your first trip. JM2C.

I agree with you! We kind of did both....but we left daily to see something, even if it was for half a day.

 

[aclov]

I had this problem with my 18 yr old my step-son just wanting to be at the beach. I'm all for that but we wanted to see and do things. We drove up to the North Shore one day and he just couldn't wait to get back to Aulani to just lay out. We ended up eating at a shrimp truck, drove through town and headed back. It was a wasted day. I wanted to stop at Dole and do some shopping/sight seeing. He's definitely staying home next time!

 

[luv2sleep]

I had this problem with my 18 yr old my step-son just wanting to be at the beach. I'm all for that but we wanted to see and do things. We drove up to the North Shore one day and he just couldn't wait to get back to Aulani to just lay out. We ended up eating at a shrimp truck, drove through town and headed back. It was a wasted day. I wanted to stop at Dole and do some shopping/sight seeing. He's definitely staying home next time!

He's 18. You couldn't have left him at the resort?

 

[aclov]

He's 18. You couldn't have left him at the resort?

He wanted to go than suddenly got bored. Teenagers!

 

[luv2sleep]

He wanted to go than suddenly got bored. Teenagers!

Oh that's annoying! So sorry!

 

[TreesyB]

He wanted to go than suddenly got bored. Teenagers!

OMG I just had that with my 15 year old. He basically stayed the entire morning in the room and resented whenever we wanted to go out early. At least your teen wanted to go to the beach. Mine wanted to sit in the lobby on our check out day when we had a late flight. (because the wifi is better there)

 

[letitsnow]

Where do you put your room key when you go in the pools?

I know for men in their shorts but what about us women?

 

[Dugette]

Where do you put your room key when you go in the pools?

I know for men in their shorts but what about us women?

I put it in the pocket of my cover-up that I left on the chair and hoped for the best. It was fine. Most days, I actually used my toddler's key card because it could open our room, but didn't have charging privileges, so I wasn't as worried about it being stolen. A lot of people use lanyards for stuff like that, so they can bring them in the pool, but I never bothered.

 

[carissa1970]

Where do you put your room key when you go in the pools? I know for men in their shorts but what about us women?

We have a KYSS bag that we used to lock everything up to the chair. I wasn't too worried because usually there was one of us there, but if we were all gone, someone was back within a few minutes. I just checked our cards and there is no room number on it, so they couldn't do much with it anyhow.

 

[kyton]

I stick it down the top of my swimmers.

 

[DenLo]

DH has a small pocket on his trunks and I often tuck in the my bra top. But we try to take one of these on our trip. http://www.amazon.com/Cruise-Travel...it+Card,+ID+&+Paper+Money+Holder+With+Lanyard

They sell them at Aulani. We bought a small one at WDW and another on the DCL Fantasy.

We noticed a lot folks had waterproof bags for their cell phones. Like this: http://www.amazon.com/JOTO-Universa...sr=1-2&keywords=waterproof+bag+for+cell+phone

You could probably use that for both your phone and KTTW card.

 

[Anal Annie]

Where do you put your room key when you go in the pools?

I know for men in their shorts but what about us women?

We just put ours in our pool bag along with our other valuables - which we locked with a cable combination lock like we use on our Owners Locker. Then we used a small lightweight (bike) cable to secure the bag to the chair whenever we were all away playing in the lazy river or whatever.

 

[AZMermaid]

This question got me looking. Speedo makes a swim skirt that has a pocket. I might look into that. I am seriously debating a KYSS bag. I have SO many bags so I am not sure I need it.