Changes at Aulani

[aulanidreamer]

Curious about what changes have occurred at Aulani since our trip in Feb. I think the Four Seasons is open now and I am wondering how that has changed things. Hopefully the added restaurants is a good thing, but what about busy-ness of the cove? It was already pretty crowded with the Aulani crowd. I also heard they have worked on the early pool chair craziness. Working??? Thanks for your insight as we think about when to return.

 

[nkereina]

I have not been yet, but been doing some reading on the Four Seasons. It's my understanding they have a barrier to separate the beach between the Aulani side and the Four Seasons side. People can walk back and forth of course, but I think this is more to separate the chairs. I could be wrong.

I checked out the menus for the Four Seasons and was a little disappointed with the options. No stand outs for me.

From recent accounts I've read, the new pool chair policy (no reserving prior to 8am) seems to help a bit. They are also enforcing the hour time limit. I think it may still be difficult to find empty chairs if you walk up mid-day during the summer, but I've been reading about slight improvements at least.

 

[KristieGriggs]

While we were on the beach there last week it seemed like the Four Seasons was not crowded at all. Lots of empty chairs there. So I don't think it's making a difference in the cove being too crowded yet.
As for pool chairs, I really didn't even try getting a chair in the morning. I would go down to the lagoon first and head up to the pool later in the afternoon when people started leaving.

 

[cmph]

We were there Memorial Day weekend through the following week and had no trouble finding pool chairs. You aren't going to find, like, 4 chairs together, but you'll find one to put your stuff on. Beach chairs were no problem at all, got plenty of them whenever we went.

It's hard to see how the Four Seasons will affect cove use, so I wouldn't worry about that. For one thing - the chair areas are separated. They had employees wandering around their chair area just like the CMs patrol the Aulani chairs to make sure their own guests are using them. So either way, no one is going to be going over to the other side. It was pretty obvious that everyone was using the water area most convenient to their resort's chairs. There was also a boat kept between the two resort chair sections some of the time (I don't know boats well... some fancy sailing thing that you can book tours on at that shack on the beach). Other times it was moored on the other side of the Aulani chairs, but maybe there is some reasoning regarding where it's kept.

There weren't enough people staying at the Four Seasons to really make a difference yet, but I don't think it'll matter much when it's at full capacity. There were more locals using the water on the other side of Aulani than there were Four Seasons guests using the beach! Their chair section is smaller than Aulani's, so they must expect to have a smaller crowd. Also, they have cabana things that look over the water on the resort's other side (not the cove, but the ocean proper), so some of the people who are looking to just relax and lay out are going to be away from the cove area.

Locals at Aulani on the weekend make the pool area feel more crowded than the weekdays, but I never thought it felt that bad. and the beach area never felt crowded to me at all.

 

[aulanidreamer]

Thanks for the info. A barrier between the chairs doesn't sound great since it impacts the view I am guessing. I will look for pictures. There never used to be a barrier when it was a Marriott that I remember, but it was close to closing then so maybe it was down already.

 

[cmph]

Thanks for the info. A barrier between the chairs doesn't sound great since it impacts the view I am guessing. I will look for pictures. There never used to be a barrier when it was a Marriott that I remember, but it was close to closing then so maybe it was down already.

Not a barrier, really. I didn't mean to imply that. There is a decent stretch of sand between the two resorts' chair areas, not a wall or anything. There are floating rope things in the water separating "their" section from "our" section but I think that has to do with the water sports / boat. I'm attaching the only picture I have that showed the rope with the blue and white floaty things.

Pretty sure the floaty blue and white rope thing was for the boat that was sometimes parked there. You can sorta see how the chair areas are separated from each other a good bit. It would be pretty inconvenient to stay at one resort and swim in the water over in front of the other, for most people, assuming you had towels etc at a chair. I took this photo from the left side of the Aulani chairs (looking at the ocean) b/c I was listening to the live music from Ama'Ama at the time.

 

[eeyorefanuk]

Does this mean we still have to walk to road way t see the turtles or can you nw get to it via the beach??? Thanks

 

[cmph]

Does this mean we still have to walk to road way t see the turtles or can you nw get to it via the beach??? Thanks

I'm not sure. It was blocked off when we were there b/c they had video crews filming promotional videos. We couldn't see how far you could walk. We had to use the road / Paradise Cove parking lot. A CM and a local we talked to both seemed to think it was permanent, ever since construction closed it off, but someone who is there right now might be able to tell you for sure.

 

[eeyorefanuk]

Thank you .... We are not there until October so will ask again nearer the time

 

[Spokavegas]

How do you get into that secret Cove from the road? We're taking my 76 year old Mom with us this year, so we couldn't haven gotten there over the rocks like usual anyhow....

 

[jtba]

How do you get into that secret Cove from the road? We're taking my 76 year old Mom with us this year, so we couldn't haven gotten there over the rocks like usual anyhow....

you mean the one for the turtles? directions are here in day 5 of my trip report.

 

[OKW Lover]

I think the Four Seasons is open now and I am wondering how that has changed things. Hopefully the added restaurants is a good thing, but what about busy-ness of the cove? It was already pretty crowded with the Aulani crowd.

I doubt it will be a problem. We were at Aulani two years ago when the JW Marriott was open and it didn't seem to impact the cove area. I don't think switching flags to Four Seasons will change much.

I have not been yet, but been doing some reading on the Four Seasons. It's my understanding they have a barrier to separate the beach between the Aulani side and the Four Seasons side. People can walk back and forth of course, but I think this is more to separate the chairs. I could be wrong.

There are floating rope things in the water separating "their" section from "our" section but I think that has to do with the water sports / boat. I'm attaching the only picture I have that showed the rope with the blue and white floaty things.

We were at Aulani May 9-22 this year. The only actual barrier was around the construction site while Four Seasons renovations were being completed. In Hawaii there is free access to all beaches so no physical barriers are allowed. The floating rope was indeed for the boats that are rented there.