Frustrated trying to plan aulani

[YESSIGUZMAN]

I shouldn't be complaining since I'm going to aulani in 2 months . I am getting frustrated trying to plan though. Is there any websites that provide more info. I'm used to meticilous planning for wdw and it's so much more difficult planning for aulani! I just want to have a perfect trip! I know this will be a relaxing trip and there isn't much to plan but it stresses me out nor knowing what were gonna do everyday :/. I can't find any info on the excursions. I also want to plan the evenings and it's hard when I. Don't know for sure what days Disney does what activities like starlit hui or movie night. Any advice would be appreciated ))

 

[Psychodisney]

There is info on the excursions on the DVC website as well as on Mousesavers. Many people have posted on this board and on the DVC mousecellaneous board with info. Look into the Entertainmant book or the Go Oahu card. Have you rented a car? Sounds like most people recommend it.
Starlit Hui sounds like it is Monday and Thursday but may change.

 

[vpalmer]

I completely understand as I am a huge planner and planning nights will be important at Aulani because of the lack of dinner reservations at the last minute. I have managed to get a day by day plan together for our May trip although I know I might have to do some rearranging as I was planning off of September's Daily Ewas which can be found here: http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-resorts/aulani-hawaii-resort/#iwa

All the excursion info can be found on the Aulani site: http://aulaniexcursions.resorts.disney.go.com/

Granted, there are not a lot of reviews yet hardly anywhere although there are pictures of the Catamaran excursion here: http://photopost.wdwinfo.com/g1358-exclusive-aulani-excursions.html

We compared the Catamaran excursion with the Hoku Nai'a Dolphin Watch SNORKEL Lunch Special with Transportation from Aulani which can be found here: http://aulaniexcursions.resorts.disney.go.com/ You can also Google Hoku Nai'a and read reviews on Trip Advisor.

I think we are going to book the Adventures by Disney Catamaran Excursion although it was a tough choice because they both look great.

Another excursion we are booking is the Polynesian Cultural Center Ambassador Dinner Show which includes the Breath of Life evening show and a partial island tour and transportation from Aulani.

We will also rent a car from the on site Alamo desk once during our trip for Horseback riding (my daughter isn't quite 10 so we had no options through Aulani) and Pearl Harbor. We will rent a car on our last day as well to get us back to the airport but since we have a late flight we'll hike diamond head in the morning and tour the lower east side of hte island before heading back to the airport.

We have decided on a schedule of one resort day, one island day during our 9 day stay.

I hope that gives you more planning info. I was super frustrated at first but it's coming together now. I think a huge source of frustration for me is that most of the information on this site for Aulani is from the DVC side. I think that is because all posts about Aulani either start there or get moved there by moderators. There are plenty of us planning hotel visits and the planning is so different. There are two main differences: transportation and dining.

I refuse to pay $315 just to park a rental car just on principal. With our mix of car rentals from Aulani and excursions with transportation we can see the island without renting a car the entire trip. It takes a lot of planning though!

Second dining is so different. We will not cook and that is just so different than the trip reports I have read here. I have a decent plan though that will allow a mix of every dining option at Aulani at least once, some dining venues across the street and some offsite on our Island exploration days.

The last piece of trip planning advice I have is to listen to all the podcasts from this site on Aulani. There are about five different ones and they live on my iPhone. I will re-listen to them at different stages of my planning and I get different details each time.

Have fun and feel free to ask any questions!

 

[vpalmer]

Also, you pretty much have to do a search for Aulani everytime you visit the boards to find all the posts. At least that what I do because the information on Aulani is pretty scattered between all the DVC boards mostly but also because I am not DVC and mainly just interested in Aulani info.

 

[nuts]

I refuse to pay $315 just to park a rental car just on principal.
Have fun and feel free to ask any questions!

If you are a DVC member, then parking is free.

 

[vpalmer]

If you are a DVC member, then parking is free.

Right, but this is not a DVC only resort. There are many hotel guests who will have to pay parking.

 

[bgraham34]

My advice to you is to enjoy your vacation in Hawaii and don't over plan. Hawaii is more of a laid back vacation. Don't try to do too much because you will miss the beauty in front of you. Plan alternating days is doing things. Visit different beaches all over the island and enjoy the local food.

 

[dr&momto2boys]

I'm a planner too and found it difficult having less info for Aulani.
If you do plan to explore Oahu, I recommend "Oahu Revealed"--a great guide book.
Since we had been to Oahu twice before, we decided to enjoy the resort as much as possible. The only problem is that we got tired of the limited (and really expensive) food choices at Aulani pretty quickly.
I HIGHLY recommend walking aalong the beach path to other hotels! The poolside food at the J.W. Marriott was just okay, but at least it was different! And it is the closest. (Shares the same lagoon as Aulani.) We also ate at Longboards at the huge Marriott timeshare 2 lagoons over. The food was good, the view was great, and they had live entertainment Friday night (Saturday too I hear.) I wish we had started venturing off property earlier in our stay.
I'm in the process of writing my trip report. It will take me a little while to get to the Aulani part of our stay, but feel free to ask ANY questions you have about Oahu or Aulani on my thread even before I get to it--or PM me.