Getting Worried about Aulani Crowds

[lovetotraveltx]

We are traveling to Aulani in August. Just read some reviews on T.A. Haven't been on there in quite awhile. At least 90% of Aulani's reviews were negative ones. All the complaints were about the crowds/lines and the horrible food

I know early August is peak though we won't be there on the weekend, (just one Friday night), maybe that will help.

Don't have young kids so Auntie's isn't an issue, but lazy river, pools and pool chairs are a big issue.

Hope it's not as bad as it sounds.

Also, some of you traveling in August with me were waiting until arrival to get dinner resies. One man in 9 days couldn't get in to Ama Ama for diner. Might have to make a resie and cancel?

Just thought I would pass this on!

 

[Fuhnuh]

We have been to Aulani 5 times (two late June, two Thanksgiving week) trips. Not really a large enough sampling to doubt others' experiences.
Food:
The food feels overpriced to this mainlander, but it seems to be in line with the premium you pay at WDW and DL resorts, plus the additional costs of eating in Hawaii. I would not rave about anything I've eaten there, but CS, buffet, and Ama Ama fell into what my expectations were from Disney food (although I have had memorable dining experience at some mainland Disney resaurants). We stay in a villa with a kitchen, so we generally have breakfast in room, lunch at Ulu, Poolside lounge, and dinner offsite at one of the Marriots or the strip mall across the street. We ate onsite more for the first few trips, but only one breakfast and dinner onsite for the last two. We have stayed for 3-5 nights and have made our dining reservations while at the resort. The exception being that I made a character breakfast reservation for our last visit before arriving to get a time that suited our family better. Never had a problem getting Ama Ama at non-sunset time.
Crowds: Stage 3 has only been finished for our last (or perhaps) our last two trips. Although getting chairs in prime spots can be difficult, I have not run into the early times reportedly needed to get a decent spot. I am guessing this changes with the number of guests and type of vacationers. Perhaps not as many early risers when we were there. Lines can be long for the slides, but DD13 or friends have never complained to me about it. I wonder if the closing of one side of the slides' stairs made this a little more difficult in March? Also, from the reports on trip advisor, I am wondering if they were offering free breakfast buffet with certain stays. This might affect the number of early pool chair savers.

August: August is traditionally our WDW trip month, but we are skipping WDW for the first time in six years. We are going to Aulani mid-August. I haven't made any dining reservations yet, but will probably make a character breakfast reservation soon. Otherwise, we'll just wing it. We don't make ADRs though if that tells you something about our travel style. I hope we both have a wonderful, not overly crowded time. If it turns out as bad as some of the reviews, we'll have to rethink Thanksgiving.

 

[living20057]

I'm been in August two years ago and it was crowded. People hoarding the tubes and chairs when they weren't using. I was there last week and they have added a lot. It was crowded but there were tubes available. Every time you get a towel they reminded you of the chair policy. They seemed to really be enforcing removing items after a hour of nonusage. I think adding the additional pools helped spread the crowd. There were a lot more lounge chairs over looking the beach. They made the hot tube by the ocean for over 18. I think those moderation a helped with crowds. I was surprised when I went to the fitness class at 7am, there were a ton of people out and about. Before at 7, it quiet and peaceful. I guess everyone else wanted to get started early too.

 

[Girimama33]

I am worried about crowds too, so we booked a cabana for two days and the Executive Lanai for one day.
I think DD would enjoy Aunty's, but I think she would prefer pool time more. I do not plan on waiting in the morning to get her added to the popular activities. I wish they had a better system.

 

[Halefamilyof6]

I'm a bit worried about crowds too...I have a cabana for one day, but I'm wondering if it's advantageous to get a cabana or Ex. Lanai for one or two more days, since I have three little ones who will be up/down/all around. I don't want to lose seats or worry about seating. We will be there from May28-June11.

 

[wdrl]

We are traveling to Aulani in August. Just read some reviews on T.A. Haven't been on there in quite awhile. At least 90% of Aulani's reviews were negative ones. All the complaints were about the crowds/lines and the horrible food

I know early August is peak though we won't be there on the weekend, (just one Friday night), maybe that will help.

Don't have young kids so Auntie's isn't an issue, but lazy river, pools and pool chairs are a big issue.

Hope it's not as bad as it sounds.

Also, some of you traveling in August with me were waiting until arrival to get dinner resies. One man in 9 days couldn't get in to Ama Ama for diner. Might have to make a resie and cancel?

Just thought I would pass this on!

I read most threads that deal with Aulani and it doesn't take long to find a post that seems to agree with any opinion you may have. I've seen posts where people say its hard to find a lounge chair by the pool, then I read posts that say they had no trouble getting chairs. I've seen posts where people complain that Disney doesn't enforce the vacant lounge chair rule, and then posts where people say Disney is indeed policing the lounge chairs.

I find it funny that if 90% of Aulani's reviews are negative, then why is the resort so crowded? Or that the food is "horrible" but yet someone couldn't get a dinner reservation at Ama Ama over a 9 day period?

If you are truly worried about crowds at Aulani, then perhaps you should plan some days away from the resort. Go to Pearl Harbor, Waikiki, North Shore, Bishop Museum, Ala Moana Mall, Dole Plantation. But if you give me some time, I can find a post or two from Aulani guests who said they enjoyed the resort so much they didn't want to go off-property.

My advice: Relax and look forward to the good things about your trip. If you go looking for good things, then you'll probably find them.

 

[SGDisneyFam]

I am worried about crowds too, so we booked a cabana for two days and the Executive Lanai for one day. I think DD would enjoy Aunty's, but I think she would prefer pool time more. I do not plan on waiting in the morning to get her added to the popular activities. I wish they had a better system.

My DH tried for activities a few times. Huge huge waste of time. We found if we put out kids in the club about half hour before an activity they got into the activity that was scheduled because of open spots. How is that those people wait for hours in the am to put their names down or wait list then not even bother to show up!! I do agree it needs a better system. One lady signed up 12 kids in front of my DH home morning .

The hotel was busy indeed but we were up early anyways and got our chairs for the days we had resort days. Make friends with the people beside you and you can look our for one another when and if the towel folding happen. We would pop our kids into Aunty's for a break from the sun in the afternoon and we'd have adult time or go have lunch etc.

The food is not up to my Disney standards as of yet but as Canadians we venture to the US very often just for the service! Also being Canadian we don't find it all that expensive which is most people's issue with it as well.

Take it all in stride and if you want some quiet head to the north shore! Quiet low crowds and just gorgeous!

 

[Girimama33]

My DH tried for activities a few times. Huge huge waste of time. We found if we put out kids in the club about half hour before an activity they got into the activity that was scheduled because of open spots. How is that those people wait for hours in the am to put their names down or wait list then not even bother to show up!! I do agree it needs a better system. One lady signed up 12 kids in front of my DH home morning .

The hotel was busy indeed but we were up early anyways and got our chairs for the days we had resort days. Make friends with the people beside you and you can look our for one another when and if the towel folding happen. We would pop our kids into Aunty's for a break from the sun in the afternoon and we'd have adult time or go have lunch etc.

Great tips! Thank you
I plan to just go with the flow and WILL enjoy myself immensely.

 

[DPCummerbund]

It sounds like it has been pretty crowded at Aulani lately, due to spring break. I'm not sure how spring break compares to summer, but it might be helpful to look at this thread, which features a lot of pictures too. I find photos to be particularly helpful, as one person's "crowded" is another person's "half empty."

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3251380

 

[LisaDKG]

We were just there during the last part of Oahu's spring break and the first part of ours. This was our second time visiting, with the first being in Oct. 2011 just after it first opened. I believe at that time in 2011 it was about at 40% of the capacity that it is at now so for sure we noticed a difference in crowds BUT it was nowhere near as bad as all that and it certainly didn't ruin our fun. We get up early to jog or do yoga and saw lots of "chair savers" up at dawn to try to get the best spots. I said 'all the power to you!' if that was causing people that much stress that early in the morning! We would have breakfast in our room after our run, sunscreen-up and be at the pool by 9:30 or 10. It was definitely a search to find a spot we liked under an umbrella whether at the pools or the beach by then, but if you just waited a sec, something great would always come available. The CMs reminded us every day about the 1 hour/towel folding rule but whether there were actually CMs out folding the abandoned towels as a warning was hit or miss. If there weren't any other items like shoes or bags saving a spot, I'd just move the towels out of there myself and plunk myself down. Only on one occasion did the original saver of the chair return to find me in her place!

Although my daughter always found space at Aunty's to play in the afternoons, there WERE long lineups every morning to sign up for Aunty's "register only" events (like Space Goo with Stitch etc) - she didn't want to participate which was lucky 'cause there was no way I was lining up that early. They seemed to run the same programs every day so I'm sure she could've found a time to participate at some point in the week had she wanted to.
We ate at Makahiki buffet for dinner and a character breakfast and I actually found the food to be better this time around and we actually had an amazing meal at 'Ama 'Ama, which I have to admit, surprised me. The lavender, lime semi-freddo dessert might be one of the best desserts I've ever eaten and I am pretty hard to please when it comes to fine dining.
The only thing I was not impressed with was the Ulu cafe which was not there the first trip. The first trip's quick service location served an amazing asian chicken lettuce taco/wrap thing that I planned to eat every day this trip. It is no longer on any menu . The lineups for breakfast at this place were ridiculous but I heard a few CMs saying it was because of the included breakfast dining plan promotion that almost all the non-DVC guests were on during our time there. The breakfast offerings there were pretty good actually, but I couldn't find much I wanted to eat there at lunch or dinner. We tried burgers and chicken strips and flatbreads from the various pool/beach side menus, and now that I think about it, they weren't that great but I did love the coconut fried shrimp from the kiosk beside the shave-ice and the shave ice itself turned out to be my lunch many times (they now offer it with ice-cream AND a snowcap option of sweetened condensed milk - pure sugar heaven!)

ANYWAYS, don't believe all the negative reports and try to relax and enjoy yourselves. It is an amazing place!

 

[BKelly]

I am also booked for August (our honeymoon), however the last week, going into September. My thought was that it will be less crowded during that time, like WDW. Fingers crossed...

 

[lovetotraveltx]

Sorry, guess I sounded negative. Didn't mean to. Don't worry I'm going to have an awesome time no matter what!

Usually when I read a bunch of reviews I weed out the "better than sliced bread ones" and the very negative nothing was right ones and read the ones in the middle. But, last night it seemed all the newer reviews were all negative or had a few negatives in them.

We booked the dinner buffet and a character breakfast already. Not sure about Ama Ama. Think we will do Roy's instead.

Maybe we should think about renting those 2-seater lounge chairs with the little shades on top at the beach??

 

[DisSarahK]

We were at Aulani from March 26-April 3rd--staying in a regular hotel room. The resort was VERY full, but we had a great time. To the person who asked, *yes* there was a free meal program going on. I rebooked our reservation (for the same time period) when Disney announced 4 nights for the price of 3 plus two adult breakfasts (at Ulu Cafe) each day of your stay. We were able to get 2 nights free at Aulani plus breakfasts for the adults. Win-win!

I enjoyed the breakfasts at Ulu and they were willing to customize them to suit my tastes. The line there did get long at times, so we just avoided peak times. For example, the 8am time period was terrible--so we went twenty minutes earlier and it was absolutely fine.

We found chairs under an umbrella near the main pool every day without a problem. I watched Disney employees removing towels and belongings *every* day. They were on top of things! I also watched them help people find chairs when it seemed like there were no chairs to be found. They have radios and can check in with other employees to find chairs in various areas.

The longest line we experienced was the line for Shave Ice! Even that wasn't so bad since my kiddos knew they were getting a treat when we made it to the front of the ordering line.

We did not do Aunty's at all. The line for that was insane. Truly insane. One person was in line by 6:15 and they were 12th in line. No way am I doing that!

I did line up for canoe making/racing in the community hall. I showed up at 8am and was probably fifteen people back. We made it onto the list without a problem--and the activity was SO much fun!

 

[AZMermaid]

We did not do Aunty's at all. The line for that was insane. Truly insane. One person was in line by 6:15 and they were 12th in line. No way am I doing that!
!

Wow! That is insane. There has to be a better way- even a nominal fee might chill it out, like $5 a kid or something. Or- it seems like they could get a schedule and let you sign up ahead of time- or maybe half the spots ahead of time and half for same day- again a small fee to help with no shows.

How is Aunty's if you aren't doing the scheduled activities? My kids will be 3 and 4.5 when we go next summer. I am hoping they spend a little time in there!

 

[SGDisneyFam]

Wow! That is insane. There has to be a better way- even a nominal fee might chill it out, like $5 a kid or something. Or- it seems like they could get a schedule and let you sign up ahead of time- or maybe half the spots ahead of time and half for same day- again a small fee to help with no shows. How is Aunty's if you aren't doing the scheduled activities? My kids will be 3 and 4.5 when we go next summer. I am hoping they spend a little time in there!

Not doing activities was always a breeze getting in and out!! The staff in there were more celebrities to my kids than the charachters!! If they saw them not in the beach house they ran to hug them. They really do a wonderful job. That kids club sealed it for us it was awesome!

 

[TLCP]

It's been a year since we've been and my kids didn't get into Aunty's. I'm waiting for them to get some reservation system in place that makes it unnecessary for me to have to get up with the chickens and stand in line while my kids sleep. Hopefully, they'll still be young enough to go when Disney gets this figured out.