If you can stand another Aulani question ...

[momoftwins]

There are so many threads that I've looked thru ... I just want to take the easy way out ... thus my questions

We will not get a rental car when we visit Aulani. I looked thru the Aulani website, but I am a little confused about excursions.

I do see some that specifically say no transportation. Does that means the other ones do offer transportation to the excursion? Is there any sort of trolley that stops at the resort and where do they take you?

I see some posts mentioning there are places to eat across the street from the resort. Is way to find "across the street" simple enough?

Does Aulani offer any luau's? Is it any good? Fireworks?

What kind of places are there to walk to- other than "across the street"

Is there a convenient place to pick up some groceries beside the resort store?

Oh, lastly I really want to do Pearl Harbor. Is there an excursion from Aulani? I did see there are other resorts near Aulani. Are they walking distance and anything fun going on over there? Do they have excursions from their hotels that an Aulani guest might walk over to?

This will be our first trip without the kids who will be settling in to their first year of college


Thank you all and have a great night!

 

[Mrmouse4me]

Walk out the front door (by where the new arrivals are coming in) and walk to the left side. There's a sidewalk that leads to a traffic light. You will see the shops across the street. It's a very easy walk.

Shops across the street include:
Monkeypod - restaurant
Coffee shop
Ice cream shop
Home décor/fashion store
Island Market by ABC Stores. It's a grocery market with souvenirs, packaged foods, cooked to order foods, etc. We bought a hamburger, quesadilla, & a hot dog and they were very good. They had pretty good prices on Macadamia nuts, chips, drinks, etc. They also had lots of liquor available.

And across the street from that center there is a pizza shop (very good and I think they deliver too) and a Mexican place (did not try) and an oriental food restaurant (pretty good)

Aulani has the "Starlit hui" a couple times a week. It's free and it's an hour long show of the music & culture of Hawaii. It was OK - if you aren't doing anything else it's worth the price! Some folks really liked it. There's a character dance at the end which would be fun for the kids.

There's a fire pit with storytelling after sunset. That was interesting to learn about the local lore. We attended twice and heard 2 different stories.

They also offered nature & art walks. I would definitely attend those sessions. They were free. Also pick up an ipad from the community center. There are 5 programs that take you around the resort (1 indoor & 4 outdoor) - It's like a scavenger hunt with fun things happening all along the way. It was designed for kids, but we had fun with it too!!!

Pick up a daily flyer at any of the concierge desks - it will list everything that is going on that day.

Paradise Cove is just a few buildings down & it is a luau center. Lots of opinions on this board on the quality of the show & dinner. We did not attend.
We drove to the Sea Life park to attend Chief's Luau, don't waste your time or money on that one. Very disappointing. We saw a tour bus there with the Aulani lettering so that might be one of their tours. Personally, I would avoid it, but then again lots of people seem to like it. Check out TripAdvisor and do a reverse search of the star rating.

We had a car so we didn't use any of the Aulani tours. Maybe someone will be able to offer more insight on those.

Hope this helped.

 

[amym2]

Aulani is located in a fairly remote (or at least suburban) part of Oahu. There's no trolley or anything to take you to nearby places. To get anywhere other than the places across the street, you'll need to take a cab or use Disney excursions. We didn't do any of those excursions, so I'm no help there, but I'd assume that for the ones that say no transportation, you'll need to take a cab to get there and for the ones that don't, they will pick you up at the resort. Yes, there's an excursion to Pearl Harbor. Honestly, if you plan to tour the island you'll be way better off renting a car. Just the cab fare from the airport to the resort and back will almost cost the same as a car (or it did in our case).

There's the JW Marriott next door and the Marriott Beach Club in the other direction. Both have restaurants you can eat at. I think one of them used to offer a luau, but it seems like it may not any more? We did the Paradise Cove luau (walkable from Aulani) years ago and it was fine. Aulani's Starlit Hui was ok, but it was a very short show followed by a dance party with characters. If you really want a luau experience, I'd do one elsewhere (in addition to the Starlit Hui).

 

[juncker]

Let me start by saying that I've never been to Aulani yet (counting down still), but I have researched it.

With a $35/night parking fee I can understand why some people don't want to rent a car for their stay, especially when they may only occassionally leave the property. It does sound somewhat limiting to what one might be able to do.

One thing that Aulani has is an onsite Alamo car rental. You can simply rent a car for one day and return it and avoid paying parking fees. This could work out if you only needed a car for one day to maybe go see Pearl Harbor. Aulani does offer an excursion with transportation, but it is expensive. You can can get USS Arizona tickets on the recreation.gov website for $1.50. Take the money you save and rent a car for one day.

I've heard of people renting a car the day that they arrive, stop by a grocery store or other stops that they want to make and then return the car to the Alamo desk when they arrive. No parking fees and it pays for your trip to the resort.

Maybe there are other reasons why you aren't renting a vehicle, but I thought that I'd throw this out there as a possibility. Good Luck!

 

[fitnessmouse]

When staying on points you don't pay the parking fee, correct?

 

[momoftwins]

Thank you to all! This has been so helpful. I think the rental car for the day to Pearl Harbor is perfect.

I'll take anymore tips if you have them

 

[amym2]

When staying on points you don't pay the parking fee, correct?

Correct, when staying on points, parking is free!

 

[Anal Annie]

Thank you to all! This has been so helpful. I think the rental car for the day to Pearl Harbor is perfect.

I'll take anymore tips if you have them

FYI - Pearl Harbor books up quickly. I'd start looking on the rec.gov website now to see how far out they're accepting reservations and if your date is open go ahead & book it. Many people go early in the morning and you have to "check in" 1 hour before your selected time. If you go on a weekday you'll need to allow a little extra time for traffic when going. If you've already missed your booking window you'll have to show up at PH at 7:00 am to try to get on a waitlist type of thing. (The people who don't show up an hour before their selected time basically forfeit their tix which is where the "waitlist" tix come from.) The other option if you've missed your booking window is to book it thru Aulani - for a premium price of course. If you include the optional USS Missouri tour when you book then you should allow about 5 hours for PH (another reason folks go early). (I have no idea what time the onsite car rental opens in the mornings so you may want to check into that before selecting your PH time.)

As already mentioned, if you're staying at Aulani on points you don't have to pay the daily parking fee. I recently found a great rate thru Costco for a weekly rental in August ($20 / day for a full size incl. tax & fees). I think I've read that the Alamo rentals onsite are significantly higher per day….just something to think about before deciding that you're NOT getting a car.

 

[MichiganDVC]

FYI - Pearl Harbor books up quickly. I'd start looking on the rec.gov website now to see how far out they're accepting reservations and if your date is open go ahead & book it.

Agreed. They were very sold out for my upcoming trip, which is nearly 4th of July so it might be more crowded than normal. But nonetheless, get those tickets as far in advance as you can.

 

[happymommy]

If you're an owner or renting points, as the PP said, you won't pay a parking fee. With that in mind, I wouldn't go there without a rental car ever. We own at the Marriott and have been many times (and used to live on Oahu), and just can't imagine not having the freedom to run to Costco or Target (or the new super Walmart) for odds and ends. Plus, we like to go back to Kailua (where we lived) and drive to the Swap Meet and around. Pearl Harbor is very easy to do on your own, just go EARLY! We've never paid for any excursions other than one time a dolphin snorkel trip that was fun but no big deal.

Other than walking across the street to the new little strip mall and the JW Marriott and the Marriott's Ko Olina Beach Club, the only walking you can do is for exercise through the neighborhoods (which we do) or on the beach. It really is a place that I would say you NEED a rental car personally.

 

[Lissete]

If you're an owner or renting points, as the PP said, you won't pay a parking fee. With that in mind, I wouldn't go there without a rental car ever. We own at the Marriott and have been many times (and used to live on Oahu), and just can't imagine not having the freedom to run to Costco or Target (or the new super Walmart) for odds and ends. Plus, we like to go back to Kailua (where we lived) and drive to the Swap Meet and around. Pearl Harbor is very easy to do on your own, just go EARLY! We've never paid for any excursions other than one time a dolphin snorkel trip that was fun but no big deal. Other than walking across the street to the new little strip mall and the JW Marriott and the Marriott's Ko Olina Beach Club, the only walking you can do is for exercise through the neighborhoods (which we do) or on the beach. It really is a place that I would say you NEED a rental car personally.

I agree 150%! I can't imagine being without a car! We need the freedom to get up and go. We always rent cars when we travel unless it's a pedestrian/ public transit friendly city like Paris, Rome, NYC, Boston, DC etc.

 

[jerseygal]

Just wanted to mention that there is a free shuttle bus that runs from Aulani and drops off at Marriott Ko Olina Vacation Villas and also Marriott JW Marriott next door. Chucks restaurant is at Marriott Ko Olina and there are a few restaurants at JW Marriott. There is also a great walking path along beach which goes from Aulani down to Marriott Ko Olina past a pretty public beach.
Many people are out in the evening walking and jogging. In the other direction next door, there is a walking path which goes to JW Marriott! Walking across street to ABC Store and Monkeypods, ice cream, and pizza is easy as there is a light there.

HAVE FUN!

 

[Girimama33]

I've heard of people renting a car the day that they arrive, stop by a grocery store or other stops that they want to make and then return the car to the Alamo desk when they arrive. No parking fees and it pays for your trip to the resort.

Maybe there are other reasons why you aren't renting a vehicle, but I thought that I'd throw this out there as a possibility. Good Luck!

If you rent a car from the airport and drop it off at Aulani, there is a significant drop off rate. Check with the Aulani Alamo desk first to check their current drop off rate and see if renting the car is worth it.