Just Returned from Aulani here are my thoughts.....

[ArcticTeacher]

Our home resort is Aulani, and we have gone in January three times (pre-pandemic). The crowds in January are not bad, busier around Martin Luther King holiday weekend. Temperatures were 75 and ito lay rained once on our last trip.

 

[traveled]

Our family loves Aulani. We go every year. We used to go in Feb. but had to change because of school. We now go over Christmas. Feb is the best! We did go over spring break once but we thought it was too hot and crowded. I would not hesitate to buy DVC there. I now have 4 contracts there. I take the whole family (grown kids and their kids). It's the greatest!

 

[Blondie58]

Thank you for taking the time to share your expereinces. Your information is very helpful to those of us that plan to go in the near future. The last time I was there was 1982!!! It is time to get back.

 

[luvdmouse]

Thank you for all the information . We are going the end of May, but our kids are older. Loved hearing your report!

 

[longboard55]

We went last January, chairs were full but you did not have to do crazy things to get one. As long as you went before 10 it was not an issue. A lot less kids and the ones there were in general preskool. Weather was perfect but you do have a bigger chance of storm than in May

 

[Jimmynguyen77]

I'm enjoying reading current travelers updates. We are going in april and hoping more things open up slowly but safely. We have a 6 and 3 year old who should have a good time.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

My wife and 3 kids (ages 8,6,and 3) just returned from 7 days at Aulani. We were somewhat apprehensive about going because so many services were not available, therefore I thought I would give my post travel reaction. We have never been to Aulani before so I don't have much to compare it to. Crowd levels were minimal to non existent most days. I don't know if this is typical for January? It could possibly be because of covid? I have read of people having to get to the pool early to save a chair and long lines for slides and such, we never experienced this even on the weekend when there was a uptick in local visitors. On multiple occasions our family found ourselves to be the only ones in the infinity pool as well as the pool that used to be adult only.... Beach was also never crowded. We mostly ate off resort or in our room (We bought breakfast food from Costco upon arrival), but felt like there were sufficient food options on the resort as well.

Things we did..

Hawaii Nautical dolphin and snorkel tour... Probably the highlight of the trip for our kids. We saw dolphins (bottle nose and spinner) up close, whales, as well as got time to snorkel and view octopus up close. There was only one other group on the tour. Our boat captain said that we are very lucky to be there during COVID as the boat is usually full of people... They also provided a very good lunch.

Hanauma bay.... The highlight of the trip for my wife and I.... We did not experience any problems getting in for a Friday. We arrived at 7:45 AM got tickets for the show for 8:15 and spent time on a very uncrowded beach and snorkeling until around 2:00 PM.... I have heard its hard to get in here, we did not experience crowds or any difficulty getting in.

Waimea Valley.... Very enjoyable experience walking to the waterfall and swimming in the pool at the base. Life jackets and changing area was provided.

Bonzai Pipeline beach.... Watched the waves and surfers

Polynesian Cultural Center.... It had recently reopened and was a bit expensive for an exclusive experience, but worth it in our opinion. The luau and show were phenomenal, capacity was limited so it was less crowded. Would have been nice if they opened earlier. If you are to go here I recommend booking it as soon as possible to choose your seats for the show. We booked weeks early and had front row seats. No price difference for selecting better seats.

Paradise cove near Aulani.... We saw several sea turtles

Dole Plantation.... Our kids loved the train ride and maze... I would skip the garden tour if I was to do it again

Diamond Head.... I would get there early, this is the only place we experienced high crowds, but we went on a Sunday mid day... We had to wait about 30 minutes to get a parking spot

Makapuu Light House.... Beautiful easy paved trail to light house with views of Maui... We also saw whales off the coast from here.

Places we ate...
Uncle Clays house of Pure Aloha... Our favorite Shave Ice on our trip, Natural syrups and added fruit
Matsumoto Shave Ice.... We heard it was great, better than aulani shaved ice. No line to get it which was nice
Giovanni Shrimp..... My wife loved it, I dont like shrimp so I had crepes for a truck near buy fantastic and once again no crowds
Kono.... Amazing breakfast pork wrap
Rainbow Drive in.... I had the Moco Loco bowl and it was amazing
Monkep Pod.... Across the street from the resort with incredible food
Pizza Corner.... Also across the street decent pizza
A few other places that I have forgotten the name of.....



Final thoughts.
To anyone who is thinking of going during COVID I would recommend going....... I understand that both Aulani and Oahu are usually more crowded. I would trade the less services (although I dont know what I am missing) for the low crowds. It literally never felt crowded and we never had to wait long for anything except for parking at diamond head... It reminded us of our visit to Disney World in early August (No one was there!!!!) We enjoyed it so much we are considering looking into a trip to Maui in April if crowds stay like this because of COVID....

My Question.....
Is Aulani usually less crowded in January, or is this because of COVID?

After our trip we are considering DVC purchase there, but I don't want to buy in if it is usually crowded chaos. My thought would be to alternate trip to DW and to Aulani every other year.....


Let me know if you have any questions or thoughts

Thank you for sharing! We are thinking about a trip to Aulani for my daughters HS graduation present in April 2023. Hopefully COVID will be a thing of the past by then. We are trying to do our homework on Aulani to see if it is worth the trip (we live in upstate NY). What was your overall impression of the resort? I have heard the resort is kind of in a remote location...is that true? Is there enough to do at/around the resort so that you would be willing to visit just the resort and not really venture off property? Thanks again!

 

[kdonnel]

Thank you for sharing! We are thinking about a trip to Aulani for my daughters HS graduation present in April 2023. Hopefully COVID will be a thing of the past by then. We are trying to do our homework on Aulani to see if it is worth the trip (we live in upstate NY). What was your overall impression of the resort? I have heard the resort is kind of in a remote location...is that true? Is there enough to do at/around the resort so that you would be willing to visit just the resort and not really venture off property? Thanks again!

I am not the quoted poster but here are my answers to our questions.

Aulani is in a remote location on the south western side of Oahu. Ko Olina is a planned community with several mega resorts, condos, and a golf course. The resort is great but not somewhere I would want to stay exclusively during my trip to Hawaii. The dining options would quickly become repetitive as there are not that many places to dine in Ko Olina.

In my opinion remaining just at Aulani would not be a great use of the 10+ hour flight from the east coast.

If you want a pure beach vacation there are so many locations in the Bahamas and Caribbean that would provide much better beach experiences at much less cost and much less travel time.

You really need to be committed to exploring the rest of what Oahu has to offer when visiting Aulani.

 

[scbruno]

Great info thank you. We were wondering how it was going to be we are booked for August and hope it stays low crowds..

 

[DVCSunDevil]

I am not the quoted poster but here are my answers to our questions.

Aulani is in a remote location on the south western side of Oahu. Ko Olina is a planned community with several mega resorts, condos, and a golf course. The resort is great but not somewhere I would want to stay exclusively during my trip to Hawaii. The dining options would quickly become repetitive as there are not that many places to dine in Ko Olina.

In my opinion remaining just at Aulani would not be a great use of the 10+ hour flight from the east coast.

If you want a pure beach vacation there are so many locations in the Bahamas and Caribbean that would provide much better beach experiences at much less cost and much less travel time.

You really need to be committed to exploring the rest of what Oahu has to offer when visiting Aulani.

Thanks for the info! Yeah, I totally agree about being committed to exploring Oahu. I have been to Hawai'i twice (Oahu both times) when I was younger (18 and mid 20s) and saw A LOT of the island. It was really fun. If the Aulani area doesn't have enough going on to stay strictly there, I would definitely want to check out the rest of the island so my daughter can have the same experience. We are just trying to gauge if it is worth the long trip to stay at Aulani.

We have taken numerous trips to the Caribbean, Bahamas and Bermuda so my daughter has seen all those areas extensively. We were hoping to do something new and awesome for her HS graduation. We bought into DVC last year, so we would be staying at Aulani completely on our DVC points. Quite honestly, we wouldn't have even thought about Hawai'i if we hadn't bought into DVC. My wife figured that maybe Aulani would be a good option...which is why we are starting the process now of investigating the resort and the area.

Thanks again for your feedback...it definitely helped!!

 

[Paul Stupin]

I am not the quoted poster but here are my answers to our questions.

Aulani is in a remote location on the south western side of Oahu. Ko Olina is a planned community with several mega resorts, condos, and a golf course. The resort is great but not somewhere I would want to stay exclusively during my trip to Hawaii. The dining options would quickly become repetitive as there are not that many places to dine in Ko Olina.

In my opinion remaining just at Aulani would not be a great use of the 10+ hour flight from the east coast.

If you want a pure beach vacation there are so many locations in the Bahamas and Caribbean that would provide much better beach experiences at much less cost and much less travel time.

You really need to be committed to exploring the rest of what Oahu has to offer when visiting Aulani.

1. I don’t feel that Aulani is in a remote location at all! I think it’s about 20-25 min from Pearl Harbor, about 40 from Honolulu, and closer to the north shore than many hotels. It’s also about 5 minutes from the town of Kapolei, with plenty of dining options. It’s not like Oahu is that large either, with the eastern side of the island about 25 miles away.

2. We enjoy Hawaii considerably more than the Caribbean.

3. Re the flight, yes, its a long haul from the east coast. We live in LA, so it’s not an issue.

 

[FinnFogg]

I highly recommend Aulani as a DVC purchase. We own at OKW (first purchase), AUL (3 separate contracts purchase over time) and hopefully soon AKV (in ROFR). We are on the west coast, and originally purchased OKW to use at Aulani (as Aulani resales we’re slim to none at the time). We go to Hawaii a lot...4 or 5 times a year. We go to all of the islands, and our routine on each different. Kauai is probably our favourite ‘adventure’ island, but when we go to Aulani on Oahu it is just so perfect and relaxing! I can easily spend 10 days there and never turn the engine in the rental car. We have done all of the touristy stuff on Oahu, and will often try to hit the North shore at least once while we are there, but frankly we are happiest just hanging out in Ko Olina. Aulani can get a bit much sometimes, but the next lagoon is a 2 minute walk away and Mina’s Fish House and Monkeypod are always beckoning. I want to go back so bad.

 

[Paul Stupin]

I highly recommend Aulani as a DVC purchase. We own at OKW (first purchase), AUL (3 separate contracts purchase over time) and hopefully soon AKV (in ROFR). We are on the west coast, and originally purchased OKW to use at Aulani (as Aulani resales we’re slim to none at the time). We go to Hawaii a lot...4 or 5 times a year. We go to all of the islands, and our routine on each different. Kauai is probably our favourite ‘adventure’ island, but when we go to Aulani on Oahu it is just so perfect and relaxing! I can easily spend 10 days there and never turn the engine in the rental car. We have done all of the touristy stuff on Oahu, and will often try to hit the North shore at least once while we are there, but frankly we are happiest just hanging out in Ko Olina. Aulani can get a bit much sometimes, but the next lagoon is a 2 minute walk away and Mina’s Fish House and Monkeypod are always beckoning. I want to go back so bad.

Agreed! We’ll do some touristy stuff but mostly we love just hanging out at Aulani. We’re new owners, and quite enjoy spending the day reading on the loungers overlooking the beach, interspersed with snorkeling, swimming in the lagoon, doing the lazy river and water slides, walking down the lagoon path, and marveling at how beautiful everything is. And watching the sunset from inside that enormous jacuzzi! Looking forward to trying Mina’s after the Four Seasons reopens! We’re on the west coast as well, so the flight length is never an issue.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

1. I don’t feel that Aulani is in a remote location at all! I think it’s about 20-25 min from Pearl Harbor, about 40 from Honolulu, and closer to the north shore than many hotels. It’s also about 5 minutes from the town of Kapolei, with plenty of dining options. It’s not like Oahu is that large either, with the eastern side of the island about 25 miles away.

2. We enjoy Hawaii considerably more than the Caribbean.

3. Re the flight, yes, its a long haul from the east coast. We live in LA, so it’s not an issue.

Good to know! The different insights on these threads is good to hear. Yeah, I was looking at a map and it appeared that the resort wasn't far from Pearl Harbor. That would be good for our daughter to see.

We love the Caribbean, but we are also on the east coast and the Caribbean is much more accessible option. Hawai'i has a different vibe, which is awesome. They are both incredible in their own way

 

[DVCSunDevil]

I highly recommend Aulani as a DVC purchase. We own at OKW (first purchase), AUL (3 separate contracts purchase over time) and hopefully soon AKV (in ROFR). We are on the west coast, and originally purchased OKW to use at Aulani (as Aulani resales we’re slim to none at the time). We go to Hawaii a lot...4 or 5 times a year. We go to all of the islands, and our routine on each different. Kauai is probably our favourite ‘adventure’ island, but when we go to Aulani on Oahu it is just so perfect and relaxing! I can easily spend 10 days there and never turn the engine in the rental car. We have done all of the touristy stuff on Oahu, and will often try to hit the North shore at least once while we are there, but frankly we are happiest just hanging out in Ko Olina. Aulani can get a bit much sometimes, but the next lagoon is a 2 minute walk away and Mina’s Fish House and Monkeypod are always beckoning. I want to go back so bad.

That sounds incredible! Question: do you live on the west coast or east coast? We live in NY, so an Aulani purchase just isn't practical. We figured we could use our points to check it out once (or maybe twice, you never know). But it's great to hear that you have no problems spending a good deal of time at the resort. Thanks for sharing!

 

[FinnFogg]

That sounds incredible! Question: do you live on the west coast or east coast? We live in NY, so an Aulani purchase just isn't practical. We figured we could use our points to check it out once (or maybe twice, you never know). But it's great to hear that you have no problems spending a good deal of time at the resort. Thanks for sharing!

We are on the west coast, so an easy trip for us. We’ve managed to get my parents and sister hooked as well, though, and they are all on the east coast. Not an easy trip, but they have done it 3 or 4 times now and are looking forward to the next trip!

 

[DVCSunDevil]

We are on the west coast, so an easy trip for us. We’ve managed to get my parents and sister hooked as well, though, and they are all on the east coast. Not an easy trip, but they have done it 3 or 4 times now and are looking forward to the next trip!

That makes sense. We will probably do the trip in 2023 and then see how it goes. I do love Hawai'i, though! It's just a long way from NY

I grew up on the west coast and was able to experience Oahu twice, so I know the vibe and how nice it is. I eventually would really like to see Maui and the other islands, though.

 

[Pete W.]

Good to know! The different insights on these threads is good to hear. Yeah, I was looking at a map and it appeared that the resort wasn't far from Pearl Harbor. That would be good for our daughter to see.

Be aware that the traffic on Oahu can be dreadful during rush hour so while it may appear that Pearl Harbor is not far from Aulani, the commute there and back can be painful. Plan carefully and avoid rush hour which starts very early on Oahu (5-5:30am in the morning and 3-3:30pm in the afternoon).

 

[jodybird511]

I agree with others who don't find Aulani to be "remote." Having lived in several large cities, the traffic is tolerable, and the driving distance from other parts of the island is really not a big deal. We live in the Midwest and own at Aulani (as well as BLT). The trip is long, but accoms in Hawaii are costly, as is the airfare, so if I only have to pay for the airfare AND get to stay at Aulani, yay me!