I wanted to do my part to "pay it forward" on trip reports since I used these boards VERY frequently during the past year while planning our Aulani trip. Hope this helps someone along the way!
Demographic info: as a bit of background, we are a family of 4 with a 7 yr old daughter & a 5 yr old son. We live only an hour from WDW in FL and are BLT owners and go there for long weekend stays(or longer) at least 5 times a year and then sometimes will just go over for a night or day. We have stayed at all WDW DVC resorts and we have also been to Disney Vero Beach. (Next year Hilton Head and Grand Californian are on our list!) This was our first trip to Aulani.
Flight: as many from the East coast have remarked it is a long trek out there. I would say no less than 6 nights are required for such a distance (we went for 7 nights).
Car: we decided to rent a car so we could have flexibility and with DVC no parking to pay for. Car was expensive to have but in our view, worth it.
Room: We stayed in a 2 bedroom ocean view villa. Very well appointed. Awesome views of sunset! Stayed in Ewa Tower. Stopped at Target on way in - exit off H1 before Aulani. Food prices were much better than I expected! (Wine too). Very happy we did that.
Resort: Beautiful as everyone remarked as well. Beach was very nice too. it is a Pacific beach and living on the Gulf coast of FL with white, sugar-like sand it is different. I would not say it is the most beautiful beach I've ever seen but very nice given the fact that it is the Pacific (go into Waikiki and note the difference - last time we were in Waikiki was about 10 yrs ago and think it continues to lose some of its charm). Water slides were fun and not crowded as many others stated - maybe waited in line 10 minutes at height. My 5 yr old like the Menehune bridge play area and both like lazy river and family infinity pool.
Pool chairs: we were there Holy Thursday (Thurs before Easter) through the following Thurs. I expected large crowds the first few days and then to taper off. The reverse was the case. There is no question you have to get there at 8am to find a pool chair. Beach chairs were much easier to get and since we spent most of our time there, was not an issue for us (plus w 7 & 5 yr old, we don't get to sit in the sun!)
Beach toys: kayaks rent out early but did do it one day. Boogie boards can be hard to get as well (free) but you just have to watch people going up to return them and pounce!
Restaurants: We ate at all locations on property. I am not a buffet fan but actually liked the Makihiki selection better than Ama Ama. (Did both breakfast and dinner at Makihiki). Loved Monkeypod across the street as well as Roy's (slightly different from mainland locations due to the agreement Roy made with Bloomin Brands) and great selection for our kids. On our last night our kids chose to go to Monkeypod after trying all of them.
Characters: They have an extension you can call each morning to find out where the characters will be. Lines were never long - maybe 10 min wait at most. Kids saw all of them that were there, including Duffy. Loved that.
Sunset photo session: SO happy we did this. This is the planned one. Great job. Plus then photopass dvd was only $49 instead of $99. We had over 200 photo pass photos - took them every chance we got. And if you have a My Disney Experience account with a Gold annual pass or higher, they will download to your account for free actually. Just enter the photo pass numbers.
Aunty's Beach Club: Went the first morning to check it out. Despite pre registering my kids, neither one had any interest going there! (We were surprised bc they loved it on the Disney Dream cruise last year). They did not attend anything so no info to share on that. They really like just hanging out with us on vacation and know that time is limited so will enjoy it now! lol
Off-site: Took a half day to go to Dole Plantation and North shore. Kids really liked Dole. it is touristy but I did not think as bad as some have said. I thought it was good for kids. It was good to get out a bit too. Also went down to Waikiki one morning to walk along there and see the "city" (I used to work in Honolulu about 20 yrs ago so it was fun for me to reminisce
Kids got to see Diamond Head from beach view & that was good enough for them.
Summary: We used DVC points and frequent flyer miles so for us, it was a Spring Break that made sense. (And we LOVE Disney) Our kids have not really seen "mountains" as Floridians so they loved that aspect of it. We could see ourselves going back in 3 years or so when the kids are older and we can do more activities off site. Plus, with Atlantis announcing that they will be building in Ko Olina, this will open more restaurants etc. To put in perspective, last year we went to Beaches in Turks & Caicos and were hesitant since we are a Disney family but ended up really enjoying ourselves there. This was similar w/out the all inclusive and the rooms at Disney were MUCH nicer. However, given that we can get to Turks in 2.5 hrs it makes more sense for us to go back there next Spring Break. I dream about Disney opening a Caribbean DVC resort someday
I understand what some were saying is that it could be like being at a water park and beach anywhere so why fly so far. Totally get that perspective. For us, it was nice to get the kids to see different geography and give them a new experience. But again, not some place we would go annually.
PLEASE feel free to ask me any questions because I am sure I am forgetting many aspects of our trip (jet lag setting in!).
