Thanksgiving at Aulani

[LisaT91403]

We have visited Aulani twice -- once in early November, 2012 and again over Christmas, 2013. The first visit was during construction/before the expansion opened, and during an off-peak time. On the second visit, the expansion was complete...and it was a holiday week.

Obviously, there was a HUGE difference between the crowd levels during our trips. The first trip was awesome, the second trip (while still a ton of fun) was really crowded. The crowds definitely led to some disappointments.

Fast forward to this year, and our family is considering a visit during Thanksgiving week. Has anyone been there during this time? I'm guessing that it will be similar crowds as compared to our Christmas week trip(?) And is the weather similar to December as well?

If anyone has any insight, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

[carissa1970]

We have visited Aulani twice -- once in early November, 2012 and again over Christmas, 2013. The first visit was during construction/before the expansion opened, and during an off-peak time. On the second visit, the expansion was complete...and it was a holiday week. Obviously, there was a HUGE difference between the crowd levels during our trips. The first trip was awesome, the second trip (while still a ton of fun) was really crowded. The crowds definitely led to some disappointments. Fast forward to this year, and our family is considering a visit during Thanksgiving week. Has anyone been there during this time? I'm guessing that it will be similar crowds as compared to our Christmas week trip(?) And is the weather similar to December as well? If anyone has any insight, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

We went the week of Thanksgiving 2012. Hardly anyone there.

 

[Cinderpamela]

The tricky thing about trying to predict the crowds is that the resort wasn't at full up and running status until 2013, so it’s really hard to say. I was there for July/August 2012, and then Christmas of 2013 and Christmas time it was at max capacity.... Thanksgiving will not be as crowded as that, but it’s hard to know how much less, especially since there is pretty much only one year of fully operational time- Thanksgiving of 2013- to be the gauge.

But in general, going to Hawaii at Thanksgiving time is less crowded, we have some friends who go (not to Aulani) every year at that time and say it is a nicer time to go at that time than at Christmas, due to it being less crowded.

 

[LisaT91403]

I agree -- it is tricky to compare to 2012. That was a good time to go

Thanks for the input!

 

[Cinderpamela]

2012 was a good year, but it didn't have the new pool yet, and there were way less lounge chairs... so even back in 2012, it was not so simple to get a chair, at least in August 2012 that's how it was.

I remember thinking back then.... "how is this going to work when they open the other half of the resort?" Luckily they figured it out and added a lot more chairs down at the beach and all the other pool areas.

Our 2012 trip was just me and DH, so we really just hung out at the adult pool, it was great.

 

[BlazerFan]

We went the week of Thanksgiving 2012. Hardly anyone there.

We went with a group of 10 people for 9 days beginning the day after Thanksgiving in 2011. Because we had 2 of our parents with us who would need shade we rented a cabana several days. There were always extra chairs near the cabanas for overflow.

We are planning another trip this year about the sane time so I will let you know. It won't help for this year but maybe next.

 

[kruegeme]

We arrived the day after Thanksgiving 2013 and it was fairly empty. No problems finding a chair by the pools and the line for the water slide was always short. Never waiting more than 10 minutes to get the kids signed up for activities at Aunties. Due to the ice storm in Dallas, we ended up extending our stay by 3 days and had no problems getting the rooms (2) at the last minute.