My wife and I thought we'd take a break from the parks this year. Been lots. Great trips. Love to see our kids, 5 and 3, have fun. They're night owls and FL is 2 hrs ahead time difference for us. Pool by day, parks by night. Shut down the parks until 2am kind of kids.
Planning: Mayan Riviera again? or Aulani? Tried the all-inclusive when the kids were younger (3 and 1) and just not enough to do to keep them busy at night (remember, these kids are shutting down rides in the MK at 2am). But really wanted a beach trip so, tried to rent DVC points for a March Aulani trip in late January. Just missed a 5 day rental window. No go. Get a decent package for Aulani for a Island View Deluxe Studio. Just marginally more expensive than a trip to Mayan. Book it. Read a bunch of stuff on here (thanks everyone) and feel pretty prepared to have a good time.
Arrival and car rental
- Arrive at HNL at 10:30am
- Planned for rental car from HNL to Aulani, plan to return to Alamo at Aulani right at check-in to avoid parking costs
- Try to find pick up location for Alamo bus to take us to off-site Alamo rental - all the way at the end of the airport traffic lanes. Knew we should have brought the stroller - first trip chancing it without one
- Just miss one Alamo bus, takes another 15 minutes for next bus to come (meanwhile, try and wrangle the kids so they don't run into traffic!)
- Alamo shuttle takes us to car rental, Alamo rental location fairly small. Somewhat slow. If you like the ease of renting at MCO, this is not the same experience. But not the worst.
- Stop at Walmart (Farrington HWY) for groceries. 3 yr old did not sleep on plane (7 hour flight). Passes out in liquour aisle in cart. I swear, I didn't let him sip anything. Typical Walmart fare.
- Stop at Target as well (Targets in Canada just closed, and I have been one of the few who have missed the place and I wanted to stop to relive memories). Better quality produce at Target. Should have gotten food at Target instead of Walmart - not for future trips.
- Ahh...good ol' Target. Come back to Canada.
- Yes, they give plastic bags but they are heavier plastic and say 'reusable. Go ahead and pack your own grocery bags if you want to save some plastic.
- Arrived at Aulani at 2:30pm
- Check-in kind of hectic with 3 yr old that just woke up and would like to murder everyone (including the friendly Hawaiian CMs)
- CM said, here I can return your Alamo car rental for you - no need to do it yourself. Awesome
- Ask for chance of upgrade at on-line check-in desk, CM has to take me to front desk to inquire - she said, easier to do it now than if you go to your room first and try it later
- Front desk CM says yes, upgrades available - $15/night more for Poolview. $50/night for ocean view
- Considering original cost difference to book ocean view package, $50/night upgrade is a deal. Take it
- Room is on far side of hotel, overlooking Star Light Hui stage, not overlooking main courtyard
- Offers us first night in that room, then can switch to an oveanview overlooking main courtyard the next night for rest of the trip (6 more nights)
- Arrive at room, see how nice of a view it is. Quiet and on 16th (top) floor. No noise from courtyard/pools.
- Decide this is home base, no need to move to a main courtyard view
- If you've done a deluxe studio at Animal Kingdom Lodge, you;ve done one here
- Decent sized fridge for a 7-day trip with 2 small kids; but, we didn't buy meat. Note: we kicked ourselves for not buying meat and using on-site community BBQs after the fact. We salivated a few times walking by people who knew better
- Small but deep sink, small counter space, but decent enough
- Called and asked for blender, brought one right up. Saved hundreds in drinks that week I'm sure with a big bottle of vodka, mix, and a blender
- 16th floor with 2 small kids: on alert all of the time. Lock the sliding door - 3 locking mechanisms, feels reassuring
- But oceanview, sun on balcony most of the day. Island view? Would you get sun?
- Minimal until Sunday March 20th (last full day), as spring break crowd starts arriving
- Until that time, walkways and pools feel nice and open. After that, we understood the critique of how crowded it can feel and pool chair dilemmas
- Great time, great mix of water activities
- We liked it better than AKL until the crowd activity on Sunday started
- Were a little disappointed that everything shuts down at 8, but almost too cold to swim after dark at this time of year anyway. Kids would have been cold in anything but the hot tubs. But, what are you gonna do? Get your fill of pools during the day and go to the lagoon after that if you're looking for more.
- Love the lagoon. great for the kids
- Not bad snorkeling on left side where Disney doesn't patrol - you can go beyond the buoys as you please
- Saw a couple locals spearfishing. They had a good haul
- Can't put up sunshades/tents, beach patrol comes by to tell you to take them down. Don't know the rationale
- Definitely make your way to Paradise Cove (to the right of resort) to see the sea turtles. Don't enclose, touch, or feed: just experience. Incredible creatures. Highlight of the trip
Menehunes
- Nice activity for the small kids to play hide and seek with these little guys all over the resort (instead of hidden mickeys)
- Except!: nighttime walk, walk through the closed kids water park. The little guys are on a timer with this little laugh that sounds like Pennywise from IT when there is not water splashing or kids running around. You barely notice it during the day. Then, at night!? Freaked the 3 year old out for a day after that and he wouldn't enter the elevator where one of them hangs in the corner until he got over his fear!
- He loved them again by the end of the trip, but it was dicey there for a minute
- Ate most breakfasts and lunches in room - sandwiches, cereal, toast, eggs (microwave poach)
- Dinner buffet - food quality better than Boma and Cape May. Great seafood choices - oysters, shrimp, sashimi, etc. Kids were entertained by Uncle and singing. Kids loved the dessert bar. Not better than Ohana. Why couldn't they do the Ohana buffet at Aulani!? I dream about Ohana. But my waistline is glad I live no where near it. Characters at the meal (nice surprise). Not a great selection of vegetables.
- Character breakfast - not better choice/quality than Chef Mickeys at DL Hotel or Contemporary (Contemp still our favourite)
- Ama Ama - good food, nice fine dining experience. Had better and worse service at WDW fine dining. Can't beat the view at sunset though
- Quick service - ok selection of burgers, salads, etc. Much better quick service options and quality at WDW. but to be expected. Never horrible. Never high fiving each other for a great choice.
- Oleo room - best sliders on property
- Monkeypod - not bad. Not great. Can see why people want to go there for dinner and skip the resort restaurants
- Asian take out beside Monkeypod - 2 stir fries, huge, $30. Pretty decent
- Beer of choice: Kona Long Board
- All the favourite Disney treats (ice cream bars/sandwhiches, dole whip) - but no dole whip float
just the ice cream
- Loved the Star Light Hui - but the time change killed my 3 yr old. Hard to sit through when he was getting owly. no need to go to a luau with a 3 and 5 yr old with this show on property
- Nice music outside Oleo every night
- Characters around the resort: small lineups for greets, if any. But why don't they have Disney photopass with the Characters?
- Tablet scavenger hunt: a little too much walking and better attention spans needed than my kids were up for! But cute.
- Movie night outside - great touch. Not busy or crowded. Kids loved it. Got to run around with the 3 yr old when he wasn't that into it.
- Storyteller was a nice short and sweet activity. Kids really liked it
- Kids loved their 3 free activities. Space goo the favourite
- Nice check-in and check-out system: feels safe and secure
- If you make use of it, the $99 CD is so worth it. Great family and sunset shots. Great friendly photographers
- Go ask to transfer kid activities photos to your pass at the end of the night
- Can make or break, but sunshine and high 20s (centigrade) all week. Don't know how less happy I would have been if it had rained. Would the kids have been as entertained? Can you do as much at Aulani as you can in WDW when rain is the hand you're dealt?
- Took Charley's taxi - $55 flat rate. Nice driver. Easy
- Arrived 2 hours before flight
- Long lines at Westjet check-in and a very long line-up through security
- Makes you appreciate places like MCO designed for family travel and moving huge crowds through the airport process
Definitely one of the best trips we've been on. We would definitely go back, but definitely off-peak. Never would want to experience during peak. Would definitely do the upgrade to ocean view again - loved the sun on the balcony. Would save myself a bit of money and book early to rent DVC points. 7 days is just enough. Beautiful resort, great friendly CMs. Not a bad decision with our active kids; enough activity and with the time change, our night owls were only up until 9pm every night instead of a 2am theme park bonanza. So, Aulani? Yes.
Last edited:
