Welcome to Aulani

[lovetotraveltx]

We just received our Welcome to Aulani booklet, yay!

It says we can start booking excursions and dining 180 days out which was 8 days ago! My question is, do we need to book so early and if so can we cancel, say the catamaran trip?

Also, thinking of booking surfing lessons.

Thank you!

 

[jabberwock1]

We just received our Welcome to Aulani booklet, yay!

It says we can start booking excursions and dining 180 days out which was 8 days ago! My question is, do we need to book so early and if so can we cancel, say the catamaran trip?

Also, thinking of booking surfing lessons.

Thank you!

Not sure if you need to book early but I did see while looking at Aulani web site excursions today that cancellation for catamaran excursion is 72 hours. We will be at Aulani around the same time I think. I just booked Pearl Harbor today for August 12 as we'll as Makahiki and Ama Ama. I was able to book Ama Ama by calling even though it is a couple days before it can be booked on the web site. I just had to give my resort reservation number.

 

[lovetotraveltx]

Thank you! Are you doing both your restaurants for dinner?

I guess I didn't look well for cancellations. Thanks for pointing that out.

Guess I should go ahead and book the catamaran and buffet dinner.

We will be there August 4 - August 9. Can't wait!

 

[bamor]

We called the Hawaii Fire Surf school on Tuesday for our early July reservation. They stated they were already taking reservations for August. Your credit card will not be charged until the day before. It can't hurt to book early!

 

[disneypoor]

We called the Hawaii Fire Surf school on Tuesday for our early July reservation. They stated they were already taking reservations for August. Your credit card will not be charged until the day before. It can't hurt to book early!

We booked with Hawaii Surf for August 5th several weeks ago, so they are definitely booking in to August. We have surfed a few times before but can't wait to try it with Hawaii Surf!

Susan

 

[jabberwock1]

Thank you! Are you doing both your restaurants for dinner?

I guess I didn't look well for cancellations. Thanks for pointing that out.

Guess I should go ahead and book the catamaran and buffet dinner.

We will be there August 4 - August 9. Can't wait!

We will just miss you! We will be there August 9-15. Seems like it will be a busy time. I did book both restaurants. It is hard to plan so far ahead but I definitely don't want to find we can't get ressies later on. Need to think about excursions next.

 

[SuperRob]

Unlike the cruises where there is pretty heavy demand for excursions, you should be fine waiting for the Aulani ones. If you'll have a rental car, you can really just do them all yourself, though. There's even an Alamo rental car facility right at Aulani. I do recommend getting a car. It's nice to take time to drive up to the North Shore and check out the surfers, visit a shrimp truck, and bum around for a bit. We even made a point of visiting the Dole Plantation to get our Dole Whip fix.

 

[lovetotraveltx]

We booked with Hawaii Surf for August 5th several weeks ago, so they are definitely booking in to August. We have surfed a few times before but can't wait to try it with Hawaii Surf!

Susan

Did you reserve right through them and are you going to drive there or do the transportation.

Only my younger daughter wants to surf again, so I'm trying to figure out when to do it.

And, yes, we will have a car the whole time. We are going to spend 2 nights in waikiki first then drive over to Aulani for 5. Saving the north shore for Aulani. Was just thinking of booking the Catamaran through Aulani cause I can use a gift card or visa rewards and they provide transport

Thanks!

 

[disneypoor]

Did you reserve right through them and are you going to drive there or do the transportation. Only my younger daughter wants to surf again, so I'm trying to figure out when to do it. And, yes, we will have a car the whole time. We are going to spend 2 nights in waikiki first then drive over to Aulani for 5. Saving the north shore for Aulani. Was just thinking of booking the Catamaran through Aulani cause I can use a gift card or visa rewards and they provide transport Thanks!

We booked Hawaii Surf directly to save money and will drive our rental vehicle there. I made ressies for all of us but I myself might decide to just watch. They said as long as they knew a day or two before that I could change my reservation or even cancel with no penalty.

Susan

 

[Anal Annie]

I am not planning to book anything thru the resort...I feel that would be like paying DCL for their overpriced excursions. We learned a long time ago that you can book pretty much anything you want to do on your own and save a lot of money....Disney jacks up the price to make money.

We will likely book our surf lessons again with the North Shore Girls like we had planned to do last summer. They get good reviews on Trip Advisor and offer a family pkg so it can be just the 3 of us. Sounds better than a grp lesson to us. We also want to go to the North Shore so it works out for us.

I don't think Ama Ama fits our budget for all of the iffy reviews I've read. I don't think I have ever read a review that says it was totally worth the cost. I didn't realize the other place really needed reservations. We prefer to "wing it" so I hadn't planned on making any dining reservations at all at Aulani. I guess I could make 1 ressie then cancel it if it doesn't work for our plans when the day comes. I DO want to plan on eating at both Roy's and Monkey Pod as those reviews are always consistently good. If we have to pay a small fortune for a meal then I at least want it to be good!!

 

[lovetotraveltx]

I am not planning to book anything thru the resort...I feel that would be like paying DCL for their overpriced excursions. We learned a long time ago that you can book pretty much anything you want to do on your own and save a lot of money....Disney jacks up the price to make money.

We will likely book our surf lessons again with the North Shore Girls like we had planned to do last summer. They get good reviews on Trip Advisor and offer a family pkg so it can be just the 3 of us. Sounds better than a grp lesson to us. We also want to go to the North Shore so it works out for us.

I don't think Ama Ama fits our budget for all of the iffy reviews I've read. I don't think I have ever read a review that says it was totally worth the cost. I didn't realize the other place really needed reservations. We prefer to "wing it" so I hadn't planned on making any dining reservations at all at Aulani. I guess I could make 1 ressie then cancel it if it doesn't work for our plans when the day comes. I DO want to plan on eating at both Roy's and Monkey Pod as those reviews are always consistently good. If we have to pay a small fortune for a meal then I at least want it to be good!!

I'm with you on dinners. Not doing Ama Ama. Splurging for a luau instead as my daughters really want to go again. The younger one I think so she can now order a mai tai, lol!

Have no idea when to book the other Aulani restaurant or Roy's? Monkey pod I might wing like you. I can send you a pm regarding the Monkey Pod wait time, but I'm only a couple of days ahead of you.



I'm only going to do the 1 trip through Aulani if I have enough gift cards or visa reward pints.

 

[StormalongKay]

As to excursions: Disney catamaran was worth every penny. I booked this early because only a limited number can go, and didn't regret it. I would also book surfing before arriving, I didn't do so and then had to scramble to find a lesson for my daughter. She had a good time with Girls Who Surf.

Don't miss Roy's - it was the best dinner of our trip. The Mai tai there was incredible. We did AMA AMA for breakfast since I had read lackluster reviews. Breakfast was absolutely delicious, the portions were huge, and it was a great way to enjoy the outdoor seating & views of the lagoon.

 

[jerseygal]

How expensive is AmaAma for breakfast?

Plan on eating all of our breakfasts in, but we usually like to eat 1 breakfast out....

Any other suggestions relatively close to the property for breakfast?
We will have a car!

 

[2disneydads]

We'll be there from August 24 to 31. We've booked the catamaran experience and the Waimea Falls experience. Both of those seem to have "
value added" that justify the added cost. We might look more into the Waimea Falls experience, though, before we arrive. We've purchased some half-price tickets through hawaiifun.org for surfing lessons with North Shore Surfer Girls and stand-up paddleboard lessons with West Oahu SUP. We're going to do a sunset sail off Waikiki one night. We'll drive ourselves for everything else, including some additional adventures on a North Shore day. We also plan to spend a lot of time enjoying the resort activities. We've started a spreadsheet to keep track of all of our plan in Oahu and Maui!

 

[shortypots]

Taking my mom to Aulani in September for her bucket list trip. Any idea if Aulani gives lei greetings when you arrive? Debating on getting her a lei greeting at the airport as there is something about them that makes me feel like I am truly in hawaii.

 

[Bunless]

Taking my mom to Aulani in September for her bucket list trip. Any idea if Aulani gives lei greetings when you arrive? Debating on getting her a lei greeting at the airport as there is something about them that makes me feel like I am truly in hawaii.

It depends on your time of arrival.
If you are arriving during 'normal' hours, there is a lei greeting.
Not sure what time they stop.

 

[shortypots]

We would be arriving between 3-4 I would think. Our flight gets in around 1:15pm.

 

[lovetotraveltx]

We'll be there from August 24 to 31. We've booked the catamaran experience and the Waimea Falls experience. Both of those seem to have "
value added" that justify the added cost. We might look more into the Waimea Falls experience, though, before we arrive. We've purchased some half-price tickets through hawaiifun.org for surfing lessons with North Shore Surfer Girls and stand-up paddleboard lessons with West Oahu SUP. We're going to do a sunset sail off Waikiki one night. We'll drive ourselves for everything else, including some additional adventures on a North Shore day. We also plan to spend a lot of time enjoying the resort activities. We've started a spreadsheet to keep track of all of our plan in Oahu and Maui!

Thanks! Thinking I will book the catamaran now and look in to those 1/2 price surfing tkts. We go to Maui after Aulani. Where are you staying?

 

[LUVMICKEY]

Subscribing

 

[Bunless]

We would be arriving between 3-4 I would think. Our flight gets in around 1:15pm.

They will still be doing the lei greetings.