What are the DOWNSIDES to staying at Aulani?

[pogopossum]

We just got back and had a wonderful time, but there are definitely some downsides. I found it to be very overcrowded (we were there for Spring Break) and unnecessarily stressful just to do simple things like finding a place to eat or a place to sit by the pool. Finally, the costs at the surrounding restaurants and market are outrageous; if possible, . Having said all that, we are still very happy that we went.

If you don't like the prices around Aulani, then don't go near Honolulu. Even Walmart prices at Ko' Olina beat Walmart prices downtown.

 

[tommylap]

Getting real disappointed hearing all the complaints. I always wanted to go but it doesn't sound worth it.

 

[bakofarmgirl]

Getting real disappointed hearing all the complaints. I always wanted to go but it doesn't sound worth it.

it depends who you talk to, this the downside forum, check the upside one if you want to see why its a favorite spot to visit for many. im sad i wont be able to go this year and im counting down till my family gets to go again next year

 

[VGCgroupie]

Getting real disappointed hearing all the complaints. I always wanted to go but it doesn't sound worth it.

Food is expensive when eating out everywhere. I was not shocked at Aulani. Actually a huge upside is if you stay in a 1 bedroom or larger you can make food in the room and save a bunch of money, full kitchen and they even supply you with a rice cooker. Aulani isnt a theme park so you have extra down time to make some food and enjoy it on the balcony. I had groceries delivered and it was incredibly easy. If you are in a studio you can also request a rice cooker, toaster etc. Pair that with/ a microwave and you wont be hungry.

As for as pool chairs go... there's a post just last night in another thread completely unrelated to DVC or even Disney. She traveled to Maui and at her resort she had a very hard time with pool chairs. The grass isnt always greener.

 

[maxbuffmelvin]

Getting real disappointed hearing all the complaints. I always wanted to go but it doesn't sound worth it.

There are downsides, but the upsides for us far outweigh them. Before our first Aulani visit in 2021, I worried about the downsides and figured it would be a one-and-done trip, especially since we were Disney Theme Park and national park enthusiasts. We were also not lounging at the beach or pool with people. On our first visit, which was during the COVID-19 reopenings and restrictions, we fell in love with the place, as it has become a yearly destination for us from the East Coast.

 

[pogopossum]

We made our first trip last month. One week at HGV at the Hawaiian Village Honolulu, one week at Aulani. So we got a taste of both cultures. Honolulu is very urban, busy, with all the nightlife you could want. Aulani was so laid back and relaxed. And I would say that is the order to do it in. Go wear yourself out seeing all the sights and then go relax and take it easy.

Yes it is expensive, but then so was our 10 day vacation to NYC. But I much prefer the view in Hawaii.

We loved Aulani and are already planning to go back in three years. This time after a week on TBI.

For us the downsides come nowhere near the upsides. And we have been to beaches all over the country and Caribbean, love most of them. All have downsides. But there is nothing like Hawaii.

 

[WinterSolider]

Getting real disappointed hearing all the complaints. I always wanted to go but it doesn't sound worth it.

This is going to be unpopular and it's going to make people mad but I think it adds important context.

Aulani visitors are disproportionately DVC members. DVC members are notoriously cheap. They like $200 round-trip airfare from Providence and Boston and Philadelphia to MCO. They like sitting in the DVC lounge eating 8 bags of chips and 12 refills of Coke Zero so they don't have to buy lunch at Epcot. They like renting an Owner's Locker so they can store a Keurig and a toaster oven in Orlando and never have to buy breakfast.

There's nothing wrong with any of that. But it's a mindset that doesn't work when you try to apply it to Hawaii. You can't do Hawaii *on the cheap* even if you're using points to book your accommodations.

 

[WinterSolider]

We made our first trip last month. One week at HGV at the Hawaiian Village Honolulu, one week at Aulani. So we got a taste of both cultures. Honolulu is very urban, busy, with all the nightlife you could want. Aulani was so laid back and relaxed. And I would say that is the order to do it in. Go wear yourself out seeing all the sights and then go relax and take it easy.

The only disagreement I have here is that "the sights" aren't really in Honolulu either. Most people aren't going to have two full weeks and I think people tend to over-exaggerate how convenient Waikiki is. The attractions on Oahu are spread out like a donut around the coast and nothing is going to be close to everything.

Yes it is expensive, but then so was our 10 day vacation to NYC. But I much prefer the view in Hawaii.

We're doing Yellowstone next summer and the rooms are $600 a night, minimum, unless we stay in a cabin with no bathroom.

We loved Aulani and are already planning to go back in three years. This time after a week on TBI.

If you're HGV members (or even if you're not), I highly recommend HGVC Kings' Land Waikoloa. We did 5 nights there and then 3 nights in Volcano to visit the National Park and it was perfect.

 

[TikiRob]

Just returned from our first visit. I'd echo that the only downside for us was food cost, though we expected it. Pool chairs for the five of us was not an issue, but we had someone down there at 7:30-8:00am every morning. Even that wasn't an issue as we are early risers on eastern time.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Getting real disappointed hearing all the complaints. I always wanted to go but it doesn't sound worth it.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/what-are-the-upsides-to-aulani.3968007/#post-66239412

 

[speedyfishy]

The beach is boring. (Not a fan of the manufactured lagoon)

Wild, feral children everywhere. I like and enjoy children, but this resort feels worse than any other Disney or Disneyland resort with the amount of kids running around.

There is no advantage for dining if staying on site. I had a hard time booking the character breakfast.

Can’t seem to reserve a cabana before my stay. I was told I can check the morning of? but I don’t want to wake up early.

A lot of things close early. I stayed here after coming from a resort in Maui and they had a food option open 24 hours.

No room service. Our arrival night we got in at 7pm. I just wanted to order something to the villa. I was shocked there was no room service option.

The activities, premium and free book up quickly. There probably should be more offerings.

The DVC rooms need a refresh.

If you want to be at the pool in the middle of the day, you need to get a pool chair early. After 4 the pools empty out and it’s a great time to go though.

If I didn’t have DVC I wouldn’t come back here. I prefer Maui or Kauai. But with DVC it’s a good value and every kid I have traveled with loves it. And it’s definitely better than Waikīkī.

 

[jimmymc]

Getting real disappointed hearing all the complaints. I always wanted to go but it doesn't sound worth it.

If you're using DVC points, or even renting them, it is 100% worth it. You're getting a high quality resort for a good price in this case.

If you're paying cash for a hotel room, then there is more competition out there. Aulani has great pools and water play areas for kids, and the protected cove is great if you don't want to worry about swimming and waves. But the resort can get crowded, especially around school breaks.

 

[GBBTomorrow]

I love Aulani and at any given moment would probably rather be there than where I am currently.

That being said, here are a couple of downsides I notice:

• Fake Shave Ice: What they serve at Aulani is not real shave ice. It is pre-formed and stored in freezers, making it hard and sno-coney, unlike real shave ice, which is shaved at the time of service and is fluffy like a light snowfall. No comparison. Don't bother with Aulani's. Get real shave ice if you go visit the North Shore.
• Makahiki a Disappointment: Perhaps it was better when it was a buffet, but my family's prix fixe dinner there was unremarkable at best. The food was just bland. We enjoyed sitting on the patio, but beyond that the meal was a letdown. We had a much better time having small plates and tasty drinks on the patio at the 'Olelo Room (which I love).
• Lobby Windows Kept Closed: Hawai'i is known for its open-air lobbies, but all three times I have visited Aulani nearly all the windows in the lobby area were kept closed. It's a small thing, but why not open them to give the feeling they were designed to provide?
• Menehune Adventure Trail Always Broken: I have a person in my party who loves a scavenger hunt more than anything and she had really looked forward to this activity. Sadly, almost nothing worked and we had to keep going back to switch out the tablet they give you. The attitude was, "Yeah, this doesn't usually work." They should remove the whole thing if they won't keep it in working order.
• People Who Won't Clean Up After Themselves: This is certainly not just an Aulani thing, but I would think Disney would find a way to manage it better. My pet peeve is people who can't be bothered to put their used pool towels in the bin. It takes just seconds. Why do people assume someone else should do that for them? It seems like Disney could provide some kind of public service announcement on basic human etiquette. I had the opportunity twice to travel with a national championship college football team. Every player had a little laminated card with the weekend schedule on it and on the bottom of the card it said, "Nobody cleans up after Clemson." Every player, every coach, and every guest would get up after the Friday movie and pick up every stray piece of popcorn and throw away every cup. How is it that the rest of us never learned this lesson?

Once again, I absolutely adore Aulani and wish I were there right now. Thanks to the OP for the thread. It can be fun to vent a little now and then, even about things we love.

 

[WinterSolider]

• Fake Shave Ice: What they serve at Aulani is not real shave ice. It is pre-formed and stored in freezers, making it hard and sno-coney, unlike real shave ice, which is shaved at the time of service and is fluffy like a light snowfall. No comparison. Don't bother with Aulani's. Get real shave ice if you go visit the North Shore.

This is literally just 100% false. People are entitled to differing opinions but not spreading fake information.

Aulani's shave ice uses the same machines and and the same brand of syrups that Matsumoto's uses on the North Shore.

I suppose it's possible that maybe the machines were broken when you visited so they were using some kind of B-mode backup process, but normal Aulani operation is to absolutely shave the ice at the time you order.

ETA: The discs they use for the Mickey ears are pre-formed and stored in freezers, but the main mound of what you get is shaved to order.

 

[bakofarmgirl]

a worry i see with this thread is theres people who have gone or go regularly venting and then theres people looking to go for a first time and see all these negatives and like one of the previous commenters is discouraged from going at all

 

[WinterSolider]

a worry i see with this thread is theres people who have gone or go regularly venting and then theres people looking to go for a first time and see all these negatives and like one of the previous commenters is discouraged from going at all

Or people who visited once, experienced a negative thing, and then decide to portray that negative thing as if it's an inherent characteristic of Aulani.

I went to Disneyland once and it rained the whole week. But I'm not going to go to a Disneyland board and say "Disneyland is always so rainy."

 

[gsdweller]

• Fake Shave Ice: What they serve at Aulani is not real shave ice. It is pre-formed and stored in freezers, making it hard and sno-coney, unlike real shave ice, which is shaved at the time of service and is fluffy like a light snowfall. No comparison. Don't bother with Aulani's. Get real shave ice if you go visit the North Shore.

Having stood in line for 10 minutes and watched them shave ice until they got to my order about 100 times, this is not accurate.

 

[J-Dog]

a worry i see with this thread is theres people who have gone or go regularly venting and then theres people looking to go for a first time and see all these negatives and like one of the previous commenters is discouraged from going at all

Or you could read the TripAdvisor reviews of any hotel to ever exist and get the same general feeling.

 

[GBBTomorrow]

This is literally just 100% false. People are entitled to differing opinions but not spreading fake information.

Aulani's shave ice uses the same machines and and the same brand of syrups that Matsumoto's uses on the North Shore.

I suppose it's possible that maybe the machines were broken when you visited so they were using some kind of B-mode backup process, but normal Aulani operation is to absolutely shave the ice at the time you order.

ETA: The discs they use for the Mickey ears are pre-formed and stored in freezers, but the main mound of what you get is shaved to order.

I don't know what to tell you, man. I watched the cast members pull the fully pre-formed Mickey head shave ice out of a freezer, pour the syrup on, and serve it to me. Maybe it was B-mode. Who knows.

 

[GBBTomorrow]

Having stood in line for 10 minutes and watched them shave ice until they got to my order about 100 times, this is not accurate.

This was my experience on two separate trips. I'm glad to hear it isn't always that way.