At Aulani next month, a bit worried

[WestcoastDave]

Hi
I’m new to this board but have read a few items and am pleased at how knowledgeable and helpful everyone is.

I’ve been to WDW many, many times and DL twice. Thoroughly enjoyed every minute at both

We are travelling to Oahu next month and will spend our last four nights at Aulani

We realize this is not typical Disney vacation and are good with that

This is a bit of a bucket list item for us, but I am concerned about some of the comments I’ve read here and elsewhere

My concerns are

- rooms are smaller than expected

- food is not that good

- service is far below usual Disney standards

- crowds make the pools, slides and lazy river difficult to use or enjoy

We will be two adult couples. Each have reserved a studio ocean view suite. We have cabanas reserved for three of the days, one at the adult pool and two hopefully at the infinity pool

If you can allay some of my concerns or have any other insights, suggestions or comments
I would appreciate anything you have to offer

Thanks

 

[jaxmyraj0]

I'm going back next month. We went in 2013 when our kids were 2 & 4.
I will admit, I remember the food wasn't t as good as at Palo or the high-end DW places.

As for it being busy, there are 4 lagoons. I believe Aulani is #1 but I hear #2 isn't too far of a walk and is usually far less crowded.

The water slides are good but they aren't crazy big. This is a relaxing, get your drink on kinda place if you are adults.

 

[newdeal]

I don't recall the studio rooms being any smaller than the ones that they have for DVC at the disney hotels that I have stayed at.... a quick google search confirms that they are about the same size as any other DVC studio at 356 square feet (same size as animal kingdom lodge, saratoga springs, boardwalk, vero beach and wilderness lodge...larger than bay lake tower). I didn't like the buffet food because it was mostly seafood in my opinion which I don't really like. The other restaurant was good but expensive. We loved Roys at the golf course and there are also restaurants at the other hotels within walking distance and at monkey pod (which we also didn't care for for the price). Not sure I understand about the service, seemed fine to me but perhaps we are not as needy as some travellers are. There were longer lines for the waterslide than at many DVC hotels. I think this is because there is a tube slide and carrying the tubes up the stairs and loading them slows down the line. We had no issue at all with the pools or the lazy river, the adult pool was really nice and mostly empty, I think we mostly just went in that pool so I can't remember how many people were in the other pools but I don't remember it being crowded looking in the pools

 

[keaster]

If you have cabanas reserved for most of your stay, then you don't have to worry about finding pool chairs which to me is the biggest issue. Finding a beach chair is never a problem, everyone seems to want to scramble to be by the pool.

Yes the lines for the slide can get long but as PP said it does take time to load the tubes and wait for your turn.

We've been 3 times and find the service to be excellent!

I think you will have a fabulous time!

 

[nkereina]

- rooms are smaller than expected

Each have reserved a studio ocean view suite.

Studio rooms are smaller than the standard hotel room at Aulani. DH and I stayed at four resorts (standard room) including Aulani while on our honeymoon, and our studio at Aulani was by far the smallest room. That said, its still very manageable for two people in one studio. I would not do anymore than that. It will only be four nights, and you'd be remiss if you spent anymore time in your room other than sleeping or getting ready anyhow. We wouldn't hesitate to stay in a studio again, regardless of the size.

- food is not that good

This is very subjective. We didn't think the food at Ulu Café was anything to write home about. It was sufficient, but no stand-outs. However, we really enjoyed Makahiki dinner buffet and Ama Ama breakfast. The macadamia nut pancakes were probably the best thing I ate all trip! Makahiki character breakfast was good too, but very chaotic and busy. We also really enjoyed Monkeypod across the street. So much so, we ate there twice. Its a great option for adults because they have a good happy hour specials on food and drink. I also highly recommend having a car, which lets you explore the island and gives you access to so many more dining options. We tried to pick unique restaurants near the area we were exploring that day. For instance, in the North Shore, Kono's and Haleiwa Beach House were awesome.

- service is far below usual Disney standards

Again, I think this is subjective. The only memorable service experience we had was that our server at Makahiki brought us a slice of cake with "Congratulations" written on it for our honeymoon, because we had it noted on our reservation. I thought this was a nice touch and he was the only one during our Aulani stay that recognized the notation. Other than that, service was fine. Never bad, but not extraordinary either.

- crowds make the pools, slides and lazy river difficult to use or enjoy

This depends on time of year. I can't speak to February, but we still enjoyed it all in September.

We have cabanas reserved for three of the days, one at the adult pool and two hopefully at the infinity pool

You'll be gold. Cabanas make it much more enjoyable, and the adult pool was always on the quieter side. If there's a day you don't have a cabana, camp out at the adult pool and you'll be fine.

 

[alohamom]

Imho-most the food at Aulani is similar to the food at WDW in level of quality.

Having said that I have been to Aulani twice and I found the food to great the first time I went and then I noticed a remarkable difference.

For example, my daughter and I shared a cupcake the first time we went. It was moist and had a depth of flavor with a buttercream icing that was incredible. When we went back two years later, the cupcakes had become themed to Nemo and Star Wars (whichI was soooo excited for) but were bland as if from an inexpensive mix with a overly sweet crisco based icing.

The same goes for the breakfast and some of the counter service items at Ulu cafe.

I am totally hyper critical when it comes to food though

The easy remedy for this is to eat elsewhere and there are lots of options as the above posters have mentioned including the newer Four Seasons which is right next door, across the street at Ko Olina Station and heading into the twon of Kapolei which is an easy 5-10 minutes on the highway back towards Honolulu.



As far as service goes, I have found the people at Aulani to be great. Perhaps even a notch above many of the other high end resorts I have stayed at through out the islands.

We needed extra blankets for our pull out at one point. My hubby called down and within a few minutes we had a knock on the door. The young man bringing them to us asked if he had brought enough and please just call again if we needed more. That is type of care and concern I consider to be good service.

The front desk is a busy, busy place but the last time we went my daughter misplaced her flower lei. I went to see if I could buy another and (without hesitation) the young lady who I spoke to reached into when they had some and gave me one with a big smile.

Of course not every interaction is perfect but I found Aulani staff to be great


I think the key to Aulani to to try and wipe out any expectations and let the resort speak for itself.

 

[kickash]

Following. I, too, had concerns about the room size. We are a family of 4 (2 A, 2 K) booked in a DVC studio for July, as it's what we could afford. It is slightly bigger than the cruise staterooms we have stayed in (and around the same size as some of our WDW studio rooms) and I am ok with that (plus a full size bathroom and not a cruise ship bathroom haha!) We are big beach people and are not in the room very much anyway. Hope you have a wonderful time!! Aloha!

 

[made2amaze]

Hi WestCoastDave!
My family and I go to Aulani every year in February, March or April and based on my many trips I can give you the following:
- rooms are smaller than expected
Depending on your size room even a studio is spacious since the second bed is a folding couch.

- food is not that good
The resort food is ok, but there are options across the street from the resort or you can Drive/Uber down the road and there are tons of options!

- service is far below usual Disney standards
I feel that this should not even be on your list, service is great!

- crowds make the pools, slides and lazy river difficult to use or enjoy
I have never felt as if the resort was overcrowded, always find a place to sit out and relax and we are not early risers.

GL

 

[made2amaze]

Hi
I’m new to this board but have read a few items and am pleased at how knowledgeable and helpful everyone is.

I’ve been to WDW many, many times and DL twice. Thoroughly enjoyed every minute at both

We are travelling to Oahu next month and will spend our last four nights at Aulani

We realize this is not typical Disney vacation and are good with that

This is a bit of a bucket list item for us, but I am concerned about some of the comments I’ve read here and elsewhere

My concerns are

- rooms are smaller than expected

- food is not that good

- service is far below usual Disney standards

- crowds make the pools, slides and lazy river difficult to use or enjoy

We will be two adult couples. Each have reserved a studio ocean view suite. We have cabanas reserved for three of the days, one at the adult pool and two hopefully at the infinity pool

If you can allay some of my concerns or have any other insights, suggestions or comments
I would appreciate anything you have to offer

Thanks

One last thing, if you do decide to venture out. Plantation Tavern is a must. Hawaiian Fusion with live entertainment!

 

[wendlle]

We had a studio, I've stayed in way smaller rooms at WDW before. I didn't have an issue with room size at all, I thought they were fine.
We went in May, there were plenty of pool chairs and loungers as well as on the beach, plenty of umbrellas and shade too. Lazy river had plenty of room as did the pools to move and swim.
We enjoyed the food, especially the Character Breakfast.

I think you're worrying about nothing.
I'd go back in a heartbeat.

 

[WestcoastDave]

Thanks everyone

Great responses that each were very helpful

 

[OKW Lover]

This is a bit of a bucket list item for us, but I am concerned about some of the comments I’ve read here and elsewhere

My concerns are

- rooms are smaller than expected

- food is not that good

- service is far below usual Disney standards

- crowds make the pools, slides and lazy river difficult to use or enjoy

We will be two adult couples. Each have reserved a studio ocean view suite. We have cabanas reserved for three of the days, one at the adult pool and two hopefully at the infinity pool

- rooms. Since we don't know what size room you expect its hard to say if you'll be disappointed. However, having seen all the different room types at Aulani I can say that they don't appear to be "small"

- food. We've found the food at Aulani to be very good. We also take time to go to restaurants off property. Many good choices.

- service. Disney standards have been instilled in all the Aulani CM's. We find that they do better there than at WDW.

- Crowds at the pool. Can be an issue. But you note you've got a cabana for some of the days. That will take care of any crowding issues. Also, the Adult pool is seldom crowded.

 

[SteveNZ]

Don't overthink it.

We went for four nights in May 2018 and this is what we found:

- Room: we are 2xAdults and 2xKids and we stayed in a standard hotel room (not DVC room) with 2 queen beds. We found it to be plenty big enough, and the bathroom was also very roomy. Luggage can be stowed under your beds so you don't feel the clutter of your suitcases.

- Food: We didn't eat at Ama Ama or Makahiki, but we had pizza from Ulu Cafe which is under-rated - cheap and DELICIOUS, and more than the four of us could manage. We also ate the coconut shrimp from Mama's (delicious!) but we found incredibly good food at very reasonable prices at the Island Country Market store just over the street from Aulani. Their coconut shrimp was to die for, twice as much and half the price of Aulani's.

- Service: we didn't have a single negative interaction with any staff.

- Crowds at pools: As I said, we went in May and it was pretty quiet. We never struggled to find loungers and even with the main pool being out of action for all but the last day due to repairs being done on one of the slides, this didn't make the remaining pools / lazy river etc. particularly crowded. I imagine February wouldn't be any more crowded than May.

You are going to have an incredible time. There has barely been a single day since our trip where I haven't thought about it. We are already planning our next trip in 2020.

 

[kiford]

I didn't like the buffet food because it was mostly seafood in my opinion which I don't really like.

I'm allergic to all seafood but was able to find a sufficient (more than sufficient) amount of food that I liked. I actually thought that the buffet - both dinner and breakfast - was quite good for a buffet. The prime rib for dinner was some of the best that I've had. I wasn't that impressed with Monkey Pod, mostly the price for what you got. It was okay but I actually thought the food at Makahiki was better. Ama Ama was very nice; we did dinner but then realized that they had breakfast as well which we could have done instead of two mornings at Makahiki. The rest of the time we cooked in the room and had breakfast on the balcony. We went to Ulu Cafe a couple of times to look for lunch but didn't think much of the offerings so skipped it. We did have lunch one day at the pool cafe which wasn't bad.

We were two couples in a 2-bedroom suite - which was amazing - so I can't comment on the studio sizes.

We didn't find the pool, lazy river, beach or slides to be horribly busy but we were there in November so I've no idea what different times of the year are like.

We had no complaints about service at all. We aren't very high maintenance and only had the occasional request or issue (TV didn't work at one point but they sent someone up right away) and we found everyone to be quite helpful. They managed to fit us in one night for dinner at Makahiki when we didn't have reservations (it was a character night) and even got Donald Duck to come back out for photos for us.

 

[alyssa810]

We're a family of 3 and we stayed in a studio, plenty of room for us and we keep the pull out pulled out. We went in February 2016 during Presidents Day week (which also included Valentine's Day) and the resort was supposed to be pretty full. We did sometimes have trouble with pool chairs, but we also didn't go early in the morning to stake out spots. Finding a pool chair was really the only time the resort seemed crowded. We are back again next month and are super excited to be going back. We had no issues navigating the pools, slides, and lazy river.

We really enjoyed the dinner buffet, but only went once, and we're hoping to try Ama ama this time now that our DS is a older. We usually had dinner away from the resort though. Also, we didn't have any issues with parking at the resort, we always found decent self-park spaces.

No issues with the service either - the only issue we had over the whole trip was with the pool chairs, and like I mentioned, we eventually were able to get spots each day.

 

[kickash]

We're a family of 3 and we stayed in a studio, plenty of room for us and we keep the pull out pulled out. We went in February 2016 during Presidents Day week (which also included Valentine's Day) and the resort was supposed to be pretty full. We did sometimes have trouble with pool chairs, but we also didn't go early in the morning to stake out spots. Finding a pool chair was really the only time the resort seemed crowded. We are back again next month and are super excited to be going back. We had no issues navigating the pools, slides, and lazy river.

We really enjoyed the dinner buffet, but only went once, and we're hoping to try Ama ama this time now that our DS is a older. We usually had dinner away from the resort though. Also, we didn't have any issues with parking at the resort, we always found decent self-park spaces.

No issues with the service either - the only issue we had over the whole trip was with the pool chairs, and like I mentioned, we eventually were able to get spots each day.[/QUO

What did you do for dinner off of the resort? I am compiling a list for our upcoming trip in July. When we do a beach vacation, we eat out every night for dinner and we will do the same this summer. We will have a car the entire time we are there (12 days). Thanks!

 

[kickash]

We're a family of 3 and we stayed in a studio, plenty of room for us and we keep the pull out pulled out. We went in February 2016 during Presidents Day week (which also included Valentine's Day) and the resort was supposed to be pretty full. We did sometimes have trouble with pool chairs, but we also didn't go early in the morning to stake out spots. Finding a pool chair was really the only time the resort seemed crowded. We are back again next month and are super excited to be going back. We had no issues navigating the pools, slides, and lazy river.

We really enjoyed the dinner buffet, but only went once, and we're hoping to try Ama ama this time now that our DS is a older. We usually had dinner away from the resort though. Also, we didn't have any issues with parking at the resort, we always found decent self-park spaces.

No issues with the service either - the only issue we had over the whole trip was with the pool chairs, and like I mentioned, we eventually were able to get spots each day.

What did you do for dinner each night? I am compiling a list for our upcoming July trip. Any recommendations would be appreciated!!

 

[GatorChris]

Dude, don't worry! It's Hawaii. I know, I know. When you drop that kind of cash for a hotel, you tend to worry if everything is perfect. Spoiler: it won't be. But it WILL be an awesome trip.

The suites are pretty big. I never ever felt cramped in a room. If you're thinking Disney All-Stars Movie resort, don't. These rooms are big.

As for food, it's pricey like at a Disney park, but it's still good. Ama Ama has really good food and a romantic vibe. We did the Menehune' Character Dinner/buffet. It's like one of those cool buffets on Waikiki with lots of ham, crab, prime rib and everything else. Plus characters! Very Disney and the food was really good and filling. We also did Monkey Pod across the street, which was OK-Good. Not great. Plus they have a shave ice hut with amazing flavors (try the sweet sour plum flavor w/guava!). And then on the beach, they have Dole Whips! You can get a pineapple vanilla swirl that's pretty amazing.

Service? No worries. It's Disney.

Crowds? Yip. No matter what time of year it is, this place is full. That said, you'll still enjoy it. The slides are fun. The lazy river is amazing (my favorite part). The enclosed snorkel area is really great for seeing fish up close and in clear water. The beach is great. And if it seems to crowded, you can walk over to the beach to the left which is usually empty.

Man, just talking about it makes me want to go back!

 

[alyssa810]

What did you do for dinner each night? I am compiling a list for our upcoming July trip. Any recommendations would be appreciated!!

We ate at the buffet on our last night, kind of our big hurrah. We had a jeep and we had gift cards for Black Angus and the night we were going to go, it was raining so we ended up going to a pizza place across the street from the hotel which wasn't anything worth checking out.
We did the Germain's Luau another night and while we enjoyed the show, we were disappointed with the food. I honestly don't remember what else we did for dinner- we are trying to put more thought into our meals for this trip, since my DS is a little older he is a slightly more adventurous eater at 11 than he was at 8.

 

[kyton]

MonkeyPod Kitchen, Just Tacos, Roy’s at the Golf course, Eating House Kapolei as well as Ama Ama are all our personal favourites. Because we don’t have them here in Australia, we also tend to visit Ruby Tuesdays and Denny’s for breakfast plus Applebee’s and Outback Steakhouse every now and then.