Aulani

[bbrnca]

I have a quick question for anyone that can answer this... anyone who has been to Aulani what time did they close the pools and lazy river and what was there to do after dark at the resort. Looking at going in Feb 2019 and don't want to go all that way for the sidewalks to roll up at dusk...

Thanks

 

[alohamom]

The lazy river, the Ka Maka Grotto Pool and the slides all close in the winter at 6 and in the summer at 8.

The main pool closes a little later, like an hour or two more. I am not sure about the adult pool and I think the hot tubs stay open for a bit as well.

There really isnt much to do at the resort in the evening either. There is the Oleo lounge for drinks/apps and live music and the Four Seasons also has a similar type of place but as far as night life goes, you need to head into Honolulu and the Waikiki strip.

Aulani is really targeted to families with younger kids

 

[keaster]

If you want more of a nightlife, then Honolulu/Waikiki would be better for you.

We like the fact Aulani has more of a laid back vibe and don't need the active night life...in fact being from Ontario, we found ourselves pretty much wiped out by 9pm/10pm after a busy day touring (and with the big time change!)

 

[alohamom]

We like the fact Aulani has more of a laid back vibe and don't need the active night life...in fact being from Ontario, we found ourselves pretty much wiped out by 9pm/10pm after a busy day touring (and with the big time change!)

This is true for us too, we spend so much time in the ocean, snorkelling, hiking etc while we are in Hawaii that combined with the time change we have very early nights and consequently very very early mornings. Sunrise yoga type of mornings!

 

[bbrnca]

Don't get me wrong we are not the night life clubbing type at all those days are a few decades behind us... Just not use to the resort sidewalks being rolled up at dusk, went to Mexico in March and once the sun went down the resort went to sleep unless you were into the clubs, just wanted something to do. we are non-stop when Cruising or at WDW there was always something to do.

 

[alohamom]

Don't get me wrong we are not the night life clubbing type at all those days are a few decades behind us... Just not use to the resort sidewalks being rolled up at dusk, went to Mexico in March and once the sun went down the resort went to sleep unless you were into the clubs, just wanted something to do. we are non-stop when Cruising or at WDW there was always something to do.

I have read a few people's reports over on the Aulani thread where they really didnt like the night life aspect of Aulani because they were expecting it to be like a cruise (for the life of me I cannot understand why people compare these two very very different vacations)

Essentially it is dead after 9 on the resort.

There is a movie theatre and places to eat in Kapolei about a 5 minute drive away.

In a few years the new Atlantis resort will be built just down from Aulani and I am sure that will offer more evening activities but for now, it is what it is.

 

[dvcdisney]

It's been almost 5 yrs since we were in Aulani so please take the suggestion with that in mind. Although we are planning to go back next year and it appears they've added a few things.

As a pp mentioned, we were never bored while we were there even without the nightlife. I will admit that we were exhausted by about 10pm so we just usually took a leisure walk on the paths.

We stayed there for 2 weeks and out of those, we only left Oahu for 5 days to visit North shore, Pearl Harbour, Honolulu/Waikiki and all the tourist spots. It was absolutely beautiful just driving around.

We enjoyed the lazy river, over and over again, and the beach and we even took a catamaran tour off the beach through Aulani's activity centre. We saw quite a few sea turtles and it's absolutely amazing to see Aulani from that perspective. And the sunsets were absolutely spectacular...Boy, I guess you can tell I miss it. We didn't even have time to be bored.

At the resort, we did go to the show two nights and went over to see shows (luau) at the resorts nearby. Aulani didn't have an actual luau at the time, so we went other places. We even did an indoor luau (which we thoroughly enjoyed and loved the table service upgrade as well as the tables close to the stage) near Waikiki.

But our favourite places to dine near Aulani was Monkeypod and Roy's. Monkeypod was a surprise, it seemed very casual but the food was very good. We dined at Aulani's Ama Ama and Makahiki which were both good.

The only restaurant that I felt we had that was authentic was this little place near North Shore, but I can't recall the name of it.