Couples only at Aulani? Need some advice pleas!

[BEARCATS07]

We are taking our first ever trip to Hawaii and was looking at Aulani. We are avid Disney fans so the appeal was that Disney was in Hawaii. If we decided to stay at Aulani what is there to do for those without kids, seemed like there was a lot of kid activities and family activities. We would also like to spend time on the beach, we see that there is a lagoon on site but is there a "beach" close by. Any insight on Aulani for couples would be much appreciated. We have looked at other hotels/resorts that are cheaper on Waikiki beach but not sure that I want to be in the center of it all the time. Thanks for all your input.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We are taking our first ever trip to Hawaii and was looking at Aulani. We are avid Disney fans so the appeal was that Disney was in Hawaii. If we decided to stay at Aulani what is there to do for those without kids, seemed like there was a lot of kid activities and family activities. We would also like to spend time on the beach, we see that there is a lagoon on site but is there a "beach" close by. Any insight on Aulani for couples would be much appreciated. We have looked at other hotels/resorts that are cheaper on Waikiki beach but not sure that I want to be in the center of it all the time. Thanks for all your input.

The "lagoon" is a public beach. There is "beach" all along that side of the island. You will find many locals at the lagoon beach just as you would on Waikiki or any other beach in Hawaii. ALL beaches in Hawaii are public by law.

While Disney wants you to believe there is a romantic "sunset view" double decker infinity edge hot tub, it is really nothing more than kiddie playground. We found it impossible to enjoy it unless we went at 6:00 AM, well outside the "time" of the hot tub being open.

That being said, I would NEVER again stay on or near Waikiki after having stayed at Aulani. LOVE the location, LOVE the beach, LOVE the beach beyond the lagoon for watching sea turtles and Monk seals, and LOVE that it's in a quiet area of what is not necessarily a quiet island.

We felt that there was plenty of "adult" things at Aulani, but you do have to accept the kid factor as well. The spa at Aulani is a wonderful bright spot for adults, and I would make another adults only trip there again (and we will). There are plenty of other things to do on the island as well, but I'm not sure you MUST leave Aulani to enjoy it. We rented a car and did all the "touristy" things like Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, the Japanese Temple, North Shore, PCC etc, but we did that because we truly enjoy all of those places. We didn't even do half the stuff we intended to on Oahu, and the reason is because we enjoyed Aulani so much, we found it hard to leave and do those other things. It also was far from our first trip to Hawaii, so we knew what there was to do.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

DH and I also went in Dec and will be returning. Hawaii is not new to us although we did go do a little touring but really spent the majority of time at the resort.

There certainly are a lot of things for the kids but I never felt that it was like Fantasyland in Hawaii. As Diane mentioned - the spa is great. The workout room was quiet. The pool - busy but enjoyable and we even did the slides multiple times.

The only paid extra thing we did at the resort was star watching because of our interest in that. There were no children and it was expensive but enjoyable for us. We also did not do half the things we thought because we were just enjoying hanging out at the resort.

My first visit to Waikiki was in 1975 and I do have a nostalgic fondness for it but it's become a crazy zoo. We may stay a night or two there again - but maybe not - we enjoyed Aulani that much.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Question for you Kathy, we are planning a trip to Aulani Sept.'14. We do not want to rent a car. I have found reasonable rental from airport to Aulani, and a tour company that will pick us up at Aulani for an all day island tour. We want to see Pearl Harbor.....was thinking of booking the tour from the resort. Did you visit Pearl Harbor? Also, there is an grocery delivery company that will deliver groceries to the hotel. Anything else you would have wanted a car for? We are visiting San Diego prior to the trip, so we really do want to chill at the resort.

DH and I also went in Dec and will be returning. Hawaii is not new to us although we did go do a little touring but really spent the majority of time at the resort.

There certainly are a lot of things for the kids but I never felt that it was like Fantasyland in Hawaii. As Diane mentioned - the spa is great. The workout room was quiet. The pool - busy but enjoyable and we even did the slides multiple times.

The only paid extra thing we did at the resort was star watching because of our interest in that. There were no children and it was expensive but enjoyable for us. We also did not do half the things we thought because we were just enjoying hanging out at the resort.

My first visit to Waikiki was in 1975 and I do have a nostalgic fondness for it but it's become a crazy zoo. We may stay a night or two there again - but maybe not - we enjoyed Aulani that much.

 

[Cinderpamela]

Last August DH and I spent our 20th wedding anniversary at Aulani... without the kids! It was great!

I would not want to spend a romantic couples trip in Honolulu... maybe part of it just to do some of the tourist things... but then head out and relax at Aulani.

We spent some of the time touring the island, drove up to the Northshore and Turtle Beach. Went to Pearl Harbor one day. On our Anniversary we spent a large chunk of the day relaxing at the Laniwai Spa in all their pools and showers and the sauna.

We steered clear of the main hot tubs because there always seemed to be lots of little kids in there splashing around. But I really did not miss a hot tub soak and much preferred to use the ones at the Laniwai Spa that were most likely more sanitary.

We really wound up hanging out at the quiet pool a large portion of the time, and also loved the beach. Hopefully the quiet pool area will be open again and construction will be done when we go this December. This time with our kids as we promised them when we went without them, that we would take them the next time.

We also had some great meals at Roys, Ama Ama and, Alan Wong's in Honolulu was a highlight! They even made us our own special menu:
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[KAT4DISNEY]

Question for you Kathy, we are planning a trip to Aulani Sept.'14. We do not want to rent a car. I have found reasonable rental from airport to Aulani, and a tour company that will pick us up at Aulani for an all day island tour. We want to see Pearl Harbor.....was thinking of booking the tour from the resort. Did you visit Pearl Harbor? Also, there is an grocery delivery company that will deliver groceries to the hotel. Anything else you would have wanted a car for? We are visiting San Diego prior to the trip, so we really do want to chill at the resort.

We did visit Pearl Harbor but drove ourselves since we had the car. We almost went to the Dec 7 service but were worried about it being too busy so we went on the 9th when I had also been able to book a special harbor tour that they only do a couple of times during the year. With that tour and the fact DH had never been we ended up spending pretty much the entire day and toured the Missouri and the Bowfin too.

I haven't heard of any grocery delivery but if you have a rental or car service you might see about stopping on your way from the airport at the Costco or Target which are located just before Aulani. Or there is a very good market across the street that is in walking distance from Aulani and could probably provide most things you might want.

If you're just looking to relax then yes, you could get by without a car. We booked our trip just a couple of weeks prior to going and I was able to get a car rental for quite cheap so you might keep on eye on prices.

 

[Jenn]

We just got back with our teen daughters. If you like the pool, I would recommend getting chairs before 10 am in a more secluded spot. There are many to choose from. The families are usually wanting spots right next to the pool. I would certainly avoid the kiddie splash area, and the areas where the water slides shoot out. There's a lot of screaming around the slides. Other than that, the only crazy, kid filled part of the resort we noticed was the character breakfast. We love the characters, and the food was pretty good, but boy was it loud.