Agree, Aunties is just one amenity. Reopening the space would help, but it wouldn't make-or-break the overall Aulani experience for most people.Granted Aunties wasn't open, but I doubt that would swing the experience too much.
Be kind in your responses! haha
Maybe my expectations were too high or we stayed one ay too long. Granted Aunties wasn't open, but I doubt that would swing the experience too much.
Aulani RACK rates are cheaper than the Poly, pretty much year-round.But, I’ve seen discounted rates comparable to a stay at the Poly. From that perspective, it’s a bargain.
You’re right. I was comparing to typical Poly discounted rates. Though, these days it’s not as easy to come by discounted deluxe rooms at WDW.Aulani RACK rates are cheaper than the Poly, pretty much year-round.
Heck, yeah. But then, we both thought Hawaii vastly overrated.
Full Disclosure: Never been to Aulani. Stayed at the Waikiki Hilton once. Disliked the whole island "vibe."
I came here to say exactly the opposite. DVC is a huge part of the problem here. DVC members, especially passholders, can reasonably expect to have an enjoyable Walt Disney World vacation for the cost of the flight and a few hundred bucks for food. It's very difficult to have a satisfying Hawaii vacation unless you're willing to commit thousands of dollars to activities, cultural experiences, transportation, and food. DVC members stay on points trying to "do Hawaii on the cheap," and I think that's a huge part of why many of them leave dissatisfied.Everyone I know who is isn't DVC and visited thinks it is vastly overated.
I have had people ask me how can we go to hawaii cheap? I tell them you can't but you find waysI came here to say exactly the opposite. DVC is a huge part of the problem here. DVC members, especially passholders, can reasonably expect to have an enjoyable Walt Disney World vacation for the cost of the flight and a few hundred bucks for food. It's very difficult to have a satisfying Hawaii vacation unless you're willing to commit thousands of dollars to activities, cultural experiences, transportation, and food. DVC members stay on points trying to "do Hawaii on the cheap," and I think that's a huge part of why many of them leave dissatisfied.
I mean we're talking about an oceanfront resort and the number of people willing to pay $37 for valet parking is like 2%. You're not going to enjoy Hawaii if you're overly frugal, no matter where you stay.
I came here to say exactly the opposite. DVC is a huge part of the problem here. DVC members, especially passholders, can reasonably expect to have an enjoyable Walt Disney World vacation for the cost of the flight and a few hundred bucks for food. It's very difficult to have a satisfying Hawaii vacation unless you're willing to commit thousands of dollars to activities, cultural experiences, transportation, and food. DVC members stay on points trying to "do Hawaii on the cheap," and I think that's a huge part of why many of them leave dissatisfied.
I mean we're talking about an oceanfront resort and the number of people willing to pay $37 for valet parking is like 2%. You're not going to enjoy Hawaii if you're overly frugal, no matter where you stay.
See for me it's both... I love staying at Aulani AND I like to rent a car and do stuff all over the island. I think the people who only stay at the resort are the most likely to be disappointed.We stayed in Makaha so not too far away (by miles certainly could take a while by car lol) in 2016 and then had lunch one day at Aulani and while I did think it was a beautiful resort and I enjoyed the vibe I liked where we stayed at better in a for rent by owner condo.
We liked the views better, we liked the open waters better than the man-made lagoons and I do think staying out of too high of a tourist place allowed us to explore more.
We rented a car and the first day we were there we did a drive of look out points, another day we took a drive around the island (well as best that you can since no highway goes all the way around in a circle), we did Pearl Harbor (including the battleship and submarine), we went to the North Shore, we had lunch and then dinner another night (which is the meal you really want due to the view) to watch the sunset at this place near North Shore. We did a breakfast at Marriott Ko Olina, we did dinner at Monkeypod too, etc.
All of that to say I think we liked the freedom more and we liked how low-key our condo was. I know a lot of people do Aulani and tend to stick right there with exception to maybe renting a car for a day or so, going to Pearl Harbor. Having a few places to eat and shop within walking distance is actually a pro for Aulani in that Ko Olina area, where we stayed at you needed a car to really get anywhere which was fine by us. I did also like the water play areas. It's a great beach resort but I can understand why someone might feel it was overrated. That said we didn't really enjoy North Shore itself all that much and a lot of people recommend that area of Oahu sooo we might just be a bit different haha.
Exactly this. We stayed using Disney Visa Rewards and a “fifth night free” promo. We thought it was by far the best Disney resort. We also didn’t use Aunties and everything else was open.Usually
when people think of something as worth it.....that pertains to what THEY paid for it.
I disagree here. I don’t count transportation, since we’d have that anywhere we flew (and pre-Covid the rates were fairly comparable). Other than that, we really didn’t spend much at all on activities, across 4 islands. There is enough to do in Hawaii for free to fill the day, every day.It's very difficult to have a satisfying Hawaii vacation unless you're willing to commit thousands of dollars to activities, cultural experiences, transportation, and food.
Pretty off-topic but yeah, totally agree with you on this. We enjoyed Sharks Cove but I definitely don’t tell people I think it’s a “must-do.”I agree that the North Shore is quite a bit overrated unless you're a world class surfer.