Food prices at Aulani INSANE

[dtrain]

I paid $45 for a steak & egg breakfast yesterday at Moana Surfrider. It was the most delicious thing ever, would this be comparable to Aulani prices?

 

[Paul Stupin]

I paid $45 for a steak & egg breakfast yesterday at Moana Surfrider. It was the most delicious thing ever, would this be comparable to Aulani prices?

Yes, in that vicinity, though I don’t think Aulani offers steak and eggs.

 

[lilsonicfan]

Yeah, good point. It’s just hard to find the good ones, especially if you don’t live there. Are you referring to a place near Aulani? If do, what is it?!

I just meant generally! Our trip isn't till spring break, but I will be researching the heck out of dive-y places frequented by locals...

 

[HIRyeDVC]

This was a thoroughly entertaining thread. Sorry I missed it! I'm mostly fine with the food prices at Aulani. I'm sad that Makahiki is no longer a buffet, even though I suck at eating buffets. That breakfast with all the Japanese food was amazing. I also like Off the Hook's French Dip, burger, and onion rings, though a little expensive. I never eat at Ama Ama. The joke is, Ama Ama go broke! We also love Mina's Fish House.

Where I draw the line is the $7 mickey shaped spam musubis from Ulu. I mean, come on. It's not even a full musubi as the slice of spam is cut in half! I feel so much satisfaction making spam musubis in my room for my kids. Just buy a musubi mold from a Japanese market for $2 dollars and it will save you hundreds of dollars in the future. As for the homeless problem, homelessness has actually decreased 11% since last year, according to a recent Civil Beat article. You should have seen Kakaako in 2010. The entire subdivision was one giant homeless encampment before it became a bougie hipster town. Not sure where they all went. Probably more evenly distributed around the island, which is better IMO. I want our more affluent representatives to actually feel the homeless problem in their own backyards of Manoa and Kahala, and not just be excluded to more run down neighborhoods of Waianae and Kalihi. Aloha!

 

[Anal Annie]

CNN reported that the price of 1 dozen eggs in Hawaii is $10.99. There was no specific location given. The price of eggs is up everywhere due to chickens dying from Avian Bird Flu, but Hawaii is the current highest price.


-Paul

Hummm. Maybe we WON'T be making eggs every morning on our April trip....

 

[Anal Annie]

Dumb question - do most of you walk over to the Marriott if you're dining at one of their restaurants or do you drive?? I wasn't sure how long the walk would be?

 

[HIRyeDVC]

Dumb question - do most of you walk over to the Marriott if you're dining at one of their restaurants or do you drive?? I wasn't sure how long the walk would be?

It’s a 5-10 minute walk along the path overlooking the lagoons. It’s beautiful.

 

[disneyseniors]

Well, I'm not sure what class hotel Aulani is considered (just googled....it's a four star resort)...but we're going to Hawaii for the first time ever....for our 25th wedding anniversary. Our trip has morphed a bit, at first we were doing Maui and Kauai, then just Kauai, but now we're spending 5 nights on the south shore of Kauai at a 4 star Ko'a Kea in the Ocean Front One Bedroom Suite. And five nights on the BI at Auberge's 5 star Mauna Lani in an Ocean Front room (the room is nearly 700 sq ft though...so it's a big room), and we're spending 15K on our 10 nights...taxes and resort fees included.

Then you start looking at excursions...etc....and that's all really expensive as well. I booked us for a deluxe valance helicopter tour....that alone was $714 each! I've looked at some of the menus of restaurants that we've booked...and again, almost all are 30-50% more than we just paid on a 5 star vacation in Costa Rica.

Obviously, I think you can spend *way* less to travel to Hawaii if you stay in less fancy hotels, or Air BnB it and cook in your unit....etc. But we've just concluded it's just a very expensive place to visit. But...we're excited to be going .

I'm also booking a two week trip to South Africa....5 days in Cape Town, 9 days at Safari Lodges....all transport, excursions in Cape Town, all meals except for lunches and dinners in Cape Town included (and obviously the safari game drives are included)....and that trip is coming in at 30K (no flights included). But still....on a daily rate with excursions/entertainment/food/ground transportation included...it's definitely a cheaper trip than Hawaii.

My daughter and husband are going to Hawaii for their 20th anniversary. Your itinerary sounds just like their's. They are going to Maui as their main Island, then to Kauai for a few days and to do the excursions. They are staying in nice hotels too, but dont' remember which ones. They know it is super expensive for everything, but have been saving for years to do this. I hope you have a great time. Please let us know how you liked your itinerary and any information I can give to my daughter about her trip coming in September. Thank you

 

[Tenkawa]

When going to Kauai, make sure to head up to Weimei Canyon

My daughter and husband are going to Hawaii for their 20th anniversary. Your itinerary sounds just like their's. They are going to Maui as their main Island, then to Kauai for a few days and to do the excursions. They are staying in nice hotels too, but dont' remember which ones. They know it is super expensive for everything, but have been saving for years to do this. I hope you have a great time. Please let us know how you liked your itinerary and any information I can give to my daughter about her trip coming in September. Thank you

When going to Kauai, make sure to visit Waimea Canyon.

Ke'e beach in the North-West is wonderfully quiet, and the Limahuli gardens right beside it are a great place to check out both native and non native plant species, and learn a bunch. https://ntbg.org/gardens/limahuli/

As much as I loved the beaches, the Canyon, Ke'e beach/Limahuli, and the Kilauea Lighthouse were the highlights of my trip there.

 

[disneyseniors]

When going to Kauai, make sure to head up to Weimei Canyon

When going to Kauai, make sure to visit Waimea Canyon.

Ke'e beach in the North-West is wonderfully quiet, and the Limahuli gardens right beside it are a great place to check out both native and non native plant species, and learn a bunch. https://ntbg.org/gardens/limahuli/

As much as I loved the beaches, the Canyon, Ke'e beach/Limahuli, and the Kilauea Lighthouse were the highlights of my trip there.

Thank you very much for sharing. I will be sure to let my daughter know about these sites. They sound beautiful

 

[dvcgirl67]

My daughter and husband are going to Hawaii for their 20th anniversary. Your itinerary sounds just like their's. They are going to Maui as their main Island, then to Kauai for a few days and to do the excursions. They are staying in nice hotels too, but dont' remember which ones. They know it is super expensive for everything, but have been saving for years to do this. I hope you have a great time. Please let us know how you liked your itinerary and any information I can give to my daughter about her trip coming in September. Thank you

On nice...good for them! It is *pricey* to stay at higher end hotels there for sure, and so I feel their pain. And we're coming off of two "five star" resort trips in Costa Rica and Cabo San Lucas. I've always heard it's very expensive....island out in the middle of the pacific....etc, and they were not kidding!

I'll post when we return in May. Excursion-wise we've booked helicopter tours on both Kauai and now on the Big Island as well to see the volcanoes. We're also scuba divers, but haven't done that in a number of years, so we've decided to do a "refresh/reactivate" course through PADI (diving organization)...but right on the beach by our hotel in Kauai through a dive shop there. Since we're "refreshing" there, we booked a two-tank dive on a boat on the Big Island....so we're excited to be getting back under the water. We've booked an early morning out-rigger canoe paddle at Mauna Lani on the BI. Not too much beyond that. We want to spend a day or two just out and about in Kauai exploring...especially up in Hanalei. Also hoping for a massage/spa experience along the way.

I'll be sure to report when we get back! Hawaii is pretty much finished planning-wise....even down to dining reservations. With all of that taken care of...I've moved on to the next trip....and just got the full itinerary/invoice for South Africa in 2024....so happy just to have fun trips back on the schedule after cancelling several during the pandemic. .