Updates & Tips, Auntys Experience June 2022

[unfadinglight]

Just came back from our first Aulani visit (5 nights in Two Queen Room, Island Gardens View). Here are my personal experiences and tips:

Lu'au:

• The Disney Lu'au is back to a full self-service buffet for the adults (kids had bento style boxes). Overall we really thought the food was great. Highlights for me included the poke and prime rib.
• Activity/demonstration stations are back (temporary tattoos, taro pounding, flower lei bracelet making, and ukulele).

Character Breakfast:

• Character breakfast was not a buffet but the front desk suggested it might be coming back soon. Since it was not a buffet and there was too much food for us to eat in one sitting we got to take our leftovers in take out containers. They even gave us fresh extra coffee in disposable cups to go.
• If you have a sweet-tooth, the buttermilk pancakes with macadamia nut-tahitian vanilla sauce and Vermont maple syrup was every bit as good as it sounds. I added a side of scrambled eggs but note they do charge for it ($4).
• Our original reservation was for 8:30am which ended up being much later then we wanted once we realized how early we woke up at. They couldn't change it when I called but I came by the restaurant a little before 7am before they opened and the host was happy to accommodate us.

Aunty’s Beach House

• My two children (ages 6 and 8) did Aunty's three times during our stay.
• Getting these reservation was challenging but here are a few tips:
  • Once the time slots open up you need to refresh the calendar. My suggestion here is not to reload the entire webpage but just click on the calendar date again to reload the availability. That can save a few seconds.
  • The reservation site (na.spatime.com) allows you to register beforehand and will pre-fill your first child's information once you are logged in. So you'll want to register with your child's name not yours since that is who the reservation is for. Also, gender isn't a required field so skip that (you'll provide those details later on anyways). Every second counts! UPDATE: The na.spatime.com site is used for other activity reservations such as Laniwai spa so you may not want to register with your child's name. It sounds like it might be OK to use your name instead of your child's but I'm not 100% sure. See comment below from WAstateDVCDaddy for more context.
  • The reservations opened up at 7am Hawaii time or shortly after. I practiced making reservations all the way up to the last step a few days before I needed to make my own to ensure I was familiar with the process.
• Overall our kids had a great time. They are given a color sticker upon entering, they wash their hands and they stay with their color group the whole time. My kids mentioned they visited two rooms each time (a craft room and a game room). Each time they left with a goody bag from their time there (Oriental Trading crafts, nothing Disney branded). It sounds like there was about a dozen kids or less per group. The kids and staff are masked the entire time.
• They seemed very well staffed each time I visited. Hopefully that means they’ll continue to open it up for more to enjoy.

Other Updates/Tips

• They’ve reopened Luana Lounge. It is only available on your check-out day and you need to make a reservation for a specific time slot. We did not need it so I did not visit.
• Guests staying in Ko Olina have free access to a small airport lounge (Ko Olina Club Lounge). You need to make reservations before hand. It is located near Terminal 2 so it wasn’t worth it for us being at Terminal 1 (it takes 10-15 minutes of walking between the two areas each way). I also read it can be a little tricky to find so maybe research before hand.
• Ama Ama still had some construction going on but their restrooms are open to guests which is nice if you are near that side of the resort.
• Ulu Cafe has a whole pizza for $20 (plus $2/topping) after 5pm. It was quite good and filling. Best value of food from Aulani during our stay.
• Pool chairs were hard to find but if you just need a place for your belongings we found the cubbies by the towel stations very convenient.
• The Volcano fries from Wailana Pool Bar and the white chocolate dipped pineapple with toasted coconut shavings from Little ‘Opihi's were my favorite treats while there.
• Online check in was great, they had a separate desk as soon as you enter the front lobby with our room keys waiting for us.
• If you are renting a car and did not prepay I’d keep checking for price drops. I originally booked 6 months out. I ended up rebooking my rental 3 times from Alamo saving about $300 leading up to our stay. It was cheapest about 5 days before our pick up date. We had a good experience with Alamo at the airport.
• There are ice/water refilling stations outside of Ulu cafe.
• The queen beds in our hotel room were obnoxiously high off the ground. I later realized that allowed for luggage storage by the foot of the bed which was a great way to free up space in our room.
• Off the Hook offers mobile ordering via the Aulani app.

 

[SueInBoston]

Thanks for the tips!

 

[varyth]

That white chocolate dipped pineapple sounds amazing. Will keep an eye out for it during our September stay.

 

[tty206]

Thanks for sharing! Happy to hear about Luana lounge being open again. Do you know if you can make a reservation for checkout day when you get there or is there a way to do it online / through the Aulani app?

 

[unfadinglight]

Thanks for sharing! Happy to hear about Luana lounge being open again. Do you know if you can make a reservation for checkout day when you get there or is there a way to do it online / through the Aulani app?

I was offered Luana lounge at the front desk while checking out. I’d call and see if you can make a reservation beforehand, if not I’d try at check-in. I didn’t come across Luana lounge online or in the app so not sure if they have that option.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Thank you for the updates, I am glad more and more is coming back!

 

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

So you'll want to register with your child's name not yours since that is who the reservation is for.

Thanks for the great info!

Wondering about this item though - the registration is the same one you use for all the activities - so I’m wondering if you really need to / should register with your child’s name. The way I’m seeing it is that they’ll reserve a spot under the registered party’s name - the fact the your child has a different name shouldn’t affect the reservation, as long as it’s your child (and you’re providing the necessary registration packet).

If I register under my DD’s name, I don’t see a way of toggling between sign in’s to make other reservations (for the spa for instance).

 

[unfadinglight]

Thanks for the great info!

Wondering about this item though - the registration is the same one you use for all the activities - so I’m wondering if you really need to / should register with your child’s name. The way I’m seeing it is that they’ll reserve a spot under the registered party’s name - the fact the your child has a different name shouldn’t affect the reservation, as long as it’s your child (and you’re providing the necessary registration packet).

If I register under my DD’s name, I don’t see a way of toggling between sign in’s to make other reservations (for the spa for instance).

This is a great point, I did not realize this is the same reservation system used for other activities like the Laniwai spa. The only thing I noticed is when signing up is they indicate "Enter the information for the guest who is receiving the service."

But if in the end this is just to hold a spot for the registered party then what you are sharing makes logical sense to me. I'll edit my post to caution others. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Imurhuckleberry]

Is auntys still open only to kids 5+?

If so, any indication thst will change back to allow the 3+ in?

 

[unfadinglight]

It was only available for kids ages 5–12. Hopefully they continue to expand it so more kids can participate.

 

[Imurhuckleberry]

It was only available for kids ages 5–12. Hopefully they continue to expand it so more kids can participate.

fingers crossed that it's 3+ again by Christmas!