Aulani info

[MommyluvsDisney3]

Question about what activities there are to partake in at Aulani....
What is there and is it at an additional charge?
Where to eat at resort and what would you suggest or rate the dining experience?
How far is town?
Is there anywhere to eat nearby or is everything driving distance?
Would you suggest a rental car?

How hard is it to get a reservation 7months out?

 

[Iggipolka]

There are many free activities every day at Aulani. Character dance parties, lei making, the Menehuni trail game, hula lessons, tours of the resort & Hawaii cultural tours, plus a nightly movie or Starlight Hui. For DVC members, you can check out free DVD's and board games.
On the beach, The resort has free lounge chairs with umbrellas, free sand toys and boogie boards.

We found the food at the resort to be good, but Very expensive. Directly across the street (5-10 min walk) is a small mall with an ABC store & a couple restaurants.

We also found delicious and cheap Korean, sushi, poke at a little place called In and Out Sushi about 10min up the highway. It's not in the best area, but everyone was super friendly and the food was so fresh & delicious. Best Poke we had all week.

I'd recommend stopping at Safeway or Costco to get food for your stay.

 

[MommyluvsDisney3]

Would you recommend a rental car?

 

[Anal Annie]

Although we haven't been to Aulani yet we have been to Hawaii several times and I would think a rental car is best for Aulaniu because it's so far outside of Honolulu. The only time we HAVEN'T rented a car is when we've stayed IN Waikiki and everything was so convenient. We plan on driving in to Waikiki, going to Pearl Harbor, the North Shore and want to take surf lessons plus visit some local restaurants. I can see being nickel & dime'd to death to pay for shuttles or taxis all week long if we didn't rent a car. While we want to be sure to enjoy the resort a little bit we also want to be sure to take in more of the island than just the resort.

 

[adamak]

If this is your first time in Oahu, then rent a car and get out of the resort to see the island.
Moneypod across Aulani is pretty good. Live music / happy hour in the afternoon. We usually ate there and then snack in the room at night.

 

[MommyluvsDisney3]

Any info on how hard it would be to get a reservation at 7month window in August...?

 

[hjgaus]

Any info on how hard it would be to get a reservation at 7month window in August...?

We had no problem getting mid June last summer at exactly the 7 month mark of November but if you are looking for THIS August it maybe a little tougher securing a date seeing how your almost 4 months out but never hurts to try!

 

[MommyluvsDisney3]

We had no problem getting mid June last summer at exactly the 7 month mark of November but if you are looking for THIS August it maybe a little tougher securing a date seeing how your almost 4 months out but never hurts to try!

No we are looking at trying for next August 2014.
Thanks for the info!

 

[Anal Annie]

Any info on how hard it would be to get a reservation at 7month window in August...?

We were able to get an OV studio at the 7 month mark for this August. I was online and ready to go when the booking window opened at 8:00 AM. So it's definitely possible but you just need to be ready to book right on the dot!! The availability may vary by what type of unit you want to book. I would not count on being able to get any standard views as those seem to book pretty quickly for the lower point costs...

 

[Ptwolfman]

We are looking to book mid September for mid April 2014. We will be buying into DVC on our cruise. Most likely purchasing Aulani as our home resort. What does availability look like at 7 months out for April? TIA

ETA Looking at 3 to 7 nights 4/12 to 4/19

 

[Ptwolfman]

Bump

 

[Iggipolka]

We are looking to book mid September for mid April 2014. We will be buying into DVC on our cruise. Most likely purchasing Aulani as our home resort. What does availability look like at 7 months out for April? TIA

ETA Looking at 3 to 7 nights 4/12 to 4/19

I booked our April 2013 trip 5 months out and got our first choice of an OV 2bedroom.
If you know your dates, try and get the room you want at your exact 7 mth window & be willing to be flexible with room type & dates.

Good luck!

 

[Sir William]

There are many free activities every day at Aulani. Character dance parties, lei making, the Menehuni trail game, hula lessons, tours of the resort & Hawaii cultural tours, plus a nightly movie or Starlight Hui. For DVC members, you can check out free DVD's and board games.
On the beach, The resort has free lounge chairs with umbrellas, free sand toys and boogie boards.

We found the food at the resort to be good, but Very expensive. Directly across the street (5-10 min walk) is a small mall with an ABC store & a couple restaurants.

We also found delicious and cheap Korean, sushi, poke at a little place called In and Out Sushi about 10min up the highway. It's not in the best area, but everyone was super friendly and the food was so fresh & delicious. Best Poke we had all week.

I'd recommend stopping at Safeway or Costco to get food for your stay.

All good advice.

DW and I ate most meals at Aulani restaurants (except breakfast in our room) as we wanted to check them out, but decided that on our next visit we would get food at Costco and/or Safeway. Food was good but overpriced for the quality (though typical of other resorts in Hawaii). We ate at the Monkeypod one evening but didn't find the prices or quality of food all that much different than Aulani.

I would recommend renting a car if you want to see anything beyond Aulani, or want to do any shopping. Kapolei is the closest shopping community, about 10 minutes by car, other than a few small stores across the street. If renting, keep checking rental prices as they change frequently. You can almost always make a reservation, then cancel it if you find a better deal. On Kauai, which we visited after Aulani, I changed our car rental twice before we arrived as I noted the price change.