Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa

“An unforgettable stay”

Aulani is such a wonderful resort. Is it for everyone... no but the quality of the service and luxurious feel of this property sets it apport from its competitors... There are a few other luxury resorts nearby and Aulani stands out as a beautiful work of Disney's Imagineering team. What I liked:... lisää

Aulani is such a wonderful resort. Is it for everyone... no but the quality of the service and luxurious feel of this property sets it apport from its competitors... There are a few other luxury resorts nearby and Aulani stands out as a beautiful work of Disney's Imagineering team. What I liked: Disney service is always top notch but Aulani takes this one step further. The friendliness of the cast members is at a whole new level - across the entire resort. I was lucky enough to have my room ready for an early arrival (9am) - a beautiful room facing the pool area and the other side of the property. The 1 bedroom suite was spacious, and easily accommodated our party of 5 with the main bedroom, the sofa bed and some sort of wall-hidden twin bed. The kitchen was spacious with all the needed amenities to prepare most meals. Nice balcony. Temperature control was adequate. Great, large bathroom area. Very comfortable bedding. Impressive common areas. Busy pool areas, but we were always able to find a chair somewhere. Some nice and unique merchandise on-site. Secluded, yet near a small shopping village and a short driving distance to Kapolei for groceries. The location is also interesting as it can be a decent base to visit parts of the island, especially the Dole plantation and the Haleiwa area. Beautiful, safe beach. Good quality high end restaurants on-site, and nearby. Nice Luau experience. One of the most enjoyable spa experience I have ever had on Disney property (no sales pressure, expertise). Dole Whip, Dole Whip and Dole Whip. Access to the Ko Olina Traveler's Lounge at HNL airport (pre-booking required). Overall, there is a nice balance between pure Hawaiaan culture and Disney touches... some more obvious... but most quite subtle What to watch for/could be improved: As far as the resort is concerned... very little. The actual location may not work for everyone, as it is a bit of a luxurious base if someone wants to primarily explore the island. Aulani needs to be explored and enjoyed for a few days - with some outside activities to mix things up... but not the other way around. I found the food at some of the quick service venues to be just ok. I'd also would have liked if more of the pool areas where to be opened later at night. Very highly recommended

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“If you love Disney this is your place to go in Hawaii”

This was our first time here with our 3 college age kids and it let us know we just aren't a "Disney Family". I would say if you really love Disney or have small kids you will love it. My kids LOVED Disney World the many times we went when they were little and they would've loved it here. It i... lisää

This was our first time here with our 3 college age kids and it let us know we just aren't a "Disney Family". I would say if you really love Disney or have small kids you will love it. My kids LOVED Disney World the many times we went when they were little and they would've loved it here. It is large, clean with that Disney professional and friendly service. Characters are everywhere at all times and there are lots of things you would expect to see from Disney. Our family of 5 fit comfortable into the 1 bedroom family suite and we had a huge balcony that looked over the pool. It would have been nice to have an extra toilet, but we were on the main lobby floor so we could utilize the lobby bathrooms too. The things we didn't like were the crowds. Although it is a large property with many pool offerings - there are way too many people staying here and the ratio isn't great. Pool, lobby, beach an any common areas were always packed and always loud. There were billions of pool and beach chairs, but by 9 am they were all taken. People would come down at 7am to reserve seats. There were signs all over saying chairs would be cleared before 8am (when the pool opened) and throughout the day if no one was using them for an hour, but this was never enforced. I could never seem to find a pool attendant to help with that during our stay. Food was Disney basic. There was a quick service mini mart all day that had things you would expect in a minimart. The only sit down/ breakfast buffet offered was the Character dining. We didn't want this, plus it was booked 6 months ahead by all. We ended up walking to the Four Seasons next door most days were it was delicious and quiet. Lunch was the type (and quality) of food you could get at Applebees but about triple the price. There really wasn't any nice dinner option that we could find and we, again, went to the Four Seasons or the shops across the street. Activities like Yoga and classes were booked our whole stay and were not included in the resort fee anyway.

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“Skip”

I really wanted to love Aulani as I had heard so many great things but found it more stressful than relaxing. Check-in was pretty chaotic and it was a bit overwhelming. Our room wasn’t ready and were told we would be getting a text when it was ready. That text never came. Thankfully my husband ... lisää

I really wanted to love Aulani as I had heard so many great things but found it more stressful than relaxing. Check-in was pretty chaotic and it was a bit overwhelming. Our room wasn’t ready and were told we would be getting a text when it was ready. That text never came. Thankfully my husband downloaded the Aulani app and we noticed our room had been ready so we were able to get our room an hour earlier by checking the app. The resort is beautiful and very picturesque. It looks just like the pictures you see in ads. With that being said, my family will not be back. My kids love the beach but for some reason didn’t care for the beach area in Aulani so we hung out at the pools. The pool area is where the fun begins. You need to get wrist bands daily to use the pools and I never knew how seriously people took longe chairs. My husband and I would come down at 9am from our room with the kids and not one longe chair was free. They were all taken and empty. There was nowhere to sit. I really only needed to sit for a good 30 minutes here and there since I was actively in and out of the water. People and families come down really early and take up as many lounge chairs as possible. By 8am all are taken. They have a chair policy which is a joke and not enforced. They claim to time lounge chairs not being in use and give that family an hour to come back. Families know this and just come back regularly to reset the time. Thankfully they do have a few places to store your items but good luck finding a place to sit. I saw many families with small kids not having places to sit or eat or simply rest for a bit. Meanwhile all the lounge chairs remained unused but taken. So if you want somewhere to sit, make sure you go down by 6am to secure a spot or beware you will be standing up most of the day. The food was okay. The acai bowl was more of a smoothie consistency. I did enjoy the dole whip and was the highlight for me. Some of the staff were really nice while others not so much. We found ourselves walking outside the resort to eat at a nearby restaurants to get more food variety. It was a quick nice 10 minute walk. One thing I did love was that you can go down to the beach area around 6:30pm and Aulani has photographers that can take family pictures. All you do is linked them to your Disney app and you can purchased the pictures photo pass. Overall, my family will be skipping this resort as I found it to be overrated and not worth the money and stress. By day 2, my husband and I looked at each other and agreed that we were so ready to leave.. There are many other hotels that would be just as nice and more conveniently located or better food options. Please do yourself a favor and if in Oahu, please try the Island Vintage Shaved Ice. They have amazing acai bowls, shaved ice and coffee.

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