The "I miss Aulani" trip report - The DIS Discussion Forums

audrey2580 · 06-17-2013, 05:03 PM

This is my 1st trip report. I have read so many amazing reports and have always wanted to share back with you all.

The cast: Me, my husband and my son age 8, my sister and my nephew age 9
Experience: Huge Disney fans except for my husband who will go to DL maybe 1x a year. We have been to DL too many times to count and WDW 4x

We decided to go to Aulani for 4 nights and then off to Maui for 2 nights. We were lucky enough to arrive the last day of the Stay 4 nights for the price of 3 promo. We stayed in a 1 bedroom villa with an island view. Total price was around $2500

We flew in from San Francisco on an uneventful flight and rented a car from Alamo through Costco for about $100 for 1 day. We drove to the Dole Pineapple factory which was fun. The food, which I thought would be horrible, was actually really good. My nephew had a coveted Dole Whip! No idea why they don't have them at Aulani.

I had read in podsnel's trip report about the sea turtles just up the road. So we drove about 15 minutes to Laniakea Beach. http://www.yelp.com/biz/laniakea-beach-haleiwa
It was about 3:00 and we hit some traffic but it was so worth it. There were Green Sea Turtles in the water and on the beach. We must have seen at least 30. I highly recommend it.

We stopped by the target and filled up the tank and got lost trying to find Aulani.

As we pulled up to the Aulani the valet informed me that they could return the car for me. Wow, how easy! I was given a tag showing I returned it with the time. The only snafu here was that I had filled up the tank but Alamo charged me for 2 gallons of gas (at $6 a gallon!). My husband didn't keep the gas receipt or they said they would have possibly refunded it. Maybe we used those 2 gallons looking for the resort? Oh well no way $12 was going to ruin my vacation - but I recommend you keep your receipt if you fill up your tank :-)

The hotel is amazing! The girls were given flower lei's, my husband a nut lei and the boys a very cool menehune necklace. I will post a picture of this later.

Since we checked in online we skipped the front desk and were given a brief tour. Then off to the room. We had paid for an island view and were so happy when we saw this:

It was room 1077 and we could see the ocean and had a great view of the Starlit Hui and movie out on the lawn.

audrey2580 · 06-17-2013, 05:52 PM

The rest of the trip report I'm going to do a little different. Instead of a day by day I'm going to list items with info.

Aunty's Beach House: The boys loved the kids club on the DCL but they were like 6 so I didn't know what they would think now. They really enjoyed it. As others have mentioned people line up for the activities early. Aunties opens at 8:00a and we lined up at 7:40 and had a few people ahead of us. The boys did Stitch's Space Goo and Eruption Disruption. After that they both wanted to just be in the pool. I walked through in the morning and its pretty darn cool.

Lazy River, Pools, Slides : Boy is it lazy. If you have experienced blizzard beach then you know there is a pretty good current, not the case at all here. There were always tubes and the lifeguards are top notch! We loved it and spent most of the day in it. The pool is great and huge, we never felt crowded. They could use 1 more slide but we never had to wait more then 5 or so mins in line. We lined up for wristbands and towels and held our favorite group of chairs each day. I did notice that they come around and placed clean folded towels on the back of chairs and mark a little hand held map. If you don't move those towels they assume your gone and move your stuff.

The Beach It's so mellow it's like a lake. We saw lots of little fish and my sister and nephew really enjoyed paddle boarding. Get there early and get an umbrella. It gets hot and people hog all the umbrellas. One lady was using one for her purse. Yep, her purse.
They let you borrow beach toys and boogie boards for free. But they all go pretty fast in the morning. What's odd is there are no towel rentals down there, you need to bring one from the pool area.

Rainbow Reef: They lowered the price. At least while we were there. It was only $15 an adult and $10 for kids. Length of stay was just $5 more each. They said it was a special. Water was very cold but everyone enjoyed this activity. They fed the fish while everyone was snorkeling and let the kids hold the lettuce to feed them. Pretty cool.

More tomorrow.........................

lovesthebeach · 06-18-2013, 12:02 PM

Do you have to pay to use the tubes for the lazy river?

audrey2580 · 06-18-2013, 01:30 PM

Nope they are totally free

lovesthebeach · Yesterday, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by audrey2580

Nope they are totally free

Thanks.....and thanks for the trip report

audrey2580 · Yesterday, 03:22 PM

A few more things:

Food: We really enjoyed all the food at Aulani. Except that so much closes at 6pm. I would have really liked to have a frozen yogurt or shave ice after dinner. We grabbed breakfast multiple times at the Oleo Room. The pineapple was to die for ($3 for a 1/2 a pineapple). Muffins, Bagels, Pastries, etc were $4. We saw this guy (Joe Rhodes) eating there and walking around the resort pointing out things that needed to be fixed. I recognized him from all the making of Animal Kingdom movies.

The Oleo room also had a really good happy hour menu. They would not let you order it to-go. One thing I did feel was very un-disney of them was not permitting any substitutions. We asked to substitute swiss cheese with the jack or chedder that was offered on different menu items and we were told no.

MouseKeeping Since we were not staying on points we were told we would get housekeeping, coffee, and towels daily. We only received that 2x in our 4 nights. I'm guessing it was just an oversight. Our first night we were exhausted coming from 3 hours ahead Pacific time so we went to bed at 7:30p. At 8:00p someone knocks on the door. They were delivering cookies and a letter. It turned out to be an invitation to attend a DVC preview and get a $100 disney gift card for doing so. I was bugged about the knocking but it quickly became happiness when I read the offer.

Construction: We received a really cute pin when we checked in since there was construction. Honestly I didn't even notice the construction or hear any noise. Here's a picture of the pin that someone is selling on ebay.

06-17-2013, 05:03 PM	#1
audrey2580 DIS Veteran Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 596	The "I miss Aulani" trip report This is my 1st trip report. I have read so many amazing reports and have always wanted to share back with you all. The cast: Me, my husband and my son age 8, my sister and my nephew age 9 Experience: Huge Disney fans except for my husband who will go to DL maybe 1x a year. We have been to DL too many times to count and WDW 4x We decided to go to Aulani for 4 nights and then off to Maui for 2 nights. We were lucky enough to arrive the last day of the Stay 4 nights for the price of 3 promo. We stayed in a 1 bedroom villa with an island view. Total price was around $2500 We flew in from San Francisco on an uneventful flight and rented a car from Alamo through Costco for about $100 for 1 day. We drove to the Dole Pineapple factory which was fun. The food, which I thought would be horrible, was actually really good. My nephew had a coveted Dole Whip! No idea why they don't have them at Aulani. I had read in podsnel's trip report about the sea turtles just up the road. So we drove about 15 minutes to Laniakea Beach. http://www.yelp.com/biz/laniakea-beach-haleiwa It was about 3:00 and we hit some traffic but it was so worth it. There were Green Sea Turtles in the water and on the beach. We must have seen at least 30. I highly recommend it. We stopped by the target and filled up the tank and got lost trying to find Aulani. As we pulled up to the Aulani the valet informed me that they could return the car for me. Wow, how easy! I was given a tag showing I returned it with the time. The only snafu here was that I had filled up the tank but Alamo charged me for 2 gallons of gas (at $6 a gallon!). My husband didn't keep the gas receipt or they said they would have possibly refunded it. Maybe we used those 2 gallons looking for the resort? Oh well no way $12 was going to ruin my vacation - but I recommend you keep your receipt if you fill up your tank :-) The hotel is amazing! The girls were given flower lei's, my husband a nut lei and the boys a very cool menehune necklace. I will post a picture of this later. Since we checked in online we skipped the front desk and were given a brief tour. Then off to the room. We had paid for an island view and were so happy when we saw this: It was room 1077 and we could see the ocean and had a great view of the Starlit Hui and movie out on the lawn. Last edited by audrey2580; 06-17-2013 at 07:08 PM.

06-17-2013, 05:52 PM	#2
audrey2580 DIS Veteran Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 596	The rest of the trip report I'm going to do a little different. Instead of a day by day I'm going to list items with info. Aunty's Beach House: The boys loved the kids club on the DCL but they were like 6 so I didn't know what they would think now. They really enjoyed it. As others have mentioned people line up for the activities early. Aunties opens at 8:00a and we lined up at 7:40 and had a few people ahead of us. The boys did Stitch's Space Goo and Eruption Disruption. After that they both wanted to just be in the pool. I walked through in the morning and its pretty darn cool. Lazy River, Pools, Slides : Boy is it lazy. If you have experienced blizzard beach then you know there is a pretty good current, not the case at all here. There were always tubes and the lifeguards are top notch! We loved it and spent most of the day in it. The pool is great and huge, we never felt crowded. They could use 1 more slide but we never had to wait more then 5 or so mins in line. We lined up for wristbands and towels and held our favorite group of chairs each day. I did notice that they come around and placed clean folded towels on the back of chairs and mark a little hand held map. If you don't move those towels they assume your gone and move your stuff. The Beach It's so mellow it's like a lake. We saw lots of little fish and my sister and nephew really enjoyed paddle boarding. Get there early and get an umbrella. It gets hot and people hog all the umbrellas. One lady was using one for her purse. Yep, her purse. They let you borrow beach toys and boogie boards for free. But they all go pretty fast in the morning. What's odd is there are no towel rentals down there, you need to bring one from the pool area. Rainbow Reef: They lowered the price. At least while we were there. It was only $15 an adult and $10 for kids. Length of stay was just $5 more each. They said it was a special. Water was very cold but everyone enjoyed this activity. They fed the fish while everyone was snorkeling and let the kids hold the lettuce to feed them. Pretty cool. More tomorrow......................... Last edited by audrey2580; Yesterday at 05:56 PM.

06-18-2013, 12:02 PM	#3
lovesthebeach Earning My Ears Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 13	Do you have to pay to use the tubes for the lazy river? __________________

Yesterday, 03:22 PM	#6
audrey2580 DIS Veteran Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 596	A few more things: Food: We really enjoyed all the food at Aulani. Except that so much closes at 6pm. I would have really liked to have a frozen yogurt or shave ice after dinner. We grabbed breakfast multiple times at the Oleo Room. The pineapple was to die for ($3 for a 1/2 a pineapple). Muffins, Bagels, Pastries, etc were $4. We saw this guy (Joe Rhodes) eating there and walking around the resort pointing out things that needed to be fixed. I recognized him from all the making of Animal Kingdom movies. The Oleo room also had a really good happy hour menu. They would not let you order it to-go. One thing I did feel was very un-disney of them was not permitting any substitutions. We asked to substitute swiss cheese with the jack or chedder that was offered on different menu items and we were told no. MouseKeeping Since we were not staying on points we were told we would get housekeeping, coffee, and towels daily. We only received that 2x in our 4 nights. I'm guessing it was just an oversight. Our first night we were exhausted coming from 3 hours ahead Pacific time so we went to bed at 7:30p. At 8:00p someone knocks on the door. They were delivering cookies and a letter. It turned out to be an invitation to attend a DVC preview and get a $100 disney gift card for doing so. I was bugged about the knocking but it quickly became happiness when I read the offer. Construction: We received a really cute pin when we checked in since there was construction. Honestly I didn't even notice the construction or hear any noise. Here's a picture of the pin that someone is selling on ebay. Last edited by audrey2580; Yesterday at 05:58 PM.

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06-18-2013, 01:30 PM	#4
audrey2580 DIS Veteran Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 596	Nope they are totally free