At Aulani Now, Random Observations

[Paul Stupin]

Having a wonderful time at Aulani now, so thought I’d post some random info and impressions.

1. The resort, which I expected to be overrun with people in June, is not. Aside from the pool, with its usual crowd, everything is surprisingly peaceful with almost no crowds. Sitting in a Casabella on the deck in front of Ama Ama, and not all are taken. Usually no wait for Off The Hook in early evening. The beach and lounge chairs on the sand have some people, but are nowhere near filled.

2. Staring now at two standup paddle boarders in the lagoon who won’t actually stand up. Have seen that a lot this trip. It’s not that hard!

3. The fun Hawaiian versions of classic Disney movie songs in the elevators are now gone, replaced with low volume, generic Hawaiian music.

4. No more welcome notice on the room’s TV mentioning your family name specifically. Noticed that at WDW as well. Hardly a crisis, but it used to be a nice touch!

5. On June 11, Kamehameha Day in Hawaii, a legal holiday, we found a special commemorative magnet waiting for us in our room!

6. This is just a totally quirky, idiosyncratic opinion, but every time a cast member says something like “Hello Family!” or “Anything else I can get for you, Family?,” to me it sounds a little creepy, like a cult! Hardly a big deal, since the service is first rate, just sayin’.

7. Oh. Last night as the sun was setting on the secret beach, we saw two monk seals actually playing in the water! After seeing them just laying on the sand lazily and hardly moving so many times, it was great to see these seals actually doing something!

8. The walk down the beach to the Marriott is as beautiful as ever, but if you look closely, you’ll see a bunch of about one foot diameter circles of dead grass. I think this is where palm trees were cut down and not replaced, no doubt due to the Rhino Beetle.

Anyway, that’s about all I can think of. Hope you enjoyed it!

 

[Iceman93]

6. This is just a totally quirky, idiosyncratic opinion, but every time a cast member says something like “Hello Family!” or “Anything else I can get for you, Family?,” to me it sounds a little creepy, like a cult! Hardly a big deal, since the service is first rate, just sayin’.

That does sound a bit creepy-weird. In the parks they seem to follow every interaction up with "friends" now (ever since the PA announcements did away with "ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls"), which seems equally forced and odd. "Have a great rest of your day, friends!" would be better if it was just "Have a great rest of your day!"

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

We loved the elevator songs so much we bought the cd in the gift shop. Hopefully they'll be back! It was one of my favorite memories to see my daughter figure out which song was playing.

 

[Paul Stupin]

We loved the elevator songs so much we bought the cd in the gift shop. Hopefully they'll be back! It was one of my favorite memories to see my daughter figure out which song was playing.

I agree! I miss them…they were fun and joyous and the new loop is just background hawaiian muzak.

 

[OKW Lover]

4. No more welcome notice on the room’s TV mentioning your family name specifically. Noticed that at WDW as well. Hardly a crisis, but it used to be a nice touch!

This still exists at WDW

 

[Paul Stupin]

This still exists at WDW

It didn’t for us at VGF in May.

 

[OKW Lover]

It didn’t for us at VGF in May.

It worked for us this week at OKW

 

[anricat]

3. The fun Hawaiian versions of classic Disney movie songs in the elevators are now gone, replaced with low volume, generic Hawaiian music.

4. No more welcome notice on the room’s TV mentioning your family name specifically. Noticed that at WDW as well. Hardly a crisis, but it used to be a nice touch!

I was there last week and experienced both of these things.

 

[Paul Stupin]

Brief Roy’s Review!

For what it’s worth, over the years, I haven’t been a big fan of Roy’s Ko Olina. The two times we ate there, we felt the service and food were substandard, and the prices way too high. But this was a few years ago, so last night my wife and I decided to let bygones be bygones, and give the restaurant yet another try. On these boards, the restaurant can be polarizing, with strong opinions on both sides. We wanted what for us would be a change of pace. Why not give it another chance? So here are a new set of impressions, updated for 2024!

1. Sitting outside, the view was beautiful while the sun set. We were looking out over the rolling hills of the golf course, plus a large beautiful pond with rock waterfall. Very nice environment.

2. The waiter showed up quickly and took our order. He was informative, helpful and friendly.

3. My wife’s soup and my salad showed up 25 minutes later. It was a long wait. My wife thought the soup, a creamy truffle corn soup, was just ok, but I thought my kale caesar salad was a bit better.

4. Things did not go well after this. Our plates were taken away relatively quickly after we finished and then we waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. We waited, because I was monumentally bored and had nothing better to do, for an additional 46 minutes. At this point we had been at the restaurant about 90 minutes and had not received our main courses. At one point we got up from the table and wondered over to the railing to look out at the view because we had nothing better to do.

5. Our main courses, the macadamia not crusted swordfish ($59 each) finally arrived. Mine was tasteless and lukewarm, with tough pieces of dry, chewy bacon mixed into the sauce, but after waiting so long I just didn’t have it in me to complain. Until…

6. I noticed that my wife, who doesn’t complain much either, wasn’t really eating her fish, but was kind of picking it apart, and leaving big sections pushed to the side of her plate. She couldn’t eat them because when she cut into them, they were an unappetizing bright pinkish grey color.

7. We called over the waiter, who said the fish was clearly undercooked, who spirited the plate away to show the manager. In the meantime, we listened to a bunch of loud drunken people using the F word at the outdoor bar.

8. The waiter came back, much apologetic, and said they would take my wife’s meal off the bill. She was sitting there quietly and feeling nauseous. I asked for the check, paid it relatively quickly, and we left. He said he hoped we’d give them another try. Huh?

Ok, I know some posters will chime and say how great this place is. Thats why we tried it again. But for us it was a monumental fail.

On the plus side, we’ve loved basically every other restaurant here. Noe and Mina’s are both delicious, as is Longhi’s. Ama Ama too, though for the money we felt Mina’s was superior. And we always enjoy the Olelo Room and Off The Hook.

 

[GrimGrinningGuy]

Where is the secret beach?

 

[Paul Stupin]

Where is the secret beach?

Just to the side of The Four Seasons

 

[VandVsmama]

Brief Roy’s Review!

For what it’s worth, over the years, I haven’t been a big fan of Roy’s Ko Olina. The two times we ate there, we felt the service and food were substandard, and the prices way too high. But this was a few years ago, so last night my wife and I decided to let bygones be bygones, and give the restaurant yet another try. On these boards, the restaurant can be polarizing, with strong opinions on both sides. We wanted what for us would be a change of pace. Why not give it another chance? So here are a new set of impressions, updated for 2024!

1. Sitting outside, the view was beautiful while the sun set. We were looking out over the rolling hills of the golf course, plus a large beautiful pond with rock waterfall. Very nice environment.

2. The waiter showed up quickly and took our order. He was informative, helpful and friendly.

3. My wife’s soup and my salad showed up 25 minutes later. It was a long wait. My wife thought the soup, a creamy truffle corn soup, was just ok, but I thought my kale caesar salad was a bit better.

4. Things did not go well after this. Our plates were taken away relatively quickly after we finished and then we waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. We waited, because I was monumentally bored and had nothing better to do, for an additional 46 minutes. At this point we had been at the restaurant about 90 minutes and had not received our main courses. At one point we got up from the table and wondered over to the railing to look out at the view because we had nothing better to do.

5. Our main courses, the macadamia not crusted swordfish ($59 each) finally arrived. Mine was tasteless and lukewarm, with tough pieces of dry, chewy bacon mixed into the sauce, but after waiting so long I just didn’t have it in me to complain. Until…

6. I noticed that my wife, who doesn’t complain much either, wasn’t really eating her fish, but was kind of picking it apart, and leaving big sections pushed to the side of her plate. She couldn’t eat them because when she cut into them, they were an unappetizing bright pinkish grey color.

7. We called over the waiter, who said the fish was clearly undercooked, who spirited the plate away to show the manager. In the meantime, we listened to a bunch of loud drunken people using the F word at the outdoor bar.

8. The waiter came back, much apologetic, and said they would take my wife’s meal off the bill. She was sitting there quietly and feeling nauseous. I asked for the check, paid it relatively quickly, and we left. He said he hoped we’d give them another try. Huh?

Ok, I know some posters will chime and say how great this place is. Thats why we tried it again. But for us it was a monumental fail.

On the plus side, we’ve loved basically every other restaurant here. Noe and Mina’s are both delicious, as is Longhi’s. Ama Ama too, though for the money we felt Mina’s was superior. And we always enjoy the Olelo Room and Off The Hook.

what a frustrating and disappointing experience! We're going to Aulani next month and will definitely steer clear of Roy's.

 

[OKW Lover]

Thanks for the update on Roy's. I guess we ill pass it up our next visit.

FWIW, we enjoyed Longi's at the Marriott when we visited last year.

 

[Iceman93]

Yeah, if I ever had an experience like that at Roy's I wouldn't go back either. But for me, our experience like that was at Noe--so horrible that we won't ever eat at ANY of the restaurants at the Four Seasons. Ever.

But we've got two dinner reservations at Roy's on our upcoming trip!

 

[DRussell83]

Thank you so much for posting! I think you and I are similar in that we both are couples without kids who own at Aulani from Southern CA that love to sit in front of Ama Ama - my husband and I just booked for January and I am still so confused on the sitting situation - are ALL seats now bookable or is there still a row that is still not bookable that we can try to get in the am? For the rows that are bookable did you call at 3am to reserve (if you did reserve..?) are you finding that that is still the most quiet part of the resort for a couple without kids (I think my parents are joining us and it will be their first time so I am trying to figure out where we can all sit!) Thank you!!

 

[jkips]

4. No more welcome notice on the room’s TV mentioning your family name specifically. Noticed that at WDW as well. Hardly a crisis, but it used to be a nice touch!

We’re at the Aulani now and did have the personalized welcome on the TV when we got to the room. Odd that it’s not consistent across all guests. We had checked in online the day before coming so maybe the lead time had something to do with it?

Our overall experience has been great so far. Crowds are still here but it’s a comfortable amount and not overwhelmingly so. Biggest disappointment this time around has been that the happy hour that Mina’s Fish House at the Four Seasons used to have from 3 to 5 is no longer there. They now do something with champagne and oysters from 4 to 5.

 

[J-Dog]

4. No more welcome notice on the room’s TV mentioning your family name specifically. Noticed that at WDW as well. Hardly a crisis, but it used to be a nice touch!

As of late May, this was still happening. Maybe they just screwed yours up?

 

[J-Dog]

Yeah, if I ever had an experience like that at Roy's I wouldn't go back either. But for me, our experience like that was at Noe--so horrible that we won't ever eat at ANY of the restaurants at the Four Seasons. Ever.

But we've got two dinner reservations at Roy's on our upcoming trip!

Ours was at Mina's, which everyone else raves about. The waiter was veeeeerrry slow and inattentive. The food was okay but our experience was tempered by poor service, so that made the food feel very overpriced.

Just goes to show that restaurant reviews are very inconsistent and subjective.

 

[Drusilla99]

We have always enjoyed the other Roy's locations we've been to, so we were excited when we first went to Roy's Ko' Olina a few years ago to celebrate my parents 50th anniversary. We were a group of 10 and had a side patio room to ourselves. For us, the food was wonderful. Our problem was that the waitress was downright nasty. She was rude to most everyone at the table, but especially to girls and teens in our family. She ignored questions about the menu and when any of them tasked a question, she rolled her eyes and sighed. My parents didn't notice, so we didn't make a thing out of it. My DH and I split the bill with my sister and her DH, and our anger was in her tip, she was lucky she got something. On our way out we slipped her assistant servers their fair tip since they were nothing but professional, but there was no way that woman was getting 20%+ of a $500 bill. Now we're going back to Aulani and my DH wants to try it again, your review isn't encouraging.

 

[Paul Stupin]

Thank you so much for posting! I think you and I are similar in that we both are couples without kids who own at Aulani from Southern CA that love to sit in front of Ama Ama - my husband and I just booked for January and I am still so confused on the sitting situation - are ALL seats now bookable or is there still a row that is still not bookable that we can try to get in the am? For the rows that are bookable did you call at 3am to reserve (if you did reserve..?) are you finding that that is still the most quiet part of the resort for a couple without kids (I think my parents are joining us and it will be their first time so I am trying to figure out where we can all sit!) Thank you!!

Re the seating in front of Ama Ama. There are two levels. The top level features chaise loungers under evenly spaced umbrellas, which are not bookable, but first come first served. Some people are there by 6:30 am and just sit there until 8 am, when you can put towels on them and then leave them unattended while you swim.
The lower level features 6 Casabellas (2 person covered loungers with cushions). Those you can book ahead of time, and that’s what I did at 3 am pacific time three months before checking in. It was a pain, but eliminated having to try to get the first come first served plain chaises at the crack of dawn, or stand in line before 8 for a casabella on the beach. That said, the Ama Ama casabellas are not all fully booked on some days, but some days they are.