aulani cabana rental-questions

[aclov]

I'm second guessing now if it's worth even renting on. We can do something else with that $$$

 

[lilpooh108]

I just realized that I have a picture of Cabanas #1-4. Didn't even realize before that I had it until I was looking for something else.

In the picture below, Cabana #1 is the closest to the Lagoon. I remember not liking them while walking by because they are placed so closely to each other, and there are regular lounge chairs/umbrellas placed in front of them. There's nothing to stop someone from dragging a chair right in front of the cabanas themselves. There's no real private area, etc.

The beach and pool area in this picture are fairly empty because it was around 4pm in the afternoon.

 

[ssusca]

Does anybody know what the cancellation policy is If I wanted to reserve a cabana for a full day ahead of time?

 

[Iggipolka]

We reserved one for our upcoming stay next week(!!) and were told there's a 24 hour cancellation policy.

 

[Anal Annie]

I read on another post that there is a "safe drawer" in the cabana. I would like to know more about how big it is. For example would it hold an iPad and a larger DSLR camera with a zoom lens?!

We reserved one for our first and last days at Aulani this summer - still trying to decide if we'll want #1 or #4 (I think we were 2nd on the list when I reserved them). Hoping that construction behind them is almost over by the time we go in August...

 

[Newb1002]

Few answers from experience this week:

Cabana 1 has the best view (by far) but the tree does shade the loungers unless you pull them way out into the walkway. If lounger sun is essential, go with 2-4.

Construction noise is pretty bad/annoying. They're currently digging a big hole right behind the cabanas. Sometimes quite a bit of diesel exhaust right behind the wall. Most of the time not that bad.

Drawer did not fit my slr (canon 7d) - the body was too tall by about 1/2". It does fit a couple of iPads stacked.

Service has been good some days and ok others. Food comes pretty quickly -variability has been how often the server comes by.

Cancellation policy seems to be either 24 hrs (what the email says) or 8 am day of (what a cm told me once!). They're pretty relaxed I'd say so evening before seems to be fine. They seem to be renting them in the morning if someone cancels, so they aren't too stressed.

The only private area you have is inside the cabana when it's closed! You're paying for the service, the shade, the tv, the refrigerator (awesome). The fruit plate at 11am is excellent and the desserts at 3 are pretty nice. I'll try to answer any other questions people have.

 

[Anal Annie]

Few answers from experience this week:

Cabana 1 has the best view (by far) but the tree does shade the loungers unless you pull them way out into the walkway. If lounger sun is essential, go with 2-4.

Construction noise is pretty bad/annoying. They're currently digging a big hole right behind the cabanas. Sometimes quite a bit of diesel exhaust right behind the wall. Most of the time not that bad.

Drawer did not fit my slr (canon 7d) - the body was too tall by about 1/2". It does fit a couple of iPads stacked.

Service has been good some days and ok others. Food comes pretty quickly -variability has been how often the server comes by.

Cancellation policy seems to be either 24 hrs (what the email says) or 8 am day of (what a cm told me once!). They're pretty relaxed I'd say so evening before seems to be fine. They seem to be renting them in the morning if someone cancels, so they aren't too stressed.

The only private area you have is inside the cabana when it's closed! You're paying for the service, the shade, the tv, the refrigerator (awesome). The fruit plate at 11am is excellent and the desserts at 3 are pretty nice. I'll try to answer any other questions people have.

Thank you! This means my Nikon D600 w/ a 300 zoom definitely won't fit in the safe either!! Good to know at least the iPad can fit...although we may just bring a Pacsafe bag that we can lock and attach to a chair since the camera won't fit. (UNLESS I decide to just take a few pics with the DSLR and then take it back up to the villa & just keep the P & S at the pool.)

ALSO good to know that we won't want cabana #1 if there's a lot of shade in front of it. I WILL want some sun time AND some privacy so sounds like #4 will be our best bet. The reason for the cabana is for DS & DH who DON'T want to sit in the sun all day so they can watch TV or whatever... But I have some big plans to primarily be a sun Goddess for a few hours of the day and to just come under the cabana to cool off every once in awhile.

Silly question - we've never rented a cabana before....what's the average gratuity we should plan to leave for something like this? I would imagine we will not be ordering a whole lot of food or drinks from the attendant and will be bringing stuff down with us from the room.

 

[Newb1002]

Aside from your check who ordering food/drinks, there isn't really an "opportunity" to tip the (white-shirted) recreation staff who drop by every hour or so to see if you need any towels or anything (not sure what else they could do for us). I kind of figured the high price paid a decent wage for them (unlike the servers).

 

[Anal Annie]

Aside from your check who ordering food/drinks, there isn't really an "opportunity" to tip the (white-shirted) recreation staff who drop by every hour or so to see if you need any towels or anything (not sure what else they could do for us). I kind of figured the high price paid a decent wage for them (unlike the servers).

Like I said - I never rented one before. I assumed it was kind of like when you hire a limo or car service. Although you pay a premium price for the service you're still expected to tip the driver 15-20% because the money you pay for the car goes to the company, not directly to the driver (unless it's a one-man-show). So I just assumed if we had a dedicated attendant for the day we were expected to tip them.

 

[Iggipolka]

Like I said - I never rented one before. I assumed it was kind of like when you hire a limo or car service. Although you pay a premium price for the service you're still expected to tip the driver 15-20% because the money you pay for the car goes to the company, not directly to the driver (unless it's a one-man-show). So I just assumed if we had a dedicated attendant for the day we were expected to tip them.

I'm not sure if its the same at Aulani, but when we tried to tip our cabana attendant at Blizzard Beach & Typhoon Lagoon, it was politely declined. They said that they couldn't accept tips.

 

[Cottager]

We reserved one for our upcoming stay next week(!!) and were told there's a 24 hour cancellation policy.

With the lack of pictures and opinions available on the internet regarding the Aulani cabanas, we'd be in your debt if you could take some pictures of the cabanas and the areas around them on your trip!

We have 4 cabana days booked in May and would like to figure out which cabana to request. So far, we hear #1 has shade from a tree, a view of the ocean, frequent visitors to take pictures, potential construction noise, but only one neighboring cabana. #4 looks to provide one less neighbor and sun but we have no idea what sort of people traffic is on the open end of the cabana.

 

[Iggipolka]

Sure! I'm happy to post pictures. We have cabana #1 reserved on Wed and #4 on the following Monday. I'll post pictures of them while we are there if I can.

 

[disney4metoo]

With the lack of pictures and opinions available on the internet regarding the Aulani cabanas, we'd be in your debt if you could take some pictures of the cabanas and the areas around them on your trip!

We have 4 cabana days booked in May and would like to figure out which cabana to request. So far, we hear #1 has shade from a tree, a view of the ocean, frequent visitors to take pictures, potential construction noise, but only one neighboring cabana. #4 looks to provide one less neighbor and sun but we have no idea what sort of people traffic is on the open end of the cabana.

You are renting a cabana for 4 days?

 

[Cottager]

You are renting a cabana for 4 days?

Yes, 4 cabana days is the compromise since I burn easily and the wife loves to tan. This way, we can stay out all day together and I won't get bored as easily. I'm used to spending the days at the theme parks and keeping active, not lounging by the pool smothered in sunscreen under an umbrella or tree! We love the cabanas in Disney World and Disneyland so I guess it's become and EXPENSIVE tradition...

 

[Anal Annie]

Yes, 4 cabana days is the compromise since I burn easily and the wife loves to tan. This way, we can stay out all day together and I won't get bored as easily. I'm used to spending the days at the theme parks and keeping active, not lounging by the pool smothered in sunscreen under an umbrella or tree! We love the cabanas in Disney World and Disneyland so I guess it's become and EXPENSIVE tradition...

4 days!! But this is sort of the reason why we're splurging on one - I want to sit in the sun a lot, DH burns easily & DS gets bored!! But we're only getting one for only 2 days out of 6 (we are there 7 nights but the arrival day is really only a half day & the last morning we leave early for Maui). I figured it would also ensure that we take a couple of days to DO NOTHING and to RELAX and to ENJOY the resort!! We will do all of our excursions & sightseeing on the 4 days in-between the cabana days! We are cabana virgins tho!! I can't afford for this to become a tradition!!!

 

[Cottager]

4 days!! But this is sort of the reason why we're splurging on one - I want to sit in the sun a lot, DH burns easily & DS gets bored!! But we're only getting one for only 2 days out of 6 (we are there 7 nights but the arrival day is really only a half day & the last morning we leave early for Maui). I figured it would also ensure that we take a couple of days to DO NOTHING and to RELAX and to ENJOY the resort!! We will do all of our excursions & sightseeing on the 4 days in-between the cabana days! We are cabana virgins tho!! I can't afford for this to become a tradition!!!

We have 2 weeks filled with excursions but many pool days as well. Due to my wife, the sun-goddess, I'm trying to make sure she has an unobstructed view of the sun so cabana #1 and maybe #2 have to be avoided by the big tree in front. I can see by the satellite map that there is clearly shade from the tree covering both those cabanas: http://goo.gl/maps/7xoIF

 

[disney4metoo]

Yes, 4 cabana days is the compromise since I burn easily and the wife loves to tan. This way, we can stay out all day together and I won't get bored as easily. I'm used to spending the days at the theme parks and keeping active, not lounging by the pool smothered in sunscreen under an umbrella or tree! We love the cabanas in Disney World and Disneyland so I guess it's become and EXPENSIVE tradition...

Enjoy!

 

[Anal Annie]

We have 2 weeks filled with excursions but many pool days as well. Due to my wife, the sun-goddess, I'm trying to make sure she has an unobstructed view of the sun so cabana #1 and maybe #2 have to be avoided by the big tree in front. I can see by the satellite map that there is clearly shade from the tree covering both those cabanas: http://goo.gl/maps/7xoIF

Thanks! I definitely won't want #1 or #2 with that tree right there. If I understand how this works don't they ask you what your first choice is the day before your rental (based on the order you reserved them?!) Hate to cancel at the last minute but looks like if we can't get #3 or # 4 I may not want to keep it for $250 and no sun!! I don't really know much about how googlemaps works....is this a CURRENT image or is it possibly older? I really would've thought that if they've been working on this area behind the cabanas since November that there would be more construction work DONE by now...this image looks like they JUST STARTED the work.

 

[mom2aidanNpiper]

I am here now and will try and get pics of the cabana area for #1-4

Let it be said that we just canceled ours we had booked for Tuesday. It literally is in front of the construction wall by inches and also set far back from the pool so we wouldn't be able to see the kids swim. just didn't seem worth it once we got here and saw it!

 

[HD1]

Ok we are new to DIS boards and have a favor to ask already Not really a favor, but rather a question/request...

We will be at Aulani June 8 through the 16th and believe it or not ALL the cabanas are filled up for our entire stay. If someone on DIS boards will be there the exact days as us and for some reason does not want to keep their reservation, please PM me and maybe there is a way I could take your reservation as soon as you cancel it? Just a thought? We only want to get one for one day! It will be a splurge for us, so please if you will be there and just don't need it for a day, please PM me. Thank you for listening and thanks for DIS boards!