AULANI
I'll begin with my thoughts on Aulani. It's the freshest in my mind, and the place I had the most mixed thoughts about.
The Good
LANAWAI SPA - I am by no means a spa expert, but this place is awesome. I could only afford one treatment (a signature lomilomi massage), but it was, without exception, the best spa experience I have ever had.
AMA AMA - we had both breakfast and lunch here and thoroughly enjoyed both. The view of the ocean was lovely, and the food tasty. I'm sure dinner would have been equally lovely, but it was beyond our budget.
MENEHUNE GAME - Great fun for the whole family.
THE POOLS AND LAZY RIVER - ignoring the crowds, the facilities are quite stunning.
THEMING - as you would expect from Disney there is great attention to detail. Everything from the artwork in the lobby, to the lamps in the gardens are well thought out. As far as theming goes, I still prefer Animal Kingdom Lodge, but Aulani is close behind.
ELEVATORS - despite the resort being at capacity, there were never waits of more than about a minute for elevators.
SERVICE - exactly what you would expect from a Disney Resort, polite and jovial.
THE WELCOME - there is something quite special about being greeted with leis when you arrive. It puts you straight into holiday mode.
The okay
FOOD - At all other eateries beside Ama Ama, the food was pretty much what you'd expect. The dinner and breakfast buffets were tasty, but a tad expensive.
RESORT LAYOUT - it is a large resort and fairly well laid out as far as fitting everything in goes. However, what I didn't like was the limited views of the ocean. Most of the resort and pools have views of gardens. While the gardens are lovely, there is something special about being able to see the sea and being reminded that you are on a tropical island.
STARLIGHT HUI - it was a nice show that wasn't too lengthy, but it was also quite crowded. We were sitting quite far back on the lawn as we didn't get there early enough to claim a good spot.
GIFT SHOP - I was expecting something a bit larger and more extensive, but it still had a few nice items. It had the Vera Bradley handbag I couldn't find at DLR which was awesome.
The Bad
CROWDS - we stayed mid week during what is considered to be a quieter travel period for Americans, yet the resort was full. This meant that the pools and public areas were always very busy. Recent reviews I have read suggest that since the building extensions have been finished this resort is almost always busy.
CHAIR HOGGERS - The staff do monitor this, but it is hard to police. There were always plenty of chairs down by the beach, but everywhere else in the resort chairs were often near impossible to come by. During the hottest part of the day, we would often walk around for about 10min just to find one spare chair for the four of us to share and on which to put our belongings. When we walked to breakfast one morning we watched as one woman pushed a stroller full of towels and random pieces of clothing and claimed about 9 chairs. I just shook my head at her and gave her my most disgusted look. However, to be honest, I blame Aulani management more than the guests for this issue. They have simply created a resort that is too big and doesn't have enough facilities to cater to the crowds. And at the price most people are paying, facilities is what they should be getting.
KIDS CLUB - I heard rave reviews about the programmes offered at Aunty's Beach House, but my son never had the chance to try one. This is because the club worked on reservations, and they booked out extremely quickly. The club opened at 8 and lines for reservations started forming around 7. I spoke to one woman who got to the front of the line about 8am one morning and the programme she wanted was already booked out. I thought I would try to get my son into 'Space Goo with Stitch' one day, but when I saw the line which was about 80metres long I decided I couldn't be bothered queuing knowing there was a chance I could be unsuccessful. This whole process seemed insane to me. The kids club on Disney Cruiseline was so easy. When your child decided they wanted to attend, you just took them. No reservations. No queues. Aulani is such a huge resort and it needs to perform in the same way as the cruiseline. I would never consider an extended stay at Aulani because I think the concept of adults only time is much more difficult than the advertising makes out. If you and your partner decided to having a relaxing day together at the spa, you would have to begin the day in a very unrelaxing manner queuing for an hour to guarantee your child will be catered for.
THE BEACH - it just isn't that pretty. When you think of a South Pacific Resort, you think of stunning beaches. But I think Aulani is a bit like a Denarau resort in Fiji - customers are expected to excuse the uninspiring location because the resort itself is so nice. The colour of the sand and visibility of the water (or lack thereof) reminded me of beaches I can visit at home. In fact, I can think of NZ beaches that are nicer. It didn't help that the small fish in the water were aggressive. Perhaps they liked the taste of our sunscreen as they kept biting us. They bit a mole on my husband's back so hard that it started pouring blood.
Overall judgement.
It is unlikely that I will return to Aulani (or Hawaii). I didn't like Hawaii when I visited many years ago because of it's built up nature and the crowds. I thought an Aulani experience might be different since I love Disney so much, but once again I felt a bit oppressed by all the people.
Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful resort and I really did enjoy my three days there, but nothing like the way I enjoyed my favourite Fijian resort (Navini) or our
Disney Cruise on the Fantasy. When I go to a tropical Island to relax, I don't want to think about things like 'Where am I going to sit when I get out of the pool?' or 'How early should I set my alarm to register DS for the kid's club?'. That's not my idea of a relaxing holiday.
I give Aulani 3 1/2 stars out of 5.