1st Trip Planning Questions!

[miked2023]

Planning our 1st trip this Thanksgiving week and have a few key questions for those of you in the know! So much helpful advice here - thanks in advance!

1. Can I leave the kids at Aunty's and sneak off to Monkeypod w/ my wife? I know this is not technically within the rules but I've read of some people doing this and would love a 'date-dinner' with the wifey.

2. I got the kids into two 'extra' Aunty activities (goo and aloha party) is that normal? Should I call and ask for a 3rd? I don't want to be greedy but I think my kids might like the Hula thing also. If two is good, is the Hula better than the Aloha? I don't know much about either. I've heard the 'goo' is a must.

3. This may seem weird, but if I wanted to watch an NFL game at a bar/restaurant, which one would be the most likely to have it? It's a nationally televised game. Monkey? AMA? Anything else close by? Not a huge deal but curious.

4. I booked the Dolphin Star Catamaran BBQ Dolphin Watch/Snorkel today. It seems pretty chill as far as these things go and my kids are young (6 & 9 ). Has anyone been to this or have any thoughts?

5. The negative reviews on the Paradise Cove Luau have me worried. Fia Fia has me intrigued. Can we walk there? I know Paradise is very close but Fia seems better though I'm not sure how safe/feasible the walk is. We won't have a car.

Even if you can answer one or two of these questions, I would really appreciate it!

THANKS!!!!

 

[crystal1313]

Hi and happy planning! We just went in July. You will have a blast!

1. We did not do this, but have read others have. I think as long as you have your phone and can run back quickly if they happen to call, going to Monkeypod would be ok. I would not go much farther then that.

2. How many days are you there? We were there 7 nights and got 3 free activities at Aunty's. Goo was a huge hit and they also loved the comedy show and the Aloha party. I have two boys age 8 and 6. I didn't think the hula would interest them, they are not kids who dance in front of strangers typically...

3. I would say Monekypod! They had a ton of screens on when we were there....but, I believe that Oleo Room at Aulani might have had a couple TV's as well. And both places have fantastic happy hours!

4. I cannot help with this as we did not try it.

5. I am not sure which walk would be farther....but it looked like the Marriott was not too far of a walk.

Hope that helps!

 

[miked2023]

Thanks, Crystal! We're going there 5 nights total so maybe you get 1 activity for every two days you stay or something like that. Maybe I'll email and ask just for grins.

Also wondering about the Ama Ama breakfast and dinner as well as the Makahiki buffet. We're doing one Character Breakfast for sure and we have Ama reserved for our goodbye breakfast but should I hit up Ama and Makahiki for dinner also? If I had to choose one of the two for dinner any thoughts on what would be best? Keep in mind I'll have two picky eaters also THANKS!

 

[crystal1313]

No problem!! We only did Ama Ama with the kids for breakfast. It was SO good!! Wow. My husband and I are at Ama Ama for dinner and it was also very good, but it was just the two of us. we have picky eaters too. We typically don't do buffets, as we never feel like we get our moneys worth, so we did not try Makahiki. But our boys did really like Monkeypod and we ate at Off the Hook one night too and they loved that as well. I would maybe check out the menus and see if there's anything at Ama Ama your kiddos will eat. We also wanted to check out Roys but never made it over there. But lots of people on here have said great things. You can see photos of the Ama Ama breakfast in my trip report in my signature if you want.

 

[buffettgirl]

as for the NFL games, remember, Hawaii's time zone makes it likely that you'll be watching the game at a weird time. In the fall it's 5 hours before Eastern time. The Monday / Thurs night games are on in the early afternoon but they usually get replayed at a normal time (like 7 or 8) . Sunday games are like at 8am and 11am - (so, that negates the happy hour reference above, unless you want to start drinking at 8, I won't judge) And usually they are reaired later but not always. It really put a cramp in my NFL watching being here.

 

[Aviator621]

5. The negative reviews on the Paradise Cove Luau have me worried. Fia Fia has me intrigued. Can we walk there? I know Paradise is very close but Fia seems better though I'm not sure how safe/feasible the walk is. We won't have a car.

Even if you can answer one or two of these questions, I would really appreciate it!

THANKS!!!!

There is a shuttle that runs between all the Ko Olina locations every 30 minutes--you can use that to get to the Marriott. http://koolina.com/holo-kaa-resort-shuttle/

 

[miked2023]

This is all EXTREMELY helpful! Thank you! I'm getting dialed in! Another question:

What do people think of the Verandas/Casabellas? I've got the Upper Veranda reserved for three days just in case (can cancel and it costs nothing). So it's a good backup, but we'll mostly be in the pool area (far away from upper veranda I understand) and I hear the beach area usually has a lot of open seating for the day we'll probably spend there. Do you think these are worth is or too far away and should probably plan on just getting down there early and getting some chairs (which I prefer anyways to save $$). I'm just worried because it will be a holiday week and will probably be very busy!!!

 

[miked2023]

Another thing I'm confused about is Aunty's Beachouse. We got into two activities but does that mean getting into the Beachouse for just regular kids club on another occasion will be tough? Do I only get to use it those two times? Or can I wait in line another morning I'd like to use it? Also,I uderstand they will feed them there but you have to wit in line for that also? Even if they're already signed up that day for an 'extra activity' do I still need to wait in line to check they will need a meal because they'll be staying after through dinner for example? THANKS!!!

 

[crystal1313]

@miked2023 We also had the upper Ama Ama deck casabellas reserved for our trip.....we were really worried about finding chairs as well. Once we saw where the casabellas were located, we decided to cancel. They are quite a walk from the pools and even the beach. Had it just been my husband and I , we probably would have kept them, but we didn't want to pay that much for something we would hardly use. We had two days at the resort before our reservation, and could tell by the end of day one that we would not get much use out of the chairs. Your family might be different and it might fit your needs better than ours, especially since you are going at a very busy time. We never found it difficult to find pool chairs, with the exception of one day when we got there much later than we normally did. I knew we would have an issue and we just headed to the beach and there were plenty of chairs. As long as we were down to the pools by 9am, we never had an issue. Maybe someone else can chime in who has gone at TG =)

As far as Aunty's, you can drop in anytime whether you have an activity planned or not. My kids asked to drop in a lot and we were never turned away. I have read others trying to drop in, and Aunty's was full and they were turned away. I believe if you want the kids to eat while at Aunty's you have to line up in the morning and sign them up for that. We did not want to deal with that and never attempted to try that. We just fed them before we brought them down to play. I believe the premium activities (the ones you pay for like fish are friends) include the meal, so you would not need to sign them up for food for that. The cast members at Aunty's were fantastic and really helpful and patient answering all the questions we had. I recommend going down to Aunty's after you check in so the kids can get their bracelets and you can finish the check in process. It was pretty quick to get everything done and we really appreciated all the security measures they had in place.

They did say that the kids could stay as long as they wanted after their free activity. So we did not have to pick them up right after the activity was over, which was nice. Once our kids were in there for about 4 hours! I checked on them after 2 hours and they told me to go away, they were having fun and didn't want to leave! LOL.

 

[miked2023]

Thanks, Crystal! Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing re: the Casabellas but since it costs nothing to reserve I figured why not? Now I know I'm expecting to cancel which helps my planning! I've got activities booked, dinner reservations made ( I even double booked a couple so we could choose on the spot where we want to go!), an excursion planned, I'm feeling very close to ready!

One other thing I'm having trouble with is the difference between the Ko Olina Lagoon and the Rainbow Reef snorkeling. I assume they're not the same (?). Do you need to sign up for the snorkeling? Is it something you should hit up really early? That's pretty much all I got left to figure out!

 

[crystal1313]

Hi @miked2023! Sounds like you have just about everything covered!

Rainbow Reef is a man-made lagoon at Aulani, right near all the pools. Ko Olina lagoon is the actual ocean and beach at Aulani. We went mid-day to grab our snorkel equipment and didn't have any issues at all. They marked our pool wristband with a fish hole puncher and you could go back as many times as you wanted during the day to get the equipment by just showing your wristband. My parents snorkeled in Ko Olina lagoon and said they saw some fish, but not as many as Rainbow Reef and not very colorful ones. They actually got a bit scared because they got out too far and had a difficult time getting back in and there aren't any life guards at the beach. They just paid once and were able to use the snorkel equipment in both the ocean and RR, but needed to turn them in when finished, you don't keep the same equipment all day. Be aware the water is REALLY cold at Rainbow Reef. They do have a nice warm shower to rinse off in before and after. I am a cold water wimp though, but it was much colder than the pools and ocean. RR has viewing windows over by the Shave Ice stand too, which is neat to see the fish or to see your family if they are snorkeling. Hope that helps!

 

[DisneyWorldbuff]

Thank you miked2023 for asking these questions! We are taking our first trip over Thanksgiving too and I had a bunch of the same questions.
I only got two(out of three) Aunty's activities too, and we are staying for seven nights. Maybe it's just a crowded time and this is par for the course?
My concern is the flying to get there, I'm not a great flyer .
Also, I love to snorkel and have heard differing opinions on the water temperatures. I hope it's not unpleasantly cold in November, we have never been to Hawaii so it's all new to us! I hope you have a great trip, maybe we'll see you there

 

[MouseOfCards]

There is a shuttle that runs between all the Ko Olina locations every 30 minutes--you can use that to get to the Marriott. http://koolina.com/holo-kaa-resort-shuttle/

Good info. Thanks!

 

[MouseOfCards]

It's been mentioned in a couple of other threads, but there's a new luau and buffet coming to Aulani in November:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/news-stories/new-guest-experiences-coming-to-aulani/

It might be replacing the Starlit Hui, which is no longer found on Aulani's website. Can't wait for some reviews of this to see how it compares to the other luau's. (Disappointed if Starlit Hui goes away, though.)

 

[alohamom]

Planning our 1st trip this Thanksgiving week and have a few key questions for those of you in the know! So much helpful advice here - thanks in advance!

1. Can I leave the kids at Aunty's and sneak off to Monkeypod w/ my wife? I know this is not technically within the rules but I've read of some people doing this and would love a 'date-dinner' with the wifey.

3. This may seem weird, but if I wanted to watch an NFL game at a bar/restaurant, which one would be the most likely to have it? It's a nationally televised game. Monkey? AMA? Anything else close by? Not a huge deal but curious.

5. The negative reviews on the Paradise Cove Luau have me worried. Fia Fia has me intrigued. Can we walk there? I know Paradise is very close but Fia seems better though I'm not sure how safe/feasible the walk is. We won't have a car.

Even if you can answer one or two of these questions, I would really appreciate it!

THANKS!!!!

 

[alohamom]

1) Auntys/Monkeypod - I think many people do this based on other reports I have read and observing folks at Monkeypod. It is honestly so close that it almost feels like it is on the property. I know I would have done it when my kids were little. You could jog back to Auntys in about 5 mins max, stroll back in 10 it is that close. I would bet Auntys has this happen every day so I highly doubt it would be an issue with them.

3) I think when I walked by it last week, Off The Hook (the pool bar) has tv screens and I kind of think they bring out more for special sports events like the Superbowl but you could shoot Aulani an email to confirm.

5) Fia Fia and the Marriott KoOlina is a very easy walk on a paved path along the lagoons, takes about 5 to 10 minutes depending on fast you go but it is a really nice walk.

 

[miked2023]

Thanks! We'll be there in November so hopefully we'll get to experience this. I've already booked a Sunday night 'Mischief Buffet' which are supposed to coincide with the Starlit Hui so hopefully it will still feed into it in a similar fashion.