Aulani at Christmas

[2prettygirl]

My family is looking to take our first trip to Hawaii for Christmas 2021 and would love to hear from anyone who has gone during Christmas/New Years week. Was the weather nice? Were there many things to see and do in the Oahu area or were things closed down for the holidays?
We had originally planned to make this a summer vacation for 2021 but with covid still lingering, we are hoping December 2021 will work out for us.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

I’d like to know the answer to this as well as in two years I’m gonna renew my vows here

 

[wassily]

XMAS/New Years is a good time, but also high season as well. So costs are much higher in normal non pandemic situations.
Weather is about 80-85 degrees fahrenheit in the day.. about 70's in the evenings. Can expect more cloudy skies vs summer and some rain.
So depends on where you are coming from.

I actually like this "cooler" weather as we do more open air hikes during this time. Whereas doing stuff like Ko Ko Crater can be quite draining in the summer time.
You can definitely still lay out on the beach and enjoy rays as well as go swimming in the ocean. You can last longer in my opinion as the sun doesn't melt you. Again, depends where you are coming from.

In normal non pandemic times, things are open. Resorts are open every day.. they don't shut down the pools/food services etc for Christmas.
Pearl Harbor is open except for Christmas. I remember going there Christmas Eve and it was full hours. If you are in Waikiki, restaurants are open throughout the week.. some might be closed for Christmas. As you head outside of Waikiki, restaurants will generally be closed for Christmas.

If you stay on Jan 1st, you can do some interesting shopping. There's a custom in Japan that is somewhat adopted in Hawaii probably due to the number of Japanese Tourists where you can shop for "Lucky Bags" or "Fukubukuro" Can go to Ala Moana Shopping center and some stores will participate. (less stores this year)
https://www.alamoanacenter.com/en/events/fukubukuro.html

These bags are sealed but maybe labeled "for men", "For women", "Large, med, small sizes " etc...
You don't know what's inside them, but they'll list the retail price of the bag and the price you pay is usually half of that (more or less).

You get better value in these Lucky Bags in Japan in my opinion, but Hawaii retailers gives their best shot at it. Used to be better when Apple participated as your bag might be even luckier as some of them had iPads, iMacs, etc as "winning" bags, but they stopped doing that a while back.

Overall, XMAS/New Years is a great time to go, especially if you are escaping the cold. It is high season though. Rates you see now are probably 2X lower than normal due to the pandemic.

 

[jodybird511]

The first time we visited Aulani was the week between Xmas and New Years (2016). Weather-wise, it was great. Really, there's not a lot of weather variation in HI. The nice thing about going in the winter is that you can see whales--definitely a draw. We didn't notice anything being unavailable or closed for the holiday week around the island. I will say that the resort itself was extremely full that week--lines were long for food, chairs were difficult to secure, no dining available without a prior reservation at Makahiki or AMA AMA. The resort just felt crowded. I remember we arrived early evening after a LOOOOOONG day of travel, and it felt really overwhelming just trying to get grab and go dinner from Ulu--no tables to sit at, etc. The resort was decorated beautifully, and the decs remained throughout our stay. They also had Hawaiian-style Christmas music playing throughout the resort, which was so pleasant. I think if we went again during that time of year, it would be more enjoyable, b/c I would be better prepared for the level of "busy" to expect. I noticed that the resort was much less busy during our second trip, which was in early June. We have a trip planned early July this year, and I am anticipating that it will be fairly busy again, but who knows with this crazy year.

 

[abdgeek]

I spent Christmas and New Years in Hawaii last year. I spent a week at Aulani over Christmas and the following week on Maui for New Years. As OP have said, there will be a lot of people at Aulani. You will need to pack your patience and it will be challenging to get pool chairs unless you get up really early. DVC members were able to get towels at 8 am and everyone else at 9 am. However, the adult pool became my friend and I was always able to find a chair there, but it isn’t very sunny at the adult pool during that time of year.

No one can guarantee what the weather will be, but it rained most of the day on Christmas last year. It was also very windy and cloudy the week I was there. It was so windy that they canceled Honolulu City Lights a couple of nights. However, the weather didn’t keep me from doing anything I planned. I pre-booked all my excursions and activities to ensure there was availability and also made dinner and car reservations in advance.

Maui was totally different. The sun shone the entire week I was there and I had lots of opportunities to get a tan. If you’ve never done whale watching, it’s a perfect time to book a tour. I’ve always wanted to do Hawaii for Christmas/New Years and I loved it so much I plan to go again next year. Good luck with your planning.

 

[lovetotravel]

Just returned from Christmas week. The air temperature was perfect mid 70's-80's. Beach water temp was cool but nice during 11am-3pm. Rain or light showers was always a possibility and unpredictable. It can say clear on the weather app for the next day when you go to bed, but wake up to clouds and rain. But we had good weather overall. A few light rainy hours. One day it rained the whole day. At other times it lightly rained at night and some of the morning. There was plenty to do even during covid. We did mainly outdoor activities and did take out, cook, or ate outdoors.

 

[easyas123]

Wow -- we were JUST talking about this same time frame/trip earlier today!
Glad I opened this thread, thanks all for the info you have shared. I'm going to do a bit more research, looks like maybe this week between Christmas & NY is a bit busy?

Does anyone have any insight into how busy it is later in January or Feb?

 

[newtandkaren]

I am also considering Aulani for Christmas week 2021. How difficult will it be to come by a reservation for a party of 9 seven months out? Thanks!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I am also considering Aulani for Christmas week 2021. How difficult will it be to come by a reservation for a party of 9 seven months out? Thanks!

You might be able to get two OV 1BR units, which won't connect.

You are unlikely to get a Grand Villa or cheaper view 2BRs. (Aulani 2BRs do sleep 9.) The grand villas are typically missing 1-3 days of that week by 8 months out. Amongst 2BR units, the same is true for the 2BR OV and Island View; Standard is exraordinarily unlikely.

The 1BRs often also are missing dates, but you can get lucky.