We're fresh back from Aulani where we had an amazing time. Kudos to Disney for creating such a beautiful resort. It had all the Disney magic without being Disney World (not that there is anything wrong with Disney World!) Aulani offered a wonderful Hawaiian vacation!
We were lucky enough to spend 10 days at the resort and coincidentally we were there during the Grand Opening Ceremonies.
Aulani is just gorgeous and the lagoon is just so pretty and warm! I'm from Boston so even at their best the beaches around here never get that "wahm" ; ) or blue!
The lazy river is much slower than the ones in WDW but it's smaller too so it works out..we loved to grab a tube ride down the slide and just continue right along the river which takes @15 mins to go around if you don't paddle at all.
We saw the most amazing sunsets which you can watch from the infinity hot tubs or for an even better view we walked out to the right of the lagoon in the grassy area there is a path that leads to a small rocky area where you can watch the sunset and it's amazing - I don't advise bringing kids out there. One time Hubby and I stayed out there for two hours (with a bottle of champagne and some pineapple) where we just watched the sun set and the sky change into the most amazing colors. Each time we went out there there were lawn chairs set up.
There is a walking path that follows along the other resorts and 4 lagoons it loops around at the marina which we did a few times and again has beautiful views.
Oh one other (I think) big thing...the views...we stayed in a 1bdrm island view which was a view of the top of the valet parking garage, the brown hill tops, the golf course and the golf course neighborhood - we had 1 night in a studio ocean view....imho totally worth the points...I had the option and could have booked the ocean view 1 bdrm but decided to save the points...I regret it.
Rent a car! If you think you're going to save money by not renting a car let me tell you that you will spend all the money you 'saved' on food at Aulani....the only complaint I have is with the food...there literally are NO breakfast options other than having the buffet breakfast which is $27 pp for banquet food. Ama Ama which is their fine dining was not bad but for the same $$ you can go across the street to Roy's in the Ko Olina Golf Club and have a 4* meal. Just across the street is a Hawaiian BBQ restaurant as well as a Mexican restaurant. One exit up on the highway you can find a Costco, supermarket, restaurants, but you're still in HI so it will still cost you. Blueberries $8 pt - pineapples $1.50 lb. We thought they were $1.50 ea so we bought a few...oops!
I happen to have a friend who lives on the other side of the island so that sort of forced us to 'venture out' but we are so glad we did! Driving on the Island isn't hard at all, there are only a few major roadways. To get to the east coast took us 45 mins (in traffic) and to get to the North Shore 1 hour (a pretty ride near the Dole plantation and Hale'iwa). We were able to stop at our leisure and take pics or stop at the shrimp trucks on the north shore (a must do). If anyone saw GMA's most beautiful places and saw Lanikai Beach it is even more beautiful in person and worth the trip! We went into Waikiki last Saturday and watched a huge parade with beautiful flowered floats! We honeymooned in HI 25 years ago and coincidentally attended the same parade...we went into one of the major hotels on the strip (I think it was a Westin Hotel) where we literally saw (in the short time we were there) at least 8 brides....after walking around Waikiki we stopped back by the hotel (we knew where the bathroom was!) and saw several more brides....it seemed like it was a wedding factory! A gentleman I struck up a conversation with told me that they would easily have 40 weddings there that day....we still didn't figure out how....I don't think they reception there it was more like a destination wedding...situation...it was crazy.
We can only hope to be lucky enough to go back someday but if not it was a bucket list trip!
