Aulani vs other resorts on Oahu

[3littlecuties]

We are considering a trip to Hawaii. We live on the east coast and are frequent visitors to Disney World. We've been to Disneyland once. My husband has been to Hawaii once when he was a teen but the rest of us have never been. Would you recommend Aulani for first time visitors to Hawaii? We have a family of 5 so I believe we would need at least a 1 bedroom due to occupancy which substantially increases the cost. Should we look someone else for a family our size? We are just in the very early stages of considering this trip so any and all advice is welcome. Next summer our kids will be 18 (oldest DS will just have graduated high school), 16 (DD with special needs), and 13 DS.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I think it depends what you want out of the trip. If you are going to be on the go every day, you can save a lot staying elsewhere. If you are building in significant resort time, you will see more value in Aulani.

 

[3littlecuties]

I think it depends what you want out of the trip. If you are going to be on the go every day, you can save a lot staying elsewhere. If you are building in significant resort time, you will see more value in Aulani.

We really don't know at this point as we are just starting to look. We would definitely want to see Pearl Harbor and some other tourist spots. But we want a nice resort too. My daughter would not be able to do certain activities (like ATV tours, horseback riding, ziplining, etc) so we'd like a resort where one of us could spend the day with her while the other does more active stuff with our boys. Then we could switch for another day.

 

[maxbuffmelvin]

Yes, I highly recommend Aulani if you're a frequent WDW visitor, especially if you love the WDW deluxe resorts and your family are big Disney bubble people. If you don't mind driving, Oahu is small enough to go to most tourist points in Oahu as long as you plan around rush hour and avoid the North Shore on weekends. There are a lot of off-site activities, but it's so magical to return to Aulani in the evening.

 

[OKW Lover]

Would you recommend Aulani for first time visitors to Hawaii?

A very simple question with a very complex answer. My simple answer would be yes.

The complex answer is:

• Hawaii is a string of islands. Aulani is on Oahu, which is probably the most populated island with the most attractions and hotels. There will be some dispute of that by follow on posters probably. Just keep in mind that you're only seeing one island.
• When most people think about Hawaii and the island of Oahu, they think of Waikiki. Yes, that's a very popular part of the island. But it's a pretty small area considering how big the island is. Waikiki, with all its resorts, is basically a city perched right on the ocean. With all the benefits and problems that involves.
• Aulani is located on the South West side of the island. There isn't a lot to do over there but relax and enjoy the resort, its pools and beach, and nearby restaurants.
• Most people visiting Oahu, will spend a good amount of time exploring the rest of the island. Several days at least. There is much to see around the island and other portions have a totally different vibe to them.
• There are many "don't miss" experiences on Oahu. Pearl Harbor is probably the #1. Lots of folks enjoy going to the Aloha Bowl Flea Market. Visiting Diamond Head. Driving around the southeast side of the island to see the blowhole. Driving through the mountains on H2 and coming out the other side to a breathtaking view of the east side of the island. Going to the north shore to see the waves and do some shopping.
• There are many different luau experiences on the island. The one at Aulani is nice. The one next door at Paradise Cove is popular but really not that good. We recently experienced the Toa Luau in a really beautiful setting. There is also one at the Polynesian Cultural Center that some love and some hate.
• Renting a car during your stay is almost a must in order to see everything the island offers.

 

[Irondraco]

Yes, I highly recommend Aulani if you're a frequent WDW visitor, especially if you love the WDW deluxe resorts and your family are big Disney bubble people. If you don't mind driving, Oahu is small enough to go to most tourist points in Oahu as long as you plan around rush hour and avoid the North Shore on weekends. There are a lot of off-site activities, but it's so magical to return to Aulani in the evening.

Agreed, book Aulani you won't regret it - we were just there a few weeks ago and are already planning our next trip back.

 

[monsterkitty]

I really think it depends on what you want your trip to be. Are you going for a resort vacation or to see the sites? Full disclosure- we are Marriott VC members, so we stay at the Marriott. We spend very little time at the resort because we want to experience the island, not the resort. If we were to stay at Aulani, we would still be on Oahu to experience the island and not the resort.

On our last trip we had a very interesting conversation with a few locals who were doing staycations. They said they book Aulani for one night so their children can play in the lazy river for check-in day and the next day. However, they then move over to the Marriott because it's cheaper for the remainder of their week. This gives them more money to spend on activities and other things.

 

[OKW Lover]

I really think it depends on what you want your trip to be. Are you going for a resort vacation or to see the sites? Full disclosure- we are Marriott VC members, so we stay at the Marriott. We spend very little time at the resort because we want to experience the island, not the resort. If we were to stay at Aulani, we would still be on Oahu to experience the island and not the resort.

This is a good point. There is so much more to a Hawaii vacation than just enjoying the resort. There is much to see on Oahu.

But, you can do both. You can experience the island and enjoy the resort.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We love aulani and have gone every year, from chicsgo. we get a one bedroom ocean view, with our DVc points. We have been all over hawaii, most islands, and seen all the sites so we don’t leave for 10 days. We love the lazy river, the slides, the atmosphere. All that said, if I were going to hawaii for the first time, I would probsbly make time to see the other islands. Oahu is lovely but Maui, Kauai are incredible. You can easily fly between islands and spend 2 or 3 days on each. It’s a long way to go just for Oahu. But if you’re looking for a great place to relax with your daughter, aulani is perfect. There are daily activities in the community house, the beach is safe, the lazy river is fun. And the luau is one of the most authentic you will see, albeit expensive.
if yiu can afford it, I’d suggest a two bedroom, make sure it is dedicated. Rather than a one bedroom and a studio combines. It gives you 2 and 1/2 baths. And two beds in the second bedroom, as well as the pull out couch in the living room. The one bedroom has one bathroom thst you enter through the bedroom, there is the pullout couch and a pull-down cot under The tv, which Is very small. If your children are normal size for their age, it’s going to be a tight fit for someone. I pulled it out just to see it once and tried to lay down. I’m 5’3” and about 140. I would barely be able to turn on it.
but I’m sure there are lots of hotels in Waikiki and or even on the north shore thst would provide a large suite at a lesser price.

 

[3littlecuties]

We love aulani and have gone every year, from chicsgo. we get a one bedroom ocean view, with our DVc points. We have been all over hawaii, most islands, and seen all the sites so we don’t leave for 10 days. We love the lazy river, the slides, the atmosphere. All that said, if I were going to hawaii for the first time, I would probsbly make time to see the other islands. Oahu is lovely but Maui, Kauai are incredible. You can easily fly between islands and spend 2 or 3 days on each. It’s a long way to go just for Oahu. But if you’re looking for a great place to relax with your daughter, aulani is perfect. There are daily activities in the community house, the beach is safe, the lazy river is fun. And the luau is one of the most authentic you will see, albeit expensive.
if yiu can afford it, I’d suggest a two bedroom, make sure it is dedicated. Rather than a one bedroom and a studio combines. It gives you 2 and 1/2 baths. And two beds in the second bedroom, as well as the pull out couch in the living room. The one bedroom has one bathroom thst you enter through the bedroom, there is the pullout couch and a pull-down cot under The tv, which Is very small. If your children are normal size for their age, it’s going to be a tight fit for someone. I pulled it out just to see it once and tried to lay down. I’m 5’3” and about 140. I would barely be able to turn on it.
but I’m sure there are lots of hotels in Waikiki and or even on the north shore thst would provide a large suite at a lesser price.

I think island hopping would just be too much for my daughter. Flying that far from home is already going to be tough on her.

Regarding the beds...this is something that I was thinking about. I was originally thinking a 1 bedroom but my boys would be on a pull out sofa. We often do this at deluxe studios at Disney World but many of them now are full size mattresses in murphy beds that pull down from the wall. From pictures of rooms at Aulani, it looks like they are regular pull out sofas. Those mattresses aren't usually very comfortable! My boys aren't picky but that seems like not the best option. My daughter is 5'2" and about 105 and often sleeps on the single pull down bed in deluxe studios and it isn't an issue for her. Of course if we moved to a 2 bedroom for regular beds for the boys, the cost goes up quite a bit!

 

[3littlecuties]

I really think it depends on what you want your trip to be. Are you going for a resort vacation or to see the sites? Full disclosure- we are Marriott VC members, so we stay at the Marriott. We spend very little time at the resort because we want to experience the island, not the resort. If we were to stay at Aulani, we would still be on Oahu to experience the island and not the resort.

On our last trip we had a very interesting conversation with a few locals who were doing staycations. They said they book Aulani for one night so their children can play in the lazy river for check-in day and the next day. However, they then move over to the Marriott because it's cheaper for the remainder of their week. This gives them more money to spend on activities and other things.

We plan to do a little of both

 

[starry_solo]

I think you should consider a split stay. A few days at Aulani and a few days elsewhere. I think you can also rent the timeshare next door? Four Seasons or something? On TUG or Redweek.

We were at Aulani for 3 nights. It wasn't long enough but our mom, who went with us, thought it was enough for her, lol

 

[monsterkitty]

I think you should consider a split stay. A few days at Aulani and a few days elsewhere. I think you can also rent the timeshare next door? Four Seasons or something? On TUG or Redweek.

We were at Aulani for 3 nights. It wasn't long enough but our mom, who went with us, thought it was enough for her, lol

There are usually Ko'Olina Marriott VC rooms on Redweek. We've rented out our rooms there several times.

 

[jimmymc]

Without going into what DD's special needs are, Disney resorts are very good when it comes to all types of accomodations. If it's in the budget, I think you'll have a wonderful time staying at Aulani. Yes you would need a 1 bedroom or two separate hotel rooms, but I would recommend getting one even if you were a family of 4. It gives you a full kitchen and your own washer/dryer, allowing you to pack less and spend less on food.

Pros for Aulani:

• Gorgeous resort
• Quiet area away from the city
• DVC villas include the kitchen, washer/dryer, and a lot of space
• All rooms have balconies, and almost all of them have great views
• Protected swimming lagoon
• Rainbow reef
• Multiple large pools, waterslides, a lazy river, and hot tubs
• Walking distance from restaurants
• Disney characters

Cons for Aulani:

• It's expensive
• The location isn't close to all of the big tourist sights, but the island also isn't huge.
• There can be a lot of younger kids, especially during school breaks
• The actual resort restaurants get mixed reviews, and you'll probably want to eat other places or make your own food

Check out the price to rent DVC points for a 1 bedroom stay. If you can fit the cost of the villa and a car rental for the length of your trip, allowing you to eat out frequently and buy groceries, I would definitely recommend Aulani for a first stay.

 

[3littlecuties]

Without going into what DD's special needs are, Disney resorts are very good when it comes to all types of accomodations. If it's in the budget, I think you'll have a wonderful time staying at Aulani. Yes you would need a 1 bedroom or two separate hotel rooms, but I would recommend getting one even if you were a family of 4. It gives you a full kitchen and your own washer/dryer, allowing you to pack less and spend less on food.

Pros for Aulani:

• Gorgeous resort
• Quiet area away from the city
• DVC villas include the kitchen, washer/dryer, and a lot of space
• All rooms have balconies, and almost all of them have great views
• Protected swimming lagoon
• Rainbow reef
• Multiple large pools, waterslides, a lazy river, and hot tubs
• Walking distance from restaurants
• Disney characters

Cons for Aulani:

• It's expensive
• The location isn't close to all of the big tourist sights, but the island also isn't huge.
• There can be a lot of younger kids, especially during school breaks
• The actual resort restaurants get mixed reviews, and you'll probably want to eat other places or make your own food

Check out the price to rent DVC points for a 1 bedroom stay. If you can fit the cost of the villa and a car rental for the length of your trip, allowing you to eat out frequently and buy groceries, I would definitely recommend Aulani for a first stay.

Thank you for the feedback. We have rented DVC points many times at Disney World so that is definitely what we would plan to do again. My daughter has Down syndrome and autism so she has some physical limitations as well as just getting overwhelmed in certain situations. We would like an amazing resort so that one of us can stay and enjoy time there with her while the other takes our boys to do more adventurous stuff. Then we could swap days. There are some things that I would imagine that we would all want to do like Pearl Harbor. So I'm definitely thinking a mix between seeing tourist stuff and hanging at the resort.

 

[jimmymc]

Thank you for the feedback. We have rented DVC points many times at Disney World so that is definitely what we would plan to do again. My daughter has Down syndrome and autism so she has some physical limitations as well as just getting overwhelmed in certain situations. We would like an amazing resort so that one of us can stay and enjoy time there with her while the other takes our boys to do more adventurous stuff. Then we could swap days. There are some things that I would imagine that we would all want to do like Pearl Harbor. So I'm definitely thinking a mix between seeing tourist stuff and hanging at the resort.

I would definitely recommend Aulani then. Hotels in Waikiki can be loud at all hours, not ideal for DD. The only other one I would look at is Turtle Bay, for the location, but if DD is going to hang out at the resort most days they I would probably just stay at Aulani.

 

[gmi3804]

Much as I hate split stays at WDW, I recommend it on O'ahu, as there's enough driving involved and enough to see and do in and around HNL and the east side to concentrate those activities while you're there, and by the time you get to Aulani you'll be in resort mode, with a possible trip north one day. The inconvenience of moving to a different resort is outweighed by the proposition of spending far less time in the car coming and going to the sights. There's not a whole bunch of things to do on the north shore, though you should devote a day to exploring there. You can do that from Aulani.

 

[mort1331]

My vote would be to rent points to lower costs. See if it makes a 2bdrm available in cost. But we had a 1 bdrm and 1 daughter was in the bed under the tv and the other 2 on the pull out...no issues for 10 days.
My vote is also stay at the one resort and not hop,,,,less moving and stress.
When renting points you also get your parking included, so extra savings.

 

[Lilsia]

Much as I hate split stays at WDW, I recommend it on O'ahu, as there's enough driving involved and enough to see and do in and around HNL and the east side to concentrate those activities while you're there, and by the time you get to Aulani you'll be in resort mode, with a possible trip north one day. The inconvenience of moving to a different resort is outweighed by the proposition of spending far less time in the car coming and going to the sights. There's not a whole bunch of things to do on the north shore, though you should devote a day to exploring there. You can do that from Aulani.

But you are not necessarily spending more time in your car if you stayed at Aulani as opposed to staying in Waikiki. It may be a further distance from Aulani but it is all highway driving. It can take you easily 20 minutes just to get out of Waikiki and onto the highway. Even if you Google map it, it says that the time that it takes to get to places like the N Shore or over to Kualoa Ranch from Aulani and Waikiki are about the same.
Personally, I rather take that nice drive from Aulani than to deal with the crazy city traffic. Honolulu is not well planned out at all. We stay at least 2 weeks at Aulani and do our touring from there. The drive is beautiful and it is nice to be able to come back to a peaceful hotel.
Staying in Waikiki for a couple of days is nice to be able to just walk around and enjoy what that area offers, but I would not recommend driving in that area if you want to keep any sense of sanity or peace. LOL

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

We have a special needs child as well and I'm always reluctant to do a split stay as the change disrupts sleep for my child. If it were me, I'd book the one bedroom and keep my eyes out for a discount that might make the two bedroom possible. If you do get stuck in just a one bedroom, without knowing how big your boys are, I will say the pull out couch was not bad. It's hard for me to describe, but it wasn't the old fashioned type that folds up, the mattress was divided somehow and was much thicker than a typical couch mattress.

I felt like we got the Disney attention at Aulani that is so important for my family. They accommodated all of my requests, like not being on the ground floor as eloping is a concern, as well as changing us from the assigned handicap room with a shower, to a room with a tub.

If you're interested in a tour, I highly recommend Hi5. They gave us a tour guide who had worked with special needs children and it was one of the best days of my life.