Maui/Aulani trip report

[aulanidreamer]

Just a short trip report for our April stay first for 3 nights on Maui and then 7 nights at Aulani. We are DVC members and this is our third trip to Aulani. We haven’t been to Maui in 10 years. It’s me, DH, DD 11, DS 9, and DD 8 who just had a birthday the week prior and sported her birthday button all over the island.

Day 1 leave Seattle to Honolulu on Alaska Air and fly to Maui on Hawaiian Airlines. This was mostly smooth sailing as Alaska checks your bags all the way through for you. Our flight arrived only a few minutes late and after figuring out the connection gate was far, we found there bus shuttle and got to the inter-island gates. Had we decided earlier to add Maui I would have booked the flights differently to go directly to Maui, but since we added it after our initial flights, this was our best option. We gave ourselves 2 he’s between flights which seemed perfect. We weren’t rushing but had time for food and bathrooms. The flight to Maui was good and we arrived late afternoon about 4 pm. Bags were easy and the shuttle to Avis was fairly quick. The Avis line was long, but they got us in our car which ended up being a huge Suburban (reserved standard SUV).

We were off to Kaanapali area, which with traffic was just over an hr ride. It was partly cloudy with areas of dark clouds over the west Maui mountains. We had some beautiful beaches we were passing and my kids wanted to go directly to the sand but my DH hadn’t eaten much and was anxious for dinner, so we went directly to the resort. We stayed at Kaanapali Shores, which is an older timeshare and has some pluses and minuses. It had beautiful grounds (but nothing as special as Aulani) and the kids really enjoyed the pool. The 1 br garden view also had a partial ocean view that was lovely. The room was old, the windows were so thin they didn’t block any noise, the location was good, the restaurant was good. (Only 1 dinner there) I will likely choose another location next time, but we did get a great deal on Orbitz so it’s hard to complain. There was a $20 resort fee, $9 parking and $30 for a rollaway that was needed to sleep all three kids in a room with 6 occupancy. (Was not pleased about that) We had to call the desk about our door sticking so much that we couldn’t open it at times and I was worried about getting out in an emergency. They worked on it for awhile and finally offered to move us, but by that time it was 9pm (midnight Seattle) and the kids just needed to sleep. Packing back up and moving was not happening.

Anyway, back to the resort experience...after getting our room settled we went down the resort beach restaurant which had no wait and had a great view. It was nothing fancy but my kale salad with Ahi was fantastic. During dinner it started raining and it really poured for 30 min or so. It was still warm and after the rain we let the kids hit the pool before bed. The pool had a fun volcano with lava lights at night. After making the quick decision to just stick with are originally assigned room, we hit the hay.

 

[aulanidreamer]

Ha that 29 years was meant to be 10... need to read again before posting next time

 

[aulanidreamer]

Day 2... We were expecting rain but woke up to a beautiful sunny morning. We had decided not to shop for food on Maui since it was a shorter stay so we headed out to find breakfast first. Of course the kids wanted to head straight to the beach, so we walked along the beach/ rocks for a bit and ended up finding a park in front of the Honua Kai Beach Resort that had the beginning of the beach walk through Kaanapali. We found breakfast at Dukes, which was wonderful food and service. My DH and I decided who needs a tour guide if the waiter gives you the best tips. In this case he recommended snorkeling in Kapalua Bay.

Our Snorkeling was amazing with many beautiful fish and several (at least 5) turtles. My DD 11 was so enthralled and wanted to snorkel everywhere after that experience but we lucked out both in location and great gear (from the snorkel store) that made that day our best day of snorkeling the entire trip. We also tried black rock later that day, which was good but more crowded and less fish, but was still enjoyable.

After snorkeling we just went to have beach time in the heart of Kaanapali near the Sheraton. We found the public lots to be small and full, but the Sheraton offered pay parking for $2/ 20 min. I think we paid $14 total. There was also parking available at Whalers Village that was similarly priced, but many shops would validate it for free parking with purchases.

We had great fun on the beach and found lots of other families/ kids my kids enjoyed playing with. There were easy public bathrooms but no drinking water fountains. The Sheraton had water for guest only, or $4 a small bottle for non-guest. With the snorkel rental we had a “free bogey board rental” that was fun to use. Even with tons of sunscreen applications through the day I still managed to burn the back of my legs. No kids got burned though, so at least there’s that.

After cleaning up we went into Lahaina for dinner at Frida’s. It was a great view of the water, great service and food, but a longish wait. I never would have guessed a Mexican food place in Maui needed reservations, but now I know. A friend had recommended it and it was a great dinner. I should have guessed the popularity when we showed up and they had valet parking.

After dinner we had another night pool swim before turning in for the night. It was a fantastic day in Maui and after fretting all week before arrival over the forecast, it was a happy surprise to have such a beautiful day.

 

[aulanidreamer]

Day 3 we packed up after a short morning walk and breakfast to head to the airport and Honolulu. For such a small airport Maui had one of the longest security lines I have experienced. (even without the agricultural part since it was inter island) The website said a 15 min wait, but it was almost 40 min and we had very little time for a pit stop before boarding the plane.

Once we arrived in HNL it was mostly easy sailing to get our car and head out to Aulani. My only FYI is the car rental place (Budget onsite) is a long way from the inter island terminal. So if like me you booked specifically to avoid the shuttle, that only works if you come from the mainland.

Our arrival at Aulani was as expected a wonderful treat. They are no longer giving out Menehune necklaces to the kids, but gave real lei’s and Kului nut leis to adults and kids. My girls were stoked. Checkin was easy, although I misunderstood when she said the room was being cleaned at 1:30 when we arrived so I assumed it wouldn’t be long to get into the room. It was after 4, but worth the wait as they fulfilled my room request for Island view 1BR in long wing of Ewa tower upper floor. We had a great view of ocean and lawn on 11th floor and it was exactly as I hoped. Who knows what will happen to that view once the Atlantis is built, but for now it is perfect.

We had hit the pool before the room was ready so once it was ready we cleaned up and changed for our Monkeypod reservations. We went for the tail end of happy hour and had great food and drinks. It’s an open air restaurant if you didn’t know, and was quite warm that evening. I was fine, but my husband was definitely more warm than he prefers. We went back once more later in the week and it was more pleasant. Their Mai Teis are the best.

 

[tink too]

I'm reading along - trying to get tips as we're planning on visiting HNL next year. Great TR so far.

 

[ebenmax]

We had hit the pool before the room was ready so once it was ready we cleaned up and changed for our Monkeypod reservations. We went for the tail end of happy hour and had great food and drinks. It’s an open air restaurant if you didn’t know, and was quite warm that evening. I was fine, but my husband was definitely more warm than he prefers. We went back once more later in the week and it was more pleasant. Their Mai Teis are the best.

Fun reading!! We are going to Maui for three days as well! I’m enjoying your tips!
As for the Monkeypod, what time is Happy Hour and can you make reservations during that time? Is it restaurant wide or is it in a bar area only? Thanks!!

 

[aulanidreamer]

Fun reading!! We are going to Maui for three days as well! I’m enjoying your tips!
As for the Monkeypod, what time is Happy Hour and can you make reservations during that time? Is it restaurant wide or is it in a bar area only? Thanks!!

I believe happy hour is 3:30-5:30 and was restaurant wide. We made a 5:00 reservation since I wanted to be sure to be seated in time for happy hour.

 

[aulanidreamer]

Somehow in my copy and pasting I left off our 2nd full day in Maui. So here it is... It was a cloudy but dry morning where we again walked over to Dukes for breakfast and had a nice stroll along the beach. The kids played for a bit and then we went over to Whalers Village for mostly window shopping, but ended up finding some cute things for the kids at blue ginger kids. After prebuying matching aloha shirts for my son and husband on Amazon, my sons got left at home. Most souvenir shops have toddler to size 6 or 7 boys, then adult sizes. At 9 it was actually quite difficult to find an appropriate size for him. Adult small was enormous on his tall skinny frame. Blue Ginger kids had boys/ preteen sizes and they weren’t as expensive as I feared since it’s a more boutique type shop. They had adult sizes too, but we passed on rebuying for my husband too. With the validation for parking it really was very reasonably priced and less than the not as nice huge adult small at the hotel gift shop.

My kids saw and toured the Maui Escape room while I was shopping and campaigned hard to try it out. Since that sounds like my personal nightmare I couldn’t give in and we decided to head to Maui Ocean Center instead, since the clouds were getting thicker and the weather app said it was going to rain. They were sad, and I felt guilty but didn’t want to pay to be miserable even if they love to solve puzzles. Maybe someday...

Maui Ocean Center was fun, but nothing extra special compared to other aquariums. The tunnel with the sharks and stingrays was a hit, but we’ve seen similar exhibits before. Unless it’s a rainy day or you have kids who haven’t seen many aquariums, I wouldn’t say it’s a must do. I did however really enjoy their gift shop. Lots of great jewelry and fun shirts.

After the aquarium we headed into Lahaina for fish and chips at Paia Fishmarket (yum) and to wonder around old town. The kids enjoyed the big tree and remains of the fort (made out of coral) and the small museum. We wondered around and found a gelato place for dessert that was awesome but I don’t recall the name. Since I had already purchased a shirt at the aquarium I passed on buying the “I need Vitamin Sea ... Maui” shirt I saw in downtown Lahaina, and I still regret it.

The rains finally came as the app promised so we headed back to the resort for pool and relaxation time. We let the kids watch a movie and had a quiet night in.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

We are going to do a combo maui/aulani trip this year, so I am enjoying reading about yours.

 

[aulanidreamer]

Day 5 Our first full day at Aulani. We woke up to a beautiful morning and actually slept in later than I intended. (I wanted to go down for the sunrise stretching but overslept.) We has Character breakfast reservations for 8:30. We checked in and did our pic with Mickey. After pictures we waited about 15 minutes for our table, and ended up outside with a patio table. Normally I would prefer this, but it was a little breezy so we had to make sure we weighed stuff down. It was still a great experience and even though it was a third time (one on each of our previous two trips) we still enjoyed the characters and activities. It was the backup Aunty, but she was still quite engaging and got my younger two to participate. The food was the usual Disney breakfast buffet fare but with additional Hawaiian and Japanese options. We stuck with mostly our usual stuff. There was plenty of food and it was spread out nicely to not have backups, except the Mickey waffles are only at the kids station.

After breakfast we went straight to the pool expecting no available seats since it was after 10. Amazingly we found great seats facing the ocean. They didn’t have an umbrella, but actually had pretty good shade provided by the trees for the hottest part of the day. Even the umbrellas don’t give shade some of the time because they are fixed and don’t rotate to where the sun is. We were amazed and happy to find them. Jackpot They were likely not picked because they didn’t face the pool, but our kids are old enough and strong enough swimmers that we no longer have to watch them every moment of the day.

We had many rides down the “dark slide” and the “tube slide” as my kids call them, and several go rounds on the lazy river. My younger two were anxious to head into Aunties after lunch so we let them goin. My DD11, DH and myself decided to explore the grounds over by the Four Seasons and see how far we could walk along no the shore toward paradise cove. The Four Seasons has the old pathway blocked for guest only, but on the beach has a short path leading to the rocks and over to the small beach we have seen a monk seal previously. (Sadly not this time) We kept going in spite of me only being in flip flops (at least they were the Chaco sturdier version) and made it all the way to the public beach near paradise cove. No turtles or seals, but many crabs and many fish seen in the protected tide pools behind the rocks. So many Butterfly fish, Moorish Idols and Humuhumunukunukuapua'as (ha had to google that one), right there without any snorkeling or behind glass like at the rainbow reef. It was really fun, but definitely not an easy walk so only for those with good balance and rock climbing/ walking experience. If you walk down to the public beach first and go out on the rocks towards Aulani you will see some of them. We saw a few guys coming from that beach to the tide pools with snorkel gear, but I doubt it is actually deep enough to snorkel. Anyway we got great pics and had lots of fun but decided Togo back is the road instead of back over the rocks. It was quite warm going over the rocks.

After we got back to Aulani we got our other two kids out of Aunties and decided to take a few more quick river rides before dinner. We had a full kitchen but still hadn’t made it to target for our grocery shopping. We decided I would get groceries and the rest of the crew would get takeout while I shopped and we could eat back in our villa after they picked me up. I’ve learned to buy less than we think we need because we mostly end up eating breakfast, some lunches, and very few dinners in the room. I hate throwing out food. We generally get oatmeal, yogurt, fruit, granola, and a few lunch/ snack options. I was surprised by the prices, most thinks we’re pretty close to what I pay at home. Bread was definitely more expensive but milk wasn’t much different (for organic, nonorganic was only $1.50 cheaper than organic which is higher than I would pay at home) Meat and fruit are more expensive than at home but not crazy expensive. Last time I shopped at Whole Foods so I guess this trip seemed so much better. We skipped Costco this time bc of not wanting to grow away food.

My son voted for Chinese so they picked up food but I don’t recall the name. It was fine, but not amazing. We headed back to Aulani and enjoyed a night of uno before hitting the hay. I hope to figure out how to add some photos soon.