Booking dining reservations

goofynut41

Disney Veteran
Joined
Aug 2, 2012
When your dining date opens can you book all reservations for the whole stay or do you have to do it one day at a time?
 
What is the booking window at Aulani....a calendar year? I don't have any idea but am rather sure I made my last set for this January all at once. Not sure if it was around 11 months when I made reservations for our studio or at about seven months when we bought airfare and booked a combo of 2 BR and GV. So consider this a :jumping3: to get this discussion going. Happy planning.
 
I don't know the answer to your question OP, but I can assure you there is not the same urgency as there is at WDW. You could wait a while after the booking window opens and be fine. I wouldn't stress about it.
 
You have to book them one day at a time at Aulani. It’s really not a ‘get up at 4am to get what you want’ type reservation—as in the Disney parks meals. Lots of people seem to book only a few weeks out. This will be our first time there and I booked each day because I wanted specific times and everything is still available less than 3 months out...we are visiting at the height of busy summer too.
 


Oh Ok thank you.....:flower1::flower::rose::rose::rose::daisy::flower2::flower2:
You are welcome! If you have plans to attend the luau and want VIP seating that reservation would be the only one I’d try to not wait too many days to book once it opens up...which is generally 180 days—it’s through a 3rd party and it appears they open up a full month at a time when they release dates....but I found with my July date, it was more like 4-5 months in advance...I was checking daily at 6 months out and they seemed to take forever to open July. There are now a couple July dates that no longer offer VIP seating so I’m assuming those are sold out.....the previous months look a little scarce for availability as well. Anyway my advice for buying that when it’s released (besides it very possibly selling out) is because I remember reading a few places that the seating is assigned when you buy your tickets.
As far as ama ama and the buffet restaurant—a month or so out on them should still allow you to have what you want for times (unless it’s a school break—then I’d try to make them a couple months in advance).

Hope you have a great trip!!
 
You are welcome! If you have plans to attend the luau and want VIP seating that reservation would be the only one I’d try to not wait too many days to book once it opens up...which is generally 180 days—it’s through a 3rd party and it appears they open up a full month at a time when they release dates....but I found with my July date, it was more like 4-5 months in advance...I was checking daily at 6 months out and they seemed to take forever to open July. There are now a couple July dates that no longer offer VIP seating so I’m assuming those are sold out.....the previous months look a little scarce for availability as well. Anyway my advice for buying that when it’s released (besides it very possibly selling out) is because I remember reading a few places that the seating is assigned when you buy your tickets.
As far as ama ama and the buffet restaurant—a month or so out on them should still allow you to have what you want for times (unless it’s a school break—then I’d try to make them a couple months in advance).

Hope you have a great trip!!
Yes I have already booked my Luau and just waiting on my other to open up... Thank You I hope we do!!!:yay::yay:
 


Does anyone have experience with VIP luau dates becoming available close in? Just booked a week in May ‘19 (our first visit) but all the dates in May except 2 are sold out for VIP!
 
Is it necessary to have dining reservations every night? I've booked the luau and I've booked a couple of nights, but I didn't want to be tied to a specific ressie every night. Are their options for walk ups? I don't mind waiting, but I don't want to find out that we have no dinner options, either.
 
Does anyone have experience with VIP luau dates becoming available close in? Just booked a week in May ‘19 (our first visit) but all the dates in May except 2 are sold out for VIP!

Regarding the Luau VIP seating, we are also there in May and found a similar situation, that the date we were looking for was not available. BUT I actually called Aulani / "pleasant holidays" ( booking company i presume ), and when i spoke to them, they actually had VIP seating available, and was able to get the date i wanted. They stated that they do hold seats back off the web for people who call. SO, try that, and see what happens..

Good Luck and hope our paths cross
 
Is it necessary to have dining reservations every night? I've booked the luau and I've booked a couple of nights, but I didn't want to be tied to a specific ressie every night. Are their options for walk ups? I don't mind waiting, but I don't want to find out that we have no dinner options, either.

The two table service restaurants are Ama Ama and Makahiki (buffet) and I would highly suggest dinner reservations for both, especially depending on what time of year you'll be there. Weekend days also tend to be busier at the resort. Ama Ama will be very busy during sunset, and Makahiki has a character dinner during the earlier hours of the evening which is busy. The character breakfast there is also busy. During other meal times and off-peak dining times (i.e. 8pm), you may have a good chance of getting in as a walk-up. There's also the quick service location Ulu Café, and Off the Hook which I think may be serviced by a bartender? I don't recall if they have servers as we ate at the bar, but its basic bar foods. Either of these are always available as walk-ups.

Across the street is Monkeypod. They take walk-ups but do tend to get busy. I would suggest pulling up Open Table and making a last minute reservation before heading over there - people don't know about this, and we were able to bypass a 45 minute walk-up wait by making a reservation for 10 minutes later as we walked over there.
 
Thanks for info. We are there May 1 - May 11. Great suggestion on looking at Open Table. We do have reservations at Roy's nearby one night, the Luau one night, Ama Ama at sunset one night, and Makahiki character breakfast one day. Since we know we have Ama Ama for susnet one night, I'm fine with eating at off times on other days. We have a car and may venture out at night, but want to know that if we end up lounging at the resort all day and decide not to go anywhere, we'll be able to grab a bite, even if it is just something simple like pizza. That is actually a great question. Is there a pizza delivery\pickup option at Aulani?
 
Is there a pizza delivery\pickup option at Aulani?

You can order a whole pizza at Ulu Café. We thought it was decent. I don't think they deliver to the room, but its easy enough to walk down and pick it up. There's also Pizza Corner directly across the street. You can eat in, get it to go, or they will deliver to Aulani - at least, they did when we were there two years ago, and you had to meet them in the lobby. Pizza Corner was slightly better than Aulani pizza and had some other sides like garlic knots. For us as two adults, we had enough leftover for lunch the next day too.
 
you don't need a reservation to book dining. It's just 6 months from date you want to reserve.
 
I don't know the answer to your question OP, but I can assure you there is not the same urgency as there is at WDW. You could wait a while after the booking window opens and be fine. I wouldn't stress about it.

Glad to hear that. I would like to be spontaneous. I don’t like Disney World anymore. I just don’t like to plan every minute in advance when on vacay!
 
Glad to hear that. I would like to be spontaneous. I don’t like Disney World anymore. I just don’t like to plan every minute in advance when on vacay!

Just to be clear, I would still recommend booking dining reservations for Aulani. But you don't need to book them the minute you're eligible for it. If you booked within 1-2 months of your travel dates, you should be ok. If you'd rather wing it, you may be able to walk-in depending on the time of year you're traveling, but I'm not one that would chance it if eating TS is important. The character meals and dinner times around sunset at Ama Ama book up the fastest, if any of those are a must do.
 
We go to aulani every may. We will be there may 6 to may 16. I already have reservations for breakfast and ama AMA but either make dinner or go across the street for dinner. Monkey pod is easy to get on open table. There is a taco place which is ok. And a pizza place. We also drive into kapolei for dinner once or twice. We like assagio an Italian restaurant there. And there are some casual places like chili’s. We have been to the luau at aulani. It is good.
 

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