Not enough pool chairs?

[dreamit]

We were at Aulani March 3rd—14th this year and had no problems with chairs. It may have been that COVID impacted crowd levels; though, at that time everything was still operating at 100%.

 

[JM23457]

Surprising that Disney has not started a "reserved" section for a fee.

I would much rather pay a fee for a reserved chair for a full or half day than have to get up before the roosters to "claim" one or try to stalk one during the day.

Hear that, Disney?

 

[SL6827]

I would much rather pay a fee for a reserved chair for a full or half day than have to get up before the roosters to "claim" one or try to stalk one during the day.

Hear that, Disney?

You could be on to something. Surprised they haven't done this.

 

[soniam]

We found it kind of bad too when we went in Summer 2018. Luckily, we could get away with a table or 1 lounge chair. Usually one of us was off doing stuff with our son. Plus, he liked the beach a lot, so chairs weren't bad out there. I would wake up early due to the time change, and see people trying to reserve chairs before the pools opened at sunrise Completely ridiculous! Also, why do chairs have to be reserved for every member of your party? We never reserve one for our son. If he's eating or drinking, he can sit with one of us temporarily. People don't give a hoot about others. They haven't in the past and definitely don't seem to now I figure karma is going to get involved one way or another, so I just keep trying to live my life respectful of others and duly note it when I see others doing the same. Also, they don't rent chairs, because they want you to rent the expensive cabanas.

 

[bcwife76]

Eventhough we travel as a family of 4, we never get more than 2 chairs because my kids come back to the chairs only to eat and grab a drink. We don't need to hog 4 chairs we won't be using. You need to get up EARLY at Aulani to get chairs, for sure.

 

[SteveNZ]

We visited May 2018 and had no problems at all. Towels "reserving" chairs are removed if nobody actually uses them within a set time (I think an hour?).

 

[SteveNZ]

I would much rather pay a fee for a reserved chair for a full or half day than have to get up before the roosters to "claim" one or try to stalk one during the day.

Hear that, Disney?

The problem with that is that everybody else would also want to do it, and before long you would have the exact same situation but for money.

 

[Gothemi]

I haven't been to Aulani yet, but this is the number one complaint I have heard about it. I'm pretty concerned about it, but that's anything Disney. You get all these "Pros" who get up early, line up early or take advantage of situations to be selfish.

 

[jkips]

You do have the option of getting a cabana if you don’t want to worry about it.

 

[JM23457]

You do have the option of getting a cabana if you don’t want to worry about it.

Those cost hundreds of dollars & go way beyond just getting a chair. I was thinking of just a chair rental, kind of like Disney offers at their water parks: chair & umbrella for about $70.

 

[JM23457]

The problem with that is that everybody else would also want to do it, and before long you would have the exact same situation but for money.

Not if only some of the chairs had a price attached, and the price was around $70 like at the water parks. That's costly enough to keep everyone from springing for it, but affordable enough to be worthwhile for a chair in the shade for those who'd rather pay than deal with the hassle. And most chairs would still be complimentary.

 

[jkips]

Those cost hundreds of dollars & go way beyond just getting a chair. I was thinking of just a chair rental, kind of like Disney offers at their water parks: chair & umbrella for about $70.

They are very expensive. More than I’m willing to pay!

 

[jodybird511]

They do have the casabellas on the upper and lower verandas outside of AMA AMA--those are less expensive and reservable. We actually always reserve the Executive Lanai, if it's available, for at least two days of our trip and make those days our full-resort days. The lanai isn't quite as expensive as the cabanas, and has a much better view (beach!). Also, if you are a DVC member, you get a 10% discount. We love it, and it's very pleasant to not have to fight for a chair. That being said, there is only one Executive Lanai, and it books up months in advance--we usually call to book it as soon as we secure our reservation, which is at 11 months out.

 

[SL6827]

Are there some areas that are more sought after in regards to chair location? It would just be me and hubby, no kids in tow so we wouldn't really be that picky. But I would like an umbrella.

 

[AZMermaid]

You could do adult pool which is much more open. But for the main pool, we actually liked the inner corner (middle walkway area) of the last or second to last row. These chairs stay shaded and because you are on the end, you can space them a bit more. They don’t go as early as front row either. We really wanted the row in the pool area that faces the beach, but never got there early enough for those (tried twice at like 7AM)

 

[Lilsia]

I guess that when they were building the resort that more people would be sitting on the beach and not at the pool. I mean, you are in Hawaii after all. Also many go off site to sight see. But many people have decided to sit at the pool. The way I feel about it is if you are in the pool, you don't need to save a bunch of seats for your family. 1 or 2 is sufficient. If you want to sun bathe, the beach is a great place for that. I hate that people get up early to save seats that they barely use. It is like the toilet paper hoarding situation, there wasn't a shortage until people started hoarding for no reason. We would either go out and about during the day or sit on the beach and then when people started to leave to clean up for dinner, my daughter and I would switch over to the lazy river and there were plenty of seats available.

 

[Lilsia]

Are there some areas that are more sought after in regards to chair location? It would just be me and hubby, no kids in tow so we wouldn't really be that picky. But I would like an umbrella.

There are usually plenty of seat available in the adult area. That area has a lot of natural shade. You won't have a problem getting a seat there.

 

[jodybird511]

I guess that when they were building the resort that more people would be sitting on the beach and not at the pool. I mean, you are in Hawaii after all. Also many go off site to sight see. But many people have decided to sit at the pool. The way I feel about it is if you are in the pool, you don't need to save a bunch of seats for your family. 1 or 2 is sufficient. If you want to sun bathe, the beach is a great place for that. I hate that people get up early to save seats that they barely use. It is like the toilet paper hoarding situation, there wasn't a shortage until people started hoarding for no reason. We would either go out and about during the day or sit on the beach and then when people started to leave to clean up for dinner, my daughter and I would switch over to the lazy river and there were plenty of seats available.

I've seen a lot of people report over the years that when Disney was building Aulani, they never conceived of it as a destination in and of itself. That is to say, they didn't plan that people would travel all the way to Hawaii just to sit around a resort pool area--hence the reason for underestimating the number of chairs needed.

 

[Lilsia]

I've seen a lot of people report over the years that when Disney was building Aulani, they never conceived of it as a destination in and of itself. That is to say, they didn't plan that people would travel all the way to Hawaii just to sit around a resort pool area--hence the reason for underestimating the number of chairs needed.

This is exactly what I was thinking. I am really surprised how many people post, on the various groups that I am on about Aulani, that they go and never leave the resort. Even first timers to Hawaii. I look at Aulani as a beautiful resort hotel were we stay on our vacation to Hawaii. The Island is so amazingly beautiful and so different from where I live, that I just want to soak up all of the tropical beauty that I can while there. I live in the Midwest in the middle of nowhere. We have no oceans, no mountains, no palm trees, etc. Just the city we live in surrounded by fields. Maybe people that are more fortunate then me see this kind of greenery and beauty all the time and so are not really interested in it, but I can't imagine going to somewhere as amazing as Hawaii and spend much time at a pool. We did enjoy the ocean. I went in 2018 with my daughter for the first time. Ever since I was a little girl I had always wanted to go to Hawaii. I finally got my chance and I wanted to soak up as much of it as I could.

 

[jodybird511]

This is exactly what I was thinking. I am really surprised how many people post, on the various groups that I am on about Aulani, that they go and never leave the resort. Even first timers to Hawaii. I look at Aulani as a beautiful resort hotel were we stay on our vacation to Hawaii. The Island is so amazingly beautiful and so different from where I live, that I just want to soak up all of the tropical beauty that I can while there. I live in the Midwest in the middle of nowhere. We have no oceans, no mountains, no palm trees, etc. Just the city we live in surrounded by fields. Maybe people that are more fortunate then me see this kind of greenery and beauty all the time and so are not really interested in it, but I can't imagine going to somewhere as amazing as Hawaii and spend much time at a pool. We did enjoy the ocean. I went in 2018 with my daughter for the first time. Ever since I was a little girl I had always wanted to go to Hawaii. I finally got my chance and I wanted to soak up as much of it as I could.

Same! We are in St. Louis, and there's just a whole lotta nothin' surrounding us. We love to explore the island when we are at Aulani. Typically, we stay for a week and have 2 full resort days. Otherwise, we're out and about for at least part of each day.