Why do people say "there are tons of things to do at Aulani" ?

[Michelle smith]

Help me out here if you can. I am planning a trip to Aulani Come end of April to May and have read this thread up and down. I have constantly heard people say they never leave the resort there is so much to do. I am just wondering what do people do all day that you never leave the resort? I cant seem to find anything about activities that keep you from exploring the island? besides the pool, slides, and lagoon and beach what "stuff" is there. And yes I know about the movie nights, hula lessons and such but never to leave because there's so much to do...... I am baffled.

I am a huge planner and trying to make sure I have not missed anything. We plan on being there for 7 days but have a majority of our time outside of Aulani to see the Island. Am I crazy? I feel like I have missed something. On a side note, he are traveling with 2 tweens and they aren't to excited about Aunties as we are Southern California residents and visit Disneyland often.

 

[Midoria]

One thing to consider is that fact that many people are happy doing the same activities daily. So it's not really variety for them - just a high frequency of the same activities. Others, like yourself, are more explorative and like new experiences daily.

 

[Disney_Fan_01]

We spent 6 nights last May at Aulani following a 3 night stay at Waikikki, during which time we did all our site seeing. For us it was a nice break from the hustle and bustle and as Midoria pointed, we were content spending all day at the resort except one when we ventured out to North Shore. If you are not splitting time between waikikki and Aulani, I would recommend alternating between resort days and site seeing days, as there is so much to see in Oahu. We just didn’t feel like the hassle of driving in traffic.

A few suggestions on how we spent our time at the resort:
- breakfast at Makahiki and AMA AMA
- started day every morning at 8 by the pool.
- one day we did paddle boarding in the lagoon and another time we did bogey boarding. I also tried snorkeling at the Rainbow Reef. Also participated in family activity at the beach which was fun.
- mid mornings - had malasadas for snack. I believe they don’t sell after 11 AM. This was our daily ritual.
- Somedays we had lunch by the pool followed by shaved ice, which was another daily ritual.
- mid afternoon, we would try to rest in our room and enjoy the view. Wife and I love our afternoon coffeees. Island coffee across the street has amazing coffee and we had that every day.
- evenings varied based on our plans and we had something planned each evening. Once we did the Paradise Cove Luau. Date night at AMA AMA (thank you Aunty’s). We went across the street to Monkey Pod as well as Roys. Both are good, but I highly recommend Monkey Pod. We also did the Meneheune Mischief dinner one night. A couple of evenings were spent enjoying the sunset and we scheduled for a formal photo shoot, which was totally worth it,
- spa - this is worth mentioning as we did a couples massage and spent a good 3-4 hours there. You could easily spend a whole day.
- miscellaneous - we did the tablet thing, which is a lot of fun. Also, enjoyed taking pictures with characters. Having a drink at the oleo bar listening to music is a good option for after dinner di is listening to uncle telling stories.
- missed opportunities - we did not get to do ukelele lessons or lei making activity or the hula dance. There were so many other things that occupied our time. We also missed seeing turtles next to the paradise cove area, which is top priority next time.

To sum it up, we just loved hanging out at the resort and would totally do that next time. Now that we have done all the touristy stuff, our next stay, we plan to spend a week at Aulani and will only venture out to go to North Shore and Kailua beach, which I believe is the best beach in Oahu.

 

[TheBigErn]

It's no different than staying at a deluxe resort at WDW and spending all of your time at the resort.

 

[mrswillson]

My husband and I stayed at Aulani twice while we were living on Oahu. It's an absolutely beautiful resort - think AKL meets Poly - and I can completely understand why so many don't want to leave once they check in.

Just like every other Disney resort, they issue a daily planner with a ton of options throughout your day. A few that stick to memory are the sunrise yoga session out on the lagoon, menehune scavenger hunt, and mid-afternoon pool parties - however, if daily activities aren't your thing (they weren't for us), there are other options. Personally, we LOVED Laniwai Spa and dedicated an entire day to it, as there is an amazing hydrotherapy garden that you have full access to following your treatment. Rainbow Reef is a must-do as well, although it only took up an hour or two of our day. We shamelessly spent several hours in Waikolohe Valley lazy river also.

Aside from enjoying the beautiful lagoon views from the beach, pools, or jacuzzi tubs, if your room is overlooking the ocean, you may find that you can easily kill a couple of hours on your balcony - I know we did! The hardest part about leaving was having to say goodbye to that view.

Now, that being said, I don't believe for a minute that you would be able to spend 7 straight days at the resort and it not get redundant. You're on a vacation in Hawaii - Aulani is great, but you will miss so many opportunities if you never leave the resort grounds. I can't recommend a day trip around the island enough - the sights are second to none. North Shore, Laie, Kailua, and Waimanalo are all fantastic. My husband and I are big hikers and love the outdoors, and all of the hikes on Oahu WILL reward you for your effort (and are all completely one of a kind). Also, Waikiki/Honolulu (while a tourist trap) is a must-see at least once.

Bottom line - I don't recommend closing off so many amazing opportunities just because it's Disney. It may work for some, but I think it would come with regrets! Two, maybe three, full days should give you your Disney fix.

 

[scottmel]

No you aren't alone in your thoughts I thought the same thing...We are booked for July and we are not beach sit types of people..My DD19 and DH are constantly on the go types, me too! I am balancing it with 4 nights in Waikikki and 5 nights in Aulani. But even my Aulani days I am doing something everyday util 3 pm THEN returning to the resort. I do have one full resort day planned with cabana rental.....I think that will be enough for us as we can enjoy the pools etc after 3 pm....and then have one full lazy day.

 

[DisTrek]

We stayed for about a week as well and had no problem taking advantage of the activities that Aulani offers plus being able to go off-site for part of the day. Our problem was that we weren't able to do all of the other things on the island that we wanted to do.

 

[ktlm]

We only spent 4 nights at Aulani before moving on to Maui. We initially had plans to spend one full resort day and spend the rest of the days exploring the island for at least part of the day. We are not usually people to just sit around a resort- we like to go, do, and see things. We are open to close parks people at DLR and WDW. We wound up only leaving Aulani one day and cancelling all our other plans. We wanted more time at the resort. Basically we picked Oahu primarily because of Aulani. You spend a lot of money to stay at Aulani and can stay a lot of other nice places on Oahu for less money. So, we wanted to take advantage of the resort. My DD was 10, but had no interest in Aunties, as it appeared to be all younger kids-- she was very interested in the teen activities- but she was too young to attend.

We spent one day where we went to the Dole Plantation (which we could have skipped), briefly explored the North Shore (which we should have just started there), and went to the Polynesian Cultural Center (which we enjoyed way more than we thought we would and would go do again). Other than that day, we never left the resort. If we had 7 days like you do- we would have explored a little more. We saved our island exploring for Maui.

For us, there was Disney Hawaii and real Hawaii. Aulani is a Disney created Hawaii and as Disney does so well- everything is manufactured and themed to perfection. As far as activities, I could probably float that amazing lazy river all day for days, but there is also paddleboarding, the pools, movie nights, a show (now switched out with the Luau I believe), hula classes, animation drawing classes, pin trading, game times; pool parties, character meet and greets; snorkeling; menehune adventure trial, ukulele classes, craft classes and other things. We paid a premium to stay at Aulani and we decided to take advantage of that and enjoy the resort.

 

[ktlm]

. I do have one full resort day planned with cabana rental.....I think that will be enough for us as we can enjoy the pools etc after 3 pm....and then have one full lazy day.

Just be aware that the slides and lazy river close at 8:00 in the summer. The regular pool stays upon until 10 I think. (outside of summer, I think sometimes the lazy river and slides close at 6:00 and the pools at 8) I think Equipment rental closes at 4:00 and Rainbow Reef snorkeling closes at 5.

 

[crystal1313]

We went almost 2 years ago and we stayed at the resort the entire week (minus one day my parents and I went to PH). That's what we were looking for. To relax. To enjoy the resort. Typically we do week long vacations at DL and while we love it, we never really feel "relaxed" because we go from rope drop to as close to closing as we can (depending on how tired the kids are). We go, go, go and our time at Aulani we wanted to relax and enjoy each other and not have to rush here and there. It was amazing! I know others enjoy leaving the resort, and exploring the island, and I am sure one day we will do more of that. But for now, we want to relax and let our kids play and swim and take advantage of the beautiful resort. =)

 

[LYSE]

There really isn't that much to do, and when we were there the pools closed fairly early.

The location is also fairly isolated so I will always advise a split stay with Aulani being the relax portion of the trip.

 

[keaster]

On both our trips which were anywhere from a week to 10 days we would do half resort days, half explore the island days. Our resort days were perfect for us, spent lots of time on the slides and lazy river, paddle boarding in the lagoon, nice meals either at the resort or across the street, hanging out on our balcony, and strolls around the other lagoons. Our daughter is older and outgrown of the Aunty's beach house activities, but she's at the age where she is also content reading a book on the beach.

 

[Fuhnuh]

We went to Aulani twice a year for its first four years, regrettably DD17 is no longer interested in staying. We stayed 4 nights the first time and found that was too long for us. We subsequently shortened our stay to to nights. For all of the trips, we have stayed in Waikiki for the majority of our Oahu stay. It might not be for everybody, but we have found that it is a nice place to be for visiting the rest of the island. I'm not saying traffic is easy to deal with, but we've found that leaving Waikiki/Honolulu in the morning and returning in the afternoon/early evening allows us to avoid the worst traffic. That being said, Oahu is a small enough to make it work from Aulani's corner of the island. I agree that the early pool closures can make for some long evenings if you have an early dinner and go to sleep later.

 

[nkereina]

We stayed at Aulani for 6 days and I can't imagine NOT leaving the resort to explore, especially if you aren't staying anywhere else. We're two adults, no kids, so any child/family related activity was out of the question for us. We had about 2.5 dedicated resort days, and spent the bulk of that time lounging by the pool, and rotating between all the pools and the beach. We also did a spa treatment. And we did the Menehune Hunt with the iPads which was cute but meant for kids. We didn't find much else to do at the resort aside from these things.

Night time was worse - no nightlife and not much going on in Ko Olina in general at night. We got drinks and listened to music at Olelo Room, and the luau is also now an option (was still Starlit Hui when we were there, which we saw). Paradise Cove would be another luau option, but IMO it doesn't make sense to do both luaus. We walked over to the Marriott another night to check it out, and went to Monkeypod twice. So I can't imagine having more time to fill in Ko Olina... we'd be out of ideas.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We have gone to aulani five times and going again in may for 10 days, we have been all over Oahu and to all the other islands. So we never leave aulani. I get up first, go down for a latte and a workout. Wait until towels are available at 8; save chairs, run up to make breakfast, then back to chairs. We go to pools, lazy river and my husband and I go over to four seasons to play tennis. Otherwise we just read and relax. Happy to do nothing. It’s my husbands fav place.

 

[scottmel]

Wow this was enlightening! I too am a crazy rope dropper so when I read even the rope droppers were content.....I think I will plan 3 resort days but have back up activities if we want to do those we have them.....I will do the majority of my touring while at Waikikki but that hotel is more expensive than Aulani so I feel like I should enjoy the resort there too!!!

 

[newdeal]

There isn't that much to do and there is so much to explore on the island, when we went we planned a resort day and quickly realized that we did plenty of the resort without a dedicated resort day and ended up doing an activity that day also. I am just not a sit around by the beach/pool type of person though

 

[ngl]

This goes back to the age old question of what your idea of a "vacation" is and the answer depends on that. Last time we visited my kids were 7 & 5 and they will be 9 & 7 when we go this time. We did a few activities offsite on days the weather was not so great but they truly did just want to ride boogie boards, make sand castles, snorkel, etc. And we live in FL about 30 min from one of the best beaches in the nation and they still just wanted to "hang out." We are not lay on the beach all day people either - I mean, who is with young kids?! - but it was nice to decompress without a lot of planned activities. We have some planned for our upcoming trip but we are going with extended family so know there will be several days of just "hanging out."

Our kids even at the young ages never did Aunties - weren't interested. We live 1 hr from WDW so go there all the time too so I get your point re Disneyland(DVC members too so go to Vero, HH and other DVC resorts)

I would suggest when you typically go on a beach vacation, what do you like to do? From that answer you will know if you want to stay onsite at Aulani or explore. Just my perspective.