Planning to go to Hawaii for spring break 2018, and we were planning to stay in Waikiki. We have 2 boys (they'll be 4 and 7 then). Now I'm seeing some ads about Disney Aulani, which is usually very expensive, but it just looks so enticing with the private beach and kids' club. Has anyone else gone? Is it worth it or should I wait till my boys are older? Any tips for good deals? Any info is much appreciated.
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I went there to eat brunch one day while on vacation. It is beautiful! I plan to go back and stay there in a few years.
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We took LO when she was just under one overnight. We also went back to eat, play, visit the fish etc on other occasions since we live nearby. I like the water features and lazy river. There are no deals that I know of unless you go off peak. It is really nice there. Hope you enjoy your time there. Also lots of places to eat right across the street (and golf-search Koolina) so you don't have to always eat on site.
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@DisneyBee: It looks amazing, so I'd love to hear about your planning process!
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We want to go October 2018 but will possibly have an infant, 3 year old and 5 year old. Costco had some packages but I think we'll just do a few nights there and then stay with friends we have on the east side of the island too. I think that age range you said sounds perfect. They can enjoy the babysitting area!
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@DisneyBee: I have not been but I want to go. If all goes as planned we will go for 2+ weeks in fall 2019 to Oahu. We have a timeshare at HHV but I would love to do a couple days at Aulani.
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@FancyGem: I was initially planning to just make a reservation for their character breakfast, everything looks so nice and spectacular.
@808love: Thanks for your input....I feel like Waikiki will be just busy, busy, busy and not a true vacation compared to Aulani. So we'll see what we do.
@Anagram: I'm still unsure if we'll be able to afford it, but I'll definitely let you know what we end up planning to do.
@birdofafeather: Yes....I thought 4 and 7 would be ideal ages for this. For now, it's just cost. I'll have to look into Costco as well. I'm also asking a friend who works at Disneyland if she can get any discounts. So we'll see what I find out.
@youboots: 2+ weeks in Hawaii sounds amazing! Something to look forward to.
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@DisneyBee: Yes, Waikiki is very citylike! Aulani is more of a dream family vacation. When LO went to the breakfast buffet, she fell asleep at the table because she ate so much good food! Needless to say, she enjoyed it very much.
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We went for breakfast a few weeks ago and I really want to go back! We rented a house in Ewa Beach which was a fifteen to twenty minutes drive. We did the character breakfast and brought beach stuff and walked through the resort to use the beach which was nice and empty, clean etc and awesome for little kids because it was sort of a lagoon so nice and calm. We went back another day there is a place along side of the resort where you can park for free (arrive early though it's only a handful of spots, all beaches are public on Oahu and the resorts apparently have to offer a few parking spots to the public.) We rented paddle boards from aulani and snorkeled too. One of the days we went back into the resort and got a snack and shaved ice. Guests had wrist bands so we couldn't just jump in the pool but it was so tempting! There's a cute little shopping/strip mall type area across the street​ so you're not stuck eating at the resort the whole time too.
I think if we do it we will do half aulani and half somewhere on the North shore. The North shore seemed to be a trickier place to hit the beach with littles though, the waves are big (like that's where the world championship for surfing is.)
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North Shore is very mellow during the summer months compared to winter competition months. Good spots are Turtle Bay, Alii Beach and a few low tide random spots. Just don't go to Waimea, Ehukai, Sunset or Pipeline. It is deep there year round.
If you run out of free parking at Koolina/Aulani, you can pay $10 to park at the furthest lagoon. -
@Cole: I highly recommend to be extremely careful on the north shore I almost drowned there. Well I guess I did, but I puked up enough water and sand and was rescued by a surfer that later told me tourists die there all the time. I would stick to Turtle bay if you go that route where I recently went with @littlejoy when her DD was 2 1/2 and mine was 18 months.
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@youboots: When we went lasts month that's exactly what we did, we watched surfers at one beach and played in the sand but we headed to Turtle Bay to actually go in the water. There was no way we were headed in that water! That's so scary what happened to you! We heard several horror stories and little weren't shy about saying tourists drown all the time on those beaches.
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The don't have a private beach because there are no private beaches in Hawaii. We have been to their beach and it's very very very nice, but we don't have to stay there to visit it!
We have reservations for the character breakfast when we visit in September, but we'll be staying with family on the North Shore.
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@DisneyBee: we will be at the resort next door for spring break next year because our family has a timeshare. @JCCovi: is right, no such thing as a private beach in Hawaii, but it's pretty much as close as you can get.
I haven't been inside the Aulani because DD was only 14 months when we went last year and it didn't seem worth it, but we will go for something next year probably. -
Although they have no private beach access, you have to pay to park close by if you can't score one of the few stalls offered. I just saw they were putting up some kind of gate system so there might be virtually no parking in the first two lagoons soon. Anyway, there are private Disney lawn chairs around their entire lagoon. The beach attendant will question you if you take advantage. Long ago, we were visiting and DH put his towel on it and there were tons of open chairs. I can't remember if that is when we were staying there or not. Anyway, we go there or one of the neighboring lagoons that are a few minutes walk away.
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We went in February with our son, who was almost 4. We stayed for 7 nights in a one bedroom suite, which was great because it included a full kitchen and laundry.
We mainly stayed at the resort; there was plenty to do. We spent the most time on the beach (you can borrow sandtoys and life vests for free) and in the pools, including the lazy river. We also did the character breakfast twice and the luau.
My son absolutely loved it at Aulani, and he keeps talking about wanting to go back to Hawaii.
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@808love: we used the chairs and were lucky enough not to get questioned. The parking situation over there is ridiculous..we couldn't even pay to park one time we went. It is nice and calm for the kids though.
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@2littlepumpkins: Yes that only happened once. Nobody was on the beach so it was easy to spot us as we didn't blend.Great place for kids!
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FWIW as a kid when we'd visit family we'd always go to Ko Olina for the beach. Because they're lagoons it's very safe for kids. No waves for boogie (sp?) boarding, but it's calm and beautiful!
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I know these dates only go through December, but I have seen a similar deal come up a couple of times through Travel Pirates. Maybe something to watch?
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I found some interesting tips for saving on Disney vacations here - https://pointstoneverland.com/save-disney-gift-cards/
We're leveraging a couple of these for our Disney cruise next winter. I'm guessing I'll save around 10%. It's not the easiest thing but it's become kind of a game to see how much I can save on it.
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@ShootingStar: Yes those gift cards are a great idea! We do that for our Disney spending money.
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My 4 year old loved the kids club but it was sooo crazy packed last July. So much so that we won't go back.
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@DisneyBee: I would ask your friend about the family & friends discount. I just booked a trip for Aulani for September in a 2bdr villa and the agent over the phone told me it was 50% off (husband is a cast member), friends and family discount should be about 40%.
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We have not stayed there, but when we were in Hawaii last fall, we went there to look around. It is very nice, but expensive. We were going to eat lunch there, and ended up walking across the street to a pizza place because the places to eat inside Aulani were so expensive!
It is an amazing resort, but whether or not to stay there depends on what you want to do while on Oahu. The Aulani is pretty far away from everything else (Pearl Harbor, Waikiki, Polynesian Cultural Center, Iolani Palace, etc). It would be great if you plan on spending most of your time relaxing at the resort, but if you want to get out and see more of Oahu, then I wouldn't stay there because it really adds a lot of drive time whenever you want to go anywhere else. On a map, Oahu is not very big, but you have to keep in mind that traffic there can be pretty bad... We stayed just outside the Waikiki area and it took us about an hour to drive to the Aulani during non-rush hour traffic.
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