($urviving) Aulani Resort, O’ahu, Hawaii
Aulani is a great place for kids. Let me rephrase that again, Aulani is not doubt a wonderful place for kids. It is truly wonderful to see my kid being so energized every morning makes it almost worth it. But the cost of staying there is not so much. A price tag per night of $750 (not yet including hotel fee), does hurt your bank account, a lot. Thanks goodness that we have a friend who worked for Disney, and he was able to book us a night stay for $460 per night, and we stayed there 2 nights. Also, do remember to visit the pool area daily to get your wrist band, so the staff knows that you are a guest there. Each day, it is a different color wrist band that can make cool suivinere. Since you are there, don’t forget to ask for the today resort programs. Each day, the hotel put out special programs that they would have on that day.
To survive the high cost of the Aulani Resort itself, you have to be creative. First of all, Aulani is located at Karolina, roughly 30 miles away east of Waikiki, and far away from any hustle and bustle of the city in Oahu. This means that you will need to surrender to premium cost for food. Because my co-workers have told me this first hand, I brought a lot of the food myself and, I put them in my carry-on; mostly fruits like cherries, apple, oranges, strawberries, Japanese crackers, chips, and trail mix bars. For a tropical island, it is surprising to see fruits are so expansive. For example, an apple would be $2.50 each. The Aulani hotel does not really have a great selection on healthy food, so the fruits were perfects snacks. I wish I’ve brought instant noodles cause they would make great mid-night snacks.
There are couple of restaurants (on Olani St and Alin’inui Dr.) across the hotel that are a bit cheaper than the Aulani eateries.
But, if you want to go cheaper than that, you should visit the ABC store, it has a variety of selections of food and at the same time it is a grocery store where you can buy juices, soda, beer, instance noodles, candies, etc. The good at the food court of the ABC is not really good, but a lot of people don’t really mind. Also, the beach toys for the kids are very cheap, so you don’t have to bring then to Aulani and take up rooms in your luggage.
During my stay, I went to Ko Olina Hawaiian BBQ and Sushi Yuzu. At Ko Olina Hawaiian BBQ, they do give you a lot of food and it would fit for 2 people and each plate averaged $17. The Sushi Yuzu was awesome, because the sushi was fresh and it comes with miso clams soup, salad, one roll, and bowl of rice and teriyaki beef for $40, and it would easily fit for a couple.
Now for Aulani, itself. I believe that that the best side to say at Aulani is the Villa side, because it has a small kitchen and much roomier than the resort side. If you don’t plan to eat across the hotel, do make reservation in advance with Aulani restaurant, this including breakfast and lunch.
The free thing that the guests of Aulani can enjoy are water. Yes, they do server quality water that comes from the 5 gallons carboy and not the facet water. The best part is that it is ice cold all of the time, and the staffs that are in charge of it, does a great job. As a trekker, I always take my 64 oz Hydro Flask with me. This helps a lot, because it is the best way to bring water to your room. Disney does not provide in room bottle water (or because we stay at the Villa side of the resort), but they do have coffee and tea for you. Now, water is available throughout the resort, but you have to find them, the best tasting water is at the front of the hotel where your taxi drop you off, because they have fresh fruit submerged in them, so they smell good.
One if the awesome program that the hotel has is the Aunty’s Beach House, where you can drop off any children (3-12 and potty-train) for free from 9:30am. This place offers a varities of fun for the children from singing, dancing, crafts and fee-based activities. This is nothing more than play time with your child.
The next free thing is the Koi fish feeding and the Rainbow Lagoon fish feeding. In my option, it is okay but the kids seem to be very excited. Kids loves it because they get a response by the diver.
If your kids are old enough, do the Menehune scavenger hunt, where kids are equipped with a iPad to play an interactive game that take you throughout the resort. I believe that there are 4 different hunts, but I did not do that cause I’m on vacation and like to lay next to the pool or beach.
Disney character hunt. This is fun for the children, but not so much for an adult because you will have required to move around the hotel (a lot and everywhere) to find the Disney characters and snap a picture with them.
Do take your kids to all of the pools and slides. My favorite is the kids pools that looks out into the beach. It is an awesome pool to be on (and the hot spa for adult as well) during dust.
There is free music nightly if you stay on the upper deck of the lobby bacony. It usually start at 8pm. And weekly fireworks (on Wednesday but check with your hotel). You can enjoy it more at the pool or at the beach area. The fireworks lasted 20 minutes.
If you are like me, I like to roam outside the hotel, do take the free hotel shuttle that comes very half hours. The shuttle will got to the Ko Olina golf coarse, Malakole Harbo, Marriotts, Ko Olina Beach Villas Resort, the Four Seasons Resorts, and back to Aulani. It is a fun ride and a great way to explore other hotels around the area. The shuttle is a great transportation to take you to the beginning of the Lagoon 4 and you can walk slowly back to Lagoon 1 (Lagoon 2 is in front of Auluni). All of the lagoons’ beaches has lawn chairs that you can use for free.
Now, the DON’Ts when you are at Aulani.
First, don’t stay longer than 3-5 days, depend on your tolerance. To begin with, it cost so much. And after the 3rd days, you want to see something different other than the Disney characters and the hotel. If so, take the hotel shuttle. We spend half day at the Marriotts because (in my opinion) it is so beautiful and more than Aulani itself. Don’t forget to bring you own towel when you do.
Second, if you are not a Disney Vacation Club member, don’t rent a car. The parking cost per day to park a vehicle is $35. Besides, if you are spending a fortune on a resort, why do you want to leave the resort to go and see something else? The tax (Charlie’s Taxi) cost from the Honolulu International Airport to Aulani is $55 one way and easy to catch outside of the airport. You don’t have to waste so much time at the front desk of some car rental. Oh yeah, it cost a lot more to rent a car in Hawaii than in California; unless you know where to go which I will talk in a different blog.
Third, you don’t need to bring sand toys because they have it the ABC store for really cheap. The resort has life vest for the kids and it is free to rent or check out. This stuffs can take up space from you to store food in your luggage.
Not a lot of people can go and enjoy Aulani, but you can enjoy the 4 lagoons for free. To do this, you have to go to the Ko Olina Beach Park. There is a free public parking at the end or tip of Waipahe Pl, Kapolie (not be mistaken with the Ko Okina Beach and Sport Club which charge $5 for all day parking). Just follow the Waipahe and when you are at the tip, do a quick right into the parking lot.
My final thought of Aulani is that you should experience once. Do go if you have the chance. I’m glad that I did, but would probably not come back. My reason is that there are so much tourists there that the beaches are beaten up, and I’m not talking about Aulani alone, but the whole Oahu, Hawai. I remember 8 years ago, I would swing on any beaches, I would see fishes everywhere, but now I see nothing but sand and water when I go snorkeling.
On a more cheery not, seeing your kid so excited make the trip all worth it.