Disney's Aulani



Lobby

David and I visited the new Disney resort, Aulani, last year during the first week it was open.  We ate at the ʻAmaʻAma restaurant which has a stunning ocean view.  To our surprise, the menu lit up when opened!  David always carries a tiny flashlight on his key chain just so he can read menus, so this was a unique and welcome touch.  The choices were a delight.  We just couldn’t decide.  It was last year, so I can’t remember what we ate, just that most everything was from the islands and the chefs used traditional foods in creative ways.  It is, however, very expensive.

view of slide and lazy river

This year we returned to Aulani during the day with a friend who was interested in their lifeguard system.  This resort has certified lifeguards for all the pools inside the resort.  They have an extensive lazy river system, an incredible slide, a snorkeling area with tropical fish, and a splash play park for kids.  Our friend thought this was the only resort in Hawaii that had certified lifeguards.  When he was interviewing one of them, she always had her eye on the water while talking.

Lazy river

We wandered the grounds and were impressed by the little details they added to make the resort special. Lights shaped like bubbles in the foilage. Koi of unusual bright colors. Water lilies in perfect bloom. Hand braided rope on posts. Tiki torches especially and artistically made. Lots of Hawaiian art and artifacts. Hawaiian traditional themes.  We also ran into Stitch.

Stitch

The ocean waterfront has water toys you can rent.  For example, a stand-up paddle board for $30.00 per hour.  They are new, lightweight, and have a plastic hole so you can lie on it if you want and look at fish.  David and I rented it together for an hour.  It wasn’t that hard to do, but it would take practice to balance for more than a few minutes.  The Marriott resorts charged a lot more per hour and the boards were not as nice.  Disney also offered a special outrigger sail excursion right from the beach lagoon.

End of slide

Rates for Aulani are not outrageous.  You can book a regular room for $375.00 per night.  Or a special offer was $500 per night including breakfast for an ocean view.  The rooms are spacious with a sofabed, frig, balcony, etc.  To compare, the Four Seasons on the Big Island is over $1,000 per night for a regular room. 

snorkeling

Disney seems to know how to give people a vacation.  The boys compare every other family vacation we took to the one we had on the Disney cruise line in about 1988.  Except for the rogue dolphin that pointed Aaron into the pier and hit his head, it was an amazing vacation.  The kids were having a great time all day and the adults had plenty to do that was fun as well.  Aulani is the same way in that you can leave your kids at the pool areas and go off and do your own thing.  There are activities all the time.

I have to say that at our timeshare at the Marriott KoʻOlina, they do a good job as well with activities for everyone and it is very comfortable and nice.  Of course the KoʻOlina lagoons are the main attraction:  wide sandy beaches protected by rocks to create a lagoon, where snorkling is good as well.