Cabanas-are they worth the cost?

Anna Chassereau

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 9, 2016
My family and I go in June and I just reserved a cabana for one of our chill at the resort days. My son and I are both redheads and need to stay out of the sun and this obviously guarantees us shade. Just thinking about the hefty price tag and wondering what everyone’s opinions are on these...For those that have rented a cabana for the day what did you think? Did you think it was worth the cost and would you do it again?

I requested one by the infinity pool/grotto...I know it’s not guaranteed but it sounds lovely...is this a good area for a cabana?
 
For my family it was absolutely worth it. I find the pool chair situation at Aulani exhausting. And we also burn easily. Having a cabana made for a wonderful and much more relaxing day. We had one by the grotto and that was a great place for it. I would absolutely do it again when we are back. A less expensive option can be reserving the beach casabella, but that had to be done day of when we were there. required getting up early to reserve as they would sell out.
 


Definitely worth the cost, especially in June when its a busy time and especially because the pool chair game can be annoying and exhausting as PP mentions.

The executive lanai is another option, which is cheaper as PP mentions. IMO, it's a little further from the action of the main pool, but it has great ocean/beach views. It's nice if you plan to go between the pool and the beach, and its your own little area which is nice. The downsides though are that one of the main stairwells to the beach is adjacent to the lanai, so there is constant foot traffic going by. And some people are too aloof to realize your area is reserved, so some have reported having to shoo people away all day. Also, as the strong sun of mid-late day starts to come over head, the lanai is in direct sunlight. There are umbrellas and casabella shades, but they need to be constantly adjusted to maintain shade and eventually, they don't adjust far enough anymore to provide shade. We ran into this with the beach casabellas which face the same direction. We had to leave around 3-4pm because we were burning up and weren't shaded anymore.

Depending on how many in your party, there is also the upper and lower veranda which are on the far edge of the property on the other side of Ama Ama. Very private and secluded, almost full shade all day. Good beach/ocean views. We didn't like the isolation, but they area ideal for shade and relaxation/quiet.
 
Definitely worth the cost, especially in June when its a busy time and especially because the pool chair game can be annoying and exhausting as PP mentions.

The executive lanai is another option, which is cheaper as PP mentions. IMO, it's a little further from the action of the main pool, but it has great ocean/beach views. It's nice if you plan to go between the pool and the beach, and its your own little area which is nice. The downsides though are that one of the main stairwells to the beach is adjacent to the lanai, so there is constant foot traffic going by. And some people are too aloof to realize your area is reserved, so some have reported having to shoo people away all day. Also, as the strong sun of mid-late day starts to come over head, the lanai is in direct sunlight. There are umbrellas and casabella shades, but they need to be constantly adjusted to maintain shade and eventually, they don't adjust far enough anymore to provide shade. We ran into this with the beach casabellas which face the same direction. We had to leave around 3-4pm because we were burning up and weren't shaded anymore.

Depending on how many in your party, there is also the upper and lower veranda which are on the far edge of the property on the other side of Ama Ama. Very private and secluded, almost full shade all day. Good beach/ocean views. We didn't like the isolation, but they area ideal for shade and relaxation/quiet.

Thank you for this! This was the main reason I didn’t book the executive lanai...I’ve read it gets hot and isn’t shaded all day. I may look into booking one of the veranda’s for another resort day...I like that they have a lot of shade!
 


Does one need to call Aulani to reserve the cabanas and/or executive lanai?
Yes you do and they book early. Also, depending on your time zone you may need to wait to call. The office for the reservations isn't open all the time. I think they opened at 6 or 7 Oahu time.
 
Does anyone know where the cabanas are going to be for the second part of the pool closures?
 
How far in advance can cabanas be rented?

Yes I think you can reserve one at least a year in advance. I wouldn’t wait if you want to get one...they go really fast from what the representative told me. The original date I wanted during our trip was sold out and we go in the middle of June...I had to settle on another date during our trip and move everything around. I’d definitely call sooner rather than later if you want one:)
 
we have been at tail end of spring break and again in sept. Not necessary in sept. At spring break if I had an income of like $400,000+ then yeah I would do a cabana but not at the grotto, but somewhere with a better view of the ocean. For that kind of splurge we’d rather spend it on food at the Four Seasons but if we could swing it, we would do both.
 

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