Iceman13
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2009
Our family (myself, DW & DD [11]) arrived at the magnificent Aulani Resort this afternoon for a one week stay. I told myself I would take the time to submit a trip report to share our experiences. The six hour time difference has made for a long day today, but I think I can make it through this first day's report without nodding off at the computer.
First off, you need to understand that this is not our families' first time to Hawaii, but it is our first visit to Aulani. Also, our family kind of plays things by ear when it comes to vacation, we don't usually make a lot of advanced reservation, unless we feel we have too. We went into this trip with a list of possible activities, but not much scheduled in advance.
We drove to Chicago yesterday to catch the flight this morning. We had a delay loading the plane at O'hare, but we made up some time and arrived in Honolulu only 30 minutes late (2:30pm local time). We grabbed our rental car and hit the road to the resort. The drive is an easy one. When you leave the airport, you take "Interstate" H1 west until you hit the Ko Olina exit. Then you follow that road into the resort area and it takes you right by Aulani. We ran into a little traffic that slowed us down slightly, but we still made it in around 30 minutes.
As many have said before, the resort is beautiful. Disney has done a wonderful job building a resort that is wonderfully themed and comfortable. The first thing that we noticed was just how friendly and helpful every person was that we met. Every cast member we saw as we entered the building greeted us with a smile. The valet, host and our bellman all took the
time to make sure we were introduced to the resort an answered all of our questions. They do make one feel at home.
Our room is on the 16th floor with an ocean view. When we first got there, none of our three keys would unlock the door. I made a call down to the front desk and within a couple of minutes they brought up three replacement keys and made sure all of them worked before they left us. They handled the whole thing well. We have a 1 bedroom suite and it was everything we expected it would be. The view is fantastic! At some point I will post a picture.
After I self-parked our car, we took some time to walk around the resort. When we went to the pool area the first thing we saw was Mickey taking pictures with the guests. We got in a short line and had our picture taken with Mickey. They gave us our PhotoPass card and mentioned that Donald would be at the same spot within the hour. We found all the pools/hot tubs, the restaurants, the snorkeling and stingray areas, Aunties' Beach house, etc., then went back to get our picture taken with Donald. At that point it was time for dinner and we were all starved.
The one dinner reservation that I made prior to our trip was today at Roy's, which is near Aulani. Many people have talked about the place and had lots of good things to say, but seeing (and tasting) is believing. Our meals were wonderful. My wife had a Macadamia crusted swordfish and I had a "sampler" platter (I can't remember the name) that had a shrimp, lobster and fish dish. The thing that impressed me the most was that they knew our DD was hungry and made a point to get her food to her right away. Believe me, minimizing the time having a hungry cranky daughter, made the folks at Roy's my heroes.
Before dinner we walked from Aulani to Roy's. We were not sure the best way to get their, and ended up taking a rather non-direct route. During dinner we learned that there is a shuttle that makes stops at the area resorts and at places like Roy's. It stops at Roy's twice per hour and we took advantage of it for our trip back.
When we got back to Aulani, the rest of the family went to the room and sent me for the grocery run. I had some gift cards for Safeway, so that was where I needed to go. I wasn't sure the best way to get there, so I asked the valet. They gave me a card with turn by turn directions to the Safeway, and it looked like they had other places as well. With my card, I made it to the store with no problem. I mainly purchased breakfast, snack and drink items and some lunch meat for sandwiches. When I checked-out the total came out to be around $180. They then offered me the Safeway shoppers card, which I accepted, and the bill after they scanned my card was $133. Even if I never use it again it was worth the time it took to fill out the form that came with the card. If you go to Safeway, make sure you ask for a card if you don't have one.
That is it for the day. Tomorrow we plan to stay at the resort and hit the pool and some of the other activities offered at Aulani.
First off, you need to understand that this is not our families' first time to Hawaii, but it is our first visit to Aulani. Also, our family kind of plays things by ear when it comes to vacation, we don't usually make a lot of advanced reservation, unless we feel we have too. We went into this trip with a list of possible activities, but not much scheduled in advance.
We drove to Chicago yesterday to catch the flight this morning. We had a delay loading the plane at O'hare, but we made up some time and arrived in Honolulu only 30 minutes late (2:30pm local time). We grabbed our rental car and hit the road to the resort. The drive is an easy one. When you leave the airport, you take "Interstate" H1 west until you hit the Ko Olina exit. Then you follow that road into the resort area and it takes you right by Aulani. We ran into a little traffic that slowed us down slightly, but we still made it in around 30 minutes.
As many have said before, the resort is beautiful. Disney has done a wonderful job building a resort that is wonderfully themed and comfortable. The first thing that we noticed was just how friendly and helpful every person was that we met. Every cast member we saw as we entered the building greeted us with a smile. The valet, host and our bellman all took the
time to make sure we were introduced to the resort an answered all of our questions. They do make one feel at home.
Our room is on the 16th floor with an ocean view. When we first got there, none of our three keys would unlock the door. I made a call down to the front desk and within a couple of minutes they brought up three replacement keys and made sure all of them worked before they left us. They handled the whole thing well. We have a 1 bedroom suite and it was everything we expected it would be. The view is fantastic! At some point I will post a picture.
After I self-parked our car, we took some time to walk around the resort. When we went to the pool area the first thing we saw was Mickey taking pictures with the guests. We got in a short line and had our picture taken with Mickey. They gave us our PhotoPass card and mentioned that Donald would be at the same spot within the hour. We found all the pools/hot tubs, the restaurants, the snorkeling and stingray areas, Aunties' Beach house, etc., then went back to get our picture taken with Donald. At that point it was time for dinner and we were all starved.
The one dinner reservation that I made prior to our trip was today at Roy's, which is near Aulani. Many people have talked about the place and had lots of good things to say, but seeing (and tasting) is believing. Our meals were wonderful. My wife had a Macadamia crusted swordfish and I had a "sampler" platter (I can't remember the name) that had a shrimp, lobster and fish dish. The thing that impressed me the most was that they knew our DD was hungry and made a point to get her food to her right away. Believe me, minimizing the time having a hungry cranky daughter, made the folks at Roy's my heroes.
Before dinner we walked from Aulani to Roy's. We were not sure the best way to get their, and ended up taking a rather non-direct route. During dinner we learned that there is a shuttle that makes stops at the area resorts and at places like Roy's. It stops at Roy's twice per hour and we took advantage of it for our trip back.
When we got back to Aulani, the rest of the family went to the room and sent me for the grocery run. I had some gift cards for Safeway, so that was where I needed to go. I wasn't sure the best way to get there, so I asked the valet. They gave me a card with turn by turn directions to the Safeway, and it looked like they had other places as well. With my card, I made it to the store with no problem. I mainly purchased breakfast, snack and drink items and some lunch meat for sandwiches. When I checked-out the total came out to be around $180. They then offered me the Safeway shoppers card, which I accepted, and the bill after they scanned my card was $133. Even if I never use it again it was worth the time it took to fill out the form that came with the card. If you go to Safeway, make sure you ask for a card if you don't have one.
That is it for the day. Tomorrow we plan to stay at the resort and hit the pool and some of the other activities offered at Aulani.