Aulani, A Disney Resort and Spa

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

7171 reviews

• 

  Aulani in Winter

  My Fiancee and I recently stayed at Aulani on a 1 Bedroom Ocean View suite from 17 Jan to 23 Jan 2025. I am a DVC member but promise to give an honest assessment even though its my 3rd time to Aulani in 5 years. Kim and I got engaged in Maui the week prior as this was a 3 island trip I planned for us. Aulani is beautiful and the service terrific. We enjoyed the Olelo Room Bar area, Hot Tub, Lazy River, Pools and the convenience of what was nearby. The biggest comment is for two indivudals in the Olelo Room bar, Aukai and Jeana. Both provided outstanding service, quality food and drinks and provided helpful insight to local places we were interested in visiting. We felt it was important to mention them because we did come back a few times to just enjoy the great service and nice atmosphere. My one concern I did have and its not a bad thing but I miss the open menus that the other restaurants used to have. I see more catering to the Disney Dining which is ok but my fiancee is Vegatarian and the Olelo room was the only option that could serve her food she could enjoy. The other places used to have more options but its not just a tailored 4 course menu.

  Jan 27, 2025
• 

  Love this place

  I have to start this review, by saying we live on the east coast of the United States and this was our 7th time visiting Aulani. We are now 70. These visits have been without any children. That should speak volumes of what we think of this incredible resort. The design of Aulani is unlike any other hotel you find in Hawaii. It’s amazing design celebrates the Hawaiian culture almost everywhere you look. It’s a feast for the eyes and the senses. While it is a Disney property, and there are ample opportunities for character encounters, the best character here is the resort and its cast members. It’s two lounges both offer very decent food offerings and great drinks and service. There is also carry out offerings from the Ulu cafe for breakfast, lunch and dinner. An evening at a table outside the Olelo room, having some sushi and a cocktail while listening to Wonderful Hawaiian performers is as close to paradise as one can get. Of course Aulani suffers from “chair hogs” a problem almost every resort and cruise ship encounters. People who drop towels on a dozen pool chairs at 8AM. We, however, never had a problem getting two chairs with an umbrella on the beach. Returning the Aulani Quiet pool this year to an adults only area, was a welcome change. It was “adults only” when the resort opened and we were delighted to find it “adults only” again There have been some other changes since the property opened that we would love to see return to how they were originally. We sorely miss Ama Ama as an a la Carte restaurant. As a price fixed restaurant, it’s a high price for such a limited menu. In the past we might eat there 3 times in two weeks. Since the change we haven’t eaten there once. We also miss Ama Ama as a 2nd musical offering. We’ve seen some absolute Hawaiian legends there over the years For those first timers, there are plenty of places “off campus” to enjoy cheaper and more local offerings and also a number of places in Walking distance to just mix up the menu a bit. We will be back for an 8th time. It’s just that good.

  Jan 27, 2025
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  It has appeal, but I think only for a small group.

  The location is nice and the activities are fun, but in classic Disney fashion they charge for basically any activity you want to do. This wouldn't be a problem if there were other options out there around the way, but since you are kind of not near any other parts of the island, you are basically stuck. The pool chair complaint everyone else seems to have is a bit overblown in my opinion, are you not able to get the best seats you want whenever yes, but that's life. I do wish the food options were better, we ended up driving around almost every night looking for better options, which wasn't hard to find.

  Jan 20, 2025
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  Great stay!

  What a beautiful resort! Fabulous Disney service, a great location, amazing property and services, beautiful views! We definitely look forward to staying here again. The character breakfast was amazing. Fabulous staff! Centrally located to all you will need.

  Jan 11, 2025
• 

  Beware - Aulani & American Idol

  We had a family vacation planned for early Feb '24 and had to book our accommodations back in summer '23 (with limited availability back then which is partially how we landed in early Feb '24 – that and to get away from the cold). To our surprise, American Idol was taping the entire time we were there. We were never notified and when I asked at the front desk they said I should have received an email in Fall of ‘23 letting me know this was occurring during our stay. We never received an email. When I asked other guests about it, only about a handful of them did receive that email. There was no notification at the front desk when we checked in either. Doesn’t help the supposed email came about 4-5 months after we had booked everything. Our stay was horrible. We had little kids, our youngest was 10 months old at the time, and had to deal with constant noise that went to 9pm on some nights (even though we were told there would be a hard stop at 7pm every night). The erected a massive stage on half the beach, cramming all the guest to the other half. There was a constant battle for seating and space. We were told we could go use another lagoon but that meant we would have to be responsible for bringing our own chairs and/or pay other hotels to rent theirs. A bunch of amenities were closed off due to taping, including some prime seating areas with views out to the ocean. Additionally, they stopped all night time amenities (uncles stories, shows, etc.) for guest and provided them only for American Idol taping and the guests were roped off from the areas. The worst part was the NOISE. We are coming from a large city and looking forward to some quite. The first 3 days we dealt with constant construction noise as they built the massive stage. Beeping forklifts, hammering, drilling, a true construction site. All the heavy machinery was not ideal with kids. After that is was constant screeching from the American Idol contestants as they rehearsed their songs. It went ALL day and into the evening. Then we had to deal with the actual taping of the show which went late. We were looking forward to having our windows open and feeling the ocean breeze but had to keep them shut most of the time because of the noise and just so my kids could sleep. Other guests were taken aback by this as well and were super unhappy as we all paid full price to deal with all the chaos. The managers at Aulani were super unhelpful. When I asked if this would be typical every year they said no. Thus, we decided to give Aulani another try. Booked for Feb ’25 and made sure not to cross any paths with American Idol again. Kept a look out for any emails and even call the front desk of the hotel to make sure American Idol will not be taping when we go again. Thinking I had everything covered this time, I was shocked a month before when I read online that American Idol will there again the same time we are. When I called the front desk again, they said they couldn’t comment on a “private event” ….couldn’t even tell me as a paying guest that would be occurring even though I was able to find all this information online. Long story short, Aulani and Disney are a bunch of scam artist. There are a lot of other good choices for hotels out there that will at least give you the decency to notify you or at least help to better accommodate you for the inconveniences you go through when they are hosting a “private event”. Aulani did nothing in that respect. I advise you to check out some better places on the island where you will get a true experience and not the Hollywood BS.

  Jan 07, 2025