A special thank you to Guru Jenn aka DisSavvy for her wonderful series on Aulani. Want to know more about visiting this beautiful Hawaii Oasis? Contact her at jenn@thewdwguru.com for more details. Follow her on Facebook.
******
My hubby was sent to Hawaii for a work conference. His bosses said he could go earlier than the conference and take me with.
10 days in Hawaii in February without kids. Remember this past winter? I couldn’t wait to escape the cold and snow! The Disney freak in me immediately asked “So how long are we staying at Aulani?”
I knew NOTHING about Hawaii. Remember The Brady Bunch episodes when the family went there and they were cursed by that tiki idol? Yup, that’s all I know about Hawaii. Now, I’m an expert!!
Disney’s Aulani Resort and Spa is located on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. We flew from Illinois to Honolulu. Our flight was direct – but slightly delayed so it took 19 hours total to get there. We rented a car and drove to Aulani which is located in Ko’Olina.
As you can see from the map, Aulani is a little ways away from Honolulu. It took about 45 minutes to get there. There are shuttles and taxis but they are pricey.
For the record, I was happy to have a car on property during our stay. We were able to come and go as we pleased to tour the island.
There is a daily parking fee of $35 unless you are members of the Disney Vacation Club staying with points. (Thankfully, we were using points on this stay, so no parking fee for us). If you have no intention on leaving the resort, then I would suggest no rental car.
We arrived at the resort in the late afternoon. We parked and entered the GORGEOUS Maka’ala lobby. (I might use the word gorgeous a lot).
If you’ve ever been to the Enchanted Tiki Room, think of that but on a larger and more elegant scale.
Buildings in Hawaii are very open. Many seem to have absolutely no walls. You’ll walk into a place that has a ceiling and a floor – and there have to be walls somewhere to hold things up, but when you walk in and can see straight back to the outside behind the building, I wonder how the building stands! The best part? Breezes just flow through the lobby.
The views are also pretty fantastic.
Here is my lame attempt to get a photo of the lobby. From this vantage point, there is open space behind me and open space in front of me. We were met by a cast member who directed us to the check in desk. We were quickly checked in and headed to our room.
There are several views available. We chose the standard view. We were only going to be there for a couple of nights. If we were there with children AND for more nights, I would have gotten a higher category of room. Having said that, our standard view was of a lovely grassy mountain. I loved our view — though I didn’t spend much time on my balcony.
The bed spreads had Mickey detailing. We had our towel origami Mickey head. This one had the island touch of a flower hair clip.
The room is well themed. The bathroom – gorgeous! Prettier than mine at home. Plus the robes – AHHHHHHHH. I haven’t had a Disney robe at my disposal since my first visit to the Grand Floridian the year it opened. I felt spoiled!
The likeness to the Tiki Room and the Polynesian was always in my mind. I was ready to hear “My siestas are getting chorter and chorter” at any moment! (That’s a Tiki Room reference.)
What else can be found at Aulani? Check out my next article!!
Contact Jenn today to begin planning your magical Aulani vacation. Call 877-825-6146 or email Jenn at jenn@thewdwguru.com. You can also click below to request online pricing.
[maxbutton id=”2″]