Aulani Newbie? Disney Veteran? Here’s What to Know.

You only get one shot at the magic of discovering a new Disney destination on your first visit. But showing up with no planning at all is … a choice. It’s a challenge to find the balance between planning enough to be ready, without spoiling your chance to explore once you get there. I recently visited Aulani for the first time as part of a milestone anniversary trip. With dozens of Disney World trips under my belt, here’s what I would have found helpful to know before heading off to Hawai’i.

There Are More Dining Options Than It Looks Like

Our stay at Aulani was five days, and I wondered if we would quickly get bored with the food on site. It turns out that the answer is no. We’re foodies, and although we didn’t try every dining location on property, we found the food we did try to be high quality, fresh, and tasty. Also … expensive. More on this in a bit.

At Aulani itself, there are two Quick Service restaurants, a casual Table Service (The ‘Ōlelo Room), two sit-down Table Service restaurants that take reservations, and a few Quick Service carry-away counters. There’s plenty of variety. Character dining is available too; Makahiki offers breakfast with Mickey and Friends.

We also found there’s quite a bit of other dining in easy reach. The Four Seasons shares a lagoon with Aulani, literally right next door. The Marriott Ko Olina Beach Club is two lagoons down, but still a pretty easy 15-minute walk along the beach sidewalk that connects the lagoons.  And across the street is the Ko Olina Center, with several small eateries and an ABC store. This convenient Ko Olina Dining Options site lists all the food you can walk to from any of the Ko Olina resorts.

We found the dining at the Four Seasons and Marriott much easier to reserve than Aulani’s ‘Ama ‘Ama and Makahiki. Reservations for Aulani dining open 30 days in advance, and at two weeks ahead, we found slim pickings. In contrast, most Four Seasons and Marriott restaurants had availability same day.

Hearing that, you might wonder how the quality compares. We ate at both ‘Ama ‘Ama – Aulani’s fine dining restaurant – and Mina’s Fish House next door at the Four Seasons. The food at both was wonderful. But Mina’s was a better experience, and didn’t have a prix fixe menu. I would choose it over ‘Ama ‘Ama in a heartbeat. Reviews of top options at the other Ko Olina resorts suggest they can also go head to head with ‘Ama ‘Ama. Let’s be clear — I’d be happy to eat at ‘Ama ‘Ama again. But if you’re looking for a splurge dinner, it’s far from your only choice.

Personal recommendation: Monkeypod Kitchen. Of course, we gushed to everyone we knew about how excited we were about this trip before we left. And of course, everyone who had been anywhere near Ko Olina had recommendations for us. Without exception, they all put Monkeypod on a “must try” list, and after the trying, we can’t disagree.

I live near Boston, so I’m no stranger to a high cost of living. Even for us, Aulani food prices – and prices elsewhere on Hawai’i – were high. I’m talking at the Quick Service Off The Hook, French Toast was $23, breakfast for 2 and a kid ran us $78 high. Yes, Aulani was maybe a bit higher than other places in Ko Olina. But most food in Hawai’i is imported, and so it’s expensive. Even more expensive than many other high-priced tourist destinations.

What you can do: first, we found the portions at Aulani were large. We would have been happy to split that French Toast I mentioned, or go with a kid-sized serving. And like Disney World, groceries will let you take some meals in your room, dampening the impact of spending on poolside Fish ‘n’ Chips. Those in DVC rooms will, at a minimum, have a mini-fridge. The 1- and 2-bedroom Villas will have full kitchens.

On site, there are limited grocery items (similar to what you’d find at a Disney World resort store) at Kalepa’s Store. You can also arrange grocery delivery to the resort from the surrounding area. Unlike Disney World, bell services will not hold it, and you’ll need to meet deliveries in the lobby. If you prefer to shop on your own and you don’t have a car, there is a free shuttle to a nearby mall with a Foodland Farms grocery store. And Island Country Markets, the ABC store in Ko Olina Center across the street, offers grocery basics, a deli counter, and prepared foods.

Reserve in Advance, but Check After You Arrive

Plenty of fun is included with your Aulani reservation for free. Beach and pool access, waterslides, character Meet & Greets, activities like ukelele lessons and storytelling are gratis. But some activities require reservations, even if they are free. And there is a wide selection of upcharge opportunities, including craft activities and special experiences at Aunty’s Beach Club. If something is important, try to reserve in advance. Both ‘Ama ‘Ama and Makahiki are popular. Reservations open at midnight Hawaii time, and there are different windows for dining, spa, and activities.

• Reservations for excursions and the KA WA’A Lū’au are handled through a third party and open 4-6 months out.
• Spa reservations open 90 days in advance
• Aunty’s Beach House (kids club) reservations open 90 days in advance
• Cabana rentals open 90 days out (must call)
• Daily activities reservations open 45 days out
• Dining reservations open 30 days in advance

If you reserved everything you wanted before you arrived at Aulani, that’s awesome. But if you wish that some plan you made in advance could be a bit different, check and see in person once you get there. And don’t be afraid to try making spur-of-the-moment reservations during your trip.

Although we arrived with some reservations in hand, we found there was a lot of flexibility once we were on site. Sold-out meals had availability. Spa reservations for two that were booked back-to-back could be moved to the same time. Etc. — “Your mileage may vary.”

Use the Aulani App to Make Reservations, Not the Site

The exception to Aulani reservations in the app is the KA WA’A Lū’au, and the excursions. A third-party booker handles these, and you can only reserve on the website. For everything else, I recommend booking in the app.

The app is pretty good, with a (standard for Disney) organization into four main menus: Home, Map, Plans, and Hamburger.  But if you’re used to My Disney Experience, you’ll expect the app and website to be interchangeable. With the Aulani app, you’ll need to rein in your expectations a bit.

You can make spa reservations in the app or on the website. But they only show up on your plans in the app if you made them in the app. The same goes for dining reservations. If you reserve an upcharge activity through the app, it will appear in your plans. But if you change it to a different time at the front desk, that change won’t be reflected in the app. Everything is not quite as connected as in My Disney Experience.

There are two pieces of great news. The first is that the app is much better for making reservations. For instance, when making a dining reservation in the app, there is an option to “find next available time” that doesn’t exist on the website. The second is that you can add Custom Plans in the app. So you can still put in reservations made elsewhere and use the app to keep track of everything in one place.

One more piece of app weirdness: dining listings only have links to PDF menus. To see the menu in a format you’re more used to from MDE, head for Mobile Order on the hamburger menu. Hopefully this changes in the future, because it’s pretty awkward.

A word about MagicBands

You can use MagicBands at Aulani; we used both MagicBand+ and 2nd-gen MagicBands while we were there. They can be used for payment, entering your room, etc., and are just as convenient as they are at Disney World. If you have them, bring them!

The Luau Is Worth It, but Not for the Food

Don’t get me wrong, the food was tasty and we enjoyed it. But at Disney World, you don’t pay the cost of a Hoop de Doo ticket for the food – you’re there for the show. You should obviously take my words with a grain of salt here, as we have been to exactly one luau in Hawaii – the KA WA’A Lū’au at Aulani.

Disclaimer in place, we thought the luau had great production values (oof, so that sounds so clinical), typical of Disney. Mickey and Minnie appeared briefly, but the flavor was so much more Hawaii than Disney. There are other luaus, including two within walking distance. You may find one on Oahu that fits your budget better. But I don’t think that if you choose to push the easy button and do the on-site luau, you will walk away regretful of that choice.

Take the Two Free Tours

Aulani is not a theme park; it’s a resort. Even if you’ve never been to a Disney theme park, I hope that you’ve found this article useful. But if you have, you will know what I mean when I say that Aulani has Disney in its bones. It’s not that Mickey and Minnie are popping out of every corner, because they aren’t. But the depth of attention to theme and detail, the richness of the environment, will remind you of other Disney resorts and parks that you’ve visited.

In the daily ‘Iwa (activity schedule), you’ll usually find two tours: Māka’ika’i: “The Art and Culture of Aulani” and “Māka’ika’i: The Culture through Nature”. Each runs about 30 minutes but often goes a bit longer with questions. Both focus on the resort’s design, detailing how Disney worked with local artists to thread meaning throughout Aulani’s art, architecture, and landscape. If you’ve taken an “Art of the Theme Show” tour on a Disney cruise, you’ll find these tours similar, but with even more detail.

Fans of Animal Kingdom and Animal Kingdom Lodge may find that the spaces feel especially familiar. There’s a reason for that, as legendary Imagineer Joe Rohde worked on both. Animal Kingdom Lodge is a personal favorite, and one of the things I love about it is that it feels so respectful to the cultures it represents. Aulani shares that, placing Hawaiian culture and history at the forefront. You don’t need to take the tours to enjoy a stay at Aulani. But they give you the keys to understanding and appreciating all the Imagineering that went into it.

Have you been to Aulani? What advice would you have about how this resort is similar or different from other Disney experiences? Let us know in the comments!