Disney Aulani Reviews From The Whole Family

I’m still soaking up the memories from our Hawaiian vacation! This luxury family travel adventure is not the usual way we vacation. We stayed 3 nights in the north shore of Oahu before spending 4 nights at Disney Aulani in Ko’Olina. When I share with friends how much we actually spent on this vacation, they usually retort with was it worth it? The answer isn’t clear cut and depending on who you ask in the family, the degrees of enthusiasm varies. So, here it goes: our Disney Aulani reviews from the whole family, answering the questions of whether the expense was worth the luxury and if we’ll be taking a return visit to Aulani in the near future.

Disney Aulani Reviews

Aulani Reviews

Here is the cast of travel journalists contributing their Disney Hawaii Aulani reviews, starting with…

Daddy D: we celebrated his 40th birthday on this trip. He loves luxury travel and feeling special. He’s an active guy who works out often and would be considered a “hands-on dad”. He loves to nap. Daddy is super mild tempered and doesn’t need a lot to keep him content.

Mama: I love adventure, culture and learning new things. I talk with strangers everywhere and anywhere. I’m easily bored, or what my husband considers “not relaxed”. What makes me happiest is knowing my husband is excited (versus just mildly contented) and that my kids are learning and enthusiastic about life.

Sister: 6 years old and a total sweetheart. Thrives on family time and making memories. Her love language is having quality time together, regardless of where we are or what we’re doing.

Brother: 4 years old and a super active boy. He’s happiest when he has challenges to face, space to run and a body of water to jump into.

Related: 5 Reasons Disney Cruises Are Worth The Money

Arriving at Aulani in Ko’Olina

Daddy D: Arriving at Aulani was organized chaos. We must have gotten there at rush hour because the number of people in the lobby was overwhelming. Luckily, Disney knows how to do crowds and we never waited longer than 5 minutes to check into our room or have our questions answered.

Mom: The design of the resort is awe-inspiring and filled with nods to Hawaiian culture and ancestral values. You can tell Disney took great care in designing and decorating the resort, making it feel at home on the Hawaiin islands. I really appreciated that.

Sister: Mama, look at all the paintings!

Brother: Mama, look at all the pools!

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One Bedroom Villa with Garden View

Daddy D: YASSSSSSSSS! King sized bed with a flat screen tv!

Mama: A full kitchen? A washer and dryer? At least it comes with house keeping!

Sister/Brother: So many beds to jump on! Bathtub with jets! Rainfall shower! Outdoor movie night from our balcony! AND you can order pizza!? Heaven!

Disney Character Breakfast at Aulani’s Makahiki

The Whole Family votes: YESSS! Yes, yes, yes! We’ve done nearly every character dining experience at Disneyland and, let us tell you, the Disney Character Breakfast at Makahiki is not to be missed. The kids enjoyed the interactions with the characters because they spent a greater amount of time at each table. My favorite was the in-culture dining entertainment though. Aunties visited the tables, sung beautiful Hawaiian tunes and engaged the kids in group activities.

But the best part? The food was GOOD. Like gooood, good.

So, you should definitely go for a chance to get a great picture with Mickey, but also because an upscale buffet with various options to entice any palette is always a good idea.

Aulani’s Kids’ Club or “Aunty’s Beach House”

Daddy D: Worth every penny!

Mama: Don’t let my husband’s lack of words fool you – Aunty’s Beach House was a huge reason why we ultimately decided to stay at Aulani. After researching similar resorts, childcare costs would have easily compared to what we spent. And since Disney knows how to make magic happen, I felt better knowing my babies would be extremely well cared for at Aulani.

Normally, our babies are with us 24/7. This was the first trip that we actually planned for them to be away from us during a vacation. They spent an average of 2-4 hours at Aunty’s Beach House each day. During that time, Daddy D took naps and went to the gym. I went on photography walks. We checked out the adults-only pools and talked for an hour while we let the gentle current of the Waikolohe Stream carry us away. In general, we just decompressed, helping us to regain our energy for memory making with the kids.

A tip for Aulani’s Aunty’s Beach House: register beforehand! Make selections of the classes/parties your child would most enjoy and they’ll pre-schedule you. This is great because you have a definitive time in which your child can access the kids’ club and you’ll avoid the madness of day-of planning.

Sister: When can we go back to Aunty’s Beach House? We made crafts and they gave us snacks.

Brother: Me and my friends liked playing video games the best.

Aulani’s Entertainment and Activities

Daddy D: This place is awesome. So many options to keep us busy! The pool parties are my favorite.

Mama: The Starlit Hui was SO much fun (happens once a week, so check the daily calendar!). Disney truly knows how to put on a great show. If you’re going to spend top dollar for a Hawaiian resort, having plenty of entertainment and activities to keep you busy is a plus. I also loved the photo class, the sunset photographer (make an appt!) and the fire pit storytelling.

Sister: My favorite was watching Zootopia from our hotel room! (Mom adds: we stayed in room 1077, which was perfect to watch Aulani’s Ohana Disney Movie Nights from the comfort of our balcony. We ordered pizza, too!)

Beaches and Pools at Aulani

Certainly a favorite for the whole family, the pool areas at Aulani thrilled each one of us. Our routine was to spend a few hours in the morning at the Aulani Lagoon beach – where you can rent free boogie boards, sand toys and other fun stuff – before heading back into the pool area. Here are our thoughts…

Daddy D: I loved that there are several pools to choose from and easy access to the beach. I went on the water slides and inner tubes slides with the kids a lot. Plenty of space to splash, swim and be silly. I thought the bridge and splash structure were pretty cool, too.

Mama: I really appreciate that the resort makes an effort to ensure there are chairs available throughout the day. If you leave your stuff unattended for a few hours, attendants will fold your towel in a specific way. If after two hours, the towel is in the exact same spot, your stuff is stored and the lounge chairs become available. Some people hate it, but I appreciate the effort and organization.

Sister: I loved swimming with you and Daddy alllllll day! Wasn’t that fun, mama?

Brother: My favorite was jumping in the pool, swimming in the pool, finding crabs at the beach, swimming at the beach, learning to do flips in the water, going down the lazy river….. (you get the idea. He loved it all.)

Is staying at Disney Aulani worth it?

Gosh, I don’t know how we could say that it wasn’t. With everything organized, busy families can just show up and start making magical memories together. This entire trip was a dream.

I booked this trip almost a year in advance and booking directly with Disney means you can make payments. Once I saw the promotional sales begin that were applicable for my timeline, I just called and asked to take advantage of them. That saved me 30% off the total (a huge savings), a $150 resort credit (that we used at the beautiful Ama Ama Restaurant) and a free day car rental.

Yes, our stay at Disney Aulani was luxurious. Yes, I believe that staying at resorts like this make it difficult to venture out and explore the true culture of the area (because, hello, there is too much to explore on-property). But man, we had a great time. Daddy D was HAPPY. Not just content. He was thrilled to be pampered and offered so many luxurious amenities that were easily accessible and enjoyable to all of us.

And, at the end of the day, my husband’s happiness – knowing that he was relaxed and enchanted while ushering a new decade of life – made it all worth it me. So ya, Disney… you’ve got us hooked. Thanks for being the backdrop to many of our young family’s most magical memories.