Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa

Extremely disappointing experience, especially considering we were paying over $1,000 per night. Aulani simply does not feel like a luxury resort. The rooms are dark and dated, the bedding is nothing special, there is no room service, and housekeeping only services the rooms every other day. These are basic things you would expect at a hotel charging a fraction of the price. The food was probably our biggest disappointment. It’s extremely expensive, very basic, and generally poor quality, with surprisingly limited restaurant choices. Even something as simple as getting a cappuccino or latte after about 10 AM was seemingly impossible. The pool area is overcrowded, and the lounge chairs are packed so tightly together that they’re literally touching. You’re fighting to find a chair and then practically crawling onto it once you do. The entire experience feels like Disney is relying on the name and location rather than providing the service and quality that should come with these prices. The property itself also feels aging and in need of updating. If you regularly stay at good luxury hotels or resorts around the world, Aulani will sorely disappoint you. Unless your children are specifically begging for the Disney experience, I would strongly recommend looking elsewhere. At over $1,000 a night, there are simply too many missing services, mediocre amenities, and compromises to justify the price. We constantly felt like we were paying luxury-hotel prices while receiving a very average—and sometimes below-average—hotel experience. We would not return. Also last but not least on our final day happen to be August 17 when a hurricane was hitting and we just simply asked them we can extend our room from the 11 AM checkout to like 2 PM because all the pools basically the entire resort was closed and they just blatantly said no and put us out with three little kids absolutely unbelievable

We had a lovely time when we were on Aulani property. Pools are beautiful, restaurants have great food & service, and the Luau was fantastic. Our only issue was the 3rd party"birding hike" listed on Disney website. It described a hike to an isolated pool where there would be an opportunity to swim, and we would be treated to Vietnamese spring rolls for lunch. The experience had no resemblance to the description. 11 of us signed up & confirmed, and we arrived on time to pick up location (1hr from resort). The "guide" seemed surprised all of us had come and said first off that his van seats 10 (incl him), and his little brother would be tagging along. There were no seatbelts for us as we tried to be game and squeezed into the beat up van. The hike Disney lists has no rating-- experienced hikers will be familiar w ratings of easy, moderate, hard, strenuous, and advanced. This was advanced and dangerous, esp for several aged members of our party. Two of us bailed. The rest endured slippery slopes of poorly maintained trails, and there were 3 significant falls, though thankfully no serious inquiries. There was no pool. There was a roaring river the guide suggested we traverse at hip-high depth for average height person. We elected not to. It appeared dangerous. There was no lunch. The guide said they had not offered lunch for 18 months and blamed Disney for the inaccurate details. There was one nice view of a valley. We saw 2 birds. I'm an avid hiker and have hiked all over many NPs, and this is singularly the worst hiking experience I have ever had. The offering is not accurate and as such is dangerous for unwitting people who may not realize what they have gotten themselves into. The guide initially gave snarky responses when I raised concerns re all of us but esp hikers in their 50s - 70s. He eventually cane to understand the concern. All of us who did the hike are fit and experienced hikers. This experience was reported to the Aulani prior to our departure, but there has been no follow up. We paid >$120 each for this horrible experience. I was so shocked bc I never would have expected this from a Disney endorsed excursion. It is unsafe.

Stayed here for 1 night during our trip to Hawaii. We absolutely loved our stay and would definitely go back. The hotel is very impressive, it looks and feels Disney but also Hawaiian. Room was comfortable with good amenities, we enjoyed the complimentary coffee machine with the coffee pods. We really enjoyed meeting all the characters and they were so much fun, really interactive. Loved the lazy river, however, there always seemed to be a bit of wait for a floaty ring, people just didn’t want to get out of the river, which can only mean a good thing. Not many free sun loungers either but we found one between 3 of us as we didn’t spend much time at the lounger. We had the Mickey cheesecake and Moana cupcake with the brownies which went down a treat. Also went to Off the hook restaurant in the evening which was very good!! The morning following our stay we had the character breakfast which we booked in advance as I knew that it would get booked up fast, we really enjoyed this and managed to get our last 2 autographs from the 2 characters that we didn’t get the day before, food was lovely All the staff we encountered were lovely, so welcoming and friendly, this makes such a difference.