Aulani, A Disney Resort and Spa Reviews

Love the lagoon at Aulani. Great for kids and has nice soft sand. Also a good place to learn how to snorkel because the waves are blocked. We go swimming at the lagoon all the time.

We had an absolutely incredible one week stay at Aulani earlier this year. Our kids wanted to be at Auntie s Beach house more than they wanted to be with us. The sit-down restaurants were all really good- be sure to make dinner reservations before your trip. I played the Ko Olina golf course & we visited the shops across the street. Our one bedroom villa was roomy enough for our family of five (kids 7, 3, & 2). The spa was world class. Theming was great and we were just a few minutes away from some other beaches if you want a change of scenery. If you want to stay here at a steep discount, rent Disney Vacation club points thru one of the DVC rental websites and you ll spend a lot less.

Everyone was super nice and warm and just made me feel so special

Fun, quiet place to relax, enjoy snorkeling, lay on the beach and take in the sun or walk and enjoy the views. Must see when on the island.

Ideal to go with children, their stay service for children is excellent, while children play the couple can dine or do activities such as snorkel or paddle.

Full disclosure- we are DVC members. Aulani was excellent, our kids loved Aunty s kids club. The pools are amazing. The beach area perfect for some relaxing and hanging out. The Lua u was a great experience for the whole family with stuff for everyone. Parking is easy and the hotel is close to the Ko Olina golf club which had the LPGA event on when we were in Hawaii.

The staff all bend over backwards and make all activities worth doing, things like learning the ukulele , learning to draw characters as well as beach side boot camp. I could go on forever but if you can stay here, definitely do, it truly is magical!

Beautiful resort. Super helpful cast members, everything is so easy!

Don t let the reviews fool you. There are only 2 real doors in the villas and that s the front door and the master bedroom door. The rest are sliding doors with slits all over them so you get no privacy and can hear everything going on in the villa. The WiFi is atrocious and everything is over priced. A simple grey t shirt with a design in the corner is $40. There is garbage all over the beach and spoiled little kids who think they can do whatever the want. Don t waste your money.

I will go to the third Aurani this time
This time is a little shorter than usual and it is 16 nights
After all Auruani is a place to enjoy with peace of mind! I am not bored and I have a good service
Let's spend leisurely leisurely! ! Moth

True Paradise loved every minute I was there. Eating there was too costly for families and had to eat off site

Yummy MICKEY macadamia nut shortbread cookies dipped in milk chocolate in the store. It's MUST BUY! Individually wrapped. WONDERFUL gift for ANY family on your Christmas, Birthday, Holiday party list. STOCK UP THERE! UNAVAILABLE for PURCHASE ONLINE! Really truly.

Great place for a nice relaxing time with family. Everything is on site. Not near Waikiki but you get more of a scenic view. The kids will keep you at the pool all day which is fine, there is also a bar and various places to eat.

This resort only had two failings: beds and food. The beds were soft and mushy and had no support and left my back aching every day. The affordable food options were slim pickings and to be honest, pretty gross. Ama Ama was delicious, but considering we dropped $150 on a dinner for two, it's not a great choice for the family. The pools and slides were fantastic, the lagoon was great, and the staff was all awesome. Highly recommend the luau for a great show (but again, mediocre food).

Great food, great service, love seeing the Disney characters. Great place for the children to have a meal and have fun at the same time. If you walk around the property, you might get lucky and see other Disney characters walking around .

The Disney Aulani Resort is a fun place for families with and without children. My husband and I had a great time and we were lucky to have a garden view room which was away from the main section of the resort and in the same building as the spa and the fitness center. Our end of the resort was very quite. There are 18+ areas that are great if you don't have kids with you. The lagoon/beach was sandy with very little rocks. The breakers keep the water in the lagoon relative tame and make for pleasant swimmit experience. This resort has plenty of activities that come with your stay and many excursions that you have to pay for separately. I highly recommend booking the Majestic Island Circle Tour and the Pearl Harbor Tour. The only thing that was annoying was the fact that the pool side bar stopped serving iced coffee at 11am, but the coffee shop across the street was open for your afternoon coffee fix.

A Disney (and Pricey) Experience as Expected:

Arrival: Great welcome. Staff awaits you at the front of the hotel to greet you. Very nice after a gruelling long flight.

Lobby and Check-in: Nice-looking lobby typical of a Disney resort. It can look fake but clean and nice nonetheless. An acceptable line during check-in, not too long. The staff who processed our check-in was courteous and professional but DID NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT with my wife. Not really sure why.

Dining: Ate at Off The Hook bar near the pools. As expected, pricey food. $ 18 for Angus burger and fries with a taste not any better than Habit's Burgers.
Grabbed some snacks at Ulu Cafe and they have a great selection though still pricey. $7 for a small container of sliced fruits.

Breakfast: Had breakfast at Ama Ama Restaurant. Sit down place and staff are also courteous and always smiling. Pricey as usual but tastes good. Had Ama Ama Breakfast sandwich which has egg and lobster claw for $25. Quite pricey but has adequate amount of lobster meat.

Rooms: Short distance walk from the lobby to the elevator that takes you to your room. We stayed on the 11th floor and had the partial ocean view. Not perfect but still a great view of the ocean and the beach/lagoon.

POOL & BEACH: Went to the pool at 10AM and its already packed. Disney has this policy of timing lounge chairs for one hour and if you dont come back in an hour, they will take away your stuff to free up the lounge chairs. Annoying but makes sense since many folks tend to occupy chairs for a long time. The pools are clean but with many screaming (and a few crying kids). The water slides are OK, dont expect a thrilling slide though. The tube slides take about 30 seconds from top to bottom.

Now the beach (or the lagoon). It can get crowded but if you are willing to walk to the far end, its better. Nice for swimming, paddling but not for snorkeling. Due to the sand, it can get clowdy.

Will update again.

Very family friendly, staff is happy to help with any needs that may arrise. Rooms are extremely quiet and both my 6 month old and toddler had not had any trouble sleeping here. Large pool complex keeps the water areas from feeling overcrowded even on busy days. Relaxing walking path along the beach is easy to access and great for letting little ones roam. Food prices on the property are high as one might expect of Disney but affordable meal options are within walking distance, and the in room mini fridge is big enough to accommodate a fair amount of easy breakfast and lunch items.

Amazing Resort , great service and location. We will be back

We didn t stay here, but we visited!! The store was great. I can see the appeal of staying at a Disney Resort (you are pretty much treated like royalty), but we came to Hawaii to experience the beauty of the island of Maui. We flew into Honolulu for the day & couldn t pass up a quick visit, though we d never stay here for the cost. We are huge Disney fans, though!

Excellent accommodations and exceptional service from the Disney staff. If something is not right, they will make it right for you and your family. Highly recommended place to stay.

Aulani is a great hotel with alot of things to do for all members of the family. The resort still looks brand new and is the best hotel that disney has built by far.

Stunning ivews and great hospitality. Highly recommend.

We were delayed at check-in as the room was not cleaned. We were credited $50 and upgraded to an ocean view room.
Rooms are clean and beds comfortable. The resort is basically a water park with a hotel. Only saw two characters on property and at character breakfast...Goofy and Minnie.
Also ate at the Ama Ama. Service was slow. Burger was good but rest of menu was below average for the price.
Shave ice was wonderful.

$700/night and not even a microwave in the room, but I get it room service food is supposed to be cold right? Staff are frequently disingenuous and avoid contact with customers. One of the staff was taking orders for people in a "locals" first mentality. The woman made eye contact with me and walked away. I ordered two queens and got a queen with a pullout couch. Oh and the "partial ocean" view is code for parking lot. You're better off going next door to the JW Marriott and getting a day pass to the water park down the road. It's my second visit and this was NOT representative of what I've come to expect from Disney, especially at such a premium price.

We have facilities that all our family members can satisfy. But the price is expensive, but the resort offers plenty of services.

Hotel is awesome, but needs more of a Disney vibe. Not enough of Disney anywhere

Amazing experience for my family of 5! Stayed on the 14th floor, great view! Dis the dinner show which was buffet of fun options and it encouraged my kids to try new dishes while getting to take pictures with some of the Disney characters. This was the same with the character breakfast! The water areas and slides were enjoyed as well!

Absolutely wonderful resort! Must stay here if you have kids or are with a disney lover. High quality as would be expected.

King crab was salty but it serves best Oyster in island

It was a bit chilly because I told it during the New Year, but it was a very gorgeous and relaxing resort hotel. There are not many Disney colors.

Dinner was great its always a plus to have crab legs on the line

We went for the Disney Character Breakfast and enjoyed it. The buffet was good and the atmosphere was fun. It was very similar to the Disneyland character breakfast, only with a Hawaiian style.

The service was always fine with a smile and everything was taken care of. The only thing that stopped this place from being fun for every single age is the lack of entertainment for 17-20 year olds. The little ones get to go to Aunties Beach House, teens get a Teen Club and 21+ can drink and are most likely not here without family .

It's an irresistible place for Disney fans.
Waiting time to take photos with Mickey and Minnie
Almost no.

Where do I begin! So many nice things to say about this resort. It was definitely one of the best vacations we had. My husband took our kids and I to Oahu for mother's day. It was our first time visiting Hawai'i and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Our flight arrived at 5 a.m. and we got to the resort a little bit before 6 a.m. The bell service greeted us as we got to the entrance, asked for our last name and told us room was ready. I was so happy because traveling with a 5 yr old and a 20 month old can be challenging. Went to the check in to get our key and they brought us our luggages as we called the bell service. It was such a breezy process.
Every staff there was friendly. It was probably the nicest service we got from a resort staff. After we settled into our room, we went to check out the pool and water stuff. On the way, a staff asked us when we arrived and if they gave us the proper greetings. I didn't know we were supposed to be greeted with a leis and escorted to our room. She apologized and gave us our orchid lei, kukui nut lei, and menehune necklaces for the kids. Then We checked out the aunty beach house and everyone was friendly there too. My son loved it so much he wanted to go back every day!
The lazy river and the pools were relaxing. We also went to the beach and there are plenty seats to sit on. Beautiful scenery and definitely magical paradise on earth. Being from Bali, this reminds me of home.
We checked out ipad from the pau hana room so my son can do the scavenger hunt around the resort and it was magical!! Rocks came to life, fire and water falls, volcano erupted all from the things he did on the ipad. He was amazed by it. He was able to hear the menehune giggling too. At night we sat by the firepit to hear Uncle tells a story and we also watched movie by the lawn.
The price was higher than most places we stay for our yearly vacation and prior to this trip I could only imagine the amount of $ we'll be spending during our 5 days stay. But as we checked out, our bill wasn't too outrageous! With that being said, we didn't dine at ama ama or the makahiki buffett. We did our majority meals at the mama snack stop and ulu cafe (where we got the refillable mug for $18 each for unlimited refills for our stay and it was worth it). The shave ice next to mama snack stop was HEAVEN!!!
This is not the regular disney theme park experience. You will see characters meet and greet with long lines but not as crazy as at the theme park. The characters also stroll around the resort randomly and will take pictures and say hi to you if you ask the cast member. We were just at the pau hana room when Minnie came by and we got to dance and take pictures with her all by ourselves. It was a rare ocassions for my kids and they loved it.
We got a free one day rental car but we only went out to find a local food down at waipahu area. Other than that we stayed at Aulani the whole time. Being a disney and a beach girl, this was the best of both worlds for me. With a husband who works hard all year long and tavelling with little ones, staying at 1 place to relax, enjoy your family and spend some quality down time, Aulani is the place to be!

There are more Japanese than Koreans.
The accommodation fee is expensive, but I was so happy after going to the swimming pool in the resort wearing a swimsuit, going to the sea, and eating.
You can also barbecue, so take a freshway around the area and take a 10-minute drive to fill with fresh ingredients! Borrow a tool from Community Center #7 and use it.
If you want to feel the quiet Hawaii, it is best! Character breakfast only once!

Great for kids, rooms small, crowded but kids club makes it worth it

Great place for the kids. The water area is great for all ages. Only thing I wished they had was a bigger store with more Hawaiian theme disney character items. Unless I missed it, none of the stores really had that. Like a Winnie the Pooh wearing some Hawaiian theme (my daughter loves Winnie the Pooh). I went to the Ala Moana Center Disney store and found a small amount of Hawaiian Theme items.

So much fun with Disney characters, relax and active as well.. floating river and vocalno at the poolside, special edition of Disney characters sell only in here.

Hospitality is great.
The sunset looks beautiful.
It may be unsatisfactory for those who care about Disneyness, but I think it is a wonderful hotel with a collaboration of Hawaiianness and Disneyness.

Went to character breakfast. Greay food and kids loved seeing the characters

My first time staying there for 2 Nights 3 days as soon as you check in they gave us a Hawaiian lei especially a small necklace for my son. Here s a picture of my food I ordered from room service and a view from the pool to include a picture from our room bathroom and a little sneak peek what we chose for breakfast . They have plenty to do for kids and adults especially many pools to choose from and pictures.

Absolute dream vacay for the kids. Amenities are great, and the pools are heated and lots of fun. Lazy river probably the highlight right now, but we still have lots to experience on the is trip.

An absolutely exquisite experience. No one out-does Disney!!

Water costs $4, pool chairs are GONE by 8am (when the pool opens- GET MORE CHAIRS!) and the food everywhere (one restaurant is closed due to Covid) is like cafeteria food (except more expensive) and for some reason, the most frustrating experience is that the umbrellas/pool/beach chairs are all zip-tied together so you can t move them as the sun moves!

The kids love the pools and slides. They also like the interactive activities using the tablet which takes you exploring around the resort.

Everything costs money. Ridiculously priced. Lagoon had bacteria. The paddle boards were like being in a small fish tank and we're super over priced. $40. A half hour. Snorkelers were ok, but bacteria levels were high. Chlorine was way too heavy in the pools..took 2 days for my daughter to get the Chlorine smell off with 4 showers. All the lounge chairs were on top of each other. Veggie burger was described as all fresh veggies and much going beans when it was nothing but a frozen store bought Dr pragers pile of oil with junk white bun. Over priced too. Parking as a guest and no real story where to park was way over priced at $40 a day. If you buy over 50 dollars worth of merchandise the parking garage is free..lol. it was not breezy on that side of the island. I moved here from ny and live on windward side. It didn't feel like Disney until the crowded over priced gift shop. I would not go back again and I only visited for a day. Oh rooms were way over priced that my cousins got, but a group rate was moderately better.

My family was treated to this experience from a good friend. :D The staff here is exceptional and friendly. Even when things were drama on night one, they tried to eventually work with us and smooth things over. The only issue is, of course, the resort prices. Everything is expensive! But other than that, it was a wonderful experience. :)

Before entering the store, Mickey and Minnie Pluto Goofy took pictures at breakfast and it was a fun time.

Expensive. Dark decor. Crowded & not relaxing atmosphere.

Drove for the sunset. Seems like a lovely place to stay.

The resort is very nice and the staff are good... Just not Disney quailty great. The entire place rolls up at 8p. So don't expect a busy night life. Also the internet is absolutely terrible and I called many times just to be blown off.

A great family destination. Not the fanciest hotel, but makes up for it in family fun and opportunities to meet characters, enjoy a great beach and high quality food.

Great facilities and room, but service was sooooooo slow. It's not even busy season so I don't understand it

Good service but is pointed more towards a younger audience, the pools are all for children but the beach is fantasic, rooms are nice l, nothing to complain except for the lack of things to do nearby except the small food places outside

Expensive yes but I don't have to fly to California or Florida that alone saves a lot . We love this hotel. The staff is awesome then make your stay very comfortable and they'll try their hardest to make all your needs available. Great job you guys and girls keep up the good work I will keep on coming back

Love it. Everything you need on the resort, restaurants, coffee, ice cream, ABC store within walking distance.

Oh my God were do I even start well the building is BEAUTIFUL and ko olina is a wonderful beach the waters are calm I went boggie boarding for the first time everyone I meat were very friendly and the food and souvaners at the gift shops are great waikalohe valley is a blast

Sressful. The entire Pool chair situation is a mess. If you didn't get up by 7 am and use a towel from night before to save seats ( there s a no save policy/thats not followed or enforced) then its Impossible to get a seat by the pools as in multiple locations.
The in room service at 830 Pm started with " I need to inform you that there is a 90 minute wait ? Really Walt..how is that Family friendly.

Characters came around. Dollar for Dollar not worth it for the 4 nights . suggest 1 night to get the thrills of water features and stay down the road other nights

This hotel is very beautiful. So much to do there. The pool area is large and has a lazy river. The ocean view is amazing and definitely worth it. It is also very close to a bunch of shops next door which are a wide variety. It is also close to Honolulu (the state capital).

The buffet was super good it was expensive but totally worth it! The atomoshpere was also super nice.