We recently returned from spending 6 nights at Aulani, a Disney Resort and Spa. Prior to the trip we considered many hotels before settling on Aulani, thinking that we would use this trip to determine if Aulani was “worth it” for future trips. Here are some of the biggest positives and negatives for our group as we break down whether Aulani is “worth it”.

The pools were amazing. We were on an adults-only trip and still took a turn on the water slides down from the fountains and a few tours around the lazy river. While it wasn’t a full on water park, between the kids’ play pool, the zero-entry pool, and many other pool and hot tub options, there were options for everyone, not to mention they have Rainbow Reef where both kids and adults can either snorkel or use supplied air snorkeling to check out native fish and corals.

There was also a beach after you walked past the pools and onto the sand. Because the beach is in a man-made cove, it is sheltered from many of the big waves, even though we were there at the end of the big surf season for North Shore. Compared to many of the public beaches we went to, there were far less rocks, seaweed, and trash. It was a perfect white sand beach and there were loungers available when we were there, even in the middle of the day. The beach is shared with the Four Seasons, which is Aulani’s next-door neighbor, but there are no other hotels using the beach cove area. We went out to the beach at night and nearly had it to ourselves. The pool areas are also much less occupied at night, if you want more space to yourself and the lighting for the pool at night including different colored lights on the lazy river made it almost a different experience than the day time.

On our last day of vacation, we had to be out of the room by 11 a.m. but our flight didn’t leave until 4 p.m. We all decided we wanted to spend the morning in the ocean and pools one last time which wouldn’t have left us enough time for everyone to shower and get ready to go.

On the last day of your trip, you can stay and swim as long as you want and you can reserve a time for your family to get ready before leaving at the Luana Lounge. Reservations can only be made at the front desk, in person, the day of your check out. My understanding is times later in the day fill up fast. When it is your time, you get a one-time use room key that lets your group into the lounge. There was no one else in the Lounge when we used it.

The Luana Lounge is basically a large lounge with a locker room for men and one for women. In each locker room, there are lockers, showers, restrooms, and a changing area. They have everything you may need to get ready including the typical Disney H20 bath and body products, lots of towels and hair dryers. Being able to get ready here and not needing to be ready to go at check out time, really allowed us to make the most of our last day at Aulani.

Also, there is a lounge that you can use for free at the airport, the Ko Olino Club Lounge.

The lounge has a nice seating area and restroom and has small snacks to purchase. It is air conditioned, which can be important in the Honolulu Airport and it gives out free water. In order to be able to use it, you just need to sign up for a free reservation via their website. We got one the day of. Unfortunately, we didn’t stay long because we thought there would be larger food items for purchase, and ultimately went up to get something from the food court before our flight left, but it would probably be a great option for the time after you have eaten.

While we didn’t have kids with us and didn’t use Auntie’s Beach House, I don’t think it would be reasonable to leave it out when considering if Aulani is worth it, because many of the people going are families. Auntie’s Beach House provides childcare from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. each day for children between ages 4 and 12. Kids get to participate in a variety of activities related to Hawaiian Culture and Disney characters. The best part is that there is no additional cost for this service, unless you book a premium activity for your kids. Premium activities do have an additional cost. My understanding is the Disney Photo Pass Photographers take pictures of your kids doing the activities so you can see what they have been up to while you have been at the Spa, shopping, off-property doing an activity or just enjoying some time to yourself.

While you know we like a fancy restaurant, the main fancy restaurant at Aulani, ‘Ama ’Ama, is currently only doing dinner and only doing dinner as a four-course tasting menu. While we would have been able to find things we liked and have a nice dinner, we did not believe everyone in our travel group would have found things that they enjoyed or would have found the $125.00 price worth-while based on the selections available.

You should definitely consider transportation options, time and costs before deciding to stay at Aulani. Aulani is on the Windward side of the island, while most of the typical tourist destinations/activities are on the Leeward side of the island. That means if you want to go to Waikiki Beach, you will need to factor in a drive of approximately 45 minutes each direction in good traffic times and more like 90 minutes each direction if you are traveling in rush hour traffic.

On a previous trip we were able to get a limo to pick us up from the airport, give us each leis and some other goodies, and to pick us back up from our hotel and take us back to the airport for about $150.00. That was in 2016, so I am sure the price is up some now.

On this trip, we rented a van (we had 6 people) and the cost was between $500.00-600.00 without damage waiver and then we also had to pay to park in many locations. While the van definitely allowed us more freedom to go to places that would have been too expensive with an uber, if we had stayed in Honolulu again and not gone to some of the outlying attractions, we could have done without a car entirely.

Overall, I think the answer to whether Aulani is “worth it”, depends on what your plans are. If you plan to do little in terms of sightseeing and more of a pool/beach trip with kids, the pools and beach set up as well as the activities, character’s and free childcare probably weigh heavily in favor of staying at Aualni. If you don’t plan on pool days and just plan to use your hotel as a home base to explore the island, you may do better with something in Honolulu proper to avoid lots of commuting and to give yourself quick access to many of the typical attractions. What I can say is that if you choose to stay at Aulani, and you use its amenities, you won’t be disappointed.