Our 1st Trip To Hawaii (Disney’s Aulani Resort).

We arrived at Disney Aulani Resort on the Monday after Father’s Day. We decided to stay four days and nights for a few reasons, but mainly because of the cost. I will break down the cost of the entire trip at the end of this. When we arrived at the airport, Hele Hele Transportation provided by Aulani picked us up. We found them right away at the baggage claim, and they took us to the parking area where we waited for the bus along with another family of four for about 10 minutes. They already had the girls’ booster seats and car seats installed, which was a plus. The cool AC was blowing as well, which felt so nice. The ride was quick, about 30 minutes. When we got there, a bellhop took our bags right away as our room was not ready yet. That was fine. We changed in the bathroom and enjoyed the beach and swimming for a few hours until the room was ready. We even grabbed some food from Mama’s Snack Stop, which we actually ate at a handful of times during our stay. They have amazing fish and chips and mozzarella sticks. Once we received the text that our room was ready, we went up to shower and change so we could go explore.

Throughout our visit at Aulani, we got to meet a ton of characters. Characters like Chip and Dale, Mickey and Minnie, Daisy, and more. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip because you had multiple opportunities to meet characters throughout the day, every day. The lines weren’t too bad either. They moved very fast, and the photographers would not only snap photos with their cameras but also with your camera as well, both cell phones and DSLR cameras. I thought this was very cool and convenient. The next day, we literally spent 5 hours at the pool. The girls were in love with floating in the lazy river, and when the water wasn’t running, Riley loved the Menehune Bridge play structure. Mama loved laying out, and Dd enjoyed the pool too. The girls attended the Make Your Own Mickey Ears workshop where they got to make their own ears. This was so much fun and personable. The girls loved it so much. We had dinner at Off The Hook, where I ordered the pork ribs twice because, oh my gosh, they were amazing. Food at the resort wasn’t hard to come by. They had a ton of different options. They even had refillable soda cups for $25. We definitely loved Off The Hook and Ulu Cafe the most. Ulu was where we got breakfast every morning. From platters to snacks, there was so much. Though I’m pretty sure we ate our weight in Mickey-shaped shaved ice from Papalua and Dole Whip from Little Opihi’s. DD and Ivy got a chance to snorkel at Rainbow Reef and swim with tropical fish. It was wild seeing them under the water. On the very same day, the girls were greeted by a very special guest at the door—my dad! Yep! He flew all the way out just to spend time with us. The girls were so happy; they loved hanging out with G-Pa and burying him in the sand up to his neck. The best memories. Side note: you can rent beach toys at Makiki Joe’s for free for a few hours at no cost. That was awesome as we didn’t bring any. You can also rent other gear too, like boards and snorkel gear, but those do cost. DD and I enjoyed drinks from Wailana Pool Bar, and I even got some beach reads in. Can’t forget the rain. Though it did rain very lightly, it wasn’t an issue, and the kids thought it was cool. Hello warm rain.

The next morning, we had character breakfast at Makahiki. It was so fun meeting Goofy and Max. We also had dinner there, where we had the best server named Tasha. If you happen to visit Aulani, please tell her about my blog. She was so sweet and kind. During our last day at the resort, the girls headed to Aunty’s Beach House for the Surf’s Up party. There, they got to decorate their own mini surfboard, play games, have character interactions, and more. They loved it, and we loved having a 2-hour break, even though we still had Riley. Our trip was over before we knew it, and it was a great time, but I do have some cons!

Overall, Aulani was great, but there were some things I just felt were off. Aulani is very overpriced. Ulu cafe had many great snack options, but $4 for a small bag of chips and $5 for bottled soda is insane. I heard some guests say they were headed to a Costco down the street. We did not have a rental, so we didn’t, but that’s a great option. Next, the activities at Aulani were pretty cool. There was so much to choose from, but beware because unless you are waking up at 7:00 am to book something or doing it months in advance, you are out of luck. Luckily for us, we pretty much got to do everything on our list. I would have loved to do family art and the Luau, but they were long sold out. So, reminder: BOOK IN ADVANCE for whatever you can. We were lucky our kids loved swimming, so they didn’t mind not doing a bunch of activities. Moving along, there’s parking. Again, we didn’t have a car, but my dad did. He had so many issues with parking—$40 unless you get it validated after 5:00 pm and spend $50 or more. Yeah, a little funky, right? I will say it was so cool he was able to join us for dinner though. Even if you’re not a guest, you can still eat and shop at the resort. Alright, lastly Aunty’s Beach House. The kids had a blast, but I did not like having to pay $18 per kid for a wristband to check them in. I get it, safety reasons, but still insane. The good thing about that is you can return them at the end and get your money back. Those were my main complaints about the resort, but other than that, I had a blast.