Aloha cousins!
I cannot believe that the holiday season is just around the corner – which means that I am only a little over a month away from traveling with my husband to Aulani, Disney’s Hawaiian Resort & Spa. This is our first stay at Aulani, but this is my husband’s first visit to Hawaii.
How do you begin planning a trip to Aulani? What are some things to consider when booking your trip? What did I decide was most important to book for this trip and what did I learn in the planning process? Here are a few of my thoughts and discoveries throughout this planning process.
I’ll start with the latter first.
One thing that I learned in planning this trip is that there are so many different reservation dates to consider and, in true Disney fashion, you will certainly not want to sleep on booking the most popular experiences.
When exactly would you be able to book? The reservation window will vary based on what you are looking at. Generally speaking, these activities and reservations can be booked anywhere from 30 days-180 days prior, but you also have to consider that timing is based off of Hawaiian Standard Time. That said, the windows can open as early as midnight HST or as late as 11am HST on that particular day.
For myself, the Luau (dining experience) was booked back in August, but we are still waiting until we hit our 30-day window to book any other dining reservations.
Side note: this is even more of a reason to work with a friendly neighborhood travel advisor (like me!) who takes care of all of that planning for you.
One thing I found out as I was beginning to plan my trip to Aulani: it doesn’t seem like there is a ton of content out there for Aulani specifically. I was a little surprised by that and I ended up doing my own research/coupling it with previous travel experience and the recommendations from family and friends who have lived in Hawaii.
Aulani, Disney’s Resort and Spa in Hawaii
Our priorities lie in experiencing as much as we can at the Aulani resort itself and doing a few things around the island that I know that my husband should experience during his first visit and would really enjoy.
This personal trip is very important to both my husband and I. Hawaii has always been a destination that we wanted to travel to and experience as a couple. Since this is not a regular trip for us, it was critical to make the most of the time that we have and find some sort of balance of exploration and relaxation. We plan to visit Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial as well as Kualoa Ranch. The new experience for me will be participating in a luau. We opted for the luau at Aulani, KA WA’A, and will be attending that earlier in our trip.
Can I just say how excited I am to adventure to Aulani for the first time though?! Definitely looking forward to making more of those core memories.
If you have any questions, or if you have any Aulani-specific content that you’d like to see, please feel free to e-mail or message me. Happy to help!
Mahalo!
— Nicole Cross
@nicoleofthemagicsocietyco
