Aulani: What's the One Thing You Wish You Knew?

[MichelleB]

It was said countless times, but if you have access to a washer/dryer, pack less. Take more swimsuits and cover-ups. Take fewer street clothes

Yes, yes, & yes to this!!! I'd read that & didn't listen. We had the washer/dryer & it's so easy to toss a load in & if you hang things to dry, they dried overnight in the closets. We had only packed 5 outfits per person for a 13 night trip & still had clothes we never wore!

 

[MichelleB]

DON'T FORGET TO USE YOUR SUNSCREEN. (Smarty-pants 20-somethings paid dearly for that mistake!)

Second that too! My husband took the kids to climb up Diamond Head (I couldn't go due to recent foot surgery). My last words were "don't forget to put sunscreen on". They got there & it was overcast so husband told DD18 that she didn't need to put it on. Guess who can back looking like a lobster & was miserable?!? So moral of the story....put on sunscreen even if it's overcast!

 

[happymommy]

It was said countless times, but if you have access to a washer/dryer, pack less. Take more swimsuits and cover-ups. Take fewer street clothes.

DON'T FORGET TO USE YOUR SUNSCREEN. (Smarty-pants 20-somethings paid dearly for that mistake!)

Relax. The faster you get on island time, the better.

I couldn't agree more. You need so little in Hawaii.

My kids and I have gone for 2 weeks with just a carry on bag each (years ago). We stopped at Target to buy toiletries and laundry detergent and things like that. I still didn't wear all that was in my carry-on bag.

We stay at the Marriott next door.

 

[Disgirl614]

How delicious the Monkeypod kitchen is across the street! We ate here 3 times on our 10 day trip and we would have planned for more if we knew how great it was

 

[lizard1]

I wish I knew how dark the rooms were. They are probably fine if you want to leave your curtain open all of the time, but when you have a room that is directly across from the line for the pool slides, well, that isn't an option all of the time.

 

[MichelleB]

I wish I knew how dark the rooms were. They are probably fine if you want to leave your curtain open all of the time, but when you have a room that is directly across from the line for the pool slides, well, that isn't an option all of the time.

I forgot that! You are correct....they were very dark.

 

[mrp4352]

So many wonderful ideas!! I appreciate all of them!

 

[PattiPB]

Reviving this thread hoping for some recent suggestions!

 

[Janrantoo2]

I wish I knew how dark the rooms were. They are probably fine if you want to leave your curtain open all of the time, but when you have a room that is directly across from the line for the pool slides, well, that isn't an option all of the time.[/QUOTE

My sister & I are bringing our solar inflatable lamps. Thanks for tip!

 

[alohamom]

I wish I knew that the quality of the main meals at Ulu Cafe had diminished since my first visit. We stayed in 2014 and the food at Ulu was surprisingly great so I planned to eat there a few times during our return visit this last August 2016. I dont know if this is because they began with the "meal plan" but I suspect it it and I was really disappointed.The same went for the cupcakes, they were great a few years ago and now they are decorated with fantastic designs but taste bland and generic. Another thing I noticed was just general cost cutting, the bags at Kalepa's were beautiful thick printed paper with the Aulani story on the side and now they are brown paper bags - stuff like that is what I wish I had known before my return visit. I still would have come back and I will still go but it just seems like they are cutting corners.

 

[fairytalelover]

I dont get it. Why do we have to add our photos? Isn't it like WDW and DCL where your photos are automatically added to your file as they take photos of you? Isnt there a magic band?

Well, it's been almost 7 months (inconceivable!) since we've gone, and there are SO MANY things that I kind of knew about from diligently reading the boards, but didn't quite understand until I was there. Here's one BIG one that we learned as we went ...

If you do ANY Photopass events - Aunty's, get pictures from GoPro photogs in the pool, etc., keep track of when/where - and in the pools - who took your picture (i.e., was it a GoPro). There are only 2 photopass kiosks in the hotel shop (which is one of our MAJOR complaints). The line can get ridiculous while people try to find their pictures. We added ours as we went along, which saved a TON - and I mean a TON - of time on our last morning. For some reason, our GoPro pics weren't being found, the photog took over a day to turn them in (unusual), but they keep all the memory cards in a binder, and were able to pull them up physically by pulling his card because we knew the date/approximate time and WHO the photog was. So, photos not lost.

Seriously, most photos were available an hour or two after being taken (Especially for Aunty's - like Surf's UP or Fish are Friends). I would go down closer to closing time each night and add that day's pics. There was ALWAYS a wait. Worst wait was 40 minutes because I was behind someone who waited until their last day to add photos.

It takes a while if you do something like Aunty's - you'll need to sort through ALL the photos taken that night for your kids, because the kids don't have photopasses to keep track of which photos they are in. Same with the GoPro photogs - you most likely will not have a photopass card in your swimsuit next to the infinity wall ;-)

And, since I love this pic so much ... our favorite GoPro photog pic that I was so anxious to get :

 

[fairytalelover]

w

I wish that I would have known NOT to wait until the last show of our trip to watch the Starlit Hui. There was some lightening spotted right before showtime, so it was cancelled, so we didn't get to see it : (

what's starlit hui?

 

[AJaquins]

Starlit hui doesn't exist anymore. It used to be a free nighttime show and they replaced it with a luau that you pay for.

 

[Janrantoo2]

I'm a girl......but I would prefer to get a kukuI nut lei. The flower leis are so pretty BUT they die and I really dislike the damp flowers against my neck. The kukui lei is a souvenir that will last forever or until my next declutter event. I can't imagine this but thought I'd ask...Will they go all Nazi and say NO! Flowers for girls and nuts for boys?

Can't wait for our trip in 22 days!

 

[alohamom]

I'm a girl......but I would prefer to get a kukuI nut lei. The flower leis are so pretty BUT they die and I really dislike the damp flowers against my neck. The kukui lei is a souvenir that will last forever or until my next declutter event. I can't imagine this but thought I'd ask...Will they go all Nazi and say NO! Flowers for girls and nuts for boys?

Can't wait for our trip in 22 days!

I am sure there will be no problem. My daughters lei died much earlier than mine so I went up to the front desk and asked for another and without even batting an eye the amazing cm went to an area and got me another. I had offered to pay for it and she said no way, please take another soooo based on this I would say there should be no issue with asking for a kukui nut one instead of a floral one.

 

[cgattis]

I'm a girl......but I would prefer to get a kukuI nut lei. The flower leis are so pretty BUT they die and I really dislike the damp flowers against my neck. The kukui lei is a souvenir that will last forever or until my next declutter event. I can't imagine this but thought I'd ask...Will they go all Nazi and say NO! Flowers for girls and nuts for boys?

Can't wait for our trip in 22 days!

I am so glad you asked this! I wanted to ask the same thing but was afraid it might be contrary to lei etiquette/tradition. I've searched the web but hadn't found anything indicating that, but was still looking. Thanks @alohamom for the info!

 

[Diznygrl]

I'm no expert on Hawaiian culture so I'm not sure why women get leis and men get kukui nuts, but I do know that men and women can wear both. I saw many female CMs wearing kukui nuts so I don't think it would be a problem if you ask for one.

 

[AJaquins]

Just arrived and my mother in law asked for the kukui nuts because the flowers bother her. They had no problem giving her the kukui nut lei.

 

[fairytalelover]

Can you post a photo of both? I'm curious to see what they look like

 

[alohamom]