Thanksgiving week

[annisac]

First time there. We have a one bedroom villa-ocean view. Any tips or tricks? I have diiner reservations for Thanksgiving night at Makahiki. Traveling with 2 kids aged 14 and 11. Have own snorkel gear.

We want to do Pearl Harbor, Dole Plantation and looking in to the Hale Koa luau since the Disney one doesn't have great reviews and it's so expensive.

Thanks in advance.

 

[cgattis]

We've only been once, this June, but I think Makahiki is an excellent choice for dinner. Their ham was fantastic (although all but DH were focused on seafood LOL). There was a huge variety and it was all hot and fresh.

We did the Paradise Cove luau and had a great time, if the Hale Koa option doesn't work out. Might work well with your Pearl Harbor day though.

We skipped the Dole Plantation because after 10 days of volcanoes, snorkeling, surfing, etc., my family really wasn't dying to see how pineapples grow. If we hadn't been able to get Dole Whip at Aulani, we probably would've stopped for that alone!

 

[hilarys]

We went Thanksgiving week in 2015 and did the special Aulani Thanksgiving dinner and enjoyed it. It was a large buffet with character photo ops and a band playing holiday music. It was very festive. I think Makahiki would also be a great choice for Thanksgiving dinner. We did the Aulani luau this past April and I loved it. I am not a fan of luaus and really did not want to go (DH did want to go), but the Aulani one was very unique and well worth its cost in my opinion.

Definitely go over to the east side of the island - Kualoa Ranch and Kailua Beach are great.

If you want a cabana during your trip, book it ASAP.

Dole Plantation can be a brief stop on your way to do things on the North Shore (Waimea Falls, explore Hale'iwa) - I like the gift shop at Dole Plantation.

 

[BayGirl22]

W

If you want a cabana during your trip, book it ASAP.

We are arriving the Saturday of Thanksgiving week after a week on a cruise. Do you remember how busy was the Sat/Sun after the holiday? Sunday will be our first full day and we want to lounge at the pool. I'm wondering if its worth getting a cabana or if people will mostly be leaving that day.

 

[hilarys]

We are arriving the Saturday of Thanksgiving week after a week on a cruise. Do you remember how busy was the Sat/Sun after the holiday? Sunday will be our first full day and we want to lounge at the pool. I'm wondering if its worth getting a cabana or if people will mostly be leaving that day.

We left on the Saturday after the holiday so I do not know about Sunday. We only travel at peak times and I really have never had a problem finding somewhere to sit. If you go down right when they open up seating there really should not be a problem. If you were planning to sleep in late (most people don't when coming from the mainland) or had a breakfast reservation, you might want to consider it. We usually rent the cabana once per trip just to have a taste of luxury and privacy not because of seating.

 

[BayGirl22]

We left on the Saturday after the holiday so I do not know about Sunday. We only travel at peak times and I really have never had a problem finding somewhere to sit. If you go down right when they open up seating there really should not be a problem. If you were planning to sleep in late (most people don't when coming from the mainland) or had a breakfast reservation, you might want to consider it. We usually rent the cabana once per trip just to have a taste of luxury and privacy not because of seating.

Thanks. We're coming from the west coast but we generally get up early anyway. What time do they open up the chairs?
As much as I want to do a cabana rental there are so many other things we want to do, I'm trying to resist spending the money.

 

[hilarys]

They start handing out wrist bands at 8am and this when we would usually go down to grab a spot. We come from the west coast too so at least the first few days we are up early, although my teens/tweens adjust pretty quickly. Every morning at 7am there is a chant that plays over the speakers - I usually try to head down to go for a walk by 7 (less likely as the week goes on) so that I can hear the chant and then I walk down towards the other Ko'olina hotels to the Marina and back. That should be a pretty good week crowd wise once you get past Saturday and Sunday. Have a great time.

 

[poison ivy]

First time there. We have a one bedroom villa-ocean view. Any tips or tricks? I have diiner reservations for Thanksgiving night at Makahiki. Traveling with 2 kids aged 14 and 11. Have own snorkel gear.

We want to do Pearl Harbor, Dole Plantation and looking in to the Hale Koa luau since the Disney one doesn't have great reviews and it's so expensive.

Thanks in advance.

We did Thanksgiving week last year. 6 nts. Wed - Tues thru Thanksgiving.

Makahiki is where we dined on Thanksgiving and the buffet was excellent. That restaurant was booked solid and jam packed for the night. Because it's an indoor/outdoor type dining arrangement. My advice is reserve an early seating time if you want a guaranteed indoor table with easy access to the buffet. The weather can change sporadically on the island, where wind or a light rain might pick up at any given time. You really don't want an assigned table out in the elements with no alternatives to move to if the weather conditions are not optimal.

Also, rent a car for the length of stay if you plan to sight see. It's the only way to get around.

The Dole Plantation was a lot of fun. It's a pretty big place. The maze is really challenging and your kids should really enjoy it. Make sure they each get a card to check off the hidden markers as they find them.
the train ride was a little boring but a nice way to see the grounds.

We drove to the North shore, visited Pearl Harbor, took the Kualoa Ranch premiere movie tour, sampled shave ice and ate at a few other local places and hiked Diamond Head at sunrise. it was a busy week.

We had initially reserved a cabana for 2 days but cancelled them both. They're not really near the pool/beach areas we were hanging out and our family tended to move around a lot when using the lazy river; hot tub; beach; various pools; water play area for the kids; etc. It seemed too confining to justify spending that kind of money on. We felt it would limit us to trying to maximize the amenities which was not going to work for our active family.

I've got a ton of pics and would be happy to answer any questions.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

I've got a ton of pics and would be happy to answer any questions.

When did booking open up for the Thanksgiving day meals?

 

[poison ivy]

When did booking open up for the Thanksgiving day meals?

This was the strangest thing. Aulani never officially announced a booking window as far as I can remember. The online system just allowed me to make a dinner reservation at Makahiki for that Thurs night - the actual date of thanksgiving at the same time I was making all my other dining reservations for the trip. This was months in advance!

Since my family had already chosen to dine at that restaurant, I never followed up to track where or when the announcement and reservation window opened up for the official themed Thanksgiving Dinner being held in the main ballroom complete w/characters and photo ops.

WE personally never received any advance "FYI" emails from Aulani with details on Thanksgiving to consider for our upcoming trip and we had booked our Grand Villa 11 months prior.

Sometime in Oct or Nov, we get an email from Aulani group management, stating they had a Thanksgiving reservation on file for us which required a reply back to reconfirm our family name, group size and reserved dining time for that day. It only applied to Thanksgiving. We never received any other emails for other meals reserved for this trip.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

This was the strangest thing. Aulani never officially announced a booking window as far as I can remember. The online system just allowed me to make a dinner reservation at Makahiki for that Thurs night - the actual date of thanksgiving at the same time I was making all my other dining reservations for the trip. This was months in advance!

Since my family had already chosen to dine at that restaurant, I never followed up to track where or when the announcement and reservation window opened up for the official themed Thanksgiving Dinner being held in the main ballroom complete w/characters and photo ops.

WE personally never received any advance "FYI" emails from Aulani with details on Thanksgiving to consider for our upcoming trip and we had booked our Grand Villa 11 months prior.

Sometime in Oct or Nov, we get an email from Aulani group management, stating they had a Thanksgiving reservation on file for us which required a reply back to reconfirm our family name, group size and reserved dining time for that day. It only applied to Thanksgiving. We never received any other emails for other meals reserved for this trip.

Hm that's interesting- thanks for the info!

 

[pamelaj]

We were there for Thanksgiving last year too. We debated dinner at one of the nicer restaurants and ended up booking a late dinner at Ama Ama. We ended up deciding we didn't want to spend the money, cancelled the reservation and bought the Thanksgiving dinners from Ulu Cafe. They were awful. We should have just bought everyday food or sprung for Makahiki or Ama Ama. Overall, it was a bit windy on our trip, but the crowds weren't too bad. We were there for 9 days and the busiest days were the weekend following Thanksgiving.