I came to Aulani Disney Resorts to spend Christmas and New Year, a total of ten nights with my family. At the time of writing this review we are half way, spent here five nights. I am a member of the Austrian vacation club company Cordial, which has a partnership with DVC. We are staying in a two bedroom villa. Having said that, you understand we come from Europe, and are used to a bit different culture regarding hotels and resorts, especially restaurant standards. I red reviews both at tripadvisor and Yelp, and seen a lot of photos before arrival, and based of everything I had build some kind of expectations about the resort. I am very well traveled all over the world, and I have seen a lot of places, from luxury to basic, depending on what kind of trip I have been on. It’s a nice Resort, but there was no wow experience upon arrival. There have been a lot of negative writings about the restaurants. Ama Ama is the resorts highest standard restaurant. In the dining guide in the rooms it’s advertised as “casual elegant dining”. The dining experience is really noting to brag about. The ambiance is really poor! The restaurant is like an Applebee’s or TGI. There is a dress code for this restaurant, but you have still people in swimwear and T-shirt, and men with a cap on the head, sitting at the table next to you, sitting. Not very civilized or elegant! We have no complaint about the quality of the food, and we did not find it that expensive either, as many people have complained about. But, if the resort is supposed to be a five star establishment, they should have a decent restaurant within the premises. That would be a restaurant white tablecloth standard, and where the dress code is enforced. Now there is a restaurant with three star standards.

The rooms are spacey and OK, the beds comfortable. Restaurants, pools and garden are too limited or small, considering the number of hotel rooms (359) and vacation club villas (481). If the place is fully occupied at peak season, and if we count with a moderate number of 3 persons per room, we have 2520 persons at the premises. How many sun chairs do you think there are? How many persons have space in all of the pools and water area? I really wonder how qualified the people who have planned the resort, have been for the job? And one thinks the Disney Corporation have some know how about resorts?
There are totally three Jacuzzi's, which all are full of kids equipped with goggles swimming and diving. I understand they like the warm water, but it’s not a kid’s swimming pool? I know it’s a resort with emphasis for families with children, but still. No supervision from the resort personnel at all! The best part is the beach.

The service is very friendly, polite and good averall. Because of the poor standard of restaurants, no enforced dress code, no supervision of Jacuzzi's, I give only a average rating

We stayed in a 2br apartment which we upgraded to at the last minute. The apartment location and facilities were excellent for a family of 8 and the resort staff went out of their way to help in any way they could. The kiddies really enjoyed the pools, beach and seeing Mickey, Minnie and the rest of the characters.

As an adult I found the pools underwhelming especially the lazy river, which didn't really seem to have much variation except for the cave with waterfalls. No rapids and only two slides, one of which was probably a little to scary for the young kids we travelled with. Having done the pools at the Grand Wailea (Maui) I think these pools were better. Lifesavers around each corner meant that kids were pretty safe. However we also saw a child slip and fall on the kids playground (staff were quick to respond) with blood gushing out of his head so this was a concern.

The food was average and prices were what you expect from a resort of this calibre. Staff were also excellent and I cannot speak highly enough of them like everyone else has said.

But I also agree that the resort was overpriced for what it offered, and was not really close to any of the main 'attractions' so visiting these can be awkward without a car.

Everything was simply breathtaking - from the reception with leis, room decor, food, activities, location, beach, pools and everything in between.

Disney Character breakfast with Mickey, Minnie and friends was a dream come true.
Aunty's beach house day care for kids is magical.
There are plenty of Free activities and so you don't need to worry about having to pay for "special" activities.
Staff was exceptionally friendly.

The only downsides are that parking was 35$/night - that is as expensive as New York Times Square and room service is 18% gratuity + 3$ (although food prices are expensive but reasonable).

Our family can hardly wait to go back again!

We arrived on Dec. 20 and stayed 7 days with our 3 kids ages 8 mos, 7 yrs and 9 yrs, when we arrived our room was already waiting for us. We had the 2 bedroom villa with full kitchen and 2.5 baths, 2 balconys one off the livingroom and one off the master. 3 flat screen tv's. The pool, lazy river and the beach were excellent, there are so many life guards around the pools and they are attentive and helpful. Auntys beach house was very fun for the kids, we did get a rental van but we did not pick it up from the airport,we picked it up from the Enterprise on Ala Moana Blva because of price, if we rented it from the airport it would have cost $1200 for the week at the Ala Moana location it was only $354 for the whole 7 days. We saved money by grocery shopping at the Safeway. We did the character breakfast one morning and the kids loved it, the icees were delicious. I don't have any complaints, we will definitely be back.