Princess Diva has written several articles about Disney’s Aulani in Hawaii. Previous Aulani articles can be found here.
By Princess Diva
We knew that when we decided on this vacation, that we were going to need something more than just a regular hotel room. (We tried 5 of us in a standard room at Christmas time at Disney World…Bed, bunk beds, pack and play makes for not much room for 5 people). We figured we’d end up spending more time in our room at Aulani than we do at a regular Disney resort, so we opted for a 1 bedroom villa. This would give us a full kitchen, a bedroom with a king size bed, and in the living room, a fold out couch and a smaller fold out bed under the entertainment center. This also gave us a huge bathroom and washer and dryer. For us, the extra space and amenities was totally worth the higher price.
Diva Tip: Save money in other areas. Though very tasty, restaurants at Aulani are very limited (and priced like most food at any Disney park). Right across the street is a grocery store where you can stock up on some easy breakfasts, snacks, and a few go to lunches and dinners. Limit eating in the restaurants and you can save big.
Another Diva Tip: Pack light and use the in room washer and dryer. By limiting our checked baggage to only 2 pieces, we saved at least $150.00 in that alone!
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| Kitchen |
I was so excited when we opened the door to our home away from home. We walked right into the fully stocked kitchen. There was a full sized refrigerator, dishwasher, coffee pot, toaster, rice cooker, and just about everything else you would need for cooking on vacation.
Just off the kitchen was a closet that held a washer and dryer, and a dining table. This table easily held all 5 of us with room to spare. The living room had a pull out sofa for the two oldest Disney brothers and there was even a smaller fold out bed under the entertainment center which was perfect for Disney baby. There was also a pack and play in the room, but Disney baby thought he was such a big boy sleeping on the fold out!
The bathroom was perfect for our family. The Disney brothers had their own vanity and I had mine. It was nice to be able to spread out and not worry about anyone messing with any of my things. The shower was large and had two shower heads (one was a rain head…very relaxing). Next to my vanity there was also a large garden tub. This made bath time super easy for Disney baby and was great for more than one person getting ready at once.
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| Bedroom |
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| Hidden Mickey at breakfast |
The bedroom was home to a comfy king size bed. We normally call the front desk to ask for more pillows at hotels, but there were plenty of pillows for all of us. The decor of the entire room was very relaxing; Hawaiian without being over the top, but sticking to true Disney design. Hidden Mickey’s were all around us. The kids even made them with the dishes!
Since we were not staying in the villas using DVC points, we had regular Mousekeeping services (thank goodness…I live with 4 boys and the thought of limited Mousekeeping did not excite me). The room was perfect when we arrived. Each morning after we finished breakfast, we cleaned up and headed to the pool. When we returned to our room, the dishwasher had been run, trash emptied, and beds were made. Our dish soap and laundry detergent was always replenished when it was low (I did grab a small bottle of detergent at the grocery store to do more than one load of laundry at a time). After returning from a walk on the beach our first night, we found the boys beds ready (stuffed animals waiting to snuggle), and our bed turned down with chocolates and our daily itinerary for the next day. Does Disney know how to spoil a princess or what?! We were so impressed with this room and the space, that I don’t know that we could go back to a standard room. It was especially great at bed time or napping. The kids had their space and we had ours.
