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Aulani 2024: Day 3 – Recap, Thoughts & Observations (2/20/24)

Jason @disneygeek.com , 

Aulani Day 3 – Tuesday, February 20, 2024

For president’s week 2024 we traveled to Hawaii and stayed at Disney’s Aulani Resort on Oahu.   Visit my 2024 Aulani Trip Summary page for links to all my picture posts, videos and more from this visit.

Daily Log:

I was up again well before sunrise.  Ventured out to the lagoon area right before sunset.  Walked around the lagoon for a bit then back to the room to get something to eat.  We headed down to the pool in the late morning and did a couple laps in the lazy river and hung out for a while.   Some ate and others just visited.  I opted to go for a drive to grab lunch.  Once back we went for another walk around the lagoon this time to the south.  Once back spent some time roaming around Aulani and enjoying the sights.  Around 6:00pm returned to the lagoon area for sunset.  Closed out my day with a story by the fire pit.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • Today we had nothing on our agenda except to relax and enjoy Aulani. I was up early again so we ventured out and watched the sun rise from the far side of the lagoon which was a great way to start off the day.  Only downside was it was a little cloudy so not a clear sunrise.
  • A point of contention with many at Aulani is the chair policy around the pool. Guests tend to want to “claim” a chair and hold it all day.  There are a lot of chairs but as you would expect more guests than chairs so this creates a problem.   There are rules about how early you can put your towels down and hold a chair.  This visit they seemed to have done away with the rule of you having to be actively visiting the chair.  So it looked like a fair number of people were holding spots much of the day and using them only a small portion of the day.   Luckily I am not one that likes to sit out in the sun and I don’t mind walking a bit to get to my towel/items so this did not impact us and we were able to find tables to eat at without too much hassle.
  • As I walked around today the resort felt less busy than the previous days. I am assuming this was due to getting away from the holiday weekend a bit and less locals/visitors since it was a weekday.
  • Since we were doing nothing and nothing at Aulani grabbed my interest at the price point I opted to drive and pick up some lunch for people. There are a number of Fast Food and other dining options about a 10 minute drive away.  It took my under an hour from when I left the room until I return.
  • This afternoon we decided to go for a walk around the lagoon to the south side to get a good look at Aulani from across the water. It is a nice stroll along the water and the best way to get that wide shot of Aulani.
  • As I roamed around the resort today I encountered a number of characters.  The lines varied greatly with some only a few guests and others stretching several dozen.  I prefer the chance encounters vs the queues.
  • Closed out my day visiting the Fire Pit for a story. Today the story of Maui was told.

My posts from today:

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