Aulani 2024: Day 5 – Recap, Thoughts & Observations (2/22/24)
Aulani Day 5 – Thursday, February 22, 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:
Started off my morning with a walk around the lagoon. First toward the Four Seasons to watch the sun rise then back around to the other side. Returned to Aulani and walked through the pool area and back to the room. Hung out there for a couple hours visiting and enjoying the view. Decided to go fill the rental car up with gas and grab some lunch. Once back met up with the rest of the group and went for a couple laps of the lazy river and runs down the slide. Caught the pool party before returning to the room. The plan was to play the Menehune adventure game but it was unavailable so instead just walked around the lobby before leaving for dinner. Walked across the street to eat at the Monkey Pod. Returned to the room and packed up since we head home tomorrow.
Thoughts and Observations:
- Another relaxing day with nothing on the agenda. We were just going to enjoy Aulani.
- Around lunch time decided to go fill the rental car up with gas at Costco since that was cheapest gas around (Hawaii gas was less than Southern California Gas. It was $4.259 and at home we were paying $4.499). Decided to grab a hot dog while at Costco, they are $1.50 so a great deal.
- Some routine cleaning of the pool deck was underway so the primary walkway to the water slides was blocked off most of the day. That meant you had to hike around and use the stairs by Off the Hook.
- This visit the water slides seemed inefficient with the sensors not working and the cast member not dispatching efficiently. So the queues moved unevenly and slower than they should have been. We waited on average probably 15 minutes to go down the tube slide.
- Today Mickey Mouse seemed to be every where we walked around the pools. I kept running into him.
- There was a pool party this afternoon so we stopped by with the Nephews. Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Max were out leading the party. The kids really enjoyed it and there was a good size crowd gathered around the area to watch.
- We had bad timing for the Menehune Adventure. When we stopped by to play the system was down! If playing is a priority for you be sure to go early in your trip and not save it. We had all played before so it was not for us so it was not a big loss, just a small disappointment.
- For dinner we had a reservation across the street at the Monkey Pod restaurant. We arrived almost 45 minutes early and were seated about the time of our reservation. So not sure if the reservation saved us any time or not. I was not overly impressed with my meal. The prices were high and the quality was less than what I would have expected. The children’s meals seemed a great deal. My nephew got what looked to be about the same size burger as the adult meal and fries for less than just the burger for adults (fries were a separate side order for adults).
