Visiting Disney's Aulani resort on Oahu without being a guest?

Big fan of Disney resorts. But we and another couple we're traveling with are staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki.

The Aulani in Ko'Olina looks fabulous. We love Disney theming and would like to tour the grounds and perhaps have lunch. If we wanted to visit without being a guest, where would we park? Assuming it would be gated like most Disney resorts. Would we have to park elsewhere and walk the beach to get there? Presumably the lagoons are public and there would be access to the resort from the lagoon.

The couple we're traveling with are both Disney cast members at WDW in Orlando. Could they show a cast member ID and get in to park?

Why don't you just call them?

IMHO just like at the Disey Hotels in DW or Disneyland nothing I recalled stopped you from walking in and eating at resturants etc. same in the main beach in Waikki you can pretty much sit in any lounge and they will serve you. Now using the pool, doing the water slides etc who knows.

As to parking just like may places all depends on how parking is setup. Hotels do have visting guest, can't believe there is no local parking unless the totally isolated...

IMHO I'd take the time to drive to the north shore versus visit the mouse ;)

Big fan of Disney resorts. But we and another couple we're traveling with are staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki.

 

The Aulani in Ko'Olina looks fabulous. We love Disney theming and would like to tour the grounds and perhaps have lunch. If we wanted to visit without being a guest, where would we park? Assuming it would be gated like most Disney resorts. Would we have to park elsewhere and walk the beach to get there? Presumably the lagoons are public and there would be access to the resort from the lagoon.

 

The couple we're traveling with are both Disney cast members at WDW in Orlando. Could they show a cast member ID and get in to park?

I called the resort about visiting if we are not guests. Parking costs $35 but if you spend that much at the resort on food/beverages, it is complimentary.

As has been said before...all beaches in Hawaii are public so not a problem to enjoy the beach in front of Aulani. That's great to not have to pay the parking fee if you spend $35, but remember that wristbands are required in the pool areas so you may not have total access to the resort, lazy river, etc. But, they may not check if the resort is not full. From what I have read, spending $35 in one of their restaurants is not a problem. You might also check to see if parking across the street is less expensive, in case you decide not to eat there. Cherie

As has been said before...all beaches in Hawaii are public so not a problem to enjoy the beach in front of Aulani. That's great to not have to pay the parking fee if you spend $35, but remember that wristbands are required in the pool areas so you may not have total access to the resort, lazy river, etc. But, they may not check if the resort is not full. From what I have read, spending $35 in one of their restaurants is not a problem. You might also check to see if parking across the street is less expensive, in case you decide not to eat there. Cherie

I've been to Aulani and their access to the beach is locked and for registered guests

Thanks to the OP for their question as we have been considering going to Aulani on our next cruise. Since this is such a new resort, I would think they would welcome guests for the day especially since this resort is quite a distance from Waikiki where most people would choose to stay - seems like it would be good publicity! Anyway, hope more chime in here with information about day visits to Aulani.

I've been to Aulani and their access to the beach is locked and for registered guests

Thank you for posting this. I googled info and found out that either the county or state negotiated with the developer and only provide the minimum number of parking spots required for visitors. This lot apparently fills up quickly and residents are turned away. This is very offensive IMO. Do you remember if they check wristbands when going onto the beach from the resort? We stayed at the Marriott several years ago and have not returned because we enjoy other parts of the island much more. All beaches are public in Hawaii and it is just that they are able to severely limit access in this resort area. Cherie

Thank you for posting this. I googled info and found out that either the county or state negotiated with the developer and only provide the minimum number of parking spots required for visitors. This lot apparently fills up quickly and residents are turned away. This is very offensive IMO. Do you remember if they check wristbands when going onto the beach from the resort? We stayed at the Marriott several years ago and have not returned because we enjoy other parts of the island much more. All beaches are public in Hawaii and it is just that they are able to severely limit access in this resort area. Cherie

Hey there Cherie,

When our photog took pics there, he said that there was a gate that he needed the staff to help him get past. I don't remember more than that, but that you couldn't access the beach unless you could get through gate. Also, it's quite a ways from where the ship docks so transportation there is expensive and there is no public transportation there, at the moment.

You don't need to slip in through the back to go into Aulani. :) Just go right in through the front. I visit Aulani about once a month to get my Disney fix.

If you're going to eat there, than just park at Aulani. You will take your receipt to the valet desk right at the front entrance and get your ticket validated. If there are issues with visitor parking, then just valet. There is no cost to valet and all you need to do is tip the guy.

If you want to save the tip money, if you go early enough, there's a very small, free public parking lot for the beach. Access to the beach is free. There's actually an unmarked entrance to the resort right by this parking lot, it goes through the adult pool area and there's no path, I think it's more of a service entrance, but it's not blocked off, as of mid-December.

The other parking lot is more for the shopping area and not meant for going to Aulani, but this is where we normally park and we've never had issues there staying an hour or two.

As someone said, you won't have access to the facilities like the pool, but if you're just taking a tour of the resort, than it shouldn't be an issue. You CAN access the beach very easily. It's not private. There is a gate, but it's easy to get in and out. There's a button you can push to go the beach from the resort. Re-entry is a little bit more tricky. I believe you need a room key to open the gate again, but you can just wait for someone to come in or out and you can slip through while the gate is open. I've never had any problems going back through the gate as there are always people going back and forth. If for some reason there's absolutely no one around, as I stated above, there's a small unmarked entrance by the beach parking lot that you can go back through.

Thanks everyone. And you're welcome to those who thanked *me* for posting the question. :-)

How far and how to get to Disney Auluni . We are staying at Wakiki and would love to visit no need for parking for us. Thanks for all the info now want to see it.

It is about an hour drive from Wakiki - is what I have been told....I will be there on Thursday so I will know for sure then.

Anyone visited the Aulani recently as a non-overnight-staying visitor?

It is about an hour drive from Wakiki - is what I have been told....I will be there on Thursday so I will know for sure then.

Hello there - are you back yet? Hope you can tell us about your visit to Aulani. I watched the "Live With Kelly" shows last week, and they were doing the show from that hotel. Wow, it looked really windy. The hotel looked HUGE. I can't imagine them filling that place up 365 days a year!! Would love your opinion of the grounds and beach especially. Hope you had a great trip.

Remember that is a Disney vacation Club resort so if you just want to look around and explore I am sure that they will be happy to give you the tour if you will spend 15 minutes or so talking with them about a membership.

Anyone visited the Aulani recently as a non-overnight-staying visitor?

What other information do you want to know?

Hello there - are you back yet? Hope you can tell us about your visit to Aulani. I watched the "Live With Kelly" shows last week, and they were doing the show from that hotel. Wow, it looked really windy. The hotel looked HUGE. I can't imagine them filling that place up 365 days a year!! Would love your opinion of the grounds and beach especially. Hope you had a great trip.

We had an amazing trip...thanks for asking. The grounds are gorgeous and really not that big. We walked around and actually saw them setting up for the Kelly show and it took us about 45 minutes...that was stopping to check things out and my DH doesn't have best legs so we were walking pretty slow. I took I believe 90 pictures of our room and the resort. I will upload them to webshots or something like that and post a link. We are DVC members so I don't know if they treated us differently or not but we were treated royalty.

It wasn't that windy when we were there but there were some days at the other islands that were very windy. We received a ocean view room on floor 15. I believe when I checked that the rooms go for approximately $600 a night - I don't know if that is all of them or not and I can't tell you how many rooms there were either.

The only complaint that I had concerning Aulani was that one night we ate at the buffet - I didn't check prices beforehand and found out after dinner that it was approx. $100 with tip. They had a large assortment of different types of food but I just felt that this was a little steep for a buffet meal and not a character meal.

Hopefully this will work - here is the link to my photos of Aulani

http://*******.com/745q8jt

We enjoyed the resort and what we saw of it that we are planning on spending a week there next year.:D

Okay that didn't work...lets try this

http://travel.webshots.com/album/582411148UQBKfB

It is about an hour drive from Wakiki - is what I have been told....I will be there on Thursday so I will know for sure then.

Parking for "common" folk is quite scarce there as locals grab the few spots real early. It is possible to get TheBus there if you are willing to walk about 15 minutes it to the property. You are free to wander all over Aulani but not use the pools or water slides or such. Foods are very expensive at their "cafes". Take your own snacks. And a bottle of water. In Hawaii you can always fill up your water bottle at any water tap. No need to buy bottled water.

there is actually tons of parking - they have a 5 story parking garage and while we were there we never had a problem finding a spot on the first level. It does cost you $35 to park but if you spend that while you are

at the resort they wave the parking fee

there is actually tons of parking - they have a 5 story parking garage and while we were there we never had a problem finding a spot on the first level. It does cost you $35 to park but if you spend that while you are

at the resort they wave the parking fee

Thank you lv2bgoofy, Wharf Rat, and zqvol!

Thanks so much for sharing your experience and for the great pictures too! Looks wonderful!

With the help of a cast member discount, we'll actually be staying at the Aulani for 3 nights rather than visiting it. The huge discount made it even cheaper to stay there than at the HHV (where we'll be staying the first 3 of 6 nights on Oahu). I think it will be nice to spend half the trip on Waikiki @ the HHV and the other half at the Aulani. Best of both worlds?

For those who mentioned the free public parking is very scarce: It is typical of any of the resorts on any of the Islands. It is not specific to the Disney resort. Every hotel is supposed to provide public access and parking. It does NOT mean that you will access the beach through the hotel - it may be a path around the perimeter of the hotel. There may only be a handful, literally, of free public spots. Up at the Mauna Kea on the Big Island, the spots fill up first thing in morning. There is a guard there who will let someone else in when someone leaves. It sound that, at least at Disney, you can pay for valet parking instead of hoping one of a few free spots will be available...