Kids at the Stich Goo activity at Disney Aulani – From the Disney website

I do not have any pictures of my kids playing at Aunty’s Beach house. They do NOT allow you to take pictures at Aunty’s beach house because you could take a picture of another person’s child. I totally get that policy. I don’t want some random person taking a picture of my child, especially if I am not around! When we went to pick up our kids from an activity, a set of parents got in trouble for trying to take pictures while waiting to pick up their kids. I am glad they take the safety of our children seriously!

We took kids ages 4, 9, and 12 to Aunty’s. The one-year-old was too young to go. They all really enjoyed Aunty’s! They had a great time at the activities and playing there. However, after 2 activities and playing there before the activities, when given the option, they wanted to just swim and play at the beach. It is a great resource and fun for the kids, just don’t overdue it! I don’t think my kids would have enjoyed spending the day there, but maybe other kids would.

Before you want to use Aunty’s, go in beforehand and set your kids up and sign all the paperwork. This will take a little while. There are security measures in place, so it is best to get those set beforehand. They will take pictures of the parents/adults picking up the kids. Each kid will be given a Magic Band (EXACTLY like the ones at Disneyworld – just with an Aunty’s sticker on it), which you will have to pay a deposit on and charged for if you don’t return it by the end of your trip. You will need a room key and the EXACT name from the paperwork information given, to pick up your children. GREAT security measures!

My BIGGEST tip for doing activities at Aunty’s? Get in line by 7:30am to sign your kids up for the activity they want that day! When I first read the Daily ‘IWA, I just thought you needed to be there 30-45 minutes early to sign up for the class. Yeah, that’s not true. They start sign ups at 8am, they fill up QUICK! So instead of doing the activity that day, my husband just did all the paperwork. The next day, my husband went down at 7:30 to get in line, and there were already 7 or so people in line to sign up! We didn’t have a problem signing up for the activities they wanted that day, so be sure to get there early to get the activities that you want for the day!

You can check your Daily ‘IWA for the activities offered at Aunty’s. You can grab it on your way down to Aunty’s in the morning or the night before. They have a similar schedule on Monday’s and Wednesday’s, Tuesday and Thursdays, and they didn’t tell us what the weekends were like. (or at least that was the case when we were there)

My kids did the Stitch Goo and the Eruption Disruption. They could have done more, but those classes were the only ones they were really interested in, and after the 2 classes, they weren’t too interested in going back. They enjoyed them quite a bit, but they wanted to be in the pools or the beach more 🙂

When asked what their favorite class was, they all say “Stitch Goo!” When I asked why, they said it was because the guy teaching the class was funnier than the one teaching the eruption disruption! Ha! Guess they are a hard crowd to please. They each came home with a bag of “Stitch Goo” from the class. They get to make the Goo! Pretty fun! I think it is the most popular activity they offer at Aunty’s. My son was actually playing with the goo yesterday here at home.

From Eruption Disruption, their favorite part was when the volcano reached the ceiling when it went off! Nothing like a big scientific reaction to get my kids interested. They really enjoyed the class and making their own volcano.

We dropped them off early for each class, so they could play at Aunty’s before the class started. My sons were thrilled about the video games available to play with. You think that they would have wanted to live there because of that! No, they enjoyed being outside in Hawaii – thank goodness! 🙂 My daughter watched some Disney Movie while waiting for their activity.

You can take a tour of Aunty’s each morning when they have an open house, before they start the activities for the day. They also have times where you can bring your kids that are younger than 3 to play, under parent’s supervision.

Aunty’s is a FANTASTIC resource for parents – give yourself a little break and enjoy some quiet down time in paradise. The BEST part? It is FREE! It is included with your stay at Disney’s Aulani resort! I can’t complain about offering me free activities and childcare with fantastic security measures! Plus the kids will LOVE this childcare – lots of fun to be had just playing at Aunty’s or doing their scheduled activities! There are paid options available too – including lunch and dinner, for when parents want to be gone a little longer

When you visit Disney’s Aulani Resort, the Daily ‘IWA will be your guide to everything Aulani!

It is printed each evening, but we usually just grabbed it in the morning. You will want one to plan your day and activities at Aulani.

We saved one from each day of our trip, so I just picked a random one to photograph and put here on the blog

The ‘IWA is different each day, with different activities to experience and enjoy!

On the front of the ‘IWA, it shows when and where you can meet Disney characters that day. However, not all the character interactions are listed in the ‘IWA. You can also call the Character extension number listed on the ‘IWA to get all the different places the characters will be during the day. It also tells you what characters will be at each meet and greet!

The front also shows the weather report, sunrise and sunset, and the high and low tides.

The next page has all the important information. It has a list of times and activities that are available for the day. It is separated by Ohana (family) activities, Keiki (under 12 – usually at Aunties Beach House) activities, and then activities for teens.

If you want to one of the Keiki activities at Aunties Beach house – get to Aunties by 7:30am and get in line! We did not realize that you had to do this. I thought you just needed to get there 30-45 minutes before the activity and sign them up – WRONG! You have to do it FIRST thing in the morning. You will need to get in line before Aunties opens. My husband went down the next day at 7:30, and there were already 7 people in line! So get there EARLY! Luckily, we were still there in plenty of time to get our kids in the activities they wanted that day. So if you want an Activity at Aunties, better reserve it FIRST thing in the morning!

The next page explains and gives descriptions of the various activities available at Aulani that day. Will help you know what the activity is about and which activities interest you and your family!

Finally, the back page shows all the times that different places in the resort are open. You can plan your day and know when places open and close.

Personally, I took a picture of the ‘IWA each day, so I could refer to it on my phone, and not have to take the paper with us everywhere!

When you check in, you will also be given the Weekly ‘IWA – this will help you plan your entire week. I used this to give us a rough idea what we would be doing all week long.

The first page gives you activities that happen through the week that you do NOT want to miss, like the Starlit Hui or Fire pit story telling.

The next page is just descriptions of various activities and places near or around the resort for you to explore.

The third page is the most important! The grid of activities and times of the most popular activities available at the resort. This way if there is an activity that you are REALLY wanting to do, that is only available once or twice during the week (like the Starlit Hui), you can be sure to get that into your schedule for the week and not miss it!

The back is a map of the resort. We needed this the first day or two, and then had the place pretty well figured out 🙂

So the ‘IWA is an important part of the Aulani experience and the BEST way to plan your day at Disney Aulani!

Once you arrive at Aulani, you will hear and see quite a bit about the Menehune. You can and will find Menehune statues ALL over the resort. They are hidden along the paths, in the elevators, in corners of the hallway, EVERYWHERE! My kids loved looking for and finding new ones! Even after a week of exploring the resort, we were still finding new Menehune hiding places. It was so much fun!

One of my kids FAVORITE things to do at the resort was the Menehune Adventure Trail. There is an indoor and an outdoor trail. We completed BOTH trails, and my kids even wanted to do them again. We spent almost all our evenings at the Resort doing the Menehune trail.

The outdoor trail is considerably longer than the indoor one. The indoor one only has one set of adventures, and can be done in about 30 minutes or less (probably less because there is less walking around compared to outside). I read there are 30 adventures – I cannot confirm that number, since we didn’t count, but that seems about right.

You can start and stop the adventures at any time you’d like and come back later and pick up right where you left off! You are given a special number that keeps track of what adventures you’ve done, and where you left off. So when you start back, you can start where you left off the last time without repeating adventures you’ve already done! They are bundled into 4-5 adventures, that take about 30 minutes or so (or that is what it took us, but we have small kids that take longer!). You also are only supposed to have the iPad for about an hour, but you can go back to the Pau Hana room, and ask to have it longer, and they’ll let you keep it longer (I am guessing if there are people waiting, they won’t, but we didn’t have that issue).

To begin your adventure, you head to the Pau Hana room and ask to start the trail. If you’ve done it before, they’ll look up your adventure number. If it is your first time, they will assign you the number, have you sign the waiver, and had you the iPad. Then you head out on your adventure! Aunty is your guide on the adventure.

Aunty and her friends adventures will lead you all over the Waikolohe Valley or the Lobby of Aulani, solving problems based on the video clues you are given. There are lots of fun interactive stations for you to stop at and solve.

Some of our favorites were the flaming whale, the Lava tube inside of Pu’u Kilo, the waterfall the turns on in the Waikolohe pool, and the plate that rumbles under your feet! Inside, there was an adventure where you even get a bead to keep!

I think it took us a total of 2 hours to do all the adventures outside and 15-20 minutes to do the one inside. Well worth the time – the kids LOVED it. You’ll see families running around the Waikolohe Valley with these iPads during your whole stay.

This is a great activity for the whole family. It is included in your stay at Aulani and is something you are not going to want to miss!

One of the adventures. I think this was the cloth one.

Turtle lit up in lights on one adventure!

We made the lampost light on fire – how cool is that?!?!

Boys looking down a hole with the iPad in front of them

One of the stops on the Menehune Adventure Trail.. As you can see, one of our kids did the adventure in his Pj’s..

The drum adventure clue!

The clue at Keiki Cove!

The Whale that lights on fire at Pu‘u Kilo! My almost 2-year-olds favorite adventure!

Waiting for a clue to come up!

If you look toward the center of the photo, you can see the turtle about to come up!

Ahhhh.. The beaches at Aulani! One of the main reasons people travel to Hawaii. Ko Olina has 4 man-made lagoons that make them great for swimming and playing because the waves are gentle.  Aulani is located on the first Lagoon, and shares the Lagoon with the Marriott next door and a wedding chapel. During our time there, not many people from the Marriott came down to the beach, it was mostly used by Aulani guests.

You can take a beautiful walk to all 4 lagoons along a lit pathway. The Marriott Beach club takes up quite a bit of real estate on the 2 of them and then the 4th has a public parking and is easily used by anyone. The path is around a mile long, and make for a great sunset stroll!

Before heading to Aulani, do yourself a favor and purchase one of these waterproof phone cases. It holds your phone, room keys, and cash, and keeps them from getting wet. Then you don’t have to worry about leaving your valuables unattended. We were constantly asked where we bought them, they are not sold on site, so be sure to get yours before headed to Aulani.

Aulani offers beach chairs and umbrellas for guests of the resort. We liked getting the small beach chairs and taking them closer to the water to play with the kids in the sand. They also offer Beachside Casabella’s, for 2 people, that you to rent each day.

The sand at the beach is much coarser than what we are used to here on the West Coast. Be sure to rinse off well after playing in the sand, otherwise, you may experience some chafing issues.

Getting buried in the sand!

Aulani also offers Beach Toys and Boogie boards free for guests to use. The first day we were there, we went down to the beach late morning and asked for some beach toys – they were all out! I was surprised and rather disappointed. Beach toys are cheap – they should just have lots for the guests to use. For the rest of our stay, we were sure to send one of us adults down to Makiki Joe’s first thing in the morning to get a bag of beach toys for us to use. We would often play in the pools first thing in the morning, and go down to the beach mid-morning. After we left the beach, we would return the toys 🙂 So if you want to ensure getting some beach toys, make sure to get a bag in the morning! The Lava Shack also sells beach toys (which if we had known our first day, we probably would have just bought some, so we didn’t have to worry about getting some each day.. but we didn’t see them until late in our trip). My note to Aulani would be to get some more beach toys! Seriously, they are inexpensive and they obviously did not have enough for the guests needs.

Boys playing with Aulani Beach Toys

We also got boogie boards several times during our stay. They too often go fast! But we usually had pretty good luck picking up one or two to play with. I don’t think people hoarded them as much as the beach toys (or they just had more boards than toys). The best day for boogie boarding was the day when the water was a bit rougher – we had a great time with the boards that day!

Aulani Boogie Boards

Makiki Joe’s also has many rentals available. Kayaks and standing paddle boards were the most popular.  Some days we were there, they constantly had people renting them. On other days, not one seemed to be renting. One day, it was overcast and the waves were a bit rougher, so they didn’t do the rentals at all that day.

They also offer snorkeling sets to rent. I am not sure all you will see in the lagoon, but we were able to see many fish just playing in the water, no snorkel needed. We were hoping to see turtles, since we heard they often come to Ko Olina, but no luck during our stay 😛

They also offer boat and catamaran rentals. We saw the catamaran go out only twice during our stay. It looked like it would have been a really fun trip/excursion!

Aulani Catamaran

Aulani also had these floating mats that were tethered and anchored. We had quite a bit of fun on these mats. When we were there, they had one very large one, and a couple smaller ones. We would float on the mats, jump off the side of the mat, throw/launch our kids off the side 😉 They were great and quite a bit of fun!

Aulani Floating Mat

Near Makiki Joe’s, they have a ping pong table and a giant Connect Four. My kids thought the Giant Connect Four was awesome. I added it to my Amazon wish list, because they enjoyed playing with it so much!

Aulani Connect Four and ping pong table in the background

There is beachside dining and drinks available to Aulani guests and there is Little ‘Opihi’s for a quick bite, snack, or drink! I personally find it too sandy to eat at the beach, and don’t enjoy the sand in my food…

We spent many wonderful hours enjoying the beach and lagoon during our week stay at Aulani! Other than the beach toy trouble the first day, we love every minute of our time playing there! Aulani is really a great trip for the entire family!

Buring his legs in the sand, while sitting in the Ocean

Connect Four game at Aulani

Got his legs buried in the ocean!

Boogie Boarding at Aulani

Heading out on their Boogie Boards

He was excited that he rode the wave all the way in on his boogie board!

Playing on the Floating Mat

watching fish from the floating mat

Sunset at Aulani