HGVC Grand Waikikian and Aulani April 2013

[Presley Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Presley]

Aloha! Just got back from a school related event in Oahu. I was there mostly as a parent volunteer, but opted to travel on my own instead of with the team. I have a lot of HGVC points and figured I'd use those instead of paying for a cramped hotel room. I was able to get a standard one bedroom at the Grand Waikikian for 4 nights. I rented an ocean view studio at Aulani for the last night because I've read so many great things about the resort that I wanted to see it firsthand while I was on the island.

My days were busy and I didn't have time to do much of anything at the resorts. Plus, my internal clock never adjusted fully. So, I went to sleep early and woke up early every day. Not much to do around there at 4:00am. It didn't matter, though. I was very happy to be in Hawaii. It's been 4 years since my last visit and I always leave wanting more.

I loved staying in the Grand Waikikian. Based on the pictures that I saw, I wasn't too excited about it because it looked so dark. That wasn't the case when I was there in person, though. It was gorgeous and the living area had enough different seating areas that the 3 of us were able to totally spread out and make our areas with our own stuff. We had a "street" view, but were able to see the ocean from the lanai. The street was very loud when we left our slider open, but the room was very quiet with it closed. I never heard any neighbors or anyone in the hall. It was very nice and it will be my first choice for a place to stay when I go to Oahu in the future. I didn't stay in a penthouse, but they do have a penthouse lounge for those who do. It is supposed to have drinks/snacks and a great view and a staff person there on hand to help with whatever the guests need.

We experienced excellent customer service in all areas of the resort from checking in to the waiters in the restaurants. They made everything easy and pleasant. The big downside was that they made it so nice that I didn't want to leave.

Our stay at Aulani was disappointing after leaving HHV. The beach was closed because of a sewer spill. I imagine that was why the pools were so full. Despite there being a tremendous amount of lounge chairs, there weren't any available. Other than the great staff at check in, the rest of the staff seemed clueless about anything at the resort. It was so odd after being at the Hilton. I also paid top dollar for the ocean view unit. I believe Aulani has 4 view categories and I booked the "best". We could see the ocean from our lanai, but what we had the best view of was the entire pool area. It was a very nice view and it was also a very LOUD view. Even with the slider closed, there was very loud music playing into the evening. It was very much like being at the theme parks. I really wasn't expecting that! I think they have a lot of kinks to work out, but I also want to cut them some slack. I know that the beach being closed made for some grumpy visitors and I'm sure that rubbed off on the staff some.

I'll post more of a comparison later. I'll post pics of the rooms, also. They are both beautiful properties and each have their own areas that cannot compete with the other. I like the Hilton much better. However, I am sure that if I had small children, I'd prefer Aulani.

[happymum Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close happymum]

Thanks Presley, great to hear your perspective on the resorts!

[Presley Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Presley]

My pictures aren't as good as I thought they'd be. I'll do my best to answer any specific questions about the rooms.

First is the Grand Waikikian in HHV. This the standard, nothing fancy one bedroom unit. Check in is at the same desk as the Lagoon Tower. After checking in, you walk through an adjoining hallway, more like several rooms to get to the GW tower. Each tower has a sundries shop on the bottom floor. They also have DVD rental kiosks for each tower. Guests can check out one movie or PS3 game at a time throughout their stay for free.

The elevators are lightning fast. The decor is first rate. It is a beautiful tower on a beautiful property.
The first 2 pictures I was standing in the same spot. The dark pic is looking out towards the lanai. The other is facing the kitchen. The entry door is next to the kitchen and the in room laundry is in a closet on the other side of the entry door.





The one bedroom had 2 full beds and a bathtub. The beds were not comfortable. I had hip pain every morning.


Our room was street view. Here are pics off of the lanai. We could see the ocean from the lanai, but not any part of the beach. Second pic is a zoom of the first. It was very gray that day and hard to tell the sky from the ocean.




Bedroom window view


We didn't have any housekeeping service. We stayed 4 nights and they offer a midweek cleaning if you stay a full 7 days. I was told at check in that I could call if I need more shampoo, towels, etc between the hours of 9am and 3pm. We never called for anything because we were always busy during that timeframe. I would have liked to have the trash removed, but I just knotted up the trash and put it under a counter since I never saw anywhere that I could dump it and I wasn't comfortable leaving it in the otherwise pristine hallway.

We ate at Tropics twice. The food is average and prices are high, but the view/atmosphere is priceless. There is live music every evening and the later it gets, the longer the wait to get seated. They offer indoor and outdoor seating. Outdoor is the high demand seating and we lucked out one of the nights by saying indoor would be okay and our table was actually more outside than inside. Birds walk around the whole time and it is ocean front. Perfect sunset view in the evening.

One morning we had the buffet at the Rainbow room expecting a nice ocean view. After a 30 min wait, we were seated in a corner that didn't have much of a view. The buffet offered plenty of choices. Our waiter obviously knew what he was doing because he asked what room we were in and then the rest of the time called us by our names. For some reason, the coffee isn't good here. We had the same coffee 4 years ago here.

There are lots of shops on property. ABC stores are a favorite of ours for a bargain. They also had high end retailers, but going to Hawaii costs enough without buying any luxury items. I brought back some 100% Kona coffee and some cookies from Honolulu Cookie company. It was really sad to check out and leave....

[Presley Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Presley]

Originally we planned on going straight to Aulani and having a fun resort day after checking out of HHV. We had just spent 3 full days inside of an area and really needed our Hawaii fix. Our favorite place on Oahu is Waimea Valley. My husband and I could easily spend all day every day in the botanical garden there. Waimea Bay, across the street, is also a favorite beach of ours. So, off to the North Shore we went.

We stopped and watched the turtles for a while on the beach where the volunteers hang out to protect the turtles. That is always a magical experience. Somehow we missed our turn to Banzai Pipeline (another place we love to stop off at) and just went to Waimea. We spent a little time in the valley and then went to the beach. There was a strong shore break, but my son and I managed to play in it anyway. It was great, but then I started to want to swim and didn't want to there because of the big shore break waves. So, we packed up and headed off to Aulani, planning on having a very nice swim in the ocean there.

Check in was very nice. I had already done the online checkin and they had our keys and stuff ready for us before we even walked all the way in. I was greeted with a fresh flower lei. The entry/lobby area was incredibly beautiful. I started wondering if I shouldn't have sold all my DVC. This place was amazing, even just walking down the halls was very elegant.

We had an ocean view studio. I don't think it would make any difference which view category is booked. There are nice things to look at in every direction. I wondered if mountain view would be quieter. That would be more desirable to me because the courtyard was so LOUD.

Here is the room. The TV is across from the bed and there is no way to see it when sitting on the couch. The couch pulls out to a full bed and the regular bed was very comfortable.


Standing in the bathroom looking out at the kitchenette. There were 2 luxury robes available for use. They were for sale in the gift shop for $125./each. The coffee maker was so small that we laughed about it.


Here are some shots of the view from the very small lanai. Direct view was the courtyard. View to the left was the ocean and view to the right was the green mountains.






Aulani had a very long lazy river, a volcano water slide, a salt water snorkel pool and some other pools. It is full of water features. Ko Olina is a private community and Aulani has its own beach. The ocean in front of the resort does not get big waves because of the design and it would be a perfect place to swim and let kids enjoy the ocean. Sadly, the beaches in Ko Olina were closed during our stay because of a sewage spill. I did see someone checking out early when I was arriving, he was unhappy but I didn't know what about at the time. On Sunday, visitors were told that the beach might open up on Tuesday. I saw a dad with small kids and I told him that the beaches were open in Waikiki. He said he tried that. He checked into Aulani, found out the beaches were closed and checked out the next day. He spent one night in Waikiki, but thought the area was way too wild for his little kids and left and came back to Aulani. I felt badly for him. Many people traveled very far to come to Aulani and not being able to use the beach will leave a bad memory for them.

So, I assume because the beach was close, the pools were completely full. Oddly, lunch closes at 3pm at Aulani and dinner opens at 5pm. If you get hungry in between, which we did, you can get carry out burgers, pizza or chicken tenders. None of that appealed to us at the time, so we just got some drinks at Off the Hook. The only available table was right next to a part of the pool that was covered and therefore full of jumping screaming kids. I suggested to my husband that we go ahead and order all of the alcohol drinks and call it a day. We could not relax anywhere outside at Aulani. It was a madhouse, just like a theme park. My son, who loves lazy rivers, wanted nothing to do with the pools at Aulani. It was a screaming kid zone. It was polar opposite of what we just left on the north shore.

When hanging out in our room, the outdoor music got really loud. It was theme park loud. I wondered if any kids who had the same room type as us could sleep through it. Even with the slider closed, it was annoyingly loud. It reminded me of staying at the California Grand and having the loud World of Color music blasting so loud that you cannot escape it in your room. I know some people love that experience. I am not one of them. I was not thinking pleasant thought of Aulani at that point.

In the morning, we sat on the lanai and had our breakfast and coffee. It was quiet and the overall beauty was able to sink in. The place is gorgeous and I think it is the ideal resort for families with children on Oahu. I wish Aulani was around when my kids were smaller. I am open to still enjoying Aulani at this time in my life, but only if the beach is open.

[happymum Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close happymum]

Great pics! Thanks.