While guests at Aulani we have tried the standard hotel room, studio, and 1 bedroom villa. We don’t think you can go wrong – we’ve yet to have a bad stay. Today I will go through the options and show you some photos as well.
Above you can see the studio. These rooms have a sofa bed + king bed, and a mini kitchenette area. Other than that it’s pretty much what you’d expect from a hotel room. Our kids have had no problem sharing the sofa, and since we spend all day out in the resort and the rooms have balconies- we did not find the set up cramped.
Above you can see the room entry (bathroom was to left) and the kitchenette area with sink, counter, mini fridge, and microwave. If you book a “two bedroom villa” the studio will represent one of those bedrooms. The other part will be a common living area with full kitchen and dining room table, as well as another bathroom and bedroom.
I mention this because when you look at booking the room size goes studio (max 4 guests) to one bedroom (max 5 guests) to two bedroom (max 9 guests). The studio + one bedroom = two bedroom.
We got to enjoy a one bedroom villa on this most recent trip and we really loved the extra space as well as having a kitchen and table to sit and eat or just hang out.
In the living area there is a sofa bed as well as a fold-out twin below the TV (see the wood area below tv in the photo below? That pulls out). We found it felt small as well as having a bit of a ledge above your head on part of the bed so our smallest traveling companion (Rebecca) slept here (she is about 5feet tall) while the two teenage girls (my other daughter and their cousin) slept on the pull-out.
The bathroom is divided into two parts with a sink, shower, and toilet in one room and a closet, sink, and bathtub in the other spacious area. We had two dinners (take out food) as well as most breakfasts here in the room, and so the space and ability to keep leftovers (and reheat) as well as just having the quiet and relaxation of our own dining area was great.
With little ones, the extra space would be great for play time, but also give a bit of space if you wanted to watch TV or relax while they sleep.
One thing we love about the Aulani resort overall and the rooms especially is how the details such as hidden Mickey in the bedding is subtle. It’s mostly earth tones and relaxing, with ceiling fans, a lot of wood accents, and a very relaxed vibe consistent with the resort. Our room on this last visit had a view of the area where they do luaus, movies on the lawn, etc. I was concerned about the noise but by 8:30-9pm it was absolutely silent and peaceful.
While we did once have an ocean view room, we don’t usually because we spend all day outside enjoying the resort, and truly don’t care what our view is so long as we get time at Aulani!
For more room information or layouts and details, you can visit the Aulani website. Note that if you are not a DVC or Disney Vacation Club member these room types are available to book either cash directly with Aulani, or by renting points from a DVC owner.