Disney Aulani Luau Review 2024 – Menu, Pricing, Tips, Worth It?

Disney's Aulani Luaua is a multi-part cultural celebration of Hawaiian culture and heritage located at Aulani – A Disney Resort in Hawaii. The offering is available to guests of Aulani and non-hotel guests and includes time for traditional Hawaiian hands-on crafts, a great meal, and Hawaiian performance.

The luau, like the rest of Aulani, is focused in on telling a real Hawaiian story and is set up to tell the story of the particular local region of Oahu where the resort is located.

We recently attended the Aulani luau after all of the covid precautions were fully removed in late 2023 and sat in the preferred seating section. I have seen other luaus in Hawaii before, but a long time ago. I am a frequent Disney traveler so have the theme park show quality for comparison.

Below I'll share tips for enjoying the luau, answer common questions, and describe what's included with the Disney Hawaiian luau before going into whether the luau is worth it. Plus, the Disney characters and surprising lack there of that are featured in this luau.

How Much is the Disney Aulani Luau?

The Disney KA WA‘A Aulani luau is currently priced at the below rates:

Preferred Seating:

Adults (ages 10 and up) – $204 plus tax – Price beginning May 2024 – $209 plus tax

Kids or Keiki as they say in Hawaiian (ages 3 to 9) – $124 plus tax – Price beginning May 2024 – $129 plus tax

General Seating:

Adults (ages 10 and up) – $175 plus tax – Price beginning May 2024 – $180 plus tax

Kids or Keiki as they say in Hawaiian (ages 3 to 9) – $104 plus tax – Price beginning May 2024 – $109 plus tax

What is Included With the Disney Aulani Luau?

The below is what is included with the standard Disney Aulani luau pricing:

• Buffet Dinner
• Welcome Alcoholic or Non-Alcoholic Drinks
• All drinks included
• Kokoi Nuts necklace or Maui fishhook necklace for kids – described as lei on Disney website, but in our case was plastic kokoi nut necklace
• Complimentary Valet Parking if you are driving to the luau – get validated during the show

The Disney Aulani luau VIP preferred seating additional charge includes everything above and a free digital photo download, early check-in, and upfront seating. The key difference between the VIP preferred and general seating is the view to the stage. The preferred seating means that you are closer to the stage with a much better view of the action and you end up with much more time for the pre-show activities because you end up checked in much sooner. So the luau VIP seating maybe be worth it. You could also settle on the general seating. Above see our view from our chair without anyone else in front of us and another view of the entire set of tables to the stage from the back of the general seating area. Note that there are also smaller stages down the middle of the aisle where dancers perform and still interact with those sitting near the back so you can likely go either way with the option that you choose. See photos further down the page for another photo from the back of the section.

Where is the Disney Aulani Luau Located?

Aulani – A Disney Resort and Spa is located a 40 minute drive from Waikiki Beach or an hour plus on traffic days. We were not staying at Aulani this trip and were driving from our hotel on Waikiki and the drive took us over an hour to get to the hotel when we left at 2:45 pm. Be warned that there can be traffic getting to Aulani and you should make sure to factor this in if driving to the luau from other resorts.

The luau itself is located in a garden section of the Aulani resort. The area is set back from the beach and ocean inlet that the Aulani resort sits on. You will not be able to see the sunset from the Aulani luau location.

Disney KA WA‘A Aulani Luau Arrival Experience

Let's dive into a general overview of the KA WA‘A Aulani luau experience. To line up for the luau you'll walk down the stairs from the main lobby and follow signs for either the VIP preferred section or the standard seating section. Your reservation will state the line up time. These vary based on time of year and sunset time. With our preferred seating we could enter at 5 pm. General seating could arrive at 5:10 pm. Dinner was then served at 6 pm.

We then checked in before getting put in a line for a photo and to be escorted to our table. In this line we were then also given our kokoi nut necklaces and kids were offered maui fishhook necklaces.

Digital downloads of the photo are included with the ticket to the luau and can be accessed via the card that is given to you.

Seating for the luau happens front to back. Tables are pre-assigned for preferred seating and filled front to back for general seating. See more in our Aulani luau tips section below.

You'll also be greeted with welcome alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink.

Luau Activities Before Dinner

During this time the activities were also getting started throughout the lawn area. There are a couple of different activities available before the luau. The activities were:

Painted tattoo stamping – I got one of the tattoos and though it was very dark on my skin initially it wore off very quickly the next day swimming in the ocean. They warn it could be there for a couple of days, but with our active Hawaii trip it was gone pretty quickly.

Taro pounding – There was also a demonstration of a group of men smashing taro into the poi paste and there were samples of that paste for guests to enjoy. You can take my word that there is no reason to try the bland poi paste.

There was also a ukulele strumming class going on with a couple of pros teaching kids how to play favorite songs.

Finally there was a station to make flower lei bracelets. For those who don't want to make their own bracelet you could also ask for a completed one.

As these activities were going on and we were getting into our seats there was also a live band strumming away on the stage. A couple of dancers also came out during this period to entertainment the crowd and get everyone excited to be there. One of the hosts for the evening also came out during this period to get everyone excited.

Dinner at Luau

The Aulani team was proud to say that the food at the Disney luau is the best at any luau on the island. Based on my limited other luau experiences and general banquet eating experiences I could definitely believe this. The food at the Aulani luau was delicious and delivered packing punches of flavor. The food did not taste like it was mass produced and was really good.

Here's how the dinner setup worked!

Once everyone was seated for the luau, the host of the show came out to greet everyone and let us know that our table hosts would dismiss us by table to head to the buffet. Our preferred seating table was among the first to be released to get food. There was never any shortage of food on the buffet and after everyone had gotten their food there was no line for food, so this wasn't a huge preferred perk but it was nice.

Before I dive into the describing the buffet I will note that there was a specific kids meal that comes with that pricing tier. That meal was a bento box that was delivered before the adults were released to the buffet so there were not squirming kids waiting to get food. That kids meal bento box includes a fruit cup, macaroni and cheese, seasonal stir-fry vegetables, tiki chicken tenders with pineapple bbq sauce, braised pork, and a dessert of a Moana chocolate mini cupcake and guava cake. Kids are also more than welcome to grab additional food from the buffet.

We also saw other guests receive special food because of allergies. All of this happens before all guests are allowed to head to the buffet.

During COVID the show had bento boxes for guests, but now the show is back to a full buffet offering. There are four tables that are part of the buffet.

The first table includes includes salad greens, tomatoes, dressing, croutons, macaroni salad, ahi poke, and lomi lomi salmon salad.

The second table is the majority of the hot food which includes white rice, purple sweet potato mash, steamed vegetables, braised pork, teriyaki chicken, a local catch fish, and Hawaiian rolls.

The third table is the cutting station where there was a massive piece of prime rib and sauces as seen above.

The final table is filled with desserts and fresh fruit. The desserts included a macadamia nut brownie, passion fruit cake, guava cake, and coconut pudding. The macadamia nut brownie was delicious and I really enjoyed diving into the fresh fruit from the islands.

Generally all of the food at the Aulani luau was really good and didn't at all taste like the high-quantity buffet food that it is. Really impressed with the food offering here!

Disney Aulani Luau Show Acts

Go to any Disney park around the world and you'll find world class talent performing in the shows and entertainment put on for guests. The KA WA'A luau is the same story. We were super impressed by the theatrical nature and high quality of the luau performances. The show tells the story of the physical location of the Aulani resort, historically called Ewa, by looking back at the ancestors of the performers and the resort to tell a very grounded story that is truly all about Hawaii. The luau is part history lesson as it entertains with a wide range of energetic and intense dance numbers.

Dance numbers ranged from including the full cast of men and women while others focused on specific singular performers. The show is hosted by a brother and sister that trace their lineage in the spot of Ko Olina generations to their seafaring ancestors. There's a big bowl (see image below for bowl in net) that the hosts pull objects out of to advance the story and lead into the next musical number. The show is also led by a group of musicians that are on stage throughout the show.

The musical numbers range from upbeat and celebratory to reflective and intense. I was super impressed by what was clearly traditional dance techniques from all of the performers. The lightest moments of the show were when Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse appeared in the show (see video of their dance below) and when the band riffed on some more familiar songs for a brief moment. Apparently Moana used to appear during the show before the pandemic but we didn't see her in our performance.

The fire dancers that appeared on stage near the end of the show were super impressive. Always amazes me the agility and danger related to an act like that.

The luau show portion lasts 60 minutes and in the winter season when we visited ran from 7 pm  to 8 pm. After the show was over, the performers also met with guests in the back of the theater which allows for some cute photos.

There are no volunteers selected during the luau which helps to keep the high end nature of the show throughout. Everything feels very theatrical and appears to be a very historically correct luau.

Are there Disney Characters in Aulani Luau?

The Disney Aulani Luaua is surprisingly light on Disney characters within the show. Or I should say it is surprisingly light on characters if you were to drop into the Aulani Luau without learning anything else about this Disney resort in Hawaii and only know that this is a Disney luau. Generally Aulani is not Disney character centric as it focused on using the Disney brand and creative capabilities to tell the story of Hawaii through the hotel space. When Aulani opened initially, characters were extremely limited in the hotel and even now characters are largely separated from the storytelling of Hawaii at the hotel. The characters are present in a couple of rotating meet and greet spots at the resort and at an Aulani Disney character breakfast. The name of the hotel is “Aulani – A Disney Resort in Hawaii” and not “Disney's Aulani”. Disney is really deprioritized to get out of the way of the Hawaiian storytelling that was created by Walt Disney Imagineering.

The only Disney characters included in the Aulani luau are Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse in a song moment where they help the whole audience to learn a hula. The characters don't even have speaking parts in the show and just do a quick pop on to the show. See the cute song moment in the video below.

Disney clearly was working not to include characters because there was a segment that discussed the god Maui in the traditional Hawaiian story that inspired the Disney movie Moana but no Moana character came out. In the Disney Parks that section is where Moana would pop out and talk to her storytellers and saying that's not quite right. Of course this would be more along the lines of the shows at the Royal Theater in Disneyland not the grand traditional luau setting at Aulani. I was really fine with this goofy aspect being out, but it is something I wanted to make sure to discuss because I know some could be surprised when hearing about a Disney luau.

The point is that this is not a show to come to looking for blasts of Disney songs or music. The show is actually quite theatrical and super high quality, but it doesn't have any real zaniness that one part of me was expecting from a show at a Disney theme park resort. At no point does Goofy pop out and say – “hey what's going on over here” before falling down something and letting our his signature yell and Mickey isn't hosting the show with a lead into the Hawaiian rollercoaster ride song from Lilo and Stitch. We'll have to sit and miss the now closed Mickey's Magical Map at Disneyland for that. Another interesting choice. Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse are not available for the photo headed into the luau and instead it is a man and woman in traditional outfits. Again, not surprising but not DISNEY.

All of this is to say that the show is fantastic, but if you come in looking for a DISNEY luau you will be disappointed. Instead you should come in looking for a Disney production quality level luau and be thrilled with the incredible work of the artists and storytellers at Disney that helped to bring this culturally authentic show to life.

If you are looking for Disney characters as part of you luau experience, read one of our tips below.

Tips for Disney Aulani Luau

Arriving early means that you will have a better selection of your seat once you are taken to your table. You'll be assigned to a table based on if you have a preferred ticket or general ticket and then your actual seat at the table will be first come first served. When we arrived we were the last three to arrive at our table so we actually all sat next to each other facing another family that had selected the side of the table facing at the main aisle way and stage. The seats were still great because we were able to turn our chairs around for the show, but be aware that you will end up sitting family style. Arriving early also means that you'll have longer to explore the Hawaiian activities scattered throughout the lawn area.

If you are staying Aulani you can nicely see the luau from garden view floors at the hotel from your room balcony. Of course it is not garauntee that you get the perfect room with this view, so if you want to see the luau you'll want to book that in advance or have it be a nice surprise that you when you didn't book you could see it from the room. During the show that I saw there were at least five rooms with groups out on their patios watching.

The nearest restroom is located a little bit of a walk from the luau area. Use it right before head into the event. If you really have to go, don't worry about it but in general good not to go and miss any of the entertainment. The best time to go is during the end of dinner but definitely hurry back so you don't miss any of the show.

If you want to see Disney characters during your visit to the Aulani luau and aren't staying, call the Aulani hotel phone number at 808-674-6200 and ask for the character hotline to get the character times to see if there are any right before your luau. Those staying at the hotel have ample time to meet one of the dozen characters that appear at the resort for a photo throughout the day. We caught Chip and Dale right before heading into the show as seen in the section above.

My dad who also attended the show and has been to more luaus than I have suggested that I include there is no unearthing of the imu ceremony which typically includes taking a cooked pig out of a pit where it has been cooked to be eaten.

Is the Disney Aulani Luau Worth It?

Generally the Disney Aulani KA WA'A luau is a high quality theatrical experience that anyone staying at the Aulani should definitely add onto their trip. The food was super high quality, the entertainment value was great, and the crafts were great for kids. The luau really delivered on all fronts. I struggle gauge worth because I don't have the direct luau experience for discussion of a comparison. Hopefully the photos and information above will help with you trip planning.

If you are considering this luau for your family trip to Oahu, be sure to book whenever you know your dates. The luaus do sell out. You can book your luau directly on the Disney website here. Try calling the resort number listed above if there are no reservations available for the date you are interested in.

We were hosted by Aulani for this review of the luau. We have previously stayed at the Aulani on our own budget and plan to return again in the near future.

Planning a Trip to Aulani?

Read our full review of the Aulani here, our Disneyland trip planning guide here, and be sure to join our FREE Mickey Visit newsletter for more tips and discounts on Disney.

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