How to make Aulani affordable?

bcwife76 · Mar 3, 2015

I'm dying to go to the Aulani resort but the prices are just so.....scary!!! =0 Looking on expedia and other such travel sites, oh....my.....goodness. Both my husband and I turn 40 in 2016 (ugh, just next year!) so we'd like to take a 'bigger' trip and I'd really like to try for Aulani, but I'm just not sure we can stretch our budget that far once you factor in airfare from Vancouver as well. So how could we make Aulani more affordable? Renting dvc points? Which I know nothing about!! but can obviously read up on since there is an entire board on disboards dedicated to dvc. Any other tips?

Gigi22 · Mar 3, 2015

bcwife76 said:
I'm dying to go to the Aulani resort but the prices are just so.....scary!!! =0 Looking on expedia and other such travel sites, oh....my.....goodness. Both my husband and I turn 40 in 2016 (ugh, just next year!) so we'd like to take a 'bigger' trip and I'd really like to try for Aulani, but I'm just not sure we can stretch our budget that far once you factor in airfare from Vancouver as well. So how could we make Aulani more affordable? Renting dvc points? Which I know nothing about!! but can obviously read up on since there is an entire board on disboards dedicated to dvc. Any other tips?

You have a huge advantage starting out on the west coast. Have you compared flight costs from California to Hawaii? They are likely cheaper. Have you considered taking a ten day to two week vacation in Hawaii, and making most of your stay there non-Disney? (That would almost certainly cut costs). You could finish your vacation at Aulani.

bcwife76 · Mar 3, 2015

We'd still have to fly down to California though so any flight costs saved would probably be eaten up that way ;-) But I hadn't thought of that and will compare fares. A week is most likely as long as we would be able to go for, given my husbands' work and vacation schedule. Although I'm definitely not oppposed to staying longer and spending time in a less expensive hotel. Our last trip to Hawaii was 2001; our hotel was absolutely nothing to brag about but it was clean and was 1 block from the beach and that's all we needed

bcwife76 · Mar 3, 2015

Just did a quick flight search on Priceline - out of Vancouver, Seattle and LA direct to Honolulu - Vancouver was the cheapest, by far!!! So yeah, definitely not saving money that way. But I like the idea of splitting the stay, half a moderate hotel and then a few nights at Aulani, that might be our best bet.

Susan2771 · Mar 3, 2015

We have been and stayed a week. I would recommend going then in the off season. Since you have been to Hawaii before, you are aware then also how much dining is as well. Doing a split stay is a great idea. Make sure you do Aulani second. It will be hard to leave.

Good luck! Hope you also get to go!

dsneygirl · Mar 3, 2015

I agree you have a huge advantage on airfare. We had to fly from the east coast. But we are also DVC so our room was essentially "paid for". Do you have kids as well? It's an amazing resort for families but if I was just going as a couple I think there are better options. We loved it and are planning on going back in 2016 as well but our kids will be 10 and 4. Most people say food is the real sticker shock but we found a lot of prices in the grocery store very comparable to what we pay at home. We had a villa with a kitchen and ate about 80% of the time in the room. Bought our own booze and pop as well.

bcwife76 · Mar 3, 2015

We will be travelling with kids who will be 5 & 8 at the time. Is August still considered off season? I've travelled there in April (twice) and August (once) and August (or July) is when we would be looking at going. If we did a split stay I would definitely save Aulani for last

planningjollyholiday · Mar 4, 2015

We are going to aulani this may. we booked directly with aulani in January. We got 30% off, plus a $50 a day resort credit that can be used on basically anything. We also got free airport transfers to and from aulani, plus a a free one day car rental from alamo at aulani. By booking direct you can get the added perks like the free transfers and car rental that third party sites like expedia wont offer. We are going sunday to friday which means we are avoiding the more expensive weekend rates. we just booked flights today for under $400 cad return from yvr. To get good rates you will have to be patient and check multiple times a day since they fluctuate often. I would sign up for newsletters from air canada, westjet, and alaska. They all send me promo codes about once a week. Consider flying out of bellingham. Alaska has a direct flight to Honolulu as well from bellingham, infact right now you could fly for $300 usd roundtrip from there in april and may. Although it can be a gamble to wait so close to book flights, i have always found that around 45 to 60 days out is when i find the best deals. Most airlines will have a "flexible date" option that shows you the cheapest days to fly during the month you want to go. Sometimes being flexible and changing your dates by one day can save you hundreds of dollars.

bcwife76 · Mar 4, 2015

Sounds like you've got a good deal there! Thank you for all the tips!

bcwife76 · Mar 5, 2015

A friend of mine has a condo on Maui that she rents out (when she's not using it) through vrbo and would give it to us at a discounted rate. So now we're considering staying at her condo for 6 or 7 nights, then flying over to Oahu and spending 2-3 nights at Aulani. Just not sure if that would be too much hassle, you know? Flying to Maui, then to Oahu and home from Oahu. Need to do more research on island hopping.....

DVCanadian · Mar 5, 2015

bcwife76 said:
We will be travelling with kids who will be 5 & 8 at the time. Is August still considered off season? I've travelled there in April (twice) and August (once) and August (or July) is when we would be looking at going. If we did a split stay I would definitely save Aulani for last

You should look at renting DVC points. 1 week in a 1 bedroom villa costs about $5,000 USD in late August 2016 according to Davids DVC rental site.
July and the first half of August is the most expensive time for a DVC rental.
Slightly cheaper in the 2nd half of August.
You get a kitchen, laundry etc. it is like a condo but Disney.

jeepwreck · Mar 5, 2015

we always fly out of Seattle when you travel in the states it was way cheaper then flying out of YVR

bcwife76 · Mar 5, 2015

jeepwreck said:
we always fly out of Seattle when you travel in the states it was way cheaper then flying out of YVR

I did a quick search putting in some dummy dates - between YVR, Seattle and LAX, Vancouver was the CHEAPEST! $584 from Seattle, $680 from LA and $411 from Vancouver! All non-stop flights. So I don't think we'd ever drive down to Seattle. Bellingham though would be closer (if no wait at the border we can be at the Bellingham airport in 35-40 minutes from our house).

ChloroformSdxn · Mar 9, 2015

For flights, check out Hopper.com and plug in your departure and arrivals.

I'm also in Vancouver, and we went to Aulani in December. You've got some time, so keep an eye on it via Mousesavers or the website. The best advice I can give you is to go in the off season. Between American Thanksgiving and Christmas is a bit of a slow period since no one really travels then. We got every 4th night free (so 25% discounts, basically), a $100 a night resort credit, a rental car for a day and airport transfers. Because of that, it was a better deal than renting DVC points. We also went with a suite so that we could do our own meals with the exception of a few. This cut a lot off the cost, since the restaurants are super expensive.

I wish I could find a list of historical sales data so I could see if they have a tendency to repeat sales from year to year.

ChloroformSdxn · Mar 9, 2015

Also, some friends got a decent rate through WestJet Vacations when they bundled it. I wouldn't be surprised if they started coming out with Canadian pricing, since that's got to be cutting into their bookings a bit.

badiggio · Mar 10, 2015

do yourself a favor and stay a few days at the very least,at ko olina beachvillas,right across from aulani.the villas are huge with top appliances,a fraction of what you pay at aulani,and imo,a lot nicer.check vrbo or homeaway.

La Belle · Mar 11, 2015

To reiterate what was said above. I was pricing out aulani and they had an awesome room discount with free breakfast and the same perks mentioned above. Sorry I don't remember the exact dates of the special. It was for the winter months January/February for sure. i looked on westjet vacation and was priced approx $5,600 for 4 people and 11 nights. I was in shock.

So maybe there will be a similar special for 2016. Good luck!

xlxo · Mar 11, 2015

BTW... in addition to flying... you get get a boat from Vancouver to check out all the islands before arriving in Honolulu. You can take another boat back or fly back at half price (you are flying one way!).

bcwife76 · Mar 12, 2015

Thanks everyone for all your tips and advice! I think what we'll most likely end up doing is renting our friends' condo in Maui and then if we really still want to do Aulani, we'll add on 2 or 3 days at the end and fly to Oahu to stay there before flying home.

Deirdres · Mar 28, 2015

if you plan it in advance I would recommend getting Hawaiian Airlines credit cards, you get 35,000 miles per card which is good for a OW or RT depending on season, plus if you purchase a RT you get the second one for half price. If you have miles left over you can use them for island hopping. We did this for our family, and it has saved us quite a bit.

How to make Aulani affordable?

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