Our awesome Aulani trip thanks to disboards

southerngirl528 · Jun 23, 2015

Wow, aloha and welcome home to Aulani, Amw!!! That is wonderful news!! :dogdance:

Congratulations! If we didn't have a TS in the family on Maui, I would add on to my DVC membership at Aulani.

We have done Aulani a couple of ways. Our first time to stay there was 2 years ago and we just "hopped" over for 3 days from Maui, so we bought R/T tickets then from Island Air when they still flew out of the Kapalua airport on the west side of Maui. It was only a 10 minute drive from where we spend almost a month in Ka'anapali every other year. Unless something has changed very recently, since Larry Ellison's acquisition of Island Air, they only fly in/out of Kahului Int'l Airport (OGG). Not a big deal to drive across Maui to Kahului.

This last trip in Jan/Feb of this year, we flew into HNL first, spent our week at Aulani, then did a one-way "hop" from HNL to OGG via Hawaiian Airlines. You can definitely save some$$ by booking your inter island flights as far in advance as possible in most cases. Be sure to get on the email lists for Hawaiian Airlines and Island Air. Just got an email from Island Air today and you can book a flight one-way from HNL to OGG up through the end of Sept for $68/pp.

Mokulele airlines is another island air company though they are not as highly recommended. If jet service is important to you, stick with Hawaiian Airlines. Island Air flew turbo-props when we flew with them. It is a ridiculously short flight between HNL and OGG. Only about 20+ minutes! And quite scenic too as you will fly between the tips of Moloka'i and Lana'i, over the Au'au Channel as you make your way across northwest Maui to OGG. Since we go in humpback whale season, I always keep my eyes peeled for whales below! :yay:

Feel free to ask any other questions, and congrats again on your Aulani acquisition!!! (can't recall, were you a DVC member already?)

Amw1064 · Jun 23, 2015

Thanks so much southerngirl528! More info to process. I will start my reading. Our home resort is Animal Kingdom Lodge.

southerngirl528 · Jun 23, 2015

Oh nice! Going out there to Sanaa in the next few days! Fun! And I cannot WAIT to go back to your new home resort, Aulani, this September to catch the Wonder!!! Your family must be super excited about the thought of returning over and over to Aulani!

Amw1064 · Jun 25, 2015

Yes, we are all very excited about having added Aulani points!!!!! So you are doing the Disney cruise around Hawaii? How awesome! I have never actually ever wanted to go to Hawaii. I figured we had it all living in Florida and we go on so many Disney cruises. Boy, was I ever so wrong. One day there and I knew it was for me. Forget Disney cruises, forget Beach Club my favorite Disney resort. Aulani has it all. I have never left anywhere teary eyed before. I may have not wanted to go home but we drove to the airport in silence.

I am trying to decide if we should add a few days to our trip for next summer and try another island. Even for just a few nights. If anyone has any suggestions, bring them on.

crystal1313 · Jun 26, 2015

Loved your report, thank you for sharing!! We are *just* starting to plan our trip for summer 2016......going for our 15th wedding anniversary and bringing our boys (8 & 6 at that time). The Paradise Cove looks like something they would LOVE. They love animals. Is there somewhere I can find a map to know how to walk there? We are all so excited already and looking at your photos makes me even more excited. Any tips you can share that you found particularly helpful during your trip? Again, thank you for sharing!

southerngirl528 · Jun 26, 2015

It's a very long flight from here in Florida, Amw. I vote for adding on several days next trip to another island! We love spending time at Aulani and then going to our favorite island. :dogdance:

Amw1064 · Jun 26, 2015

Crystal1313, all you do to get to Paradise Cove is go out of Aulani and walk towards Paradise Cove luau. It is maybe a 5 minute walk. When you get to the parking lot there is a small sign and entrance for public beach. It is really easy. (I was so nervous we wouldn't be able to find it either) (looking at the street you would head left out of Aulani)

Just read all the threads in the DVC resorts section. I got all my info there and then I started my own thread titled Aulani help and everyone answered any questions. Everything seemed so foreign to me but when we got there it all made sense. It really is an amazing place!

Amw1064 · Jul 6, 2015

southerngirl528 said:
It's a very long flight from here in Florida, Amw. I vote for adding on several days next trip to another island! We love spending time at Aulani and then going to our favorite island.

Is there better days for island hopping. We took the latest flight home from Aulani on a Saturday. (we arrived on Wednesday and stayed for 10 nights and left on a Saturday) Would you recommend Wednesday to Saturday (we are staying at Aulani for 10 nights) and then island hopping or staying at Aulani Monday to Thursday and then island hopping?

southerngirl528 · Jul 7, 2015

Great questions, Amw. Truthfully, other than the fact that mid-week air fares are usually a bit lower, I don't think it makes much difference what day of the week you do inter-island flights. I would focus more on how many nights you want on each island. I do recommend no more than 2 islands per vacation unless you have an extended time frame. We stay a month and only do 2 islands total, with the bulk of our time on Maui. Personally, I would stay longer than just 3 or 4 nights if possible before flying to the 2nd island. It's a long flight, and 3 nights really only gives you 2 full days of resting up after a long flight and enjoying the amenities.

I have always booked mid-week departures from FL and we generally fly back on the weekend because our other TS on Maui is weekend to weekend.

Hope this helps you a bit! SO much fun planning your next trip to Hawaii!! Enjoy!

Amw1064 · Jul 22, 2015

southerngirl528 said:
Great questions, Amw. Truthfully, other than the fact that mid-week air fares are usually a bit lower, I don't think it makes much difference what day of the week you do inter-island flights. I would focus more on how many nights you want on each island. I do recommend no more than 2 islands per vacation unless you have an extended time frame. We stay a month and only do 2 islands total, with the bulk of our time on Maui. Personally, I would stay longer than just 3 or 4 nights if possible before flying to the 2nd island. It's a long flight, and 3 nights really only gives you 2 full days of resting up after a long flight and enjoying the amenities.

I have always booked mid-week departures from FL and we generally fly back on the weekend because our other TS on Maui is weekend to weekend.

Hope this helps you a bit! SO much fun planning your next trip to Hawaii!! Enjoy!

We would definitely go to Aulani first and stay at least 9 days. Then island hop if we decide to go this route. So coming from Florida, do you buy round trip tickets to Honolulu or do you buy one way tickets to Oahu & Maui. Somebody told me it was cheaper to do rountrip Fl to Honolulu and then island hop roundtrip. Have you found this the case? This is seeming very confusing.

southerngirl528 · Jul 26, 2015

Aloha Amw! Been out of town, just now seeing your post.

Okay, I can't tell you it's the best way, but this last trip I booked 2 one-ways flying directly to HNL and then catching an inter island flight on Hawaiian Air to OGG/Maui. At the end of our wonderful Hawaiian vacation, we flew out of Maui. I think it pays to check all options. This last trip I had to book 2 different one-way trips but not for the price, but because we were staying a month and I was buying coach and upgrading with miles. It is highly likely that if I had waited until I could book my entire trip at once, I would not have been able to upgrade my outbound flight. Does that make sense?

As I've mentioned before I much prefer to get as long a nonstop as possible which some folks would not want. We have usually paid around $850 - $900 R/T, sometimes a tad more. I have seen cheaper fares though. Definitely sign up for email notices from: www.beatofhawaii.com They are great to notify you of fare specials to Hawaii. Also sign up for Hawaiian Air and Alaska Air. It is possible that you might do better getting a great fare to the west coast from here, then a great fare on Hawaiian or Alaska from a west coast gateway city. But for me, it would have to be a LOT cheaper because you would have to pick up your bags and then go through security again and check in for your 2nd flight if both flights were NOT on the same ticket. That just sounds like a mess waiting to happen to me but some folks do it.

You will more often see fare specials to HNL than neighbor islands simply because Honolulu is such a big market in comparison. What I prefer to do most trips is book "open jaw" and fly into one island and out of the other. Then I book that inter-island flight between! I know it's a little crazy, but start checking schedules and fares now, just to familiarize yourself with all your options. I think it will help. :flower3:

Amw1064 · Jul 29, 2015

Thanks Southerngirl528! I will keep checking things but am at kind of a standstill since I won't know if my son and family will be joining or not. If something great pops up though, I might just grab it. I paid $1086 for each ticket last year and I had been looking for months before I purchased. I never found it lower than $975 for June. I just watched my Flipogram a few minutes ago. While I miss being there I would say it took me a solid month to get past it. Actually going to head over to Beach Club in a few weeks. (and I won't judge and will be happy to be there even though it is NOT Aulani!)

BlazerFan · Sep 20, 2015

Amw1064 said:
Crystal1313, all you do to get to Paradise Cove is go out of Aulani and walk towards Paradise Cove luau. It is maybe a 5 minute walk. When you get to the parking lot there is a small sign and entrance for public beach. It is really easy. (I was so nervous we wouldn't be able to find it either) (looking at the street you would head left out of Aulani)

Just read all the threads in the DVC resorts section. I got all my info there and then I started my own thread titled Aulani help and everyone answered any questions. Everything seemed so foreign to me but when we got there it all made sense. It really is an amazing place!

Thanks for this info. When we were at Aulani in 2012 I tried to get there by going in front of the hotel to the right of Aulani but I ran into some rocks that I wasn't comfortable climbing over when I was alone in case I fell, it sounds like you got to the beach by the road, is that correct?

Amw1064 · Sep 20, 2015

Yes BlazerFan, we walked out of Aulani on the sidewalk and headed to the left towards Paradise Cove. We did attempt to go from the lagoon over the rocks but it was very dangerous and we turned back. There were 3 of us and workers at the Four Seasons so I knew somebody would see us if we fell in but the road is much quicker and definitely much safer!

kddlm · Sep 21, 2015

Loved your report and pics! Beautiful family! We hope to get to go for my son's college graduation in 2017....that is if I can get past the airfare and 10+ hr.flight!!!
Thanks for sharing!

Amw1064 · Sep 23, 2015

kddlm said:
Loved your report and pics! Beautiful family! We hope to get to go for my son's college graduation in 2017....that is if I can get past the airfare and 10+ hr.flight!!!
Thanks for sharing!

Thanks so much. I know the airfare is awful and the flight as well but it is soooo worth it. This coming from someone who felt the exact same way and would never give it a try. Now I bought points there and are counting down the days til we go back.

kddlm · Sep 23, 2015

Amw1064 said:
Thanks so much. I know the airfare is awful and the flight as well but it is soooo worth it. This coming from someone who felt the exact same way and would never give it a try. Now I bought points there and are counting down the days til we go back.

Thank you! That is exactly how I was with trying the Disney cruise as well.....now 184 more days until our 2nd!!

Chellymouse · Oct 30, 2015

We used Uncle Bryan's Sunset Suratt surf school on the north shore and they were absolutely amazing! Highly recommend them. I gave them a review in my TR and I cannot given them enough praise! So bummed to hear your daughter's experience wasn't as positive as it could have been

Our awesome Aulani trip thanks to disboards

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