First Time Aulani and Could Use Help Planning

[hope3702]

Looking to go to Hawaii for two weeks in August...I always do One Bedroom's when we travel to Disney but the Studio Suite is tempting here since we are staying so long but it also could be a negative.

We are a family of four (11-7 are the kids)...Will the studio but too small for that period of time...I'm sure there is a lot in the forums that discuss this but figured it would be easy to find out by asking those that have done it...I have about 415 points so that will basically cover the studio...If we go one bedroom then I will have to come out of pocket to cover what the points don't.

Also how is availability at the 7 month mark...

 

[Tmarmac]

It depends. We find the studios small and our kids each need their own sleep place (they could not share the sofa bed). We also love having a full kitchen in a one bedroom since the Aulani restaurants are very, very expensive and they don't really impress us.

Ymmv. If you spend no time in the room and your kids can easily sleep on the sofa bed (and you don't mind going to sleep when the kids go to sleep), a studio may work for you. But you may want to factor in the costs of 2 weeks of restaurant meals.

 

[chamberj]

We just spent 7 nights in a Studio over Thanksgiving and had no issues. Daughters are 25 and 20 and shared the sofa sleeper. We actually ate in the room quite often. We made sandwiches for most lunches, and cereal with milk for breakfast. We grilled 5 of the nights for dinner. The fridge held hamburger meat, hot dogs, chicken, steaks, milk and juices. We did go to Safeway twice during the stay to stock up.

 

[hope3702]

Thanks for your help...So far it is 1-1...Need to do more thinking on this...I also would get Ocean view with the Studio vs. the basic view with the one bedroom...Don't know if that would change anyone's vote...

 

[jtkboston]

My family (me plus DW and DD13 and DD10) would go bonkers doing 2 weeks in a studio. We stayed in a 1BR in August 2015 for a week, it was marvelous.
Note that the standard view or island/garden view rooms likely book up first due to lower point costs, so at 7 months you may not find one of those available in a 1br.

 

[hope3702]

I was thinking the same thing so I may either be forced into a studio or have to shell out cash in addition to points...

 

[Rovim]

I was thinking the same thing so I may either be forced into a studio or have to shell out cash in addition to points...

I am watching this thread as we will planning an August trip. How is availability for a two bedroom at the 7 month mark?

 

[hope3702]

Also is the cash price as a DVC Member the same as I see on the Aulani Website or do we get a discounted number? Thx

 

[DenLo]

Looking to go to Hawaii for two weeks in August...I always do One Bedroom's when we travel to Disney but the Studio Suite is tempting here since we are staying so long but it also could be a negative.

We are a family of four (11-7 are the kids)...Will the studio but too small for that period of time...I'm sure there is a lot in the forums that discuss this but figured it would be easy to find out by asking those that have done it...I have about 415 points so that will basically cover the studio...If we go one bedroom then I will have to come out of pocket to cover what the points don't.

Also how is availability at the 7 month mark...

Are you going to Aulani for entire two weeks? And since you usually do a 1BR at WDW why would you be will to a studio at Aulani? An Aulani studio is the same size of a VWL studio, 356 square feet. The studios at SSR and BLT are the only ones at WDW that are smaller than that. Eating out in Hawaii is expensive. And groceries are more expensive than at hone as well. I would recommend eating in the room every two or three nights, most breakfasts and many lunches.

Also is the cash price as a DVC Member the same as I see on the Aulani Website or do we get a discounted number? Thx

Cash discounted DVC rooms are limited, if a room is available is for a 25% discount. Keep in mind availability for a cash discounted room has nothing to do with rooms available on the member website for booking with points.

 

[hope3702]

Are you going to Aulani for entire two weeks? And since you usually do a 1BR at WDW why would you be will to a studio at Aulani? An Aulani studio is the same size of a VWL studio, 356 square feet. The studios at SSR and BLT are the only ones at WDW that are smaller than that. Eating out in Hawaii is expensive. And groceries are more expensive than at hone as well. I would recommend eating in the room every two or three nights, most breakfasts and many lunches.



Cash discounted DVC rooms are limited, if a room is available is for a 25% discount. Keep in mind availability for a cash discounted room has nothing to do with rooms available on the member website for booking with points.

 

[hope3702]

We are going to do 12 nights all at Aulani

Looking at Studio purely from a point perspective. I think though I will likely only do the one bedroom. Just hoping at 7 months I will be able to book it. 9 nights with points and 3 in cash.

 

[DenLo]

I went to drusba's post on availability, and the following is what he said about Aulani in the summer months:

June to July 7: during first week of June most things are open if booking very early in June but as you approach June 8, you can start to see many things gone for a day or two. Then starting about 7 months out from June 8, a few days a week are gone in everything except possibly ocean view 1BRs and 2BRs and by 7 months out form June 15, much is gone multiple days of the week and that continues through about July 6; an ocean view 1 BR or 2BR might be open but even those were missing two to three days a week in 2016.

July 8 to end July: usually open except you can get two to three days a week closed out in an island garden or pool view studio and a dedicated 2B, but usually not both island garden view and pool view are gone at the same time.

August: demand starts to increase in early Aug with both island garden and pool view studios, 1BRs, and dedicated 2BRs missing two to three days. Starting by mid-Aug, all rooms other than ocean view can be missing three to five days a week and ocean except for GVs can be missing one or two.

I hope it works out for you and that you can be flexible on your view since the island and garden views go so quickly in August.

Edit: I just thought of something, if you don't have enough points to stay at Aulani the entire 12 nights you could do a split stay and do a cash stay at a resort on Waikiki at the beginning. That would be closer to the airport and then switch to Aulani to relax using your points for that stay.

 

[poison ivy]

Having just returned from an incredible 6 night grand villa stay at Aulani over Thanksgiving I'd highly recommend the larger room for your length of stay. You are going to want the kitchen and extra living area space, not to mention a larger balcony. It's really worth it. But - if money is an issue, worst case, I'd book the first 3 nights cash in the cheapest room on property and switch to the 1 bedroom for the remaining 9 nights.

 

[nkereina]

We just spent 6 nights at Aulani for our honeymoon, 2 adults in a studio. We thought it was small for us, so I can't imagine having two other people in there. If we had to pull the sofa out into the sleeper, there would have been very little floor space and it would have been very crowded for us. The hotel room at Aulani is about 30 square feet larger than a studio if space is a concern, but you would lose the kitchenette.