What could Disney could do to get you to Aulani

[CampbellzSoup]

Good Morning my favorite people!

I was just wondering what Disney could do to make it more accessible for people to go to Disney's Aulani...what's keeping you back from enjoying their tropical paradise I can think of a few issues, however what is your biggest issue in regards to getting to Aulani

Is it:

• The Cost of Airfare - Is it too much coming from far places in the United States to get to the location?
• The Expense of the Resort - Amenities, Food, and Lodging?
• Entertainment - Do you feel that there are enough activities at Disney's Aulani for you to participate in?
• No Interest - Do you just simply have no interest in this type of Disney Experience? For Instance does beach life not interest you at all?

The only thing that is off putting to me is the various nickel and diming of you - I think that the cost of food should be lowered a bit, if people are paying big money for this resort at least make the food a bit more accessible in terms of the average persons wallet.

A dining plan option would be nice as well so families could know that they have a credits to eat lunch and diner without seeing that bill at the end of the meal to sometimes sour things at bit.

I'm going in about TWO weeks from now and promise to give you guys a full trip report with photos and everything!

 

[twodogs]

We are going in late May for the first time, so these concerns that I have had may or may not prove to be problems after we go and see if it was worth it anyway! Will have to report after we go....

• Airfare is almost $1000 or more per person from where I live, year round, with only American flying directly from Dallas to Honolulu. That limits competition and raises prices, unless I want a 6 hour lay over in LA or elsewhere. Even then the prices don't drop dramatically, and layovers with kids are painful and risky.
• The flying time is 8.5 hours, and I have been unwilling to do that with my kids until now (they will be nearly 11 and nearly 9 when we go this summer). When my kids were younger, no way would I voluntarily do that long of a flight with them!
• Cost of food/excursions in Hawaii. We have been to Hawaii, prior to having kids, and it was expensive then. We will get a villa this time, so we will have the kitchen, which definitely helps. My kids are somewhat picky still, so I'm not spending the money on Roy's or Ama Ama for them at this age. Seems there are not too many inexpensive places within Aulani to eat, but some close by... Excursions are expensive, regardless of it booked via Aulani or directly with provider. This is compared to places in the Caribbean, etc for things like sailing, diving
• Parking cost of $35/day. Not out of line with other places like San Diego, but it still seems high for an island where the resort is relatively isolated and many people will feel that they need a car. Since many travel far to get here at great expense, many don't want to stay only at the resort; they want to explore the island and need a car (or pay for expensive transportation).

These factors didn't influence our initial decision to go to Aulani, but now that I am learning more about it in preparation for the trip, these things might decrease our chances of returning, depending on if they occur on our trip:

• Severe problems getting pool chairs/umbrellas. I don't mind going down early, but to have to stake this out at 7am and keep it all day means that they don't have nearly enough chairs when the resort is at capacity. To me that means they need more pool areas/chairs or cut capacity (not going to happen as capacity is what pays the bills).
• Problems getting into Aunty's, such that we have to line up at 6:30 AM. I understand that they can't have enough capacity for EVERY child to come on every day, but if most days people are lining up at 6:30AM and the activities are full by person #10 in line every day (and 40+ people in the line don't get to go an activity for their kids), they don't have nearly enough capacity for this "included in your stay" activity.

 

[AZMermaid]

We went this past June. It was ah-maz-ing! My kids ask weekly to go back. Reasons we aren't going back for a few years...

Airfare- we can only afford to take a big flight every other year. Our next flight is to WDW in summer of 2017. The cost for us to fly to Hawaii vs WDW is about the same. We will likely go back to Aulani in the summer of 2019. My kids will be 7 and 8.5 at that time.

Um.... that's it I guess. We actually felt like Hawaii would be cheaper than WDW for us because the flights are a wash. We cooked way more in Hawaii than we will in WDW. The meals were about the same cost in both places, but you do have a bigger variety in Florida. We plan on doing a lot of extras in WDW (go big or go home for this once in a childhood stage trip) and add those to ticket prices, activities at Aulani were way cheaper- and we did two days of cabanas.

We lined up at 7:00 for Aunty's and were always about 15th in line and had no trouble getting into anything. But, this was right before they started pre-reserving activities, so I imagine that diminishes capacity for that day. I agree, this is an issue. Again, it wasn't one that impacted us, but I do feel like there is a slight false sense of security there when they advertise a free kids club and it fills to capacity at times.

 

[Pooh2]

We went last year for our 30th anniversary and loved every minute. We figured it was a once in a lifetime trip but hoping to get back for our 35th anniversary in 4 years.
From the east coast, the airfare was very expensive.
The food definitely gave us sticker shock as well.
So definitely only for big celebrations for us.

 

[gdrj]

Have not been to Hawaii. If I could go not sure if I would want to go there or be closer to other things and attractions.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We are going for our fourth time in May. It's my husband's favorite place in the world I think. We love everything sbout it. They are still pushing DVC points because I think they are having more trouble than anticipated selling. My guess is that they thught the Asian market would buy more DVC points than they have. Or would be more repeat visitors like us. We heard from a staff member that one of the reasons they added a new pool area after it was built was because more people than anticipated were just staying at the resort all day instead of visiting other parts of the island. We were there before the new pool was built a couple of years ago and it has definitely helped the crowding.

We fly from Chicsgo. But we have points there as well as other resorts and we got them at opening price no where near the $168 they are selling for now. And we got them for a much lower annual fee per point. Apparently they vastly underestimated the admin costs and raised them after the initial offering bit we were able t keep the lower fees. We use points for a one bedroom ocean view that would go for $1000 or more a night. No way we would ever pay that. And we rarely leave the resort. We have been all over the island and don't need to see it all again. ,plus we have been on all the other islands. We do rent a car but DVC members using points don't have to pay for parking and it gives us flexibility to go out for dinner or shopping. We put a local friend of ours on our room so he can visit and use the pool and get free parking too.

I'm an early riser and usually get to the pool by 8 to get chairs at our favorite spot.

My only regret is the lack of entertainment options. There is music at night but it all very hawaiin. I would love t have modern music THat you could dance to. The monkey pod restaurant across the street has live music every night though. And once the Four Seasons opens next door, I'm hoping they will have more entertainment options.

 

[DSLRuser]

We just spent 2 weeks on Maui. The draw for any island in the Hawaiian chain is the island (s), not the resort.

You have to go out and explore, which means $400 a night is not always the best option since you will be away most of the time. If I wanted just a resort experience, I could go to florida or arizona and skip the $1,000 a ticket air fare.

 

[crystal1313]

We are going in July for our 15 year anniversary and my parents 41st anniversary, so I might change after we return:

• Parking fee. We are not DVC owners, and we are totally splurging and spending for our 2 room villa. I would expect with the high cost of the room parking would be included. Since it is not, we plan on renting a car for the day to go to Pearl Harbor at our leisure. We don't want to deal with a tour with our kids who might get restless, etc and want to check things out without having to worry about the time.

• Transportation from the airport. I was really hoping for something similar to the magical express in terms of getting to and from the resort without an added cost. Using an outside shuttle service makes me nervous as I typically have bad luck using such services. (fingers crossed this time it is ok)

• I am also a bit nervous about using Aunty's. I am not over planning this trip (the point for us is to relax this trip, and explore more the next trip when kids are older) and I figure on just dropping in maybe once a day, so the adults can have a nice adult meal or cocktails. I know my boys will love it. We aren't planning on the paid activities but I know they would love the space goo activity. The whole thing stresses me out! It just does not seem very organized, etc. I am hopeful, if we need to be down there early, it won't be an issue since I am guessing we will be up early with the time change.

That's it for now I think. We are very much looking forward to this trip!

 

[CampbellzSoup]

I got transfers included it's not normally?

 

[lizard1]

AIRFARE! We usually drive to WDW. IF we can get a flight with only one layover, it will be only 1 hour shorter to get to HNL from where we live than it takes to drive to WDW. However, since we are a family of 5, it is at LEAST $5,000 cheaper to drive to WDW than to fly to HNL from the closest airport (though the prices within a couple hundred miles of us are at most $100/ticket different.

 

[jtba]

I got transfers included it's not normally?

it's a special package. the shuttles are not operated by Disney though.

 

[automaticsoap]

For me, Hawaii is the draw and the fact that Disney has a resort there is just a plus! I'm going to Aulani for the first time in early March -- previously I've been to Maui and fell in love, so this time around I wanted to check out another island. The fact that I'm a DVC member made staying at Aulani an easy decision. I would still visit Hawaii even if Disney didn't have a resort there, but due to the cost of airfare and wanting to visit other places, my plan is only to visit Hawaii every 2-3 years.

 

[Disneylover99]

Number 1 reason. Airfare. The cost of airfare is the reason I don't go to many places around the world.

 

[bcwife76]

We live on the West Coast so airfare isn't as big a deal as it is for other parts of Canada and the US. In fact we are going to Maui this May for a week (albeit we got our airfare for a smokin' good deal). But what made us choose Maui over Aulani was the sheer sticker shock of the resort - from the fees to parking to the rooms themselves and all that is offered at the resort. We do hope to get to Aulani one day but we will have to save up for quite a while to afford it. So yes, for us it's the cost associated with the resort and all it has to offer.

 

[Regan117]

I don't think there's any problem with it. Our biggest issue is the distance, since we live in Pennsylvania and have SMALL children (3, 3, and 4)...so the long flight is hard. Other than that, it's fine as it is. Hawaii is expensive....ALL of Hawaii. There's no such thing as Hawaii on a budget, really, and that's just reality. It's an island that imports nearly everything, and groceries are expensive. Therefore, restaurants are expensive. I'd like for them to add more restaurants, but they don't necessarily need to be cheaper. But please no dining plan. This isn't Disney World, and I don't want to it to be Disney World. A dining plan and having to wear some sort of band for my entire resort stay would actually deter me from going to Aulani. We are going for a Hawaiian resort vacation. If we want to go to Disney World an have dining plans and magic bands, then we go to Disney World. I don't know...I just don't feel like this particular property should get too "Disney"...it would ruin its authenticity.

 

[cleophus12]

I too live on the east coast so traveling to Aulani is a issue--both expense of airline tickets and time of travel. This year, however, for our second trip to Aulani, my DD and I decided to run the Tinkerbell 10K at DLR, so we will spend two nights at DL and then fly to Oahu to break up the trip a little. The sad trip home will be especially long.

 

[alohamom]

I think they might see more people if they had a DLR/Aulani package with specific perks or incentives like free dining or discounted airfare

 

[Amw1064]

I would never make the trip to Hawaii because of the long flights. We live in Florida and have Disney World an hour and a half away and we frequently do Disney cruises. I decided we should give Aulani a try and I would deal with the flight. My daughter was 12 at the time so not someone I would have to do much with on the plane. I read and read everything available about the island and Aulani. Bought the $1000 a piece airline tickets and off we went. We loved it, so much we bought points there so we could go back. So I bought our tickets for this upcoming June, added a few nights as 10 nights was just not long enough and paid the $1200 per ticket this year.

HOWEVER, I do wish they did some sort of dining plan. I wish they did a "package" with food and air fare. Another option would be to waive that $35 a charge parking fee. I am DVC so this doesn't apply to me but I have 2 families that want to come with us this summer and with the cost of the airline tickets at $1200, then parking fees, then transfers, and no dining plan they are both priced out. I guess us Floridians are so used to the Disney dining plan or the cruises that it makes Aulani seem so expensive.

 

[cmarsh31]

Airfare/length of flight - coming from the east coast. DH and I have been to Hawaii. We absolutely loved it. It's our dream destination. We'd go back in a minute if we could... but the flight... we flew to Seattle this year and it was ok, but the thought of a flight twice that long is a big deal. Plus the cost. It's about $1200 for us to fly to WDW and closer to 4 times that to fly to Hawaii. WDW is a non-stop 3 hour flight. Hawaii is a minimum of two connections - last time we flew out of Boston we had to spend the night in LA because there were no existing continuous flights (granted almost 15 years ago).

We often talk of a trip to Hawaii - I'm hoping in 3-4 years.

 

[kermiebudge]

Ahhhhhh...we went to Hawaii (Maui) three years ago for the first time and I dream about it every day since *sigh*. Would LOVE to visit Aulani!!!

Cost is our issue.... Lucky for us, when we went a few years back hubby's employer sent us as an employee recognition event, so we got hotel & 2 airfares included and only needed to pay airfare for our two kids.

If we got airfare lowered (it's about $4000 r/t for our family of 4), then we'd be all over it. We can drive down to FL to save $$$, can't drive to HI unfortunately