Anyone else feel lthis same way about Aulani?

[dianeschlicht]

We were so looking forward to a DVC resort in our second favorite place to go...Hawaii. We did have consternation about it being on Oahu instead of one of the other islands, but our week there last year was very nice. I consider it to be one of the best DVC resorts for amenities etc. That being said, no one in our family is having an overwhelming desire to spend another week there. The reason is exactly what my first concern was....It's on Oahu.

We much prefer the laid back vacations of Big Island (Hawaii) and Kauai. They have always been our favorites. I asked my DH if we could start planning Hawaii again for a year or two from now, and he said, "yes, but not at Aulani". We decided our condo rentals through VRBO were the way to go, and we will likely only use Aulani as a "first night" and "last night" stay for trips. We find for us, flying into and out of Honolulu is more cost effective from where we live, so we will only use Aulani as our"staging" spot for Hawaii trips from now on.

Don't get me wrong, I still think it's a very nice resort, I just wish it was placed somewhere else.

 

[deedisneydream97]

Have only been to Aluani (twice now) and really don't have a desire to go to other islands (although cruising to the various islands is on my "when I win the lottery" list).

We found that Oahu can be as laid back as you want or as busy as you want, as long as you have your own transporation. There is so much beauty there....we can't wait to go back. Our next trip we will stay away from the "touristy" stuff, since we've covered that on our two trips. But still so much we want to see and do. We stay 11 days when we go since the flight is so long and alternate our excursion days with resort days. But to each their own.

I agree....the resort is fabulous. The changes they made during the past year have made it so much better.

 

[disneynutz]

Aulani is a beautiful resort but the cost to stay there, the travel required, and the things to do make WDW a better vacation destination for us.

Bill

 

[dvc_john]

I own a week at a Hilton timeshare in Waikiki, so I go there every other year, and usually add 1 or 2 other islands to make the trip more cost effective.

I like Aulani a lot, but I'll probably add short stays there each trip, and just stay at the resort the whole time. Then use my Waikiki week for sightseeing, etc.

This year, my Hawaii trip will be 20 days, with 3 days at Aulani. 7 Waikiki, 5 Waikoloa (Big Island) and 5 Maui.

 

[bethy]

I truly love all the islands including Oahu. We've been to Aulani twice. I envision it being our destination for about half our future Hawaii trips.

 

[Madhattr]

We are just back this past Saturday from a week at Aulani. It was fabulous. We had a car and drove all over the island. We did early morning excursions and were back to the resort by 1:00 each day to relax. Agree it more or less what you make of it. We loved it so much we made it our second home resort while we were there.

 

[Apps]

Aulani is gorgeous and our family had a great time there. I see myself going about 1 or 2 more times then we will graduate to Maui or the other Islands. To me, the resort was custom designed for younger kids (pre-teen). I think once my kids grow a little older, the other Islands will be much more enticing.

 

[jekjones1558]

Like virtually everyone else, I thought Aulani to be an absolutely gorgeous resort. I traveled with DSis, who had not been to Hawaii before, so we spent a lot of time sightseeing. I do not enjoy driving on Oahu because it is just too much like driving at home. I would only return to Aulani if I were with kids or planning to stay only at Aulani with maybe one trip to Halewai, which still feels a little like old Hawaii. I much prefer any of the neighbor islands.

 

[crisi]

Oahu is pretty much the last place on my Hawaii to visit list.

 

[DVCismyhappyplace]

While I've never stayed at Aulani (did go check it out days before their official opening though), I feel the same. Oahu is actually our least favorite Hawaiian island. Not that any of them are bad, but if it was a choice between Maui, Kauai, the Big Island or Oahu, Oahu would be last on our list.

Six trips to the Islands, and stopped in Oahu for a couple of days on 3 of them - that was enough for us.

 

[Anal Annie]

We were so looking forward to a DVC resort in our second favorite place to go...Hawaii. We did have consternation about it being on Oahu instead of one of the other islands, but our week there last year was very nice. I consider it to be one of the best DVC resorts for amenities etc. That being said, no one in our family is having an overwhelming desire to spend another week there. The reason is exactly what my first concern was....It's on Oahu.

We much prefer the laid back vacations of Big Island (Hawaii) and Kauai. They have always been our favorites. I asked my DH if we could start planning Hawaii again for a year or two from now, and he said, "yes, but not at Aulani". We decided our condo rentals through VRBO were the way to go, and we will likely only use Aulani as a "first night" and "last night" stay for trips. We find for us, flying into and out of Honolulu is more cost effective from where we live, so we will only use Aulani as our"staging" spot for Hawaii trips from now on.

Don't get me wrong, I still think it's a very nice resort, I just wish it was placed somewhere else.

We are still hoping to visit Aulani and are currently re-planning our canceled trip from last summer for this August. This will be my 5th trip to Hawaii. We always island hop - that will never change. And I expect that we will always prefer 1 or 2 of the other islands over the others but I hope we love Aulani. In the past, Oahu was always our least fav. island as well. But we still always visited there - not because that's where we prefered to fly into or out of (I actually prefer to leave directly from another island and NOT go back through HNL). It is just too darned far to go and too expensive to get there to NOT island hop and I never wanted to pass it up. We have only stayed in Waikiki before so I am expecting Aulani to have a very different feel and to offer that "posh resort" feel we expect to find on the other islands.

When we first started planning to go I thought we'd probably only stay about 3 or 4 nights at Aulani before hopping to Maui but then as the rave reviews started coming in after the resort opened we decided to give it a try for a full week. This WILL BE our cheapest part of the entire trip since this is where our timeshare points are to be used. Travel costs these days are so high and our DS is older now so the simple fact is that we simply can no longer afford to vacation the same way we did before we had him. We have to consider that the bulk of our island time on this trip and future trips will now need to be on Oahu where our accomodations are "covered" and then we'll hop to another island for just a few days rather than the other way around.

I am hoping we DON'T feel like we will still prefer the other islands OVER Aulani. I want to like it as much as we like Maui. That's why I am going to make a real effort to be sure to plan lots of "resort time". But we will probably still have a part of us that wishes DVC had chosen another island. But I think I understand WHY they chose Oahu. Honolulu is the capital of Hawaii, there's Waikiki Beach, Pearl Harbor, the North Shore, tons of other touristy things to do, the largest international airport of all the islands, and I would guess the cheapest land. I think Oahu also holds the biggest draw for their Asian tourists to the islands.

I still feel lucky that when people say "OOOH, Hawaii. Must be nice to afford to go there." I can say "we're using our timeshare". 'Cuz it's NOT because we're RICH that we're going. If we didn't have our DVC membership to use on this trip we wouldn't be planning this trip right now. At all. Period. If we didn't have DVC it wouldn't be possible for us at this point in our life. I guess you could say I'm grateful for our DVC and for the opportunity to return to Hawaii again regardless of WHICH island(s) we get to visit. Now if only DVC would expand to Europe or the Mediterranean.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I have kind of a mixed answer to that but basically no, we don't feel that same way. I guess it's just down to the fact that I love Hawaii and my island preference switch around.

Yes, I probably would have preferred it to have had been built on another island but no, it won't prevent us from going back. Overall Oahu is the island I've spent the least amount of time on. In some ways was almost getting bored with Maui and also disliking the traffic that has grown there as it's gotten so popular. I think I've just gotten very tired of driving around it - Hana - just not much desire to do that drive for a long time and the rest has just gotten so busy and built up compared to the Maui I fell in love with before. Don't get confused - I still like it - I just no longer consider it that much better for a vacation. The Big Island - I also like it very much but am not tied to it. Kauai has probably become my new favorite but I'm enjoying the opportunity to explore and experience Oahu which I had more or less avoided for many years. And you can actually drive around the whole island without backtracking.

We loved Aulani so that's a draw and my Hawaii trips have always involved spending some time at whatever resort we've been at in addition to taking in the sights. So - I've seen most Hawaii sights (multiple times), enjoy getting back to places that it's been a long times since the first experience and where I stay is now probably gaining in importance. In fact I'd love to try and take advantage of the special book 5 nights get 2 nights free this spring.

 

[jmnycrkt]

We just loved Aulani. Absolutely spectacular. And Oahu was lovely......hiking to see a waterfall, shrimp trucks, the leeward side, which was so not touristy, Chinatown, Pearl Harbor. ...... Next year we will see more of diamond head, Waikiki, and more. The resort was great.....plenty to do, relaxing, the lazy river, ocean walks, sunrise, sunset. Having stayed at many DVC resorts, Aulani is the crown jewel in the collection. That resort, and the island, was so laid back. It was just what we made of it. Spectacular. We can't wait to go back. Again. And again. And again.

 

[JLS]

I don't feel this way. I have been to the Big Island, Maui and Oahu multiple times and to Kauai once. All of the islands are beautiful and Oahu is no exception. People who disfavor Oahu tend to be the people who have not seen the whole island, and maybe just see Waikiki/Honolulu, the Aulani area and get stuck in traffic between the two and the airport. The leeward side of Oahu (far less visited) is breathtaking. I defy anyone to find a more beautiful beach than Lanikai near Kailua. And the entire North Shore is fantastic. If you drive all the way around the island to the North you can see the North shore, the shrimp carts, the Polynesian cultural center, the Dole Plantation, and gorgeous mountain and island scenery. The key is not just staying in Honolulu or Waikiki. Waikiki is a beautiful beach but the city is crowded. But the hike up Diamond Head is one of the best things to do in Hawaii. In short, Oahu is an amazing island if you get out and explore!!

 

[bethy]

At risk of sounding snobbish and entitled I'm kind of over Maui too. For us West Coasters Hawaii is not necessarily an outlandish vacation. It's pricey but not necessarily that much more than any other beach vacation. And like a PP it's actually made more reasonable now with Aulani there to use our DVC points. Plus for us, HNL is about $100 pp cheaper to fly into. After our second Aulani trip my husband and I decided to invest in adopting Oahu and exploring g it's treasures more. We want to find a special place to stay elsewhere on the island too and pair it with Aulani for longer trips. We also often enjoy a night or two on Waikiki - usually when we fly in late in the evening.

Around here Maui has almost become a status symbol. People go there precisely because if the prestige associated with it. Which is funny because you can stay just as cheaply there as on any other island. Yes there are some fabulous resorts that run $600+ per night for a basic hotel room. Anyway, around here the trend is to proclaim that one is going to "Maui" on vacation. People do t say they are going to "Hawaii" anymore lol!

 

[kkmcan]

We are going to Aulani in 3 weeks and are so excited! We chose Oahu because the kids and dh have never been to any of the islands and I went when I was 15 so I don't really remember it well. We wanted to see Pearl Harbor and definitely wanted to stay at Aulani.

Dh always said we shouldn't go to Hawaii without seeing at least one other island but time-wise and $$ wise it just won't work. We can't be gone more than a week and because there is 4 of us it would end up being at least $1000 more. If we waited for it to happen we would never get to go at all so we decided we'd be happy with just Oahu. It is Hawaii after all!

We are in Az so flying to Hawaii is almost the same price wise and time wise as flying to Florida. Its not that much longer or more money(if you get a good deal). We are staying for free in the inlaws Wyndham time share for a few nights and then 4 nights at Aulani on the B3g1 night free deal plus we have $700 in Disney reward dollars to help offset the cost. This trip will end up cheaper than some of our trips to WDW.

I think we'll love Aulani. We are resort people and beach people so we'll be totally happy with as much time as we can get there at Aulani just relaxing in Hawaii.

Maybe next time we'll try the other islands.

 

[dwelty]

As a person who lives in So Cal, I have been to Hawaii twice. (Oahu and Kauai) But remember that most DVC members are on the east coast and have never been to Hawaii.

Many of them have experienced the Caribbean and when they first visit Oahu and realize how different the experience is compared to the third world environment of most Caribbean islands, Oahu is a much superior experience. I agree that there is much beauty to experience on the outlying islands, and the crowds are far less, but a week in Oahu to the first time visitor is still spectacular. Once they visit Kauai, Maui or the big island they may change their mind, but for a week's visit there is something to be said for getting off a plane on Oahu and driving 30 minutes to Aulani as well as having the night life of Wakiki 30 minutes in the other direction.

I have been to the Caribbean before and do not really enjoy the ports of call (except Castaway Key). The same goes for Mexico. I can't stand people trying to sell you things at every turn (including illegal substances) You just don't get this in Hawaii. It is just another state and a beautiful one at that.
Unfortunately, once you have visited Hawaii, your opinion of the Caribbean is definitely impacted. I would rather spend a week on Oahu than the best island in the Caribbean.

 

[dsneygirl]

Aulani is gorgeous and our family had a great time there. I see myself going about 1 or 2 more times then we will graduate to Maui or the other Islands. To me, the resort was custom designed for younger kids (pre-teen). I think once my kids grow a little older, the other Islands will be much more enticing.

Agreed. We went to MAUI twice pre-kids and did hikes, snorkeling etc. We went to Aulani in 2012 with our boys and loved every second of it. It was paradise and perfect for families. The amenities, activities etc were all the things we really enjoy. Looking forward to going back in 2016.

 

[Tikiman]

I have been going to Hawaii since I was a kid and would spend much of my summers there. I enjoy a day or two on Oahu to see some things but after 2 or 3 days I would rather be on any other island. Our favorite is Maui with the big island being second. Oahu does not really give you a feel for what the Hawaiian islands have to offer. It’s more like staying in Vegas and saying you vacationed in the desert.

We got invited to see Aulani before it opened and it was well done but poorly planned out. It is in a nice little area but on the bad side of Oahu. I would like to still stay there a few days to check it out since it opened but I will keep our timeshare in Maui.

 

[DVCismyhappyplace]

Unfortunately, once you have visited Hawaii, your opinion of the Caribbean is definitely impacted. I would rather spend a week on Oahu than the best island in the Caribbean.

I agree 100,000,000%!!! DH and I would rather fly 12 hours from NY to get to Hawaii than fly 4 hours to the Caribbean.