Aulani budget

[Imurhuckleberry]

You'd have to go to Laguardia - but Southwest with the newer 737MAX has more leg room than the old 737. You'd want to pay the upgrade to Early Boarding to make sure you're in good seats together. And I doubt they have anything without thirty two stops to Honolulu - but might work for Orlando.

I could also stab myself in the eye repeatedly with a salty corkscrew bc that would be more enjoyable than flying southwest for 12 hours

 

[monsterkitty]

This is going to very much depend on your specific circumstances, first being if you are a DVC member or not. If you are a DVC member, then the room is on points and your parking is included, so all you are paying is the TAT (well, and rental car...).

Second is what type of accommodation you have. We have always gotten 2 bedrooms and mainly eaten in the room. So, for us, our main expense is Costco/Target for whatever groceries we need for the week. This past year, the grills have reopened and were always busy when we were there.

However, definitely budget for Malasadas

We eat in our room a lot as well. We're Marriott VC members and we love the grills. Last time we were there in 2021, they sold meal kits for the grills that were very popular with families. Since it was just the two of us these meals didn't make sense for us as there was so much food that it could have easily fed a family of 6.

The ABC store is great for breakfasts.

Malasadas are life. If you ever get to the Big Island, your homework assignment will be to go to Tex Drive-In. You'll thank me later.

Holy ****! Was that for economy parking or for something closer/fancier? At our podunk airport in Spokane, economy parking for our last 9-day WDW trip was something like $45.

The best thing about being a volunteer at the airport is free parking! Well, other than your airport therapy squad dogs making people happy. This save us so much money and we never have to worry about if DH's brother is going to remember to pick us up.

Right now while traveling with 2 kids, 4 suitcases, a car seat and booster seat, I pay for the parking close to the terminal. Dealing with all this stuff and taking the train or shuttles stresses me out too much. Once we don’t have car seats and the kids can handle their own bags, we will do the cheaper options. I did look it up and the cheapest option seems to be around $200 and involves a shuttle a few miles offsite.

Can either you or your spouse drop the kids, luggage, car seats and the other spouse off at the airport and then park at the cheaper lot? On the return, one person goes and gets the car while the other grabs the luggage.

interesting.. We are booked to arrive the Wednesday after Thanksgiving ( staying also at Outrigger Reef for two nights, then Aulani till the 5th! We are also doing the Kualoa Ranch ATV on Sunday but I have not pulled the trigger on booking as it is non-refundable on Viator. I already booked and paid for the Huak'i Nui Big Adventure for that Saturday. We will probably just miss each other!

We love the Outrigger Reef! Have fun!

One thing to consider. Everything is expensive in Hawaii. If you're planning on groceries and eating the room, budget at least 2x what it costs at home, even more for produce.

100% true!

 

[4formickey]

I’ll give it a shot. We are dvc members so our Aulani portion is on points. Not sure how you want to count that.

We are traveling the Friday after Thanksgiving and staying Oahu 8 nights. 3 nights at Outrigger Beach Resort in an oceanview room and 5 nights in a one bedroom ocean view at Aulani. This trip is just 4 of us. Dh and myself with our 2 youngest.

4 -JFK-HNL tickets $3400

JFK parking $430ish

Rental car (4 Door keep booked with Costco, rebooked every time the price dropped. Started close to $900) $569

Aulani our dvc points (cash price with the current 25% discount is $4200)(island view all I could price out)

Outrigger Beach Resort $1341 (cash price, we used Chase points)

Kualoa ranch $400 mostly likely going to do the Jurassic tour

Aulani massage $200ish
Aulani character breakfast $200ish

Haven‘t calculated our food budget yet but know it will be high. We went in April 2022 and spent so much on food since everything was so expensive. I’d probably guess 200 a day for the family since we don’t have anything too expensive in mind. Will rotate between cheaper options and more expensive sit down but nothing fancy. Hoping to try small local places this trip. Will cook a few meals in the room to save money. $1600-2000 on food?

Misc. Waikiki parking/resort fees $300
Activites? Not doing anything paid this trip that I can think of besides Kualoa . Did a lot of the more expensive stuff on our last “first and only Aulani trip” Might try to see the USS Missouri

Souvenirs? No idea but will try to limit the amount of Duffy and Friends much I buy….
I tend buy a Disney gift card anytime I can get around 10% back (usually use a Chase offer or something) Ive been stocking them away for around a year so have around $1800 right now. Hoping to bump that up a little bit before we go.

I‘m not going to add it up since some people might be paying cash, using points,etc. Just giving a general idea. I will say this trip is very inexpensive compared to our last trip during Easter/April break. Everything was so expensive since it was peak time.

Try park,stay and fly web site for your parking at jfk. It may save you a few dollars.

 

[pjacobi]

One thing to consider. Everything is expensive in Hawaii. If you're planning on groceries and eating the room, budget at least 2x what it costs at home, even more for produce.

Yea, like lettuce at $8/pound!

I think this was due to some blight or insect infection.

My Hawaiian burrito had cabbage instead of lettuce.


-Paul

 

[BigGoof81]

So jealous of everyone getting flights for those amounts. I'm 6'5 and we fly direct from ewr...no chance I can make it on a flight that long in anything less than premium economy. Flights alone for our family of 3 run 7k+

Before you ask, we can't do exit row as we have 4 yr old. And can't count on getting 3 bulkhead seats together

I’m right there with ya.
6’7” here and the cost of the extra legroom on Hawaiian Air is . One way alone, direct from JFK to HNL is $335 a person. Then, add on an extra leg room seat for $200+ per person.
All said and done, over $1500 one way.

Hawaiian A330’s have the 2-4-2 layout.
Someone suggested row 18-21, you could get the aisle seat on the left or right in the Extra Comfort seat, and then your family could be right next to you on the other side of the aisle in regular economy.

 

[Mommy2Logan]

I know there is a “how much is your next Disney World trip going to cost” thread on the Budget Board. But I would like to see some budgets for your next Aulani trip?

The first time we went we spent $550+ a day on food and drinks for two kids and one toddler. It was not difficult to reach this given that breakfast was $100 at Ama Ama (no longer operating for breakfast) and lunch by the pool was another $60 and then four mai tais between the two of us was $100 with tax and tips. Then dinner out was another $300ish. We ate at Mina's, Noe, Roys, etc. pretty much every night the first trip.

The second time we went we shared breakfasts and sometimes just had a sandwich and coffee from the convenient shop on site. We would also split a lunch and I even brought some snacks from home to have between meals. We also picked up food from across the street at the convenience store for picnics on the beach and we took advantage of the $25 pizzas and happy hour at Monkey Pod and saved some money while still doing a few expensive meals out for dinner (just not every night) and probably averaged closer to $300 a day. The only way we could see getting the food budget lower was to make our own mai tais and go to Costco and make all of our meals, but the cost for the room category to cook and the cost to rent a car to go to Costco averaged out to cost more than us just doing what we were doing with eating on site and nearby. Plus we don't want to cook on vacation.

My boyfriend and I are going in January and he has not been before. I've warned him the food is crazy expensive. We've discussed the various strategies to save on food costs and have decided that for us, the most practical budget plan is to just save more for the trip and stop spending so much on going out to eat back at home prior to and after the trip for a few months.

 

[maxbuffmelvin]

The first time we went we spent $550+ a day on food and drinks for two kids and one toddler. It was not difficult to reach this given that breakfast was $100 at Ama Ama (no longer operating for breakfast) and lunch by the pool was another $60 and then four mai tais between the two of us was $100 with tax and tips. Then dinner out was another $300ish. We ate at Mina's, Noe, Roys, etc. pretty much every night the first trip.

The second time we went we shared breakfasts and sometimes just had a sandwich and coffee from the convenient shop on site. We would also split a lunch and I even brought some snacks from home to have between meals. We also picked up food from across the street at the convenience store for picnics on the beach and we took advantage of the $25 pizzas and happy hour at Monkey Pod and saved some money while still doing a few expensive meals out for dinner (just not every night) and probably averaged closer to $300 a day. The only way we could see getting the food budget lower was to make our own mai tais and go to Costco and make all of our meals, but the cost for the room category to cook and the cost to rent a car to go to Costco averaged out to cost more than us just doing what we were doing with eating on site and nearby. Plus we don't want to cook on vacation.

My boyfriend and I are going in January and he has not been before. I've warned him the food is crazy expensive. We've discussed the various strategies to save on food costs and have decided that for us, the most practical budget plan is to just save more for the trip and stop spending so much on going out to eat back at home prior to and after the trip for a few months.

To save money and if you don't rent a car, you could have grocery delivery for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and alcoholic items even if you're in a studio. If you do have a car, Kapolei has some reasonably priced dining options.

 

[laocoholic]

Aulani luau for family of 7 = broken budget! Smh

 

[TEK224]

My boyfriend and I will be going in February. He's never been to Hawaii, while I have been several times (and have stayed at Aulani twice before). He is excited for the trip but thinks it will be a one and done for him (isn't thrilled with the long flight, plus we're older (60's)and may not make it back there again). I'm the Disney fan in the duo, not him (but he indulges me). We'll be doing some activities, but plan to take several days to just relax and enjoy the island feel.

Since it may be his only trip, and I'm the trip planner, we're going for 17 days. While I've just started planning the activities, here's what I'm estimating our costs to be:

Airfare for 2 from east coast (we paid added fee to get extra leg room). $2200
Won't need parking at airport, as family member will drop us off and pick us up.

4 nights Big Island at the King Kamehameha in oceanview room. $2000
Big Island activities Whale watching, Manta Ray swim, drive to Volcanoes National Park: 600

5 nights Aulani using my DVC points in in a 1 BR oceanview room (guesstimating $2500-3000)
Disney Luau $400
casabella rental and other Aulani expenses $300

7 nights Imperial Waikiki (current reservations $2000, but hoping a timeshare request comes thru that will eliminate that cost)
Waikiki activities (We'll be getting the Go Oahu card for a few days). with the card we will do the PCC, a catamaran ride, Pearl Harbor and Honolulu tour, Waimea Valley and, maybe, Sea Life Park luau. Using the card saves us about $250pp on the reg. cost of activities. $270 x 2 cards=$540
Other Waikiki activities: $100

Food: I'm using an average of $350 per day. (we'll have full kitchen at both Aulani and the Imperial). That comes out to almost $6000 (but hoping it will be under this amount). This includes food at the airports during layovers, groceries for the room, eating at food trucks, some local spots for plate lunches and restaurants. Our restaurant plans are to go to Monkeypod, Roys, Duke's, Hula Grill and whatever else tempts our taste buds. We're not big drinkers, but i will enjoy several mai tais on the trip.

Rental car (for the entire trip w/gas) $1500.

So, all together approximately $15,600. That is a major splurge for us. But we both recently retired and now it's time to enjoy life while we are still healthy enough to do so.

NOTE: I have been saving Disney gift cards and currently have about $700 that we'll use towards Aulani expanses. If the Imperial timeshare come thru and rental car rates come down a little, we could save roughly $2500 more.