Aulani concerns

[Twohsieh]

My family of five (husband and three kids, ages 5,4,2) and my parents stayed at Aulani for six nights in early November. We were in a 2BR OV dedicated room, which I have to add was nicely decorated with many Hawaiian motifs.

Our dining experience was pretty good. We ate at the Character breakfast buffet, which had a wonderful assortment of baked goods, eggs, meats,waffles, fruits, potatoes and much more, they even had few dim sum dishes. Everything was yummy. We live 10 minutes away from Disneyland, so we have had many character dining experiences, as well as on the Disney cruise ship. But we definitely wanted to experience a Character breakfast sitting outside with the view and sounds of the ocean in Hawaii. It was so magical. All kids got to participate in dances and games with Auntie while everyone was enjoying their meals. It cost us a little under $300 for our breakfast. Also, we ate at One paddle, two paddle, which had a handful of choices for meals, we thought it was tasty here too. It is similar to a quick serve restaurant. The meals were about $8-10. The shave ice next to the pools were okay. Nothing compares to Matsumoto's shave ice on Oahu. I could eat these everyday!

Most of our breakfasts and dinners were cooked in our room (i love DVC for this reason, it is so much easier to eat in our room with little ones). We rented a minivan and drove to Costco and Target to stock our fridge. We would eat lunch at authentic Hawaiian restaurants while out sightseeing. Most of the restaurants were reasonably priced.

There is one main souvenir/sundry shop right off the side of the main lobby. This is where you would buy your refillable mug and souvenirs. There is another tiny shop near the pools that sell drinks, ice creams, swim clothing and little souvenir items.

If you haven't been to Oahu this resort is the best of the best. Beautiful clean rooms, gorgeous scenery and it is actually a true resort. You can stay on the resort the whole time on vacation, if that is what you wanted, and leave feeling like you want to do more things the next time around. Speaking of next time, we are going back to Aulani in the end of June. We love it there!

Hope you and your family get to enjoy this great resort.

 

[Twohsieh]

My family of five (husband and three kids, ages 5,4,2) and my parents stayed at Aulani for six nights in early November. We were in a 2BR OV dedicated room, which I have to add was nicely decorated with many Hawaiian motifs.

Our dining experience was pretty good. We ate at the Character breakfast buffet, which had a wonderful assortment of baked goods, eggs, meats,waffles, fruits, potatoes and much more, they even had few dim sum dishes. Everything was yummy. We live 10 minutes away from Disneyland, so we have had many character dining experiences, as well as on the Disney cruise ship. But we definitely wanted to experience a Character breakfast sitting outside with the view and sounds of the ocean in Hawaii. It was so magical. All kids got to participate in dances and games with Auntie while everyone was enjoying their meals. It cost us a little under $300 for our breakfast. Also, we ate at One paddle, two paddle, which had a handful of choices for meals, we thought it was tasty here too. It is similar to a quick serve restaurant. The meals were about $8-10. The shave ice next to the pools were okay. Nothing compares to Matsumoto's shave ice on Oahu. I could eat these everyday!

Most of our breakfasts and dinners were cooked in our room (i love DVC for this reason, it is so much easier to eat in our room with little ones). We rented
a minivan and drove to Costco and Target to stock our fridge. We would eat
lunch at authentic Hawaiian restaurants while out sightseeing. Most of the
restaurants were reasonably priced.

There is one main souvenir/sundry shop right off the side of the main lobby. This is where you would buy your refillable mug and souvenirs. There is another tiny shop near the pools that sell drinks, ice creams, swim clothing
and little souvenir items.

If you haven't been to Oahu this resort is the best of the best. Beautiful clean
rooms, gorgeous scenery and it is actually a true resort. You can stay on the
resort the whole time on vacation, if that is what you wanted, and leave
feeling like you want to do more things the next time around. Speaking of next
time, we are going back to Aulani in the end of June. We love it there!

Charging privileges can be added to individuals room key, so you do not need to carry anything other than your camera and room key. Also, I wanted to add that there are many Photo pass photographers on the premises, so if you see one they may capture a great shot of the family for you. You can also schedule a photographer to meet your family to have a quick shoot. I am going to try this out next time. We hired a photographer on our last trip to take pictures of our family near the public beach next to Aulani. Professional pictures are my favorite souvenirs.

Hope you and your family get to enjoy this great resort.

 

[kjd469]

KJD469, I am curious, did you feel like 5 nights was plenty? we only booked 5 nights because we got the grand opening special of buy 4 nights get one free, didnt want to spend 500 for another night, and my hubby didnt want to switch hotels, but we have had a lot of regrets about it and worry it wont feel like enough time. every day we have been kicking ourselves. would love to hear your opinion. i would also love to ask how paying for things goes.. does everything on the resort just get charged to your room from a key you carry around or do we need to carry around cash to buy food, shaved ice, pay for rainbow reef etc. and where will we get those mugs at? i imagine there must be some store there or do they sell them right at the lobby? i figure they are expensive for 18.00 but you also have to take into consideration you are leaving with a souvenier as well. i wonder though how much we will really get to use them as what do you do with them when you go swimming and stuff. i have a feeling i am going to be spending all day watching the mugs and cameras etc while everyone else is having fuquestion

For us, 5 nights was plenty because we were going on the NCL Pride of America to do the 7 night Hawaiian cruise afterwards. If we weren't doing the cruise, I definitely would want to stay for at at least a week. You do use your key to pay for everything, which makes it very convenient. We took a beach bag with us down to the pool/beach, along with our mugs, and just left it under our chair or on our towel while we were in the pool/beach - we were never very far away from it...I may have been naiive, but it didn't seem like a risk as everyone was there with their family's and no one looked like they were stealing stuff. That seemed to be the norm with most people just leaving their stuff at their chairs.

 

[polarprincess]

ok thank you. we can extend our stay for a $600 fee plus the cost of more nights and car rental, but it is just killing us to spend that money when we should have just done it in the beginning. That $600 would pay for another ticket to go another time for longer. i don't know what we were thinking. i blame it on the hubby lol cuz i could have easily switched hotels to stay another day or two but he just didnt want to switch.

 

[leelee9878]

Polar why don't you look to rent points from a DVC member to extend your sty, it would be less than $600 for the night but you would have to change rooms once your cash reservation was up.

 

[allforpooh]

Polar why don't you look to rent points from a DVC member to extend your sty, it would be less than $600 for the night but you would have to change rooms once your cash reservation was up.

I agree this might be the way to go, plus you might not have to change rooms.

Denise

 

[allforpooh]

Polar why don't you look to rent points from a DVC member to extend your sty, it would be less than $600 for the night but you would have to change rooms once your cash reservation was up.

I agree this might be the way to go, plus you might not have to change rooms.

Denise

 

[polarprincess]

before we booked our rooms, i did check into renting from a dvc member, but i just didn't understand it all at the time and was leery of getting burned as i had heard some horror stories. we are going to check with the travel agent tomorrow about staying an extra day or two, but if we do, dont want to spend more than 200 a night for the extra nights so we would have to move out of aulani unless i am not understanding what you are telling me. either way we will have the 600 fee for changing our itinerary through the airlines or travel agent or whoever is charging it. we are scheduled to leave this friday, so we are running out of time in deciding what to do.

 

[Texas Disney Fan]

before we booked our rooms, i did check into renting from a dvc member, but i just didn't understand it all at the time and was leery of getting burned as i had heard some horror stories. we are going to check with the travel agent tomorrow about staying an extra day or two, but if we do, dont want to spend more than 200 a night for the extra nights so we would have to move out of aulani unless i am not understanding what you are telling me. either way we will have the 600 fee for changing our itinerary through the airlines or travel agent or whoever is charging it. we are scheduled to leave this friday, so we are running out of time in deciding what to do.

I think maybe you should think about putting the $600 towards returning to Aulani or Hawaii another time. That way you could make plans around what you did not get a chance to see or do or things you want more time on.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I think maybe you should think about putting the $600 towards returning to Aulani or Hawaii another time. That way you could make plans around what you did not get a chance to see or do or things you want more time on.

I totally agree! Five days is hardly long enough in Hawaii to justify the time change or the expense of the airfare to get there. We went for a week our first trip and got a good overview. Then we knew where we wanted to visit on subsequent trips. We have been there 4 times now, and have decided 2-3 weeks is optimum. We aren't the type to be bound to the resort though. We always rent a car and see and do everything there is to do on each island. Granted, that is quite different on Oahu than the other islands, but there is a LOT to see and do away from the resort.

 

[polarprincess]

thanks for the advice on waiting and saving our $600. You are right. in the end with the fees and hotels etc, it would be around 1200 for one more day. kind of ridiculous. i keep telling myself that we can put it toward the next trip, but truth be told, this will probably be the only trip. i am teary-eyed and frustrated with myself that i didn't fight harder for that one more day or two when we still had the option of changing our plans with no penalties, like i said, hubby has this issue with changing hotels and he just felt it would waste too much of our time. adding the $600 fee on, i feel like it is kind of the same as flushing money down the toilet. my only saving grace now is that HE will love it so much he will be the one who wants to go back. i'm going to sign up for all the alerts and maybe we will be able to find a really good deal in the future. i am writing this for all of you trying to decide on how many days to stay, error on the side of too many, not too few, cuz you don't want to be in my boat. i haven't been on a vacation in 20 years, and yep we really screwed it up this time. I think that anyone who gets to go to hawaii is lucky, so i will take whatever time i have and appreciate the 5 1/2days we do have and make the most out of them, it is certainly better than not going to hawaii at all! i really need to figure out this whole renting DVC points stuff because it sure seems like it would be much more affordable than booking directly. just confused and kind of nervous about the whole thing.

 

[stopher1]

I've read both positive and negative things about Aulani - but I can't wait to experience it for myself and determine my own conclusions based on that experience. I fly in a week, and can't wait to be there. I know the food is expensive - but then so is most of the rest of the state of Hawaii when food is concerned. Most everything is imported, and of course transportation costs drive up food prices. My brother lives on Oahu, and that's one of the big concerns I've heard about from him for the 4 years he's lived there.

BUT - as others have said, it's worth it to at least try it once. Whether you return after that, of course, is completely up to you. I'm sure at one point (unless it was while a youth and brought by our parents) we all had to "try" going to WDW the first time too, and ultimately judged whether we'd be going back or not. Remember, only you can truly determine what kind of vacation experiences are "worth it" to you.

 

[CocosMeme]

ljd469 - I would love to hear about the Norwegian cruise. That is our game plan. We are planning (just DH and me) to go the Aulani next October or early November and stay a week at Aulani and then go on the cruise to see the other islands. As far as the food, we really are not "foodies" and when we go to Disney or Hilton Head we eat cereal for breakfast in the room and go the grocery store for at least 1 more meal. We usually eat 1 meal a day out and are not real picky. I do not travel for the food - I have good restaurants at home if I want to eat out. I am really excited about going to Hawaii for the 1st time and taking it all in. We will rent a car and just see what we can. My DH has been there several times when he was in the Air Force and can't wait to show it to me.

 

[Lisacope]

I too, have booked a five night trip rather than longer and am regretting it. We are doing 4 nights at BLT followed by a 5 night cruise on the Dream in April and my DH and I arranged to go to Hawaii in Feb as a "us only" getaway and I didn't want to be away for more than 5 nights in Feb. Then - I booked airfare and it was so flippin expensive that it seems that you need a longer trip to justify the airfare.

 

[kjd469]

ljd469 - I would love to hear about the Norwegian cruise.

This was our second time doing this NCL cruise - it's not that we love the ship, but we love the itinerary! It really gives you a chance to sample many of the islands, especially with 2 of the stops being overnight. The ship is ok, not huge, and perfect for this itinerary - you are really only on the ship at night to eat and sleep, other than the last afternoon. The food is pretty good, and the specialty restaurants are very good. The staff was all very friendly as well. We rented a car in both Maui and Kauai and I would highly recommend doing this. You can see and do sooo much, for far less than what the cruise excursions cost. Book the cars as far in advance as you can for the lowest prices. All of the car rental companies have shuttles that pick up at the port so it's super-easy. Both times we have had an aft-facing balcony stateroom - I highly recommend this view a) because the balcony is huge with lounge chairs for sunning and b) on the last afternoon the boat sails past the NaPali coast, which is truly the most stunning and beautiful place we have ever seen, and the balcony is perfect for seeing the scenery (plus we were there in whale season and got to see a lot of whale activity too!)

 

[bricea]

Does anyone know what availability will be like at the 7 month reservation window for a 1 bedroom DVC villa during Choice season 2012 (December 13 - 21)? Our family of 4 is planning our first trip to Hawaii?

Can't wait!!!

Thank so much for your help

 

[logpey]

Our family will be there in March and we will have to let you know.

We're hopeful everything will be splendid, hope that you will find the same!

Hello,
When in March are you going? My family will be there March 5-11th!

 

[abdmom]

Does anyone know what availability will be like at the 7 month reservation window for a 1 bedroom DVC villa during Choice season 2012 (December 13 - 21)? Our family of 4 is planning our first trip to Hawaii?

Can't wait!!!

Thank so much for your help

I own at Aulani, I was going to check for you, but the site is down for maintenance.

Last month, I was looking at the 7 month window for late August, which is a slow time in HI usually. The villas were getting all booked up within a couple of weeks of the 7 month window opening. The same thing happened for the New Year's period at the 11 month window. There's nothing available at Aulani for Dec. 31 the last time I checked (last week).

I own other rental properties in HI. December 13-21 is a big season for retirees to go. I would not count on there being availability at the 7 month window.

 

[bricea]

Thanks abdmom for your Post. i just tried to send you a PM but I'm not sure it worked. I truly appreciate your attempts to check Aulani availability. Maybe we will get lucky

 

[dvc_john]

Does anyone know what availability will be like at the 7 month reservation window for a 1 bedroom DVC villa during Choice season 2012 (December 13 - 21)?

I'm not sure about the 3rd week of December, but in the past the first two weeks of December when I've been to Hawaii have been pretty 'off-season'.
fwiw, I just booked a 1br ocean view for late September at the 7 month mark with no problem. All 4 views were available.