Aulani/Disneyland - March 2019 - Help please!

[Muddy Rivers]

We are celebrating our 30th Anniversary and are planning to go to Aulani for 7 days in March. We will fly and meet our adult kids in Disneyland (Grand Californian 5 nights). We have been to DL several times in the past but Aulani is all new to us. I have read several posts and trip reports which really helped get us started.

Since its just the 2 of us, we are looking for a hotel room in Aulani vs a suite or villa. Our questions are:

-Any particular time in March would be best?
-What suggestions does everyone have for room type/room requests based on that type?
-When should we book for March 2019?
-I see an annual pass sometimes offers a 30% discount. Has anyone done this?
-Any other discounts we should look for?
-My most confusing question - Should we pay outright (we do this all the time in WDW usually with some sort of a discount) or should we rent points? If we rent points, how do we best go about doing that reliably?

Thanks so much in advance. DIS People are the best!

 

[thedogatemyhomework]

if you want to rent points you’ll likely be getting a studio or villa, and not a hotel room (there aren’t many that can be booked via dvc and they fill up fast).

if you don’t mind potentially looking at a parking lot, or other such buildings get the cheapest view you can and you can use the savings to do extra things (luau, kua loa ranch, etc) if you want a really nice view so you can relax in your room...the ocean view rooms are nice.

discounts are a lot like they are at other disney resorts...difficult to predict when they’ll offer them. there might be one for when you want to go...but whether or not the discount begins before the type of room you want is fully booked...(this is where renting points has extra benefits over cash...and you get free parking)

march is spring break time, so it’ll probably be just as crowded no matter when you go...but weekends will be more crowded then weekdays. however earlier in march might be a bit better as schools in hawaii tend not to have spring break until later in the month.

 

[Muddy Rivers]

Thanks so much for your help. This is all so new to us!