Aulani - here now - post your questions

[disneypoor]

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading through this post! We booked a 1 bedroom and a studio for the first week of August 2014. It's our big trip before our daughter goes off to college. We also just got our airfare last week, so everything is official!

I just wanted to thank the poster that started this thread and those that have contributed! It contains a lot of great info, and I'll be referring to it quite often between now and August. I have our rental car booked already (got a minivan for $435 for the week), but I think I'm heading over to Mousesavers as soon as I'm done typing this to see if there are any codes to make it cheaper.

We booked a late flight for our flight home. We could have left HNL at 1:15, but we decided to book the 9:40 p.m. flight and fly home overnight. We've done this twice, and it always about does us in, but we wanted that last day so we could possibly do Pearl Harbor or utilize our rental vehicle to go see some other stuff before heading to the airport. I hope we don't regret the late night flight!

Thanks again for the info!

Susan

 

[poohj80]

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading through this post! We booked a 1 bedroom and a studio for the first week of August 2014. It's our big trip before our daughter goes off to college. We also just got our airfare last week, so everything is official!

We're still watching airfares for our March trip. Any tips or tricks to finding cheaper routes?

 

[lovesthebeach]

We're still watching airfares for our March trip. Any tips or tricks to finding cheaper routes?

We flew Hawaiian Airlines direct from NY and we got the best prices flying on a Monday there and Thursday back home. Weekends will be MUCH more. We also flew back at night arriving in the morning. It was not that bad.

 

[disneypoor]

We're still watching airfares for our March trip. Any tips or tricks to finding cheaper routes?

We have flown to Honolulu and Maui on two different trips over the last 5 years, and our air from Kansas City has been between $700 and $750 each time. I've been watching air for a couple of months now just to see if I could ever find anything cheap. I didn't. It appears that air now is just higher, and all of the airlines I checked that fly out of KC were all between $900-$1100 per person round trip.

I have another DIS friend who also owns at Aulani, and she suggested I check in to Alaska Airlines. I had no idea they even flew out of our airport. They are based in Seattle. We booked our flights through them and will fly to Seattle, spend the night, and then fly to Honolulu the next day but will arrive at 12:05 p.m. Honolulu time so we'll still have time to explore the resort before we're completely wiped out. On the way home, we're doing the late night flight and not spending the night in Seattle but will change planes in Seattle. Anyhow, my whole point (I get a little windy every now and then) is that my DIS friend has used Alaska Air and suggested I look into their credit card. You get a companion fare for getting the card plus 25,000 miles. My husband and I both did it, so we were able to get our kids' tickets with our two companion fares and we each used miles to book our DD's boyfriend, so our total for five was $2400. The nice thing about this card (I have Southwest's too and do like it) is that you get a companion fare every single year. The companion fare costs $118 but it can be to anywhere they fly.

So, that was my trick this time around. We know we'll go to Hawaii every three years or so, so we'll use the companion fares every time we go.

ETA: After coming back and reading this again I noticed that I said our air was $2400 for four, but it was $2400 for five since we are taking DD's boyfriend this time.

Susan

 

[jerseygal]

Our "youngest" is graduating from high school late May and we are planning our first family Hawaii trip! CANNOT WAIT! LOOKS SO BEAUTIFUL! Hope the United airfaire from New York area doesn't go up. Waiting to book at 7 months and then jump on airfare. I price the airfare every day and just crossing fingers that it doesn't increase!

Love reading all the tips for Aulani! Can't wait to hear more about the adult pool area.

 

[Coastie]

Does anyone have any recommendations on a day trip to the big island? My wife and I are tossing around the possibility of just flying out on Hawaiian Airlines, renting a car, and doing our our "tourist" thing vice paying for a guided tour. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[poohj80]

Does anyone have any recommendations on a day trip to the big island? My wife and I are tossing around the possibility of just flying out on Hawaiian Airlines, renting a car, and doing our our "tourist" thing vice paying for a guided tour. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

We want to do same thing and realized airfare for us to Hilo is the same cost as to Honolulu so think we will fly to Hilo, spend a night or two and see the volcanoes. Our return flight will be through Honolulu with a stopover while staying at Aulani so really only buying one round trip instead of the additional inter-island flights.

 

[disneypoor]

Our "youngest" is graduating from high school late May and we are planning our first family Hawaii trip! CANNOT WAIT! LOOKS SO BEAUTIFUL! Hope the United airfaire from New York area doesn't go up. Waiting to book at 7 months and then jump on airfare. I price the airfare every day and just crossing fingers that it doesn't increase! Love reading all the tips for Aulani! Can't wait to hear more about the adult pool area.

We also can't wait to get back to Hawaii. This will be our first trip to Aulani. We just bought there last year. Our flight already got changed with Alaska Airlines. It worked out fine, but I sure hope this isn't a trend for them. This is our first time using them. I hope your air drops and for sure doesn't go up in price! Good luck!

Susan

 

[BlazerFan]

We also can't wait to get back to Hawaii. This will be our first trip to Aulani. We just bought there last year. Our flight already got changed with Alaska Airlines. It worked out fine, but I sure hope this isn't a trend for them. This is our first time using them. I hope your air drops and for sure doesn't go up in price! Good luck!

Susan

Keep an eye on Alaska prices. If you booked on their website and prices go down they have a price guarantee and you can get credit for the difference as long as you keep the same flights. It's awesome and I hope they don't change that feature. Not a refund but credit for future use.

 

[gretchenohar@hotmail]

We have flown to Honolulu and Maui on two different trips over the last 5 years, and our air from Kansas City has been between $700 and $750 each time. I've been watching air for a couple of months now just to see if I could ever find anything cheap. I didn't. It appears that air now is just higher, and all of the airlines I checked that fly out of KC were all between $900-$1100 per person round trip.

I have another DIS friend who also owns at Aulani, and she suggested I check in to Alaska Airlines. I had no idea they even flew out of our airport. They are based in Seattle. We booked our flights through them and will fly to Seattle, spend the night, and then fly to Honolulu the next day but will arrive at 12:05 p.m. Honolulu time so we'll still have time to explore the resort before we're completely wiped out. On the way home, we're doing the late night flight and not spending the night in Seattle but will change planes in Seattle. Anyhow, my whole point (I get a little windy every now and then) is that my DIS friend has used Alaska Air and suggested I look into their credit card. You get a companion fare for getting the card plus 25,000 miles. My husband and I both did it, so we were able to get our kids' tickets with our two companion fares and we each used miles to book our DD's boyfriend, so our total for five was $2400. The nice thing about this card (I have Southwest's too and do like it) is that you get a companion fare every single year. The companion fare costs $118 but it can be to anywhere they fly.

So, that was my trick this time around. We know we'll go to Hawaii every three years or so, so we'll use the companion fares every time we go.

ETA: After coming back and reading this again I noticed that I said our air was $2400 for four, but it was $2400 for five since we are taking DD's boyfriend this time.

Susan

Thank you for this info!

 

[Coastie]

Going along with airfare savings... after some research, I found out its much cheaper to reserve a rental 3 - 4 weeks before your trip rather than 3 - 4 months. On our first trip to Aulani, my wife and I did a lot of Oahu site-seeing and a car was a must. We were able to get a premium for about $200 for 8 days; economy was about $150.

 

[lovetotraveltx]

We are doing a college graduation trip for our younger daughter next June/July. Can't book with my DVC until November so my fingers are crossed!

 

[disneypoor]

Keep an eye on Alaska prices. If you booked on their website and prices go down they have a price guarantee and you can get credit for the difference as long as you keep the same flights. It's awesome and I hope they don't change that feature. Not a refund but credit for future use.

Thank you for sharing! I had no idea they would credit you, so I will keep watching.

Susan

 

[amym2]

Is there a laundry basket in the 2bdrm at Aulani? Wondering if I need to bring along my fold-up one.

Does anyone know the current price of snorkeling at Rainbow Reef? Has the price increased back to where it started or is it still discounted?

How's the tap water? And is there water accessible to drink while we're at the pools, or do we need to bring some with us?

Trying to think of any other packing questions. Anything you wish you'd brought along with you?

 

[TaiTai1]

Is there a laundry basket in the 2bdrm at Aulani? Wondering if I need to bring along my fold-up one.

Does anyone know the current price of snorkeling at Rainbow Reef? Has the price increased back to where it started or is it still discounted?

How's the tap water? And is there water accessible to drink while we're at the pools, or do we need to bring some with us?

Trying to think of any other packing questions. Anything you wish you'd brought along with you?

Hello Amym2:

There is a laundry basket available at the unit. I think it is under the sink in one of the bathrooms. Seems like it took us a day or two to find it.

The tap water was fine to drink, but we didn't care for the taste. So we ended up buying some bottled water at Target or Costco or someplace. They did have some iced water available out by the pool in one or two locations that I saw. It was in the large clear acrylic containers.

Anything you don't have when you get there you can get at Target or Costco. There is also a store across the street by the Monkepod that has a lot of stuff.

Don't stress. ENJOY!

 

[amym2]

Hello Amym2:

There is a laundry basket available at the unit. I think it is under the sink in one of the bathrooms. Seems like it took us a day or two to find it.

The tap water was fine to drink, but we didn't care for the taste. So we ended up buying some bottled water at Target or Costco or someplace. They did have some iced water available out by the pool in one or two locations that I saw. It was in the large clear acrylic containers.

Anything you don't have when you get there you can get at Target or Costco. There is also a store across the street by the Monkepod that has a lot of stuff.

Don't stress. ENJOY!

Thanks so much! The kids will have fun trying to find the laundry basket. We will buy some water at Target, but I'll probably be okay with the tap water as long as it's better than at WDW!

 

[lovetotraveltx]

Can someone going soon please update me on Ulu Cafe when you get back. Their hours, menu... Thanks!

 

[rnpilot8030]

My wife and I would like to go scuba diving off property for about 3 hrs with our older daughter. Can we leave our little ones (DD's 9 & 10) at Aunties or do they require us to stay on property?

 

[BowlingAriel]

Time has flown by since we booked our Aulani trip.

We booked an OV 1bedroom - I've read that people got the floor/location they requested. Where / how do you request rooms? I've only done it when doing online check in

I know most of the construction was supposed to be done the end of Sept - I haven't seen any posts where it has been completed, does anyone know?

 

[DisSarahK]

I have a latex and rubber allergy. Does anyone know if the snorkeling equipment at Aulani is allergy safe? There typically would be a sign stating this. Thanks for any help you can give me.