Aulani Owners Thread - ALOHA!

[wdrl]

A picture is worth a thousand words!

Thanks for sharing your photo! It looks beautiful. I have to ask: How did you take the photo?

55 days until we fly to Hawaii and 63 days until we check in at Aulani. There are more photos of Aulani views available on the Aulani Villas and View thread.

 

[ramkam]

I took the night shot of Aulani from across the lagoon just after sunset. I use a Nikon D300. I shot on a tripod, ISO 200, 1/60 sec. at f8, 26mm. The shot was a jpeg and I made some adjustments in Lightroom and NIK's Color Efex Pro 4.

Another great place to shoot sunsets is right around the corner from Aulani in front of the Paradise Cove show (see below). Even if you are not photographing the sunset it is a nice place to watch the sun go down.

[/url] Sunset Around the Corner from Aulani by RichMartin, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[ACDSNY]

Lovely, was that around the corner to the right?

 

[ramkam]

Yes, facing the ocean you go to the right and keep going. You will pass through some bushes at the end of the Marriot property and onto this beach.

 

[ACDSNY]

Thanks I can't wait until we go back in December.

 

[TifffanyD]

I just booked our first stay yesterday!! We are going June 15-21, 2013 and staying in a 1 bedroom oceanview! We only have 100 aulani points so we are using 3 years worth for the stay! Now I'll need to keep an eye on airfare!

 

[dreaming4disney]

Just wondering if a 1 BR villas would be good for a family of 5? My dd15 would have to sleep in the pull down bunk. Is that a regular sized twin? Not sure if 1 Bath would be enough for us either. I like the set up of the Bathroom being split- but as my kids are all teens I'm just not sure if this setup would be big enough. Any input would be appreciated.

H ave to admit, once you get used to bigger accommodations it's hard to go back to smaller. We usually stay in a 1BR @ Bay Lake- they have 2 bathrooms there.


Thanks for the help.

 

[Anek0618]

I just booked our return to Aulani for Mar 28-Apr 5 2013!! We spent this past Easter there and can't wait to return We were actually booked departing Apr 4, but I logged on and our flight had changed by a day...I wasn't overly upset to add a day to Aulani! Now I just have to figure out where to stay for the 4 days we'll be in DL before we fly to Hawaii! I am going to try for a studio at GCV, but if that doesn't work out I think we'll do Paradise Peir. I have limited points left so have to work with what I have!

 

[ppony]

I wanted to ask (forgive me not reading the whole thread ), We plan to visit when the kids are older and we can travel w/o them. We just can't afford 4 tickets for air from MN to HI. Edit: though schnikies! I just saw RT for around $6-700??? REALLY??? I thlght I was looking at 1K a piece which is what I saw last I looked. Granted, I was looking only a few months out. Probably cheaper that way.

My question is, and I'm sorry if this is one of those how-busy-will-the-parks-be-when-I'M-there frequent perennial posts ) I'd LOVE to buy some of the merch. from there though. I know the parks have phone numbers you can call if you can give them UPC number or similar, does anyone know if the same is possible for Aulani stuff???

Thankfully, I have a customer in Hawaii and she may be able to pick things up for me. But I'm not sure if she's even on the same island at this point and I don't want to impose too much. She'll be happily conpensated as she's been asking me to paint another horse for her for a while.

I'm envious of those that can go easily!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Just booked our Aulani stay at the 7 month window last week, there seemed to be plenty available. I booked a 1 bedroom ocean view, and I could have booked a 2 bedroom. We decide 1 bedroom would work for the 3 of us though, so I saved the extra 127 points and told our adult DS he was sleeping on the hide-a-bed.

The question....Should I request a high floor and can I do that online even now after I've already booked?

 

[ppony]

Just booked our Aulani stay at the 7 month window last week, there seemed to be plenty available. I booked a 1 bedroom ocean view, and I could have booked a 2 bedroom. We decide 1 bedroom would work for the 3 of us though, so I saved the extra 127 points and told our adult DS he was sleeping on the hide-a-bed.

The question....Should I request a high floor and can I do that online even now after I've already booked?

Hi MN neighbor!
You can put your requests in at any time up until about a week before you arrive I think. I don't know at what point they actually assign rooms but this far out, even up uuntil a few weeks ahead, I would think is cool.

I looked at 7 mo. availability the other night too and things were available. thank heavens. Not that all months will be like that, but it gives hope. Have fun! I'm envious! It'll be a good 4-8 years before we can go. My autistic son needs to be much older to handle that flight. OR, to be left alone w/grandma.

 

[jforever52]

Aloha!

We own at VGC but have just booked a one week stay at Aulani Febuary 9-16th 2013. So excited to visit Hawaii. My husband and I went there right after we were married. It has been 14 years and I miss the island life so much!!!!
Can't wait to browse through this thread to find out all about our upcoming island destination vacation.

 

[OurDogCisco]

Not sure where to post this but we stayed at Aulani in July in room 913 for 3 nights. Lovely resort. Here was our view from our room. This is a ocean view room. I think it had a view of the sunset but we were never in the room to verify that. This is the first room as you get off the elevator.

If you want to see all the pictures check them out here: http://travel.webshots.com/album/583162331pfYVaU

Lovely resort...

 

[OurDogCisco]

Just booked our Aulani stay at the 7 month window last week, there seemed to be plenty available. I booked a 1 bedroom ocean view, and I could have booked a 2 bedroom. We decide 1 bedroom would work for the 3 of us though, so I saved the extra 127 points and told our adult DS he was sleeping on the hide-a-bed.

The question....Should I request a high floor and can I do that online even now after I've already booked?

Personally, I'd book a pool view room. You can see the picture of our ocean view room below. We like to sleep with the door open and it was very noisy at night here. There were all kinds of trucks going in and out of the Marriott property at night. They would back up and you'd hear the stupid beeping sound when they backup it. One night a dog was barking.

 

[mwrogers]

I just booked our return to Aulani for Mar 28-Apr 5 2013!! We were actually booked departing Apr 4, but I logged on and our flight had changed by a day...I wasn't overly upset to add a day to Aulani!

You're sure you didn't look at the landing date of your flight (most flights back to the mainland are overnight)? Don't want you to waste a day's worth of points.

 

[Doingitagain]

We are booked for March 2013! I know it will be a busy time, but with two teachers and a student in the family, it is a miracle when spring break aligns in 3 districts and we can take a school year vacation together.

I understand there will be construction during that time, any thoughts on what will be closed? Where we should request our ocean view room so we don't have construction noise?

Our flight doesn't leave until 9:00 pm, so what do you think of the plan to check out in the morning and spend the day at Pearl Harbor before we go to the airport? We plan to have a rental car, so we can leave luggage in the car.

Thanks!

 

[ramkam]

We returned from Aulani in July on a flight at 10:30 pm. We just checked out of our room at 11:00 am and put our luggage in our car. Then we spent the day at Aulani. There is a nice lounge with lockers, showers, TV, computers etc. so you can freshen up prior to going to the airport. Overall it was just a great day at the resort.

 

[luv2sleep]

We returned from Aulani in July on a flight at 10:30 pm. We just checked out of our room at 11:00 am and put our luggage in our car. Then we spent the day at Aulani. There is a nice lounge with lockers, showers, TV, computers etc. so you can freshen up prior to going to the airport. Overall it was just a great day at the resort.

Is there a shower/liocker area for family/kids? If so, that's going to be nice. I'm going on our Oahu stop on the cruise and I'm not sure we will ever make it to our room because of the short port time.

 

[ramkam]

There is a large lounge area, think living room or family room with couches, TVs, computers, etc. From there you have a women's locker room and a men's locker room. The locker rooms have plenty of towels and nice lockers you can use for free. We were told to get our lockers early in case they were all used up. I suggest you grab your lockers first thing in the morning and then go spend the day at the resort or on whatever you are going to do. Then you can get cleaned up and hang out until it is time to go to the airport. There were two individual showers in the locker room. Each shower had a full curtain that pulled across it so you have some privacy. The shower is at least as big as the shower we had in our DVC one bedrrom villa. The showers have soap, shampoo and conditioner in them. There also are hair dryers available. Overall it was a nice setup. We saw several families use the facilities throughout the day. We appreciate the resort setting this up for folks who are leaving late or arriving early. It is also right next to the activities center so you can go in there to to play some games, etc.

Also, a trip to North Shore to get a shave ice at Matsomotos is a must!

 

[aymekae]

Hello! So, we've had our Nov. 2012 Aulani trip planned since last January. I just found out I'll be about 4 months pregnant when we go! I've been trying to think of how that's going to affect my trip, but I'd appreciate if anyone can chime in with anything they can think of.

• Can't go in the hot tubs
• May need to alter the spa treatments; I believe they have prenatal massages and stuff, right?
• We're going to avoid going on any hikes, like Diamond Head. Is there a trail elsewhere on the island that's relatively flat and safe? I don't want to risk falling or anything.
• Obviously no drinking for me, but I rarely do anyway.
• Avoid sushi/raw fish (shrimp trucks should be fine, though, right?)
• I believe snorkeling will be fine.

Any suggestions or other things to avoid? I'd really appreciate it! This is my first time to Hawaii, and I was already planning on taking it REAL easy and just relaxing the majority of the time. We were planning on visiting Pearl Harbor and the Polynesian Cultural Center, which I can't imagine will be a problem. Thanks in advance!