Aulani Owners Thread - ALOHA!

[AstroBlasters]

Please excuse me for derailing the discussion once. I just found a flight route is no longer available that I might not make the Thanksgiving trip
I will be cancelling 11/27-11/30 ocean view studio. Let me know if whoever want those dates so that we can coordinate and time the cancellation. Just to clarify it's not a renting ad.

What carrier?

 

[Skywalker3]

Aloha everyone!

I am brand new to the DVC community, literally brand new, I just got into my portal for the first time today.

My DH and I are going to book a one week trip to Aulani this February to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. We are just going to get a studio and probably the garden view, because I don't want to use all my points on an ocean view.

My questions are......

Are there any hidden financial costs I should expect when I book this resort? Or is it just the points only?

We will be renting a car, and I think I was told by someone that you have to pay to park there - is that true? If yes, how much?

How is the luau there? I read good reviews, but that was not on The DIS and I trust you all more.



If there's anything else you can think of to share with me about this resort, I will sincerely appreciate it.

Thank you for your help
Aloha





I

Hi!
We just did an Aulani trip this past March. First time ever in Hawaii, dream trip, just never thought we'd go to Hawaii, but it was MIL's bucket list. We used all our DVC points for the year (and most of the next ) to go. It was a fabulous trip, and really loved Aulani, but......I wish I'd done even more research on some things ahead of time. There is incredible help here on these boards, and great info on this thread, and also on the Aulani subforum on the main page. I read a lot of trip reports, that really helped, and asked tons of questions. I am very thankful for all of the advice.

https://www.disboards.com/forums/aulani-a-disney-resort-spa.198/

Also got a good bit of info on a couple of Aulani FB groups, if you're on FB.

Happy planning!!!

 

[VGCgroupie]

Hi!
We just did an Aulani trip this past March. First time ever in Hawaii, dream trip, just never thought we'd go to Hawaii, but it was MIL's bucket list. We used all our DVC points for the year (and most of the next ) to go. It was a fabulous trip, and really loved Aulani, but......I wish I'd done even more research on some things ahead of time. There is incredible help here on these boards, and great info on this thread, and also on the Aulani subforum on the main page. I read a lot of trip reports, that really helped, and asked tons of questions. I am very thankful for all of the advice.

https://www.disboards.com/forums/aulani-a-disney-resort-spa.198/

Also got a good bit of info on a couple of Aulani FB groups, if you're on FB.

Happy planning!!!

Agree. While I love my DISBoards peeps, many of the Aulani FB groups have a ton of info and and were a huge help since there are alot of active users.

 

[PlutoNotPlanet]

What carrier?

United. It's the 11hr non-stop route from the east coast which only cost 25k miles one-way as it's domestic. The route has been dropped before and then resumed. It will come back after Thanksgiving season but available only certain days of the week, not including the day I'd like to depart.
We will probably repurpose the points for an addition WDW trip lol

 

[slo]

Hi!
We just did an Aulani trip this past March. First time ever in Hawaii, dream trip, just never thought we'd go to Hawaii, but it was MIL's bucket list. We used all our DVC points for the year (and most of the next ) to go. It was a fabulous trip, and really loved Aulani, but......I wish I'd done even more research on some things ahead of time. There is incredible help here on these boards, and great info on this thread, and also on the Aulani subforum on the main page. I read a lot of trip reports, that really helped, and asked tons of questions. I am very thankful for all of the advice.

https://www.disboards.com/forums/aulani-a-disney-resort-spa.198/

Also got a good bit of info on a couple of Aulani FB groups, if you're on FB.

Happy planning!!!

I am - thank you! I’ll take a look today

 

[Steelers0854]

Aloha! I am so excited, I just booked our very first Aulani stay for February. We were always planning on doing a 1BR Ocean View so I wasnt really sweating availability until i looked 2 days ago and realized it was Presidents weekend the weekend before and they were all booked! Thankfully it looks like a lot of CA people just booked the weekend and our checkin day was free and clear! We are staying a week and this will be DW’s first trip to Hawaii. I wish the planning were a little easier, so many different things to have to try and remember between dining, activities, cabanas, it’s a lot! Couldn’t be more excited.

 

[Flossbolna]

I have a studio question. Our upcoming trip is going to be our third trip to Aulani, but the first stay in a studio. I see that Aulani has two different layouts there: the normal one and then those with the triangular balcony where the sofa bed is on the opposite wall of the bed. Since we will use the sofa bed I am concerned that the room will feel very cramped when the sofa bed is in bed form. On the layout plan it looks like it’s even hard to move between the bed and the sofa bed.

Does anyone have experience with this? It will be hard to go from one bedroom to studio anyway and I then I don’t want a layout that feels even more congested. I am considering putting in a request for rectangular balcony room. We have island garden view.