aulani questions

[daisyx3]

I brought up to DH that we could possibly do Aulani in March of 2017 (it would be my spring break but will be nowhere near Easter that year; due to state testing they finally are moving it away from Easter). It will be second or third week of Easter. My kids in college can stay at the house and watch the pets.
Questions to start with:
What categories are good to book at 7 months out? It will just be two of us. I see hotel room as a category, what is that view? If we booked a regular room I'd like pool or ocean view.
How ridiculous is airfare to Hawaii at a non-peak (vacation period) time? We are in Ohio but can fly out of Detroit, Cleveland, Dayton, Columbus.
Daisyx3

 

[Meemoo]

Hey there, You should be fine booking 7 months prior if you are avoiding the Easter period. Standard View rooms go first. Beware of booking the hotel rooms, they are only a point or 2 difference. They only have a few, as they actually took a Grand Villa space and transformed it into a cafe and therefore made up for this by providing a few hotel rooms for DVC use. It depends what time you plan to arrive. On the occasions we booked the DVC rooms our room was always ready upon arrival, if we got there before check in time, even in the early morning we could go straight to our room. We booked the hotel category last time and due to them only have a few, we couldn't check in until after 4pm, we ended up using the extra point so we could take the room straight away in a normal villa. If you plan to arrive in the late afternoon then this wouldn't be an issue. The hotel rooms are all standard view, looking at either the parking structure or the convention center. Sorry I can't help with the airfare I'm from Australia. All the best with your planning!

 

[cedricandsophie]

We have been to Aulani four times from chicsgo. Going again in may. While we own at Aulani we don't have quite. enough for the one bedroom ocean view that we have to have for the 10'days we are there. Never had a problem booking at seven months in April or May for an ocean view. Once you get past june 1 though it is a problem. Air from chicsgo this year...I just booked it...was about 810 a person for 4 of us. Plus I got Econmy plus seats on United. I have paid as little as 750 and as much as 900 over the last few years. I usually book about 6 months out. And we always do nonstop from chicsgo to Honolulu. You might be able to do cheaper with a stop but we hate that.

 

[daisyx3]

Thanks! Just got our 16-17 school year calendar and I have the week of March 13 off. Easter is mid-April. I am getting excited about the possibilities. Airfare is more, but no park tickets to buy. Is there a FAQ somewhere for Aulani?
We stayed in Maui in 1990 before we had kids and it would be so cool to go back to Hawaii. We also did a day trip to Pearl Harbor.

 

[WDW_Diane]

I brought up to DH that we could possibly do Aulani in March of 2017 (it would be my spring break but will be nowhere near Easter that year; due to state testing they finally are moving it away from Easter). It will be second or third week of Easter. My kids in college can stay at the house and watch the pets.
Questions to start with:
What categories are good to book at 7 months out? It will just be two of us. I see hotel room as a category, what is that view? If we booked a regular room I'd like pool or ocean view.
How ridiculous is airfare to Hawaii at a non-peak (vacation period) time? We are in Ohio but can fly out of Detroit, Cleveland, Dayton, Columbus.
Daisyx3

When we have flown to Hawaii from Oklahoma in March, it was considered off-peak with American Airlines, so it was the cheaper season in regard to our frequent flier miles. It was also our least favorite time we were there weather-wise. Chillier, sometimes overcast, etc. But we were on Maui that time.
I am a teacher as well.... we have to take what we can get vacation-time wise, don't we?

 

[southerngirl528]

I agree with all the good info from the other posters, Daisyx3. We have stayed at Aulani 3 different trips, 2 of them being in January/Feb. I have had no problem booking at 7 months for those dates but do agree that if one was to book the week before or after Easter it could be very tough. It's good that your school dates are not going to be at that time. Yay!

As for weather, we go to Hawaii as often as we can, at least every year or two and stay for 2 weeks to a month. And we have stayed most of those trips on Maui during whale season which is in winter. Though winter is the rainy season, the temperatures are pretty static for all of Hawaii in the resort areas. We have only had a few days here and there that were icky weather in all our stays. If one was to go up into the mountains, the temperature and weather can change dramatically as the elevation changes. But again, all the resorts in Hawaii are on the leeward sides of the islands, which are the drier, sunnier sides. With rare exception, we have found the weather to be very pleasant in winter. Happy planning!!