Aulani split stay

[WinterSolider]

There’s nothing wrong with doing a split stay at Aulani. Depending on traffic, the resort is 45 minutes to one hour from Waikiki. Aulani is one of my home resorts and I only stay there when I plan on staying at the resort or doing things near the resort. If most of what I want to do is in Waikiki, I stay there. In my early days of going to Hawaii I stayed at Aulani, but was driving to Waikiki everyday to sightsee and have dinner. It got old very quickly.

I'm sorry but this is so misleading to people who have never been to Oahu and don't understand the geography. You like Waikiki and that's great, it makes sense that you stay there. But it's just incorrect to imply that most of the sightseeing to be done on Oahu is in Waikiki.

Compared to The Royal Hawaiian in the center of Waikiki, Aulani is:

• Equidistant to the airport
• Equidistant to Pearl Harbor
• Equidistant to the Polynesian Cultural Center
• Equidistant to Kualoa Ranch
• Closer to the Dole Plantation
• Closer to Green World Coffee Farm
• Closer to Ka'ena Point and many other of the best hikes on the island
• Closer to Haleiwa / the North Shore

This idea that Aulani is "far from everything" is 100% a myth because the attractions on Oahu are spread out around the island and NOTHING is close to everything. Staying in Waikiki gets you closer to the things in Honolulu, but it gets you further from just about everything else.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I'm sorry but this is so misleading to people who have never been to Oahu and don't understand the geography. You like Waikiki and that's great, it makes sense that you stay there. But it's just incorrect to imply that most of the sightseeing to be done on Oahu is in Waikiki.

Compared to The Royal Hawaiian in the center of Waikiki, Aulani is:

• Equidistant to the airport
• Equidistant to Pearl Harbor
• Equidistant to the Polynesian Cultural Center
• Equidistant to Kualoa Ranch
• Closer to the Dole Plantation
• Closer to Green World Coffee Farm
• Closer to Ka'ena Point and many other of the best hikes on the island
• Closer to Haleiwa / the North Shore

This idea that Aulani is "far from everything" is 100% a myth because the attractions on Oahu are spread out around the island and NOTHING is close to everything. Staying in Waikiki gets you closer to the things in Honolulu, but it gets you further from just about everything else.

Our next trip I will be avoiding Waikiki like the plague. I should've explored the North Shore instead of Waikiki on our last trip. There are lots of cool spots up there.

 

[WinterSolider]

Our next trip I will be avoiding Waikiki like the plague. I should've explored the North Shore instead of Waikiki on our last trip. There are lots of cool spots up there.

We like Diamond Head so one morning on our trip we do 6am Diamond Head, then Leonard's, then pop over to Waikiki just to say we did, and then we've seen enough of Honolulu until next time.

 

[Bucketfoot]

You can very, VERY easily spend 10+ days on Oahu and never set foot in Honolulu once you leave the airport.

I'll just take Kauai or the Big Island anytime over Oahu. It is just a complete mess to deal with and is nothing like the Hawaii I grew up visiting in the 60's & 70's.

 

[maxbuffmelvin]

I'm sorry but this is so misleading to people who have never been to Oahu and don't understand the geography. You like Waikiki and that's great, it makes sense that you stay there. But it's just incorrect to imply that most of the sightseeing to be done on Oahu is in Waikiki.

Compared to The Royal Hawaiian in the center of Waikiki, Aulani is:

• Equidistant to the airport
• Equidistant to Pearl Harbor
• Equidistant to the Polynesian Cultural Center
• Equidistant to Kualoa Ranch
• Closer to the Dole Plantation
• Closer to Green World Coffee Farm
• Closer to Ka'ena Point and many other of the best hikes on the island
• Closer to Haleiwa / the North Shore

This idea that Aulani is "far from everything" is 100% a myth because the attractions on Oahu are spread out around the island and NOTHING is close to everything. Staying in Waikiki gets you closer to the things in Honolulu, but it gets you further from just about everything else.

I agree, although I am not a fan of Waikiki. A couple of hours in Waikiki is enough for a week-long trip to Oahu.

I've been to most areas of Oahu, and I don't feel Oahu is big enough to warrant split stays since I usually rent a car and have enough DVC points to cover a week at Aulani.

 

[PlutoNotPlanet]

EWR-HNL direct flight falls in the UA domestic flight category, meaning sometimes it takes 25k miles for a 10+hour round trip

Just realized that I can no longer find any 12.5k one-way saver. All are 25k one-way. Can still save at least 25% compared to cash price but no longer that amazing. Perhaps, it might become cheaper close to 1 or 2 months mark.

 

[abdgeek]

I'm sorry but this is so misleading to people who have never been to Oahu and don't understand the geography. You like Waikiki and that's great, it makes sense that you stay there. But it's just incorrect to imply that most of the sightseeing to be done on Oahu is in Waikiki.

Compared to The Royal Hawaiian in the center of Waikiki, Aulani is:

• Equidistant to the airport
• Equidistant to Pearl Harbor
• Equidistant to the Polynesian Cultural Center
• Equidistant to Kualoa Ranch
• Closer to the Dole Plantation
• Closer to Green World Coffee Farm
• Closer to Ka'ena Point and many other of the best hikes on the island
• Closer to Haleiwa / the North Shore

This idea that Aulani is "far from everything" is 100% a myth because the attractions on Oahu are spread out around the island and NOTHING is close to everything. Staying in Waikiki gets you closer to the things in Honolulu, but it gets you further from just about everything else.

As you pointed out, everyone will have to decide for themselves where the best place is to stay when visiting Oahu for their itinerary. I stayed at Aulani for the first time in 2012 and that was my first trip to Oahu. I stayed 11 days and rented a car for about 4 days to sightsee. The big items on my itinerary for that trip were: Pearl Harbor, Bishop Museum, Iolani Palace, Honolulu Museum of Art, Diamond Head, and the Polynesian Cultural Center. I took the Aulani tour to PCC that stopped at a couple other places because I knew I didn’t want to make the long drive back to the resort after the show let out at 9pm. I thoroughly researched the distance from Aulani to everywhere I wanted to visit and even printed out the Mapquest directions. I paid extra to get the GPS for the rental car to ensure the Mapquest instructions I had were correct. The rest of the time, I spent doing activities on Aulani property and lazing by the pool. I have done Aulani with and without a car. I have taken almost all the tours they offer, and, have visited Oahu numerous times to continue seeing other sites. However, now when I visit I choose where I plan to stay based on what I want to do. Since that trip, I usually go to Hawaii every 2-3 years, spend 2-3 weeks there, and island hop. I am normally on each island for a week. I’m still trying to see everything on my list.

 

[Sondra Sunflowers]

We are in a similar situation. We also own at SSR and bought an Aulani resale in 2020 when the prices were good due to covid. We are going to Aulani for the first time in July and are using 3 years worth of points. It's a 12-15 hour flight for us (depending on the layover) so getting there isn't easy and IMO requires a longer trip. I was able to book the island view at 11 months and it's just the 2 of us, so we have enough points for 9 nights this time. For future trips, I would really like to do 4-5 nights in Aulani and move to another island for another 4-5 nights. A split stay will be necessary when we eventually bring family and need the 2-bedroom.

Since we've had these points 5 years now, we have enjoyed using them at Hilton Head and WDW in the meantime.