Aulani: What's the One Thing You Wish You Knew?

[MrsPinup]

We were at Aulani in May, rented a car to do off site excursions such as Pearl Harbor, but the "setup" of the resort to the best of my knowledge does not lend itself to bus service. We did a lot of walking at the resort, which including walks in front of the resort on the main road there and never saw one bus passing in front. I would imagine also that cab fare to Pearl Harbour is also very expensive.

Perhaps you could rent a car for a short period of time, maybe a day or two and combine all of your excursions into those days???

This poster is correct.
The Aulani website has information on all of this. They have shuttle service to various Oahu places, rental car service, taxi, and "the island's public transportation service". They have a HaliHali shopping shuttle to Waikiki to the Ala Moana Center, Alamo car rental on site at the conference center, airport service through SpeediShuttle. It says that the nearest bus stop is one mile from Aulani. They also mention a trolley, but no information on if it actually stops at Aulani, or nearby.

Thank you! We have been looking at rentals for a day or two and may have to do that. She refuses to pay the overnight parking fees so I would be stuck with that. Plus, she also does not want to take her son (18 months) on public transportation to get to and from a rental place. I am in a horribly difficult situation. I keep seeing how people get rentals for $125 for a week; I cannot even find rates that low for two days!

 

[blondietink]

Thank you! We have been looking at rentals for a day or two and may have to do that. She refuses to pay the overnight parking fees so I would be stuck with that. Plus, she also does not want to take her son (18 months) on public transportation to get to and from a rental place. I am in a horribly difficult situation. I keep seeing how people get rentals for $125 for a week; I cannot even find rates that low for two days!

You are going at the busiest time of the year. Therefore sky high rental rates. We got a mini-van for 11 days last September for $250.00. otherwise you will have to rent directly from Aulani which will be very expensive. You could always take go and get the car yourself and leave her at the resort, then go back and pick her up.

You can try the cheap Hawaii car rental dot com website and see if they have anything available at the airport this close to your arrival.

She needs to be more flexible if she wants to see more of the island.

 

[MrsPinup]

You are going at the busiest time of the year. Therefore sky high rental rates. We got a mini-van for 11 days last September for $250.00. otherwise you will have to rent directly from Aulani which will be very expensive. You could always take go and get the car yourself and leave her at the resort, then go back and pick her up.

You can try the cheap Hawaii car rental dot com website and see if they have anything available at the airport this close to your arrival.

She needs to be more flexible if she wants to see more of the island.

That's the thing, she doesn't. She went to Oahu on her honeymoon - this is my first time ever even being in Hawaii. She wants to stay at the resort the entire trip except for one day (my birthday, because I asked to go to Pearl Harbor) and expects us to be able to get to Pearl Harbor at 7:30 and still get a standby ticket (we only knew about the trip 3 months ago, too late for reservations). I want to see Diamond Head and North Shore as well, but she refuses to pay for a rental to get there.

 

[alohamom]

Thank you! We have been looking at rentals for a day or two and may have to do that. She refuses to pay the overnight parking fees so I would be stuck with that. Plus, she also does not want to take her son (18 months) on public transportation to get to and from a rental place. I am in a horribly difficult situation. I keep seeing how people get rentals for $125 for a week; I cannot even find rates that low for two days!

Have you checked Hotwire or Priceline? I use them all the time with excellent results.

 

[dbenlee]

Thank you! We have been looking at rentals for a day or two and may have to do that. She refuses to pay the overnight parking fees so I would be stuck with that. Plus, she also does not want to take her son (18 months) on public transportation to get to and from a rental place. I am in a horribly difficult situation. I keep seeing how people get rentals for $125 for a week; I cannot even find rates that low for two days!

You can also try joining the insider programs. They send out email periodically that have some codes for good deals.

 

[LisaT91403]

You can also try joining the insider programs. They send out email periodically that have some codes for good deals.

If you are a Costco member, check their Travel site for car rental. You can check 4 different rental companies at the same time using the Costco interface. We just rented an SUV for 8 days (over the holiday)...$105 out the door. Not in HI, but still a great deal!

Edit: Forgot to mention that the rates change on a daily basis. I checked a couple of times per day until I got a rate I was happy with...and then I cancelled and re-booked each time the rate dropped. Sometimes there's a great rate for a day, and then they go back up. You have to keep watching.

 

[poohj80]

Thank you! We have been looking at rentals for a day or two and may have to do that. She refuses to pay the overnight parking fees so I would be stuck with that. Plus, she also does not want to take her son (18 months) on public transportation to get to and from a rental place. I am in a horribly difficult situation. I keep seeing how people get rentals for $125 for a week; I cannot even find rates that low for two days!

We went to Aulani during Spring Break (also a busy time) and were able to find a good deal through Costco but it was less than a week before our arrival. I would recommend you keep checking as rental car rates really fluctuate. We had an SUV for 9 days for $200.

 

[owensamo]

Thank you! We have been looking at rentals for a day or two and may have to do that. She refuses to pay the overnight parking fees so I would be stuck with that. Plus, she also does not want to take her son (18 months) on public transportation to get to and from a rental place. I am in a horribly difficult situation. I keep seeing how people get rentals for $125 for a week; I cannot even find rates that low for two days!

We had a full sized car from Alamo through Costco for abt. $180 for a week at the end of June and are now here with a standard for 3 days for abt. $85. Parking is included when staying on points, so it made sense vs. taxi or shuttle.

My husband's company also offered leisure rates that were better than the initial quotes we got from Costco, but the costco rates dropped significantly about 3 months out. There's also the Entertainment book - their rental car coupons are good nationwide.

Another option - check pricing excursions from Aulani vs. car rental - it might come out less, and they will provide transportation.

The resort is beautiful, but there is so much more to see if you haven't a been here before!

 

[MrsPinup]

Thank you everyone! I did check into all of those suggestions, but in the end, my friend only wants to rent for 24 hours and from Aulani so we don't have to shuttle to another location for a rental. If we need to get anywhere else during our stay, it will be the shuttles and public transit.

We arrive Tuesday and stay until next Sunday, so hopefully we can still see a lot. If not, fingers crossed that my husband and I can come back some day!

Okay, so besides all of the cool stuff at Aulani, and Monk Beach a short walk away, what else should we do that we can take the bus, trolley, shuttle, or walk to? Is there any transportation from Aulani to the stadium so we can check out the swap meet on Saturday or Sunday?

 

[Girimama33]

There is an Alamo desk in the Aulani, so you do not need to travel to a rental location.
We arrive on Saturday, and are not renting a car. We are doing the Pearl Harbor tour that has transportation to and from he hotel. We are renting a car one day from the Alamo desk. I got a good rate brought Costco. If you have th car back by 5 you shouldn't have to pay parking.

 

[blondietink]

The swap meet is right next to Pearl Harbor practically. If you could coordinate your car rental for a Sat. or Sun, then you could do both in one day. But, you need to get to Pearl Harbor very early to get a standby ticket I'm afraid. With rush hour traffic in the am it can be quite frustrating.

Never saw the trolley when we were there so can't help you with that.

 

[gjl]

R

 

[4DisneyAddicts]

Technically the laundry tokens are just for DVC members, but the CMs at Aulani do only look at your card and if the owner doesn't report that you are renting then it should say DVC member. And that is how they distribute the tokens. They often ask how many you need and we just tell them how many loads we expect to do during our stay. You can go back for more if needed.

So there are no washers/dryers in the villas? That would be disappointing. That is one of the perks of having the DVC villas. I don't want to spend hours in a laundry room on my vacation.

 

[Sur]

Studios are without, like other DVCs...other villa types have them.

 

[bamor]

So there are no washers/dryers in the villas? That would be disappointing. That is one of the perks of having the DVC villas. I don't want to spend hours in a laundry room on my vacation.

The studios do not have washers and dryers (just like all DVC resorts). The one and two bedrooms have them.

 

[OKW Lover]

So there are no washers/dryers in the villas? That would be disappointing. That is one of the perks of having the DVC villas. I don't want to spend hours in a laundry room on my vacation.

As others have correctly noted, there are no washers/dryers in the studio units. However, no need to spend hours in a laundry room if you are in a studio. There are (free) washers/dryers at each of the community pools. Start your load and then relax and enjoy the pool.

 

[jerseygal]

We have always vacationed with our sons, so we have never had a studio..
Staying in a studio, childless this time, this December at WDW!

Can't WAIT, but knew ahead of time, that we will miss the washer/dryer in the studio...But, that doesn't mean that we can't use the washer/dryer at VGF! Not too concerned, VGF MORE than makes up for the loss of washer/dryer..

Certainly NICE at a beach location like Aulani having the washer/dryer in all the rooms except studio for bathing suits and the like...

 

[4DisneyAddicts]

As others have correctly noted, there are no washers/dryers in the studio units. However, no need to spend hours in a laundry room if you are in a studio. There are (free) washers/dryers at each of the community pools. Start your load and then relax and enjoy the pool.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[anett]

scribing

 

[MrsPinup]

I wish I knew about the standby line at Pearl Harbor. We arrived at 6:45 to get USS Arizona tickets and they were for 11 am. Around 10:30 we headed to the cue for the movie/boat and discovered the standby line. Save time and sanity by hitting up this line first thing and getting on an earlier boat. If they have room, they put you on, ticket or not! We had babies with us keeping them entertained from 6:45am-10:30 was very difficult.