Help me plan Aulani/VGC 2016!!

[quinnc19]

I (40ish woman) am hoping to spend about 2 weeks travelling in early/mid June with my DD who will be 9. Right now, leaning towards few days in Cali, few at Aulani, maybe 1 in Waikiki. I definitely want to visit other islands in addition to Oahu and that is what I could really use some input concerning. Am considering Pride of America cruise: pros - convenient way to see a lot of Hawaii (who knows when we will return), cons - relatively expensive and concerned it will be a letdown after DCL. What do you think? How time consuming/stressful are inter-island flights? How difficult is it to navigate driving around the islands with only one adult? We always do split stays in WDW so don't mind resort hopping but also don't want things to be too hectic. Many thanks for your thoughts!!!

 

[DenLo]

We did the Pride of America and Aulani in 2012. The ship is older similar in age to the Magic and like the Magic pre dry dock it need refurbishment IMO. The cabins are smaller than the ones on the Fantasy and slightly smaller than on the Magic. However the cost is much less than a cruise on a DCL ship. And the best part is every day you see a different part of Hawaii. It gives you a good over view of the islands you visit. I think if you really want to get to know each island you need to stay more than a couples of nights, more like a week per island.

We stayed 7 nights at Aulani post cruise and wished we could have stayed more. We did take 2 days to see sites on Oahu including the Arizona Memorial, but most afternoons were spent at Aulani. There is so much to do at Aulani even if you just enjoy the pools, lazy river, beach and lagoon.

 

[quinnc19]

Thanks for the reply! Interesting that the cost for a balcony room is showing about 5k right now - more than what I paid for DCL to Alaska and the Med (also balcony).

 

[happymommy]

We always go for 2 weeks to Ko Olina (next to Aulani) but next year will go one long day to Kauai and back. It's a small island, and I just want to have the kids see the canyon and something different.

If you wanted to go to another island, Kauai is very small. When we lived on Oahu years ago, we spent a weekend on Kauai and really saw pretty much everything.

You will definitely want a week on Oahu in my opinion. If you go to the Big Island, you'd need a good week also. There, we would fly into Kona and stay a few days, then went to KMC (the military camp in Volcanoes National Park) for a few days, then flew home from Hilo. We did that for a full week with my then 4 month old when we lived on Oahu.

Maui is huge. Enough said.

Going from one island to another, and checking in and out of a place is time consuming. That's why we always just spend our 2 weeks on Oahu (we love it there and own 2 weeks). If you have more time, you could do 2 islands, but more than that would be a killer to me.

If we do Waikiki (sometimes the flights with miles can have us going over a day or two early) do it before Aulani. You'll be happy you did. Once we get to Ko Olina, we couldn't consider staying in Waikiki. Last trip this summer, we didn't even go over to Waikiki at all (we were coming from a trip to Korea so were too tired, just relaxed and mostly enjoyed the resort).

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Following along. We have plans to visit Aulani first week of October 2016 and Wakiki 2-3 days before. I'm trying to figure out which hotel to stay in Wakiki prior to Aulani?

 

[quinnc19]

Thanks for your thoughts so far - keep them coming!

 

[MaryJ]

I'm adding my name to the list of those following along. We have plans to go to Aulani with our 3 daughters, their DH's and by that time 6 grandchildren (two are on the way) in July 2016. My question is since we will need multiple rooms and will have to wait until the 7 month mark to reserve, are we crazy to even try at this time of the year? July 10th will by our 40th wedding anniversary, so that and the fact that our grands will not be in school is the reason for going in July.

 

[Anal Annie]

We just got back from a 2 week trip that started at DL for 3 nights followed by a week at Aulani then 3 more nights on Maui. This was my 5th trip from the east coast to Hawaii. Bcuz of the time and cost involved to get there from here we always go for at least 10 days and always island hop to at least 1 other island. Maui is our fav. The Big Island is also cool for a few nights. We have done 3 islands in 10 days before but it is a real push to move so often. We did a day trip to Kauai once. It's pretty but has a more honeymoonish crowd IMO. Stopping at DL on the way was a nice way to break up the jet lag but it definitely added a lot to the overall cost of the trip. We only had enough pts this time to go for 3 nights...it was enough time to go commando thru the 2 parks but not enough time to stop & enjoy VGC. I wish we could've done a 4th night like we orig had planned but we just couldn't this time.

FYI the stopover made the flights cost more and then of course there was the cost of the DL park tix which were a small fortune. I would guesstimate that those 3 nights at DL added about $1,400-1,500 to the overall cost of the trip (for 2 A, 1 teen) so consider that when you make your budget. It was a fabulous trip tho. If only the airfare wasn't so harsh for the summer.

I'm working on a trip report if you want to follow along...there is a link in my siggie.

 

[Anal Annie]

Following along. We have plans to visit Aulani first week of October 2016 and Wakiki 2-3 days before. I'm trying to figure out which hotel to stay in Wakiki prior to Aulani?

We have done 4 stays in Waikiki on previous trips...2x at the Outrigger Reef, 1x at the Outrigger Waikiki & 1 time at another hotel that was across the street from the pink one (I think it was called the Beachcomber or something). I would say that the Outrigger Waikiki is a fine choice for a moderately priced hotel in Waikiki (we would stay there again for the price). The famous Duke's restaurant is located there which is a bonus and it is in a nice central location. IIRC the beach was a little wider there than down at the Reef.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

We have done 4 stays in Waikiki on previous trips...2x at the Outrigger Reef, 1x at the Outrigger Waikiki & 1 time at another hotel that was across the street from the pink one (I think it was called the Beachcomber or something). I would say that the Outrigger Waikiki is a fine choice for a moderately priced hotel in Waikiki (we would stay there again for the price). The famous Duke's restaurant is located there which is a bonus and it is in a nice central location. IIRC the beach was a little wider there than down at the Reef.

Thanks Leann!! Taking notes and will def look that hotel up!

 

[quinnc19]

Annie, was planning 2 nights at VGC then one at Sequoia National Park but you trip report is making me reconsider whether it's enough time. It seems as though the tickets are comparable for us to go ATL LAX HLN then direct but I will definitely keep an eye on that.

 

[igomezhnl]

As a local living on the Island of Oahu. Here are my tips and must see.

Waikiki: Is a minitature Las Vegas. I would spend some a few hours to browse. But wouldn't stay their for the night.

In my opinion I think Oahu is the most diverse Island of Hawaii. It has a mixture of city and country within a short distance from each other.

Must Do's in Hawaii:

1. Waikiki for 1/2 Day.
2. Drive Thru Kalanioanaole towards Makapuu Light House (Scenic Drive)
3. Full Day at the North Shore in Haleiwa (Surf Town).
4. Full Day in Kailua (Lanikai Beach)
5. Surf or Paddleboard

 

[Anal Annie]

Annie, was planning 2 nights at VGC then one at Sequoia National Park but you trip report is making me reconsider whether it's enough time. It seems as though the tickets are comparable for us to go ATL LAX HLN then direct but I will definitely keep an eye on that.

Summer airfare is steep. We traveled in August from the DC area and I have seen roundtrip to / from HNL for as low as $800-900ish pp. For us tho we spent closer to about $1,300 pp for our airfare by stopping in CA (I booked DC to LAX one-way then LAX to HNL one-way then there was our inter-island flight and finally I booked Maui to DC on one airline (with a single stop in Portland). 3-day park hoppers at DL for 3 adults was just a few dollars shy of $800 (I think they were $265 pp). Round trip air is always cheaper than one-ways. We also wanted to fly home directly from Maui without having to go back thru HNL (lessens the total trip duration by a lot of time that way). But since I didn't want to go back thru HNL when we left our options were limited. Personally I would NOT plan only 2 nights at DL and then throw another stop in to go to the park. If you want to do that you might think about 3 n at DL going and then a couple of nights at the park on the way home. But realistically you would probably be better off to leave that for a whole other trip. We got thru both parks in 2 1/2 days by going commando but we didn't have time to relax and enjoy the resort at all. I mean, like we didn't even stop to SEE the pool.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Leann, what would be a good number to use for a food budget? We are not "foodie" people. When transferring from Waikiki to Aulani I was thinking of asking whom ever we get to transport us to stop off at super Target to get a few food items for breakfast and lunch.

 

[Anal Annie]

Leann, what would be a good number to use for a food budget? We are not "foodie" people. When transferring from Waikiki to Aulani I was thinking of asking whom ever we get to transport us to stop off at super Target to get a few food items for breakfast and lunch.

That's a really difficult question because everybody eats so differently. FWIW I thought that the Target food prices were nearly identical to the ones at my local Target. Of course we live in Montgomery Co, MD which has a very high cost of living. But they were very similar. We spent about $140 on our first Target stop but that included our top priorities of (2) 12 packs of beer, (1) fifth each of Absolut and Captain Morgan, (1) bottle of wine and some bloody mary mix. We also bought a couple packs of lunchmeat & sliced cheese, sm. mayo, a loaf of bread, bagels, margarine & cream cheese & 1/2 gal. each of chocolate milk & iced tea, a 6 pk of Diet Coke & a pack of paper plates. (You can buy some limited groceries and beer & alcohol at the ABC store down the street from Aulani but it was a lot cheaper at Target.)

I will say that overall, for our 2 weeks we spent approx. $5,300 for the 3 of us (give or take a couple hundred). $1,400 of that was spent at Disneyland ($790 for 3 3-day park hoppers + $625 in meals & souvenirs). $256 was for rental cars for our 11 days in Hawaii. $300 in transfers to/from the airport at home & in LA (those cost more than our rental cars). $300 for surf lessons. $450 for zip lining on Maui. Our most expensive meal was about $190 at Roy's (no cocktails, only iced tea that night). The remaining $2,400 was spent on meals & shopping, gasoline and tips for bell services & our excursions etc.

Because we had a rental car we were able to arrange everything we did on our own so we saved a lot that way and so our tab at Aulani really wasn't all that high (maybe $600-700). If you stay onsite without a car and rely on them for any excursions that you do you may spend more there. I felt like we were pretty moderate and somewhat frugal with what we did. I mean when you see $5,300 you may think HOLY COW but we DID save money by eating breakfasts and a couple of lunches "in" and we bought our own booze so we didn't run up big tabs at the resorts that way. I think I ordered MAYBE 2 drinks at Aulani - I made the rest myself thanks to our stash. We spent 5 days at Aulani doing practically nothing (and I brought our leftover booze & Diet Coke with us when we went from Oahu to Maui.) We ate all of our dinners out and most of our lunches. Also, that's for 3 people. You could say we spent an average of $375-380 pp per day. It is Hawaii. It is not cheap. Go with that in mind!! We were on a tropical vacation so I didn't want to eat the same things we eat at home. While we are not "foodie people" either I didn't WANT to eat spaghetti or a steak. I didn't want to eat at an Outback which I can do at home. I wanted to eat at new places and eat macadamia nut crusted this & that and mahi mahi and (good) fish tacos and fresh moon fish and a little sushi etc.