Hi! New to This Side of the Boards:)

[MotoWifey185]

Hello! I decided to come check out the Disneymoon side of the boards and get out a little bit of info and some opinions. This may be a little long but I am sure all of you brides and grooms can help me out.

Lately I've been feeling like our Disneyland honeymoon I've been planning just doesn't feel like it's going to be much more different and "special" than any other trip we've had there. It doesn't help that my family cringes at the idea of honeymooning there and complains how hot and crowded it will be and un-romantic for a honeymoon. I've been pricing it out, and the only way to make it feel like a special honeymoon is to get a park view room at GCH, which doesn't feel worth that money to me. Other than that we've had most of the restaraunts, and I can't think of much else that would make this trip stick out from all the rest.

My original dream honeymoon was to go to WDW. But after pricing that out and realizing I just can't take much time off school to go there, we decided good old Disneyland would be alright. I want to go to WDW when I'm done with school and can go for a longer time and be able to enjoy more of what they have to offer!

Here's my newest idea... My DF and I were just on the couch figuring out seating arrangements when I told him I just wish our honeymoon could be more exciting and unique. When I price it out, it's more expensive than usual, I know in September it will be pretty hot and it will definitely be crowded. I remembered the Aulani email I received and decided to check into that. It is surprisingly within our reach and totally feels more like that amazing honeymoon experience. We're normally ride junkies and don't like to spend much time relaxing, but I've noticed that this resort has a ton of amenities to chose from and we will have a blast. This feels too amazing to be even thinking about, but hey, it's my honeymoon!

I've signed up for the Disney Honeymoon registry for DL, so last night I just deleted all of that (I didn't have anything at that point), and added Aulani as our choice and picked out the cool things I would want. I just feel like there's a catch, the whole total seems so "cheap" for something that involves DISNEY and HAWAII all in one setting. Is there anything I should know? Has anyone else ever honeymooned there or plan on it?

Sorry so long! Thank you for reading

 

[lurkyloo]

Welcome!

I think the "catch" with Aulani is how much more expensive things like meals and car rentals are, plus all the little things that add up (like $35/day for parking, the 14% tax you have to add on the room price, and the prices for recreation and rentals like snorkeling gear, umbrellas, chaise lounges, etc.).

But you can cut these down with careful planning and/or by shopping/dining outside the resort. If you search the DIS for Aulani, people have already started to write up trip reports with lots of tips on saving money and pitfalls to avoid.

Congratulations!

 

[MotoWifey185]

Welcome!

I think the "catch" with Aulani is how much more expensive things like meals and car rentals are, plus all the little things that add up (like $35/day for parking, the 14% tax you have to add on the room price, and the prices for recreation and rentals like snorkeling gear, umbrellas, chaise lounges, etc.).

But you can cut these down with careful planning and/or by shopping/dining outside the resort. If you search the DIS for Aulani, people have already started to write up trip reports with lots of tips on saving money and pitfalls to avoid.

Congratulations!

Thank you! Yeah I always forget to include things like eating and activities haha. But I decided to register on Disney honeymoons so hopefully we'll get some to help out with the extra stuff. It's so exciting to think that we'll be going to Hawaii! Disneyland is soo fun but we've just been so many times that I am not sure it will feel like it stuck out at all. So I've been researching all kinds of things on here, there's not many, probably because it's so new, but it certainly helps!

I will have to check out some of your TR's too, it would be so amazing to go to Tokyo!

 

[lurkyloo]

I know what you mean: We considered doing a Disneyland wedding at first because we live so close, but I was so glad when a WDW wedding turned out to be cheaper—partly because, yeah, it seemed like a honeymoon at our "home" park would just be the same-old, same-old.

Happy planning!

 

[tric8783]

We went to aulani for 10 days for our honeymoon two weeks ago!! It was in one word, AMAZING!! We are DVC and got a one bedroom with a kitchen so we could cook and we spent a lot less than we thought we would. If you want further details feel free to message me! ) congrats!!

 

[MotoWifey185]

I know what you mean: We considered doing a Disneyland wedding at first because we live so close, but I was so glad when a WDW wedding turned out to be cheaper—partly because, yeah, it seemed like a honeymoon at our "home" park would just be the same-old, same-old.

Happy planning!

Exactly! Disneyland is great, but we'll just go sometime before or after the wedding to see Carsland. And a WDW wedding sounds like a dream! Glad to hear you got to experience that. I will definitely have to check out your reports once I'm done with school for the summer.

We went to aulani for 10 days for our honeymoon two weeks ago!! It was in one word, AMAZING!! We are DVC and got a one bedroom with a kitchen so we could cook and we spent a lot less than we thought we would. If you want further details feel free to message me! ) congrats!!

Congratulations!!!! How exciting! & I wish we were DVC owners! At first because the TR's for Aulani were all in the DVC threads I was thinking it was meant for DVC owners only. This isn't the case right?

I was thinking we could probably have groceries delivered to the hotel from the Target down the road (we don't plan on renting a car) and getting things like a 1/2 gallon of milk, cereal and oatmeal cups, fruit, mac and cheese cups, and only eating a few lunches and all of our dinners there. If we were big foodies I would definitely just eat there but we are planning on going a few of the "adventures" so I'd rather spend our money there. Did you do any of the tours while you were there?

Oh and where would I put the Aulani Trip Report when I start making it?

 

[tric8783]

Congratulations!!!! How exciting! & I wish we were DVC owners! At first because the TR's for Aulani were all in the DVC threads I was thinking it was meant for DVC owners only. This isn't the case right?

I was thinking we could probably have groceries delivered to the hotel from the Target down the road (we don't plan on renting a car) and getting things like a 1/2 gallon of milk, cereal and oatmeal cups, fruit, mac and cheese cups, and only eating a few lunches and all of our dinners there. If we were big foodies I would definitely just eat there but we are planning on going a few of the "adventures" so I'd rather spend our money there. Did you do any of the tours while you were there?

Oh and where would I put the Aulani Trip Report when I start making it?

I'm pretty sure you can read and write any Tr you want . I don't venture much from the weddings thread so I'm not really an expert on that

Honestly, I don't think Target will deliver to you. BUT, a taxi to Target during the day I think 9-4 or so, is only $10 each way. We didn't rent a car at all and were perfectly fine getting around it's only through Charley's Taxi so make sure you tell the valet you want to go to Target so they call you the correct cab. Anytime we wanted to know something, we'd ask the valet. Just walk out and ask, they are very nice and friendly. . There is also a grocery store in walking distance. We went there twice for milk, eggs, etc. obviously target is still less because it's a local place more than for tourists. But the grocery "ABC store" is cheaper thn the gift shop/marketplace. Because Aulani is DVC, they do sell groceries in the gift shop too, as well as fresh salads and sandwiches.

Big tip- call charleys taxi to get from the airport to Aulani. They have special deals with this company. The airport workers told us only Charley's is allowed t pick up at the airport, so we just walked out to the curb and got a cab. It cost us $85 and was not Charley's taxi. Later in the week we found out about the target deal with the taxi, so we asked about the airport again. Yep, flat per-negotiated rate for Aulani guests, $55. I know $30 isn't the end of the world, but $60 is a small dinner

Umbrellas are free now on the beach too, you just show your room key and pick a spot and they dig and put it up for you daily I'll get to aulani once I get to my honeymoon TR if you want to check back later It is awesome!!