Honeymoon Help!

shoegal9

Living my best DVC lyfe
Joined
Aug 16, 2018
Messages
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We just booked our Aulani honeymoon following our Disney wedding at the Polynesian in March 2022. I have been all around the world many times... but never to Hawaii. Is a car rental necessary for the entire stay? We are DVC and will be there for 8 nights before heading to Maui for a few days.

Also- how far in advance do things like the Luau need to be reserved?

Any other tips would be greatly appreciated. I plan to spend quite a bit of time digging through these boards now that we are finally booked!
 
We just booked our Aulani honeymoon following our Disney wedding at the Polynesian in March 2022. I have been all around the world many times... but never to Hawaii. Is a car rental necessary for the entire stay? We are DVC and will be there for 8 nights before heading to Maui for a few days.

Also- how far in advance do things like the Luau need to be reserved?

Any other tips would be greatly appreciated. I plan to spend quite a bit of time digging through these boards now that we are finally booked!

i suggest that for the Luau, you book as soon as your dates are available. It is a popular show and with Covid, less seating is available.
 
i suggest that for the Luau, you book as soon as your dates are available. It is a popular show and with Covid, less seating is available.

I just went on the site and you can only book through February. Is it a 6 month booking window?
 
We just booked our Aulani honeymoon following our Disney wedding at the Polynesian in March 2022. I have been all around the world many times... but never to Hawaii. Is a car rental necessary for the entire stay? We are DVC and will be there for 8 nights before heading to Maui for a few days.

Also- how far in advance do things like the Luau need to be reserved?

Any other tips would be greatly appreciated. I plan to spend quite a bit of time digging through these boards now that we are finally booked!

I would say yes that I rental car is needed for the entire stay. Even if we do a beach day at the resort (Marriott next door for us), we will still drive somewhere for dinner or shopping in the evening.

Start checking car prices now and if they are reasonable, book it. Then keep checking and if you find a better price, book that and then cancel the first reservation. Costco is a great place to find lower prices.
 

Is a car rental necessary for the entire stay?
IMO, yes. Parking will be free assuming you're using your DVC points.

We also honeymooned in Hawaii. We spent 6 nights at Aulani, 3 nights on Maui, and also spent time in Waikiki and Kauai. We had a car during our Aulani portion and during our Kauai portion, and both came in handy. We opted not to have a car in Maui due to the plans we had there (we were able to utilize the hotel shuttle), but I would get a car next time if we visited Maui again.

At Aulani, keep in mind that there's very few things in walking distance and everything outside of Ko Olina is only accessible via highway. Uber is not always reliable in that area either. If you want to experience Oahu, you'll want the flexibility to actually see the island and get out of the curated tourist community of Ko Olina.

how far in advance do things like the Luau need to be reserved?
I would start planning now and get a sense of what you want to do, and book as early as possible. We started planning in November for the following September, and booked as early as we could. Certain things have logistics to consider - i.e. Diamond Head is best done early, Pearl Harbor needs a full day if you're not able to secure an advanced tour time (a full day because you won't know your tour time until day of, not because it takes a full day to tour it), Kualoa Ranch tours have limited capacity and sometimes are only offered once per day or a few times a week, etc.

For the luau, I would suggest looking at the ones on Maui, depending on where you're staying there. The two in Lahaina (Old Lahaina Luau and Feast at Lele) are two of the highest rated luaus in Hawaii. We did the Feast at Lele and loved it. I think we booked that about 6 months in advance, and they assigned tables based on the order you book in. Because we were one of the first to book, our table was front and center.
 
IMO, yes. Parking will be free assuming you're using your DVC points.

We also honeymooned in Hawaii. We spent 6 nights at Aulani, 3 nights on Maui, and also spent time in Waikiki and Kauai. We had a car during our Aulani portion and during our Kauai portion, and both came in handy. We opted not to have a car in Maui due to the plans we had there (we were able to utilize the hotel shuttle), but I would get a car next time if we visited Maui again.

At Aulani, keep in mind that there's very few things in walking distance and everything outside of Ko Olina is only accessible via highway. Uber is not always reliable in that area either. If you want to experience Oahu, you'll want the flexibility to actually see the island and get out of the curated tourist community of Ko Olina.


I would start planning now and get a sense of what you want to do, and book as early as possible. We started planning in November for the following September, and booked as early as we could. Certain things have logistics to consider - i.e. Diamond Head is best done early, Pearl Harbor needs a full day if you're not able to secure an advanced tour time (a full day because you won't know your tour time until day of, not because it takes a full day to tour it), Kualoa Ranch tours have limited capacity and sometimes are only offered once per day or a few times a week, etc.

For the luau, I would suggest looking at the ones on Maui, depending on where you're staying there. The two in Lahaina (Old Lahaina Luau and Feast at Lele) are two of the highest rated luaus in Hawaii. We did the Feast at Lele and loved it. I think we booked that about 6 months in advance, and they assigned tables based on the order you book in. Because we were one of the first to book, our table was front and center.

Thank you so much! I will look into the Maui luau for sure. We are staying in Lahaina so that should be convenient.
 
I would say yes to the car.
Book luao and cabana/executive lanai asap
Happy planning
 
You need a car. Aulani is in a secluded, private area with only a few shops within walking distance. If you want to do anything on the Island(and you do, trust me), then you most definitely need a car to get around. Uber and Lyft are unreliable and expensive and people have posted that they have been stranded out and about because they could not get a ride back. I highly recommend planning your trip with a mindset that you are going to Hawaii, and not Aulani. Figure out what you want to do and see while there, and plan your days from that. Have fun.
 












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