How important is the view?

[Suzabella]

Of all the places we've visited, Hawaii was the one where the view mattered least. We were in the room less than we usually are at WDW. IMHO, go for the 2 bedroom.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I feel like everyone is completely glossing over the obvious compromise. Downgrade to the 1BR *and* skip the ocean view. That'll save enough points for an entire additional week at WDW.

 

[PoohBearFamily]

I am going to jump in here and say I don't have any advice, but I'm really struggling with this decision as well on views. With our family of six, flying from mainland is a huge cost for us, so at the price we could afford 7 nights in the ocean-view 1 bedroom, we could stay about 10 nights in a garden-view 1 bedroom. I'm struggling to justify the flight cost for just 1 week.

I wonder especially since my little kids are so busy/active, the oceanview may not be as important, as they will want to go down to the beach all the time anyway I'm sure and we'll see the ocean there obviously. Does anyone think we'll regret this decision to go with garden view and stay longer? We have never been to Hawai'i.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I am going to jump in here and say I don't have any advice, but I'm really struggling with this decision as well on views. With our family of six, flying from mainland is a huge cost for us, so at the price we could afford 7 nights in the ocean-view 1 bedroom, we could stay about 10 nights in a garden-view 1 bedroom. I'm struggling to justify the flight cost for just 1 week.

I wonder especially since my little kids are so busy/active, the oceanview may not be as important, as they will want to go down to the beach all the time anyway I'm sure and we'll see the ocean there obviously. Does anyone think we'll regret this decision to go with garden view and stay longer? We have never been to Hawai'i.

Are you DVC or cash?

A one bedroom villa is going to be extremely tight for a party of 6, regardless of view. I'd look into two studios or two standard hotel rooms.

I personally don't think you need 10 nights in Hawaii unless you were going to do island-hopping. On our last trip we did 7 nights in Oahu and felt like one more night would have been perfect, so our next trip will be 8.

 

[HIRyeDVC]

There’s a good reason why ocean view rooms are the most available at Aulani. They cost a lot of points and it’s the most they have in their inventory. Views can be a huge hit or miss at Aulani. A high floor rooms have amazing views of the lagoon but some have views completely obstructed by palm trees. What’s more important for me is which tower you’re in. Views from the Ewa tower is better in the early morning if you are a morning balcony coffee drinker as the Makai tower will put you in right in the sun from early morning. Ewa side also faces the sunset. I would definitely opt out for the 2BR. They are HUGE!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

There’s a good reason why ocean view rooms are the most available at Aulani. They cost a lot of points and it’s the most they have in their inventory. Views can be a huge hit or miss at Aulani. A high floor rooms have amazing views of the lagoon but some have views completely obstructed by palm trees. What’s more important for me is which tower you’re in. Views from the Ewa tower is better in the early morning if you are a morning balcony coffee drinker as the Makai tower will put you in right in the sun from early morning. Ewa side also faces the sunset. I would definitely opt out for the 2BR. They are HUGE!

There are no "completely obstructed by palm trees" views that are categorized as Ocean View. The 6th floor is the lowest Ocean View.

 

[HIRyeDVC]

There are no "completely obstructed by palm trees" views that are categorized as Ocean View.

There are a few on the 7th floor and below, not completely but definitely obstructed not worth paying all those points for

 

[PoohBearFamily]

Are you DVC or cash?

A one bedroom villa is going to be extremely tight for a party of 6, regardless of view. I'd look into two studios or two standard hotel rooms.

I personally don't think you need 10 nights in Hawaii unless you were going to do island-hopping. On our last trip we did 7 nights in Oahu and felt like one more night would have been perfect, so our next trip will be 8.

Cash this time, we may try renting DVC pts in the future, but for this trip we need the flexibility of refund/changing dates this time.

Our kids are all little (one infant, one toddler, two kids 5-6 yrs) so from the vlogs I've seen the 1 bedroom would be fine for us. Would 8-9 full days be crazy for just staying on Oahu? We hoped for the 8 full days to be two resort days, four excursion days (rental car for these days), and end with two resort days. Or something like that. Shaving off an excursion and at least one resort day if we splurged on an Oceanview.

 

[PoohBearFamily]

There’s a good reason why ocean view rooms are the most available at Aulani. They cost a lot of points and it’s the most they have in their inventory. Views can be a huge hit or miss at Aulani. A high floor rooms have amazing views of the lagoon but some have views completely obstructed by palm trees. What’s more important for me is which tower you’re in. Views from the Ewa tower is better in the early morning if you are a morning balcony coffee drinker as the Makai tower will put you in right in the sun from early morning. Ewa side also faces the sunset. I would definitely opt out for the 2BR. They are HUGE!

Do you have any tips on a tower/side of the resort, for a garden view 1 bedroom? We'd like to be higher up probably.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Cash this time, we may try renting DVC pts in the future, but for this trip we need the flexibility of refund/changing dates this time.

Our kids are all little (one infant, one toddler, two kids 5-6 yrs) so from the vlogs I've seen the 1 bedroom would be fine for us. Would 8-9 full days be crazy for just staying on Oahu? We hoped for the 8 full days to be two resort days, four excursion days (rental car for these days), and end with two resort days. Or something like that. Shaving off an excursion and at least one resort day if we splurged on an Oceanview.

My family gets extremely bored with *entire* resort days, so I'd personally recommend one or two resort days, and six or seven activity-in-the-morning-and-resort-in-the-afternoon days. Keep in mind that the time change is a huge adjustment for kids in particular, so you're going to be waking up EARLY, especially in the beginning of the trip. You'll probably be able to "rope drop" a dawn hike without even trying.

Do you have any tips on a tower/side of the resort, for a garden view 1 bedroom? We'd like to be higher up probably.

I assume you mean Island Garden, not Poolside Garden? Poolside Garden is a crummy value IMO, and if you're going to pay for that you might as well just go Ocean. Check this thread out, it's the Aulani View Bible.

Aulani Villas & Views -- Updated 03/21/2017 | The DIS Disney Discussion Forums - DISboards.com

 

[HIRyeDVC]

Do you have any tips on a tower/side of the resort, for a garden view 1 bedroom? We'd like to be higher up probably.

Definitely EWA side, rooms facing the luau garden for a free show!

 

[PoohBearFamily]

My family gets extremely bored with *entire* resort days, so I'd personally recommend one or two resort days, and six or seven activity-in-the-morning-and-resort-in-the-afternoon days. Keep in mind that the time change is a huge adjustment for kids in particular, so you're going to be waking up EARLY, especially in the beginning of the trip. You'll probably be able to "rope drop" a dawn hike without even trying.


I assume you mean Island Garden, not Poolside Garden? Poolside Garden is a crummy value IMO, and if you're going to pay for that you might as well just go Ocean. Check this thread out, it's the Aulani View Bible.

Aulani Villas & Views -- Updated 03/21/2017 | The DIS Disney Discussion Forums - DISboards.com

Thanks for the tip about resort days. I like the split day idea of afternoon in the resort! Are there any entertainment in the evenings at Aulani, like live music, dancing, shows? Or just the paid luau?

I do mean the island garden view, I'll have to check out that thread thank you!!

 

[PoohBearFamily]

Definitely EWA side, rooms facing the luau garden for a free show!

Ok great- I'll see if my agent can request that! Thank you

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Thanks for the tip about resort days. I like the split day idea of afternoon in the resort! Are there any entertainment in the evenings at Aulani, like live music, dancing, shows? Or just the paid luau?

Off the top of my head, usually at least 3 or 4 things in the evenings. Live music in the Olelo Room, which is the outdoor "bar" but 100% kid friendly. The Pua Hana room is their activity center and offers different activities, both paid and free. I think the paid activities tend to be fairly priced. Then there's Uncle, who is a campfire storyteller. The Menehune adventure trail is an app-based scavenger hunt that unlocks different "magical" happenings around the resort. It's different at night and in the day time so it's worth doing at least twice. Then a lot of nights, there's a second musical act somewhere around the lagoon in addition to whoever's in the Olelo Room that night.

 

[PoohBearFamily]

Off the top of my head, usually at least 3 or 4 things in the evenings. Live music in the Olelo Room, which is the outdoor "bar" but 100% kid friendly. The Pua Hana room is their activity center and offers different activities, both paid and free. I think the paid activities tend to be fairly priced. Then there's Uncle, who is a campfire storyteller. The Menehune adventure trail is an app-based scavenger hunt that unlocks different "magical" happenings around the resort. It's different at night and in the day time so it's worth doing at least twice. Then a lot of nights, there's a second musical act somewhere around the lagoon in addition to whoever's in the Olelo Room that night.

Wow that's great, sounds like alot of fun. Thank you!

 

[HIRyeDVC]

Wow that's great, sounds like alot of fun. Thank you!

You could also walk across the street to Monkey Pod restaurant. Usually has live music

 

[CaptainAmerica]

You could also walk across the street to Monkey Pod restaurant. Usually has live music

Really good happy hour specials too.

 

[PoohBearFamily]

You could also walk across the street to Monkey Pod restaurant. Usually has live music

Awesome thanks for the tip!

 

[mort1331]

Thanks all,,,my girls are , or will be, 11,15. I sure we will go with the extra room instead of view. But try island view high up ewa tower.

 

[3kidz4dis]

We went through a similar scenerio when we were trying to decide for our 2020 trip that never happened. (hopefully 2022). for us, the points worked out perfectly by doing the first night in a 1 bedroom and the rest in a 2 bedroom ocean view. Even though it seemed liked a pain to move after the first night, the points worked