Island Garden View or Ocean View?

[Drewski77]

We’ve only stayed in an Ocean View studio at Aulani but have an Island Garden view for an upcoming DVC stay in September.

Ocean View rooms have become available and we could switch for 42 extra points for our 7 nights.

Any thoughts on the drop off between Ocean View and the Island Garden view?

And, and chance we could upgrade to Ocean View at check-in if there is ample supply?

Thanks for any feedback!

 

[DRussell83]

I guess the question is will you be in your room enough to justify it? We did ocean view in November and it was amazing not going to lie and I loved sitting on the balcony with a drink at night listening to the music but during the day we weren’t there much - we are doing garden view this time because we didn’t have enough points with the 50% borrow rule and we are a little sad - I would say if you won’t miss the 42 points go for it ☺
Edited to add - I misread your post - so you have already stayed in an ocean view so you already know how amazing it is!

 

[helenk]

We just came back from Aulani and had a 2 bedroom Island view villa and the view was amazing. We were in the EWA building, 16th floor facing the lawn where the luau is held. It was room 1675, my daughter and her boyfriend were in an island view studio room 1673. We had a beautiful view of the ocean without using the points. This was my third stay at Aulani, my first trip I had an oceanview studio and then 2 stays with the 2 bedroom island view. I was very happy with the island view. If you request the Ewa Building, a high floor overlooking the lawn where they hold the luau you cant' go wrong.

 

[Paul Stupin]

I say go for ocean view! And regarding specific requests for particular island /garden view locations, there’s never a guarantee, and at least for me it’s rare that any request is ever honored.

 

[helenk]

I say go for ocean view! And regarding specific requests for particular island /garden view locations, there’s never a guarantee, and at least for me it’s rare that any request is ever honored.

The 2 times I requested the area in the Ewa building I got my request. But as you say it is not guaranteed .

 

[nkereina]

We had an "island garden view" and overlooked the courtyard to the conference center. It made the room a little darker since natural light was less, being on a lower floor. That said, OV would not be worth it to us because we're rarely in our room. If you wake up earlier than the others in your travel party, or go to bed later, or have kids that will go to bed early, then having that outdoor space to yourself is nice and I can see the benefit of ocean view in those cases. But we didn't have a need for it.

 

[kungaloosh22]

I've only stayed in an ocean view at Aulani, so can't compare. But given that your trip is in Sept I have 2 thoughts which might not normally apply. (You may already be considering these things, so sorry if I'm stating the obvious.)

• If there are more shut downs implemented, it's possible that you'll spend more time in your room than you normally would, e.g. cooking or eating take out food, or just a bit more time chilling or going at a slower pace because activities got cancelled at the last minute. So the nice view could be more appreciated than usual. Or it might just be a nice treat, for a trip that is otherwise not quite everything you'd planned for. Of course only you can say whether 42 points are worth that.
  
  
• On the other hand, if you're concerned about an increased chance of cancelling altogether, what would 42 extra holding points mean for your vacation plans?

 

[Drewski77]

I've only stayed in an ocean view at Aulani, so can't compare. But given that your trip is in Sept I have 2 thoughts which might not normally apply. (You may already be considering these things, so sorry if I'm stating the obvious.)

• If there are more shut downs implemented, it's possible that you'll spend more time in your room than you normally would, e.g. cooking or eating take out food, or just a bit more time chilling or going at a slower pace because activities got cancelled at the last minute. So the nice view could be more appreciated than usual. Or it might just be a nice treat, for a trip that is otherwise not quite everything you'd planned for. Of course only you can say whether 42 points are worth that.
  
  
• On the other hand, if you're concerned about an increased chance of cancelling altogether, what would 42 extra holding points mean for your vacation plans?

Good point on eating more in the room, we love the view with dinner!

 

[corgi_monster]

I'd gamble on the island garden view and request a high floor overlooking the luau.

We had an ocean view in June and it was on the 12th floor of the ewa wing overlooking the luau lawn. The room right below us was considered an island garden view and had essentially the same view, ocean and all.

 

[sanibel93]

Have a trip scheduled in January, 2 bedroom poolside garden view. Want to put in a room request to maybe be able to be on the side of the luau. Not sure how to put in a room request for that, when I go to my reservation and select the room location request all it shows is near lobby. Do I need to call or email them? If email what address do I send it too? Thanks.

 

[corgi_monster]

Have a trip scheduled in January, 2 bedroom poolside garden view. Want to put in a room request to maybe be able to be on the side of the luau. Not sure how to put in a room request for that, when I go to my reservation and select the room location request all it shows is near lobby. Do I need to call or email them? If email what address do I send it too? Thanks.

I don’t think any of the poolside rooms face the luau. Those rooms are on floors 1-5 facing Waikahole Valley. You’d have to reserve the island garden view or ocean view room to be overlooking Halawai lawn where the luau is.

 

[helenk]

Have a trip scheduled in January, 2 bedroom poolside garden view. Want to put in a room request to maybe be able to be on the side of the luau. Not sure how to put in a room request for that, when I go to my reservation and select the room location request all it shows is near lobby. Do I need to call or email them? If email what address do I send it too? Thanks.

Since the pool is not on that side of the building you would not get a poolside view room facing the luau.

 

[Lilsia]

If you have the points and want to spend them on it, then go for it. We get the Island garden view and request a high floor in the EWA building and have received a room overlooking the luau lawn that had an ocean view both times. But we really were not in our room enough to think that paying for an ocean view room is worth. But we save up our points and go for as long as we can. I rather stay longer and get a less of a "view" room, then use my points for a view.

 

[newdeal]

I have only been twice, both times in studios and once in each of the categories that you are considering. The ocean view was awesome, however it wasn't worth the extra points to me because we got an island garden view room that had a beautiful view of the ocean from the balcony. I would surely try to get that room again. We also overlooked the garden where the luau generally is held, although when we were there it was home to the American idol eliminations instead so I also got to watch those from my balcony (although I couldn't hear anything and could not really make out what was happening, we were too far up)

 

[Drewski77]

I have only been twice, both times in studios and once in each of the categories that you are considering. The ocean view was awesome, however it wasn't worth the extra points to me because we got an island garden view room that had a beautiful view of the ocean from the balcony. I would surely try to get that room again. We also overlooked the garden where the luau generally is held, although when we were there it was home to the American idol eliminations instead so I also got to watch those from my balcony (although I couldn't hear anything and could not really make out what was happening, we were too far up)

Thanks for this, and we are going with the Island View and try for the type of room you had.

We also took some of the points we are saving and booked an extra night which I think we’ll really enjoy!

 

[Drewski77]

A previous post had a great idea of doing the Ocean View in case we had to spend more time in the room and ordering take-out if the Covid situation got worse.

We went ahead and switched to the Ocean View so if we can’t eat out we can enjoy awesome ocean views from the balcony.

Obviously there are more important things happening right now, but we still hope to have a great time at Aulani whether or not everything stays open.

 

[LisaDKG]

I too just switched from Island View to Ocean View and am going back and forth over the decision. We have had OV 3 times with views of the sunset and IV twice with views of nothing and watching a sunset from your balcony is hard to beat. It seems like it will be less busy with lots of availability showing on the DVC website so there is more chance for getting a good request if we stayed IV but I don't want to risk it. The days we are at Aulani are not our exploring the island days so I anticipate we might spend a decent amount of time in our room

 

[CaptainAmerica]

If anyone is paying with points and cares about the "best bang for your point" angle, Standard View rooms are the best use of points in terms of dollars-of-rack-rate-value-per-point. Ocean View and Island Garden View are usually comparable. Poolside Garden View is the "worst" use of points.

 

[Drewski77]

Just arrived yesterday and not a lot of people here compared to February. Awesome Ocean View room, decided to spend the points on it.

Got a refreshed room on 16th floor of EWA Tower, very happy we still made the trip out

 

[Drewski77]

If anyone is paying with points and cares about the "best bang for your point" angle, Standard View rooms are the best use of points in terms of dollars-of-rack-rate-value-per-point. Ocean View and Island Garden View are usually comparable. Poolside Garden View is the "worst" use of points.

Right now with a lot of availability you can most likely get the room request you most want.

We paid up for an ocean view and got the request we wanted, probably would be the same with Island Gardens.