It All Started with a Massive Price Glitch - Aulani Nov. 2014 PTR ~ Updated 12/6 - TR

[Dugette]

When your not-quite-2-year-old’s bedtime protests start including cries of, “I want go Hawaii!!!”, you might need to start an Aulani pre-trip report. So, here I am. True story.

I am not new to trip reporting, not new to Disney, and not new to travelling with a toddler. However, I am new to Hawaii, to renting DVC points, and to flying First Class. These are good things to be doing for the first time, though.

So, if you don’t already know me, you must be wondering what kind of people fly First Class with their two-year-old to Aulani for 9 nights. For me, that conjures up images of a family with a really sweet income and fancy-schmancy tastes, living “the life”. However, in reality, it’s the family in the townhome with average jobs and two 100k+ mile cars that uses every coupon and discount available on their groceries and enjoys staying at Pop Century (but only at a discount, of course!). So, what happened? Was there a “big winter blowout” on dream trips to Hawaii? Well, yeah, kind-of.

Before we go any further, though, some quick intros! I am “Dugette” and my husband of nearly 9 years is “Dug”. We both love to travel and enjoyed multiple trips to Disney World together before we were blessed with our amazing daughter in September 2012. Her name is Izzy and she is now an accomplished traveler herself. She has been to WDW twice (going on three times!), Oregon once, and NYC once. And a few road trips to our next-door state of Wisconsin to round things out. This trip will actually be her 6th round-trip flight in the last year! Never intended for that to happen, but with a couple bargain WDW trips, an unexpected funeral, and a short-notice wedding, she’s racked up a lot of flying experience. None of us has ever been to Hawaii, though, so this is a whole new ballgame for our family. Here we are in New York in April (Izzy was the flower girl in Dug’s brother’s wedding):



I have been working on a “touring plan” for Hawaii, but have not finished our must-do list quite yet. I have been pouring through the Aulani threads and trip reports and making all sorts of notes. I have yet to organize those notes and come up with a plan I feel good about, though. Hoping to do that throughout this report. And I would LOVE any advice from those who may have made this journey before us. Please chime in and help plan this dream trip!

Chapters
The Massive Price Glitch
Room Without a View
We Get Around - Transportation
The Preliminary Must-Do List
Putting Together a Schedule
Take Two
A Bit More Time Together
1 Month From Today - Fri. 11/7
1 Month From Today - Sat. 11/8
1 Month From Today - Sun. 11/9
1 Month From Today - Mon. 11/10
1 Month From Today - Tues. 11/11
1 Month From Today - Weds. 11/12
1 Month From Today - Thurs. 11/13
1 Month From Today - Fri. 11/14
1 Month From Today - Sat. 11/15
1 Month From Today - Sun. 11/16
Clothes & Stuff
Timing
Tomorrow!
Aloha from Aulani!
We're Home
Slideshow

Aulani Trip Report Started!!!

For those interested in our August WDW Trip, I'm currently writing this too:
August Trip Report Started!!!


*I have totally ripped off this PTR title from one of my favorite past WDW TRs – A&Bmama’s “It all started with a whopping price error…” (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2366773). I don’t think A&Bmama has been around these parts in quite a while, but if you’re out there lurking, thanks for coming up with all of my good ideas for me!

 

[Dugette]

For anyone new to my reports or just needing a refresher, this is what I posted on my current WDW trip report about my experience on the day after Christmas, 2013:

On Christmas Day, Dug's parents had been talking about how they'd like to go to Hawaii for their 40th anniversary (December 2014) and how great it would be if any of the kids could make the trip to celebrate with them. So, during my break at work on Thursday morning, I decided to look up how much airfare to Hawaii was, since I really had no idea and the cruise they wanted to take while there was already too much for our budget. I threw the info into yahoo travel to just get a general idea. December wasn't available yet, so I tried October. And the listing for Delta was about $120 (the rest were $500+). I did a double-take. That couldn't be right.

I went to Delta's website and plugged the info in. Yes, same crazy low rate! Tried November 2014...even lower - less than $100 round trip! No way!

I got Dug on the phone and he got his parents and sister on the phone, trying to coordinate things, in case this was actually something that we could get. I pulled up the dates in November that worked best for us and found that it was only about $3 or so more per person to get first class fully refundable tickets. Hey, why not? Got everything ready to go on my computer - just had to hit submit. Waited for his family to say those dates were okay, then pulled the trigger, since I didn't want to wait a second longer than I had to. Decent fares always disappear on me before I can book them, after all. And I had nothing to lose on this fully refundable crazy deal anyway. I fully expected to get some kind of error message, but....I got a confirmation! No joke, we have three first class tickets to Honolulu, Hawaii for $212 TOTAL ($70/each). First Class, no less! I am still pretty much in disbelief about this.

However, when Dug's family tried to book, the rates shot up over $1000, I believe. We must have just made the window of Delta's error. Whew. However, his sister was able to get on Google Flights (didn't even know that existed!) and get an alternate trip that was still showing for cheap. So, Dug's parents, sister, and BIL are going one month from now (his dad really needed a getaway this winter), to Maui, for $55/each round trip (coach).

So, after all that fun, we were all pretty much holding our breath and expecting a call or email from Delta telling us that this was, indeed, too good to be true. Well, after a little time had passed, the news articles started popping up on the internet about Delta's website glitch...and Delta was saying they WOULD honor the erroneous fares! WOW!!!!!!!

So, um, we're taking an unplanned trip to Hawaii next November. Izzy (who will be 25.5 months at the time) will get her very own seat in First Class! Ha! I still can't really wrap my brain around this. I feel like I've won some very odd contest or something. Just amazing, but a little unreal.

 

[Girimama33]

What a great way to kick off the trip!
We had our first trip to Aulani in July 2014. It was amazing! Going back for a few days in March 2015. Can't wait!

 

[schmass]

Amazing deal!!!

We had planned on going to Aulani last spring, and I had a price alert set for airfare to Hawaii, that I never cancelled. I remember getting the alert with those fares and thinking it was an error, so I didn't even check. Then I saw the news and was kicking myself for missing out! I'm glad you got to take advantage!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

you know I am joining! Still think it is so great that you got the deal and that it is for a nice family vacation ... sometimes thing happen for a reason!

 

[Jennifer48]

I remember seeing that story on the news, Delta's pricing glitch. So cool that you got it!

We went to Aulani last September for 10 days. I'll be happy to help in your planning!

 

[AprilRenee]

I'm here

 

[Leshaface]

I'm here and can't wait for this adventure to begin! Still cannot believe the price. Absolutely nuts!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Total SCORE on the airline tickets!

 

[Imagineer5]

Joining! Great start, can't wait to see some of your plans!

 

[Dugette]

What a great way to kick off the trip!
We had our first trip to Aulani in July 2014. It was amazing! Going back for a few days in March 2015. Can't wait!

So glad to hear you had an amazing trip. I keep hearing about how people want to go back, as you are. I'm worried, given that it's going to cost us A LOT more if we go again. Thank you for the answers to my questions in that other thread too, very helpful!

Amazing deal!!!

We had planned on going to Aulani last spring, and I had a price alert set for airfare to Hawaii, that I never cancelled. I remember getting the alert with those fares and thinking it was an error, so I didn't even check. Then I saw the news and was kicking myself for missing out! I'm glad you got to take advantage!

Oh, no! So close to a dream trip! I know what you mean about kicking yourself, though - I can't tell you how many people have been like, "Why didn't you get tickets for your extended family?" "Why didn't you get a ticket for me?" (random co-worker) "Why didn't you book more than one trip?" Etc. Hindsight is 20/20, I guess, but in that moment, all we knew is that we had a good deal on what we wanted and really didn't believe it would work. So happy it did!

you know I am joining! Still think it is so great that you got the deal and that it is for a nice family vacation ... sometimes thing happen for a reason!

Thanks! We really need a relaxing vacation like this, I think.

I remember seeing that story on the news, Delta's pricing glitch. So cool that you got it!

We went to Aulani last September for 10 days. I'll be happy to help in your planning!

Another Aulani veteran, yay! Did you have a great time?

I'm here

Yay! Glad you're here.

I'm here and can't wait for this adventure to begin! Still cannot believe the price. Absolutely nuts!

It is totally crazy! I can't believe it still and it's been 8 months!

Total SCORE on the airline tickets!

Yay, thanks for coming over! I know I've said it before, but your TR has been so helpful! I knew you'd appreciate the deals we got!

Joining! Great start, can't wait to see some of your plans!

Yay, thanks for making it over! I've got a couple preliminary updates written, just need to post them. Then hoping to get more into the agenda-planning!

 

[lablady]

Lucky you! How long are the flights? I would imagine they are about the same as when we fly to Orlando. It'll be much more pleasant in first class!

You'll love Aulani! We've been there twice and had to book another trip pretty much as soon as we got back. It's my first time renting points and I was shocked at how much cheaper it was, even with all the specials going on. We got a ocean view for $800 dollars less than our pool view that we had on our last trip in March. We'll be there at the end of October...can't wait!

I can't wait to see what plans you come up with! As you'll probably find out, once you are there it is easy to just stay put and enjoy the resort. We ventured out much more on our last trip than we did on our first. I would strongly suggest renting a car. I know that some people just rent a day here or there from the on-site Alamo, but I found that it would end up costing me more than just renting the whole 8 days from the Alamo near the airport. Just a suggestion. It's great to be able to come and go.

 

[Dugette]

Lucky you! How long are the flights? I would imagine they are about the same as when we fly to Orlando. It'll be much more pleasant in first class!

Yay, another Aulani veteran! Flights look to be a nearly 4-hour first leg and a nearly 6 hour second leg, a bit shorter version of those on the way back. I am so looking forward to the First Class - if we're only going to do it once, a super-long flight with a toddler seems like a good time to do it!

You'll love Aulani! We've been there twice and had to book another trip pretty much as soon as we got back. It's my first time renting points and I was shocked at how much cheaper it was, even with all the specials going on. We got a ocean view for $800 dollars less than our pool view that we had on our last trip in March. We'll be there at the end of October...can't wait!

Great to hear another Aulani endorsement! We rented points and I wouldn't do it any other way for Aulani, such a great deal! (I wrote up a post on that, but still need to get it on here). Oooh, you'll be right before us - have a great trip!

I can't wait to see what plans you come up with! As you'll probably find out, once you are there it is easy to just stay put and enjoy the resort. We ventured out much more on our last trip than we did on our first. I would strongly suggest renting a car. I know that some people just rent a day here or there from the on-site Alamo, but I found that it would end up costing me more than just renting the whole 8 days from the Alamo near the airport. Just a suggestion. It's great to be able to come and go.

Yep, we've got a car rental reserved, as we want to see as much off-property stuff as possible (have another post coming on that). I think the hard part for us is going to be not over-scheduling because I want to have plenty of time to relax and enjoy all that the resort has to offer, but I'm not very good at leaving "down time" on vacation schedules (well, neither is Dug, so it's tough). But I know it's amazing and I want to live on that lazy river!

 

[Dugette]

I hope this report doesn’t come across as bragging. Trust me, it’s more just total incredulousness that any of this is “real life”. Hope it comes across that way. Continuing the story of how this trip came to be…

Once we had our super-bargain flights booked, we turned our sights to filling those 9 days and nights in Hawaii. We had booked the dates/length of trip because we were planning around the cruise schedule for the Hawaiian Island cruise on Norwegian. Dug’s parents and sister and brother-in-law had done this cruise on their previous trip and loved it and wanted to do it again, so we lined up our dates to make sure it would be possible to do it with them. However, as you just read, they couldn’t book our dates and already took a trip to Maui instead, last winter (and who can blame them – last winter in MN was awful!)

We looked into doing the cruise anyway, just us. However, it was just so expensive! Over $4000 for us and Izzy. There are no “child” fares like on Disney Cruise Line – she was the same fare as a third adult (which is still less than the first two adults, but substantial). Add on to that $4k any costs for excursions and rental cars on the various islands (like Dug’s family had done before) and it was getting pretty spendy. Especially because this was not a trip we had planned or budgeted in the first place. We had originally thought we’d go to WDW again late this year and try to do a Disney cruise along with it, but dropped that for the Hawaii trip (and are tentatively planning the Disney land-and-sea for May 2015 now). So, we had some budget to work with, but not the type we’d need to do the cruise. We don’t generally drop a ton of money on WDW trips, after all.

So, we decided to just find a place to stay on Oahu for the whole time. Many people have suggested/strongly recommended island-hopping by plane. And I understand that and know there are great things to see on the other islands. And everyone always says how “cheap” these island-to-island flights are. Well, sure they’re cheap compared to $1000 fares from the mainland to Hawaii. But, due to our deal, they are MORE than we paid for our main flight. And, again, had we planned and budgeted for this trip with “normal” airfare, then got the airfare deal, it would have made sense to use that savings for island-hopping. But that’s not how it happened. Instead of planning for $3000 in airfare and paying $212, we planned for $0 in airfare and paid $212. So, point is, no island hopping. We’d like to go back someday – when we actually do have a sufficient budget – and see the other islands, but this trip is our chance to really explore Oahu.

Just to break up the monotony of the text-heavy update, here's a picture of Izzy wearing a lei from the Polynesian:



So, once that decision was made, we had to find somewhere to call home on Oahu. Naturally, being the Disney fans we are, our first thought was Aulani. However, after looking into prices, we realized it was something akin to paying that cruise fare. We decided to look at other options and maybe keep in mind that a night or two at Aulani might be do-able, if we stayed cheaper the rest of the trip.

Dug had a co-worker with access to timeshares on Oahu, so we looked into those. We looked into the chain hotels that were not on the water. We felt like we had some options. We thought we could get something acceptable for $1000-$1500 for the week, then maybe we could manage Aulani for the other two nights. We didn’t want to go much over $2k for our lodging for the 9 nights.

However, I still kept crunching those Aulani numbers, hoping for some magic. It was far too early for discounts to be available (11 months out), so I researched past discounts and determined that the largest possible discount was 30%. (I was right, WDW Annual Passholders – like me! – can get 30% off at Aulani right now. The next best offer is buy 3 nights, get the 4th free. I don’t think they can be used together, though ). I used the 30% off as a base, then figured my true cost if I paid with WDW Gift Cards purchased at a discount from Target. I think, best case scenario, it came out around $2600 or so. Of course, that was before Target took away Team Member and Pharmacy Rewards discounts on WDW Gift Cards. Now it’s only the 5% Red Card discount. Still something, but a big difference. That would be for a standard hotel room or standard Studio (about the same price). We would still have to pay another $35/night for parking on top of that, though.

So, I decided to crunch some numbers on renting DVC points. I knew it was common, but I had never looked into it before, as I was always able to get really good deals at the WDW hotels. But Aulani is a different animal than a WDW resort. And renting points actually was coming out to be a very favorable financial option. Through the major point rental companies, it would be about $2400 to get a Standard View Studio for all 9 nights. And free parking. Not bad vs. our other options. We discussed things and decided to give the point rental a try, as we were just past the 11-month mark that allows Aulani’s DVC owners to book their stays.

My research came up with two major point-rental companies. One required a deposit to check availability and one didn’t, so I contacted the free one first (same price, either place). They responded that they did not have owners with the Aulani point availability to book at the 11-month mark, but would be happy to help me at the 7-month mark (when all home resorts can book Aulani). I knew that Standard View Studios filled quickly and was worried we’d be out of luck. I told them to check back with me at 7 months, though. I then contacted the second company. Same result, except that they held the deposit until I either booked or cancelled (they agreed to refund it anytime).

At this point, we’d basically given up hope of staying at Aulani. Anything more than a Standard View Studio would be cost-prohibitive for us and the odds of having one available at 7 months out were not very good. But, like a good little lurker, I decided to obsessively stalk the DVC point rental boards (here on the DIS and on another board) for Aulani owners. There were not many of them, which is why I’d tried the point-rental companies first, and they often charged more than the WDW resort owners. I stalked and stalked until I found someone (on the non-DIS board!) that said they had 30 points for Aulani to rent (and a bunch more at Animal Kingdom Villas). I emailed her to see if she’d be able to make our Aulani reservation with what she had. We had to go back-and-forth a number of times to clarify, but it turned out she actually had plenty of Aulani points to do it, but just didn’t advertise them because she thought the AKV points would sell quicker. So, she was happy to make the reservation for me. And the Standard View Studio was still an option, so she booked it for us. Our total was $2063, so we saved over $300 vs. the point-rental companies and she was fantastic and easy to work with. (I will say that I was a bit worried about sending a large check to a complete stranger, so I did my internet research on her – including finding youtube videos of her kids playing in WDW pools – to make sure she seemed legitimate). She also provided a very nice and fair contract for our reservation, by the way. As a side note, we did get travel insurance because you cannot generally cancel a DVC point rental the way you can a WDW room-only reservation. It was fairly cheap, though. In general, I could not have asked for a better rental experience.



But, wait, it DOES get better!!!

Here’s what I posted over on my WDW TR the other day:

So, I made the final payment on our DVC point rental last week. We already had a great deal (a couple dollars less per point than the point-rental companies). But, over the weekend, I found myself browsing for Aulani information on the DIS and found a SPECIAL DEAL! A promotion had been announced for this fall (including our dates) that allowed DVC members to book 7 nights for only 5 nights worth of points! Wait, what?!?

My first thought was to see if we could get any money back. But then I read the fine print and saw that the offer was not valid for Standard View villas, which is what we had reserved (Standard View Studio). However, I pulled up the points charts and did some math and realized that we could upgrade to either of the next-higher views (Island Garden or Pool View) for fewer points than we were already renting, thanks to the deal. I also figured out that the ultimate – an ocean view – would be less than $150 more than we’d paid. So, I emailed our DVC person and asked if she could call and check if there were any upgraded views available for our Studio. I told her she could keep the extra points (and our full payment) for her trouble or that we’d pay her $150 if it ended up being Ocean View. She was more than willing to do so and said she’d try for Ocean View for us.

We got a bit excited while we waited to hear back. This trip is already a complete fantasy. I mean, who flies First Class to Hawaii for under $100/each anyway?! And now, there was a possibility of having an amazing view from our balcony at a $500/night resort that we were paying less than half of that for?!

Well, good news and bad news. But really all good news. We heard back from our awesome DVC person and she had found out that there were NO upgrades available for our dates – all of the Studios were gone. Boo, so sad. However, because there were no upgrades, they made an exception to their fine print and gave us the deal on our Standard View. So, two nights worth of points were refunded. And our super awesome person said that she would send that refund back to us. So, we’re getting $456 back, thanks to the DIS!! That’s $50/day extra for our whole trip!

So, we’ll still have a Standard View, but we’ll have some extra money in our travel budget, which we desperately need right now, as you know if you’ve been counting the short-notice trips we’ve taken (especially Oregon and NYC). Not to mention all of the other money we’ve spent unexpectedly lately on things like plumbing, cars, and pet care. Life is expensive! Anyway, so this refund is a welcome thing. And we were already mentally prepared for a view of a parking garage or convention center roof, so we’ll be fine. Yes, an Ocean View may be nice, but we’re in Hawaii and steps away from the ocean, regardless of which room we sleep in and that’s enough for us!

So, in case you like numbers, our 9 nights at Aulani and our First Class airfare combined are $1819. I’d like to see someone beat that deal, ha!

 

[Leshaface]

Seriously, you guys were totally MADE to take this trip! Everything is working out fabulously in your favor. Wouldn't it be crazy if you showed up and they upgraded to a view room because all the standards were booked up?! That would be insane!

 

[AprilRenee]

Haha I was just thinking the same as the Leshaface! How funny if you got upgraded at check in! And I just still can't believe your deal! It's just so insane!

 

[Dugette]

Seriously, you guys were totally MADE to take this trip! Everything is working out fabulously in your favor. Wouldn't it be crazy if you showed up and they upgraded to a view room because all the standards were booked up?! That would be insane!

I have to say, that totally crossed my mind! However, I have zero expectations that we'd get an upgrade, as everything I've read indicates that you ALWAYS get what you reserved with DVC points. So, barring some unfortunate circumstance destroying a standard view studio right before our visit, I think we'll be in one.

Haha I was just thinking the same as the Leshaface! How funny if you got upgraded at check in! And I just still can't believe your deal! It's just so insane!

Yes, I have thought of that too (see above comment). Though, with the way this trip has come together so far, perhaps the rare DVC upgrade will happen. I'm not complaining, either way.

 

[Dugette]

The research I did indicated a couple good sources of rental car deals: the discounthawaiicarrental website and Costco. We don’t have a Costco membership and, thus far, their deals have not been great, so I’m monitoring it, but that’s probably not our best choice. I did just look, though, and the prices are currently running about the same as the other site, so not bad if you have a membership already – guess the rates come down closer to the travel dates.

I’d normally be afraid of something named like the other website, but other DISers have used it with no problems, so why not? I was able to get a decent deal initially, then prices went down and I was able to cancel and rebook easily. No fees or credit card required. Currently, we have a Standard Size (Chrysler 200 or similar) from Alamo for $298 total for the whole trip. However, I just checked now and realized that I reserved it from 7pm-7pm, not knowing our exact flight times (and they shifted a bit). So, we arrive at 6:02pm and leave at 10:45pm (uh, yes, we’re flying overnight with a toddler ) and I’m thinking I should switch that rental to 6:30pm-8:30pm or so? It appears that it would add $10 to our cost, so not too bad. Okay, so I switched it as of this moment and we are now booked for the new time frame for $309 total with Enterprise. They have very good reviews and I know that DISers said Alamo was hard to find, so this might be a good change. Okay, I changed it to go until 9pm now and that is $319. Not sure if it’s necessary, though? I still have both reservations at the moment. Thoughts? If we arrived at 8:45pm, what would happen on our 8:30pm reservation? Or would we get a refund for arriving at 8:30pm with our 9pm reservation? Decisions, decisions. I also have a discount rate with Enterprise through work, but it’s over $400 right now, so I’ll keep checking that too, I guess (and National – also work discount).

I think the Standard Size/Chrysler 200 should be fine for us. We want something big enough to put Izzy’s carseat in rear-facing without having to move a front seat too far forward, plus something with a good amount of trunk space for luggage and stroller. Keep in mind, with our ridiculous airline tickets, we can each (even Izzy!) have up to 3 checked bags of 70 pounds each! Not that we will have THAT many, but probably at least 3 full-sized checked bags and a carry-on or two – it is a 9-day trip with a toddler, after all! I read a review that two checked bags and a rolling carry-on fit in the trunk of that kind of car, so that’s good.

I have notes on several map/GPS/app recommendations, so I’ll need to sort through those and figure out what will work best for us to find our way around. I also have notes on specific things from other TRs (like how to get to Aulani via the malasadas truck, for instance!) I think we’ll be able to get around pretty well, as I’ll likely be the driver and Dug the navigator and he is very good at finding his way around.

We are planning on bringing Izzy’s “travel” car seat (Evenflo Tribute). It’s lightweight and easy to install on a plane and in a rental car. Thinking about the flight home, I kind-of wish she was still small enough for her infant bucket seat – that would be handy, since she will probably be sleeping when we board and maybe when we change planes at LAX. I miss these bucket seat days:



I mean, perhaps we could keep her in the carseat and put it in the stroller for the transfer or something, but not sure that would be safe. Just hoping we can keep her from waking and ruining everyone’s night. Here is her travel car seat:



We will bring our normal stroller, the Britax B-Agile, and gate-check it at the airport. I did briefly toy with the idea of checking it, since we could for free, then just using our umbrella stroller (Chicco Echo) through the airport, just to not have to deal with packing the B-Agile into the gate-check bag and carrying it down to the plane (always a pain, even with two of us – it’s awkward and semi-heavy). However, we tend to use the stroller to carry the rest of our stuff – like the carseat – and I don’t know that the Echo could do that. So, I’ll probably just bring the B-Agile:



Car seat attached to stroller for airport ease:



The other toddler transportation device I’ll bring is my Ergo carrier. I am thinking this could be handy for some hiking situations, like Diamond Head. The one I have is the Ergo Sport, which is slightly cooler and more breathable for baby and parent vs. the regular one. However, I did actually score a free Ergo 360 recently, which maybe I’ll bring too. I didn’t know this even existed, but it’s an Ergo that also has a forward-facing option (but still seated properly). How did I get this $160 carrier for free? Um, funny story.

There’s a dumpster in the hallway near the restrooms at work. Every so often, there are samples of brand-new baby items in there, as I believe there is a company in our building that does marketing work of some sort with baby items, then tosses the samples when they are done. So, terrible as it sounds, “dumpster diving” is a longstanding tradition here at work, at least among our accounting team, since we are all penny-pinchers, ha ha! So, one day my co-worker walks in and tells me and a co-worker who also has a toddler that he noticed baby carriers in the dumpster. We decided to check it out and found several different types of carriers, all bolted onto plastic display things. I grabbed the Ergo one, still unaware that it was a 360 and he grabbed some other one, since they are hoping for another baby soon and could use it. We had to remove bolts (I actually took a drill to mine!), so there are a few small holes on the carriers (under other parts, so you don’t see them), but they seem safe and usable to me. It was attached to a display exactly like this one that I took a picture of at Target yesterday:



At any rate, once I looked into it and found I could use it forward-facing, I was really excited for using it at the zoo and things like that. However, after reading up further, I found that they only recommend forward-facing until 22 pounds and Izzy is at least 25. Boo! I keep forgetting, but I want to try it out anyway (at home) and see if I can still do it at her weight. It’s not like the carrier isn’t made to hold a toddler (it goes up to 33 pounds in back carry), but I think it’s about parent comfort with the way the weight pulls in a front outward carry. And I still carry Izzy on my front (inward-facing) in the other Ergo without any issues. So, if I can handle it, then maybe it’s still a go. And, if not, well it was free and a good back-up Ergo.

I guess that’s all I can think of transportation-wise. Except that we’ll have to see if Dug’s sister can provide her usual awesome airport drop-off/pick-up services so that we will not have to pay for airport parking (she lives near the airport and lets us park in her driveway).

Now, all that’s left is figuring out what to do on Oahu for 9 days!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

wow - all that travel decisions to make ... one thing that isn't as big of a deal when just staying on site at WDW

Oh, you might want to investigate just putting Izzy's car seat into the stroller - we are planning to do that at times on our upcoming trip with Emma's and just tried it and it fits really snug in there so should be ok ... just something else to consider (since I am sure you need more option and complications )

I wonder if they have places to rent hiking carriers. We have one that we have used with the kids that has a big metal frame and works great for hiking but wouldn't want to travel with.

 

[AprilRenee]

Are you kidding me? You got a free ergo??? What the heck? Do you play the lottery? Cause you've got some ridiculous luck!

And no suggestions on your car rentals. I vote cheapest price...heck, for that matter maybe you should just keep checking the rates every day and you'll find it for $10!! I mean...that's just how things are going for you these days! lol