Our Aulani trip is scheduled for late March. How's everyone doing?

[dachsie]

Cold viruses don't kill 5% of the people who catch a cold. Yes, there's plenty of panic around Covid. But pretending there's no issue isn't a good approach either.

And the virus itself is not what is killing people - its the pneumonia people get with it, just like what happens with the flu. And for the average person, it is will not be bad, its the elderly and those with underlying health conditions who are at risk. I have most likely been exposed to it I found out yesterday at work by a patient. Should get confirmation today. I have asthma and diabetes so I am at risk. And yes, I am pretty scared but only because I have those conditions. If you are a healthy adult, it will manifest like a cold for you. For me, it could be more serious if I contract it.

 

[varkgirl]

We are supposed to go tomorrow for a week long stay... yesterday we were 100% sure we were still going... today feeling less confident. Planning to call when they open to see what's happening there...

 

[Lilsia]

We are supposed to go tomorrow for a week long stay... yesterday we were 100% sure we were still going... today feeling less confident. Planning to call when they open to see what's happening there...

I could be wrong, but I am thinking that unless something drastic happens, Aulani will stay open. Even the resorts at WDW are still open, just not the parks. Aulani is not like the parks in that there are so many less people. And Hawaii depends so much on tourist money that they will close as a last resort. As of yesterday, there are only 2 cases of the virus in the state. That is extremely low. Keeping my fingers crossed that this burns itself out quickly.

 

[varkgirl]

I could be wrong, but I am thinking that unless something drastic happens, Aulani will stay open. Even the resorts at WDW are still open, just not the parks. Aulani is not like the parks in that there are so many less people. And Hawaii depends so much on tourist money that they will close as a last resort. As of yesterday, there are only 2 cases of the virus in the state. That is extremely low. Keeping my fingers crossed that this burns itself out quickly.

I hope so...

 

[hilarys]

Well our family just made the decision to postpone the trip. Was supposed to arrive on Wednesday from Vancouver Canada but the situation has escalated so much in the last 24 hours it really felt like there was only one right decision. Our airlines let us change our flight with no fees, the hotel we were going to stay in for a couple nights before Aulani let us cancel and lastly DVC member services (once I finally got though: one hour of repeatedly dialing then 1.5 hours on hold) was amazing. They put all our points back into their use year, even the borrowed ones will go back. These are the things people remember and it's another reason I don't mind paying that Disney premium. We are all pretty bummed out but there's also a lot of relief too. It's a fluid situation and staying home right now seems to be the safest course. Hope everyone is doing good and educating yourself seems to be very important right now. I usually consider myself agnostic but I really like the sentiment so will be using it as it feels right, God bless everyone.

I am glad to hear that member services was flexible with you - our trip is scheduled for the week before Easter and based on how things are now, my company is highly discouraging any commercial air travel. We have a Sept use year, so I was really worried about points going into holding - we would lose some points likely (2018 points that were banked into 2019), but at least they would hopefully allow us to bank the 2019 points rather than going into holding. Our flights are booked on United and Hawaiian on a variety of points and $. Did your airlines refund or just give you future credit?

 

[varkgirl]

On the phone with them now after several attempts with busy signals or no signal...

The phone is VERY crackly and it is hard to hear the person on the other end. I am guessing from the amount of call volume?

They say they are "operating as normal at this point..."

 

[PCMama]

So Im a resident in Hawaii. Local Costco is a madhouse as was Sams Club last night. Fresh groceries have been fine in supply so far but canned goods, rice and toilet paper are hard to come by. Only 2 known cases so far but testing here has not been readily available. There have been 2 known cases of visitors testing positive after returning homem. One of the two Hawaii resident cases involved a elderly man who flew home from seattle on Mar 4th who was initially denied the test but it now in ICU.the second is a passenger who flew home after getting off the Grand Princess.I personally know people with symptoms self monitoring but not being given access to the test so that 2 cases number is questionable. Decision to come is yours but I wouldn't say that out official count is real.

I personally am staying away from tourist areas

 

[Noah_t]

I am glad to hear that member services was flexible with you - our trip is scheduled for the week before Easter and based on how things are now, my company is highly discouraging any commercial air travel. We have a Sept use year, so I was really worried about points going into holding - we would lose some points likely (2018 points that were banked into 2019), but at least they would hopefully allow us to bank the 2019 points rather than going into holding. Our flights are booked on United and Hawaiian on a variety of points and $. Did your airlines refund or just give you future credit?

Future Credit that has to be used by the end of 2020. The only reason I am not still home in bed weeping is knowing I am going next November, hopefully ....

 

[Andyman33]

i had a dvc membership - i would definitely be in the window of going into holding points - i just modified the reservation to october and the computer let me do it - just as an fyi to dvc people that don't want to call

 

[Andyman33]

the other family that we were meeting did go yesterday - and are having a lovely time. business as usual at the resort though he said pretty empty there today but plane was full when they went yesterday

 

[corgi_monster]

My family took a drive through Waikiki last night to help the baby fall asleep. It was business as usual and there were moderate crowds. Restaurants, shops, bars, etc. were all open and some like Marugame still had a line out the door. You could probably stay 6ft away from other people except at crosswalk intersections and near street performers.

There were Asian tourists, but significantly less than I'm used to seeing. Below are pictures my husband snapped at about 8pm last (Thursday) night. To my knowledge, there were no special events that would alter the crowd level.

Also, I've been checking local hotel for kamaaina discounts and the March deals have been lackluster, even at the hotels that are marketing staycations. That's a good indication the hotels aren't hurting too badly yet.

 

[thedogatemyhomework]

getting covid 19 isn't what should worry most people. the vulnerable high risk groups yes...worry about the virus itself. for everyone else, the threat is the very real possibility of hospitals being overwhelmed. look at China and how many of their doctors and nurses have been affected just from treating covid 19 patients...every doctor/nurse infected means one less available to treat those patients and others...for 2 weeks or more.

if enough get sick, and covid 19 patients continue to roll in to hospitals or other health care locations, people who might just get the sniffles from covid 19 may find that getting treatment for a broken arm, preventive surgery, biopsies for cancer and other such things may be delayed and could cause future/immediate complications.

the mass closures/postponements aren't about stopping the spread (far too late for that) they're about slowing it (and preventing a single area from being overwhelmed) so that healthcare as a whole doesn't collapse temporarily putting everyone at far greater risk for everything.

if covid 19 itself were that deadly for everyone, it would be time for everyone to lock themselves up in their homes for 3 weeks. but since its just about slowing the spread...just avoid super crowded indoor gatherings, and take normal anti-flu hygiene precautions seems to be good enough.

if anything does need to be handled radically different from the regular flu it would be to take extreme precautions when visiting the elderly or hospital patients (this is where you really need one of those n95+ masks)

for hawaii vacations, it likely means pearl harbor, museums, diamond head (to avoid possibly having to evac people from the trail), and perhaps hanauma bay may get shut down or have limits imposed on visitor admissions. conventions held in the convention center probably should be ordered closed by the state...but the chances that they'll do that are very slim...so contact the convention runners and be prepared for a possible literal last minute cancel.

as far as impacts to aulani itself...they may cancel/change their buffets to table service...or perhaps handle it like ohana at wdw (servers bring you food rather than you get it yourself). pools...I haven't seen anything about the virus being able to survive chlorinated water...but it seems like a fairly low possibility...still gotta worry about kids peeing in the pool tho.

 

[Lilsia]

So Im a resident in Hawaii. Local Costco is a madhouse as was Sams Club last night. Fresh groceries have been fine in supply so far but canned goods, rice and toilet paper are hard to come by. Only 2 known cases so far but testing here has not been readily available. There have been 2 known cases of visitors testing positive after returning homem. One of the two Hawaii resident cases involved a elderly man who flew home from seattle on Mar 4th who was initially denied the test but it now in ICU.the second is a passenger who flew home after getting off the Grand Princess.I personally know people with symptoms self monitoring but not being given access to the test so that 2 cases number is questionable. Decision to come is yours but I wouldn't say that out official count is real.

I personally am staying away from tourist areas

It's the same in Nebraska. The stores are packed today because they announced yesterday to close schools for a week. No toilet paper to be found anywhere. That and canned veggies and canned soup. It is really weird what people are buying and it depends on what store you go to. All liquid hand soap is gone from Walmart but there are still all of the bar soap. I guess people have forgotten that there is soap out there other then the liquid pump. LOL

 

[corgi_monster]

So Im a resident in Hawaii. Local Costco is a madhouse as was Sams Club last night. Fresh groceries have been fine in supply so far but canned goods, rice and toilet paper are hard to come by. Only 2 known cases so far but testing here has not been readily available. There have been 2 known cases of visitors testing positive after returning homem. One of the two Hawaii resident cases involved a elderly man who flew home from seattle on Mar 4th who was initially denied the test but it now in ICU.the second is a passenger who flew home after getting off the Grand Princess.I personally know people with symptoms self monitoring but not being given access to the test so that 2 cases number is questionable. Decision to come is yours but I wouldn't say that out official count is real.

I personally am staying away from tourist areas

I agree that our official count is severely depressed.

Sams Club in town was empty last night around 7pm, but I haven't even bothered trying to go to Costco since the Feb. 26th raid on TP.

If you need TP there's a FB group called Hawaii Toilet Paper Patrol

 

[Sepo]

Good posts all. Once testing rolls out, the reported numbers will climb drastically; hopefully people will keep this in perspective (we simply weren’t testing before).

Sensible careful measures will win the day. The airplane bathroom is a bit of a trouble spot.

if there were to be a TP shortage etc, that could be a bit of a dampener.

 

[corgi_monster]

Polynesian Cultural Center just announced they will be closed through the end of March.

 

[cgattis]

@corgi_monster @dachsie...stay safe!!! Thinking of you guys. Scary to be on an island in these situations.

 

[corgi_monster]

Thank you, @cgattis! I hope everything is under control in your neck of the woods, too.

 

[plasmo]

Polynesian Cultural Center just announced they will be closed through the end of March.

As long as they don't close the beach, i'm good...

 

[dreamit]

We’ve been at Aulani since 3/3, leaving tomorrow afternoon. We’re still seeing lots of new people arriving at the resort for the start of their vacations. It still seems business as usual with a few minor exceptions. I saw them disinfecting the elevators today, some cast members are wearing gloves, and they’re regularly disinfecting store counters. We’ve been all over the island during our trip, including Pearl Harbor and a number of hikes and excursions. Almost everything we’ve done has been outdoors which is less concerning than being in a crowd indoors. Honestly, the only time I felt we were in close quarters with others was in line at Matsumoto’s. We’ve had no worries while here, but will again be cautious at the airport and on the plane ride home. I feel like our risk of catching the virus is greater at home (MN).