Question about booking Aulani at 7 month window for Christmas

[MELSMICE]

We are hoping to take a trip to Aulani this coming Christmas (2013) with my brother's family. We would need a 2BR.

Has anyone had experience booking at the 7 month window during this time? If so, what was your experience? Were you able to get your ressie or did you have to wait list? If you wait listed did it come through?

We don't want to book airfare until we know that we can get a room. We'd be looking at a window some time between December 19 through January 6.....not staying at Aulani the entire time, but that's the window we have to work with right now.

I won't even get in to the cost of airfare right now!

 

[snackyx]

We just went through this for the past Christmas/New Years cycle. I was booking at the seven month window, and everything from Dec 27 to January 2 was booked. I did get the night of the 29th, but that was it, so I let it go. Ultimately I got Jan 1-2-3, but there was nothing earlier.

It seems Aulani is booking heavy around spring break, summer months, and Christmas/New Years. Other that those times, the seven month window seems available (if you are somewhat flexible on views/room type).

If you do not have back-up plans (other resorts/hotels if your holiday Aulani dates are not available) and you are looking to lock-in airfares soon, I would be very cautious. I believe they were opening more rooms this year, which would increase capacity available to book, but others may have more info on that.

 

[snackyx]

...one other thing:

I did waitlist, but there are so many room type configurations at Aulani, and you can only have TWO active requests, that they never came through. I think the period between Christmas and New Years is very tough at 7 months...after Jan 1-2 it did open up.

 

[MELSMICE]

Not was hoping to hear, of course, but thanks for the info.

 

[MELSMICE]

Anyone else with any experience?

 

[HarperAnnesNana]

We are hoping to take a trip to Aulani this coming Christmas (2013) with my brother's family. We would need a 2BR.

Has anyone had experience booking at the 7 month window during this time? If so, what was your experience? Were you able to get your ressie or did you have to wait list? If you wait listed did it come through?

We don't want to book airfare until we know that we can get a room. We'd be looking at a window some time between December 19 through January 6.....not staying at Aulani the entire time, but that's the window we have to work with right now.
I won't even get in to the cost of airfare right now!

Fully understand your pain about the airfare. We are flying from Houston, Tx.
I used this website today to check availability and price for 2 bedroom at Christmas http://resorts.disney.go.com/aulani-...-rooms-suites/
I started out plugging in 2 regular rooms. When I got the info on the screen, I noticed on the screen on the right was small letters to click for alternative DVC accommodations. I checked a 2 bedroom for Christmas. The cheapest category with view of parking lot or parking garage was $1015. But if you have a AAA card, the booking folks will give you 10% off which would be about $913 per night plus almost 14% tax. We have 7 in our family party and hubby and I are paying for kids and grandkids air and room. So, the 2 studios is more economical for us.
I talked with someone in reservations. I think they said you could cancel without penalty up until 2 weeks before you get there. Be sure to ask about this cancellation policy. This might be a safety net in case you can't find points or availability at the 7 month mark.
The 2 bedroom is certainly nice. We are going for 14 nights total. We are staying 6 nights at Aulani and then 9 nights at beach front condo.
Hope this helps.
Email me if you need any more into or you ave any more questions. My account is set up so you can email me. Just click on my name. I am a technically challenged 63 yr old grandmother.
HarperAnnesNana.

 

[WAMUMOF4]

I don't like your chances for a 2 bedroom right now for the dates 23-30 dec the only 2 bdrms available is ocean view and island view 23-27 I myself am quite surprised at how quickly it booked.
I guess though most Aulani owners would of already booked for Christmas so you might get lucky at the 7 month window.

 

[MELSMICE]

Thanks for the additional responses. We are going to just wait and see. Definitely not booking any airfare until we know we can get accommodations. We'll also be checking studio/1BR combinations, but not sure if we'll have more luck with that or not.

 

[Anal Annie]

Thanks for the additional responses. We are going to just wait and see. Definitely not booking any airfare until we know we can get accommodations. We'll also be checking studio/1BR combinations, but not sure if we'll have more luck with that or not.

This how I felt about booking a week for this August...I was chomping at the bit watching airfare but didn't want to book it until our 7 month window opened and I knew we had the reservation. I had been watching the availability every day leading up to our dates and I was nervous about getting in. Make sure you're familiar with the online booking process (go online & play around) and be ON the computer and logged into the DVC Member website when the 8:00 eastern time window opens. When I booked (to save time) I started the reservation request with only ME in the room. Since you have so many people in your party you'd have to spend several minutes entering everyones names & stuff onto the reservation request form before you can hit submit. Just start with yourself as a party of 1 then call back later after the phones open and add everyone else to the reservation by phone. It will let you grab the room quicker and be done. I did this and then after I had the villa I went back & searched again with the same search a few minutes later (like by 8:10 AM) and I must've grabbed the last OV studio that was open for all of our nights because when I looked the 2nd time 2 or 3 of the nights were gone already. I could've booked another type of unit but I would've had to wait list the OV studio.

I booked our airfare about 10 days or so after I completed our reservations. Definitely not cheap by any means....almost as much as what we paid for Europe in 2011....I ended up chopping it up into 4 different legs (because we're stopping at DL for a few night on the way) and 2 days after I booked the flight between LA and HNL went up by $130 pp!! I was glad I was familiar enough with the rates to know when to buy and that I didn't gamble on it going down any more. Good luck!!

 

[MELSMICE]

Thanks so much, Anal Annie. That helps and makes me feel a bit better!

 

[candiemonster]

I'm an Aulani owner but I still didn't get all the dates I need for new year's week. I needed dec 29 to jan 6 and so I planned on booking Jan 29. Logged in at 5 am and all studios we're already booked!

 

[MELSMICE]

I'm an Aulani owner but I still didn't get all the dates I need for new year's week. I needed dec 29 to jan 6 and so I planned on booking Jan 29. Logged in at 5 am and all studios we're already booked!

Keeping my fingers crossed. We'll just wait it out. Nothing more we can do at this point. I'm not going to book airfare until we find out if we can get a room. We are thinking of backup plans, even the possibility of a cruise, but they are outrageous in their pricing because it's a high demand week!

 

[Anal Annie]

I'm an Aulani owner but I still didn't get all the dates I need for new year's week. I needed dec 29 to jan 6 and so I planned on booking Jan 29. Logged in at 5 am and all studios we're already booked!

If you're talking about this upcoming Dec. 29th that's a Sunday - I'd be willing to bet that most people started their weeks on Saturday Dec. 28th so they probably snagged up some of your days that week. Since that week includes NYE that is probably the kind of week that would need to be "walked".

 

[MELSMICE]

If you're talking about this upcoming Dec. 29th that's a Sunday - I'd be willing to bet that most people started their weeks on Saturday Dec. 28th so they probably snagged up some of your days that week. Since that week includes NYE that is probably the kind of week that would need to be "walked".

What does "need to be walked" mean?

 

[Anal Annie]

What does "need to be walked" mean?

"Walking" is when you start your reservation days ahead of when you really intend to go. A lot of people will start a whole week out. They book their 7 days or however many they want then the next day they call & cancel the first day and add a day to the end. They do this every day until they reach their real start date and they have all the days they want. I think it's most commonly done for the holidays when reservations are hard to get and I think probably more often by folks at the 11 month window. Somebody else may be able to explain it better than me tho.

 

[candiemonster]

"Walking" is when you start your reservation days ahead of when you really intend to go. A lot of people will start a whole week out. They book their 7 days or however many they want then the next day they call & cancel the first day and add a day to the end. They do this every day until they reach their real start date and they have all the days they want. I think it's most commonly done for the holidays when reservations are hard to get and I think probably more often by folks at the 11 month window. Somebody else may be able to explain it better than me tho.

But since MS doesn't open until 9am EST, shouldn't I have better advantage of booking it online at 8am?

 

[Anal Annie]

But since MS doesn't open until 9am EST, shouldn't I have better advantage of booking it online at 8am?

Yes, by all means use that hour advantage - it's helpful in that it gives you an advantage over somebody who's not booking online & who is waiting for the phones to open at 9:00. But it wouldn't help if somebody booked the date(s) you wanted the day before you... In your case for example - you wanted Sun. 12/29 to Sun. 1/6. But at the same time, 10 other people wanted dates starting the week before you that over lapped yours or they booked extended stays so in this case they had already booked some of your dates before you ever got to it. Christmas this year is on Wed. 12/25 so I'd be willing to bet that a lot of people want to go in time to spend Christmas there. If they booked a stay say starting with Tues. 12/24 through NYE then by the time you went online some of your dates were already booked.

If you had "walked it" you maybe could have booked starting with Sun. 12/22 - Sun. 12/29 thereby securing your first day. Then on Mon. 12/23 you would add Mon. 12/30 and call & cancel 12/22. Then on Tues. you would add 12/31 and cancel 12/23 then Wed. you would add 1/1 and cancel 12/24 etc. until you had all of your dates. Yes, a pain in the rear and still no guarantee that it would have worked but you would have been out there in advance of other people booking the same dates as you...

 

[MELSMICE]

"Walking" is when you start your reservation days ahead of when you really intend to go. A lot of people will start a whole week out. They book their 7 days or however many they want then the next day they call & cancel the first day and add a day to the end. They do this every day until they reach their real start date and they have all the days they want. I think it's most commonly done for the holidays when reservations are hard to get and I think probably more often by folks at the 11 month window. Somebody else may be able to explain it better than me tho.

That's interesting. I've never even heard of that.