What would you do? Aulani

[hope3702]

I use these boards a lot for great information but rarely post...Need a sounding board for Aulani and I realize it is personal preference:

12 Nights in August at Aulani...Family of four (Kids are 11/7)

I can do all 12 nights in a deluxe studio Ocean view (and have point left over - 65)

OR

I can do 9 nights in a One Bedroom - Island Garden view (Eats up all points) and I would pay cash for 3 nights (which isn't cheap as you know)

Having never stayed here just was curious on those that have and what they would do? I would suspect I would hear to save the cash but am curious...

 

[BrotherBear]

I think the two main things to consider are : sleeping space and meals.

Are you the type of family that likes to "save" money and make most of your meals in your kitchen/room? Breakfast/Lunch in room, and maybe dinner out? If you are in a 1 bedroom, you have access to a full kitchen. Meals at Aulani are not cheap, plan on at least $10 per person/per meal for breakfast and lunch if you eat at restaurants. So that is $80 a day on the first two meals. Then plan on $25 per person/per day for dinner. That's $100 a day. So, you could easily be spending $180 to $200 a day on meals for the four of you. This is not eating "nice" meals, this is just basic food court-type offerings. If you want a "fancy" dinner, think about $50 per person ($200 for a meal).

Now, instead of eating out, you could get a 1 bedroom, go to Costco or Safeway, and make your own meals in-room. In that case, plan on about 40% of the cost of restaurant meals. So you would be spending about $70 to $80 a day, but you would be preparing the food yourself. I prefer getting a one bedroom, making about 75% of the meals myself and going out to one or two "fancy" places as a celebration.

Then there is the sleeping space. A one-bedroom is quite large, has a separate (lockable) bedroom with king bed and a lovely large jacuzzi tub. The studio is a basic hotel room with a small kitchenette area with microwave, "dorm" style fridge, and toaster. The sleeper sofa is a rather small queen size. It is right next to the main bed, there is no privacy. Once my kids got out of the elementary-stage of their life, I definitely prefered to have my own space when on holiday.

If I were you, I would get the one-bedroom. 12 days is a LONG TIME to be in the same room as your children when sleeping. And you will save money if you make your own meals.

...... OR .....

Maybe you could do a split-stay to save some cash. First, spend $$ on a studio and live together in one room, then transfer to a 1 bedroom for 9 nights. You will feel like you "upgraded" to a lovely space. Either way, you will LOVE Aulani. It is a magical place to visit.

 

[hope3702]

All good information...It is $3,000 for the three nights I would have to pay if I do the one bedroom so essentially my flights (almost)...I would rather do the one bedroom but when I look at the cash price of the room I wonder if it is worth it being that you don't spend all that much time in the room...+ I get the Ocean View trade off...

Would be curious to hear from a family of four that stayed in the Deluxe studio for that long and still liked each other after ...Thanks for your help on this

 

[CKCruising]

I've never been to Aulani (Planning March, so I'm reading this board), so I can't offer any specifics. Personally, we are a 1BR family (of 3) so we got a 1BR for 3 nights. We have stayed in a studio (DL) before when we just didn't have the points but never for more than a week.

Can you do 12 nights in a studio in WDW? If so, a studio might work, if not, I wouldn't. I would guess you are in the room slightly more than WDW.
Are you planning on eating out all the time (12 nights is a lot of dining out)? If not, then the kitchen in the 1BR is much better (Each meal you eat in will probably save you $50-$100)
You are probably looking at close to $1000/night to pay cash. As you are close to the 7 month range, any points will work, can you buy some points to transfer into your account?

 

[hope3702]

I could but never at WDW because I always go for a week and I have the points...This would be really only to save the 3K as we are going to SF on way back and that will cost and the flights aren't cheap...We always go to WDW in a one bedroom so this would be purely to save cash...

 

[nkereina]

We are only two adults and felt crowded in a studio at Aulani. The bathroom would be a fine size for your party, but the sleeping area was small. With the pullout couch pulled out, there would be little walking room. Between souvenirs, hanging swimsuits to dry, floats we bought from the lagoon shoved next to the couch, grocery items, etc, we just had a lot of stuff in the room.

We also did laundry while there and had to use the public laundry facilities - there were only 3 washers in each one, and 2 of the 3 in our tower were broken. So I had to truck our laundry to the other tower and cross my fingers they weren't in use. Having a washer and dryer in our room would have eliminated this.

If it were me, I'd do the 1 BR and then try to rent points for the remaining nights. It will be significantly cheaper than your cash reservation. I'm not sure how it works for DVC members, but I think the member may even be able to transfer the points to you after you pay rather than making the reservation for you which is what occurs when you rent points. Either way, it would be cheaper than booking through Disney.

Another thing to consider - not sure if you'd end up having to pay for parking for those last few nights if you stayed on a cash reservation. Free parking is only for those on a points reservation. I'm not sure whether the parking garage would recognize that the last half of your stay is under a separate, cash reservation. But if it does, that's $37 a day.

 

[hope3702]

1 Bedroom is winning

 

[alohamom]

I am going to go the other way and say that we would be perfectly happy for 12 nights in a studio and my kids are older teens (they were 17 turning 18 and 16 last time we went) We went for 2 weeks and spent half of it at the Marriott, half of it at Aulani. The reason I say this is that we looked at it like this...Oahu is an awesome island and there is soooo much to do. We let Ko Olina be our home base and honestly we were in the room to sleep and sometimes have a pizza or a light breakfast. It was a decadent way to look at it, staying at 2 beautiful luxury resorts just to sleep but pricing wise it was on par with a similar category of hotel in Waikiki because we had a bounce back offer at the Marriott and we rented DVC points for Aulani. Aulani offers so much to do and the pools are so much fun. Having said this, I like what nkereina suggests but I would say this. Maybe instead of the extra 3 nights for a cash ressie, rent points like she suggests for a studio and make that the beginning of your stay. Then you could go ahead with your 1 bedroom using your own points for the balance of the days. We have done split stays at Aulani and they are awesome at the front desk with this. One time we went right from one room to the other without having to wait and then another time it took a couple of hours but bell services held everything except for our id/wallets which we put into a lock box at the front desk. Then we swam and made it a resort day until the room was ready. Just a thought ...

 

[Soccerluvinmama]

We are DVC and Aulani is our home resort. We are there every February for 10 days and typically do a one bedroom, but last year did a hotel room since only 2 of us were going (FYI, hotel rooms, of which there are only 8 available to DVC, are a little bit bigger than the studios). The space worked, and it did save me points. But after about 5 days, the space started to feel tight. When you first arrive things are clean, but as the days go on you start to get an accumulation of various things (food, dirty clothes, things bought from the shops), and it gets tight real quick. We are staying in a hotel room again next month, but this will be the last time...even if there are just two of us. Forget about having a kitchen, which is convenient, but I really only use it a handful of times to cook. I just need the space, especially for a longer trip like that. Even if it means I have to shave off a few days, I'm good with that. Also, I love the much bigger bathroom and having a washer/dryer available. Given the age of your kids, and how long you're staying, I would go one bedroom. Even if you have to shave a few days (we do 10 and it's perfect for us), I think you will not regret it.

 

[hope3702]

All good feedback...Looking into renting now...Never rented before...Average price is $13 around...I need 138 for the three nights so there is a savings vs. rack rate...

 

[Elima2015]

My vote is the 1 bedroom. We are a family of 5, though with very young children, and it takes no time at all for us to feel cramped and on-top of each other. You will have more space, a washer/dryer in the room, and a kitchen - even if you don't use it a ton, it is still really nice to have breakfast in your room and after a while, we just get tired of eating out. A run to Costco for a frozen dinner to bake, a bag salad, and fresh fruit sounds awesome after eating out for many meals. My personal opinion is to enjoy 9 nights comfortably rather than 12 nights cramped.

I may be going against popular opinion with this, but for the rest of the nights, rather than paying cash to stay at Aulani, I'd take the opportunity to do something else. If flights aren't yet booked, what about island hopping to Maui or Kauai? Or staying on The North Shore? It has a totally different vibe and I love it. If your kids would like the activity and pace of Waikiki, that is an option, too.

 

[alldiz]

For me it all depends on how much cooking and time in the room you will be doing. Will you be leaving the resort for excursions?
Also have you considered doing the 1 BR for the 9 days.....do some cooking then. To save money For the last 3 days....maybe switch to the studio.
I know it involves packing but bell services will move your stuff. If you leave for a few hours say maybe North shore you come back and new room ready.
Maybe splurge on Ocean view. You can see which works best for you for future. Plus if you have any leftover food they will store and you can still heat up in studio microwave.
Happy planning.
Kerri

 

[wanderlust7]

I may be going against popular opinion with this, but for the rest of the nights, rather than paying cash to stay at Aulani, I'd take the opportunity to do something else. If flights aren't yet booked, what about island hopping to Maui or Kauai? Or staying on The North Shore? It has a totally different vibe and I love it. If your kids would like the activity and pace of Waikiki, that is an option, too.

+1 this especially since you have 12 days. We've stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Lagoon tower in a 1 bedroom and really liked it. Big unit, great furnishings, and awesome ocean view. It's part of their vacation club and we did an exchange, but I checked rental rates for random dates and it's about $300 for a 1 bedroom, $400 for a 2 bedroom. They also have a couple of newer towers that look really nice (view may not be as good...not sure) - the Grand Waikikian and Grand Islander.

Going to another island is a great option too, there is also the Big Island for the volcano. Personally, I'd want to do more than 3 days on another island though.

 

[nkereina]

I may be going against popular opinion with this, but for the rest of the nights, rather than paying cash to stay at Aulani, I'd take the opportunity to do something else. If flights aren't yet booked, what about island hopping to Maui or Kauai? Or staying on The North Shore? It has a totally different vibe and I love it. If your kids would like the activity and pace of Waikiki, that is an option, too.

This is a really good suggestion. We were in Hawaii for 16 nights, so we spent 3 nights in Maui, 3 nights in Kauai, 3 nights in Waikiki, and 6 nights at Aulani.

In the OP's case, I might suggest doing the 3 nights in Waikiki at the start of their trip. This is what we did and it worked out well for several reasons - 1, it was a quick ride in a cab from the airport. 2, we were adjusting to the time difference so we were up quite early for the first few mornings. We could walk the strip and actually find people and things open that early. 3, we were able to do Diamond Head and Pearl Harbor during our stay at Waikiki - getting up early was no issue since we were adjusting to the time and we used tour companies for each. They picked us up from our hotel and took us to each, and for Pearl Harbor they got our tickets for us. By the time we got to Aulani, we didn't have to hassle with the craziness of Waikiki and it was nice to experience the two very different areas and vibes of Oahu.

 

[GeneralTso]

12 nights in a Studio with 4 people in the room sounds really awful to me. I think the 1 bedroom would make all the difference in comfort.
Ocean view is really important to us. We don't go to Hawaii to look out at a parking lot or a "garden view" that is facing the street. For many, ocean view is not a priority, so choosing rooms is purely personal.

With 2 kids, I say go for the space. You won't regret it.

 

[hope3702]

One Bedroom it is...Just validated my thoughts...Thanks everyone

 

[jodybird511]

We just came back from 9 days. We were in a 2-bedroom, but we were 6. The restaurant food is VERY expensive. For us, we loved Aulani, but agreed that we would only come back if we could stay in at least a 1-bedroom so that we can do a significant amount of cooking.

 

[CaliAdventurer]

There is a lot of laundry for a family especially for beach things. Id go for the laundry for sure. And 9 nights is a great length. We usually do that long.

 

[GT Mom]

If you are out a lot and only back in the room to rest or sleep, studio may be enough for you. There are 5 of us, and we get at least one if not two bedrooms. We eat in quite a bit, and I still do laundry and love having washer and dryer in the room. If that sounds like you, get one bedroom.

 

[Looptyloo]

This is a really good suggestion. We were in Hawaii for 16 nights, so we spent 3 nights in Maui, 3 nights in Kauai, 3 nights in Waikiki, and 6 nights at Aulani.

In the OP's case, I might suggest doing the 3 nights in Waikiki at the start of their trip. This is what we did and it worked out well for several reasons - 1, it was a quick ride in a cab from the airport. 2, we were adjusting to the time difference so we were up quite early for the first few mornings. We could walk the strip and actually find people and things open that early. 3, we were able to do Diamond Head and Pearl Harbor during our stay at Waikiki - getting up early was no issue since we were adjusting to the time and we used tour companies for each. They picked us up from our hotel and took us to each, and for Pearl Harbor they got our tickets for us. By the time we got to Aulani, we didn't have to hassle with the craziness of Waikiki and it was nice to experience the two very different areas and vibes of Oahu.

This is exactly what I was going to suggest, staying in Waikiki for the few nights at the beginning of the trip. You will be able to find a room that is much cheaper than Aulani and you can use that time to look around Waikiki or do some sight seeing around the island.