Would you rather...?

[WinterSolider]

Is Memorial Day weekend rather popular at Aulani?

Aulani is sold out pretty much always.

 

[Road_Dog]

Aulani is sold out pretty much always.

Let me rephrase. Does Aulani sell out instantly at the 7-month mark on Memorial Day weekend? Seems like there’s decent availability in the weeks leading up to it. Just trying to discern if it’s the start of kids being out of school so parents decide to travel (hence why June is so booked always) or if it’s just a popular weekend in general due to an extra day of work, or the nearby Pearl Harbor visitation.

 

[Finerfam]

I'm supposed to be there that week as well! I can't decide how much the refurbishment will impact the area. I really wanted to stay in Waikiki for a couple nights and then go to Aulani for the relaxation portion. I could switch them and do Aulani first to hit that before the refurbishment, but I'm not really sure if it would be worth it.

We were originally planning to end our trip at Aulani too, until the pool refurb was announced. Now we'll have our 4 nights at Aulani first and 5 nights in Waikiki to wrap up the trip. While it wasn't my original plan, I figured it'll be nice to relax in the beginning of the trip and we'll be up early for pool chairs thanks to jet lag! We ended up renting dvc points though bc the Aulani winter discount ends right in the middle of our dates and I really couldn't justify paying full price. Good luck with your planning!!

 

[WinterSolider]

Let me rephrase. Does Aulani sell out instantly at the 7-month mark on Memorial Day weekend? Seems like there’s decent availability in the weeks leading up to it. Just trying to discern if it’s the start of kids being out of school so parents decide to travel (hence why June is so booked always) or if it’s just a popular weekend in general due to an extra day of work, or the nearby Pearl Harbor visitation.

For Standard and Island Garden View, I would expect Aulani to sell out Memorial Day weekend *before* the 7-month mark, and for the other categories to sell out almost immediately thereafter, yes.

June is extremely hard to get for two reasons... one, school is out like you said. But two, June is cheap on the points chart. It's about 25% cheaper than July and August.

We were originally planning to end our trip at Aulani too, until the pool refurb was announced. Now we'll have our 4 nights at Aulani first and 5 nights in Waikiki to wrap up the trip. While it wasn't my original plan, I figured it'll be nice to relax in the beginning of the trip and we'll be up early for pool chairs thanks to jet lag! We ended up renting dvc points though bc the Aulani winter discount ends right in the middle of our dates and I really couldn't justify paying full price. Good luck with your planning!!

I recommend keeping that jet lag going as long as you can. When you're visiting the sights around Oahu, you want to get to them BEFORE the tour buses show up from Waikiki. Keep that "rope drop" mentality. Somewhere like the Byodo-In Temple is gorgeous and peaceful when you're the only ones there, and a massive headache when you pull into the parking lot when there are already 20 tour vans there.

 

[monsterkitty]

Let me rephrase. Does Aulani sell out instantly at the 7-month mark on Memorial Day weekend? Seems like there’s decent availability in the weeks leading up to it. Just trying to discern if it’s the start of kids being out of school so parents decide to travel (hence why June is so booked always) or if it’s just a popular weekend in general due to an extra day of work, or the nearby Pearl Harbor visitation.

We stay at the Marriott Ko'Olina next door to Aulani. A lot of the locals who stay here have told us that they will book Aulani for the holiday weekends as a stay cation. They then move to one of the surrounding resorts so they can still use the Aulani amenities for the remainder of their checkout day.

We've found this on the other islands as well. Locals will island hop for staycations around holiday times, which is no different than us going to the mountains to camp or ski. If it's a holiday weekend, it's going to be busier.