Clueless...

[disney minnie]

I would like to schedule a trip sometime between Christmas and when the kids go back to school around January 7th. Here are my biggest questions.... At this time I know NOTHING about Hawaii. I’m traveling from Georgia

Rooms are not yet available for the whole time period I’m looking at

Traveling will be myself, husband, son 18, daughter 13

Where am I looking for flights to fly into? Would love to stop in LA to go to Disneyland but not sure this would be feasible.

Should I book somewhere else and see local sites before going to Aulani or is it all doable from the resort?

Should I look for 2 rooms or one bigger room?

I realize the view matters and we would love ocean front or view. I also know that at some places you absolutely want an ocean view/front and others it doesn’t matter as much.

How do the restaurants work? Is it better to have a room with the kitchen?

What type of family events can you suggest?

 

[hodad]

If you're willing to shell out this much moolah for a trip at the end of the year, I say go ahead and throw in a stay at Disneyland, at least to ease the time zone transition. You can get flights from Atlanta to Honolulu direct with a 3 day stopover at LAX for Disneyland (before or after Hawaii) for $1200pp if you look for it.

Rent DVC points for the Aulani room. If money is no concern, book two rooms, or a 1 or 2 bedroom suite.

Rent a car at HNL for your stay. Drive around Oahu. Eat some shave ice.

Everything else you need to know you'll discover with a modicum of research.

 

[disney minnie]

Actually no I don’t have tons of money to throw away, but my son is graduating from high school and that will be one of the only times we will be able to travel together since we still have a child in school.

We have not been to the west coat at all so I thought I was asking questions that people have visited the resort could give their personal perspective. I have been reading posts, but had not found the answers I was looking for which was my reason for my post. Obviously this is not the thread to ask questions

 

[hodad]

This is a great place to ask questions. Most of your questions can be answered with a 30 second search on this forum or google. If I were you, I’d add Disneyland and replace Aulani with a much more affordable resort in Hawaii. But that’s just my two cents and a can of snark.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

What makes you excited to visit Aulani? Answering that question may give us a better idea of how long you might want to stay at the resort. Are the rest of your family members big Disney fans? Is night life important to you or do you prefer to relax and quiet down after dinner?

About how long do you want your trip to be total?

 

[luvmychaos]

If you are just looking to do Oahu, you’d be looking at flying in HNL airport. I’d sign up for the DealRay and Hopper apps(which I’ve recently done) and they will watch flights for you and let you know the best/cheapest flights/routes, etc.

Since it’s just the 4 of you, you could very easily do 1 hotel room and make it an ocean view. However, if you plan on spending more time in the room or want more space, I’d definitely look into renting a villa with rented DVC points. A deluxe studio sleeps 5(so you could have 1 kid in a bed and 1 on a sleeper sofa/pull down).
While we’ve never stayed at Aulani(we’re planning our DVC trip in Sept), we’ve been to several islands and while there is a lot to see, you could easily cover it in a week. Meaning you don’t necessarily need to stay at a different part of the island in order to see different places. I’d definitely rent a car(Costco, AAA, Expedia), prices vary wildly by location and car type. For our trip, minivans range from $300-700 for the 8 days
We’re from the west coast and visit DL a few times a month. If it’s something that you don’t see yourself getting to this coast again to be able to do, then by all means add it to the beginning or end. Especially if you find a killer flight to say LAX, and then another killer flight from LAX to HNL
Hope that helps

 

[Loveallthingsmouse]

Stopping for DL would be an option, just depends on how long you would like to stay on the island.

We have loved all of our visits to Oahu and would always stay longer if possible. We fly in from the East Coast, so for us we like to stay in Waikiki for a few days when we arrive. We love that area, but we don't live in a big city, so maybe that's why we enjoy it there, something different. We have 2 kids, 16 and 14 just gives us things to do while we adjust to the time change. DH likes to rent a surfboard while in Waikiki, so we enjoy it (some will not agree with that, but for us we do). While in Waikiki you can explore the island and do things that are close by so you don't have to deal with the traffic during rush hour coming from Aulani. We have never had an issue with traffic, it is what it is...its an island, I'm on vacation so I don't really stress about it, we just allow more time to get places. We love going up the the North Shore and for us from Aulani it is an easy drive. We like to get into the car and drive, see what we can see and just enjoy our time.

If renting DVC points is an option, you may want to look at that sooner rather than later, DVC Aulani owners can book those dates 11 months out, all other DVC owners can book at 7 months out, usually once the 7 month window opens, it books fairly quickly. Again, depending on how long you want to stay may determine the type of room you are looking at. Aulani does not have Ocean front rooms, they are ocean view, some are closer to the ocean than others, but still ocean view. Now that my kids are at the age where sharing a bed is not ideal, we get a 1 bedroom, then everyone has a bed (pull out sofa and pull down bed). Plus we enjoy having a full kitchen with a washer and dryer in the unit (saves for packing and eating out which can be expensive). If renting points you get free parking, just a thought for the rental car if you decide.

Hope that helps...enjoy your trip, our eldest will be a senior the following year, not looking forward to schedule changes!

 

[nkereina]

My responses are in red....

Rooms are not yet available for the whole time period I’m looking at
They should be by now.... are you looking over the holidays? If so, it may already be booked. I believe you can book 12+ months in advance, and DVC rooms can be booked on points 11 months in advance.

Where am I looking for flights to fly into? Would love to stop in LA to go to Disneyland but not sure this would be feasible.
As mentioned, you'd fly into Honolulu for an Aulani stay. We come from the Northeast with a layover in Atlanta, so we essentially come from Georgia too. While an LA/Disneyland stop would help break up the long flight and time change, for us we find it to be a waste of time. Since our time is usually limited to begin with, we'd rather get to Hawaii as early as possible and leave as late as possible.

Should I book somewhere else and see local sites before going to Aulani or is it all doable from the resort?
IMO, this depends on how long you're there and what else you want to do. We stayed a total of 9 nights on Oahu - 3 nights in Waikiki and 6 nights in Aulani. There are more details in my trip report in my signature, but we enjoyed staying in Waikiki first so we could do Diamond Head and Pearl Harbor while acclimating to the time change - both of these tours are best done early in the morning. We also saved a little bit of money by staying at the Marriott Waikiki and not having a rental car during this time since everything was either walkable or easily accessible through a trolley or organized tour. Waikiki is a very different vibe than Ko Olina where Aulani is, so we liked staying in the two different places. We also spent 3 nights on Maui and 3 nights in Kauai which were both awesome. I personally think its worth it to island hop unless you're very limited on time.

Should I look for 2 rooms or one bigger room?
As mentioned, renting DVC points and getting a 1 or 2 BR villa is ideal but you may be late on this for December/January time frame. Its worth looking into though because I think some of the 2 BR villas are the last to go due to the price. Whatever you do, do NOT book a studio. Its smaller than a hotel room and we found it cramped for 2 adults. 4 adults would be a definite no for me.

How do the restaurants work? Is it better to have a room with the kitchen?
If you're renting a car (highly recommend) its very easy to stop for groceries, which makes for another good reason to book a villa. It also helps having laundry, since Hawaii was a longer trip for us and we took advantage of the laundry facilities. Buying groceries and taking advantage of the kitchen does help save on food and drink costs as it is very expensive. Ko Olina is a tourist area so all the surrounding restaurants are pricey too. For the onsite restaurants, you can and should make reservations in advance. I think they are worth a try but supplementing a breakfast or lunch with an in-room meal will still help you save money.

 

[aulanidreamer]

There appears to still be plenty of DVC availability in Dec (except the first week looked more booked for standard or island view bc they cost less points and it’s before the higher point time period) so you could definitely look into renting. May is the 7 month mark and there should be lots of people able to book for you. Points are generally between $15-20 a point for rental I have been told, but I have never rented out our own points. The bulk of the resort is DVC units (70%) and they are closer to the beach with better views over the hotel rooms. If you are looking for Christmas week I would contact a renter soon and be ready to have them book the day booking opens. If you find an Aulani owner (instead of DVC member that belongs to another resort) they can book it already. Best of luck planning

 

[Douglas Dubh]

Disneyland is probably going to be extremely busy between Christmas and New Years and very busy for the week after that. I’d recommend going at the end of your trip rather than the beginning.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

If you are staying on DVC points, parking (37 per night) and laundry will be no charge. Look at Costco or hawaiidiscountcarrental for a good rate, book as early as possible.

Target and Costco is really close and we always stop on the way from the airport and stock up on breakfast and lunch items.

We find a studio to work well for us (2 adults, 14, 11). Please note, there are only 2 beds in a studio, no pull down. You also do not get a daily room clean of using points. A 1-bed will be significantly more expensive (would have doubled our cost) so we take the studio.

If cost is a factor but you want to stay in that area, you could look at vrbo and rent at Marriott Beach Club right next door. It's really nice, but not Aulani. Ko'Olina is kind of secluded and you are away from a lot of things.

We don't really do a whole lot when we go, as far as activities. We figure if we are booking a super expensive hotel, might as well take advantage of the resort. We go to relax and get away from the constant go, go, go. We are going for 9 days and are going to try to do all of our outings in 1-2 days.

If you decide to stop at Disneyland, and are really only doing Disneyland, I don't see a need to rent a car. Just Uber from the airport. Staying on site is EXTREMELY expensive. We usually stay within walking distance at Howard Johnson or Best Western Stovalls Inn (free breakfast). There are many within walking distance and a Target is close by for snacks and stuff.