How to Plan Your Trip To Aulani Tips and Tricks

[Michelle smith]

Like you, I have searched and dug deep int every board and message there is to learn all the ins and outs of Aulani. Since I have yet to see any post about how to start and a what to do, I figured I'd start a post and share my journey from start to finish with you; in hopes someone might gain helpful insight to planning an amazing vacation.

Allow me to start by saying I am a full time working mom and I am very organized and love to plan. Everything I am about to share with you, will help organize and condense all the information you are finding into one great place and useful tool. I am not here to promote anything but my knowledge as I spent countless hours asking questions and some people were down right rude that you asked something that maybe posted somewhere in the dark dark hole of the forums. I am just here to help.

There is no right or wrong place to start however when I started my journey a few months back on Aulani planning, I started with dates. We have two children yet to be in High School so as a family we take advantage of pulling kids out of school for a week to capitalize on lower costs and less crowds. Originally our hearts were set on a Disney Cruise but due to things beyond our control, we moved the plan to Aulani late in the game. As you may have already read, renting DVC points from various companies can be beneficial and worth the cost. We did not have this option due to how late we were planning (you really need at least 6 months notice). We did however watch the Deals on Aulani website and were able to book a great deal that included a $150 gift card, free car rental for one day and transportation to and from airport. After factoring that along with what would cost us for renting during when we wish to go, there was only a $127 dollar difference in price. So we were not missing out on too much. Another room type and view may have changed that along with free parking but again we had little planning and options.

Once you have nailed your dates and reserved your room, the fun begins. And so do the questions and at times overwhelming information you find. The next thing to start planning for is flights. I recommend downloading the Hopper app on your phone. It will alert you for price drops, give you a prediction of prices increasing or decreasing and you can save several itineraries from different airports at a time.We have the pleasure of being near 4 very convenient airports withing 45 minute drive. Note, not all airlines are watched through this app.That is why I also recommend things like skyscanner, airline email sign up etc... You will want to have several sources to find the best price. Hawaiian airlines happens to be on Hopper so when prices dropped to $306 round trip from San Diego to Honolulu, we jumped on it right away. SCORE!

Now on to planning and I recommend getting yourself a notebook with pocket. This is to write down all the incredible notes, tip and information you want to remember. Like the one below:


I found this at Staples and it has a hard plastic cover to prevent damage. See the pocket to the left, this is where I have kept all the goodies I am about to tell you further in this post. The first page on the right has a note section already started with all thing Aulani. I have started to compile things I want to remember to do, see, try or explore while at the resort. These are things I have found on Disboards, Facebook pages, pinterest and blogs. I have placed sticky tabs and labeled pages to write notes on. There is an Aulani page, Places to Visit page sectioned off by area of island as well as where to eat around there, Pack List page, Trip Info page; like car rentals, hotel stay, flight information and excursions, then there is a Research page which I basically keep notes on things to look up that I read somewhere along the way. See here:



I like to use color to keep things pretty. This little notebook in now where I keep all thing Aulani whenever I read a posting or find information . I write it down in my book. I may not do everything but at least I can bring it with me while there and have everything in one location when planning my vacation. Notice that I sectioned my pages to location on the Places to Visit tab. On the top I put things to see and then on the bottom of the section where to eat. Also used different colors. Turquoise for food, orange for shave ice and black for things to see. I may be a little OCD.

We are less than 30 days away from arrival and can't wait...... I'll let this post sit for a little before moving on to my next bits of information. Maybe a day or so. That way if you have any questions I am happy to answer.

 

[denecarter]

Thank you for being willing to share what you have learned!

 

[Mistizoom]

Following, I am planning a trip for June 2020! Lots of time but so much to learn.

 

[Michelle smith]

Okay so now that I have a fancy notebook to start writing everything down. I also decided to print out a map of Aulani, A map of the Island that I drew and a week plan of the days I will be at Aulani. The Aulani map was easy to print from the website. I really wanted a visual of Aulani so I can better understand where everything is located. The map I drew myself on a large 11 X 14 paper. I drew in places to visit, places to eat, roads, beaches and of coarse where target and Costco are. I also colored coordinate everything as well. Then I drew out my days I will be at Aulani much like a weekly planner. I used pencil because well I erased and rearranged everything a million times.





I folded all of these and put them in those pockets of my notebook I mentioned in my first post. Notice that now on my planner most things are in ink. Green for excursions, pink for dining reservations everything else is pencil. The way I ended up planning my week was knowing my family and our needs. We live in southern California and pretty close to the beach so for us, this vacation was all about seeing the island as well as Aulani. Which, after reading several different blogs about the creation of Aulani, this was exactly what Disney in mind when they built the resort. They wanted their guest to also enjoy the beauty of Oahu. So many of you may not venture out much or not stay entire time at resort, we are. My kids are 12 and 9 and are used to us road tripping and having adventures so we will be coming to the resort most late afternoons and not really using the Auntys beach house. . Come to find out, April they are closed and things are changing anyways. Maybe if my husband and I wish to sneak out for dinner alone perhaps but again we are flexible so there is room for anything. My advise is to know what your family needs, each family will be different. Its your vacation.

okay so planning. I did not want to drive all over the island on one day so I really made a huge effort in keeping excursions and trips to the same area as much as possible. That is where my map I drew of Oahu really helped. After marking everything on the map and in my notebook on what to do, see, and eat at, I started the plan. Here is our plan as of today (this may change a bit, we are flexible)

Day 1: Arrive and resort day
Day 2: Dole Plantation (maze, train), surf Waikiki, resort (menehune dinner reservation)
Day 3: Hanauma Bay, Sea life park dolphin encounter, Waikiki fireworks
Day 4: Kualo Ranch Movie tour, Polynesian Culture center, resort
Day 5: Pearl harbor and swap meet, resort
Day 6: All day resort, Paradise cove luau
Day 7: Waimea falls, North shore (turtle beach, sharks cove, town), resort
Day 8: leave day, breakfast buffet

Of coarse I have in my note book all the places to see in each area and stop to eat however these are the big main items we wish to get to and we have reservations for. We tend to be flexible and kinda go with it as well but here is a skeleton of our plans. Next post, money saving deals and tidbits I have discovered.

 

[denecarter]

Following, I am planning a trip for June 2020! Lots of time but so much to learn.

Me, too!

 

[luvmychaos]

We’re going in September and appreciate all the planning you’ve done! It is a relatively slim board for Aulani, as opposed to the other parts of the Dis

 

[alohamom]

Great job with the planning, sounds like you have really made the most of the boards.

One thing I might mention is that some of the pools at Aulani do close on the early side. 6pm in the off season and 8pm in the high season. The "main pool" stays open 2 hours past the others closing but no slides or lazy river.
Seeing as you have very full days (ie-Day 3,4,5,7) you might want to keep it in mind so as not to be disappointed with the lack of things to do at the resort at night. You will have time to use them on Day 1,2 and 6 but I just wanted to point it out.

One thing I didnt realize (and I have been to Aulani twice and I read these boards on a regular basis) was that the apps at the Oleo room are half off from 5-7! I knew about the MonkeyPod happy hour discount but I didnt realize they did that Oleo Room too. I will have to take advantage of that next time we go so thanks for having that in your notes.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Thanks so much for sharing all of your knowledge!

 

[Pete W.]

Is Day 2 a weekday? If so, it looks like a very aggressive schedule given how bad the traffic can be.

 

[Michelle smith]

We’re going in September and appreciate all the planning you’ve done! It is a relatively slim board for Aulani, as opposed to the other parts of the Dis

I understand. I found a lot of information for Walt Disney World last year when we went and Aulani seems to be lacking a little. So I figured why not help someone out.

 

[Michelle smith]

Thanks so much for sharing all of your knowledge!

You are welcome, hope it helps.

 

[Michelle smith]

Great job with the planning, sounds like you have really made the most of the boards.

One thing I might mention is that some of the pools at Aulani do close on the early side. 6pm in the off season and 8pm in the high season. The "main pool" stays open 2 hours past the others closing but no slides or lazy river.
Seeing as you have very full days (ie-Day 3,4,5,7) you might want to keep it in mind so as not to be disappointed with the lack of things to do at the resort at night. You will have time to use them on Day 1,2 and 6 but I just wanted to point it out.

One thing I didnt realize (and I have been to Aulani twice and I read these boards on a regular basis) was that the apps at the Oleo room are half off from 5-7! I knew about the MonkeyPod happy hour discount but I didnt realize they did that Oleo Room too. I will have to take advantage of that next time we go so thanks for having that in your notes.

Thank you for the pool information and we knew this from previous posts here in Dis. We are huge ocean fans so the pool slide and such are not too big of a deal for us. We have 2 days allocated for that so if we miss the slides a day or two, we are okay. We plan to be in bed early for early wake up anyways. Like I said though, we have some flexibility in our plans.

 

[Michelle smith]

Is Day 2 a weekday? If so, it looks like a very aggressive schedule given how bad the traffic can be.

Yes, we knew that when we made that day so the surf lessons may have to wait for another day. We will see how it all goes. I did note the traffic patterns and to be on the road back to Aulani before 2pm or after 6pm.

 

[snoodledoo]

Great thread! Looking forward to more info as we are heading there in June for our first time to Oahu.

 

[Michelle smith]

I am a HUGE money saver and anytime I can get a deal I do. I mentioned in the first post to rent DVC points if possible or watch for room deals. I won't go into that as I was late in the game and the DIS board seems to have a lot on that topic. I will tell you about some huge money saving tips I did use. The first is car rental. I am a Costco member and I knew that I can book a car anytime through them without paying upfront. The good thing to this is, I can also change a reservation as many times as I want as often as I want. I also knew that renting from the airport would be cheaper then the resort. No matter how many times I looked at Alamo for the days we were at the resort, the rental for one day in a car was no less than $98 dollars a day. So although the overnight fee is $37 a night, my rental for one week from the airport is way cheaper in a SUV! I started in January and booked a one week rental. At first it was about $298. However I kept checking and rebooking and you know what..... that same SUV went as low as $155 ($22 a day for an SUV). So Even with the $37 fee a night, I have a rental that is cheaper then a daily one with Aulani. (on a side note, the resort is giving me $150 free so that will help pay for the parking anyways) And as an executive member at Costco, I am getting 2% back on that rental. Money saved! There are other rental deals out there if you are not a member at Costco but I didn't look into them as this was a great deal.

The next little gem of a deal I did was buy the Hawaii Entertainment book. I knew we wanted to take the kids to a luau and after comparing prices I found Paradise Cove the best for your buck. It just also happens to be in the entertainment book for $25 off every adult.... 2 adults that is $50 we are saving. I decided to sign up for their email list as I knew they send out promotions all the time. And after a few weeks, I received a $5 promotion for the book to be mailed plus, a free app. I bought that and immediately booked the luau. They just asked for me to bring the coupon from the book upon arrival. And I have already been using the app around town where I live. It has already paid for itself and then some. I highly recommend this gem of a deal. There are other great deals in there like excursions, food and shopping. Worth every penny.


The last deal we did was the Go Oahu card. Now I have to say I was very very confused about this card when I first read about it. And after I use it, I will post a blog just on it because no one seems to have a clear posting on how to use this card. It was the nice lady at the Sea Life park who gave me the low down and I am so glad she did. This card is only worth the money if and only if you plan to explore the island. If you plan to stay at the resort or only venture out for a day or two, do not do this card! Since we have planned several days out, this is a big time money saver. Let me explain why. The card from the Go card site will have 1, 2, 3,5,7 day cards choose from. Any card with 3 or more days gets you a premium activity like dolphin encounter, luau, Sunset dinner sail etc... that excursion alone costs you the price of the card so anything you do above that is money saved. To make this deal even better, Costco sells a 4 day card for the price almost of a 3 day card. So naturally we bought the 4 day.... that is a free day in my eyes! Here is what we get, we bought the card for $199 an adult and $166 a child (prices went up this month ugggg) we already wanted to do the dolphin encounter as that is my daughters dream so right there that would have been $150 if we paid it at the park. Then we also knew we wanted to take the kids to the Polynesian Culture Center that's $60. Just those two things alone has already paid for the pass so the 2 visits to Kualoa Ranch, Dole plantation, surfboard rental, scuba rental, Pearl Harbor are now 100% FREE. See why I bough the card?

Now let me tell you some things I have learned about this card. You must make reservations with some of the places; you just can't show up and go there. Any place that requires this, will have a R next to it on the paperwork they send you when you order the card. I recommend you do this as soon as you know what you have planned and you have the card. Many of the places require you to provide them with your Go Oahu card number. Ask lots of questions if you don't know. Everyone was more than helpful when I booked them. I asked things like where do we go, do you need ID, etc.... I also down loaded the app on my phone along with printing the pass. It comes with a nice print out of everything you can see or do as well as basic instructions. I just used a highlighter to highlight the ones we are interested in and any important info. Again I plan on posting after the trip on how it went. Spread the love.

Next post coming soon.....

 

[goofynut41]

We are planning for last of June First of July 2019 ( My Birthday) When do you suggest we make reservations? Would like to get a discount My husband is retired Military. If we do it now can we get a discount later?

 

[hodad]

This is a great collection of tips. Thank you!

Re: cars, if you rent DVC points, self-parking is free, saving you $37 per night in addition to the DVC savings. Also, I always use autoslash.com to look for the best car rental rates, regularly saving 50%.

Re: your itinerary, I would skip Waimea falls and replace it with Wailua Falls and do Waikiki on the same day, then the Dole plantation and the north shore on the same day. Save driving whenever possible! Have you considered the luau tied to the Polynesian Culture Center instead of Paradise Cove? You can get great discounts on a ticket to the center+luau, and they will even pick you up and drop you off at the resort so you don't have to drive back and can drink all the mai tais the Mormons won't serve you.

Re: fireworks, there are often fireworks on nights other than the Hilton ones on Friday. I was staying at the Sheraton Waikiki last weekend and the Korean division of Unicity, a pyramid-scheme herbal supplement company, put on a Disney-worthy fireworks show near the Royal Hawaiian on a Sunday night at 8:30 for its salespeople, but everyone could see it obviously. There must be a way to find out if there are other fireworks planned...

Re: beaches, you said you live in California and want to explore the island instead of the ocean, but I urge you to explore the Wai'anae beaches (Yokohama, Makua, Makaha, etc) if you're visiting in the summer. They will knock your socks off.

 

[Michelle smith]

We are planning for last of June First of July 2019 ( My Birthday) When do you suggest we make reservations? Would like to get a discount My husband is retired Military. If we do it now can we get a discount later?

When you say reservations are you referring to the resort?

 

[goofynut41]

When you say reservations are you referring to the resort?

Yes

 

[Michelle smith]

This is a great collection of tips. Thank you!

Re: cars, if you rent DVC points, self-parking is free, saving you $37 per night in addition to the DVC savings. Also, I always use autoslash.com to look for the best car rental rates, regularly saving 50%.

Re: your itinerary, I would skip Waimea falls and replace it with Wailua Falls and do Waikiki on the same day, then the Dole plantation and the north shore on the same day. Save driving whenever possible! Have you considered the luau tied to the Polynesian Culture Center instead of Paradise Cove? You can get great discounts on a ticket to the center+luau, and they will even pick you up and drop you off at the resort so you don't have to drive back and can drink all the mai tais the Mormons won't serve you.

Re: fireworks, there are often fireworks on nights other than the Hilton ones on Friday. I was staying at the Sheraton Waikiki last weekend and the Korean division of Unicity, a pyramid-scheme herbal supplement company, put on a Disney-worthy fireworks show near the Royal Hawaiian on a Sunday night at 8:30 for its salespeople, but everyone could see it obviously. There must be a way to find out if there are other fireworks planned...

Re: beaches, you said you live in California and want to explore the island instead of the ocean, but I urge you to explore the Wai'anae beaches (Yokohama, Makua, Makaha, etc) if you're visiting in the summer. They will knock your socks off.

Glad you liked the post. We all have to work together you know? As I mentioned earlier, we were to late to book DVC so we did what was best in our situation. But yes, worthy note that if you rent DVC, parking is free.

Great advise on the falls however I have been to the Wailua falls, (aren't these on Kauai? ) before so tying to see things we have never done. And the luau to the Polynesian center is a great idea but money wise, we could not beat the prices for Paradise Cove. Saved HUGE with the entertainment book and its just walk next door to the resort.

have no idea about fireworks on another places but that a great idea; if you ever discover were to find that info, please post on the DISboard

I will have to note those beaches and take a look. Like I said, our itinerary is flexible and we are open to change and how each day goes. Thank you for that tid bit.