owning at aulani and wdw?

[cryssi]

Does anyone own at aulani and wdw? If so, have you used your wdw points at aulani, and how did you have to book? I'm wondering if you booked aulani at 11 months out for part of the week, and then at 7 months used your other points for the rest...was there availability? What do you do if there is no availability? Shorten your vacation?

Thanks!

Also, where is the best place to buy additional points at wdw? SSR?

 

[adminjedi]

Does anyone own at aulani and wdw?
YES

If so, have you used your wdw points at aulani, and how did you have to book?
You can book at 7 months online or by calling member services like any other reservation

I'm wondering if you booked aulani at 11 months out for part of the week, and then at 7 months used your other points for the rest...was their availability?
We have done it several ways. We originally booked at 11 months with Aulani pts and then at 7 months returned those points by using other resort pts as there was availability. We have also booked within the 7 month window directly. I would personally never book half of a vacation and risk availability later as we usually use airmiles for our plane tickets and need to do that in advance as well.

What do you do if there is no availability? Shorten your vacation?
Yes, you would have to make plans for an early return or other accommodations, or you could pay cash to stay at Aulani.


Thanks!

Also, where is the best place to buy additional points at wdw? SSR?
We own where we want to stay. I never want to be disappointed while being on vacation!

 

[cryssi]

Thank you!

 

[cryssi]

We own where we want to stay. I never want to be disappointed while being on vacation!

Do you get priority at your home resort, even at the 7 month mark?

I guess I should have added "conversely, what do you do at wdw with aulani points and wdw points?" lol

thank you!

 

[G'sMaman]

Does anyone own at aulani and wdw? If so, have you used your wdw points at aulani, and how did you have to book? I'm wondering if you booked aulani at 11 months out for part of the week, and then at 7 months used your other points for the rest...was there availability? What do you do if there is no availability? Shorten your vacation?

Thanks!

Also, where is the best place to buy additional points at wdw? SSR?

We own at Aulani and use our 7+ month window to book the cheapest room possible and at the 7 month mark swap them with our other points or upgrade to a larger room. I was a bit nervous about booking the grand villa over Thanksgiving so I booked as many days as I could with my Aulani points and then had a back up reservation at the Marriott next door. It all worked out fine and we got the room and view we wanted.

 

[adminjedi]

Do you get priority at your home resort, even at the 7 month mark?

I guess I should have added "conversely, what do you do at wdw with aulani points and wdw points?" lol

thank you!

There is no priority at the 7 month mark. I would never use my Aulani pts at WDW as they are more expensive per point and I have plenty of WDW pts.

 

[cryssi]

There is no priority at the 7 month mark. I would never use my Aulani pts at WDW as they are more expensive per point and I have plenty of WDW pts.

good point. with current points, we have to bank and borrow for one week at aulani. would it be more beneficial to buy more points at aulani, or look into wdw points?

 

[ecualumni06]

good point. with current points, we have to bank and borrow for one week at aulani. would it be more beneficial to buy more points at aulani, or look into wdw points?

I am wondering the same if anyone has some insight

 

[adminjedi]

Aulani will trend differently than WDW resorts.

The basic rule is to own where you want to stay. This is more true at smaller resorts, but location or desirability is a factor as well. For instance, it is more difficult to get BWV or BCV during Food & Wine.

My personal opinion is that Aulani, once sold out will be more difficult at 7 mos. Aulani owners will be less likely to trade out to WDW resorts. They purchased there to stay in Hawaii.

 

[asunutgirl]

We own at Aulani - bought there in August so we haven't actually been yet. But we are already discussing adding more points at Aulani. We bought there because we live on the west coast and want to visit Hawaii. We figured that we could use our Aulani points at WDW at 7 months since there are so many more resorts at WDW. When I spoke to our guide last week, she agreed that if we want to add on and our primary goal is more visits or larger units in Hawaii that we should add our points at Aulani and not WDW.

 

[deploylinux]

We just purchased 350 pts at Aulani and are located in San Diego. I expect we'll visit Aulani, Disneyland, or take cruises at least every other year. WDW will be left for once or twice every decade. The flights are just too long whereas disneyland and hawaii are relatively nearby. Hawaii should be just fine as a default destination location and the place to go if we don't have plans anywhere else.

I hope dvc pursues the concept of expanding beyonds its parks and especially on the west coast.

 

[AKchristmasqueen]

We own at Aulani and use our 7+ month window to book the cheapest room possible and at the 7 month mark swap them with our other points or upgrade to a larger room. I was a bit nervous about booking the grand villa over Thanksgiving so I booked as many days as I could with my Aulani points and then had a back up reservation at the Marriott next door. It all worked out fine and we got the room and view we wanted.

What do you mean by swap or upgrade? Is this additional points or done because you are an Aulani DVC owner? I purchased my membership in 2011 and have only stayed 1 night as I booked too late. I have reserved Aulani in January and am very excited about it. Any tips on making the most of the trip and stay?

 

[AKchristmasqueen]

We just purchased 350 pts at Aulani and are located in San Diego. I expect we'll visit Aulani, Disneyland, or take cruises at least every other year. WDW will be left for once or twice every decade. The flights are just too long whereas disneyland and hawaii are relatively nearby. Hawaii should be just fine as a default destination location and the place to go if we don't have plans anywhere else.

I hope dvc pursues the concept of expanding beyonds its parks and especially on the west coast.

Enjoy your points! I just used mine to take my son and his best friend to WDW for 5 days followed by a 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Fantasy. Cost me $95 to book the cruise for all 3 of us. I spent a few months after I purchased my DVC points having second thoughts because of the expense & commitment. Went on the cruise and realized that I made the right choice- we loved it!

Nicki

 

[G'sMaman]

What do you mean by swap or upgrade? Is this additional points or done because you are an Aulani DVC owner? I purchased my membership in 2011 and have only stayed 1 night as I booked too late. I have reserved Aulani in January and am very excited about it. Any tips on making the most of the trip and stay?

We own a number of points at VGC and BCV and would rather "save" our Aulani points because planning a trip to Hawaii is more of an investment than going to DL since we're on the west coast and we have always had good luck finding rooms at our favorite resorts at WDW. You can only make the swap/upgrade with your other points if there's availability for the room type you want at the 7 month mark. Member services is great about reallocating points. That way we can save save our Aulani points for future visits.

We went to Aulani last February and had wonderful weather; however, I did find the pool a little chilly even though it's supposed to be heated. My 5 yr old was shivering with blue lips, but still refused to get out!

 

[AKchristmasqueen]

Thanks! I can't wait to go back there in January

My friend was recently there visiting. They actually stayed at the Marriott timeshare. She said that the Disney Lagoon was closed the day they went to check it out because there was a tiger shark in the lagoon:-(.