Coffee on the Verandah - Two by two - 5/21

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by MAGICFOR2

Hi Cynthia! We are finally in our own place and I have my very own internet! So, I am all caught up.

YAY! that is so exciting. I saw the pictures of all your boxes!

Originally Posted by MAGICFOR2

First, I want to tell you that I am praying for all of your requests. Heavy load for you right now, but not for God.

Thanks

Originally Posted by MAGICFOR2

Vero - I love the way you were all so relaxed and each person did what felt like vacation to them! (with a little minor exception for mom, of course. ) So relaxed, but good family time. - AND you look great in your bikini, I might add! Thanks again! It really was a very fun day all around!

AULANI!!!! So excited for you! It will be a very nice couples trip for the two of you , and the price is right- isn't DVC great?

The price was definitely right! I wish we could do a 1B but we will be there and tat's all that matters. I'll just need to get a little creative on the food front.

Originally Posted by mickeystoontown

Yeah baby! That's fantastic!

I am so excited!

Originally Posted by FauntleroyFAN07

wow under 700 for flights...is that for everyone?

Well, everyone is only two. LOL! Flights were about $560 for the 2 of us, I used a few miles to get them down a little so we could get the non stop ones. The other $100 was to buy a few points since I was adding a night and I didn't want to risk not having enough points for my New Years booking. I figured $100 to add a night was a pretty sweet deal although we get in so late it will just be to sleep hence the lesser view room.

[Poolrat]

Originally Posted by eandesmom

We are booked for SEVEN nights at Aulani, and flights are BOOKED!

total cost? For both of us?

$664!

CONGRATS.

NYE the big family trip back to WDW? I am toying with that too.

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by Poolrat

CONGRATS.

NYE the big family trip back to WDW? I am toying with that too.

Yep, NYE 2013 is the plan. Or hope. Or dream depending on who you talk to. That would be so fun if you were there at the same time!

[Flossbolna]

I think you must get a new ticker now!

I wish I lived so close to Hawaii as you! A flight from here starts at about triple the price you paid for two people... But then I guess I have the advantage of a million other destinations being close by like Paris, London etc.

[MEK]

Originally Posted by eandesmom

We are booked for SEVEN nights at Aulani, and flights are BOOKED!

total cost? For both of us?

$664!

Which included buying a few points so I didn't borrow more than I wanted to and not have buffer for the New Years eve trip.

I was able to get non stop flights both ways but that's what added the night. We get in late on the 21st so right now we have that night in an Island View Studio (waitlisted for standard view) and then the next 6 are Ocean View baby! I'd love to be in a one bedroom for the cooking but for 7 nights? I can figure it out and make it work And with that many nights, I can get some quality time visiting with my family while we are there and not feel like I'm cutting into "our" time so much.

Let the planning begin. I have booked a car but will keep trying to get it down, it's pretty steep but I expected that, especially this far out.

So excited!

Totally missed this, but yeah! When are you going again? Missed the FB announcement. But this is really awesome! I guess living on the west coast has its advantages in making Hawaii much more accessible than living over yonder on the East Coast.

Happy planning!

[Angies1274]

Yay for Aulani!! Ooohh...I really want to go there! So excited for you!

Great beach pictures! The boys looked like they were having fun! Love the mermaid pic!

[Disney9.9.10]

Hi! I haven't read your whole report yet, but I remember you from when I was more active on the boards, so I thought I'd stop in! I am so so jealous of you getting to go to Aulani!! One day, I will make it there lol Looking forward to reading the rest of your report

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by Flossbolna

I think you must get a new ticker now!

Yes I must! Booking a room is one step but that's easily cancelled in most cases, even with points. Flights though...that makes it real!

Originally Posted by Flossbolna

I wish I lived so close to Hawaii as you! A flight from here starts at about triple the price you paid for two people... But then I guess I have the advantage of a million other destinations being close by like Paris, London etc.

It's funny, in flight time FL is a little bit closer but not much, but there are so few direct flights that it's not as easy to get to without it taking an entire day to do it. With the time change, even a direct flight eats up a ton of time. Hawaii on the other hand is crazy with flight options and a lot more directs, so that is where us west coasters go, though I've been to FL over twice as many times lol. I'm in the minority, as are the boys. Their friends have all been to HI, many annually, whereas they've been to FL.

When we bought DVC we really did plan to use our points at Aulani, the nice thing about being relatively close with so many flights is that we can be flexible and go at the lower point seasons. I really considered getting points there but as we will probably never really "want" to go during peak time, I didn't feel I needed the home resort advantage. What is pretty exciting to me is that if we love it, it is definitely a place we could go to once all the kids are gone, on a very regular basis with our points and that's just pretty darn cool.

Historically we've been able to get there for around $300 each if we really track and pay attention. The last few years have been a LOT higher and certain times of year are brutal so it's been much more in the $500-900 range. I think we paid $800 each for our last trip which was pretty brutal. I consider anything under $400 a good deal and I think at full price these would have come in about $410 each. There were non direct options for less though.

You do have a lot of pretty spectacular places close to you...much closer than Hawaii is to me! I really wish it wasn't so expensive to get to Europe from here. I would love to take the kids over there but the flights are ouch! Someday, I really really hope!

Originally Posted by MEK

Totally missed this, but yeah! When are you going again? Missed the FB announcement. But this is really awesome! I guess living on the west coast has its advantages in making Hawaii much more accessible than living over yonder on the East Coast.

Happy planning!

Well the FB was a limited announcement, didn't need the kids seeing it! It was just on a couple of disney pages but I think you are on at least one of the two I posted it on. Anyway...we are going 5/21-28. It is more accessible from a flight standpoint for sure, time wise on the non stop it's a little bit further but not bad, maybe 30 minutes. It's pretty exciting to me to check it out. Realistically, after the kids are gone, I could see us using points here on a fairly regular basis since we do have the flexibility to go in off season and Jeff can only handle so much WDW. LOL.

It will be a very different kind of Hawaii trip for us. In the past we've done condo's on other islands. Neither of which were right on the beach though they were ocean view. It will be a little hard not having the full kitchen but it will be awfully nice to have the beach right there without driving and full resort amenities. Plus it will be very nice to spend some time with my family there, my favorite cousins are there! It will help us plan the family trip there too, hopefully for Feb or April of 2015 I'm thinking and I'm thinking that will be a 2 island trip but we will see. Of course with all of this I'm looking at the points for HI, the points for the NYE trip and going hey...where are the extra points for girls trips? Sigh. Never enough huh. Out before you start.

It was interesting though. I could have easily gotten a studio or 1B in Cabo for the same, or less points. Flights would have been more and weren't as cheap which is why HI won by a landslide, plus heaven forbid something happened I still have flexibility with the points. For $95 I don't understand why folks say RCI trading is such a bad deal, those places were gorgeous! I guess maybe because the rack rates at those places aren't as high as at WDW or Aulani so they don't feel they are getting as much for their points? I dunno but I do know we will be using ours at one of them in the future for sure, it's an easy trip from here.

Originally Posted by Angies1274

Yay for Aulani!! Ooohh...I really want to go there! So excited for you!

Yay is right! It is SO soggy here right now that it makes me smile just thinking about it.

Originally Posted by Angies1274

Great beach pictures! The boys looked like they were having fun! Love the mermaid pic!

They were. They are going to be a bit mad about the Hawaii thing but I do think the NYE trip will make up for it. I'm grateful they are old enough to get that we can only do and afford so much and that the big trip with cousins will mean waiting now. They also do understand that couple time is important to us. However, since Jeff and I are also going to SF in 2 weeks they may be a tad bitter. Don't think they care so much about SF in Dec but Hawaii is another story. I am going to have to assure them that they get to go the next time, and stick to it.

[MEK]

Originally Posted by eandesmom

Well the FB was a limited announcement, didn't need the kids seeing it! It was just on a couple of disney pages but I think you are on at least one of the two I posted it on. Anyway...we are going 5/21-28. It is more accessible from a flight standpoint for sure, time wise on the non stop it's a little bit further but not bad, maybe 30 minutes. It's pretty exciting to me to check it out. Realistically, after the kids are gone, I could see us using points here on a fairly regular basis since we do have the flexibility to go in off season and Jeff can only handle so much WDW. LOL.

It will be a very different kind of Hawaii trip for us. In the past we've done condo's on other islands. Neither of which were right on the beach though they were ocean view. It will be a little hard not having the full kitchen but it will be awfully nice to have the beach right there without driving and full resort amenities. Plus it will be very nice to spend some time with my family there, my favorite cousins are there! It will help us plan the family trip there too, hopefully for Feb or April of 2015 I'm thinking and I'm thinking that will be a 2 island trip but we will see. Of course with all of this I'm looking at the points for HI, the points for the NYE trip and going hey...where are the extra points for girls trips? Sigh. Never enough huh. Out before you start.

.

Well, it sounds like a wonderful trip and its great that you will be seeing family and enjoying Aulani. Bliss!

No - there really are NEVER enough points for everything you want to do.

OK - so let me get this straight - Hawaii in May, WDW in December / NY's 2013, big family trip in 2015? You've got some serious planning to do.

I am thinking of F&G in 2014 since I will be at the tail end of the PAP. Not sure if Denny will want to go back or not, but just throwing it out there if you are interested. I am definitely going with or without him and you are always welcome!

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by MEK

Well, it sounds like a wonderful trip and its great that you will be seeing family and enjoying Aulani. Bliss!

No - there really are NEVER enough points for everything you want to do.

OK - so let me get this straight - Hawaii in May, WDW in December / NY's 2013, big family trip in 2015? You've got some serious planning to do.

I am thinking of F&G in 2014 since I will be at the tail end of the PAP. Not sure if Denny will want to go back or not, but just throwing it out there if you are interested. I am definitely going with or without him and you are always welcome!

Yep, the current plan/wish list is...

Dec '12 SFran (not Disney I know but we might go to the family museum!)
May '13 Aulani, just Jeff and I
Dec'13/Jan'14 Large family trip WDW for NYE
Feb or April '15 Aulani with the E's.
Summer 14 or 15 maybe a cruise?
Late Winter Australia trip just Jeff and I '14 or '15?

F&G 2014 is a definite possibility. I will have my AP and would love to get one more trip out of it so it'd either be F&G 2014 or F&W 2014. I will probably know by the 11 month mark. But I definitely will not have any points. That's still my 2013 UY so I'll be totally broke! The potential complication with F&G is that we are hoping to get a big couples trip to Australia in there somewhere. If that happens in 2014 it is unlikely I'd be able to do both. It is more likely to happen in 2015 in my opinion though. It is all dependent on Taylor graduating lol and timed with Jeff's annual bonus and I just don't see it all coming together in time to plan for 2014. If it's 2015 it puts a wrinkle in the Aulani plans. So, it's a definite maybe. Then again we may just tweak the time of year on Australia so it's not an issue. Weather and cost wise we'd love to do Feb/March but summer would be easier with the kids in some ways. We will see. It's all pie in the sky now.

And frankly, between you, me and the wall, K will have expenses for college then and I don't think Jeff is factoring it in as much as it probably will be. She is visiting UCSD today.

[FauntleroyFAN07]

Originally Posted by eandesmom

Well, everyone is only two. LOL! Flights were about $560 for the 2 of us, I used a few miles to get them down a little so we could get the non stop ones. The other $100 was to buy a few points since I was adding a night and I didn't want to risk not having enough points for my New Years booking. I figured $100 to add a night was a pretty sweet deal although we get in so late it will just be to sleep hence the lesser view room.

not bad at all round trip from us to hawaii runs between 700-800 a person.

but we save on the trips to disney living closer than you so i guess it all evens out.

what airline are you flying into hawaii on?

alaska has some good deals from you guys over...u might want to look into there credit card for the trip there with the E's buy one full price ticket, the second 100 bucks.

you can also get some good deals with points on the rest of the tickets.

ohh and they give a few drink when getting about 1 hour out of the islands...

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by FauntleroyFAN07

not bad at all round trip from us to hawaii runs between 700-800 a person.

We paid a little over $700 each 2 years ago, by far the most we'd ever paid but I think it might have timed with some spring breaks and that's why it was so much more. If you avoid summer and Christmas you can usually get it somewhere between $300-500.

Originally Posted by FauntleroyFAN07

but we save on the trips to disney living closer than you so i guess it all evens out.

Historically I've gotten flights to MCO for around $225 but this last family trip was ridiculous, more than twice that. My girls trip though was back at the good price

Originally Posted by FauntleroyFAN07

what airline are you flying into hawaii on?

alaska has some good deals from you guys over...u might want to look into there credit card for the trip there with the E's buy one full price ticket, the second 100 bucks.

you can also get some good deals with points on the rest of the tickets.

ohh and they give a few drink when getting about 1 hour out of the islands...

Alaska there and Delta back. I used miles on Alaska so that leg only cost us $200 total which was cool and then the Delta legs were $178 each. Bummer though as they were $167 the day before. I love Yapta, thanks to tracking it really helps me know when to buy. Saved on this leg and then big time on the girls trip in Oct.

I don't recall a free drink on Alaska to HI but then again I think the last trips were United, and Hawaiian so it's been a bit. You do get them on their Horizon flights locally, free beer or wine, so that will be something to look forward to! We love Alaska, use it for most things if we possibly can. I may look at the cc again for the big trip, we had in the past but at the time it didn't make sense as for whatever reason.

[GreatBiscuit]

Finally caught back up. Cool turtle experience!

[PracPerfPatricia]

Dis ing while I'm testing out potential cocktails to serve at dinner tomorrow...

Congrats on your Aulani deal/trip... Awesome deal to an awesome place.... Nice getaway to SF also... (I'm drooling at both...)

I hope that you and your family have a fabulous Thanksgiving...gooble...gooble...

[KatMark]

Cynthia, just wanted to stop by and wish you, Jeff, the E's, Kendall and the rest of the family a very Happy Thanksgiving.