My wife and I did Maui 3 days + Aulani 4 days w/ our 4 year old daughter in April, here's what I'm thinking:
I would either do 7 nights on Maui (first choice) or 7 nights at Aulani (second choice)
1) Island hopping just isn't worth it. Two rental cars, needing to hoof it to the airport TWICE (leaving the mainland is enough for me), wasting half a day traveling is just a drag. Let's not talk about wrestling/installing the car seats
2) Maui vs. Aulani/Oahu is going to depend on what you want for your vacation. If you want to turn off your brain and relax - Aulani for sure, just be prepared to pay for it. If you want to go on country drives and explore, go out and do things outside of the resort, go to Maui. For me, I was getting cabin fever at day 3 at Aulani, and my daughter just wanted to swim all day, so we really didn't get to anywhere else on the island. Plus, Ko Olina is 45 minutes away from Waikiki and other spots on the island, we just didn't feel like driving.
3) Budget - Maui will be cheaper. Everything at Aulani is standard Disney mark-up, and you'll want the conveniences of poolside dining and room service. At 4 nights, our incidentals bill topped $900+, I don't even want to know what a 7 night stay would look like. Granted, we didn't put much effort into stopping off at Costco/grocery store before our trip, and we were in a studio (so no kitchen).
Anyway, hope that helps
P.S.
Disneyland is SUPER CROWDED in October - we have VGC points as well and those weekends were mostly gone even at the 7-11 month window!