aulani: timing, duration, excursion tips?

[alisonslp]

We are at the beginning stages of planning for a Hawaii trip and would like some BTDT tips regarding time of the year and how long we should plan for. Here is the background:

- thinking 2014 but maybe 2015. must be May-Oct; we are not Aulani owners so we do not have the 11mth booking
- 3 kids (currently 13, 13, 10) and 2 parents
- our first trip to Hawaii and, due to the cost of the flights, probably our last for a very long time
- we would like to see some of the attractions - volcanoes, Pearl Harbor; 2 of us will want to snorkel/snuba;
- mostly want to hang and relax

If we use 2yrs of points, we have enough for a long stay (10-14 days) for a 1bdrm ; but we likely will get a 2 bdrm for a shorter stay (up to 7day)

Any tips and insight is appreciated in terms of when is the best time to go, how much time we should allocate for just enjoying the resort vs exploring the islands, should we spend more points for the ocean/pool views or can you enjoy this enough through the resort itself? we have 3 that prefer pools vs beach/ocean. Is there a better area to request given this? ; any tips on in resort activities for the teen population?

 

[Carrie in AZ]

I apologize in advance if this is rambling......

I would definitely stay for as long as possible as Aulani and Oahu are so wonderful! There is only one bathroom in the one bedrooms so keep that in mind with the size of your family. The bathroom is sort of split so more than one person can get ready at the same time, but still. Also, I have recommended here before that your teens could possibly shower in the very nice lounge area. I've showered in there before and it is pretty nice. Will the two 13yos share the pull out sleeper sofa and the 10yo on the pull down? These are all things to consider.

Another way to save on points would be to stay in Waikiki for a few nights when you arrive and do Pearl Harbor and such on the front end of your trip. We personally have found it hard to leave Aulani once we are there! It's fun to hang there and enjoy all that Aulani has to offer. Given your kids' ages, though, you may want to do other things on the island such as hikes, that ranch where you can ride ATVs, etc. Does anyone want to learn how to surf?
We stayed up at Turtle Bay after our Aulani trip last summer and really enjoyed it up there. They have an amazing surfing school there and the teens learning to surf looked like they were having a ball! The conditions up there for learning how to surf are superb. We also enjoyed the beaches up on the North Shore as well as the pool at Turtle Bay. Turtle Bay also has horseback riding and segway tours, not sure if you need to be a guest, though, so it may be worth looking into it. These things are activities that sound like they would be appealing to teens so that is why I mentioned them, even though they are at another resort. At Aulani they may enjoy paddle boarding and kayaking and swimming, of course.

Hopefully some others with teens will weigh in on their experience. Our DD was 13 when we were there last this past July. She's all about her friends but she was not willing to walk into the Aulani teen area by herself and try to get to know other kids. Since your trio would have each other, they may be more apt to do so.

Happy planning! You will love it!

 

[wuzzles]

Many of the 'ocean view' rooms require you to be on your balcony, leaning over the railing with your head turned in a particular direction in order to see the ocean ... so if it were me I would try to get a cheaper room and stay for an extra day.

 

[amym2]

We went towards the end of Oct with our kids, DS a week shy of 12 and DD almost 10. My FIL was also with us, so we had a 2bdrm. We LOVED it! The dedicated 2 bedroom actually has 2 1/2 baths, which was perfect because the person sleeping in the living room didn't have to go through the bedrooms to get to a toilet. We used points for an Island Garden view room and requested a high floor in the long wing of the Ewa Tower (which we got). It had a peek at the ocean, which was perfect! Yes, there are plenty of places around the resort to sit and see ocean views, so we didn't feel like we were missing out.

We stayed at Aulani for 5 nights and then flew to Kauai for 5 nights (and rented a house). The guys spent a day at Pearl Harbor while I took DD for surfing lessons. One day we did the North Shore and Polynesian Cultural Center. Otherwise we just enjoyed the resort, which was awesome. We did a couple of the family activities- the Menehune Trail was fun, the hula lessons, Starlit Hui. Our kids weren't interested in Auntie's and weren't old enough for the teen area, so I can't help with that.

I would definitely recommend that if you are going all the way to Hawaii and it's not likely you'll return, you go to another island as well as Oahu. To see volcanoes, you need to go to the Big Island. We did that a few years ago without kids and loved it. We chose Kauai this trip because we wanted a more lush, tropical setting. Some people do day trips to other islands from Oahu, but personally that's too much traveling in one day for us. And to really see the volcanoes you need to be on the BI at night. We also drove up Mauna Kea for the nightly stargazing, and that was amazing. I'd recommend 6-7 nights at Aulani and 3-4 nights on the Big Island if you can swing it. Renting a house through VRBO or HomeAway was easy and less expensive than a resort.

For our Oahu/BI trip we went mid-Sept and for our Aulani/Kauai trip we went mid to late October. Both were fabulous crowd and weather wise. We had no trouble booking Aulani at 7 months (and even right up to our trip there were still 2bd IV available). Hope that helps!

 

[Anal Annie]

We are hoping to get into Aulani in August of 2014 (will know in a few days if we can get a studio, hoping for IV or PV). This will be my 5th trip to Hawaii. I know the cost of flights is a lot to swallow - I have been haunting all of the fare alert sites for days now as I am just about to book. But this is also the reason I would highly recommend trying to also visit another island while you are there for at least a few nights. It would make the cost of your flights more worthwhile. Maui is our most fav. island and where we are also planning to go for a few nights. But if you want to see the live volcano you will want to visit the Big Island. Each island has its own personality and they're all beautiful with lots to see.

I think almost any time of year is great to go - although I believe Dec - March is cooler & rainier. That is also whale season. I have been in late April/early May, July, Sept. and Oct. All were great weather-wise.

 

[Cinderpamela]

For sure check out this thread of reviews from the trip report board on some of the excursions:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3092048

We did not book any excursions through Disney as it was more economical to do it ourselves.

This last trip (just got back yesterday) we did:
-Pearl Harbor (book online many months in advance for sure),
-hiked Diamond Head
-Bishop Museum
-went up to the Northshore twice (the waves were super high and it was fun to watch all the surfers), Including a stop in at the Dole Plantation for Dole Whips & Giovannis Shrimp truck & Matsumotos Shave Ice
-surf lessons through Hawaii Fire (a super fun experience that was a highlight of the trip for us all)
-Byodo In Temple
-Luau at Paradise Cove (its walking distance to the resort-one of those things that we felt our boys needed to experience once but no need to go back again... it was pretty corny... though the hula dancers and the fire dancer we quite good)

Any tips and insight is appreciated in terms of when is the best time to go,

We have gone in August 2012... and then this last trip was in December 2013 over Christmas. The resort was packed for this last trip and was getting even more crowded as we were checking out ... folks were checking in for New Years week.
It was fun but way more crowded than I would usually like if given a choice...and so your time frame of May-October would likely be much less busy. Just know that June seems to be the hardest month to get during your window.

how much time we should allocate for just enjoying the resort vs exploring the islands,

There is so much to do and explore on Oahu.... this last trip we did 4 days in Waikiki with the plan to be getting all our touring done those first days so that we would have relaxing resort time at Aulani for 6 days. Even with that plan in place we still did not get everything on our list done even with doing a couple of off site touring days while at Aulani there was more we wanted to do. Oh well I guess we will have to go back again... darn!

should we spend more points for the ocean/pool views or can you enjoy this enough through the resort itself?

Ocean view and pool view are actually quite nice and enjoyable, but we had a nice time and were able to stay more days by doing Island View on this last trip...it was so worth it to me to stay longer and not have as grand of a view.
It seems like the first view categorys that are snatched up are usually the lower point ones like Standard View and Island View. Often you have to just go with what is available at your booking window... so you may have to be prepared and have enough points to go with a higher point category depending on the season that you are booking in.

we have 3 that prefer pools vs beach/ocean. Is there a better area to request given this?

All areas of the resort have pretty easy access to both the pool deck and the beach... there is not really a room category with better access to either.

any tips on in resort activities for the teen population?

There were usually about 5 teen activities listed on the daily schedule (the Daily Iwa) while we were there, but sometimes participation was not very high. DS (16) went to an Art and Animation activity that had about 12 teens. It was pretty cool. Sometimes they would go to an activity (such as the "beach games") and be told that it had been cancelled since not enough teens had shown up.
We really wanted to do the Ukelele lessons but it was never at a time that worked for us.