What do you all spend on a trip to Aulani?

[Noah_t]

I am curious as to what you all spend on a trip to Aulani. For example my family of four just did a 12 day stay. Now I know the budgeting issue gets tricky for DVC owners because we all value our DVC points differently. For the purpose of this thread I am using a value of 16$ point since this is what Davids will pay and feels pretty close to what I think they cost me.

1/2 share of 8 days in 2 bedroom villa = 196 = 3136
4 nights Oceanview studio = 100 = 1600
4 x flights vancouver-honolulu = 2000
12 nights car rental = 700
Groceries Costco + Safeway = 800
Restaurants = 600
Extraneous = 500

9300$

I often hear people mention how expensive a trip to Aulani\Hawaii is but IMHO its a really affordable vacation for my family. The big cost saving measure for us is that trip to Costco to purchase food and booze. I also feel that all the Hawaiian attractions that we enjoy cost next to nothing.

Would love to hear everyone else's opinions and experiences.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We are dvc and spend at least 10 nights in a one bedroom ocean view. The retail cost would be well over $10000 but we use points

We fly from chicago in business. 4 tickets are about $8000 to $9000.

Rental mini van is about 1200 for 10 nights.

I spend about $300 gor gricerues fir breakfasts and lunches.

We eat our most notes and probably spend $2000 for that.

Drinks during day, incidentals etc. probably about $400 yards $500.

 

[maxbuffmelvin]

I am curious as to what you all spend on a trip to Aulani. For example my family of four just did a 12 day stay. Now I know the budgeting issue gets tricky for DVC owners because we all value our DVC points differently. For the purpose of this thread I am using a value of 16$ point since this is what Davids will pay and feels pretty close to what I think they cost me.

1/2 share of 8 days in 2 bedroom villa = 196 = 3136
4 nights Oceanview studio = 100 = 1600
4 x flights vancouver-honolulu = 2000
12 nights car rental = 700
Groceries Costco + Safeway = 800
Restaurants = 600
Extraneous = 500

9300$

I often hear people mention how expensive a trip to Aulani\Hawaii is but IMHO its a really affordable vacation for my family. The big cost saving measure for us is that trip to Costco to purchase food and booze. I also feel that all the Hawaiian attractions that we enjoy cost next to nothing.

Would love to hear everyone else's opinions and experiences.

I spend over $2,000 for two people's direct flights from the East Coast, but I fly on weekends when the fares are premium.

In a mid-size vehicle, a rental car is usually around $700 for a week.

We splurge on the merchandise because we love Duffy and Friends, and it's rare to find their merchandise at WDW or DL.

Groceries are approximately $200 for two people, which include breakfast, lunch, snacks, alcohol, and non-alcohol beverages.

I don't keep track of my overall vacation costs, but Aulani/Oahu is about the same as my WDW or DL trips.

 

[Proud Cheapskate]

It's always interesting to see what other people pay and think is affordable. No judgment, just way different perspectives. We're taking 3 vacations this year (8 nights at Aulani FEB, 8 nights at Boulder Ridge APR and a 2 week national park trip AUG) and we may not spend $9300 on all 3 combined.

Aulani Trip Feb 2023 Budget:
Room $160ish (Transient accommodation tax)
Air from Boston for 3 $850 total (Alaska air miles and companion ticket)
Car for 8 days $425 and I check it every day expecting it drop more. Really think it will come down closer to $350.
Food (Groceries and restaurants) I'm guessing about $1500
Extras $500
$3500ish but would really like to keep it under $3000

We've been twice before so we know how and where to save money on a trip to Aulani.

 

[Anal Annie]

Going in April for 8 nights for our 30th anniversary. Planned this out for awhile - used credit card miles to book our flights (would have been approx. $710 pp cash from BWI). Also using card miles to pay for rental car (approx. = $700). So 2 big expenses zero oop.

Budgeting approx. $250-300 for some breakfast and lunch groceries and beer. Planning probably $1,200 for 3 or 4 excursions (Kualoa Ranch, snorkeling cruise etc.) Will also plan to do do a couple of low cost days like hiking Diamondhead & the North shore since we'll have the car. (6th trip to Hawaii so can skip Pearl Harbor etc this time). Resort days every other day doing nothing. Dinners will be "out". Planning on probably about $1,200 tops for those meals at a variety of spots (not likely many @ Aulani tho bcuz of prices). So total cash oop for the entire trip max $2,700.

 

[pinkxray]

We live on the east coast and fly from JFK. We are also pretty much locked in to traveling during our kids April break. I work in a hospital so no Xmas break or summer travel over a week at a time. I just have to accept we are going at the busiest time off year for now.

We went to Aulani April 2022 and I am planning for another trip on April 2024. We use a mix of credit card points and dvc to make the trips happen. If I had to pay the cash price we would not be going.

April 2021 cash price- just over $20,000
5 tickets Jfk - HNL $6000
Aulani 1 bedroom ocean view (I’m using renting points as the cost since I had to rent points for 2 nights, out of points ). 7 nights, 62 points a night x $18. $7812
2 nights Waikiki Embassy Suites $700
Rental car minivan. $800
Tours and activities $1000 ( kualoa ranch and Climbworks)
Groceries $300
Misc (eating offsite, souveni,etc.). $1000
Aulani ( I saved $3000 in gift card, purchasing discounted cards throughout the year. We used this for everything. Since it was my 40th bday and I just had a massive liver surgery we splurged a bit. Breakfast and dinner at MakihikI, spa day, cabana, etc. I used every cent of the gift cards. Had $20 left the last morning and bought a box of cookies.We spent every other day at the resort so had many meals there) $3000

My cost after using my dvc points, rental points, and using every credit card point I had about $9,000


April 2024 budget cash prices
4 nights Outrigger ocean front room ( we loved the vibe when we ate lunch at Dukes and kids loved the waves) $3200
5 nights Aulani 5580
flights 4 x 1200 (DD18 will be away at college so one less ticket) $4800
Aulani food, spa cabana, misc $2000
groceries. $200
Misc. $1000
$17,293

Using dvc points, Chase points for Outrigger and a few points on the flights I am coming in close to $7,000. Trying to cut it down a bit. Would like to bring it down closer to $5,000/$6,000. Will work on getting more points for flights and car. Might skip the cabana but loved our day so we’ll see how my budget is doing by then. Also skipping Makihiki. Will try more off property places this time.