I banked my points to book Aulani but it's not available. WWYD?

[crisi]

Update: we are fully booked!

Yesterday I was refreshing for the umpteenth time when lo! One of my nights was available! I snagged it. That made four of the five nights. I had a WL set for the fifth night, the middle night. Today I got that blessed email that Disney couldn't wait to welcome me home. I called member services today to have them merge together all five of my nights and later I got the confirmation it had been done. I have one big happy 5 night reservation.

So it all worked out. Moral of the story: refresh refresh refresh. I actually had a bookmark set up and I would refresh several times a day. Some of my nights I got from WL and some from refreshing so both methods work!

Awesome!

 

[anricat]

Great update—congrats!

BTW, we’ve taken more than 30 trips to Hawaii and stayed on all the islands (got married on Lanai, only done day trips to Molokai though), and I think Aulani will expose you to many more elements of authentic Hawaiian culture (if you choose to explore the hotel and all of the educational opportunities it offers) than most of the other big resorts. Sure, it’s probably not the same as staying with a Hawaiian family BnB, but it’s less generic than the majority of 4 and 5 star hotels across the islands. If this is your one and only trip (or even once a decade) I’d make an effort to visit a couple of the other iconic spots around the island.

If you want to do the free and paid activities, make sure to keep an eye on the available booking dates—the free kids club time slots can go quickly, and some of the paid stuff does as well.

Awesome! Thank you! We are planning a couple of resort-only days so we can just chill. My daughter will be almost 16 and I think she wants to see what teen activities there are.

The rest of the days we are definitely going to go out and explore the beauty of the island and its cultural offerings. My brother-in-law and his girlfriend will be joining us and she's from there and still has family on the island so we are going to let her be our guide to some extent. It will be nice having a local (she lives in Seattle now, but for all intents and purposes, she's local) show us around!

We went on our honeymoon to Kawaii, but that was 24 years ago so we are excited to not only return (so to speak) but also explore new vistas!

 

[Twohsieh]

I spent time in Hawaii a lot as a kid, and my brother and I will vouch for BI as being well worth a real trip. Spend a few days in Kona, then drive down via South Point to stay near Volcano at least two nights. Then stay near to Hilo (or use Volcano as your homebase) to check out some of Hilo, as well as the Puna District, which is a gem. Come back up around the island 's east side.

A few things not to miss:

• Volcano Winery
• VNP, duh
• Visit one of the Painted Churches
• Pololu Valley Hike (if you have good knees, it's amazing)
• Waimea town
• Kanaloa Octopus Farm (currently closed but when they reopen)
• Snorkeling at Honaunau Bay
• Kaimū Bay (super cool)
• Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park

I could go on all day. It's my favorite island by a lot. I love just sitting in an outdoor hottub near Volcano Village and stargazing.

When we were visiting the Big Island, we made sure to visit Papakōlea Beach since it was one of the four beaches in the world that had green sand.