We're going back to Hawaii! November 2021 - A former local's pre-trip report

[kimberwee]

A little about us...

I'm Kimberwee...age 42 and huge Disney Fan! No, this is not my real name...however, for the sake of the trip report, here I am. I am a former resident of Hawaii, graduating high school on the east coast of Oahu, in Hawaii Kai. I even went to the University of Hawaii @ Manoa! I love all things Hawaii and wish that I got back there more often, but life. I live with my DH (40) and DD (14) in central Oklahoma.

We've been to Aulani as a family once before and this time, we are visiting for a Hawaiian Thanksgiving with DH's family. There will be 14 of us!

Here's a pic from our last trip:


Now on with the planning...

 

[kimberwee]

The Stay...

Did I mention we are DVC members? We've been members since 2017 and our home resort is The Polynesian...remember when I said I love all things Hawaii? Yep. We love our home resort.

Anyway, booking this trip was going to be a challenge. My MIL already had a room booked at the Marriott Vacation Club property down the beach, but why book there when we can stay at Aulani and had plenty of points (thanks COVID) to use for a 1 bedroom? We also have some other family members who are renting DVC points and have a 2 bedroom booked.

The trick was finding availability. Because Aulani isn't our home resort, we had to wait until 7 months before our vacation dates. It seemed that each day I logged in, the resort was booked. I was only able to get 2 days of the 5 we needed for that week and had to request a wait on what we really wanted, which was a 1 Bedroom Island or Poolside View.

We got lucky yesterday and logged in to find that 4 of the 5 nights in a 1 Bedroom Island view became available! We already had night 1 booked in a poolside 1 bedroom, so we kept it and now have the entirety of our stay booked. I went ahead and put the first night on a waitlist, so hopefully we can prevent from having to move rooms.

NEXT UP: I booked our rental car...now for the flights

 

[pinkxray]

Glad to hear you got what you needed during a holiday week. We are a planning a trip next April which will include Easter. We will have to book at 7m and it is stressing me out. I am thinking of renting or transferring Aulani points and renting out my points but that seems like such a hassle. Hope we get lucky too!

 

[Lain]

I am a former resident of Hawaii, graduating high school on the east coast of Oahu, in Hawaii Kai.

So... Kaiser?

 

[kimberwee]

So... Kaiser?

Yep Go Cougars!

 

[kimberwee]

...The flights

So, we've been to Aulani before and our flights were planned so that we had a LAX layover for breakfast before the leg to Oahu. It worked out pretty well and we landed on Oahu before lunch. The leg home was miserable. We had basic economy on an overnight AA flight that had a huge layover in DFW that was way too early to get breakfast...lesson learned!

This time, we are springing for lie-flat seats on the way home...

Now it's time to just watch prices. I have the hopper app that says we should hold off for now.


...an update on our room...

I FOUND A COMPLETE STAY IN AN ISLAND GARDEN VIEW 1 BEDROOM! A lot of these rooms have partial views of the ocean and require much fewer points to rent than the poolside or ocean view, so I will be keeping it and putting in a room request for any higher floor with room ending in xx77 or xx83. Now I can quit stalking the vacation club site and relax.

NEXT UP: What to do when we are there...

 

[Lindscap]

Hi! I also live in OK and have a trip planned for October. The flights are tripping me up. I have a 5 year old, so trying to minimize layovers, but have enough time to eat something between flights. What is the hopper app?

 

[happymommy]

We’re going last two weeks of October (staying at the Marriott though; we own there). We booked our flights (also lie flat nonstop to and from Washington Dulles) quite a while ago. I’m glad we did, since now the price has doubled! We are going over on points for free (yeah credit card bonus sign ups!) so only paid $3,000 total for the return flight for the 2 of us. It’s now that price per person, and the cabin is almost full in first class. The lie flat seats are very popular, so if it were me, I’d book that as soon as you can. The price never goes down for them as far as I’ve seen (we go every other year for the past 15 years; we also lived on Oahu but only for 3 years).

The price for economy seats can fluctuate, but lie flat seats I’ve only ever seen the price go up the closer it gets, and those cabins always fill up.

 

[kimberwee]

Hi! I also live in OK and have a trip planned for October. The flights are tripping me up. I have a 5 year old, so trying to minimize layovers, but have enough time to eat something between flights. What is the hopper app?

It alerts you when prices fall and when to book airfare. The logo is bright orange and it has a bunny on it.

 

[TinkTank01]

Hi! We are from the Tulsa area and planning a trip in Dec with our son‘s family. We’ll be paying OOP for rooms. No questions for you yet, but Polynesian is my favorite WDW resort too! I’ve heard the flight back to OK from Hawaii is killer so your comment confirms that.

 

[kimberwee]

I. CAN'T. EVEN.

So...trip has been cancelled.
We had to cancel DW in the spring and now we are having to cancel this one.

None of DH's family can really go. It was sparked by the fact that DH's Grandmother didn't get confirmation that a popular DVC point rental service actually booked her reservation and she doesn't actually have one for the sold out resort...no room=no go
Other family members are having a hard time finding affordable flights...
DH doesn't really want to go without it being a big family thing and wants to go somewhere new instead.

I. AM. DEVASTATED.

 

[figment52]

It alerts you when prices fall and when to book airfare. The logo is bright orange and it has a bunny on it.

thank you

 

[helenk]

Oh no. Sorry to hear that you have to cancel. I hope the family members that rented points can get their money back.

 

[cgattis]

I. CAN'T. EVEN.

So...trip has been cancelled.
We had to cancel DW in the spring and now we are having to cancel this one.

None of DH's family can really go. It was sparked by the fact that DH's Grandmother didn't get confirmation that a popular DVC point rental service actually booked her reservation and she doesn't actually have one for the sold out resort...no room=no go
Other family members are having a hard time finding affordable flights...
DH doesn't really want to go without it being a big family thing and wants to go somewhere new instead.

I. AM. DEVASTATED.

Does a different island count as somewhere new?? So sorry……I know it’s crushing when you plan and dream about something and it gets squashed. (First world problems, I know, but in the context of a Disney discussion board, that’s understood.) Hope you can get there soon!!

 

[kimberwee]

Does a different island count as somewhere new?? So sorry……I know it’s crushing when you plan and dream about something and it gets squashed. (First world problems, I know, but in the context of a Disney discussion board, that’s understood.) Hope you can get there soon!!

I hope so...

 

[Inga]

Oh that is really devastating! Man, I would be going anyway!