Aulani - Room Preference?

[JSparling]

We booked through DVC Dave and got a Two Bedroom-Ocean View room at Aulani for next month for a week. We have 3 kids - ages 3, 5, and 11. They will want to be at the pool and/or beach 24/7.

Are there any rooms/locations to request or, on the other hand, pray that we don’t get put in? Are there any ground-floor rooms that lead out onto a lawn (similar to HGVC Kings Land)?

Would love and appreciate any input that I could use to request a specific building or floor or room. PS - I already tried for the poolside cabana rental and even with calling the day our date opened up I couldn’t get one.

 

[littlestar]

We had an ocean view 16th floor 2 bedroom in Ewa back in December - it was beautiful but with small kids I would request a lower ocean view floor (I have heard ocean view rooms start at the 5th or 6th floor). There was someone on the Disboards that reported problems with mice (not Mickey) in a low floor non ocean view room. So I was glad we were not in a ground floor island/garden or pool view unit!

 

[rhonda]

I think Ocean View generally puts you on floor 5 and above. Lower floors in the same buildings/areas are Pool View.

Edited to add: We booked Ocean View for our first visit but Island View for the 2nd. I will never pay points for an Ocean View, if I can help it, going forward. While our room was lovely, I felt it was a Pool View on an upper floor. I had a distant glimpse of the ocean through the landscaping and across the pools/beach ... but it didn't feel particularly connected with the ocean. On the 2nd visit, our Island View faced towards the coming Atlantis and had an awesome, unobstructed ocean view (at that time as Atlantis had not started construction).

 

[frank808]

I think Ocean View generally puts you on floor 5 and above. Lower floors in the same buildings/areas are Pool View.

Edited to add: We booked Ocean View for our first visit but Island View for the 2nd. I will never pay points for an Ocean View, if I can help it, going forward. While our room was lovely, I felt it was a Pool View on an upper floor. I had a distant glimpse of the ocean through the landscaping and across the pools/beach ... but it didn't feel particularly connected with the ocean. On the 2nd visit, our Island View faced towards the coming Atlantis and had an awesome, unobstructed ocean view (at that time as Atlantis had not started construction).

You would still have the view as no constructuon has started. Probably no construction till at least late 2020 or early 2021as no permits have been filed yet. They are still working on concepts and design from what i have read.

Sent from my SM-T217S using Tapatalk

 

[4Sunsets]

Take a look at the resort map, the layout pretty much ensures all rooms of the same view class have the same or similar view. Ocean view at Aulani is what most other resorts would call a Pool View / Resort View and/or with partial ocean view. AND yes, any island view you had will change and is going to get partially obstructed due to the new construction.

Better questions for Aulani?

1) How much walking do you want to do / can you do?
2) How tolerant are you of resort noise?
3) ...

With a 3 and 5 year old you may want to be closer to the central areas / elevators than to have to walk or push strollers down the very, long hallways multiple times a day. But if closer to the elevators, and more central, there's more noise.

With 3 and 5 year olds, you are probably going to want to reserve umbrellas and such each beach day or you will bake in the sun and have cranky/tired children.

 

[littlestar]

Here was our 16th floor ocean view 2 bedroom in Ewa. We had an end unit (which you can see from the balcony shot).

 

[smmatrix]

Aulani is our home resort and have stayed there many times with 6-year old twins. We've had all sorts of rooms, but our favorite was at ground level, pool side. We came and departed our room most frequently through the sliding glass doors out to the pool area, restaurants, ocean, almost everything is out there. We walked the hallways once, but didn't need to. Especially when lounging around poolside, it was a very quick trip in and out of our room for sunscreen whatever. For us, we'll try to get ground level poolside every time.

 

[TravelTime]

I like the short section of the Ewa building with a flat non-angled balcony directly facing the ocean. Last time, we were on the 16th floor in a one bedroom and the view was stunning. The non-angled balconies are more spacious, a lot more comfortable than the narrow balcony we had at MKO.

 

[simpsontruckdriver]

I do LYFT here in Orlando, and one of my passengers said that her sister bought DVC (from Walt Disney World). She wanted to go to Aulani, but every time she looked, it was always booked. I'm guessing owning at Aulani is the best way to go, since owning other DVC can be tough to get in (I assume her sister owns another DVC). The bad with DVC is so many people are buying that you pretty much have to buy where you want to stay. The good is, they're building more and expanding current resorts to attempt to keep up with demand. As a side note, I heard this from the passenger talking about her sister, so there are plenty of unknowns.

TS

 

[rhonda]

I do LYFT here in Orlando, and one of my passengers said that her sister bought DVC (from Walt Disney World). She wanted to go to Aulani, but every time she looked, it was always booked. I'm guessing owning at Aulani is the best way to go, since owning other DVC can be tough to get in (I assume her sister owns another DVC). The bad with DVC is so many people are buying that you pretty much have to buy where you want to stay. The good is, they're building more and expanding current resorts to attempt to keep up with demand. As a side note, I heard this from the passenger talking about her sister, so there are plenty of unknowns.

TS

Ah, for what it is worth ... I think that passenger's sister didn't know how to work the system or wasn't being flexible in her searches.

 

[littlestar]

I do LYFT here in Orlando, and one of my passengers said that her sister bought DVC (from Walt Disney World). She wanted to go to Aulani, but every time she looked, it was always booked. I'm guessing owning at Aulani is the best way to go, since owning other DVC can be tough to get in (I assume her sister owns another DVC). The bad with DVC is so many people are buying that you pretty much have to buy where you want to stay. The good is, they're building more and expanding current resorts to attempt to keep up with demand. As a side note, I heard this from the passenger talking about her sister, so there are plenty of unknowns.

TS

I had good look booking at the seven month window, but I was not booking spring break or Christmas/New Years weeks. Ocean view had the most availability.

 

[TravelTime]

I have not had any problems booking almost anywhere in DVC at 7 months or even closer in. But we only book 1 BR.

 

[junk]

 

[junk]

View from #1204

 

[TravelTime]

View from #1204

Great view. How did you request that or was it just luck?

 

[junk]

Great view. How did you request that or was it just luck?

I have requested them two month prior to the stay pool&ocean view, highest possible floor and closest room to the ocean, that’s it.
Three options were given to me when I’ve checked in and I’ve just followed their recommendation. May be just luck though. Good luck!

 

[simpsontruckdriver]

Ah, for what it is worth ... I think that passenger's sister didn't know how to work the system or wasn't being flexible in her searches.

It sounded like my passenger's sister tried to book within a couple months. In other words, treating DVC like a hotel. We all know that 7+ months will get you a great suite at most timeshares, 10+ months will get you the best suites. Not everyone who buys a timeshare knows how to work the system, which is why TUGBBS is the best resource for that!

TS

 

[JSparling]

View attachment 11871 View attachment 11870 Here was our 16th floor ocean view 2 bedroom in Ewa. We had an end unit (which you can see from the balcony shot).

I'm confused - is this the same room? Just looking different directions?

 

[JSparling]

Take a look at the resort map, the layout pretty much ensures all rooms of the same view class have the same or similar view. Ocean view at Aulani is what most other resorts would call a Pool View / Resort View and/or with partial ocean view. AND yes, any island view you had will change and is going to get partially obstructed due to the new construction.

Better questions for Aulani?

1) How much walking do you want to do / can you do?
2) How tolerant are you of resort noise?
3) ...

With a 3 and 5 year old you may want to be closer to the central areas / elevators than to have to walk or push strollers down the very, long hallways multiple times a day. But if closer to the elevators, and more central, there's more noise.

With 3 and 5 year olds, you are probably going to want to reserve umbrellas and such each beach day or you will bake in the sun and have cranky/tired children.

Minimal walking would be my preference over resort noise. We're the type that moves around a lot and is in and out of the room dozens of time. Forgot something. Need a snack. Baby needs a nap. Use the bathroom... so the shortest walk from the beach to our room would ideal.

 

[JSparling]

Take a look at the resort map, the layout pretty much ensures all rooms of the same view class have the same or similar view. Ocean view at Aulani is what most other resorts would call a Pool View / Resort View and/or with partial ocean view. AND yes, any island view you had will change and is going to get partially obstructed due to the new construction.

Better questions for Aulani?

1) How much walking do you want to do / can you do?
2) How tolerant are you of resort noise?
3) ...

With a 3 and 5 year old you may want to be closer to the central areas / elevators than to have to walk or push strollers down the very, long hallways multiple times a day. But if closer to the elevators, and more central, there's more noise.

With 3 and 5 year olds, you are probably going to want to reserve umbrellas and such each beach day or you will bake in the sun and have cranky/tired children.

Umbrellas! Yes! I plan on being down there to hopefully rent one of the precious few umbrellas at least a couple times during our stay.

 

[littlestar]

I'm confused - is this the same room? Just looking different directions?

Yes, same room. The balcony shot with the curtain blowing is the side view.

 

[TravelTime]

Does anyone know where the big straight balconies designated as OV are located at Aulani. Last time, we got one on the 16th floor on the short side of the Ewa Building facing the ocean and over the luau area. The view was spectacular and I loved the spaciousness of the straight balconies. We are going back this fall and I want to experience something a little different but still with the large straight balconies and a nice ocean view.

 

[blondietink]

We have had all 3 view categories in a one bedroom; ocean view, island/garden view and standard. No problem booking at 7 months. Honestly we like the standard view the best. It was on the top floor and we could see Diamond Head in the distance. Saved a bunch of points so we could stay a couple of days longer.