October 2018-which dates?

[pharmama]

I am starting the planning process for an Aulani trip to celebrate an, ahem, milestone birthday for me. My birthday is in December but we have already decided to go during my kids fall break in October since I think both rooms and airfare will be cheaper than traveling over the Christmas holidays (and we still wouldn't be there on my actual birthday in December either so why not save the $$$).

I've been reading through all the great info on this board as I try to start planning. There are 5 of us with DH and my three daughters who will be 13, 9 and 7.

My kids have a school break from October 6-21. We are thinking of going for 6-7days during that window. Any recommendations on which week to pick? I see mention on other threads of Hawaii public schools having a fall break as well. Does anyone know when that break is for October 2018? Do that many locals go to Aulani on their break or is it just that beaches and other attractions will be busier?

Right now we are thinking of renting DVC points and getting a 2 Bedroom Villa. I recently became a DLR annual passholder again and I recall in the past (a few years back) that there were sometimes discounts on Aulani bookings for AP holders. I don't see anything right now but do these discounts still come up on occasion? Still not sure if it would be worth it vs DVC rental but trying to cover all the options.

Thanks for any insight/advice!

 

[thedogatemyhomework]

Shouldn’t be too bad on the weekdays, the weekends will have an influx of local families, but the dates you listed shouldn’t be too bad for the weekends. The 2 bedroom villa is quite nice (ocean view is worth it, but is still a costly upgrade...). AP discounts likely won’t come close to dvc, and if you plan on having a car...it’s going to be an even bigger difference.

While it’s not really a big deal...they do have different wristbands for dvc members vs. non members (not sure how it gets handled if u rent pts). The non member ones are plastic and not as wide...but the dvc ones are “sparkly”.

The school breaks are a bit weird, public schools have different breaks from private schools (and there are a lot of private schools), during the school breaks, beaches and other things like that do get a little busier...but traffic is typically noticeably lighter. Holidays have a bigger impact on beach crowds than school breaks.

Aulani has had the characters in halloween outfits in past years (not sure if they’ll do it this year too)...if you want to see the normal aulani outfits on the characters, go earlier in october to give yourself the best chance to avoid the halloween ones, if you want to see the halloween outfits go later in october.

Hopefully they’ll keep moana doing meet n greets as a permanent thing, but it is possible that halloween type events may impact how many they do. It will likely still be very hot early in october, and while it won’t be by much it should get cooler towards the end of your window.

 

[pharmama]

Thanks so much for the info! I think we are going to target the second week of their break. I don't have strong feelings one way or another on the Halloween stuff...never even occurred to me! My oldest DD LOVES LOVES LOVES Stitch so she'll just be happy to see him regardless of his outfit (he's difficult, though not impossible, to meet at DLR which is our usual Disney place).

I'm curious about the Halloween stuff- what have they done in the past? Like I said- never even occurred to me!

 

[thedogatemyhomework]

For halloween (and christmas) the decorations are fairly minimal, the activities are mostly on weekends, and the few days right before and on halloween. They do have aulani specific halloween merch thats sold starting at least from mid september (probably earlier, but regardless of when you go the merch should be there).

They have the activities from the previous year listed on the aulani site until they post the ones for this year. Stitch isn’t always out and about, but I believe he still has an activity at aunties (stitch’s goo...or something like that) where he comes in and is involved somehow...whenever I’ve gone, it’s nearly impossible to get my nephews out of the lazy river and pools...so not too sure how the activities at aunties play out...gotta register for then in advance from what I’ve noticed tho. He also has some times where he’s near the pools doing meet n greets...he even has a permanent small statue.

Pretty sure disney knows most who go to aulani want to experience the resort itself (and not an overly decorated version of it)...basically take how decorated the DL or DW hotels are for halloween or christmas...and imagine half or a quarter of it. Still noticeable if you look, but not so much that it detracts from how it normally looks. And for the most part its only in the lobby (or right outside makahiki).

Its also quite likely that stella lou merch (the ballerina bunny, thats the 4th character in the duffy line) will be at aulani by october. Duffy, shellie may, and gellatoni are already there...stella lou probably by mar/apr. lots of tourists from japan means more duffy and stitch type things than the parks in general...but no where near as much as tokyo disney.