Mother's Day at Disney's Aulani Resort!

Earlier this month, we spent our summer vacation in Oahu.  We used credit card miles for the flights and rental car, and were lucky to have friends that hosted us in their beautiful home in Kailua.  We also used the remaining 2018 points on our Disney timeshare to book a 1BR suite for one night at Disney's Aulani resort in Ko Olina.  Well, after visiting the resort earlier in the week to use the public beach and grab lunch at one of the resort's restaurants, we knew we wanted to spend more time at the resort.  Unfortunately there was no last-minute availability through DVC (or I would have borrowed some 2019 points), so instead I booked a 1BR room through the hotel portion of the resort. 

First, let me get the obvious out of the way, and tell you that the resort is incredible.  It was so nice, and so fun.  The beach, the pools, the on-site snorkeling, the Disney character experiences - everything.  It was, without a doubt, our favorite resort.  There's no shortage of information about the Aulani online, so I'll just share a couple pictures of our family, and then move on to the timeshare analysis.

We arrived early the first day of our stay (about 11am), with the intent of storing our luggage and using the pools until our room was ready.  However, we were pleasantly surprised when the staff informed us our room was already ready!  We dropped our luggage, changed, and hit the pools!  Our first night, we stayed in the hotel portion of the resort, in a 1BR (island view).  We were very comfortable, and the room was really nicely furnished and updated.  However, there was no kitchen to speak of, no in-room laundry, and the bathroom was about average sized.  Here's a couple photos of the hotel room...

The next morning, we packed up, and told the bell desk that we were doing a room change.  The staff handled it perfectly, and even put our cold food and drinks in cold storage all day until our room was ready at 4pm.  We spent another great day at the pool, doing the lazy river, volcano slide, snorkeling in the on-site lagoon, meeting Moana, and generally having an overall wonderful day!  When our 1BR suite (island view) was finally ready at 4pm, we were blown away by how much nicer it was from the 1BR hotel room the previous night.  Here's a couple photos that (hopefully) shows how much bigger it is.  There was also an in-room washer/dryer, and full kitchen!

Now for the dollars and cents.  Booking the hotel room last-minute, and paying full "rack rate" cost us $556.42 after all taxes and charges.  On the other hand, booking the suite through DVC cost us 44 points.  As Grand Californian is our "home resort," and 2018 maintenance fees were $5.88/point, the value of these points is $258.72.  Adding in the $16.99 state tax, total cost for this one night was $275.71.  Obviously this does not factor in the initial purchase price of these points.  So, for 1 night, the cost of staying in the much nicer villa was $297.70 less expensive.  If you stay for a full 7 nights, you end up with a savings of about $2,100.  Hopefully this analysis can help you determine whether purchasing a Disney timeshare is a good way to finance your family vacations.  Currently, we're seeing resale prices of about $160/point for Grand Californian, and $88/point for the Aulani. Call or email us if we can help you with your purchase!

For us, we LOVE using our Disney timeshare, and with little kids (3 & 4!), we know we have a lot of Disney trips in our future.  I calculate our break-even is about 8 years (4 trips), and I have no doubt we will take at least 4 Disney trips over the next 8-10 years.  Sometime in the future, we also plan on renting our points, and using the proceeds to off-set the cost of a Disney cruise.  It was a great Mother's Day at the Disney Aulani resort, and we cannot ​wait to get back there soon!