#371 - Is Aulani Worth Using Your DVC Points?

The DVC Show

The DVC Show episode features hosts Paul and Amy Krieger alongside guests Jeff Haslam and Craig McFarland discussing the value and experience of using Disney Vacation Club points at Aulani in Hawaiʻi.

Key takeaways

• Amy Krieger notes that cash rates at Aulani often exceed $700 per night, making DVC point redemptions exceptionally valuable.
• Craig McFarland shared his honeymoon experience, highlighting a split stay between garden view and ocean view rooms for around 120 points total.

Main topics

• DVC points value vs cash pricing at Aulani
• Travel logistics and flight strategies to Hawaii

Notable quotes

Aulani is my favorite Disney Vacation Club resort without question.

Conclusion

Listeners gain actionable travel tips, cost-saving strategies for DVC

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) All right. We're going to do an Alani show. Speaker 4 (0:02) You tell me what you want me to do or not do because I'm the only one that hasn't been. So feel free. Derek Speaker 3 (0:08) has been trying to get out of this Alani show for the better part of a month now because we've been trying to film it for that long. Speaker 2 (0:15) We're going to convince him to use his points out there. Listen, I Speaker 1 (0:18) had to sit there like a dope during the movie discussion. So you can handle this. So Derek, you're going to Speaker 3 (0:25) suck it up and you're going to sit there like a dope. During the Ohani discussion. How about that? Speaker 4 (0:30) That's my point of reference. Exactly. Speaker 3 (0:43) Hey, everybody. Welcome to this week's episode of the DVC show. I'm your host, Paul Krieger, joined as always by my lovely wife, Amy Krieger. I took Speaker 1 (0:51) my glasses off and now I didn't see the recording button. Speaker 3 (0:54) Ah, see, you should always be looking for the recording. The dope, Derek. Speaker 4 (1:00) That might be the worst intro I've ever heard. Start over again. Speaker 3 (1:05) We've got the Honorable Jeff Haslam with us. Aloha. And our dear friend Craig McFarland is back for another round. Speaker 2 (1:13) I love all the floral shirts. This Speaker 5 (1:16) is Speaker 2 (1:16) great. This wasn't even really planned. And look, Amy, you got the flower in your hair. I know. Speaker 1 (1:21) That's why I had to take my glasses off. Now I can't see anything. Speaker 3 (1:24) I didn't change. Just wanted to announce that in case anyone's watched. I did not change my clothes. Speaker 4 (1:30) I changed. I changed into a tropical Tommy Bahama shirt, and I'm the only one that's never been to Aulani. So I'm the most ready. Speaker 1 (1:38) Oh, yeah. Oh, look, even Jeff has. Yeah. Yeah, you guys all look nice. We're going to take you on an Speaker 2 (1:43) audio journey, Derek, to Aulani right now. Speaker 3 (1:48) Derek, Speaker 2 (1:49) is Speaker 3 (1:49) there a reason you've never been to Aulani? No. Speaker 4 (1:52) No, there's not. No, we went to Hawaii right before our son Owen was born, so that was probably 21 years ago. It was the last time we went. So we went to Maui using our Disney Vacation Club and a concierge collection way back when. But since then, no, we just haven't. We've just always been to Florida and we've been to the Caribbean a bunch of times, but never, you know, made the trek out there back to Hawaii. So it's nothing personal. Some of the best stories I hear, and I know I'll hear amazing stories tonight, is from folks that have been to Aulani and say they're always going to keep going. I'm very excited to live vicariously through my Ohana family here tonight. Speaker 3 (2:30) Well, we are fresh off of a trip back to Aulani, our first time in five years. Craig, I know you recently Speaker 2 (2:37) visited. It was your honeymoon, I believe, or? Yeah, and I actually even told Zoe, I was like, hey, do you want me to ask if you should jump on this? And she was like, wait, they do video? I don't want that many people seeing me ever. So that's why over on Beyond the Mouse, we just do audio. So she's like, oh, yeah, I'll do that all the time. But yeah, we went back in June for the first of hopefully many times. Yeah. Speaker 3 (3:00) So, I mean, we, I think those of us that have been, Jeff, you've been there before. I originally said one day, but he's been there for a week. Speaker 1 (3:10) One Speaker 3 (3:10) day, one week, whatever. Speaker 5 (3:12) And fun fact, it was exactly five years ago today. Speaker 3 (3:16) Oh, wow. That's cool. Well, now you need to go back and you need to take Derek. I mean, that's going to be the moral of this show, but we thought we'd come. Talk about what we loved, what we'd do differently, what surprised us, and answer the big question that you all probably have is, is Aulani worth using your DVC points for and is going to Hawaii an amazing experience? Spoiler alert, the answer is going to be yes. Before we get into it, this and all of our DVC fan content is brought to you by Keyholder Vacations. The DVC Resale Market, if you're looking to buy or sell that Alani contract, they can assist you with that. Monera Financial, who can assist in financing that DVC Resale Market purchase. And the DVC Rental Store, where you can try before you buy, rent some points, get you out to Alani, stay at this beautiful island resort, and have an amazing time. But yeah, show some love for our sponsors over at Keyholder Vacations. I'm going to start with you because here's how this developed over the course of the past two years of me trying to get us back to Alani is the fact that... So I had said I miss Ohlone. We did Ohlone in 2021. We had some hiccups along the way with that trip with visiting the hospital. They have amazing medical services. Let's just put it that way. They do. And it was also still kind of emerging from pandemic times. So there were a lot of restrictions, whatnot, all that kind of stuff. So I've always wanted to have a redo. on our Lonnie trip. Um, not because it wasn't amazing, but just because I loved it so much back then. So we've been talking about it. And I think when I first proposed it to you about a year or so ago, um, your answer was, yeah, we can add it to the list. I have a lot of things I want to do before then. That Speaker 1 (5:05) is true. And Speaker 3 (5:06) then, um, lo and behold, a trip came together for D 23 heading out to Anaheim. And, uh, I said, you know, well, I talked to some people within our company, said we've not done some Alani content for a long time, said, hey, if we're already halfway around the world, why don't we go a little bit further, tack on a few days? Lo and behold, I got a yes answer to that question. And so, yeah, then I came back to you and I said, we're going to Alani. Speaker 1 (5:34) Yeah, and then I added to it some more. But so what, oh my gosh, I completely lost my train of thought. But for me, I just, a lot of people like like the thing i want to address that comes to a lot of people's mind especially if you're coming from like the the east coast area you mean of the us um or further it is the flights can be a bear it is a long journey we made the mistake when we went out there in 2021 um of flying so at the time we lived in wheeling west virginia pittsburgh was our home airport We flew from Pittsburgh to Charlotte, North Carolina. That was where our layover was. We didn't gain any ground. And then the flight from Charlotte was like 11 plus hours. It was a very, very long flight. There are better ways to do it. So this time around, we spent some time in Disneyland. Honestly, like even you. Even if it's not in your budget, in your time to spend a few days out on the West Coast in California or somewhere closer to the edge of the U.S., you can still arrange your flight so that you have a layover, just some time to stop, get off the plane, whatever. Because breaking that flight up does make it more doable. From L.A. the flight was only five, like five hours. And then it turned into a daytime flight instead of, you know, an overnight flight. So, you know, there's ways to do it. If you can swing a night or two, you know, in California or Disneyland or somewhere, San Diego, I mean, you have a lot of choices. You go to Seattle, whatever. I would suggest doing that and then making your journey over to Ohlone. But yeah, it is worth it. And the value for your DVC points is immense. Because if you go and you look up the cash prices at Aulani, they are very, very expensive. We're talking like $700 or more a night for hotel rooms, just basic one, two-bed hotel rooms. So you are getting a really great value out there, especially... everything pretty much unless you standard view is over like the garage, but everything else, island garden, pool view, ocean view, like you're overlooking very pretty scenery. The resort is very pretty. Um, there's just a lot of value to going out there. Speaker 3 (8:11) So you're happy when we went back? Speaker 5 (8:13) Yes, Speaker 1 (8:13) yes, yes. I'm glad we went back. And you want to, Speaker 3 (8:15) you want to go back as soon as possible. And then Speaker 1 (8:18) also like for me, like I love exploring new places. And I thought in my head, if we went to Awani, this is like, we've already been there. This isn't a new place. But what I realized was once you get yourself out there, there's a lot to be seen that's very accessible. So one of the things that we did that we'll probably talk about a little bit later in the show is we hopped to another island. It was very easy. It was very quick. Speaker 1 (8:46) Yeah, now I want to go back because I want to stay at Ohlone for a few nights and I want to hop over and see Maui instead of seeing the big island. You know what I mean? Speaker 3 (8:53) Yeah, totally. Craig, what made you and Zoe decide that this was going to be your honeymoon? Well, first of all, I Speaker 2 (9:01) mean, it really only happened because we are DVC members, right? So the fact, like Amy was saying, the fact that we didn't have to additionally pay for the resort. helped immensely in terms of the budgeting. I think I went ahead and I looked up what we did. We did kind of a split stay at Alani, something that honestly, I don't know that we really necessarily needed to do. We wanted to try to make sure we got at least a couple of nights on that ocean view. And that was a few extra points. And the availability was such that we started at a garden view. I think I probably would have just stayed at the garden view the whole time because I really loved that view. It was right by the pool. It kind of overlooked the Olela Lounge as well. And it was really nice. But, you know, it was about 120 points for the time that we were there total. And if I would have tried to pay cash for that, I think it was going to be around $6,000 to $7,000. So it was a lot of money that we saved that way. We decided, you know, let's go ahead and do the Disneyland thing as well. And we are people that don't necessarily get to the park being in central Illinois as much as we would like to, certainly not as much as all of you folks. And so we go hard in the parks, which was fun to do the first couple of days that we were out there. And then we were able to kind of crash and relax on the flight out to Hawaii. And then you're getting into Hawaii. I mean, I think we left at like. uh six or seven in the morning from long beach airport and we arrived in hawaii and it was only 9 00 a.m there so right we were able to still kind of have a whole day ahead of us our bodies had sort of acclimated a little bit and so it was just such a great just a just a great memory and so we immediately thought while we were out there you know the next time we go to add on some dvc points we had always talked about maybe doing like a sort of one of those easy sleep around resorts like a Saratoga. But truly, we may consider a small contract at Alani, much like I know you guys, the Kriegers, you guys have that contract at Grand Cal, if I'm not mistaken, that you kind of use as a possible, like every three years banking and borrowing kind of a thing. You know, so we're thinking maybe just get like a 50 point contract out at Alani. And then that way we can kind of set that aside and that can become sort of a family adventure. I'm I'm really excited to take my son back the next time that we go. Yeah. Speaker 1 (11:27) And that's a really good because every you know, every three years, you know, you're willing to make that trek and then you've got 150 points every three years. You know what I mean? To use. So I do like that strategy. Speaker 3 (11:39) Yeah. I mean, it's I think that. Just people sleep on this resort, Amy, to your point, because of that transportation need to get all the way out there. And I think that once you do it, the first time you ever do it, Derek can probably tell you so many stories of people that have then called him the next day and gotten points, I assume. Speaker 4 (12:01) Not the next day. Paul, I can tell you, I get calls several times a month from people that are on their balconies at Ohlone. They are literally on vacation and they've either used their points or they just took a tour at Ohlone and they found DVC Resell Market and they're on their laptop and they're like, so wait a second, I just want to get this clear. The points they were showing me were like 250 bucks a point, but I can buy these with you for like less than like a hundred bucks a point. So yeah, they don't even wait till they get home. And like you guys said, Craig, you priced out your trip. I can't tell you the amount of stories over. the years because i've been around with dbc since before this resort opened the stories that i get where people look into it after they've come back from taking that trip after they've spent five six ten or more thousand dollars on that vacation and go god i wish i just would have looked into disney vacation club before i do it So, yeah. Speaker 2 (13:00) And of course, it doesn't factor in the annual dues, which are going to be a little bit higher at Alani because, you know, you are on the Hawaiian Islands and all that. But Speaker 3 (13:10) just the purchase price of Speaker 2 (13:12) a contract through DVC Resale Market, we were looking at it while we were at the adult-only pool. And we were like, you know, compare and contrast, like our five or six nights that we stayed there versus a, like, 50-point contract, it probably was pretty close in price. to have a 50 point contract we could go back and use again and again as opposed to just that one trip out there so it totally makes sense and it's such a I you know you buy in the DVC and you're like okay I really want to get into DVC because I love Disney World or I love Disneyland but it's always cool to kind of think oh they've got these extra things I can go do Well, Alani was always sort of on that bucket list for that. And it is so well worth it. I would say if you have those points and you've never been out there, take a break one summer or year from the parks and go to Alani because you will not regret using your points at that resort. It was just a wonderful experience. And the island is so incredible in so many different ways. That's why I was so glad that you all wanted me to jump on and chat with you about this because I could nerd out about Alani in like those five days that we spent there for the rest Speaker 3 (14:27) of my life. This is going to be a six-hour episode. I hope everyone made their dinner plans early and everything. Jeff, I view as the well-rounded traveler of our group. So correct me if I'm wrong, but Jeff, you had gone to Hawaii. you know, before you ever went to a long. Speaker 1 (14:44) I think Jeff's been to Speaker 3 (14:45) like all the Hawaiian Speaker 1 (14:45) islands. Speaker 5 (14:46) I've been to all the islands in Hawaii and I've been multiple times to several of the islands. So, Speaker 1 (14:51) except for the private one that no one else has been to in Speaker 3 (14:54) a Speaker 1 (14:54) long time. Speaker 3 (14:55) You don't know that. He could have swam there. But from a perspective of someone that's been to Hawaii before, give us kind of that mindset of, you know, I've been there, maybe I didn't love it. What did what did Alani change about your thoughts of the island or enhance even further? Speaker 5 (15:12) Yeah. And I just, you know, normally I'm fighting with this guy over here about things, but I have to pick a battle with Amy Krieger right now because she's wrong. And I'm vehemently going to defend this position. I, you know, we Amy and I went to Paris a few years ago and we flew direct from Salt Lake. It was a 12 hour flight. I cannot imagine a scenario going, man, I really should have stopped, you know, in Oklahoma for a couple of days to break up that flight. Speaker 1 (15:39) I didn't say Oklahoma. Speaker 5 (15:41) Fine, go ahead and stop at Disneyland and check that bucket too. Speaker 1 (15:46) Yeah. Get Speaker 5 (15:47) on the plane and get there. Because once you're there, you have like. To Craig's point, you have a whole extra day. Some of us are old, Speaker 1 (15:55) Jeff. We got to like get up and move. Sleep Speaker 5 (15:58) on the plane, get up and walk around on the plane. They're Speaker 3 (16:01) not Speaker 5 (16:01) going to yell at you. Speaker 3 (16:02)