Aulani Disney Plan

Disney’s Aulani resort is one of the most sought after family destinations. Located on the island of Oahu, it is beach front in a cove with crystal clear waters and an amazing pool! Kim wrote a breakdown here of the resort and what it has to offer! Average room rates off season can run you around $750 dollars a night. In this post, I am going to show you our step by step plan of how I would get the hotel covered.

Two Step Approach

To save $$ at this hotel, you are going to want to take two-step approach in order to get the resort fully covered! Aulani isn’t a partner with any specific brand (think like Marriott, Hilton) so we have to get a little creative in order to cover it with points and miles.

Here are the two steps:

1. Rent DVC (Disney Vacation Club)
2. Open a credit card (or two) to cover the expense

Looking for Tips for your Aulani trip? We got you covered!

Renting DVC

Pixie point gals owns our own DVC contracts. DVC is short for Disney Vacation Club. If you are new to the concept, read out beginner guide here. DVC also works in points like credit cards do so this can be a little confusing for out followers. Depending on the room size, type, and the time of year, as an owner we are charged different rates. If you want an idea of rates, here are disney’s DVC point charts.

I am going to use the rate if a family of 4 wanted to go in the month of May for 5 nights. This family choose the standard room which will cost them 19 points a night according the chart below.

So total cost for the 5 night hotel stay (6 days total) is = $1,947.50. This will include the $40 dollar a night parking costs. To compare, below is the cash rate found on Disney’s site for the same nights.

 

This is already a savings of 1,874.49 (not including the parking fees you don’t have to pay since you rented DVC). Renting DVC you also get free access to the laundry facilities.

Transportation to Aulani from the Airport

Step 2- Credit Card Points and Miles

Now you need to cover the 1,947 that you owe. Here are some options:

1. Open a Venture or venture x card. Our site codes as travel allowing you to use the cover travel purchases feature. Our step by step of how to do that here. I would then refer a spouse/player 2 to the same card. This would give you 75,000 x 2 points + the referral of 25,000. This is 175,000 points not including the spending on the two cards (= to 16,000 points). Added all together… that is 1,910 worth of points! You can use this same feature (cover travel purchases) to cover food, meals, etc charged to your room. Kim wrote about how she did that here.
2. You can do the same steps with a Citi Strata card. only issue is that they are lower right now sign up bonus 60,000 and they don’t do referrals. That’s 1200 dollars plus whatever you spent on the cards!
3. Open 2 business cards. Right now I would open the Chase Business Preferred for 100,000 points and then refer a spouse/player 2. This is a great deal because when you refer you get 40,000 points. That’s 240,000 points or 2,400 dollars!
4. You can also do this with the cash back ink cards which have 0 annual fee cards. These cards also pair well with the preferred card. I would open the ink unlimited or the ink cash cards. Then refer your spouse/player 2. This would give you almost the exact amount you need at 1,900 without any spending!

 

And that’s it! You can get 5 hotel nights covered. Let us know what questions you have for us. And as always.. reach out to use @pixiepointgals on instagram to rent from us.

Cards used in this plan