crystal1313
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2012
Hello! We leave this coming Monday for Aulani, 7/11 and just thought I would start my pre-trip report now.
A little background: Last year, we started thinking of doing something big for our 15th wedding anniversary coming up in 2016. We normally don't do "big" vacations. I haven't been on an airplane since 2003. We typically drive to our destinations.
We went through a lot of options, but both realized we wanted to go somewhere warm and tropical and basically, just relax (well, as much as you can relax with an 8 and 6 year old, LOL). So we settled on Hawaii. Then it was research time. I did tons of research and along the way, we ended up inviting my parents along with us. They have never been on a jet before!! So then I did even more research, looking at Kauai, Maui, and the big island. Both my DH and I had been to Hawaii before, but never together. I noticed that pricing for Aulani was about the same as some of the high end resorts, but that child care was a lot of money extra x2. We aren't planning on putting the kids in a kids club all day or anything, but a break now and then for an adult meal or beverage would be nice, after all this is our anniversary trip! So after checking our options we chose Aulani (plus we love Disney, so that was an added bonus ).
We went with a 2 bedroom villa. At the time of booking we could each rent a regular hotel room, or we could rent the two bedroom villa and the price split in half would only be about $250 more total for the week. We thought having the kitchen and extra living space would be nice.
We booked our flights soon after and scored a free ticket using our Amex points. We are flying Alaska out of Oakland.
The crew is me, DH and our DS8 and a DS6 and my parents who are 60 that are joining us. We are all pretty excited and this is a trip of a lifetime for all of us. We have been scrimping and saving and my awesome DH even painted 3 of the exteriors of our neighbors homes to help pay for this trip! I sometimes feel guilty for spending so much money on this vacation..........like I said, we normally don't vacation like this. So I keep telling myself that after 15 years of marriage, we deserve an awesome trip like this. It's still hard for me to spend this kind of money. We have about $600 saved up for spending money. I am guessing we will go over that with food, etc. I sold a bunch of old toys and clothes, etc for extra cash and we got a Disney Visa and racked up a ton of rewards on that too. =)
My boys:
DH and I:
A little background: Last year, we started thinking of doing something big for our 15th wedding anniversary coming up in 2016. We normally don't do "big" vacations. I haven't been on an airplane since 2003. We typically drive to our destinations.
We went through a lot of options, but both realized we wanted to go somewhere warm and tropical and basically, just relax (well, as much as you can relax with an 8 and 6 year old, LOL). So we settled on Hawaii. Then it was research time. I did tons of research and along the way, we ended up inviting my parents along with us. They have never been on a jet before!! So then I did even more research, looking at Kauai, Maui, and the big island. Both my DH and I had been to Hawaii before, but never together. I noticed that pricing for Aulani was about the same as some of the high end resorts, but that child care was a lot of money extra x2. We aren't planning on putting the kids in a kids club all day or anything, but a break now and then for an adult meal or beverage would be nice, after all this is our anniversary trip! So after checking our options we chose Aulani (plus we love Disney, so that was an added bonus ).
We went with a 2 bedroom villa. At the time of booking we could each rent a regular hotel room, or we could rent the two bedroom villa and the price split in half would only be about $250 more total for the week. We thought having the kitchen and extra living space would be nice.
We booked our flights soon after and scored a free ticket using our Amex points. We are flying Alaska out of Oakland.
The crew is me, DH and our DS8 and a DS6 and my parents who are 60 that are joining us. We are all pretty excited and this is a trip of a lifetime for all of us. We have been scrimping and saving and my awesome DH even painted 3 of the exteriors of our neighbors homes to help pay for this trip! I sometimes feel guilty for spending so much money on this vacation..........like I said, we normally don't vacation like this. So I keep telling myself that after 15 years of marriage, we deserve an awesome trip like this. It's still hard for me to spend this kind of money. We have about $600 saved up for spending money. I am guessing we will go over that with food, etc. I sold a bunch of old toys and clothes, etc for extra cash and we got a Disney Visa and racked up a ton of rewards on that too. =)
My boys:
DH and I:
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