Disney's Aulani on a Family Friendly Budget, How to Save $$$ by Keith Gilabert

Disney's Aulani on a Budget.

This resort is a great place for families and especially the kids.  The lagoon is beautiful and the resort is second to none.  Keep in mind this resort is big on Polynesian Culture and small on Disney.  You will see characters but its not like a Disney Cruise or the Disneyland Resort in FL or CA.

Now if you plan a trip to Aulani be prepared to pay resort prices for everything.  A family of four can expect to pay $200-400 a day just for meals depending on which restaurants you choose.

This is what I did to save money:

1.  Upon arrival to Honolulu rent a car from Alamo - it is also on the Aulani property, makes it easy for return, it will cost about $100 but you will have mobility on the island.

2.  50% of the Aulani Resort is a timeshare.  Which means half the rooms are villas with full kitchens.  Book an Aulani villa, if you search the net you can find owners selling their vacation weeks at the resort at a 10-30% discount, depending on the time of year.

3.  Each villa comes with a full kitchen, dining nook, family room, washer/dryer, master suite and a spa style bathroom.  The kitchen has granite counter tops, stove, oven and microwave.

4.  Your food costs are going to be the easiest to control.  Upon arrival to Aulani, take your rental car and go to Costco or Target, both are about 10 min from the resort.  At Costco they have prepared read to heat meals and the refreshments are sold by the case.  We spent about $300 at Costco for 7 days worth of meals.  We also ate at the Makahiki restaurant and for a very average brunch we spent just over $200.00, so just imagine the cost of dining at the resort for 3 meals a day for 7 days.

5.  Rent the car for 1 day, parking at the resort is $35.00 per day but you will save that by stocking your kitchen.

6.  Aunty's Beach House is great for kids under 12.  They have free and premium experiences.  I did both and my kids had more fun at the free excursions.  Tip :  To sign-up for the free experiences such as "Disruption Eruption and Lilo's Space Goo" you get in line and sign-up at 8 am.  Then you can return with you child and drop them off when it is closer to start time.  These activities fill up fast.

7.  When you depart the resort take Charlie's Taxi, they are clean, reliable and only charge $55.00 to get to the airport.

If you have any questions just leave a comment.

Thanks for visiting,

Keith

Fina V Capital's Keith Gilabert Sets $10,000 Target Price on Bitcoin (BTC)

Beverly Hills, CA   Fina V Capital is bullish on Bitcoin (BTC), with the price of the digital currency soaring to as high as $10,000.00 per coin by the end of 2015.  The President of Fina V Capital Keith Gilabert states, “Our price analysis is based on the demand we see from hedge fund groups and the decentralizing of third world currencies.”

Fina VC currently has an agressive 12 month target price of $5,000.00 for Bitcoin (BTC).  "We only recommend professional investors trade Bitcoins, the purpose of Bitcoins is for commerce within a single currency not trade the currency.  If you do trade you must understand that there could be a total loss."

Gilabert states, “The value in Bitcoin comes from the ease of use for trade.  There are currently 178 currencies used around the world.  The exchange rates fluctuate quite a bit and the banks processing fees can reach as high as 12% on a single transaction.  With Bitcoin you eliminate the banks processing fees and save up to 10% on the transaction.  If you take a nominal figure such as a $1 billion in transactions that’s over $100 million the consumer has saved in fees and now has additional buying power.”

Bitcoins are gaining traction from the demand of businesses and consumers, last week Overstock.com started accepting Bitcoins as payment.  “This is an important step towards creating a reserve currency that is free of the excessive fees charged by banks and brokers.  I expect to see other major retailers announce acceptance of Bitcoins this year,” according to Gilabert.

Winklevoss Capital, headed by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss who came up with the idea that that gave Mark Zuckerberg the inspiration of Facebook,  stated that the price of Bitcoin could reach $10,000 and maybe worth $40,000 per coin someday. 

Another bullish prediction came from Chris Dixon Partner of Andreessen Horowitz who believes a single Bitcoin might even be worth $100,000. 

Dixon goes on to compare Bitcoins to internet domain names, “It would have been absurd to say in 1993 that domain names were worth $10m each.” 

Former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya stated, if Bitcoin could establish itself as a “useful reserve currency” it could worth more than $400,000.

According to Gilabert, “The reason People’s Bank of China announced that commercial banks in the country could no longer deal in the digital currency Bitcoin was because it undermines their Central Bank.  Bitcoin allows a way to securely record transactions without the need for a Central Authority to confirm or verify those transactions. ”

Bitcoin protocol creates a blockchain, which tracks each and every transaction on the network.  Bitcoin’s  lead developer Gavin Andresen stated, “The idea is to give people a way to do what they clearly want to do, but do it in a responsible way that strikes a balance between you and whatever you want into the blockchain.”

This allows a contract to only be triggered by data feeds within the blockchain encrypted on the Bitcoin. 

Investment from venture capitalist in Bitcoin has begun to gain momentum.  Coinbase raised $25 million  from Netscape creator Marc Andreessen and BitPay has raised $2 million from venture firms.  “These are major players in the Bitcoin arena and this is further confirmation that there is value in Bitcoins”, according to Gilabert.

Bank of America today started coverage on Bitcoin with a target of $1,300.00.