We rented a car from Thrifty. It was a quick shuttle ride to their facility and we were on our way to Aulani shortly. I didn't feel like it was a long ride at all...maybe a half hour or less. There are 2 shopping areas right off the highway at Exits 1A and 1B. Exit 1A has Target, Ruby Tuesdays, a pretty large organic food store, and some other stuff. Exit 1B has Walmart and a bunch of fast food and other stores. We didn't know about Walmart until after we stocked up at Target.
I think we ate at Aulani 3 times...twice at Ulu Cafe and Aunty's Breakfast at Makahiki. We had gotten cereal, bagels, milk, cold cuts, bread and stuff from Target. We ate across the street at the pizza place, and from the ABC store. We ate at Outback (Exit 1b) and Ruby Tuesday (1A) other says, as well as while we were out and about sightseeing,
We did two beach days (tried for 3, but it rained). Saw Pearl Harbor. Drove to the North Shore -- didn't think it was a long ride at all, but we stopped a bunch of times. Had lunch in Historic Hale'iwa Town. Had shaved ice at Masimotos. Saw Turtle Beach, Waimea Bay and Valley, bunch of other beaches, Punchbowl National Cemetery, Diamond Head, etc.
We actually drove around the entire island one day because after going through Honolulu to get to Pearl Harbor and swinging through the Waikiki area, my husband decided he didn't want to drive in traffic anymore, so we just followed the map around, stopping at various sites. It was great.
We did the luau down the road at Paradise Cove. My husband hit golf balls across the street at Ko'olina Golf Club. We had a blast. Having stayed in the Ko'olina area, I don't think I'd want to stay in Waikiki.
My husband, who never gets excited about anything, asked me on maybe the 2nd or 3rd day, "When will we have enough points to come back?"