What did you and your teens enjoy in Hawaii (Oahu)?

[CyndiLooWho]

Dh and I went to Hawaii on our own for our 25th wedding anniversary a couple of years ago. We decided to take the boys this year, before our oldest is out of the house and off to college. Obviously, we're looking at different activities for the family v. a romantic couple trip. What things should we consider?

Deets: we have a 2 BR condo in Waikiki for a week in June. Not renting a car, but we could probably do a one day rental to see some less touristy things. We are on either side of 50; the boys will be 15 and 17. They like hiking, not real big on swimming. All are major history buffs. We figure 2 days to see the WWII memorials and museums (we did it all on a 1-day tour last time, and it was way too much). We plan to hike to the top of Diamond Head. We will probably take a circle-island tour the first day. Not sure we want to spring for a trip to the Big Island to see Volcano Nat'l Park. That would be about $1000 for the 4 of us, just for that day. I think we can get a bigger bang for that money doing something else.

Thoughts or ideas for us?

 

[ski_mom]

Dh and I went to Hawaii on our own for our 25th wedding anniversary a couple of years ago. We decided to take the boys this year, before our oldest is out of the house and off to college. Obviously, we're looking at different activities for the family v. a romantic couple trip. What things should we consider?

Deets: we have a 2 BR condo in Waikiki for a week in June. Not renting a car, but we could probably do a one day rental to see some less touristy things. We are on either side of 50; the boys will be 15 and 17. They like hiking, not real big on swimming. All are major history buffs. We figure 2 days to see the WWII memorials and museums (we did it all on a 1-day tour last time, and it was way too much). We plan to hike to the top of Diamond Head. We will probably take a circle-island tour the first day. Not sure we want to spring for a trip to the Big Island to see Volcano Nat'l Park. That would be about $1000 for the 4 of us, just for that day. I think we can get a bigger bang for that money doing something else.

Thoughts or ideas for us?

I'd like to follow along too if anyone has any suggestions for you.

We are going to Hawaii this summer too. My mom has always wanted our whole family to go, so it will be my family (me, DH, DD19, DD18 and DS13), my sister and her girls (11 & 7) and my mom. We are going on the Norwegian cruise around the islands and then staying on Ohau for a couple days before and after the cruise as well.

We're very excited but haven't really planned our activities yet. Need to get on that though because June will get here before we know it!

 

[JoeA]

Do you like to kayak? You can rent kayaks and go out on Kaneohe Bay. There is a sandbar you can easily get to and get out and walk around. It's petty cool. Hanauma Bay is pretty cool, too. If you ever watched Hawaii 5-0 you should drive downtown and see the statue of King Kamehameha. The Palace is across the street and holds a lot of history and culture of Hawaii. I'd also hike to Waimea Falls.

One word of advice/caution - leave to Diamond Head early or you'll either spend most of your hike walking up a road, nor not have parking - period.

One recommendation I always make to people visiting Hawaii is to get the book [insert island name here] Revealed. In this case, Oahu Revealed is a great source of info.

 

[nkereina]

Have you looked into Kualoa Ranch? It's on the opposite end of the island, but they do offer transportation from Waikiki since you won't have a car. We're going in September and just booked the movie sites tour, ATV tour, and Jungle Expedition tour.

 

[aprilchem]

I second the "leave early" if you want to go to Diamond Head or Hanauma Bay. We were there in Dec and my kids and DH hiked Diamond Head - I believe they got there at 8 and it was already full. They were able to go back at 11 and get in, but ended up hiking it at the hottest part of the day. We tried Hanauma Bay twice and weren't able to get it - it was full by 8:30 am.

We like the Dole Plantation. A little campy, but my kids had a good time.

 

[jdb in AZ]

When you toured the war memorials last time, did it include the Missouri battleship? That's fun to explore. Have you looked into doing the Polynesian Cultural Center on the north end of Oahu?

 

[luvflorida]

Our youngest daughter was 15 when we went to Hawaii (Oahu) in 2005. One of her favorite activities was taking surfing lessons one day on Waikiki Beach. I know you said your boys aren't really into swimming, though. Hiking up Diamond Head was also fun, but like others have said, get there early! There's a Hard Rock Café near Waikiki Beach that your boys might enjoy visiting. We also had fun taking a one day tour that left from Waikiki Beach and drove up to the North Shore. I loved watching the surfers there!

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

We took our kids on a big trip in July 2013 - Disneyland (3 days), Kauai (1 week), and Oahu (4 days). DD was 14; DS was 16. The cheapest way to hit all 3 destinations from the East Coast was to book a multi city ticket. We stayed at the Wyndham Waikiki Beach Walk. The kids loved having all those shops, restaurants, and Beach Walk nightlife right outside our door.

We were plenty busy with what we did:
Day 1 - hiked Diamond Head, visited Hanauma Bay, shopped
Day 2 - spent the day on Waikiki Beach and took a catamaran sail
Day 3 - spent the whole day at Pearl Harbor doing all the tours (Arizona Memorial, Bowfin, Missouri)
Day 4 - Waikiki Beach in the morning for a swim, Iolani Palace in the afternoon before our flight.

We ate at Shore Bird, Hard Rock Café, Giovanni Pastrami, Rumfire (at the Sheraton), Subway, and Nimitz Korean BBQ (near the airport).

We wanted to get to the Polynesian Cultural Center (had two for one coupons from Entertainment Book) and Giovanni's Shrimp Truck on the North Shore, but we ran out of time!

Our kids loved Oahu. They liked it better than Kauai because there was a lot to do right near our hotel.

 

[georgina]

I highly recommend Chief's Luau at Sea Life Park. My whole family really enjoyed that. They provide transportation from several places in Waikiki. Take a sweater or light jacket if you go!
We did the snorkeling at Hanauma Bay (beautiful but very touristy) and Diamond Head hikes also, but we had a car which made it easier. You can rent an outrigger canoe (with guides) that looked fun, but we did not get to it. My DDs did surfing lessons on Kauai, but had fun. There are stand up paddleboards for rent also.

 

[sk!mom]

We went in 2013 when our DD was 17. Her favorite activity was surfing. Go to any of the guys set up on Waikiki beach and they guarantee that you will get up on the board. She and DH who was 51 both were up on their first try. They loved it.

We all enjoyed Pearl Harbor, hiking Diamond Head, snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, snorkeling at Turtle Beach, driving the North Shore and stopping at lots of beaches, Catamaran trip, Luau.

Honestly the only thing we did that was not worth it was the submarine tour. I didn't think it would be but DS28 really wanted to.

Favorite restaurants- http://shorebirdwaikiki.com DD and DS enjoyed it so much that we ended up having dinner there twice. Favorite dessert: Hula pie at Duke's. We split a piece just about every night since we were staying at the Outrigger.

We rented a car.

Typing this is making me want to go back!

 

[sk!mom]

I second the "leave early" if you want to go to Diamond Head or Hanauma Bay. We were there in Dec and my kids and DH hiked Diamond Head - I believe they got there at 8 and it was already full. They were able to go back at 11 and get in, but ended up hiking it at the hottest part of the day. We tried Hanauma Bay twice and weren't able to get it - it was full by 8:30 am.

We like the Dole Plantation. A little campy, but my kids had a good time.

Yes, get there early.

I was worried that DD17 and DS28 would balk at my early morning plans but with the time difference in our favor, DH and I were up before sunrise every morning- we had a great view of Waikiki beach without people- and my kids were up by 7. We got to Hanuama Bay when it opened and were ready to leave by the time it got crowded. We hiked Diamond Head early. We also reserved the first boat out at Pearl Harbor- that was nice because you had more time without others.

 

[georgina]

On the boat to the Arizona Memorial - I waited too long to get a reservation in January for our desired date, but each morning at 7 AM they release more times online for the following day, so I was able to get them that way. That is the only thing there you need to reserve ahead.

 

[zoemurr]

My kids aren't aren't swimmers either, but they loved snorkeling with an under water camera. I would consider getting a car for a day and going to the North Shore. Find a beach with giant sea turtles, go to a shrimp truck and do a pillbox hike. We enjoyed this end of the island a lot more than the touristy strip. There is also a movie tour I wish we had done that I think they would have enjoyed. They were 14/16. Have fun! Ooh.. Someone above said Waimea falls. That was amazing. Didn't love the Cultural Center and it is $$$. Definitely book Pearl Harbor before you go. We did get the 7:30am tickets the day before but couldn't go the day we wanted to. They both liked the swap meet too.

 

[low-key]

never been to Hawaii but I like Magnum PI

 

[Cantw8]

never been to Hawaii but I own a grass skirt and a coconut bra

All righty

 

[low-key]

All righty

 

[CyndiLooWho]

Some great suggestions!

We do plan to do Diamond Head early; it will be too hot to do it later in the day, I think. Last time we took an early bus out there and that worked out well.

For those of you who did Pearl Harbor on your own: How did you manage to get your tickets? Last time, I was online when Lonely Planet said to be, but I could not get them any day that week. We ended up scheduling a bus tour to be sure we got out there and were able to go to the Arizona. And our tour did ~everything~ that day - the Missouri (which was awesome and the boys will LOVE), the Bowfin, the Pacific Aviation Museum (bullet holes from the Pearl Harbor attack still there), etc. It included a drive by of some sites in Honolulu and a trip to Punchbowl as well. It was really too much for a hot day in July. That's why we're thinking 2 days to see everything there. And trying to decide if we can do it on our own. Getting the tickets to the Arizona is probably going to be the deciding factor again.

The circle island tours include several of the places you all mention - we saw the Kualoa Ranch and took one of the small tours there, plus the Dole Plantation, the Halona blowhole, the Nuuani Pali Lookout, and a some other scenic stops. I will look into the ATV tours at the ranch, as the boys might like that. If we get a car, I'd love to spend more time at Dole. I would love to do the maze there. And the Dole Whips are so awesome.

Thanks for the tip on a Luau you guys liked, too. We did the Germaine's Luau last time and were not all that impressed. The dancing was fun, but the food was like cafeteria Hawaiian style. We had thought about checking out the one at the Cultural Center, but always looking for recommendations. We booked everything through the concierge at our condo last time, and all they did was stuff that Robert's arranged. I want to change that up this year. Not all the Robert's stuff turned out to be what we asked for (our "nice dinner cruise" turned out to be a croded party boat - NOT what I was looking for in an anniversary dinner!).

I had not thought about a catamaran cruise, but will start researching that. We've done a boat tour in most places we've visited that had boat tours, and we always enjoy them. We've never been on a catamaran before, so that could be fun.

Mrs Ciz - We're at Wyndham Waikiki Beachwalk again - what a great place to stay. It's just down the street from the Hard Rock, which our boys are sooo looking forward to. They love the shirts we brought back last time and want to pick their own.

 

[zoemurr]

http://www.recreation.gov/showPage....&contractCode=NRSO&parkId=72369&page=memorial You should be able to get tickets here 2 months in advance, so I would go with that first.

They release a limited number tickets for the following day at 7 am each morning. (At least they did last summer) That is how we got ours. BE THERE EARLY. We hit a snag and got there only a few minutes before. There are tons of people in a stand by line and they will give away your tickets. Fortunately we made it, but if it is important to you don't let your child forget something in the hotel room that you have to go back for.

There is no a/c anywhere and it was very hot the day we went. Bring plenty of water.

Cultural Center luau was not worth the $$. I would go somewhere else.

 

[dclpluto]

Diamond head don't cheat if you can. A lot of people like to cheat and park up diamond head. There is a park at the bottom of the hill park there.

The ranch on the north shore lots of good activities.

Polynesian cultural center.

Couple good water falls one close to Honolulu one the other one Wanimea falls I believe it is. The one by Honolulu you just pay for parking maybe 5 dollars. But it's a muddy walk. The other one Wanimea falls Maybe 15 dollars a person.

Dole plantation. Go to the worlds largest maze. I did dole plantation and Wanimea falls on the same day.

Pearl Harbor

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Catamaran Sail:
We did a walk up catamaran sail mid day on Waikiki Beach. The walk up price was very cheap...they need to fill the boats to make money. It was the bright yellow catamaran that docks in front of the Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach Hotel. It was something like $20 per adult (with open bar) and $10 per child.

Pearl Harbor tickets:
I was not able to get tickets ahead of time online. When we were there they had a certain number of tickets available for walk ups each morning. It was first come first serve, so the earlier you got there the better. We got there first thing in the morning, had no trouble parking (I've heard that can be a challenge) and got in line. At first they gave us 11:00 AM tickets. This was fine with us. We were just going to tour the Pearl Harbor museum and Bowfin before our turn. But then they said they had 9:00 AM tickets available because someone didn't pick them up on time. Score!

Wyndham Waikiki Beach Walk:
We also liked how close it was to the beach! We would cut through the alley near the parking deck to the Sheraton Lobby, and walk through the Sheraton to get to the beach. The beach in front of the Sheraton was better (no rocks) than the beach in front of the Outrigger Reef on the Beach (which was straight down the street from our condo).