2024 travel, considering Napa, Nashville, maybe another WDW and is Hawaii ok now?

[LuvOrlando]

Considering 2024 travel, is Hawaii ok now? Anyone been recently? Not sure If I can trust the books, it seems tough to find info on Hawaii, I want to visit but don't want to add to trouble.

Also on the list are Napa, Nashville and, of course, WDW... a family member has a Florida wedding so it would be downright silly not to go, right

 

[soccerdad72]

Hawaii is fine. If you're referring to the fire in Lahaina on Maui, it's not an issue at this point either. Obviously, you're not going to go anywhere near the town itself, but the rest of the island is good. We were there in late October, stayed on Ka'anapali Beach, and had no issues.

 

[_19disnA]

Hawaii is a series of islands so I would assume if you are referring to that Maui fire, that wouldn't impact the other islands. Maybe people don't realize the Hawaii is the name of one of the islands as well as the total state. I would think Maui in general might still be recovering as any large natural disaster takes months or even years to totally be back to normal.

 

[NAB]

We were in Hawaii the whole month of Oct.

Hopped to all the islands. It’s beautiful there. The flowers and different trees. The big waves I could watch for a long time.

 

[jimmymc]

Hawaii is good to go now.

And personally, I think it would be weird to go to Florida and not stop in Disney for at least a few days.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I know they are different islands but wasn't sure if the whole region was still in disarray trying to sort out resources and all.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Hawaii is good to go now.

And personally, I think it would be weird to go to Florida and not stop in Disney for at least a few days.

Right, I mean, who does that?. At least that is what I am telling DH

 

[Brian Noble]

I know they are different islands but wasn't sure if the whole region was still in disarray trying to sort out resources and all.

Any island other than Maui is unaffected. If I were planning to visit Maui, I would probably stay in Kihei rather than on the west side, personally, but I would still be willing to go. Visitors are still welcome on the island, but I would feel uncomfortable being in the midst of that just now.

This isn't too much of a sacrifice--Maui is not my favorite island--but still.

 

[barkley]

Considering 2024 travel, is Hawaii ok now? Anyone been recently? Not sure If I can trust the books, it seems tough to find info on Hawaii, I want to visit but don't want to add to trouble.

Also on the list are Napa, Nashville and, of course, WDW... a family member has a Florida wedding so it would be downright silly not to go, right

on napa-unless you are really into wine and (overpriced) dining there's not much else to do there. so unless you plan on renting a car and traveling around the bay area to see the sights/do activities (in which case prepare to deal with traffic, traffic and more traffic) it's a pretty limiting place to go.

2 pieces of advice if you do choose to go-unless you plan to attend the events (concerts) avoid traveling there during bottlerock festival (i think this year it's in late may)-it's a madhouse (we have family and friends who leave to go elsewhere and avoid the crowds). when looking at lodging for napa, look at places in napa, yountville, st. helena or calistoga-AVOID any place that markets itself as 'napa adjacent' and 'the gateway to the napa valley'. these tend to be south of napa and some can be in close proximity to some very sketchy high crime areas. near napa areas like sonoma and such are lovely and fine to stay in.

 

[pezgirlroy]

For the Napa piece - Last summer we flew out to San Francisco and the area for a few days. It was an amazing trip. We spent two days in San Fran and went up to Dry Creek Valley. Not as crowded as Napa but absolutely beautiful. Two of the wineries we visited were Bella and Dutcher Crossing. We had a rental car and were visiting friends. We also went to Tahoe area for a few days. Wonderful trip.

 

[GAN]

on napa-unless you are really into wine and (overpriced) dining there's not much else to do there. so unless you plan on renting a car and traveling around the bay area to see the sights/do activities (in which case prepare to deal with traffic, traffic and more traffic) it's a pretty limiting place to go.

2 pieces of advice if you do choose to go-unless you plan to attend the events (concerts) avoid traveling there during bottlerock festival (i think this year it's in late may)-it's a madhouse (we have family and friends who leave to go elsewhere and avoid the crowds). when looking at lodging for napa, look at places in napa, yountville, st. helena or calistoga-AVOID any place that markets itself as 'napa adjacent' and 'the gateway to the napa valley'. these tend to be south of napa and some can be in close proximity to some very sketchy high crime areas. near napa areas like sonoma and such are lovely and fine to stay in.

Agreed. Napa is great, but definitely not cheap and a person should be into wine. Then again, neither is Hawaii or WDW. If I was planning a trip there I would include a visit to Muir Woods(not to be missed IMO), San Fran, and a trip down the Pacific Coast Highway. You can easily fill a week with that type of itinerary.

 

[pezgirlroy]

Agreed. Napa is great, but definitely not cheap and a person should be into wine. Then again, neither is Hawaii or WDW. If I was planning a trip there I would include a visit to Muir Woods(not to be missed IMO), San Fran, and a trip down the Pacific Coast Highway. You can easily fill a week with that type of itinerary.

Yes I forgot to mention that we also went to Muir Woods and it was amazing.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We were at aulani on Oahu in Oct before the transpacific cruise. It was fine.

We love Napa and Sonoma but there’s so much more to see once you’ve been there a couple days. Fly into San Francisco. Visit the Disney family museum. If you’re a Disney fan, it’s fabulous.
Drive down to Monterey for the aquarium, visit Carmel. Muir Woods. Drive over to Yosemite.

We were just in Nashville at Gaylord’s Opryland hotel for new years. . It’s incredible. They have an indoor water park. We didn’t go but it looked wonderful. They also have a huge pool and fitness area. The place is huge with incredible landscaping inside, tons of restaurants and bars. In Nashville, visit the bluebird cafe for great music. The white Limozeen at the graduate hotel is a kick. A little too hip for us but fun for a night out and some drinks. Of course there is the grand olde opry for music. You never know who will show up. The first we went years ago, Vince gill was there. And Garth Brooks stopped by. Sang a song and then gave his guitar to a janitor who was retiring. Really fun.

As for DWD we go every year and rarely go to the parks. We love the resorts. But there’s so much more to Florida. Miami Beach, key west, st Augustine. All great places to visit.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

If I had those choices, I would go with Napa. I have never been, but it is something I would LOVE to do.

 

[bcla]

Maui should be fine to visit. They really hate it that potential visitors think that visiting might be a negative for the island's recovery, especially since Maui is the island in the state that is most dependent on tourism. People will be losing their homes and businesses if they can't work when they have jobs that are dependent on tourism.

Apparently they've been asking that visitors return, but to be respectful. I've heard it's best not to bring up the fire, but sometimes people bring it up and want to tell their stories about it to visitors.

 

[QueenIsabella]

We were in Maui over Thanksgiving. DH was working with the FEMA on the Lahaina rebuild. We stayed in Kihei.

While you can't go to see Lahaina, you can do many other things on Maui. My kids went snorkeling on Molokini Crater, had a spa day at the Fairmont Kea Lani, and we visited the whale sanctuary. I must say, the people of Maui were very gracious to my husband for his work with FEMA--it got embarrassing for him, he kept getting perks and discounts out of gratitude.

The other islands are largely unaffected, if you prefer Oahu or Hawaii or Kauai. But, if you want to go during whale season, Maui's your best bet. (It's also my favorite of the islands, but opinions differ).

My husband has put in for another stint in Maui in the spring--he worked long hours, but really felt like his work was valued and appreciated. The recovery effort is taking a long time, in part because FEMA is trying hard to preserve the culture and artifacts. They've been consulting with experts and Maui elders to save as much as possible. DH is particularly thrilled because they were building a school when he left--kids are literally having classes on the beach right now. The new building is expected to be ready in February.

 

[bcla]

Well - since I'm somewhat local, I know a little bit about Napa Valley, although I wouldn't have very good advice about where to stay. I will point out that the accommodations tend to be very expensive from some basic research, although cheaper accommodations outside of wine country are reasonable since it's pretty close.

If there's going to be a long enough stay, I would think Napa Valley and Sonoma go together, and possibly the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area since they're pretty close to each other.

We recently took some out of town guests staying with us to Napa Valley on the Friday before Christmas, but it was only a day trip. We didn't have any detailed plans - just whatever suited us at the time. We only went to Yountville, St Helena, and then the city of Napa.

Our early lunch was really just pastries from Bouchon Bakery in Yountville and we walked around the main drag, which has some historic buildings and a lot of restaurants and tasting rooms. I don't know how to describe it other than it's really nice. It clearly feels like it was developed for the tourism economy without feeling tacky. We also went to St Helena where they have an older downtown that feels like a quant town.

If you go, research wineries since a lot of them require reservations with prepaid tasting fees. Since we didn't have firm plans, the wineries we chose didn't require reservations or tasting fees and we could just wander the grounds. Our first winery was Beringer, which is one of the oldest wineries there. Then after some time in St Helena we went to V Sattui, which only sells directly to consumers. That place has very nice grounds including access to some of their winery exhibits - all for free. One can have a picnic, but the rules are that no outside food and all food and beverages consumed there must be purchased on site. We've been there on weekends where they brought in food carts and even a food truck.

I'm not a huge winery guy, but the place I went to once was the Coppola Winery in Healdsburg (Sonoma County). They also didn't require reservations and have really nice grounds including a small vineyard where guests can walk through. The store has a lot of Francis Ford Coppola's memorabilia including a Tucker (from his movie on Tucker) and all of his Oscars. Being a beer guy, I really like Russian River Brewing, which has two brewpub locations - their main one in downtown Santa Rosa and their newer one in Windsor, which also has their second production brewery. Their production used to be mainly in a brewery in the industrial part of Santa Rosa and that's still operational.

I'm not sure how much one can do in just Napa Valley. I would suggest a trip to see some old growth redwoods too. A lot of that can be seen in Sonoma, but going further north can be a much nicer experience. We recently visited Redwood National and State Parks, and that blew away any other experience I've had with redwoods. It was on my bucket list for years but I never got around to it. Compared to other old growth redwood forests I've visited, the trees were taller and the trails were less crowded. I've previously been to Muir Woods National Monument in Marin County, and there are literally over a dozen spots throughout Redwood National and State Parks that are superior and don't have any appreciable crowds. I don't mind sharing the experience, but parking and reservations are a huge pain.