3 trip options for Aulani-can you help?

[2littlestitches]

Hi there, considering Aulani for a vacation this August and I've come up with 3 options, that I hope you guys can help with. Please note, while I've been to Kauai before, our family has never seen Pearl Harbor, Polynesian Cultural Center, etc, so that is something we will definitely do....


Option 1: Stay the entire time at Aulani - at least 7 nights, perhaps 8-9. Is that too long?

Option 2: Stay 2-3 nights in Waikiki at a really nice resort (i.e. Hilton Hawaiian Village) so we can see the sights nearby, then transfer to Aulani for the remaining 6 nights or so.

Option 3: Spend 5-6 nights at Aulani, then fly to the Big Island and spend 4-5 nights at the Hilton Waikoloa Village.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated! Also, in option 2, I'm thinking we might not need a rental car since we will be close to the sites at the beginning of the trip.

Thanks so much for any opinions or input!

 

[dizneekrazee]

Hi there, considering Aulani for a vacation this August and I've come up with 3 options, that I hope you guys can help with. Please note, while I've been to Kauai before, our family has never seen Pearl Harbor, Polynesian Cultural Center, etc, so that is something we will definitely do....

Option 1: Stay the entire time at Aulani - at least 7 nights, perhaps 8-9. Is that too long?

Option 2: Stay 2-3 nights in Waikiki at a really nice resort (i.e. Hilton Hawaiian Village) so we can see the sights nearby, then transfer to Aulani for the remaining 6 nights or so.

Option 3: Spend 5-6 nights at Aulani, then fly to the Big Island and spend 4-5 nights at the Hilton Waikoloa Village.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated! Also, in option 2, I'm thinking we might not need a rental car since we will be close to the sites at the beginning of the trip.

Thanks so much for any opinions or input!

If you do option 2 on your own, I would still get a rental. HHV may be closer than Aulani to the things you mentioned, but not close enough. I stayed at HHV Nov 2011, did the Pearl Harbor (tour), Diamond Head (TheBus), etc.

Ps. Option 3 is what we were planning this trip, but, not all of us are going now, so we are just doing Oahu.

 

[aclov]

I'm doing option 2 in June, staying 3 nights on Waikiki than 5 nights in Aulani. I am renting a car since I don't believe there's a way to get to Aulani via public transportation. This is my second time in Oahu, last time I did the same thing stayed at the Marriott in Ko'Olina. Than went to Big Island. We can do all the touristy stuff first than relax!

 

[donkthemagicllama]

We planned to do something similar to 2, but the package vacation that included a stay at Aulani (and wasn't flexible enough to to switch hotels) was too good of a deal to pass up so we wound up doing 1. Can't say we were really disappointed (Aulani is awesome) but our kids are too young to appreciate the other activities on Waikiki anyway. I'd get a car regardless of what you choose.

Maybe I misunderdtood your post, but Pearl Harbor, Polynesian Cultural Center are no where near Waikiki either...

 

[rpcvpanama]

I would go with Option #3. We loved Aulani but Oahu was our least favorite island. We always go to at least two islands when we go to Hawaii, but we are coming from the East Coat and stay for 2 weeks.

 

[2littlestitches]

Thanks, everyone! It's a lot to consider!

 

[Cinderpamela]

DH & I went to Aulani in August and are thinking about taking the kids back with us this coming December. But instead of staying just at Aulani we are thinking we will do your option#2 and stay in Waikiki for 2-3 nights.

Aulani was a great place and we found that we just wanted to hang out when there. The 30 minute drive to go see stuff in Waikiki got old, and so we decided that for next time the Aulani time that we have booked will be spent AT Aulani. We will get the tourist sight seeing done first by staying in the city and then it will be hang time when at Aulani.

 

[MinnieMomMe]

We've stayed at all three of your options, they are all very nice. That being said, I would recommend either option 1 or option 3. We really don't like Waikiki, it's really crowded and kind of yucky IMHO. The HHV is very nice and a little village on it's own, the beach is nice (crowded) but I don't really remember their pool. If you do decide to stay there try to request the Rainbow Tower. The Aulani is truly paradise, it wasn't out of the way for us, it's in a beautiful upscale resort area, and is a great base to tour from. It is by far the superior resort, hands down.
If you want to tour another island, we really like the Big Island and we always stay at the Hilton Waikoloa Village. It's enormous, which has pros and cons. You can swim with dolphins, they have a monorail and boat system (the place is that big). We like to stay in the lagoon tower with a view of the dolphins. The tough thing is if you decide to hang out at a pool/lagoon that is far from your room and you forget something, it could take you 20 minutes to go back and forth. It was really nice when the kids were really little and we spent a lot of time at the resort.
Good luck, sounds like whatever option you go with you'll have a great trip!

 

[2littlestitches]

Hard to go wrong with any of the options in Hawaii, right? Thanks so much, guys!

 

[dsneygirl]

We planned to do something similar to 2, but the package vacation that included a stay at Aulani (and wasn't flexible enough to to switch hotels) was too good of a deal to pass up so we wound up doing 1. Can't say we were really disappointed (Aulani is awesome) but our kids are too young to appreciate the other activities on Waikiki anyway. I'd get a car regardless of what you choose.

Maybe I misunderdtood your post, but Pearl Harbor, Polynesian Cultural Center are no where near Waikiki either...

We spent 10 days at Aulani last year and could have stayed more. our kids were too little to do a lot of touring and we were so spoiled by the beach, pool amenities that we had no desire to leave the resort.

 

[Anal Annie]

We decided to spend a full week at Aulani this summer and then will hop over to Maui for 3 nights (we're starting the trip with 4 nights at VGC / DL so this will make a full 2 week trip).

This will be my 5th trip, DH's 4th trip and DS's 2nd trip to Hawaii. Coming from the east coast we always island hop some but we usually only spend 2-3 nights on Oahu (always in Waikiki before) because it's our least fav. island but as I already said it's too far to go to not spend time on multiple islands). This time though we're looking at Aulani as being more of a resort / luxury destination since it's outside of Waikiki. We're going to take surf lessons and visit the North Shore and take some time to just enjoy the resort and relax. We're going to do some of the things we didn't normally do when staying in Waikiki, although Pearl Harbor is a must do for me for each trip. It is such a beautiful yet sobering experience. Island hopping TOO often can be tiring with all the packing up & moving but not visiting other islands while you're there is a mistake IMO. So I would go with Option # 3 as my Plan A and then your Option # 1 as my Plan B - I would not consider your Option # 2 as a plan...too much packing & moving. I definitely want a rental car (even tho I really don't want to PAY for it I feel that it will make our trip that much more enjoyable to have the freedom to come & go all we want).

Finally, I wonder if you have gone online in the last day or two and checked the availability for the dates you are considering? I think now that the 7 month window for August has been open for awhile you may find there's very limited availability left for August for any consecutive days so your question may be answered for you...I think the end of the month has more open than earlier in the month - likely due to school schedules.

 

[MissMet]

I'm doing option 2 in May.

 

[2littlestitches]

Finally, I wonder if you have gone online in the last day or two and checked the availability for the dates you are considering? I think now that the 7 month window for August has been open for awhile you may find there's very limited availability left for August for any consecutive days so your question may be answered for you...I think the end of the month has more open than earlier in the month - likely due to school schedules.

Thanks, Annie - as of a few days ago, yes, there were rooms available. I've been on that site like crazy, lol. But, it's good to know, so thank you so much for the heads up!

 

[eva]

We are doing option 3 in May. But we will hit the Big Island before Aulani. We will be flying into Honolulu around 2pm and then taking Hawaiian Airlines directly to the Big Island at 4:30. I know we may be a bit tired that first day. But it is just DH and me. So I think we can handle it. We are staying 4 nights at the Fairmont Orchid before heading back to Oahu. I have booked a helicopter tour of the Big Island and a day of zip lining and hiking through a company called Kohala Zip Line. We have rented a car for both islands since we want to explore each island some on our own. While on Oahu we plan to see Pearl Harbor, the North Shore, Diamond Head, and a rainforest on the northeast part of the island. Oh, and we plan to take surfing lessons too. We will be at Aulani for 10 days, 5 we will be out sightseeing and 5 just relaxing around the resort.

PS - If you plan to go to another island, check out Hawaiian Airlines to see what is would cost to do the flight and resort as a package. We saved over $500 doing it that way.

 

[candiemonster]

We'll be doing option 2 in September and again in December.