Aulani bound in August and at a complete loss with planning...

[YensidRocks]

Hello there,

My family and I have decided to head to Aulani this August instead of going on our annual trip to WDW. I am a planner, and find comfort in having each day mapped out in terms of meals and activities. I was able to find solace at WDW because I was so familiar with the property,etc. However, since deciding to head to Aulani, I often find myself rocking back and forth and becoming rather frustrated when trying to identify what would best suit my family. So here I am, turning it over to the experts... I would greatly appreciate any advice or tips you might be able to share with me.

Here is a little bit about my traveling party.

It will be my DH, DD (18) and myself-DW. Since our DD will be 18, I'm nervous that there won't be much for her to do at the resort other than relax on the beach, lazy river, etc -- please tell me my assumptions are wrong.

Our length of stay will be 8/18-8/27. 8/18-8/21 we will be staying in the Waikiki area. We want to acclimate ourselves to the time change. Then we will be heading to Aulani for the rest of our stay. We are leaving late on 8/27 and taking a red-eye flight back to the East Coast.

Some topics that I am at a complete loss are
Car Rental - do i need to or is there other transportation options?-so used to the magical express and Disney transit system...)
Mobility-Is Ko-olina isolated? Is the island easy to navigate? What is traffic like?
Dining Options-we are staying in a studio so we won't be cooking. Which Luau do you recommend? I'm hearing mixed reviews about Paradise Cove and Polynesian Cultural Center which seems far as well.
Excursions-We aren't dare devils but enjoy light hiking, water activities, etc.
Resort Activities-Again, our daughter aged out of Aunties and we're not quite sure what else is offered.
Expenses-I live in NYC where things for the most part are pricey. I'm used to going out to a chain restaurant and dropping a hundred bucks on dinner for three-what are prices like in Hawaii? I'm hearing that prices there are pretty inflated due to the isolation factor. I need to figure out how much money I should budget for this trip. Can't believe I just dropped 3 grand on air fair --Hope this trend doesn't continue .

Also, are there any things that you and your family have discovered that aren't labeled as tourist traps that you enjoyed doing? I know that some people like to drive up to the North Shore and hit food carts, etc.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this post and hopefully help me plan this trip. Still cannot fathom that i am going to spend 11 days in paradise.

Looking forward to what you have to say!

 

[rnorwo1]

We haven't been yet, we are going in about 5 weeks; however, I am also an obsessive planner, so I kind of feel like I've lived there my whole life after the research I've done for almost a year now.

Yes, Aulani is fairly isolated. There is not much to do outside of the resort without a car; Paradise Cove is next door, and a shopping center with a few restaurants and ABC store are within walking distance. There are a couple of other hotels right there where you can walk to and eat, also. Monkey pod is within walking distance and seems affordable, I've read that the pizza place across the street is good, also. Aulani has excursions, so you could do some things by booking through them, and they'll provide transportation to some of them, but they are expensive. They also have an Alamo (I think) right at the resort, so you could rent a car as needed, but we found that they were very expensive compared to renting at HNL. We are renting cars for our entire trip.

If you didn't want to do that, you could plan most of your outings while in Wakiki, since it's closer to most things, anyway. The exception would be the North Shore. I highly recommend that you go to trip advisor and look at all the things there are to do, see what your must-dos are, and then look at a map to get your bearings. Then you can start to put an itinerary together. The Oahu forum has some suggested drives with recommended stops, if you want to see the island, you can do one or all of them. If you get most of your must-dos done then, you can take a shuttle to Aulani and never leave the resort while there!

We decided on doing Paradise Cove; the actual luau had better reviews than PCC, no alcohol is served at PCC, and Paradise Cove is walkable from Aulani. If you were interested in the other things PCC has, you could still do that portion. I've read that the nighttime show at PCC is phenomenal, though.

Here is our somewhat flexible itinerary, but I'll note what you may need to plan ahead of time:
Day 1: arrive 12:30, pick up cars and head to resort. Shop for groceries and explore resort
Day 2: hired a photographer, taking sunrise family pics at Paradise Cove beach; character breakfast (make reservations), relax at resort, Paradise Cove luau (we pre-paid, not sure if they have same day availability)
Day 3: resort day (snorkeling, may go back to paradise cove beach, have auntys classes reserved for youngest child, will do the scavenger hunt, etc)
Day 4: North Shore day: Dole pineapple plantation, one person will go horseback riding, others will go to beach, Waimea beach, Shark cove, shrimp truck, shaved ice, etc)
Day 5: PEarl Harbor (get tickets for the Arizona online 60 days out, they go quickly!); guys will stay and see Missouri and Bowfin, women and kids will leave after Arizona and go to swap meet and then return to resort.
Day 6: hike Diamond Head and rest of day at the resort
Day 7: Driving to East Shore, most will go on Segway tour of Kailua beaches/area (booked already), young kids and I will hang out at beach; after Segway tour we will have lunch, go to macadamia farm, and then do the movie tour at Kualoa ranch (booked already)
Day 8: day at resort, evening flight home

There is a lot more that I would like to do, but there's not enough time. Maybe we will be able to return one day!
Happy planning, and once you know some specifics, post back here or on tripadvisor!

 

[Loveallthingsmouse]

I am by no means an expert, but I will give it a try. We visited Aulani almost 2 years ago and have a trip planned again this June. We too are staying in Waikiki, we didn't do this on our first trip, but really wished we had...so we are this time.
Car rental-my suggestion is yes, a car is very important. We love to sit by the pool and on the beach, but it was nice having the freedom to go/do see what we wanted to when we wanted to. If you have a Costco card, try rentals thru them...we got a great deal from them both times.
Mobility-we found the island is very easy to navigate, traffic can be heavy, but it didn't seem any more so than traffic in Orlando. We downloaded an app called GyPsy-Oahu Full Island Tour, highly recommend it. We would turn it on while we drove around, it gave interesting information and we found things to see we never would have.
Dining-we went to Paradise Cove last time and are scheduled to go again. We enjoyed ourselves, it was great walking down and walking back.
Activities-each day you will get a daily guide with activities, we enjoyed renting paddle boards in the cove. My girls are both too old for Aunties, but they are happy sitting by the pool, lazy river or hanging out by the ocean. Sorry, can't be more help for an 18 year old.
Expenses-I think this all depends on where you want to eat. We found that for 4 the bill was a minimum of $100 and on up. What I compare the prices to is TS at WDW for a basic meal and Signature dining at WDW for a nicer meal.
Hope this helps...Aulani is beautiful!

 

[buffettgirl]

Car Rental - do i need to or is there other transportation options?-so used to the magical express and Disney transit system...)
Mobility-Is Ko-olina isolated? Is the island easy to navigate? What is traffic like?
Dining Options-we are staying in a studio so we won't be cooking. Which Luau do you recommend? I'm hearing mixed reviews about Paradise Cove and Polynesian Cultural Center which seems far as well.
Excursions-We aren't dare devils but enjoy light hiking, water activities, etc.
Resort Activities-Again, our daughter aged out of Aunties and we're not quite sure what else is offered.
Expenses-I live in NYC where things for the most part are pricey. I'm used to going out to a chain restaurant and dropping a hundred bucks on dinner for three-what are prices like in Hawaii? I'm hearing that prices there are pretty inflated due to the isolation factor. I need to figure out how much money I should budget for this trip. Can't believe I just dropped 3 grand on air fair --Hope this trend doesn't continue .

Car rental/ Mobility: the island is small and it's pretty easy to get around. I would rent a car. A lot of the excursions are things you can do on your own, if you had a car, and then you're not tied to some one else's schedule. In Waikiki, depending on what you're doing there, you might not need one. Traffic can be terrible during rush hour. The bulk of the traffic is going to downtown honolulu in the morning, and then the other way in the afternoons.

Dining: All the luaus seem to be a little different. Paradise Cove was fine for what it was - a touristy luau, but the food is good and the pre-show activities were also really good. polynesian cultural center will probably take you at least an hour to get there and there is no alcohol. I guess it's a more authentic experience, but I also heard that it's really best as an all day thing. Haven't been there myself.

Excursions - if you have a car, you have so much more flexibility. Hiking is abundant (free) and beaches are everywhere.

Expenses: about the same as NYC. It isn't terrible if you're coming from the east coast. At least I don't think so. (too bad you didn't wait on air fare, 599 to the east coast seems to be the low number, but it comes up often enough that I would now never book air above that.

 

[cmph]

I would echo a lot of the above, from my own research. We're going next month, so I'm not yet an expert! But since you are apparently my long-lost travel-planning twin, I will add that it gave me a LOT of comfort to have some things booked. We booked our spa appts, made dining reservations (which can easily be canceled), and I bought a 3-day Go Oahu pass which essentially required pre-booking certain activities (boat tour, dolphin encounter, Kualoa jeep tour). Everything can be canceled if we need to, for whatever reason, but having NO plan for the entire trip would make me nuts - both now and DURING the trip. I now have a "touring plan" for Oahu, with plenty of resort time built in. Getting that Go Oahu pass was the best thing for my brain - it gave me a reason to schedule a few things b/c I had to maximize its value to get the 3 days' worth. And much like mapping out your FP+ and dining plan reservations, it let me google-map out what activities made sense to combine for travel ease around Oahu. I envy those who can just happily play it by ear, and totally understand that this is a trip people will say to take it easy on planning... but honestly, for some of us, the planning is such a happy and brain-soothing thing. Just mapping out the driving distance from Aulani to an assortment of locations on Oahu is a good start to familiarize yourself with the island!

 

[mommy2eee]

Heading there next Friday for my DD's wish trip! We booked the Paradise Cove Luau. If you buy the Entertainment coupon book for Hawaii (it was half price at $17) and it had a 25% off coupon for Paradise. For 4 adult admissions it saved us over $100!! Some other coupons for restaurants too. We booked DD surf lessons with Surf HNL (formerly Girls Who Surf). We have rented a Jeep one day and are driving the. North coast to check out beaches and food trucks.

 

[micminmom]

Heading there next Friday for my DD's wish trip! We booked the Paradise Cove Luau. If you buy the Entertainment coupon book for Hawaii (it was half price at $17) and it had a 25% off coupon for Paradise. For 4 adult admissions it saved us over $100!! Some other coupons for restaurants too. We booked DD surf lessons with Surf HNL (formerly Girls Who Surf). We have rented a Jeep one day and are driving the. North coast to check out beaches and food trucks.

If you are so inclined, would LOVE to hear your wish trip report when you return.

 

[Alice Sr.]

One thing I would add would be to look at Kualoa Ranch. My fiance and I(this is Alice's daughter Lindsey who has hijacked her computer at the moment) did this when we went a couple years ago and it was the highlight of our trip. We are definitely planning on going again for our trip in September. Actually we are planning on going 2 days, 1 day for zip lining and 1 day for the 2 hour ATV tour. The 2 hour ATV tour is what we did last time and it was amazing. The scenery is breathtaking. Words really can't do it justice. They have a 1 hour ATV tour and I believe either a 1 or 2 hour horse back riding tour as well as some other options. I was worried that 2 hours would seem too long, but at the end of the tour I would have gladly gone another hour. Time flew by. I think they have some packages that include a "private beach" lunch. I've heard mixed reviews on that portion. Definitely worth looking into for anyone that goes to Oahu.

 

[lizard1]

Day 2: hired a photographer,

We are possibly looking for a photographer too...not set on Aulani's photography package. Do you mind sharing what you found?

 

[YensidRocks]

We haven't been yet, we are going in about 5 weeks; however, I am also an obsessive planner, so I kind of feel like I've lived there my whole life after the research I've done for almost a year now. Congratulations on the upcoming trip. Unfortunately, I have been unable to dedicate as much time as I would've like to researching. I'm a teacher and my job has been completely banana's lately! Thank you for taking the time to share some of your hard earned knowledge with me .

Yes, Aulani is fairly isolated. There is not much to do outside of the resort without a car; That's what I figured. I know we definitely want to hit up the North Shore. Just have to figure out what we're going to see. I also need to figure out which company to rent a car from. I have never done this before and I want to ensure that I am getting the best rate. I also have to check in with what employee discounts my job offers.

Paradise Cove is next door, and a shopping center with a few restaurants and ABC store are within walking distance. There are a couple of other hotels right there where you can walk to and eat, also. Monkey pod is within walking distance and seems affordable, I've read that the pizza place across the street is good, also. It's good to know that there are other eateries near by. What kind of food does the Monkey Pod offer. My DH and DD can be considered picky eaters... ugh! In terms of Paradise Cove, it seems ideal given proximity. I just keep hearing mixed reviews about it, etc. For example, how it's not as good as it once was, etc. I don't know what to think of it. I know that at times I don't think WDW is meeting the same expectations as years passed but new visitors would never pick up on it. So does Paradise Cove fall into that catergory...lol. I know that the Polynesian Cultural Center is FAR AWAY and would really require an entire day visit. The concept seems nice but then again from videos that I watched it seems a bit cheesy...lol.

Aulani has excursions, so you could do some things by booking through them, and they'll provide transportation to some of them, but they are expensive. They also have an Alamo (I think) right at the resort, so you could rent a car as needed, but we found that they were very expensive compared to renting at HNL. We are renting cars for our entire trip. Yeah, I figured so. It's good to know that you can rent a car as needed directly from the resort. I am still researching if I'm going to need a car in the Waikiki area. I'm going to have to compare values between HNL and Aulani.

If you didn't want to do that, you could plan most of your outings while in Wakiki, since it's closer to most things, anyway. Exactly, that's why I planned 3 nights in the Waikiki area. I know that my DH wants to hit Pearl harbor, and that I want to go to the Zoo and Leonards bakery. There are also many transportation options there as well. I was also looking into a food tour-http://www.hawaiifoodtours.com/hole-in-the-wall-tour but DH isn't sold on it. The exception would be the North Shore. I highly recommend that you go to trip advisor and look at all the things there are to do, see what your must-dos are, and then look at a map to get your bearings. That is an excellent idea. Would have never thought to do that. Then you can start to put an itinerary together. The Oahu forum has some suggested drives with recommended stops, if you want to see the island, you can do one or all of them. If you get most of your must-dos done then, you can take a shuttle to Aulani and never leave the resort while there! Do you think that spending 8 days at Aulani with no excursions might be a little too laid back or is there plenty to do at the resort?

We decided on doing Paradise Cove; the actual luau had better reviews than PCC, no alcohol is served at PCC, and Paradise Cove is walkable from Aulani. If you were interested in the other things PCC has, you could still do that portion. I've read that the nighttime show at PCC is phenomenal, though. I also read that Hawaii offers a coupon book and PCC is included-this excites me .

Here is our somewhat flexible itinerary, but I'll note what you may need to plan ahead of time:
Day 1: arrive 12:30, pick up cars and head to resort. Shop for groceries and explore resort. We are arriving on a Thursday, at around 230. If we decide to rent a car from HNL i guess we will pick it up, head to the supermarket to get water, snacks, etc. and then hit the Ramada that we're staying at. I was able to get a nice discount through my employer. I don't know how we're going to feel about wondering around because we will still be on NYC time and it'll already be about 8:30 on our internal time. I see ravenous appetites appearing . So perhaps I can plan an early dinner somewhere to help with that. I just don't know where yet.
Day 2: hired a photographer, taking sunrise family pics at Paradise Cove beach; character breakfast (make reservations), relax at resort, Paradise Cove luau (we pre-paid, not sure if they have same day availability) I didn't know that Paradise cove offered this. I was thinking about doing it through Aulani but I guess it would be best to price compare. I'm thinking for our day 2, we will probably hit Pearl Harbor. Is Pearl Harbor an all day experience? What might one recommend fitting in on this day...lol. I'm so clueless, this is ridiculous. I seriously need someone to sit down with me and plan...lol.
Day 3: resort day (snorkeling, may go back to paradise cove beach, have auntys classes reserved for youngest child, will do the scavenger hunt, etc) Sounds like fun. I'm thinking of maybe going to Diamond head this day and trying the hike. I want to do the dead man catwalk so bad but my DH is completely against it and my DD is convinced that knowing my luck I will trip and fall over...lol.
Day 4: North Shore day: Dole pineapple plantation, one person will go horseback riding, others will go to beach, Waimea beach, Shark cove, shrimp truck, shaved ice, etc) Day 4 for us will be heading to Aulani. Everything that you have listed I WANT to do! Seems like so much fun! Do you feel like a day will be enough to fit all of this in. I would also like to hit Turtle Beach.
Day 5: PEarl Harbor (get tickets for the Arizona online 60 days out, they go quickly!); guys will stay and see Missouri and Bowfin, women and kids will leave after Arizona and go to swap meet and then return to resort. Good to know! What is the swap meet. I was reading about a place where you can buy unique souviniers. Is this the swap meet you are going to?
Day 6: hike Diamond Head and rest of day at the resort. Fun... Please let me know how this goes when you return.
Day 7: Driving to East Shore, most will go on Segway tour of Kailua beaches/area (booked already), young kids and I will hang out at beach; after Segway tour we will have lunch, go to macadamia farm, and then do the movie tour at Kualoa ranch (booked already). This sounds awesome too.
Day 8: day at resort, evening flight home Sounds like a good idea. I think a day or two before, I'm going to try to prepare myself for the time change ahead. I'm returning on a Sunday and plan on being in my classroom the next day prepping for the upcoming year.

There is a lot more that I would like to do, but there's not enough time. Maybe we will be able to return one day!
Happy planning, and once you know some specifics, post back here or on tripadvisor!

.

Thank you so much for taking the time to share some goodies with me. You actually got me thinking about the first few days at Waikiki. Truly appreciate it!

 

[YensidRocks]

I am by no means an expert, but I will give it a try. You have a lot more knowledge then me, therefore you are an expert in my eyes!

We visited Aulani almost 2 years ago and have a trip planned again this June. 2nd trip in two years, translates to you had a good time and I'm going to love Hawaii. That makes me .
We too are staying in Waikiki, we didn't do this on our first trip, but really wished we had...so we are this time. Yeah, I feel like staying in Waikiki will allow us to accomplish a lot before heading to paradise.
Car rental-my suggestion is yes, a car is very important. We love to sit by the pool and on the beach, but it was nice having the freedom to go/do see what we wanted to when we wanted to. If you have a Costco card, try rentals thru them...we got a great deal from them both times. Didn't think to look through my membership-good idea! How much do you think a car might cost for 11 days? I'm not looking for anything fancy. Just something to handle my luggage and get us to point a and b.
Mobility-we found the island is very easy to navigate, traffic can be heavy, but it didn't seem any more so than traffic in Orlando. We downloaded an app called GyPsy-Oahu Full Island Tour, highly recommend it. We would turn it on while we drove around, it gave interesting information and we found things to see we never would have. OMG-that's awesome! Would have never thought to even research an APP like that. I'm going to download.
Dining-we went to Paradise Cove last time and are scheduled to go again. We enjoyed ourselves, it was great walking down and walking back. It seems so convenient. I just didn't like the reviews I was reading. There seems to be different tiers that are offered at paradise cove. Which one might you recommend?
Activities-each day you will get a daily guide with activities, we enjoyed renting paddle boards in the cove. My girls are both too old for Aunties, but they are happy sitting by the pool, lazy river or hanging out by the ocean. Sorry, can't be more help for an 18 year old. No that's pretty cool. Last night I saw that they even have early morning yoga activities, etc. I think she would like that.
Expenses-I think this all depends on where you want to eat. We found that for 4 the bill was a minimum of $100 and on up. What I compare the prices to is TS at WDW for a basic meal and Signature dining at WDW for a nicer meal. Yeah, I can relate to Disney Dining costs and that makes sense. What restaurants have you eaten at? At what do you recommend. My DH and DD are a bit picky, not too adventurous, whereas I might take a risk .
Hope this helps...Aulani is beautiful!

Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to help me out. Truly appreciate it. Again, at a complete loss when it comes to planning this and it makes me super uncomfortable!

 

[YensidRocks]

Car rental/ Mobility: the island is small and it's pretty easy to get around. I would rent a car. A lot of the excursions are things you can do on your own, if you had a car, and then you're not tied to some one else's schedule. In Waikiki, depending on what you're doing there, you might not need one. Traffic can be terrible during rush hour. The bulk of the traffic is going to downtown honolulu in the morning, and then the other way in the afternoons. Good to know, need to make sure I find myself going in opposite directions. I was thinking the same thing about Waikiki that's why I'm still deciding if it is worth it for me to rent a car from HNl or at Aulani. Would i be able to rent a car in Waikiki before heading to Aulani? That might be more cost effective as well for me. How much do you think a normal rental would be for 11 days?

Dining: All the luaus seem to be a little different. Paradise Cove was fine for what it was - a touristy luau, but the food is good and the pre-show activities were also really good. polynesian cultural center will probably take you at least an hour to get there and there is no alcohol. I guess it's a more authentic experience, but I also heard that it's really best as an all day thing. Haven't been there myself. I'm beginning to lean towards Paradise Cove. I'm sold on the proximity factor.

Excursions - if you have a car, you have so much more flexibility. Hiking is abundant (free) and beaches are everywhere. Do you recommend any trails or beaches?

Expenses: about the same as NYC. It isn't terrible if you're coming from the east coast. At least I don't think so. (too bad you didn't wait on air fare, 599 to the east coast seems to be the low number, but it comes up often enough that I would now never book air above that.

I've been fare watching for so long and it has been consistently high. I still can't get over the price. Absolutely crazy! Could've went to Aruba with all expenses paid. However, it's not Hawaii and it's not DISNEY...lol.

Thank you so much for getting back to me!

 

[YensidRocks]

I would echo a lot of the above, from my own research. We're going next month, so I'm not yet an expert! But since you are apparently my long-lost travel-planning twin, I will add that it gave me a LOT of comfort to have some things booked. Wonder Twin Power-ACTIVATE! LOL. It just makes me uncomfortable not having a plan and it's good to know that I am getting tried and true advice from you guys! Truly appreciate it!

We booked our spa appts, made dining reservations (which can easily be canceled), and I bought a 3-day Go Oahu pass which essentially required pre-booking certain activities (boat tour, dolphin encounter, Kualoa jeep tour). Did you book spa appointments through Aulani. What packages do you they offer? I didn't even know OAHu had a pass. Gotta look into that. That sounds like something that might provide a nice amount of structure .

Everything can be canceled if we need to, for whatever reason, but having NO plan for the entire trip would make me nuts - both now and DURING the trip. Exactly!

I now have a "touring plan" for Oahu, with plenty of resort time built in. Getting that Go Oahu pass was the best thing for my brain - it gave me a reason to schedule a few things b/c I had to maximize its value to get the 3 days' worth. And much like mapping out your FP+ and dining plan reservations, it let me google-map out what activities made sense to combine for travel ease around Oahu. OMG... I am loving this! I envy those who can just happily play it by ear, and totally understand that this is a trip people will say to take it easy on planning... but honestly, for some of us, the planning is such a happy and brain-soothing thing. Yeah I could never just kick it to the wind, i need to know exactly what and when. Just mapping out the driving distance from Aulani to an assortment of locations on Oahu is a good start to familiarize yourself with the island!

Good idea! Thank you!

 

[YensidRocks]

Heading there next Friday for my DD's wish trip! We booked the Paradise Cove Luau. If you buy the Entertainment coupon book for Hawaii (it was half price at $17) and it had a 25% off coupon for Paradise. For 4 adult admissions it saved us over $100!! Some other coupons for restaurants too. We booked DD surf lessons with Surf HNL (formerly Girls Who Surf). We have rented a Jeep one day and are driving the. North coast to check out beaches and food trucks.

That sounds Awesome! And I am ordering the book. Thank you for the money saving tip! Hope your trip goes well and your daughter has a blast!

 

[YensidRocks]

One thing I would add would be to look at Kualoa Ranch. My fiance and I(this is Alice's daughter Lindsey who has hijacked her computer at the moment) did this when we went a couple years ago and it was the highlight of our trip. We are definitely planning on going again for our trip in September. Actually we are planning on going 2 days, 1 day for zip lining and 1 day for the 2 hour ATV tour. The 2 hour ATV tour is what we did last time and it was amazing. The scenery is breathtaking. Words really can't do it justice. They have a 1 hour ATV tour and I believe either a 1 or 2 hour horse back riding tour as well as some other options. I was worried that 2 hours would seem too long, but at the end of the tour I would have gladly gone another hour. Time flew by. I think they have some packages that include a "private beach" lunch. I've heard mixed reviews on that portion. Definitely worth looking into for anyone that goes to Oahu.

I am going to research this today. Seems like they have a lot of different options to meet various needs of travel party. I am so thankful for all of the tidbits you guys are sharing. Please keep them coming!

 

[YensidRocks]

We are possibly looking for a photographer too...not set on Aulani's photography package. Do you mind sharing what you found?

I never even thought to look outside of Aulani! Eye opening and hopefully what she shares is easier on the pockets-maybe I can purchase a few more Malasada's from Leonards bakery... yum.

 

[cmph]

Good idea! Thank you!

Yes, you can just book Aulani's spa directly on the phone. I just booked massage appts for DH and me, b/c if you book any full-service appt - you get access to this whole fancy baths/showers area and can make your own scrub. You can hang out in that area as long as you want the day of your appt. Google "Go Oahu" (not sure if I'm allowed to post the link for that company - but they offer city passes for a bunch of cities in the US, and in this case, the whole island of Oahu). I opted for the all-inclusive 3-day pass b/c it covered most things we were interested anyway (the paid Pearl Harbor stuff, Waimea, Dole, PCC, a catamaran cruise, Kualoa tour, etc); pricing out the activities individually, it would have cost us twice as much as the passes. Some activities are limited to certain times of the day, so planning becomes a necessity to get your money's worth out of it. You can also pre-purchase a "build-your-own card" for just a few activities you know you want at a discount. You wouldn't save as heavily, but if you aren't going to very many places, it would make more sense. I'm sure more than a few people buy the all-inclusives and barely get their money's worth b/c they don't plan/investigate all that well. Not me!! A few days ago, it was on the Costco site for a really cheap price - actually, I think it was the 4-day for less than the normal 3-day pass price. I was irritated I had already purchased it! I saw it on groupon at one point too. Or sign up for emails directly from their site and you get a $10 coupon off your purchase. In my head, having pre-paid for all of our excursions (except for tips) will make the trip feel better-budgeted, too.

We go in May/June and I will definitely post a report when we return. I never needed help with WDW, and the only reason I opened a disboards acct was for Aulani! Need to pay it forward.

 

[cmph]

One thing I would add would be to look at Kualoa Ranch. My fiance and I(this is Alice's daughter Lindsey who has hijacked her computer at the moment) did this when we went a couple years ago and it was the highlight of our trip. We are definitely planning on going again for our trip in September. Actually we are planning on going 2 days, 1 day for zip lining and 1 day for the 2 hour ATV tour. The 2 hour ATV tour is what we did last time and it was amazing. The scenery is breathtaking. Words really can't do it justice. They have a 1 hour ATV tour and I believe either a 1 or 2 hour horse back riding tour as well as some other options. I was worried that 2 hours would seem too long, but at the end of the tour I would have gladly gone another hour. Time flew by. I think they have some packages that include a "private beach" lunch. I've heard mixed reviews on that portion. Definitely worth looking into for anyone that goes to Oahu.

Happy to read this!! The jeep tour was a last-minute (well, by my terms, meaning not planned 6 months ago) addition b/c I read a review that said something along the lines of "This was the only outing our kids didn't complain about." LOL! I will have a tween and a 7yo boy, so that caught my attention.

 

[Loveallthingsmouse]

Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to help me out. Truly appreciate it. Again, at a complete loss when it comes to planning this and it makes me super uncomfortable!

I am a complete nut about planning...my family makes fun of me, but it makes me happy to know things are a little planned. One tip I had received before our first trip was to plan a resort day and then an exploring day and alternate. That worked well for us last time and have that planned again this trip. We loved our trip to Hawaii...our youngest cried the entire trip to the airport saying she didn't want to leave and asks often to go back, so it is safe to say we enjoyed our trip.

To answer the questions you had:
Rental car-we got a full sized SUV from Alamo for 11 days for about $650 dollars. I drive a full size SUV at home, kids are used to it (they get car sick in small cars, we learned that last trip). Last visit we rented a car, again thru Alamo, for about $350, it was a mid sized car...barely fit our luggage. This time we are taking my mom along for the trip so we know we needed something larger than that. Looked at a mini van, but decided to get the SUV since we know the size, etc. I was hoping that prices would go down from that, but so far not, it is over double now. We are going over the July 4th holiday so I assume it is a high period. It is an island, they have a limited supply of cars and can't bring more in if needed...reserve early, if the price goes down, rebook, don't prepay.

The app was great! The guy narrating gave very interesting facts along the way and even includes parking information if you want to stop and look at something. We found some beautiful sites from the app, well worth the couple bucks for the app.

Paradise cove-I can only comment on the package that we booked. We booked the Royal box on our first visit. Our daughter has special needs and lots of people around her make her very nervous, so we booked that one and very happy we did. We had a great place to sit and watch the show, they served us dinner instead of the buffet and we loved talking with the waiter about his life on an island (remember my daughter was sure she was not flying home with us, she was gonna stay on the island at the rip old age of 10, lol). They give you cards with money on them to purchase drinks or items from the gift shop. It is expensive, but it is important that everyone enjoy themselves, so for us it was well worth the price. The pre-show activities were great, we liked the food and loved the show, we have the same package booked again. I've read the reviews about it not being nice, maybe we have low standards....but we liked it.

We are looking forward to trying some of the fitness activities when we go, yoga on a paddle board just sound interesting too me...it will at least be funny!

Restaurants that we enjoyed were Monkeypod across the street, the happy hour is fantastic! We are planning to go there at least 3 times this visit...we still talk about the truffle fries. We really liked Ama'Ama for breakfast and for dinner. We did the buffet for dinner and character buffet. The dinner was just ok, didn't feel it was worth the price. The character buffet we were so disappointed with. It was priced like WDW but we never saw any characters, they never came to our table while we were there. Our girls are older so they didn't care, but I don't plan to pay for it again. We really liked Zippy's (kinda like a Denny's if you are familiar with that). The food was inexpensive and we were eating with locals, we loved it! When we travel we like to eat at places that we can't get at home, I have a long list of places to try this time!! Must try Leonard's Malasadas, it is a truck off the interstate (on the right) on the way to Aulani....they are SO yummy!

Also, we did the private photo session thru Aulani and are planning again when we return. It was well worth the price we paid, we got a couple hundred photos...hopefully it will be just as good this time.

Good luck and have fun planning!

 

[rnorwo1]

We are possibly looking for a photographer too...not set on Aulani's photography package. Do you mind sharing what you found?

Before I tell you, let me explain that this is an extended family trip; we have been trying to get together for over a year to have portraits made, and, sadly, this will be the easiest for us to do while all together there! Im telling you that because I spoke with about 6-7 different photographers, and we actually decided on the most expensive (and I am so frugal, this was gut wrenching!). We weren't looking just for pictures to document the trip, we were looking for really good family photos, also, and if we could get together and do it here at home, it would have been pretty expensive also.

So, this is who we went with: http://www.hilittlebird.com/

The Aulani photographer just spends about 20 min and their pics all seemed very posed. There is also a photographer at the Marriott next door, and I thought they were about the same thing. They give you the file immediately (I think Marriott was the next day), and you can print on your own when you return home. They don't edit (Marriott may have done a little). If you wanted features like editing, or more time to actually take the pics, the additional fees began to add up to close to what Heather at Little Bird was charging, so we just decided to go for it. After I sent her an email inquiry, she called and we talked for about half an hour, she's been very responsive with everything. And, I fell in love with her gallery of photos, they were very different than a bunch of people just standing in a line on a beautiful beach. There were other photographers I spoke to who were in the middle range between Aulani and Little Bird quality. I just googled "photographer Ko'olina" and found several.

That being said, if you really just want nice pics of your smaller family while in Hawaii, I would absolutely go for one of the shorter and cheaper options. They'll be beautiful just because you're in paradise! But if you want something more special, Little Bird just really impressed me.