Aulani, dealing with time change.

[Iggipolka]

Any hints for adjusting to Hawaii time zone? My 9 mth old & 4 yr old are usually in bed by 7pm (4pm Hawaii) up at 6am, which would be 3am in Hawaii. So not good. We leave Tuesday, so a slow transition isn't possible.
Hope this isn't going to be as bad as I'm thinking.

 

[abdgeek]

When I traveled to Hawaii last year, I stayed up until 11pm Hawaii time on the day I arrived. Even doing that, I was awake at 4 am for the first two days. After that, I was ok. When I woke up, I stayed in the room for a while and then walked around the resort(nothing was open but I went down to the beach). There were other guests from the East Coast doing the same thing.

 

[crisi]

Stay up as late as possible the day you arrive.

Try not to get evacuated for a tsunami that night, it will create four additional days of havoc if you end up "sleeping" in your rental car

 

[Iggipolka]

I'm going to try & keep the kids up the first day & hope the melt downs won't be too bad. The baby will probably just fall asleep at her usual time, but hopefully the 4 yr old will tolerate staying up without loosing it. Going to be a long day for her with the 6 hour plane ride. Poor kid

 

[DenLo]

Take naps on the plan ride. And I agree, stay up as late as possible. There is lots to do at Aulani. It might be pretty easy to keep the 4 year old entertained, especially if you check out Aunties Beach House or play at the Menehune Bridge water play area. I wouldn't plan to do a lot away from the resort for a couple of days so you can slowly adjust there.

 

[MdmMim]

When DS was 18 months, we went to Hawaii. He stayed on Eastern time, getting up at 2-3 a.m., and was totally done by 2 p.m. As you are from the west coast, it probably won't be as bad. We flew to LAX, stayed overnight, then continued on the next day.
It was a difficult trip.

I wish you a better trip than we had.

 

[Tikihula]

My son and his family are flying all the way from west Africa to meet us at Aulani this Friday. They arrive about midnight. I'm sure they'll spend the first couple days resting and adjusting from the extreme time change.

 

[Anal Annie]

Any hints for adjusting to Hawaii time zone? My 9 mth old & 4 yr old are usually in bed by 7pm (4pm Hawaii) up at 6am, which would be 3am in Hawaii. So not good. We leave Tuesday, so a slow transition isn't possible.
Hope this isn't going to be as bad as I'm thinking.

I see you are coming from the west coast so it won't be nearly as bad for you as it is for folks trying to adjust to the difference from the east coast (only a 3 hr. time difference VS a 6 hour time difference). Best advice is to try to stay up & get on island time the first night. Otherwise you'll just stay messed up. The last time we went to Hawaii DS was like 9. We left here at probably 8 or 8:30 AM and landed in Hawaii around 1:00 PM or so but to us it felt like 7 PM. By dinnertime that evening, DS who was 9 at the time, fell asleep at the table at Duke's with his mouth full!! Literally (poor kid - I took pictures of him at the table with his cheeks full of food while he was asleep). But I knew we couldn't go to bed at 7:00 PM their time even tho to us it felt like it was 1:00 AM. We had to stay up. When we went to Europe 2 summers ago we left the east coast at like 4:30 or 5:00 PM and arrived in Paris at 6:00 or 6:30 AM the next day. We didn't really sleep on the plane either because it was still afternoon our time so it just wasn't bedtime for us yet - but we HAD to make it thru the ENTIRE day there awake (I think we figured up we went about 30 hours without sleeping). We checked our luggage with their Bell Services and we spent our first full day there at the Disneyland Paris parks and went back to get our room at the hotel around 3:00 in the afternoon. We spent about 1 1/2 or 2 hours trying to take a short cat nap then we got up and went back out the parks for the remainder of the evening. I knew we HAD to stay up to get on the European time so we stayed out until after the fireworks before we went back to the room. Then we showered & went to bed at like I don't know, midnight. It was one VERY LONG day. We were jet lagged for a couple of days but then were fine for the rest of the trip (2 weeks). But you HAVE to get on local time and just grin & bear your way through it for the first couple of days. If you can get your body clock adjusted within the first couple of days you should be OK for the rest of the trip. You'll be fine just in time to go home & have to get re-adjusted to your CA time!!

 

[Iggipolka]

I am grateful that we only have to deal with the 3 hour time difference.

I'm not so worried about me. I'm chronically sleep deprived for the past almost 4 years, due to the kids. I'm used to functioning while exhausted. I'm worried about the kids & helping them adjust and making it through that first very long day.

 

[dsneygirl]

My kids were 7 months and 5 and they didn't do too badly at all. We were up by 6am every day and all of us were asleep by 8pm. I found most of the resort was this way. people were at the pool on the beach before 8am and if you went for a walk after 9 you had the place to yourselves. We found it really easy.

It was way harder coming home (we are east coasters) kids bounced right back, DH and I were wrecked for a week. But soooo worth it!

 

[Cottager]

For us East Coast people who will be up early, does anyone know if the Luana Lounge (the lounge for Early/Late check-ins) is open 24 hours? I'm thinking I'll need to find somewhere to hang out while everyone is sleeping. Hopefully I can get a coffee early in the morning as well. This 6 hour time difference is going to be hard....

 

[dsneygirl]

For us East Coast people who will be up early, does anyone know if the Luana Lounge (the lounge for Early/Late check-ins) is open 24 hours? I'm thinking I'll need to find somewhere to hang out while everyone is sleeping. Hopefully I can get a coffee early in the morning as well. This 6 hour time difference is going to be hard....

I don't remember for sure but there are lots of great places. I would see people at the pool in a lounger reading their kindle etc, the lobby. It was beautiful early morning. I wanted to be outside as much as possible

 

[rparmfamily]

The others have great advice. You may be surprised at how great the kids do. They will probably nap on the flight (mine normally do from the humming of the engines) and then your goal is to get them on island time as soon as possible. Stay up as late as possible. And then just go with the flow. If they wake up at 4am, drive to Kapolei and get breakfast nice and early at Zippy's LOL. Aulani is simply magical very early in the morning (sunrise, though the sun rises behind it) The glow of the sun is just very soothing. Good luck!

(PS we fly quite a bit with our 3 from HI to CA usually but often to FL)

 

[Disney Princess]

We are three hours different from my in-laws (East coast versus West coast). We've taken our son to see grandma and grandpa at three months and seven months. I can't speak for a 4-year-old, but our baby adjusts really well. I think he goes with daylight hours. At home he usually sleeps from 7:30-8 or 9. He adjusted within the first day on both trips. If the sun isn't up, it is dark in his room, so he thinks it is a different time. Since he can't read a clock, he goes with the sun and adjusts accordingly. As an adult, it is much harder on me because I know what time my body thinks it is.

Take naps on the plane, try to stay up late on the first night, and see how they do. I'm hopeful that you have a great trip!

 

[Sir William]

I used to travel quite a bit for business, now I just do it for pleasure (usually).

I follow pretty much the same routine, regardless of which direction I travel. When I board the plane, I change my watch to that of my destination. I get in a couple of catnaps on longer flights, and then when I arrive I follow my normal daily activity according to the local time, eating and going to bed. When we get to Hawaii on Saturday, I will just stay up until at least 10pm, even though it will feel more like 4am to me (thus the need to catnap on the flight).

Admittedly, this is harder to do with kids, but then they usually adjust to the time difference faster than adults.

 

[disneydenisel]

We're from the West Coast, too . We have been taking the kids to Hawaii since they were 6 months old. We stayed on California time for most of our trips throughout the past 14 years and found it easier to come home that way. When we stayed for two weeks once, we adjusted to the time zone pretty quickly but then had a hard time coming home to school hours .

This year, we adjusted after the first night because the kids are 14 and 11, and then had a terrible time getting back on track at home.

The nice thing about not adjusting to the timezone (in case you don't) is that you can easily get a good table for dinner since you are eating at 2-3pm while others wait until 5-6. Okay, so there's no sunset but you never have trouble finding a spot .

The downside is that the kids would be awake at 3am and wanting breakfast in the dark . With a kitchen, making food at that time isn't a problem . No matter what, you'll be on vacation time so any timezone is good !

 

[amym2]

Dreading the time change a bit also, and we're on Eastern time even though we're in in midwest (Indiana), so I expect it to be a challenge. The only time I've been to Hawaii, on my 2nd day there I was completely wiped out, but otherwise it didn't bother me too much. Our kids are 11 and 9, so at least if they are up at 3am (and they will be, they rarely sleep past 7, even on weekends) they can entertain themselves and leave me alone. DH and FIL will be up when they are, so I'm thankful we'll have a 2bdrm. They can make breakfast and wake me when it's ready.

We moved to Italy for 3 months when our kids were 4 and 21mos, and I won't lie, the time change was not fun. It took us a good week to get onto a "normal" schedule. Problem with vacation is by the time you adjust, it's time to go home. For that reason, I think I'd plan on not trying to adjust a huge amount. Plan early to bed and early to rise.

As others have said, we have always found that it works best to change your clocks as soon as you get onto the plane and then do whatever you would do at that time at your destination, whether it's to sleep or stay awake. My dad has always followed a jet lag "diet" that involved certain amounts of carbs at certain times and drinking 3 cups of black coffee just before you board the plane. He made us try it once when we flew to Australia, and I can't tell you how miserable it was to be the only ones awake on the plane when everyone else was sleeping (this was before personal movie players!) and to have to use the restroom every 20 minutes. I will not do that again!!

 

[dizneekrazee]

We are here now, (checking out tomorrow). This was my kids first time changing time zones ( they've only traveled along the West Coast). Only my youngest 2 kids came, they are 7 & 9. I was dreading the time change with them, and it actually wasn't that bad. They woke by 5am, so I stocked up on breakfast foods for the room. We also rented movies from the community room to watch while we waited for the resort to wake up. It was easier than expected. I know their bodies are tired, hoping they sleep on our flight home tomorrow.

 

[Iggipolka]

Today is our first full day at Aulani. We arrived yesterday afternoon and the time change hasn't been as bad as I had feared.

The kids fell sound asleep at Aulani's show last night, 8pm HI time which was 11pm California time. I'm amazed and surprised that they didn't have a single melt down yesterday. The baby napped, but my 3 yr old didn't.

The bummer was this morning when both kids were wide awake at 4am. Ugh. That sucked. I'm hoping they'll sleep later tomorrow morning.

Surprisingly, they are still doing well, good energy & good spirits.

 

[MMcCarthy]

We arrived yesterday too and were up at 4 am also. I loved the show last night. We got up and did Pearl Harbor today. We really enjoyed it. Tonight we are still moving but enjoying a quiet evening with dinner in