Aulani Excursion Question

[ToodlesRN]

I want to do a hiking adventure and see some or at least one waterfall. I see there is a Waimea falls north shore excursion with hiking and a waterfall. It's $134PP and $103 children.

1. For those of you who have done this is it worth the price and were you able to swim at the waterfall?

2. For the price it would cost us over $400, Im willing to find a place to hike. anyone have any suggestions on where to go if were going to do it by our selves?

Thanks!

 

[luv2sleep]

I want to do a hiking adventure and see some or at least one waterfall. I see there is a Waimea falls north shore excursion with hiking and a waterfall. It's $134PP and $103 children. 1. For those of you who have done this is it worth the price and were you able to swim at the waterfall? 2. For the price it would cost us over $400, Im willing to find a place to hike. anyone have any suggestions on where to go if were going to do it by our selves? Thanks!

We did it and I thought it was worth it. However, you can drive to that park and just walk it and see the waterfall yourselves for way less. I don't know how much but my sister looked it up and it was way cheaper.

 

[dreaming4disney]

We stayed at Aulani last summer. We rented a car and hiked Manoa Falls. I think it was about 1 1/2 to 2 miles total hike and it was very pretty. A bit slippery on the hike. Parking was nominal- may $5 or so. We had rented a car and drove ourselves.

 

[Anal Annie]

$400 for Waimea Falls? Are you kidding me?!

We started to go there on our own on the day we drove to the North Shore for our surf lessons. IIRC there was no fee for parking but to hike into the falls it was like maybe $15 pp or something (it is like a park or something). It was starting to get late by the time we got there so we decided NOT to go in because we wanted to get back to Aulani before dark and it was about an hours drive back (it was already close to 4:00 because it was the last stop of the day for us) and it gets dark early there. We would have had to rush through and didn't feel the $15 pp fee was worth the rushing. I would try it again on another trip if we were able to get there earlier. But there is absolutely no reason for you to pay $400 for this excursion!! Just drive over there and do it on your own for $15 pp admission.

 

[Chiomaca]

Unless a day's car rental is more than $400, I would follow the advice above and go to Waimea Falls on your own. It's $16/adult and $8-$12 for students. It's an easy walk on paved paths rather than a hike, though. The waterfall at the end is very nice and you can swim there. They even have life jackets for not-so-confident swimmers. It's worth the walk!

It's not a full day trip. With a rental car you could also hit Waimea Beach, drive the North Shore, grab a shave ice at Matsumoto's...all on your own time.

 

[luv2sleep]

The reason I thought it was worth it was because we got a great tour and had wonderful guides. I learned a ton. I loved that. On the way there and back our ABD guide talked and taught us a lot. Then we had a tour guide through the park who talked about the history, the plants, botany, the culture that used to love there, etc. Then we had lunch. I really enjoyed it. My 7 year old did also. Next time we'd probably just go on our own.

 

[DenLo]

My DSIL and family, DD9, DD13 and DH, loved it. They said that the guide really made the difference. And yes they swam at the waterfalls and have a nice photo of all of them sitting on the ledge under the falls.

 

[ToodlesRN]

Thank You all for the replies!

Having the guided tour and the lunch included sounds great as we know the guides provides history and points things out that we may not notice. But with all of the other activites and fees adding up we will be around $2000! I want to keep the cost down as much as I can. I think we may pack our lunches and explore ourselves, never know if we leave the same time as the tour group we may be able to hear some things, hmm just a thought!

I have a mini van booked for our entire trip costing me $199.00 (org. $610) through Alamo I just kept checking prices and boom it dropped!! I used our Costco code and a visa code for $30.00 off

Are you allowed to swim at the waterfalls?

 

[luv2sleep]

Thank You all for the replies! Having the guided tour and the lunch included sounds great as we know the guides provides history and points things out that we may not notice. But with all of the other activites and fees adding up we will be around $2000! I want to keep the cost down as much as I can. I think we may pack our lunches and explore ourselves, never know if we leave the same time as the tour group we may be able to hear some things, hmm just a thought! I have a mini van booked for our entire trip costing me $199.00 (org. $610) through Alamo I just kept checking prices and boom it dropped!! I used our Costco code and a visa code for $30.00 off Are you allowed to swim at the waterfalls?

Yes! If you go in they give you a life jacket. Lots of people swam.

 

[Anal Annie]

Thank You all for the replies!

Having the guided tour and the lunch included sounds great as we know the guides provides history and points things out that we may not notice. But with all of the other activites and fees adding up we will be around $2000! I want to keep the cost down as much as I can. I think we may pack our lunches and explore ourselves, never know if we leave the same time as the tour group we may be able to hear some things, hmm just a thought!

I have a mini van booked for our entire trip costing me $199.00 (org. $610) through Alamo I just kept checking prices and boom it dropped!! I used our Costco code and a visa code for $30.00 off

Are you allowed to swim at the waterfalls?

Several people mentioned that they were able to swim there. Of course you could pack a lunch but instead of packing it you could also consider going to the famous shrimp trucks on the North Shore for lunch and / or shave ice too. It is not that far from the falls. The trucks are pretty reasonably priced for Hawaii (like $14ish I think it was per entree at Giovanni's). $199 for a van is a great price BTW!! Activities in Hawaii can certainly add up - we had to pick & choose what we felt we should splurge on. Our 2 biggest costs were for surf lessons and a zip line (on Maui). Everything else we did on our own. We enjoy the adventure of figuring things out & doing some things on our own.

You can call me tight or whatever (we have to budget these kinds of trips) but when we went to Europe on our DCL Med cruise a few years ago we did Paris & Barcelona and most of our ports on our own but chose to use the money we saved in those ports to splurge for private tours in 2 cities because there was so much ground we wanted to cover and only had 1 day in each place. Our tour guides got us in & out of several wildly popular and crowded venues (like the Coloseum and the Vatican) without having to waste time waiting in lines. THAT was worthwhile to us. But we definitely chose our excursions carefully.

 

[Girimama33]

You can swim there. The water has gotten pretty murky over the years. Do not swim there if you have any open cuts or sores (like if you scraped your leg on the coral/rocks while snorkeling), etc. due to Leptospirosis concerns (not uncommon in fresh water on Oahu. Waimea Falls is not on a hiking trail, it is a paved road. The botanical gardens you walk through are incredible. Definitely worth visiting.
If you wanted a waterfall "hike" on Oahu, Manoa Falls is a great option. I always loved to hike Sacred Falls on the windward side, but they closed it in the 1990's due to rock/mud slides that caused a death and never reopened the park.
Another hike I love (but not a waterfall hike) is called the Pill Boxes. You hike a mountain to these WWII lookout areas that overlook Lanikai Beach. The view is incredible.