Aulani for a 2 year old?

[disneypolybride2008]

Hi. I am trying to decide if we should go to Aulani while our DD is just under 2 years, that would be before next July. We live in the midwest so she would have a long plane ride to endure, but it would be free since she would be under 2. However we were planning to go to disney world that November. Which would you pick to do? Other options are to go to Aulani the following year but then we would have to pay the $1000+ airfare. Can anyone share their experience with a 2 year old? Should we wait for that trip until she is a little older and stick with Disney World while she's under 3, b/c that is free. We have gone to disney 10x before the baby and never to Hawaii.

Thank you

 

[ccgirl]

Hi. I am trying to decide if we should go to Aulani while our DD is just under 2 years, that would be before next July. We live in the midwest so she would have a long plane ride to endure, but it would be free since she would be under 2. However we were planning to go to disney world that November. Which would you pick to do? Other options are to go to Aulani the following year but then we would have to pay the $1000+ airfare. Can anyone share their experience with a 2 year old? Should we wait for that trip until she is a little older and stick with Disney World while she's under 3, b/c that is free. We have gone to disney 10x before the baby and never to Hawaii.

Thank you

I have been to Hawaii and it's not somewhere I care to travel with an under 2 year old. Keep in mind I am from the East Coast so that plane ride would be looongg. We plan on going in 2014 when my children are 11 and 6. We went to Hawaii on our honeymoon and it was amazing. We agreed we would not return until we had children that were pretty self sufficient. YMMV.

 

[MdmMim]

When DS was 18 months old, we went to HI. (We travelled from the East Coast, and stayed overnight in LA enroute to HI.) It was a very loooong flight.

Unfortunately, due to the time zones, DS remained on EDST for the whole trip. He would get up at 2 a.m. everyday. And stayed up. Everyday. By 2 p.m., he was done and in bed. Since he was so little, I, too, was up early. Sight-seeing and dining out were very limited. Luckily, we were visiting family, so we had an apartment at our disposal.

I would not go to HI with one that little. JMHO

 

[WsPrincess]

I live in the midwest and I can't imagine going to WDW with a lap kid let alone HI. We had to buy DS a seat at 18 months because we knew he would never let us hold him for the flight to FL. I think I would put off HI until the LO is a little older so you can really enjoy the trip. It is a long flight for everyone.

 

[taaren]

Maybe its just that we're accustomed to long flights, but I miss the days when DS5 was an "infant in arms"! He still likes to spend a lot of our flight time in my lap but it was a lot more comfortable back then ... when he was under two we did multiple trips driving 14+ hours from SF to Phoenix where my in-laws lived, as well as flying him from SF to visit my folks in Maui via Salt Lake City and we never had problems, even though he is on the active end of the spectrum he was always intrigued by the million things and people that were going on in the airports and planes.

I went to college in Michigan so I do appreciate how long the flights are, but perhaps if you break it up with a day in SD/LA (ie hit the San Diego Zoo or Disneyland for a day) along the way it might be easier as well as save you some cash on the plane ticket. As frequently as we fly its been hard adjusting to plane fares for three instead of two so I'd grab every opportunity you can to travel before then. That's just me though.

Post script - Red-eye flights with kids are great (or flights during regularly scheduled naptimes). Then they sleep the whole time.

 

[disneypolybride2008]

thank you for all the great responses. I never thought about the time change and how that would affect the day's activities. This would probably be the only time we would go to Hawaii so maybe we should wait longer.. but then we may have a second baby and then to wait for that baby to be old enough is a long time off...

She would like Disney World better at 2.5 years old i would think.

It is just so beautiful there!

 

[kerickson]

Post script - Red-eye flights with kids are great (or flights during regularly scheduled naptimes). Then they sleep the whole time.

My red-eye experience: Great for my DD and husband who slept through the flight, not so great for me who didn't sleep a wink because I was worried about my DD falling off my lap
Long flights post that experience we always purchased a separate seat so my DD, DS could snooze in their car seat.

This June will be our first trip to Hawaii as a family (waited 8 yrs). I'm in line with a previous poster that I wanted my kids to be more self sufficient so mommy could have a vacation too. Too expensive otherwise! I have plenty of friends who have traveled to Hawaii each year with young kids and loved it. My preference was to wait.

 

[tjkraz]

A lap-held toddler flying 10 hours--each way--sounds like a recipe for disaster, IMO. I've seen parents who were at wits' end midway through a 2 hour flight. You just never know how kids will respond. Add the uncertainties of air travel (weather delays, mechanical delays, turbulence, etc.) and it just seems like a nightmare waiting to happen.

The one time we flew when our son was under 2, we still paid for a seat for him. Honestly I was worried about the other passengers as much as ourselves. It's just not fair to subject others to a crying / kicking / screaming child who just doesn't want to be held by mom & dad anymore. You can't reason with a child of that age.

 

[gatzsd]

If the flight is not full you can have them put an infant block on an open seat when you check in at the airport. I would always book my husband and myself on the window and aisle seat and leave the middle seat open. In most cases, no one would book that seat - so when we checked in at the airport, if its still open they would put an infant block on it so they wouldn't assign the seat to anyone. Or they will make their best attempt to find 3 open seats together to do the same thing. I've traveled 3 times to Hawaii doing this with a child under 2- but I am also on the west coast. Both of my kids did beautifully with the flight and once we got there. This is not guranteed however if you haven't bought the seat as the flight could fill up and you would have to hold the child.

 

[nadira36]

We're just east of the Rockies in Canada - and can say it's really a matter of you and your family.

We'll be going to Aulani for our DDs 2nd birthday, then to WDW in Sept for our middles 5th birthday.

We've flown to England twice with a lap baby - once with a lap baby and a toddler. We've also flown to FL (same length of flight for us as HI) with one baby, 1 toddler and 1 baby, pregnant with a toddler and a preschooler, and with a baby, a preschooler and a 5 year old. Our first trip to Hawaii will have 3 kids with one on our lap. A block out seat is nice, but honestly we've only ever managed to get one once - and that was when we only had one little baby. We use a baby carrier (wrap or similar) for during the flight. When babies ready to sleep, I just put her on my chest and she'll settle right down. THough it does help that we put them to sleep that way at home too. We also bring a couple movies, books, (washable) markers. And we will walk up and down the isles when the carts aren't going around. It keeps the little ones happy and that lets them leave everyone else alone.

We did purchase a seat once for my one DD when she was not quite 2 - but the airline refused to let us use it for take-off and landing! That was very frustrating! We had a carseat too.

Once at Aulani we'll likely just stick to the resort (and marriot lobby), yes it might be nice to do 'more' but it'll be just as nice to relax at the pool, go for walks on the resort grounds, participate in the resort activities. Of course we also know we'll be back in 8 or so years. This is just a 'time to recharge' vacation and we don't want to do a ton of stuff.

 

[Anal Annie]

Personally there's no way I'd fly that far with a totally bored out their mind almost 2 yr old sqirming in my lap. I would have to be committed after that. It seems like everytime we're on a plane and there's a fussy toddler near us it's because they're not only confined for a long time but they're expected to stay on their parents lap. No wonder they fuss. I "get" the money thing but I would either purchase them their own seat or I would wait until they were older for such a long trip.

 

[AZMermaid]

My son is one of those babies (now toddlers) who even as an infant, would be a nightmare on a flight if held, so we have always bought him a seat and brought his carseat. He has slept through all 8 flights he has been on so far. My daughter who is only 10 weeks old right now, so this could change, is much more of a snuggler so I could see her being a more content lap baby, but we will still likely always buy her the seat too- especially if she was almost two.

For us, we were debating the almost 2 or almost 3 thing too. We decided to wait until my daughter has just turned 3 so she could enjoy Aunty's and we could enjoy a little alone time!

 

[mousejunkie98]

I agree with the other folks who have said it really depends on the child. My oldest would have never dne well on my lap for that long, so we always got him a seat. My youngest however has always been a smuggler, and did just fine on laps on long flights. We lived in Europe for two years and traveled back and forth a lot, and they both did beautifully on every flight. They're now such seasoned travelers at ages 5 and 8 that they don't even need our help going through security

 

[SINK]

We took our then 9 months old son from LAX to HNL. He was still small, so it was really easy on the flight. We did not have a seat for him. We were confirmed in business class for our flights, but United Airline cancelled our return flight due to mechanical problems. We were notified as we were heading to the airport early due to the APEC conference being held at Marriott Ko-olina next door.

My 9 month old did have a fever once we have arrived at Aulani after spending the first 4 nights at Royal Hawaiian Waikiki. So for the next four days we did not go anywhere. We had a decent time in Oahu (but much prefer Waikiki because the food was plentiful). Aulani is nice but very secluded; not much to do.