Aulani help please

[TALB]

We (family of 4 two teen boys) will be spending Spring Break at Aulani..I need feedback and suggestions please. We fly in the afternoon of March 31(Good Friday) We plan to stop and get groceries and explore the resort that night. Saturday: we will spend the day at the resort and want to go to a Luau in the evening. Which one should we go to?
Sunday: Easter I am considering going to Pearl Harbor this day with the thought that the traffic won't be as bad since its a holiday? Is this true? How far would Hanuama Bay be from Pearl Harbor? Could we go snorkeling there after Pearl Harbor? What day is Hanuama Bay closed? Is it open on a holiday? If not, suggestions for Easter night?,
Monday: We would like to do an excursion with Hawaii Nautical. Can't decide which one though any suggestions? The boys love to snorkel. Maybe eat at Roy's for dinner. how far is it from Aulani?
Tuesday:drive to Waikiki beach and explore. What should we do there? How long will it take to drive there from Aulani? Dining recommendations?
Wednesday: The boys are huge Lost fans and would like to take a tour of Lost and movie sights. I need recommendations of tour groups please.
Thursday: Climb Diamond Head in am. Need recommendation for p.m.
We will fly home Friday. Any thoughts, recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

 

[imaswede78]

Hi! We just returned from three weeks in Hawaii (but only one night at Aulani - boo). These are my recommendations:

We went on a Lost tour as well. It was awesome! We went through hummertourshawaii.com The company will pick you up at your hotel and drive you around the island to many Lost filming locations in a yellow hummer - so fun! We took the 5 hour tour and it was great because my parents (who had never even heard of Lost) went as well and enjoyed the gorgeous scenery just as much as we did. I believe the cost was about $150 per person but completely worth it.

We also visited Pearl Harbor. Without traffic it's probably about a 30 minute drive from Aulani. But it will probably be closed on Easter so....

I would recommend doing Diamond Head and Waikiki on the same day and maybe consider visiting on Easter. We stayed in Waikiki and everything was open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Save yourself a second cross city trip and do them both on the same day because it's over an hour (maybe even more) with traffic from Waikiki to Aulani.

If you have any other questions let me know!

 

[Anal Annie]

We (family of 4 two teen boys) will be spending Spring Break at Aulani..I need feedback and suggestions please. We fly in the afternoon of March 31(Good Friday) We plan to stop and get groceries and explore the resort that night. Saturday: we will spend the day at the resort and want to go to a Luau in the evening. Which one should we go to?
Sunday: Easter I am considering going to Pearl Harbor this day with the thought that the traffic won't be as bad since its a holiday? Is this true? How far would Hanuama Bay be from Pearl Harbor? Could we go snorkeling there after Pearl Harbor? What day is Hanuama Bay closed? Is it open on a holiday? If not, suggestions for Easter night?,
Monday: We would like to do an excursion with Hawaii Nautical. Can't decide which one though any suggestions? The boys love to snorkel. Maybe eat at Roy's for dinner. how far is it from Aulani?
Tuesday:drive to Waikiki beach and explore. What should we do there? How long will it take to drive there from Aulani? Dining recommendations?
Wednesday: The boys are huge Lost fans and would like to take a tour of Lost and movie sights. I need recommendations of tour groups please.
Thursday: Climb Diamond Head in am. Need recommendation for p.m.
We will fly home Friday. Any thoughts, recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

I've only done luau's on Maui so I can't help with that. I've been to Pearl Harbor 4 times now and Hanauma Bay probably 3 times. I would not do them both on the same day. Pearl Harbor (if you stay and visit the USS Missouri) can easily take 4-5 hours if you explore it thoroughly. Both should be done first thing in the morning IMO. (I agree that PH may be closed on Easter...have you checked about that yet?)

I have read that there is less crowded snorkeling closer to Aulani or on the North Shore that is free and just as good as Hanauma Bay (check out Podsnel's TR). She has excellent info. about where all they went on their vacation last August. They didn't do a LOST tour but they saw the beach where the LOST plane was on one of their days...I think it was the day they went scuba diving. I think we're going to plan to do the Hawaii Fireman Surf School and I've also heard that Hawaiian Nautical is good for snorkeling trips...since you'll be there in the spring you should be able to do some whale watching too. Definitely look into that!!

I would think that if you climb Diamond Head in the morning on your last day that you might be tired and just want to veg around Aulani that afternoon and enjoy the resort some before you head home. Other than your first day it doesn't sound like you've built in a whole lot of down time for enjoying the resort....I would definitely plan on spending some more time at Aulani too. Roy's is supposed to only be like 5 min. away so you could do that any evening. Personally I would try to combine exploring Waikiki with either the Diamond Head climb or the Hanauma Bay day or combine Hanauma Bay with Diamond Head or something. Honestly, Hanauma Bay gets really crowded - although I've been several times we prefer a quieter snorkeling experience. Logistically I think it's too far to go to make that drive into Honolulu every day for 3 separate activities. You have to sort of go thru Waikiki to get to Hanauma Bay...also to get to Diamond Head....I would leave my afternoon after Pearl Harbor open.

JM2C....I'm sure others will chime in with their thoughts too....Have fun planning!!

 

[Psychodisney]

We (family of 4 two teen boys) will be spending Spring Break at Aulani..I need feedback and suggestions please. We fly in the afternoon of March 31(Good Friday) We plan to stop and get groceries and explore the resort that night. Saturday: we will spend the day at the resort and want to go to a Luau in the evening. Which one should we go to?
Sunday: Easter I am considering going to Pearl Harbor this day with the thought that the traffic won't be as bad since its a holiday? Is this true? How far would Hanuama Bay be from Pearl Harbor? Could we go snorkeling there after Pearl Harbor? What day is Hanuama Bay closed? Is it open on a holiday? If not, suggestions for Easter night?,
Monday: We would like to do an excursion with Hawaii Nautical. Can't decide which one though any suggestions? The boys love to snorkel. Maybe eat at Roy's for dinner. how far is it from Aulani?
Tuesday:drive to Waikiki beach and explore. What should we do there? How long will it take to drive there from Aulani? Dining recommendations?
Wednesday: The boys are huge Lost fans and would like to take a tour of Lost and movie sights. I need recommendations of tour groups please.
Thursday: Climb Diamond Head in am. Need recommendation for p.m.
We will fly home Friday. Any thoughts, recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Lot's of questions...some I can comment on.
We did the Paradise Cove luau which is walking distace from Aulani. I wouldn't recommend it but others have liked it. I also wouldn't recommend it early in your trip because with the time change you'll be early risers the first few days and tired at night. My suggestion would be to plan on seeing Starlit Hui instead.

For Pearl Harbor, check the national parks website and preorder your tour there. You can prebook an early time. We did a weekday morning (9ish) and didn't have significant traffic.

We enjoyed Haunama Bay. It is beautiful. We had choppy conditions so snorkeling wasn't great but it is a beautiful spot.

Roy's is walking distance from Aulani. Just a few blocks and across the street at the golf course.

Waikiki(downton Honolulu) is about 45 minutes(or less). We had dinner at Margaritaville(at the Beachcomber) and lunch at the Shorebird( at the Outrigger which overlooks the beach). There's lots of shopping but not much else to do/see there. WE went for lunch after our Pearl Harbor tour.

Lost: I think you can book directly with the ranch.

One thing we enjoyed was a catamaran trip oot of the Koolina harbor...Ocean Joy cruises. It included a decent lunch, snorkeling and dolphin watching.

 

[imaswede78]

(I keep thinking of things to post so bear with me )....

If you and your family aren't necessarily into shopping then maybe skip Waikiki. The main road is partly (the name I can't remember right now!) like any big city (Michigan Ave in Chicago or Manhattan) re: nice/high end shopping then the other half is tourist-y shopping. Part of it is along the ocean front but the other half isn't. We walked along the beach in front of the hotels and it was fun but otherwise Waikiki may not be something you want to put high on your priority list. It probably sounds funny to say "maybe skip Waikiki" but it's something to think about.

I also agree with building "chill" time into your schedule so you can relax at Aulani. It's a lot of fun and you don't want to miss the relaxing part of your Hawaiian vacation.

 

[dsneygirl]

I also agree with building "chill" time into your schedule so you can relax at Aulani. It's a lot of fun and you don't want to miss the relaxing part of your Hawaiian vacation.

I agree with this, looks like you have an excursion planned every day of your trip. You will be spending a lot of time in your car. It was 45 min just to the edge of Waikiki from Aulani, not even to get downtown and get parked. I would definitely combine activities and have a long day followed by a relaxing day. The resort has so much to offer.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I agree with Annie about Pearl Harbor. We have done it several times, and I would definitely go early and plan on at least 5 hours. We pre-booked our tickets for Pearl Harbor on the National Park site, and I booked us for 8:15 AM because I know how crazy those lines get there!!! Frankly, I think a holiday would be MORE crowded, since locals tend to do those things on those days. Our first ever trip to the Islands was on Holy Week 36 years ago, and it was CRAZY busy with locals.

 

[TALB]

Thank you so much for all of the feedback. Please keep it coming!