Aulani - Island Hopping

[TheGeddings]

This is a question for those of you that have stayed at Aulani. What did you do outside of Disney's Aulani on the Oahu island? Did you island hop? If so, what airlines did you use for hoping, and do you recommend them? We are planning a week stay at Aulani next September, and then at the end of the week hop over to Maui and run the Maui Half Marathon. Wondering what the best recommendations are for getting over to Maui from Oahu.

Finally, if we fly into Honolulu, is there a shuttle service to Aulani, and was it reliable?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Girimama33]

We did Aulani in July 2014. We opted not to rent a car the whole time and took Speedi Shuttle from the airport to the resort. It was very easy. Speedi Shuttle works out cheaper if you are in a group of 3 or less...any more than that, it is cheaper to take a taxi through Charley's Taxi.
I used to live on Oahu...and there is tons to do. Here are a few suggestions:
Visit Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial
Aloha Stadium Swap Meet
Honolulu/Waikiki
Hike Diamond Head
Snorkel at Hanauma Bay
Makapu'u Point Lighthouse
Sea Life Park
Kailua/Lanikai Beach
Chinaman's Hat
Pali Lookout
Puchbowl Cemetery
Polynesian Cultural Center
North Shore/Haleiwa
Dole Plantation


When I fly inter-island, I always use Hawaiian Air. Never had any issue. In march, we are flying to Maui first for a week, then going to Oahu for 4 days (including 2 nights at Aulani).

 

[DenLo]

For our first two visits to Aulani we spent the week at Aulani and explored the island for one or two days. And I am not willing to stay away from Aulani any more than that. We enjoyed the resort so much that we didn't need to flit from spot to spot to have fun.

However, we did do a cruise before each trip to Aulani. The first was aboard the NCL's Pride of America for a week. Only NCL's Pride of America can allow passengers to board in Hawaii and depart in Hawaii as it is an American flagged ship. And this year we flew to Vancouver BC and cruised from there through the islands ending at Honolulu (this was a 12 night repositioning cruise on the Celebrity Solstice), which went on to Australia after leaving Hawaii.

Our next trip in February 2016, we plan to fly to the Kona Coast and stay there a 3 or 4 nights and then flight to Oahu and stay at Aulani. We want to see the whales and visit Volcanoes National Park.

I would not recommend spending less than three days at another island it takes that long just to settle down and start to get to the island.

 

[DVCismyhappyplace]

We've never stayed at Aulani but have made many trips to the islands - that last being in October. The most reliable airline to fly inter-island is Hawaiian Airlines. Island Air also flies inter-island routes, but there are many complaints about their on-time performance. Also, they tend to fly smaller prop planes.

We've stayed in Waikiki many times. We have always rented a car on Oahu, so I can't recommend a taxi service for you. Oahu has so many things to see and do, we prefer to rent a car so we can explore and be on our own schedule.

 

[magicaldisney]

Do the flights with Hawaiian Air fly in and out of the main airports or are there small airports you go to?

 

[Girimama33]

Do the flights with Hawaiian Air fly in and out of the main airports or are there small airports you go to?

Inter Island wise, they only go to Oahu (Honolulu), Maui (Kahului), Hawaii (Kona and Hilo), Kauai (Lihue) and Molokai (Hoolehua). Honolulu is large...it is an International airport. The other airports are smaller, but not very small compared to some airports I have been to.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

When looking at flights, your least expensive option may be a triangle: home to HNL, HNL to OGG (codeshare), OGG to home. For our trip in October, an open jaw for LAX to HNL and return OGG to Lax on American, with an inter-island flight booked separately on Hawaiian, was almost the same price as LAX-HNL RT AND LAX-OGG RT. -- Suzanne