Aulani - Some day trip questions

[heybets30]

We will be staying at Aulani through David’s points purchase, October 6 (Tuesday afternoon) through Saturday, October 10, noonish. We are me, my husband (52), DD (8), DS (6). We will be celebrating our 10-year wedding anniversary, and yes, our kids will join us! I want to try the DVC Hotel Rooms, mainly because I’m hoping to get 2 queen beds, and we are NEVER in our room except to sleep, so view means nothing to us.

We’ll stay in Waikiki one night upon arrival at the Hilton Hawaiian Village (Ali? Tower), then head to the Big Island for 4 days at the Fairmont Orchid. I LOVE the Big Island – visit a tropical botanic garden in the morning, visit a desolate volcano side in the afternoon. Awesome. Our trip brings us back to Aulani where we’ll end our HI vacation.

I’m interested in setting up maybe 2, half-day trips around the island so the kids can see/explore. Pearl Harbor is NOT on our list of things to do (please do not judge – I just know my kids well, and they will not appreciate it at this point in their lives and I do not want to be disrespectful to other visitors and their time there – we’ll visit HI again when they are older). Hubby and I honeymooned a few days at the Halekulani in 2005 before visiting other islands. Back in 2005, we did a circle tour day trip of the island, and saw many neat things to visit, places not to spend hours there, but just visit to see different sides of the Island.

Oh – we’ll have a rental minivan the whole visit, so car availability not an issue.

I was thinking that one ½ day could be: Diamond Head hike, Nu’uanu Pali, then visit the Byodo-In Temple, Kailua beach for an hour or two of sand castle building before heading back to the hotel.

On a separate day, I know the kids would LOVE the Dole Plantation (they love little train rides/Dole Whips from Disneyland trips), then head to the North Shore/Waimea Bay to wander around the little areas up north for part of the day.

Would these “little” trips truly only be around ½ day (barring traffic issues)?? I’ve scoured trip reports, and I LOVE all the restaurant recommendations! We won’t eat at the hotel except snacks & cocktails by the pool.

THANK YOU!!!!

 

[wanderlust7]

The North Shore trip sounds possible as half day, depending on how much time you spend exploring the North Shore. We left Aulani around 10 am, went to Dole Plantation (train, Dole whip, feed the koi), lunch at Macky's shrimp truck, saw turtles at Lanikai beach, and was done around 3 pm. The Diamond Head, etc day sounds more like a full day thing. There'll be more traffic going in that direction. If you can do it on the weekend, it might be better.

No judgement at all on Pearl Harbor. DH and I have been, but we haven't taken the kids, and probably wouldn't until they are at least 10.

 

[disBOBney]

When I went this past Feb, I purchased the Gypsy Guide Oahu App abt $7.00 it does tours around the Island telling you where to turn and giving good background info. On the days we weren't doing several things we also used Siri to get us directly where we wanted to go, still had the gypsy running so it would key the tour talk. The temple can be done in an hour, maybe even less. We went to Diamond Head but didn't hike so I can't say how much time to allow. I guess everyones interpretation of a half day trip can be different, but I would suggest on planning this excursion including drive times to take about 6 or 7 hours.

 

[BeachClub2014]

On a separate day, I know the kids would LOVE the Dole Plantation (they love little train rides/Dole Whips from Disneyland trips), then head to the North Shore/Waimea Bay to wander around the little areas up north for part of the day.

This can definitely be done in a "half day", especially if it is the morning half of the day. If you head north in the morning you won't be fighting traffic.

I was thinking that one ½ day could be: Diamond Head hike, Nu’uanu Pali, then visit the Byodo-In Temple, Kailua beach for an hour or two of sand castle building before heading back to the hotel.

This will be a tough 1/2 day. If you plan to climb to the top of DH, stop at the Pali, and visit the Temple will take most of the morning. That won't leave much time to finish driving to Kailua Beach, build sand castles for a few hours and get back to Aulani all in a half day.

....and no judgment at all from me on Pearl Harbor. It really isn't the "thing" for everyone.