Aulani + Waikiki + Big Island (volcano helo tour)

[halfmonkey]

We've been in the early stages of planning our 2 week Hawaii vacation and have made some changes to our original plan and would like to hear your feedback, positive and negative along with suggestions.

We're planning to fly to the Big Island from California in Sept 2018. We plan to fly out on Saturday and go directly to the Big Island. We would leave the Big Island on Tuesday and head to Oahu and stay there for 11 nights. For the first 7 nights, we're now planning to either rent at a hotel on Waikiki or rent an Airbnb in Waikiki. After this leg of the trip, we'll then go to Aulani to finish up and fly back to Cali on Saturday.

Our main focus of the trip is to enjoy Oahu and wanted to divert a few days to the Big Island because none of us have ever seen the volcano. I know may people will say that a few nights is not enough time to spend on the Big Island and we agree but again, our focus is on Oahu and we just see our trip to the Big Island as a really quick trip to check out the volcano and explore the island. We plan to do a helo tour because I'm worried that the boat tour will get everybody sea sick. From the videos that I've seen, it seems that the waters in the area are really rough so I don't want us to be seasick because that is not a pleasant feeling. I heard that the helo ride can be really smooth as long as you ask the pilot to take it easy.

When we move onto our next leg of the trip to stay in Waikiki, we want this time to be to explore the beaches and all of the touristy stuff around the island. We plan to rent a car and do all of the touristy things around the island. I think 7 nights will allow us plenty of time to accomplish this.

The last leg of our trip will be spent at Aulani and I don't plan for us to leave the resort. We would just stay there and enjoy all of the amenities for the last few nights and then head home.

Do you guys think the time allotted to each leg is good or how would you adjust it? We've never been to Aulani. We'll be a party of 7 including two grandmothers and 3 kids; 11, 9, and 5 at the time of travel. Kids and one of the grandmas have never been to Hawaii and my wife and I have never been to the Big Island either but we haven't been to Oahu in a long time and we didn't know each other when we did go to Oahu. The last time I was there was in 1999.

If there is any adjustment I would make is maybe making our Waikiki stay one night longer and shortening our Aulani stay by one night since at Aulani, we won't be doing any "tourist" activity except staying on property and enjoying the amenities. Also by doing this, it will reduce the cost because staying at Aulani is quite expensive. With our group of 7, we would be renting a 2 bedroom villa and it's quite expensive.

Thoughts and comments please. Aloha and Mahalo.

 

[Midoria]

Re: Big Island. Unless you're arriving in the early morning on Saturday and leaving late evening on Tuesday, you're losing those days to travel which only leaves you 2 full days. If you can, take a late flight from Hilo to get a little extra time. Big Island is large enough to fit Lanai, Oahu, Molokai, Maui, and Kauai inside with a little room to spare. If you only have 1 - 1.5 spare days, I'd plan to keep the exploring on the eastern side since that's where the VNP is.

Are you going to drive through the VNP or just view if from the air?

 

[halfmonkey]

We plan to take an early flight from socal. Looking at flights now, I see a direct flight arriving at about 12pm Hawaii time.

Our main purpose is to see the volcano. We plan to do a helo tour and then drive through the park and do stops and take pictures etc.

 

[Midoria]

We plan to take an early flight from socal. Looking at flights now, I see a direct flight arriving at about 12pm Hawaii time.

Our main purpose is to see the volcano. We plan to do a helo tour and then drive through the park and do stops and take pictures etc.

Sounds good. You may like to explore Hilo on your other day out.

 

[cgattis]

I personally wouldn't want to spend that long in Waikiki. I'd want to be somewhere closer to a less crowded beach, plus out of the traffic/congestion.

WRT boat vs. helo, just realize the smoothness of the ride is very dependent on the weather on either. I know people who are terrified of both and who love both. I'd just give everyone half a less drowsy Dramamine, and decide based on which view I wanted most!! We saw the lava from a cruise ship and I would love to see it closer from a boat. Not sure if you can find a helo that holds 7 plus the pilot? But maybe there are. Either way, seeing the lava is super cool and I definitely think it's s great addition over just Oahu.

On Big Island, walk thru the lava tube in VNP. (Be aware that Volcano House is the only food in the park.) We left VNP and headed right back to Hilo, totally forgetting the black sand beach we meant to go see! Rainbow Falls is right in Hilo, is a beautiful little park, and is a very easy walk (not sure how mobile your grandmas are). Heard Akaka Falls was pretty too but the kids were done so we skipped it. Hilo town is basically just a few shops (unless we missed another big chunk somewhere), but we did find some cute things there. There was (what looked like) a pretty beach across the street from the shops, but I really couldn't get a good look.

I also wouldn't do less than 4 nights at Aulani. There's just too much to do and you will love it; I know I'd have been disappointed if I had to leave after 3 nights!!