Aulani with two kids 1 and 3 year old

[hairon]

Good day,

We are travelling with our 2 children (1 and 3 years old) on 3rd of March 2018 until 12th of March 2018 to Honolulu.

We have booked from 8th of March 2018 until 12th of March 2018 in Hilton Hawaiian Village in the Ali tower partial ocean view.

We are looking accommodation from 3rd of March 2018 until 8th of March 2018 and we don’t know what is the best for the girls to have fun and enjoy.

We want to stay at Aulani Disney Resort, but the hotel is very expensive around $3,000 for only 5 nights no foods included. We are not sure if it is worth it to pay such amount of money.

Any idea what activities we can do with the girls or if we can leave the kids in Auntie’s club? It is our honeymoon too and we would like to have some time for us if possible.

We also are open to cancel our booking in HHV and stay first days in Waikiki and finish the holidays in Aulani.

I read in this forum about the flat rate taxis, I am not sure if we need to rent a car.

Unfortunately, we have never been to Hawaii before.

We are very excited.

Thank you

 

[Midoria]

I've only been to Aulani to eat and shop with other adults, so I can't help regarding what's there to entertain child guests. However, regarding childcare, Hawaii has a service called "Kamaaina Kids" that provides in-room childcare for all Oahu hotels including Aulani. So any place you stay, you will be able to find someone to watch the kids while you and your husband go out. The baby is too young for Aunty's, so if you're at Aulani and want to be alone, you'd need a sitter for her.

Also, Hilton Hawaiian Village is in Waikiki.

 

[hairon]

Correct we want to explore Waikiki and Aulani in or trip.

 

[Elima2015]

Aulani is a beautiful resort and excellent for children. Between two trips and three kids, we have taken kids who are 17 months, 2.5, and 4.5. Kids have to be age 3 and potty trained to use Aunty's (except for the first 1.5 hours where younger children are allowed in with parents). We loved playing in the pools and lazy river, the Menehune bridge would be perfect for your 3 year old (adults are not allowed on it at all, even to help, so your 1 year old would need to be a very steady walker up and down stairs - mine wasn't ready at 17 months). And the beach is perfect for young kids with soft sand, few waves.

My personal recommendation would be to stay in Waikiki first and explore the areas around there. Book excursions that include transportation. Hire a sitter for the things that would not be great or interesting to young children (Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head come to mind). Then I would rent a car and head to to Aulani for several days of relaxation. I would take a partial day to go to the North Shore during the Aulani portion with the rental car and stop at Leonard's Malasada food truck and the Dole Pineapple Plantation on the way. If you have a car, you can pick up easy breakfast and snack items to store in the room and save some money that way. Also, eating off site is generally less expensive. We have found a rental car invaluable with young kids - runs to Costco for snacks and souveniers, both kids got pink eye one trip and we were able to get into a drug store in Kapolei and get a prescription filled, allowed us to tour at our own pace and come back when the kids were tired.

Have you looked at renting DVC points? Your family would fit in a studio, though it would be a little crowded. For a splurge, you could get a 1-bedroom with a kitchen and cook some meals in the room. Renting points gets you free parking, free on-site laundry, and better rates. I think you would be happy with an Island Garden view room if you just came from partial ocean view in Waikiki and that would save a decent amount of money.

 

[alohamom]

You might want to check out this report by Dis-member @Schmagurty
His children were similar ages when the trip took place and I thought he had some excellent insight into doing Aulani with very small children.
The photos were from Photobucket so they are no longer there but there are some videos and his typed content is full of info
Here is the link
https://www.disboards.com/threads/a...-hawaii-with-a-4-year-old-and-a-baby.3490562/

 

[Midoria]

Correct we want to explore Waikiki and Aulani in or trip.

I was just addressing the statement that you were going to cancel your roon in the Hawaiian Village and stay in Waikiki. The Hawaiian Village is already in Waikiki. Did you mean that you were going to modify the dates that you would be staying there?

 

[trs518]

Aunties Beach House (kids club) is for ages 3-12, so they would only take your oldest.

 

[hairon]

You might want to check out this report by Dis-member @Schmagurty
His children were similar ages when the trip took place and I thought he had some excellent insight into doing Aulani with very small children.
The photos were from Photobucket so they are no longer there but there are some videos and his typed content is full of info
Here is the link
https://www.disboards.com/threads/a...-hawaii-with-a-4-year-old-and-a-baby.3490562/

Thank you for the link I will read it ;-)

 

[hairon]

Aulani is a beautiful resort and excellent for children. Between two trips and three kids, we have taken kids who are 17 months, 2.5, and 4.5. Kids have to be age 3 and potty trained to use Aunty's (except for the first 1.5 hours where younger children are allowed in with parents). We loved playing in the pools and lazy river, the Menehune bridge would be perfect for your 3 year old (adults are not allowed on it at all, even to help, so your 1 year old would need to be a very steady walker up and down stairs - mine wasn't ready at 17 months). And the beach is perfect for young kids with soft sand, few waves.

My personal recommendation would be to stay in Waikiki first and explore the areas around there. Book excursions that include transportation. Hire a sitter for the things that would not be great or interesting to young children (Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head come to mind). Then I would rent a car and head to to Aulani for several days of relaxation. I would take a partial day to go to the North Shore during the Aulani portion with the rental car and stop at Leonard's Malasada food truck and the Dole Pineapple Plantation on the way. If you have a car, you can pick up easy breakfast and snack items to store in the room and save some money that way. Also, eating off site is generally less expensive. We have found a rental car invaluable with young kids - runs to Costco for snacks and souveniers, both kids got pink eye one trip and we were able to get into a drug store in Kapolei and get a prescription filled, allowed us to tour at our own pace and come back when the kids were tired.

Have you looked at renting DVC points? Your family would fit in a studio, though it would be a little crowded. For a splurge, you could get a 1-bedroom with a kitchen and cook some meals in the room. Renting points gets you free parking, free on-site laundry, and better rates. I think you would be happy with an Island Garden view room if you just came from partial ocean view in Waikiki and that would save a decent amount of money.

Thank you for such a great answer!!!! I will follow your advice. I have contacted David's to check Aulani renting points.

I have booked Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki, but I would like to know if you have better suggestion/cheaper to stay with the girls in Waikiki?

It is impressive that Aulani can be even cheaper than HHV if I am able to rent points. I am planning to stay longer in Aulani if I can book a Hotel room with David's. I will buy some breakfast/snacks in Waikiki before heading to Aulani, e will only need to eat lunch and dinner.

About renting a car you mentioned: 'We have found a rental car invaluable with young kids'... What car rental company did you use? Do you really recommend to rent a car?

Thank you

 

[Elima2015]

I have not stayed (or even been to) Waikiki, so I can't comment on that portion of your stay.

If you end up renting a car, then wait to buy your snacks until you get to Kapolei. It is one and two exits away from Aulani and has all the major stores (grocery, Target, Costco).

We have only stayed at Aulani while on Oahu and rented a car both times and would do it again. I don't think you'd want or need a rental car while in Waikiki though. We used the car to get to/from the airport, groceries, then a little more breakfast food part way through our stay, to go out to eat off site, to tour the North Shore, to get to Pearl Harbor and the swap meet. And as I mentioned in the previous post, our toddlers woke up from a nap with conjunctivitis (pink eye). We hopped in the car and drove to the drug store in Kapolei (Longs/CVS) and were able to get prescription eye drops for them. Cleared up by the next morning. There just isn't a lot around Aulani and you need a car to get most places. Plus then we could tour at our own pace vs. scheduled tours. Kids cranky? Back in the car and head to the resort for pool time. For a short stay, or if a rental car is out of the picture, then you can do just fine with a shuttle to/from the resort, using the ABC market and the restaurants in the resort and across the street.

We rented our cars through Costco Travel.

You didn't ask for this thought, but I'll give it anyway as a fellow parent with little kids: if you haven't already, please consider getting an airplane seat for the baby and bringing both kids' car seats on the plane and into the rental car. It is the safest option for them and the car seats (unfortunately, even gate checking a car seat is not recommended, nor is renting one). And gives each person their own secure space. I totally get that it is a pain to haul all of that through the airport. We use umbrella strollers to hold the car seats and make the kids walk and put the baby in a Beco/Ergo type carrier. We gate check the strollers and carry on the car seats.