Did anyone stop at Disneyland or ??? on way to/from Aulani?

[aebehm1]

I'm from PA too. How Are u flying and how long until u be oiled airfare?

We're flying Virgin American PHL - LAX, Hawaiian Airlines LAX - HNL, and then Virgin American back home with a layover in San Francisco

 

[scottmel]

What does it mean when u see layover? A night there? Is that a certain ticket u bought on purpose to avoid straight flight home?

 

[aebehm1]

What does it mean when u see layover? A night there? Is that a certain ticket u bought on purpose to avoid straight flight home?

It means there is a stop during the flight vs flying straight from Hawaii to PA. We'll fly Hawaii to San Francisco, get off the plane, wait for about 3-4 hours, get on a new plane and then fly to Philly. There are a ton of options for layovers, with different locations and time between flights, the one we booked just worked best for us price wise!

 

[scottmel]

It means there is a stop during the flight vs flying straight from Hawaii to PA. We'll fly Hawaii to San Francisco, get off the plane, wait for about 3-4 hours, get on a new plane and then fly to Philly. There are a ton of options for layovers, with different locations and time between flights, the one we booked just worked best for us price wise!

Ok thanks! I read how some people stopped and slept at a hotel and left next morning. I guess that is a layover too? I always just called them 1 stop flights but I see what you mean. When we fly to LAX from PIT we stop in Las Vegas but usually only 1 hour...and hustle to make the connecting. Would you say the deals are better when you do a layover such as you are suggesting for 3 to 4 hours? When did you pull the trigger and buy the tickets?

 

[mhingher]

Funny, my name is Melissa, I live in NJ and we're DVC members... Been to WDW a million times, been to DL twice- love it! We're planning a trip to Aulani next August and contemplating a stop in DL for 2 days! I like the idea of breaking up the flight, 10 hrs is a long time, especially with 2 kids. But part of me feels we should go right to Hawaii, and maybe layover a few hours to stretch our legs and eat?

 

[scottmel]

Funny, my name is Melissa, I live in NJ and we're DVC members... Been to WDW a million times, been to DL twice- love it! We're planning a trip to Aulani next August and contemplating a stop in DL for 2 days! I like the idea of breaking up the flight, 10 hrs is a long time, especially with 2 kids. But part of me feels we should go right to Hawaii, and maybe layover a few hours to stretch our legs and eat?

I just saw my thread on the Hawaii forum - SW should be making an announcement this week on flying to HI. I am going to let this dictate the way DL falls. I am leaning towards FIRST b/c I just love it there! But I did read about taking throw away clothes to HAwaii so I might do this to make luggage lighter going to Disney. I usually always fedex dirty clothes home half way thru a trip but I don't want to foot the bill for that from Aulani! Thanks for the thoughts!

 

[OKW Lover]

I like the idea of breaking up the flight, 10 hrs is a long time,

We've done both ways and our preference is to just get it over with all at once. For us a flight to the west coast is 5 hours, and then its another 5 hour flight to HNL. We found that after getting off that first 5 hour flight having to do it all over again a few hours later wasn't particularly appetizing. So now we do the entire 10 hour flight (from ATL) and get it all over with.

 

[ktlm]

We did it July 2016. We spent time at Aulani, then Maui, and then stopped at Disneyland on the way home. It worked out extremely well. Going to Aulani, we just booked a two hour layover in LAX. That was time for us to walk around and stop and sit down and eat a meal. We were so excited about getting to Hawaii that we wound up staying up 24 hours from the time we got up at home to head for the airport. We woke up the next morning and were ready to go in Hawaii. Everyone was too excited about Aulani, to think about being tired- plus the lazy river is a great place to relax and rest. I'm glad we put our Disneyland stop at the end of the trip not the beginning.

We planned on spending 3 nights at Disneyland on the way back and were so glad we did because thanks to Hurricane Darby approaching, we wound up leaving Maui two nights early and spending an additional night at Disneyland (the other night was spent on the plane). If we had not had that Disneyland stop planned on the way back, we would have been so sad to have had to cut our trip short. We flew into LAX and took a rental car to DL. We flew home from SNA. When I booked our flights, I found that booking separate legs was not any more expensive than booking a direct flight home from Hawaii We did not have to deal with jet lag from Hawaii at home at all. We had a great time at DL. I would absolutely do it that way again if we were coming home from Hawaii.

 

[scottmel]

We did it July 2016. We spent time at Aulani, then Maui, and then stopped at Disneyland on the way home. It worked out extremely well. Going to Aulani, we just booked a two hour layover in LAX. That was time for us to walk around and stop and sit down and eat a meal. We were so excited about getting to Hawaii that we wound up staying up 24 hours from the time we got up at home to head for the airport. We woke up the next morning and were ready to go in Hawaii. Everyone was too excited about Aulani, to think about being tired- plus the lazy river is a great place to relax and rest. I'm glad we put our Disneyland stop at the end of the trip not the beginning.

We planned on spending 3 nights at Disneyland on the way back and were so glad we did because thanks to Hurricane Darby approaching, we wound up leaving Maui two nights early and spending an additional night at Disneyland (the other night was spent on the plane). If we had not had that Disneyland stop planned on the way back, we would have been so sad to have had to cut our trip short. We flew into LAX and took a rental car to DL. We flew home from SNA. When I booked our flights, I found that booking separate legs was not any more expensive than booking a direct flight home from Hawaii We did not have to deal with jet lag from Hawaii at home at all. We had a great time at DL. I would absolutely do it that way again if we were coming home from Hawaii.

THanks very helpful!! I appreciate the feedback on buying the flights as well....Thanks!

 

[theseacallsme]

i'm planning to do this next year! i want to get a flight with a layover in la, stay for a few days, then continue on to hawaii!

 

[oakleycat]

We live close to DL so have never done this, but we always do parks first when we cruise out of FL because we like to wear ourselves out running around the parks first then have a nice relaxing vacation. Plus it will give you a chance to adjust to the time change gradually before the longer part of your vacation in Hawaii.

 

[kiford]

We live in Southern Ontario and the flights to/from Honolulu are awful. No matter what you do, you have to make at least one stop so we figured why not break it up and stay in DL for a few days on the way there. So we're doing 5 days in DL (one day we'll go to Universal) before going to Aulani and then flying home (15-ish hours with a short stopover close to home). Makes it much more palatable for me. When we fly to Europe, it's only 8-9 hours and we usually go for 3+ weeks. I was unwilling to do two 15-ish hour flights with 1-2 layovers during a 1.5-2 week period.

 

[sunryzez]

We stopped in California on our way to Aulani this past June. We stayed 2 days in San Diego to visit family, did one day in LA, and three days at the Grand Californian. It was such a wonderful stop and our family fell absolutely in love with DL. It really also helped with the time change. In hindsight I wish I would of booked it going there and back. The return flight was so long and terrible and then the jet lag was the worst! Next time we visit Aulani we will definitely be stopping at DL ( or somewhere ) going and returning.