Driving times

[Leshaface]

Getting very excited about our trip coming up in a few weeks but wanted to figure out how much time to allow for these events:

-From Aulani to Diamondhead on a Tuesday morning (would ideally like to arrive right when it opens at 6am)
-Diamondhead to Pearl Harbor (same Tuesday - will we run into work morning commute?)
-Pearl Harbor back to Aulani

My mom will be staying behind with our two kids (will be 5 months and 4 years at time of trip) so trying to plan out approximately how long we'll be gone for that morning.

-Aulani to Waimanalo Beach (need to be there at 5:30pm for pictures on the same Tuesday - work evening commute?)

-Aulani to HNL (flight leaves at 11:30am on a Friday morning)

I've heard stories about how bad traffic is, but is it comparable to LA traffic?

Thanks for any help you can give me!

 

[scrappydew]

Will you be parking onsite or renting a car from Alamo?

 

[Leshaface]

Will you be parking onsite or renting a car from Alamo?

Renting a car from Costco so we'll have it for the whole week!

 

[Soccerluvinmama]

I live in Seattle, and our traffic is not as bad as LA, but it's pretty bad. H1 is busy, and it can get downright miserable if there is an accident. The problem is, unlike where I live, if there is an accident on the freeway I can just jump off and take any number of side streets to get to where I need to go. There are no side streets. So if there is an accident on the freeway, you're going to find yourself parked. This past February we did our normal Costco/Target run in Kapolei before going to check in. This is the exit before the one to Aulani, and only about 7 minutes away. There was an accident on H1 though, so it took us close to 2 hours to get from Target to the resort. The accident on the freeway caused a major backup on Kapolei Parkway with all of the people trying to get on H1.

To get to Waimanalo Beach, you're going to have to drive through Honolulu traffic...on a week/work night. May the odds be ever in your favor!

As far as your return time for the airport, you're leaving on a work day, so traffic might be heavier. We normally leave on Sunday, and we leave 4 hours before our flight departure. For some reason my rental return process always takes forever (it would be faster if using Alamo or one of the ones that have their lot at the airport), and the TSA line is ridiculous, always. I've applied for a NEXUS pass so we can get the TSA pre-check. We did this specifically so we can avoid this line going forward.

 

[happymommy]

Aulani to Diamondhead - about an hour. You'll be out before traffic gets too bad.

Diamondhead to Pearl Harbor - 30 minutes or so, but could be much longer if there's an accident. Do you have tickets ahead of time? I usually would recommend Pearl Harbor very early in the morning, not the same day as Diamondhead. You'll be hot and sweaty!

No way would I do the Diamondhead hike, Pearl Harbor, and be back and ready for a photo session all in the same day. I would be too exhausted.

I would do Pearl Harbor on a Wednesday so you can stop by the Swap Meet at the stadium after for an hour or so. It's only Wed, Sat & Sun.

Yes traffic can be heavy! For your return flight, likely you'll be in the morning commute. If it's international, I'd be at the airport at least 3 hours ahead of time. Domestic - 2 hours is fine. Factoring traffic, allow an hour to get to the airport, but you do need to factor in returning the car (takes just a couple minutes) and then taking the rental car shuttle to the airport (it's a short ride, but often you need to wait a few minutes for a shuttle). So add an extra hour to play it safe!

 

[scrappydew]

Our experience at the airport was that the security lines were very long. I'd go 3 hours just to be safe. There is an additional agricultural screening that you need to go through before checking in. And while at Honolulu, the precheck line was separate, at LAX, everyone was in the same line. I don't know if this is how they do it all the time, but we had about 5 minutes before our flight boarded at Honolulu because of long security lines. I was stressed out!

 

[Leshaface]

he problem is, unlike where I live, if there is an accident on the freeway I can just jump off and take any number of side streets to get to where I need to go.

This is exactly what I needed to know, thanks for including this! So no re-routing, aw man.

This is the exit before the one to Aulani, and only about 7 minutes away. There was an accident on H1 though, so it took us close to 2 hours to get from Target to the resort. The accident on the freeway caused a major backup on Kapolei Parkway with all of the people trying to get on H1.

Holy cow, that's bad.

To get to Waimanalo Beach, you're going to have to drive through Honolulu traffic...on a week/work night. May the odds be ever in your favor!

I'm wondering if we should just leave early and hang out somewhere near there just to be in the vicinity.

(it would be faster if using Alamo or one of the ones that have their lot at the airport)

I believe the rental is through Alamo (but reserved it through Costco!)

Diamondhead to Pearl Harbor - 30 minutes or so, but could be much longer if there's an accident. Do you have tickets ahead of time? I usually would recommend Pearl Harbor very early in the morning, not the same day as Diamondhead. You'll be hot and sweaty!

Yes we have 8:15am tickets!

No way would I do the Diamondhead hike, Pearl Harbor, and be back and ready for a photo session all in the same day. I would be too exhausted.

I would do Pearl Harbor on a Wednesday so you can stop by the Swap Meet at the stadium after for an hour or so. It's only Wed, Sat & Sun.

Unfortunately, we're trying to pack everything into one day so that we won't have to leave the resort again, for a few reasons. One, being that my mom will be watching our boys for us so we can do these things - Diamondhead is definitely not kid friendly and Pearl Harbor i'm not sure about, so we don't want to keep leaving her alone for a few days, would rather get it all done in one day. Two, we don't have that much time. Our flight gets in from LAX at 11:30am on a Saturday and our flight leaves on that next Friday morning, so we're really trying to spend most of our time at Aulani, making use of the Kids Club (did somebody say Adult only time!? - well kind of adult only. But a 5 month old is so much easier than a 4 year old!) We also have a Spa Day and my Son has a Premium Activity on one of our nights for all of us to head over to Roy's, and everything is kind of spread out, so there's really not much time to get out.

Yes traffic can be heavy! For your return flight, likely you'll be in the morning commute. If it's international, I'd be at the airport at least 3 hours ahead of time. Domestic - 2 hours is fine. Factoring traffic, allow an hour to get to the airport, but you do need to factor in returning the car (takes just a couple minutes) and then taking the rental car shuttle to the airport (it's a short ride, but often you need to wait a few minutes for a shuttle). So add an extra hour to play it safe!

We're domestic, so maybe thinking about leaving Aulani around 8am would be good?

Our experience at the airport was that the security lines were very long. I'd go 3 hours just to be safe. There is an additional agricultural screening that you need to go through before checking in. And while at Honolulu, the precheck line was separate, at LAX, everyone was in the same line. I don't know if this is how they do it all the time, but we had about 5 minutes before our flight boarded at Honolulu because of long security lines. I was stressed out!

Yeah, was thinking leaving Aulani around 8am would be okay perhaps. Oh my gosh, that would have freaked me out so much, but glad you made it through on time!

 

[happymommy]

To get to Pearl Harbor from Diamondhead with 8:15am tickets I honestly don't think will work. You won't have time to do the hike and then get there in time! It's about 30 minutes drive and you need to park. I think I'd skip Diamondhead (heck, I lived on Oahu for 3 years and have been back 10 times to visit and still haven't done it!). I would just do Pearl Harbor. Remember, you'll be driving through Honolulu, and there will be rush hour traffic both ways in town by 8:00am. You would miss your Pearl Harbor time.

 

[Leshaface]

To get to Pearl Harbor from Diamondhead with 8:15am tickets I honestly don't think will work. You won't have time to do the hike and then get there in time! It's about 30 minutes drive and you need to park. I think I'd skip Diamondhead (heck, I lived on Oahu for 3 years and have been back 10 times to visit and still haven't done it!). I would just do Pearl Harbor. Remember, you'll be driving through Honolulu, and there will be rush hour traffic both ways in town by 8:00am. You would miss your Pearl Harbor time.

I think you're right, I was thinking maybe we shouldn't do Diamondhead. As much fun as it would be, Pearl Harbor is definitely a must for us. Thank you!


ETA: Now that Diamondhead is out of the question, what is the best time to leave Aulani for Pearl Harbor?

 

[buffettgirl]

You should be good leaving around 8.8:30 for the airport. You'll get there about 9, drop your car off , and get through security. The morning commute traffic will be over way out in Kapolei and almost nothing at the H1-H2 merge, so it's only going to take about 20-25 to get to the airport.

If your pearl harbor tickets are at 8:15 that's a little more of a problem. You are going to hit some rush hour traffic, and you're going to need to park, etc. So I'd probably leave no later than 7:15.

Also, when you're heading to Waimanalo Beach, do NOT go through the city to the Pali to get over to the windward side. Just go H1 to H3 and stay on the highway. The traffic will be a nightmare from the H1 / 201 merge at Middle St all the way down to Punahou. It's basically a parking lot at that time of day. It's still going to take you over an hour, but at least you won't be sitting in that parking lot. The bulk of your traffic is going to be on 72 once you are heading to Waimanalo as it's just a 2 lane road much of the way, and you have to do that no matter what you do, so it's better to just avoid the city.

 

[Elima2015]

In answer to your question on if traffic is bad, comparable to LA? Yes. Yes it is. We left Aulani on a Friday morning just before 5:00am for an 8:30 flight and we barely made it. I thought leaving right at 5:00 would be fine, I "budgeted" a little more than double the non-traffic driving time to get to the airport. Nope!! No accidents that we ever saw, heavy traffic and it took us almost 2 hours to get to the rental car drop off. We lucked out with a short security line at the airport and walked up to the gate and straight down the jetway. I personally would not try to squeeze in Diamond Head before 8:15 Pearl Harbor tickets. I think you will have to leave pretty early just to make the PH time. And I would leave plenty early to make the pictures time.

Oahu and Aulani are beautiful! Hope you have an awesome trip!

 

[Leshaface]

You should be good leaving around 8.8:30 for the airport. You'll get there about 9, drop your car off , and get through security. The morning commute traffic will be over way out in Kapolei and almost nothing at the H1-H2 merge, so it's only going to take about 20-25 to get to the airport.

Perfect!

If your pearl harbor tickets are at 8:15 that's a little more of a problem. You are going to hit some rush hour traffic, and you're going to need to park, etc. So I'd probably leave no later than 7:15.

Maybe we'll leave about 6:45am then?

Also, when you're heading to Waimanalo Beach, do NOT go through the city to the Pali to get over to the windward side. Just go H1 to H3 and stay on the highway. The traffic will be a nightmare from the H1 / 201 merge at Middle St all the way down to Punahou. It's basically a parking lot at that time of day. It's still going to take you over an hour, but at least you won't be sitting in that parking lot. The bulk of your traffic is going to be on 72 once you are heading to Waimanalo as it's just a 2 lane road much of the way, and you have to do that no matter what you do, so it's better to just avoid the city.

I'm on Google maps right now so I can see what you're suggesting. There are a few routes, but the one you mentioned is the most recommended by Google so thank you!

 

[Leshaface]

In answer to your question on if traffic is bad, comparable to LA? Yes. Yes it is. We left Aulani on a Friday morning just before 5:00am for an 8:30 flight and we barely made it. I thought leaving right at 5:00 would be fine, I "budgeted" a little more than double the non-traffic driving time to get to the airport. Nope!! No accidents that we ever saw, heavy traffic and it took us almost 2 hours to get to the rental car drop off. We lucked out with a short security line at the airport and walked up to the gate and straight down the jetway. I personally would not try to squeeze in Diamond Head before 8:15 Pearl Harbor tickets. I think you will have to leave pretty early just to make the PH time. And I would leave plenty early to make the pictures time.

Oahu and Aulani are beautiful! Hope you have an awesome trip!

Thank you mentioning your experience! And I think we'll be skipping Diamondhead for sure. Was really hoping to squeeze it in, but just don't think it will work. Thank goodness I decided to start a thread otherwise we'd be doing both!

 

[blondietink]

Morning rush hour traffic starts at 5 am from Aulani. It is really bad. You will creep along at 10 - 15 mph if you are lucky. Doesns't matter if you are on the H1 or Farmington Highway. It's all bad. Usually never comes to a full stop, but very, very slow. Same way on the way back. We usually stay in Waikiki a few days before an Aulani stay just so we won't have to deal with rush hour traffic to do Pearl Harbor and the east side of the island. Always plan on going the opposite direction of rush hour traffic.

 

[buffettgirl]

Maybe we'll leave about 6:45am then?

I wouldn't bother. The earlier you leave the more commuter traffic you'll hit and you won't get there any sooner.

Think of it this way - the commuter traffic starts in Kapolei and gets very bad at the H1/H2 merge, but most of that backup is on H1, heading from your direction into town. That backup just rolls along the highway. Once it's done, it's done though. And if you can save yourself some time by not sitting in it by leaving later, then that's the best option.

 

[cedricandsophie]

Pearl Harbor can sell out. Do you have tickets? They are free online.