Excursion / Day Trip Advice

[WIDisneyFan]

Our family will be making their first trip to Aulani and Hawaii this July. It will be me (53), my wife (52) and son (21), daughter (19), and daughter (17). Plans as of now include 2 nights in Waikiki and 7 nights at Aulani. We will have a car so pretty much the entire island is open.

Current Plans:

• Hike Diamond Head (by request of the 17 year old) - reminder set to book in advance
• Visit Pearl Harbor and the Arizona - reminder set to book in advance
• Spa day for mom - already booked
• Shop - farmers market / swap meet / mall - the girls are working on a list of favorites

Ideas we are discussing for some or all:

• Cabana rental at Aulani
• Kualoa Ranch UTV Raptor Tour
• Drive up to the North Shore for beaches and food
• Golf for son 21 at Ko Olina Golf Club
• Introductory SCUBA (it appears Aulani has stopped offering this but have found a number of local companies that do it - recommendations would be appreciated)

Would love to know if anyone has personal experience with the above or other hidden gems that we should be looking into.

 

[gsdweller]

Surfing lessons up on the North Shore were great fun for us.

 

[jimmymc]

North shore is great. Avoid the weekends if you can, traffic is much worse getting up there.

Kawela Bay Beach Park is a great stop when you're on the north shore or near Kualoa Ranch.

 

[kboo]

• Hike Diamond Head (by request of the 17 year old) - reminder set to book in advance
• Visit Pearl Harbor and the Arizona - reminder set to book in advance
• Spa day for mom - already booked
• Shop - farmers market / swap meet / mall - the girls are working on a list of favorites

We spent our first few days in Waikiki and did a sunrise hike/walk up Le'ahe on a Saturday - the first time window. We got to the parking lot nearer the end of our time window and there were already hard core folks who were coming down while were on our way up! They were up at the top already for sunrise, we were still on our way up when the sun had risen. There is a great farmers market across the street at the community college there - so we went up, down, were back down, and at the KCC Farmer's market by 10 am or maybe even earlier. It was SO good - we ate a brunch/2nd breakfast and shopped - bought a lot of coffee, honey and fruit. We did this on our 2nd day when we were still jet lagged - it was very easy to get up at 4:30 or 5 am and it's a 10 minute drive from Waikiki rather than a 40 minute drive from Aulani.

Kualoa Ranch UTV Raptor Tour

We also did this and lucked into the best option - riding along with a guide (because all the drive yourself options were already booked). At first it doesn't sound like much fun, but - we were the lead car, the driver knew the roads and it had rained/was drizzling, so some of the ditches and puddles were ... deep and full. Our driver knew the roads well enough so she took all the dips and turns wayyyyy faster than you would have taken had you been driving yourself - we were leaving everyone else behind, and we had a tour guide the entire time. SO MUCH FUN! And she knew a lot - she pointed out things while we were driving, talked about Hawaii and WWII and Pearl Harbor, talked about learning Hawaiian language, and culture, basically she answered every question we had.

*also, you may be able to add on some food tours and other things at Kualoa Ranch because the UTV is really the highlight. If you schedule them, do the UTV tour last because it is more fun than the other, more sedate tours and experiences.