First time to Hawaii and Aulani

[RobynPrincess]

hey all! I hope someone might be able to help me
We are in the process of planning our first trip to Hawaii and Aulani, we are coming from the UK and are currently looking to spend about 10 days there. I'm not sure we will likely ever get back, so what do I need to make sure we have to see and do in Hawaii? We are planning on spending our entire stay in Aulani however I wouldn't be adverse to doing a split stay somewhere.
It's all a bit daunting right now trying to figure out what are must sees and dos. I've bought a travel book on Honolulu which I've just started reading but looking at other parts of the island too.
Thanks for your help!

 

[Pooh2]

We did visit to Aulani and Hawaii for 9 nights.
For us, Pearl Harbor our one "must do". Very moving.
Other than that, we rented a car (keep checking for best prices, it went down about 3 weeks before our trip by over $100) and drove to different locations on the island each morning. By midafternoon, we were back at Aulani to enjoy the beach and coves.
The east coast of Oahu is a beautiful drive, the North Shore had lots of great beaches to stop at. We just jumped in the car each day (dressed in bathing suits/tshirts/sunblocked) and checked out different beaches, restaurants, shrimp trucks.

 

[KateP85]

I think if you spend your whole 10 days in Aulani, you'll miss out on a lot Hawaii has to offer. The big island of Hawaii, Maui and Kauai are all beautiful and unique, if you want to do a split stay they would all be great places to spend a few days.

I'm literally on a plane to Hawaii right now (8.5 hours to go!) and we're spending a week at Aulani and a week in Kona.

 

[eeyorefanuk]

Hi

We did waikiki beach and aulani before disney hawaiin cruise last year

We are going back again this year

Aulani is beautiful but I recommend a split stay as once at aulani you won't want to leave

We are doing a week at outrigger waikiki beach, then week at aulani, followed by week anaheim plus ? Lol

Waikiki is a good base to do sight seeing

Pearl harbour including sea turtles and shrimp "shacks"
Tour of island
Polynesian centre
Diamond head
Pineapple factory
Nut factory
Waikiki itself
Kaulo ? Ranch
Cheesecake Factory lol
Lots shops in waikiki

We flew london to lax with BA stayed overnight to break the flight
Then american airways lax to honolulu

I got so confused last year so any questions I will try to help

Aulani is beautiful but just to warn you very quiet from early evening

Re other islands I loved maui but still love honolulu for waikiki/tour/aulani

Another option is a cruise to other islands then aulani lol

 

[RobynPrincess]

Thank you so much for the replies already!! So much to look into. We are doing a west coast tour at the same time, starting in SF and Monterey for the whale migration, Disneyland and San Diego. But the main part of the trip for me is going to Hawaii, that's where I want to focus the planning on (we have been to sf and Disneyland before so know what to expect there).

 

[sgrap]

We just got home from 10 days in Hawaii 7 nights of it at Aulani. We spent the first 2 nights in Waikiki which worked out pretty well. We got a great deal on a special hotel for U.S. military personnel because our son just commissioned as an army officer. I'm working on a trip report if you want to follow along: http://www.disboards.com/threads/trip-report-hale-koa-6-6-to-6-8-and-aulani-6-8-to-6-15.3521757/

 

[blondietink]

When we go to Hawaii, we also do a split with another island. Since it is a long flight for us from Buffalo, NY and the cost is high, we do and see as much as possible to spread out the cost. So, we usually end up doing 3 weeks or so .... 4 days Waikiki and the east side/north of Oahu, a week at Aulani, then go to another island for 10 days or so. We personally love Kauai, but Maui is nice too. Both islands are very laid back compared to Oahu.

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

We spent 8 nights in Oahu in April. We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village for the first four nights. We used those days to do our sightseeing around the island. The first full day we drove up to the Polynesian Cultural Center, stopping at the Byodo-In Temple and Chinaman's Hat on the way. The next morning we got up early and hiked to the top of Diamondhead then rewarded ourselves with malasadas from Leonard's on the way back to our hotel. During the afternoon we visited the Iolani Palace, the King Kamehamema Statue, and the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, shopped in Waikiki and had dinner at Duke's. On the following day we visited Pearl Harbor and then continued on to the Dole Plantation (this was a disappointing stop IMHO, probably wouldn't repeat) and had lunch at Teddy's Bigger Burgers before heading back to Waikiki to swim and have dinner at Roy's. Once we moved over to Aulani we started what I would call the relaxation part of our trip. We spent almost all of our time at the resort, only leaving twice - once to visit the beach with the turtles and once for dinner at Monkeypod Kitchen. I wished we'd had a fifth night at Aulani because it really does go by so fast. A couple other things I wished we'd had time for was to drive the north shore via the western side of the island with a stop at Matsumoto Shave Ice and and the Kualoa Ranch movie tour. Have fun planning!

 

[Nlfm432010]

Hi All,

My 21y/o DD will be going to Aulani for a second interview for her dream job. She will be traveling with a friend, and will be there for 6 nights. Any suggestions on a centrally located resort? They want to get a good feel for the area, as she may be living there, but also want to enjoy it, as she may not be living there!

Ty

 

[BCV23]

Personally I think you are wise to stay at Aulani for your entire stay on Oahu. It is a great spot from which to explore much of the island without dealing with Honolulu traffic. The North Shore, Polynesian Cultural Center, Dole Plantation, etc. are an easy drive. Beautiful drive, too, if you take H1 to H3 to get to the East side of the island. Diamond Head is of course closer to Waikii but not worth changing resorts IMO. Pearl Harbor is between Aulani and Waikiki. I would rather drive there from Aulani than sit in city traffic.

If you have time and the inclination, the other islands are wonderful. I have only been to the Big Island once and Maui many times but my DH also visited Kauai and loved it. Each has its own feel but frankly the aloha spirit is alive and well at all of them. I would not feel like I had shortchanged my experience at all by choosing just Oahu.

Happy planning.

 

[RobynPrincess]

I've not ruled out visiting other islands at all. But which to visit? And how easy is it to move between the islands?

 

[blondietink]

I've not ruled out visiting other islands at all. But which to visit? And how easy is it to move between the islands?

It is very easy to visit other islands. There are many flights per day to each island via Hawaiian Airlines. It is really hard to choose on which to visit. Maui is wonderful but the traffic on the west side near Lahaina can be bad sometimes. There is only one road and no passing. it is also getting crowded and built up. But there is a lot of diversity on Maui ... huge dormant volcano, road to Hana (not my favorite thing), beaches, rain forests, upcountry, etc. We personally prefer Kauai. Still has that country feel and although the locals complain about the traffic around Kapaa, compared to Maui or Oahu it is nothing and there is a bypass. There are only 65,000 people who live on Kauai. You have the north coast which can be rainy in the winter, but the south and west is sunny most of the time. Waimea Canyon, the Grand Canyon of the pacific is totally worth it. Coffee plantations, Hanalei Bay, flowers, botanical gardens, fern grotto, waterfalls, horseback riding, helicopter over Waimea Canyon, etc. Many of the beaches when we were there this past April were almost deserted. Most of Kauai is protected lands. It was fun to go to Hanalei Bay and see where they filmed the Decendents. We have never been to the big island, but that is on our list for next trip.

 

[AquaDuck1]

On our recent trip to Aulani we also took a day trip to Hilo (the Big Island). We had a wonderful tour company( Island Wide Family Tours) pick us up from the airport and drive us around the Hilo side of the island. We wanted to go Volcano National Park for the "night time" glow...it was awesome!! Afterwards they dropped us off at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel. We were the only ones in the van and they tailored the sight seeing to what we wanted.

Whatever you decide to do have a great time!!
Laura (aka Aquaduck1)