Flying from HNL to LAX - best time?

[amystevekai&bump]

Hi all

We are hoping to visit Aulani and VGC next summer and I'm currently trying to get an idea of flight schedules etc.

I notice that for direct flights, they seem to either be very early morning (8am and arriving around 4pm), after lunch (2pm and arriving around 8-9pm) or night flights (9pm ish arriving around 6am).

Can I ask what option works best when touring please? Does the time difference impact much on ability to sleep in California for example? Would an early start in Hawaii help or hinder that?

I see that Aulani is 35 mins from the airport and that with checked bags we need to be there 90 mins before - so guess I really need to safely leave the resort 2.5hrs beforehand to drop the hire car? Plus I know that VGC is at least 45min drive even in good traffic - so guess we'll have 2 hrs after we land, collect luggage, meet transportation before we are at the hotel?

Are these estimations accurate?

I'm just trying to gauge which flight times work best in terms of getting the most from our vacation - we will be sightseeing/theme parking for our whole stay in Anaheim (with pool breaks), so I want to try to find a flight time that might be the least tiring option! (We will be travelling with 2 children aged 8 and 11 if that effects the advice you give!)

Many thanks for any thoughts

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Hi there, I'm far from an expert on either Aulani or DLR, but I will be travelling between the two on my upcoming trip and can at least form an opinion of what would work best for my family.
For a start, I wouldn't even consider option 3. If you don't sleep well on planes, you will start your DLR part of your trip tired and grumpy despite how restful the Aulani part of your trip would have been. Plus you will need to check out of your Aulani room in the morning so won't have anywhere to nap during the day to prepare for a night of little sleep.
The choice between Option 1 and 2 is much harder. I think if you are all morning people (even on vacation), get up early, head to the airport before traffic builds up, and treat yourself with a nice dinner somewhere in Disney when you arrive. If you prefer a slower start to the day, enjoy a nice final brunch at Aulani, and head to the airport knowing that when you get to Anaheim it will pretty much be bed time. But at least you will be where you want to be for a good start the next morning.
I think if it was me I would go for Option 2. I get the feeling a place like Aulani isn't conducive to rushing.
The time difference between Hawaii and LA is 3 hours which I don't think is too big of a deal. However, have you considered doing the 2 destinations in the opposite order? I am flying from LAX to Hawaii and the time difference works out great. Plus, a relaxing place like Aulani seems like a great way to end a trip.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

Hi there, I'm far from an expert on either Aulani or DLR, but I will be travelling between the two on my upcoming trip and can at least form an opinion of what would work best for my family.
For a start, I wouldn't even consider option 3. If you don't sleep well on planes, you will start your DLR part of your trip tired and grumpy despite how restful the Aulani part of your trip would have been. Plus you will need to check out of your Aulani room in the morning so won't have anywhere to nap during the day to prepare for a night of little sleep.
The choice between Option 1 and 2 is much harder. I think if you are all morning people (even on vacation), get up early, head to the airport before traffic builds up, and treat yourself with a nice dinner somewhere in Disney when you arrive. If you prefer a slower start to the day, enjoy a nice final brunch at Aulani, and head to the airport knowing that when you get to Anaheim it will pretty much be bed time. But at least you will be where you want to be for a good start the next morning.
I think if it was me I would go for Option 2. I get the feeling a place like Aulani isn't conducive to rushing.
The time difference between Hawaii and LA is 3 hours which I don't think is too big of a deal. However, have you considered doing the 2 destinations in the opposite order? I am flying from LAX to Hawaii and the time difference works out great. Plus, a relaxing place like Aulani seems like a great way to end a trip.

Thank you so much for your post . I too have now ruled out the overnight option - we know how bad we feel when we fly back overnight from WDW to the UK at the end of our vacations - I think, like you, that touring Disneyland feeling like that would be awful!

We are visiting San Francisco on the way to Hawaii, so hopefully that will break that journey up a little - I think option 2 will be the best plan then - as you say, I can't imagine leaving Aulani in what will feel like the middle of the night - doesn't match the 'chilled out' vibe!.

Thank you for helping me clarify it in my own head - much appreciated

 

[Anal Annie]

We usually try to book our flights to land in Hawaii between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm. That gives us a good amount of daylight to get to our hotel and get situated and allows for enough time to enjoy a late lunch and or a lazy afternoon by the pool. Then we try to get our sleep cycled by going to bed around 9:30-10:00 that night. When we leave Hawaii we always book the red-eye late night flight (usually between 9 and 10:00 pm) so we can enjoy our last day in the islands. That puts us onto the west coast in early AM and then home to the east coast by late afternoon / early evening. Then we try to get to bed at an early time. Always dead tired for a couple of days regardless of timing when you have a 6 hour time difference to adjust to. We allowed 3 hours from Aulani back to the airport because we had an early flight to Maui after Aulani and we didn't know what to expect with rush hour traffic. That was a good amount of time and that way we weren't stressed over being late. We stopped at DL on our WAY to Aulani. Yes, it took approx. 2 hours to collect our bags & for our transport service to get us dropped off at VGC.