Flying to Aulani with a 3 y.o.

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Are we nuts? We would stop in CA there and back for a day or 2. But I’m really concerned about the flight from CA to HI. Anyone done it? Was the kid miserable? Obviously we would bring toys, iPads, snacks. He did ok on our (accidental) 4 hour flight to Orlando last week and he will be a whole year older.

Talk me in to or out of this crazy idea.

 

[Buzzw0rthy]

Do it!!! Last fall we went to Aulani with a 3 1/2 and 1 year old. We flew direct from Chicago, about 7 1/2 to 8 hrs flight time. Our kids had experience of a plane before but only for a 1 1/2 hour trip. We were nervous as well. There were lots of other families traveling with young kids so that helped alleviate our fears. The kids were troopers. We made sure our 3 1/2 year old had a full charge on the i pad, we got a pair of headphones as well. We made them take turns sitting in the window seat. We took plenty of walks up around the plane to stretch the legs out. It was an amazing experience in Aulani and now they ASK to go back.

 

[Jennie Kayna]

Do it!!!

This is great to hear! We will be flying from Detroit (12hrs with one stop ) with a nearly 2 year old in March and are anxious about the flight. She’s never used an iPad before so I’m hoping the novelty of it along with lots of new dollar store toys and some snacks will entertain her and help pass the time.

 

[alohamom]

We have been taking our kids to Hawaii since they were babies. We travel from Toronto and go approx every two years. My eldest was 18 months for her first time and my son had just turned one when we travelled with him that far (our daughter was 3 and it took both of us to be all hands on deck for that trip for sure)

I will tell you coming home was always harder. Not for them but for me, LOL. I have a hard time sleeping on a plane anyway but having the kids with me made it impossible because I was worried they would wake up and crawl away or something. What that meant was coming home exhausted with wide awake children and jet lag. The first few days back are hard so I always made sure we came back on a Friday so we had the weekend to catch up on sleep. Having the bulkhead made a huge difference for the trip when my daughter was a toddler because I was able to put down a blanket and let her sleep on the floor. My kids are now 19 and 21 so back then there were no ipads. We did have a portable DVD player and that was fantastic. I made sure to walk them up and down the aisles if they got restless, had tons of snacks and first aid stuff just in case. One major tip is make sure you have bottles, sippy cups, lolly pops or something to help the ear pressure for take off and landing. When my son was one on his first trip I was about to stop breast feeding but decided to wait till after the trip so he could feed for those times and it worked out well. I also had the Fisher Price plane for them to play with ahead of time before the trip so they kind of got the idea that flying was fun and not a big scary situation.

All in all, I wont lie to you. Travelling with them that far when they were really small took a lot of planning and a lot of hands on involvement during the actual plane ride but it was always an adventure and it made my kids very seasoned travellers.

 

[OKW Lover]

Are we nuts? We would stop in CA there and back for a day or 2. But I’m really concerned about the flight from CA to HI. Anyone done it? Was the kid miserable? Obviously we would bring toys, iPads, snacks. He did ok on our (accidental) 4 hour flight to Orlando last week and he will be a whole year older.

Talk me in to or out of this crazy idea.

Since he did OK on the 4 hour flight to Orlando, he's probably going to be fine on the 5 hour flight from California to HNL.