General Aulani Trip Thoughts - First Timers - July 2024

[VGCgroupie]

Looking forward to reading your TR, or whatever you can share,
Joined a couple FB groups, so will see what all they have to say and offer. Thanks!! Have a great trip!

For sure I will. Thanks!

 

[achinforsomebacon]

Reading through all of these reports, threads for inspiration. Completely out of the blue, DH booked a week at Aulani for spring break, March 2025. This is SO beyond our comfort zone, we are both completely lost on how to plan. We've made SO many trips to Orlando, since 2000, for Disney and Universal, DVC since 2011, and almost every other trip we've done still involves a theme park. (Dollywood, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, etc, but we did have a few Gulf Coast beach trips/Florida panhandle. ) Aulani and Hawaii are just so, so, so beyond anything we know about planning.
I love reading all of the tips, experiences, reflections, recommendation. I have so many questions, I"m not sure where to start: from rental car, to how long it'll take to get around the island, flying/airline recommendation (we have never flown as a family, just separately and infrequently,) Pearl Harbor planning, and overall what are the absolute must-dos to experience the beauty of Hawaii, parks, waterfalls, etc. We would be looking for something not too strenuous. We only have 4 full days (5 nights at Aulani.) and of course where to eat. I know that's completely subjective.
Reading all the pool chair stuff cracks me up. We're very used to rope dropping parks, being at the tapstiles over an hour before opening, but I guess we'll be rope dropping the pool, haha. We've never rented chairs, but sounds like those casabellas might be a good idea.
We'll be in a 2 bedroom. Me, DH, 2 young adults (20 and 17), and MIL. No need for character breakfasts, etc. but considering a luau, so recommendations for that appreciated.
Don't want to hijack this thread, so if this needs to be moved, if there's some other thread for newbie questions, please do, or I can start my own. We are clueless!

The great thing about Hawaii is that you can do everything from hiking and exploring to just chilling on the beach/by the pool doing nothing. It's really up to you. We did a little bit of both, trying to frontload the strenuous stuff and relax at the end.

Here are a few things we did:

Makapu'u Lighthouse hike - this is about 2 miles round trip. There are some steep inclines but it's all paved so not too bad and a decent hike to do with children. We considered doing it for sunrise, which would probably have breathtaking views but didn't quite make it up that early. Some people were just finishing the sunrise hike when we arrived and said it was great. Entry is free. Parking is free but limited and I think opens at 7. There's plenty of parking along the road outside the lot but this could add another 1/2 mile to the walk. Also, no bathrooms.

Diamond Head - this is shorter (1.6 miles round trip) but more difficult hike because the terrain is a little uneven at times. There are plenty of areas to stop and rest if needed though. You have really great views of Honolulu and Waikiki at the top. You need to make reservations and prepay for parking and the hike (they were letting some walkins when we went; not sure if they were letting any cars in. We ended up parking in a neighborhood about 1/2 mile away since we didn't do the parking reservation in time. There are bathrooms when you first get in. Go before the hike because there's nothing at the top.

I enjoyed both hikes and would recommend them if you wanted some physical activity with rewarding views and not off the beaten path. I also recommend going early before it gets too hot.

We also did some of the pillbox hikes on the North Shore but I forget which ones. These were trickier since they weren't as well marked and popular so you couldn't just follow the group in front of you.

North Shore - we planned a day for beach hopping here. We ended up starting at Waimea Bay and spending more time there than expected. This was a good size beach that wasn't too crowded. Small parking lot so we had to park about 1/2 mile away again. Bathrooms (bare minimums). We saw sea turtles and dolphins. Snorkeling wasn't the best but we didn't venture to far. Maybe there was a better place somewhere else in the bay. There were rocks you could jump from into the water, probably 20-25 feet. We drove past a few other beaches we were planning to stop at but they weren't as nice looking and after being at Weimea so long, didn't feel like stopping.

A couple things about the North Shore (I'm by no means an expert). The road is one lane each way and can get backed up easily. When we were heading back, traffic was really bad coming the other way. An accident would also really cause problems. Also, we haven't gone in winter but from what I've read, you don't want to unless you're a big surfer. The water is apparently pretty rough in winter.

Pineapple - do yourself a favor and stop at the Dole plantation for a fresh pineapple. We got one that was picked that day and it was delicious. Hawaii pineapple is so much better than what we get at home. I personally wouldn't recommend paying for the activities at the plantation but you can check out the shop there and get a pineapple without paying admission.

Besides that stuff, we spent most of our time enjoying the resort and taking advantage of all of the activities. Our favorites were the ukulele lessons, animation drawing thing, rainbow reef (I don't think this is worth the cost for a day but for a longer trip, the length of stay cost is reasonable), seeing the characters (the ones on the luau lawn were typically less crowded than by the pool), and hanging out at the pool/beach.

Other random thoughts:

We knew we wanted to do quite a few things away from the resort so we rented a car. We got a good deal and also had free parking since we're DVC. You could also rent a car for part of the trip and do everything away from the resort at the beginning.

Luau - I thought the luau was just OK, especially for what you pay. There are probably better options out there, although you can't beat the convenience.

Pool chairs were hit or miss. I'd rather not have a chair than go down super early to get one on vacation. While guests can be inconsiderate and rude, it's also an issue with the staff. A few examples...we were next to a family a few days so had casual conversations. One day we were looking for chairs around 2. They said people put stuff down on the chairs next to them at 8:30 and hadn't been back since. Another day, we put our stuff down and within 15-20 minutes the pool police had folded our towel on the back of the chair, giving us an hour to return. It was very inconsistent.

Sorry, I've been rambling on forever and I didn't mean to hijack this thread either! It's just fresh in my mind since we were just there.