Help me plan my aulani trip

[Kebby]

We are super excited to be heading to Aulani at the end of April.

I am feeling overwhelmed at the amount of info, and I would love some help.

Here is what we want to see/do:

Hunauma Bay
Lanikai beach
Hawaiian Fire surf school
wild side eco adventures
dole plantation
boydo temple
PCC
Waimea falls
pearl harbour
Swap meet
Lanikea beach ( turtle beach on north shore)

Places we want to eat:

monkey pod
roys
ama ama ( reso made)
koa pancake house
Matsumoto shave ice
Leonards
Brick oven pizza
cinnamon cafe for b fast


We are arriving in Waikiki at 9 pm on April 21 from the east coast. We are staying at the Hilton. The next am we will go to Diamond Head and eating b fast at Dukes. We are thinking of then doing Manoma Falls. We will then head to Aulani and hit costco on the way. Monkey pods for dinner.

After this, I am at a loss. Here is what we want to do, but I feel unsure about where everything is!

April 22- b fast at ama ama .resort day. Going to eat at pizza place this night for dinner. Try and find the secret beach.

April 23- Lanikai Beach- we want to stop at Leonards on the way. Where should we go from here? Is waimea falls near here? Starlit Hui this night and in room dinner

April 24- Hawaiian Fire sure school- which beach is this at? Where should we eat b fast? is there somewhere we should hit on the way back? what about good places to eat around this area. Resort the rest of the day- left overs dinner/lunch

Apr 25- Dole plantation and PCC? are they near one another or on the way? Or should we do Dole and then the Lanikea beach this day? if yes, where should we eat around or between? Roys for dinner that night.

Apr 26- Kualoa ranch ATV adventure or horses + swap meet? Marriot for happy hour for dinner

Apr 27- Pearl Harbour + resort and Ama Ama dinner

Apr 28- wild side eco adventures. Resort the rest of the day. dinner at Monkey pods again

Apr 29- b fast buffet at the hotel. Hang at hotel until 11 when we leave for airport.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

We are super excited to be heading to Aulani at the end of April.

I am feeling overwhelmed at the amount of info, and I would love some help.

Here is what we want to see/do:

Hunauma Bay
Lanikai beach
Hawaiian Fire surf school
wild side eco adventures
dole plantation
boydo temple
PCC
Waimea falls
pearl harbour
Swap meet
Lanikea beach ( turtle beach on north shore)

Places we want to eat:

monkey pod
roys
ama ama ( reso made)
koa pancake house
Matsumoto shave ice
Leonards
Brick oven pizza
cinnamon cafe for b fast


We are arriving in Waikiki at 9 pm on April 21 from the east coast. We are staying at the Hilton. The next am we will go to Diamond Head and eating b fast at Dukes. We are thinking of then doing Manoma Falls. We will then head to Aulani and hit costco on the way. Monkey pods for dinner.

After this, I am at a loss. Here is what we want to do, but I feel unsure about where everything is!

April 22- b fast at ama ama .resort day. Going to eat at pizza place this night for dinner. Try and find the secret beach.

April 23- Lanikai Beach- we want to stop at Leonards on the way. Where should we go from here? Is waimea falls near here? Starlit Hui this night and in room dinner

April 24- Hawaiian Fire sure school- which beach is this at? Where should we eat b fast? is there somewhere we should hit on the way back? what about good places to eat around this area. Resort the rest of the day- left overs dinner/lunch

Apr 25- Dole plantation and PCC? are they near one another or on the way? Or should we do Dole and then the Lanikea beach this day? if yes, where should we eat around or between? Roys for dinner that night.

Apr 26- Kualoa ranch ATV adventure or horses + swap meet? Marriot for happy hour for dinner

Apr 27- Pearl Harbour + resort and Ama Ama dinner

Apr 28- wild side eco adventures. Resort the rest of the day. dinner at Monkey pods again

Apr 29- b fast buffet at the hotel. Hang at hotel until 11 when we leave for airport.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

Hi, I don't want to comment too much as I too am planning my first trip, so am by no means an expert! But I have been using Google maps to gauge where different places are and what goes together well.

If I'm right, then I am planning to do the Byodo in Temple on the same day as Kualoa Ranch as they are near one another. And Lanikea beach on the same day as Waimea Falls (i think the PCC is further up around the top of oahu and on from Lanikea, but I might be wrong as we aren't going there!)

we are going to Hanauma Bay for 8am at the latest as parking lot gets very busy apparently, and then we will go further round the coast to Lanikai beach afterwards (although we are now only doing a brief photo stop here, as we have been recommended to spend more time at Kailua beach as there is easier parking and more facilities, but is as beautiful as Lanikai)

The swap meet is right next door to Pearl Harbor, so we are doing them on the same day (early start to PH and then Swap meet by lunch time - SM is only on wednesday, Saturday's, Sunday's and closes at 3pm).

Oh and I believe that sadly Hawaiian Fire surf school is no more, so you might need to choose another surfing company.


Hope this helps a little

 

[Kebby]

Thank you! Yes, I started using google maps as well. Hawaiian Fire is out of buisness??!!

 

[Anal Annie]

Personally I think you're just a little over-planned. I see you have "resort" on a few afternoons but I think you may find that your morning excursions will take longer than you think (even just getting to / from) and then you may be left with less resort time than you think. I have also heard that Hawaiian Fire is no longer…and I think the Marriott next door has begun renovations and may no longer have restaurants in operations. You might want to research that a little more.

I have been to Hawaii 5x (Aulani on our last trip). We did our surf lessons & shrimp truck / shave ice / turtle beach / North Shore day altogether in one day and it was a full day. We intended to also do Waimea falls that day and stopped by but didn't really have time to go in so we had to pass. Depending what you do at Pearl Harbor (ie include the USS Missouri and other museums) that can also be a pretty full day (i.e. 5 hours or so). Hanauma Bay does get busy early - might be good to do while you're staying in Waikiki. The PCC is definitely a full day (and expensive). I went on my first trip to Hawaii and would never go back. But then I went on a tour bus from Waikiki that left at like 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning and didn't get back until 10:00 that night so I was essentially STUCK there for the entire day. It was too much religion for me. We did not do the Kualoa Ranch but did a zip line day on Maui instead...

You may find that you want to just leave a day or two to just "wing it" and to sit and enjoy the resort more. Monkey Pod is good but you can make reservations at Monkey Pod on the day of if you want to leave things open a little bit… We did not do Ama Ama but we try the buffet restaurant, Makihiki (sp?) and enjoyed that a lot. Roy's was delicious as well.

 

[dbenlee]

Dole Plantation and PCC are not near each other, but, they can be done on the same day if traveling to PCC from Aulani. You can leave early and stop at Dole plantation on the way to PCC since PCC doesn't open until 11 or 12. PCC is on the other side of the island from Aulani and Dole Plantation is in the middle of the island. I assume since you are planning on dinner that night, you are not planning on the luau at PCC. I don't know anything about Roy's so I can't say if eating there is logistically possible, but plan on 45 minutes to an hour drive back from PCC to Aulani with no stops.