Travelmum's Waikiki Holiday Trip Report (non-Disney)

[gogo65]

Travel mum, the condo looks perfect, I'm sure there was a big sigh of relief when you walked through the front door!
We had a fantastic trip to Hawaii a few years ago, after a skiing vacation in Canada, everyone loved it, would love to go back again, just need to fit it in somewhere between 2013 and 2043

 

[aussietravellers]

Have just read your whole report so far! Am just loving it! I have so many memories of Hawaii so love reading all about it.

I have found the same thing as you with prices at the outlets. I had friends who went to Honolulu recently and they were going to take the trolley tour to the outlets and i kept telling them not to do it, that with Macy's one day sales the prices won't be much different from around Waikiki and at Ala Moana.

I had quite a chuckle at your refillable mugs. I wondered if you will take them to WDW next and use them there?

When Lewers street first got it's makeover there was a gelati store there in the BeachWalk. It was the best, we used to go every night and get one after dinner, it's closed now .

The condo looks fantastic! What a great spot and really great views!

 

[Minniemum]

Great find Travelmum! I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the condo! The photos had me oohing and aahing.

 

[Travel Mum]

We had booked another car to be picked up this morning and, since DH knew where to go and about the booking, he got up early and went to get it. Our lovely condo owners had given us a complimentary car park so we’d booked this car for a 3-day hire. We’d booked the same car category – a midsize 4WD – but DH came back with a convertible jeep. Apparently he’d gone to pick up the car and this was the only 5-seater that they had available at that time. This was so weird because, when I’d first asked DH if he’d agree to us going on holiday to Hawaii, he replied that it was fine as long as we could hire a convertible. So I’d done heaps of research and had come away knowing that convertible cars only have two bucket seats in the back. Also most jeeps only seemed to have two seat belts in the back and, if they had three, the middle one was a lap belt which is not satisfactory for me. My Mum had even double checked this for me when my parents were in Hawaii a few months earlier and had come to the same conclusion – there were no convertible jeeps with 3x 3-point seat belts in the back. To top it off, when I’d been with DH at Dollar picking up the first car, I asked the registration guy whether any jeeps had 3x 3-point seat belts in the back and he said no they don’t. So you can imagine my first question to DH when he walked back into the condo saying he had a jeep! Well I can tell you that there are some 4-door models of Jeep Wranglers that have 3x 3-point seat belts in the back and my DH was very happy.


Today was to be our Wet’nWild day but, as it did not open until 10.30am, I wanted to check out Disney’s Aulani first as they are located very close to each other. So we hopped in the car and off we drove. Neither DH nor DD14 were interested but DD11 and DD8 wanted to come with me. So DH dropped us off and we went in. I explained my situation and was given an escort to take me to see some rooms. Ideally I like to see the lead-in rooms most importantly but, as I had given no notice of my inspection, I didn’t feel like I could ask and so just got shown what they wanted to show me which turned out to be their top suites! So let me show you a few photos and I'll hopefully these are a bit different to the great ones that Colin posted:

The Suite:

The TV that can appear on the bathroom mirror so you can watch while in the bath:

Views from the Suite:

Walking around the pool area:

DD14 did get out of the car to see the Aulani beach:

We did then go to Wet’n’Wild but only took a photo at the entrance as we locked our camera and other gear into a locker while we were there. We had a fun time there and it was worth going since we have no water parks here in N.Z. but it was certainly the same standard as Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon where we’d been the year before.

Continued....

 

[Travel Mum]

We spend a few hours at Wet'n'Wild and then left to get a late lunch at Taco Bell. However, just before Taco Bell, we noticed a Target store and, since that’s where DH bought his first Sonos speaker whilst in Orlando, we thought we’d stop in and check whether they had a black one (remember I’d put him off buying the white one at Best Buys a few days before?). Well Target did have black ones but they were $150 more than the Best Buys price! By the way, over the past few days, DH had checked with the other Best Buys in Oahu and they did not have black ones either. So DH put his foot down and said he was going back to the Best Buys we’d been to and he was buying a white one. Therefore, after our lunch, we headed back to Best Buys. However first I noticed the Pearlridge shopping centre and I got him to stop in there while DD14, DD11 and I ran into find the VANS store that I knew to be there. We found it and I quickly bought them a pair of VANS each – regular retail price but by then I knew I couldn’t have got them any cheaper at the outlets. So finally we get to Best Buy. In we went to buy the Sonos and, to our horror, the price of them had gone up by $100 since we’d been in on the Friday. Apparently they had been on sale and the sale had finished on Sunday, the day before. DH was fuming at me because he would have bought it on Friday since the colour did not bother him. Oh crap I felt sick so I called an attendant over and hoped my NZ accent was very obvious. I explained that we’d been in on Friday afternoon and seen them, wanted to buy one but that we had been too much of a hurry because we had to get our rental car back (a little white lie I admit) so had planned to come back on Monday, today, with our new rental car. I asked if there was any way he could honour the sale price. Well he went and talked to his manager and the manager agreed to. Phew!! I had a happy DH back (who I think was secretly impressed by my skills) and he was even happier when, as we were about to walk out, he saw a digital camera model that he’d been eying for months on the “Manager’s Special Desk”. There was one left and it was half price so he got that too.

DH decided we try having the roof off the car on our drive back to Waikiki. He put the roof down in the Best Buys car park but could not figure out where a few parts were supposed to be tied down. It would have been fine if we’d just been on quiet streets but, since we had to go back via the freeway for part of the journey, it was somewhat nerve-wracking. By the time we were off the freeway and I took these photos, it was fun though

 

[PrincessInOz]

What a great time!

Love that suite at Aulani. I doubt I would ever see it with my own eyes; so thanks for sharing.

And well done you on negotiating your way to a discount on the WHITE speakers.

 

[Travel Mum]

WOW Travelmum. That's an amazing place to stay. Well done you!

Yes Princess I was so thrilled with my find and, after initially thinking he'd rather stick to staying in a hotel with daily maid service, DH came to love it too.

Loving the report and brings back lots of good memories when we visited with DD who was only 18 months then so must have been early 90's! Yes we could easily go back for a relaxing beach hol (haven't had one of those for a while-lol) and the direct flights with Hawaiian are now making it tempting. We visited Maui too and loved it (stayed in a fully self contained apartment there and I am sure the same place as you in Waikiki or somewhere next door). Love the apartment though. One of several memories of our trip-losing DD on the beach when we both must have looked away for a second and she had run off -turned out chasing after a man with a parrot on his shoulder...but it was a worrisome few minutes! This was in her - lets run away and/or hide and scare the pants of my parents phase.

Oh I can imagine that because there were so many people walking around with a parrot or parrots on their shoulders, especially at night!

Loving your report. Pity you couldn't do the Arizona Memorial. We were there in about 1998. It was quite emotional. One of my favorite photos of the trip was looking up from the Arizona at the American flag flying in the wind.
We didn't do the submarine though (if it was even there back then!)

I love the condo. How gorgeous is that view. Just how you imagine Hawaii to be.

I actually think we feel like we have "done" Pearl Harbor now. I've done the Arizona Memorial before (years ago) but, although they enjoyed their day, I'm not sure I'd get the family back there again!

Great condo. Did you feel nervous using VRBO? When I booked our condo at Windsor Hills, I would wake up in the middle of the night in a panic, wondering if the condo actually existed, but, I am a worry wart.

Yes I initially felt nervous about using VRBO as I'd never done it before. But, when I found out the condo had an Aussie owner, I felt much better. She regularly emailed me and even called me here in NZ to tell me we'd got it (we were in a battle for the dates with another party who wanted it). From that point on, I had no fears and I actually develped a really lovely relationship with her.

Your condo looks lovely TraveMum
We are using VRBO at 3 different places in Califronia on this years trip, and then at Windsor Hills in 2014. We have stayed in plenty of holiday homes in NZ, but never overseas, so it will be a new experience for us.

I hope it all goes well for you Caroline and I certainly hope to be reading your TR hint hint

What a shame about the Memorial. My dad took us on the Bowfin in 85 but I remember it being further away. They may have moved it. He loved taking the grand kids on our last trip.


Baskin. And Robbins is chocolate chip cookie dough. nothing else compares except Tiramisu gelato.

The apartment looks great. We walked past the military museum every day and DH said I'll check that out tomorrow. No he did not.

It is making me want to go back. It will be my next trip to plan after this one. Although I can see Canada being added to this for skiing.

Oh I know I really want to go back but DH doesn't seem to want to repeat the same places. Must be feeling time ticking away and needs to see places he has never been.

Travel mum, the condo looks perfect, I'm sure there was a big sigh of relief when you walked through the front door!
We had a fantastic trip to Hawaii a few years ago, after a skiing vacation in Canada, everyone loved it, would love to go back again, just need to fit it in somewhere between 2013 and 2043

You bet,it was a great feeling to walk in and find it even better than the photos

Have just read your whole report so far! Am just loving it! I have so many memories of Hawaii so love reading all about it.

I have found the same thing as you with prices at the outlets. I had friends who went to Honolulu recently and they were going to take the trolley tour to the outlets and i kept telling them not to do it, that with Macy's one day sales the prices won't be much different from around Waikiki and at Ala Moana.

I had quite a chuckle at your refillable mugs. I wondered if you will take them to WDW next and use them there?

When Lewers street first got it's makeover there was a gelati store there in the BeachWalk. It was the best, we used to go every night and get one after dinner, it's closed now .

The condo looks fantastic! What a great spot and really great views!

I know, the refillable mugs felt like a little piece of WDW in our holiday. I'm wondering how far I could push it and whether, if I knew any friends going on holiday to Waikiki, I could give the mugs for them to use!!

Great find Travelmum! I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the condo! The photos had me oohing and aahing.

Yes, you can see why I had been so looking forward to staying there. Geez, I'd like to LIVE in it!!

 

[Travel Mum]

What a great time!

Love that suite at Aulani. I doubt I would ever see it with my own eyes; so thanks for sharing.

You are very welcome

And well done you on negotiating your way to a discount on the WHITE speakers.

I was actually quite impressed with myself!!

 

[Marlea98]

Wow, what a wonderful trip so far. I love the photos of Aulani, too.

 

[Travel Mum]

Today was the morning that I had booked DH, BIL and DN15 to cage diving with sharks. It was based from the North Shore and they had an 8am sailing so DH got up very early and drove over to the Waikiki Banyan (where my sister and her family were now staying) to pick the other two up. My girls and I, on the other hand, had a lovely relaxing sleep-in and morning. DH says the shark diving was very good and they also saw whales and dolphins on the journey to and from the shark diving spot. Lots of sharks came in around the cage and DH got photos on a disposable water camera so, from that part of the trip, we have real paper photos like the olden days!

That afternoon, my sister had booked a birthday party for DN9 (who was then DN8) at Chuck E Cheese’s. My sister and I had gone to lots of birthday parties at Chuck E Cheese’s growing up in L.A. so she thought it would be nice for DN and his cousins to experience it. All the children, even the teenagers, had a good time playing the games, earning tickets and redeeming them.

 

[Travel Mum]

In my itinerary for the 10 of us, I had titled this day as: "HANAUMA BAY & LOWER EAST COAST - Snorkelling and beautiful beaches – a day in our togs"

Again, just in case any of you are going to Hawaii and find it helpful, here is what the itinerary said (minus my pretty pictures though):


Depart early morning and take the Kalaniana’ole Highway (Route 72) from Waikiki to Hanauma Bay

- Must get to the bay early before the parking lot fills and in order to avoid long lines at the ticket booth. Parking is $1 per vehicle.
- Admission Fee is $7.50 per person for everyone ages 13 and over.
- We must not leave anything in the rental car so will have to rent a locker
- Spend 2-3 hours snorkelling at Hanauma Bay – longer if we want.

We left Waikiki pretty early and got to Hanauma Bay when there were probably only about 100 other people there. Going this early is great for the lack of crowds and we had no queue to get in. We wandered around the exhibits and then went into watch the mandatory movie. Then we walked down to the bay and rented our lockers. After all our valuables were in the locker, we got our snorkelling gear on (we took our own) and went into the water. Now, whilst the early hour was great crowd-wise, it meant the air temperature was quite cool as was the water at first. I guess I’d always envisionaged snorkelling at Hanauma Bay in the sun but there was not much sun at that point in the day. However we were only going to be here this one day so in I went. It still has good snorkelling and we saw loads of colourful fish. BIL and DN15 also saw a couple of sea turtles.

I guess we snorkelled for about an hour but, once out of the water, it felt pretty cold and we were not keen to relax on the beach as I’d planned. As we’d made our way out of the water, we noticed the hordes of people coming down the hill and getting into the water. As we walked up the hill, going against the people traffic coming down, we were so pleased we’d listened to the advice and gotten there early. As I looked back over to the bay, there were so many snorkellers in the water and I imagine you’d have to be on a constant looking out for other people while you were snorkelling. We didn’t have that issue at all.

We went back to our cars and passed the huge long queue of people waiting to get in. The car park was now full. As my sister and her family were flying out the next day (onwards to Europe for the rest of their trip), we said our goodbyes for them as they wanted to go back to Waikiki to spend their last afternoon rather than to continue the coastal drive like we were doing.

After snorkelling:

Continue north on Route 72 past the Halona Blowhole– perhaps stop and look at it.

Nearly hidden from view, yet in the middle of Halona Beach Cove (the Here to Eternity Beach), there is a long dark lava tube which was formed by rapidly moving lava flows millions of years ago. This tube is large enough to enter and you can actually see the “light at the end of the tunnel” which leads to its other side, going under the highway. Having a torch is recommended to explore it.

The Blowhole overlooks a nice beach – Sandy Beach. Sandy Beach is popular for body surfing and a favourite place for local kids to fly kites.

We did stop and look at the Halona Blowhole but did not go down to the beach. This coast is very scenic!

The coast is stunning:

The Halona Blowhole (but it wasn't really blowing when the photo was taken!):

Stopped at the Halona Blowhole lookout:

The Halona Beach Cove:

Makapuu Lighthouse Trail - Just past Sandy Beach and just after the road turns inland, look for a gate and a paved trail on the right. Trail is about 1 mile one way. You can often see whales from the view near the lighthouse. Consider doing this.

We didn’t do it but we saw other people walking the track as we drove by.



Continue to Makapuu Pt. Lookout. Consider stopping. It overlooks Manana (Rabbit) Island, Makapuu Beach and Sea Life Park. This easternmost point of Oahu is known for the islands best body surfing at the 1000 foot long stretch of beach (I think best left to body surf experts though). Locals love to come from September to April to watch hang gliders jump from the cliffs.

Again, kept driving and admiring the view.





Continue to Waimanalo Bay Recreation Area (just past Waimanalo Beach). Scenic isolated beach (just before Bellows Air Force Base). Bellows Beach is also nice. Open to the public on weekends. Another possible stop.

Kept driving – the road is no longer on the coast at this point

Continue north, turn right onto Kailua Drive and drive to Kailua for Kailua Bay and Lanikai Beaches. Suggest lunch in that area and probably an afternoon beach break as these are the two of the most beautiful beaches in the U.S.A.

We drove into Kailua and drove around to Lanikai. We did not realise that houses (many were very lovely houses....) lined this beach and the beach access is down various walkways along the road. We stopped and walked along the road awhile. Every walkway we went down was water access only i.e. no beach. After a while the girls just decided to get into the water and I realised that the tide was probably in. So, when the tide is in at Lanikai, the beach disappears! The water was a brilliant blue colour though and we did get a glimpse of the divine sand so I’m sure it is a very beautiful beach.

A quick dip at Lanikai

After a quick dip, we decided it made more sense to drive back to Kailua Beach which is a big public beach park. So we did that but it was really windy (this is the windward coast after all) and I sat huddled in a towel. The surf was also quite big and the waves were picking up the sand and dumping them it on the beach. My girls seemed to have heaps of fun jumping around in the waves but, when it came time to get changed out of their togs in the changing sheds, there was sand everywhere!!

After the beach, we went and had lunch at Teddy’s Bigger Burgers which we’d had recommended. They were good but it was hard to beat our burgers at Cheeseburger on Beachwalk.




In the afternoon depart Kailua back onto the Pali Highway (Hwy 61). Take it back to Honolulu, possibly stopping at Pali Lookout for panoramic island views.

We drove straight back after Kailua and returned our rental car mid afternoon.



DRIVING DISTANCES/ TIMES (in ideal traffic conditions)

From Waikiki to Haunama Bay – 10.5 miles / 18 minutes

From Haunama Bay to Halona Beach Cove – 1.5 miles / 2 minutes

From Halona Beach Cove to Makapuu Lighthouse Trail – 2.7 miles / 4 minutes

From Makapuu Lighthouse Trail to Waimanalo Bay Recreation Area – 4.8 miles / 9 minutes

From Waimanalo Bay Recreation Area – Kailua Bay Beach - 7.1 miles / 15 minutes

From Kailua to Pali Lookout - 8.5 miles / 19 minutes

From Pali Lookout to Waikiki - 11.5 miles / 21 minutes

 

[PrincessInOz]

WOW! Lovely pictures. Looks like you had a great day.
Oh....and nice Jeep.

 

[Franrose]

I somehow missed a day, Aulani & Wet n Wild day look like lots of fun! I do love the pics of your littlest DD in these, what a character!!

So glad you saved the Sonos day and loved the look around the island beaches, that coast is quite incredible. It does look a little cold lol!

 

[OziJo]

I've just read your trip report through! Wonderful! We are looking to go back to Hawaii (hopefully next Jan fingers crossed) and while last time we did a lot of the same same things you have there a couple of trips you have mentioned here that I would love to do. Hanauma Bay sounds great and I think we would all love to swim with the sharks!!

Thanks for the report

 

[Travel Mum]

WOW! Lovely pictures. Looks like you had a great day.
Oh....and nice Jeep.

Thanks Princess, you are always the first to read and you post a comment which makes me know it was worth putting the effort into do the post

I somehow missed a day, Aulani & Wet n Wild day look like lots of fun! I do love the pics of your littlest DD in these, what a character!!

So glad you saved the Sonos day and loved the look around the island beaches, that coast is quite incredible. It does look a little cold lol!

Yes DD8 has learnt posing off DD14 which sometimes I don't mind but some times I'm not thrilled about!

I've just read your trip report through! Wonderful! We are looking to go back to Hawaii (hopefully next Jan fingers crossed) and while last time we did a lot of the same same things you have there a couple of trips you have mentioned here that I would love to do. Hanauma Bay sounds great and I think we would all love to swim with the sharks!!

Thanks for the report

OziJo you're back!!! So great to hear from you again! I thought of you as, when we were at The Imperial, we'd walk down the side of Waikiki Shore to go to the beach and I remembered that you'd stayed there.

How wonderful if you can go back - I'd love to repeat our holiday.

 

[OziJo]

OziJo you're back!!! So great to hear from you again! I thought of you as, when we were at The Imperial, we'd walk down the side of Waikiki Shore to go to the beach and I remembered that you'd stayed there.

How wonderful if you can go back - I'd love to repeat our holiday.

Thanks Travel Mum! I do check in from time to time but it's hard when there's no trip planning happening. I get a little depressed. But there is hope on the horizon so I may be back more often. Not only are we thinking of going back to Hawaii (hopefully next year) but we are dreaming of a North American White Christmas and a Disneyworld New Year, most likely not until 2014 but time does fly. For inspiration I'm reading shuttergirls report at the moment.

 

[Minniemum]

I'm really enjoying reading your planned day vs your actual day. The water at Lanikai looks so inviting. Good job on the SONOS!

 

[battymum]

I thought I better dig this up for my research into a 2014 trip!

Just read it from the beginning, this is the type of holiday I am planning -

So you recommend staying the entire time in Waikiki?

 

[Travel Mum]

Oh Battymum, you did well to find this!

When I was originally planning the holiday and had worked out that we'd have 16 nights, there, I looked into doing a split stay with another island. However, as you may remember, this was somewhat of an unplanned-for trip for us (i.e. had not decided on it over two years prior like our WDW one) so I was not sure how we'd be budget-wise and decided I'd better not add the extra $1000.00 that outer island flights would have cost us. That is not the norm though as the majority of people having that amount of time would split it.

As it turned out, I personally would not have wanted any less time in Waikiki. I just love staying in the hustle and bustle of it. Staying there that whole time was so relaxing because we never felt time pressure to get things done. I had a bit of structure built into the trip by way of our 5 rental car days (2 day hire in week one and a 3 day hire in week 2) and having them also gave us the flexibilty to get out of Waikiki for a bit (e.g. gave us the ability to get to Best Buys for DH). The rest of the trip was a combination of going to beach, shopping in Waikiki, shopping at A la Moana, wandering around enjoying it all and lots of relaxing

 

[battymum]

Just reread it all again Travelmum on a PC - the photos did not come up on my ipad!

Its a shame that you had a few grey days -

We have decided to book a condo for the two weeks - its cancellable, so will do some more research into splitting our stay - but I know it all becomes a bit tense when we try and fit too much in, especially if it is a lot of driving - and we all start snapping at each other. I like the idea of calling somewhere home for two weeks though.

Its interesting that you thought your DH would prefer to stay in a hotel room with daily service = My DH has firmly said that he would never stay all in the one room again, so even if I can get one to sleep five it doesn't suit us anymore. He is even concerned about having someone sleep on a sofa bed - as he doesnt want to have to get up and climb over sleeping people to make a coffee or do whatever... its really not an option though, so if worse comes to worse we will take the sofa bed and DD can have the queen - my back is not liking the thought of that - but you know as the mum I will not complain -

We had a beautiful room in Japan, each with our own beds -but it was crowded - and as he is an early riser - he couldn't do anything without waking everybody up. (apparently its OK to wake me up early....) I on the other hand, don't mind being in the one room - feels like school camp!

I had the brilliant idea, that we could send the children home (remember they will be 19 and almost 17, when we go) and DH and I would spend a third week somewhere else. I broached this idea with DH and he said firmly no, - "we can have our own holiday, another time" he is really uncomfortable being separated from them, if anything should happen,

I don't really understand the logic, they are essentially adults, and he is open to having a holiday without them - and they would be old enough to travel alone, we would see them off at HNL, someone would pick them up in SYD and they would spend probably 5 days at home - anyway .......

At this point I could tell he was shutting down about the whole thing - at one point he is telling me they are not little kids anymore so we need space and then it was they cant be left alone - grrrr!!!

I was sulking - and said "so, we need a four bedroom place out in the boonies -.....oh wait, that's where we live!! "

So left it at that - he has to be drip fed sometimes!!!