Who is counting down to Aulani?

29 days for my wife and I! We will be there over Valentines Day, celebrating our 10th anniversary a bit early. We are bringing my parents, helping them celebrate their 45th anniversary! This will be our first DVC trip and our second trip to Hawaii total. Our first was for our honeymoon, but since i was in a walking boot after rupturing my Achilles a month before, we were limited with what we could do. Not this time!
 
lovetotraveltx - we are staying at the Wailea Beach Marriott
 
We are patiently counting down...April 19th can't come soon enough!! We would have been there sooner but decided that we need to stop at Disneyland for three days on our way to Hawaii!!!
 
65 days for us...March 15-22. This is our first trip to Hawaii and we can't wait! We have a whale watching excursion booked early in the week. Any ideas how successful we'll be seeing one or more whales that late in the season? Thanks!!

We will arrive at Aulani on August 2nd, but we have always gone over spring break previously. We spent spring break (almost the exact same dates as you) two years ago on Maui. I have never seen so many whales! We sat on our lanai and watched them every day. They seemed so close to shore that I was almost afraid to be in the water. Lol! I'm not sure how different it will be from Maui to Aulani, but if it is anything like Maui was for us, you will be thrilled! We didn't pay for a whale watching excursion but saw so many it was almost old news by the end of our trip. :) Good luck!

Susan
 
We have 127 days until we get to Aulani! We are doing an OV studio for 10 days and we can't wait!

We've got our Arizona memorial time booked, a luau booked, and a cabana booked for 2 days. We are looking at catamaran rides now. I think we are going to book one, but we haven't yet. We found a great deal on airfare and we have a pretty good deal on a car rental.

It will be me, my husband, and our two girls, 11 and 5. This is our first trip to Hawaii, but I'm hoping not our last.
 
We will arrive at Aulani on August 2nd, but we have always gone over spring break previously. We spent spring break (almost the exact same dates as you) two years ago on Maui. I have never seen so many whales! We sat on our lanai and watched them every day. They seemed so close to shore that I was almost afraid to be in the water. Lol! I'm not sure how different it will be from Maui to Aulani, but if it is anything like Maui was for us, you will be thrilled! We didn't pay for a whale watching excursion but saw so many it was almost old news by the end of our trip. :) Good luck!

Susan

Hi, We get to Aulani on August 4. We fly in on the 2nd but we are spending 2 nights on Waikiki.
 
May I ask what car deal you found? Haven't had much luck in that area yet. Thanks!

We originally had a convertible booked for just under $500 through Costco Travel, but we cancelled that because my husband really wanted a 4-door Jeep and we found that for about $525 through Discount Hawaii Car Rental. We really just keep checking the different sites to see what we find. Since we aren't prepaying, we can cancel and rebook whenever we want.
 
We have 127 days until we get to Aulani! We are doing an OV studio for 10 days and we can't wait! We've got our Arizona memorial time booked, a luau booked, and a cabana booked for 2 days. We are looking at catamaran rides now. I think we are going to book one, but we haven't yet. We found a great deal on airfare and we have a pretty good deal on a car rental. It will be me, my husband, and our two girls, 11 and 5. This is our first trip to Hawaii, but I'm hoping not our last.

Hi MissLiz! My family will be arriving at Aulani on August 9! It sounds like you have some nice plans for your trip. Is the Arizona memorial the main thing that needs to be booked for Pearl Harbor? I am also wondering which luau you booked.
 
We have 127 days until we get to Aulani! We are doing an OV studio for 10 days and we can't wait! We've got our Arizona memorial time booked, a luau booked, and a cabana booked for 2 days. We are looking at catamaran rides now. I think we are going to book one, but we haven't yet. We found a great deal on airfare and we have a pretty good deal on a car rental. It will be me, my husband, and our two girls, 11 and 5. This is our first trip to Hawaii, but I'm hoping not our last.

Hi MissLiz. My family arrives at Aulani on August 9. It sounds like you have some nice plans for your trip. Is the Arizona Memorial the main thing to book for Pearl Harbor? Also, which luau did you decide to book?
 
I see you have a 6yr old. Can you recommend things to do (touristy and non-touristy) for kids that age? Our DD will have just turned 8 before our trip. We don't think she'll be interested in the Arizona yet and we've seen it. Looking for more active suggestions - anything in the water. Thanks!

It really depends on what you like to do, and where all you plan on going while you are here. Indoor stuff can be nice at times but outdoors is much better. For beaches we go on base most of the time, but out near the Resort, you have Electric beach. Some have said that dolphins like to come up into the warm water, really close to people swimming. (http://www.hawaiisnorkelingguide.com/kahe_point_beach_park_snorkeling.html) White plans beach and Nimitz beach are out there also, these are coast guard base beaches but they do not require ID to go to.

If you want to see sea turtles just laying on the beach or seals those beaches had some sightings last week. North shore beach "turtle beach" normally has a few turtles also. (http://www.turtles.org/laniakea.htm) While in the north shore area you can check out the huge waves at Pipeline (http://www.northshore.com/hawaii/pipeline-beach-hawaii.asp) this is where a lot of pro surf comps happen. Also can do hikes if you are upto it, some of them are very easy some others not so much. This next site can be helpful (http://www.oahufamilyactivities.com/p/family-friendly-hikes-in-oahu.html).

Beau
 
We have 127 days until we get to Aulani! We are doing an OV studio for 10 days and we can't wait!

We've got our Arizona memorial time booked, a luau booked, and a cabana booked for 2 days. We are looking at catamaran rides now. I think we are going to book one, but we haven't yet. We found a great deal on airfare and we have a pretty good deal on a car rental.

It will be me, my husband, and our two girls, 11 and 5. This is our first trip to Hawaii, but I'm hoping not our last.

Hi MissLiz. My family arrives at Aulani on August 9! It sounds like you have some nice plans for your trip. Is the Arizona Memorial the main thing to book for Pearl Harbor? Have you heard that there is a better day of the week to go to Pearl Harbor? Also, can you share which luau did you decided to book?
 
We leave in 29 days for Aulani. We live on Oahu and can't wait to go back home for a visit.:goodvibes
 
We originally had a convertible booked for just under $500 through Costco Travel, but we cancelled that because my husband really wanted a 4-door Jeep and we found that for about $525 through Discount Hawaii Car Rental. We really just keep checking the different sites to see what we find. Since we aren't prepaying, we can cancel and rebook whenever we want.

$525 for how many days? I'm not knocking a 4Door Jeep by no means, I own one. What is the plan/reason for wanting one though is my question. Only really 1 legal place here to take it off-roading. That is if they leave the front drive shaft in the Jeep. I have heard of some companies pulling it out so that people can't off-roading. Also you will have to really clean it good before returning it, or they will charge you a lot to clean it.
 
$525 for how many days? I'm not knocking a 4Door Jeep by no means, I own one. What is the plan/reason for wanting one though is my question. Only really 1 legal place here to take it off-roading. That is if they leave the front drive shaft in the Jeep. I have heard of some companies pulling it out so that people can't off-roading. Also you will have to really clean it good before returning it, or they will charge you a lot to clean it.

It's for 10 days. We don't want to off-road. It's more for space and for something different. We drive regular cars all the time, so he wants to drive something new.
 
Hi MissLiz. My family arrives at Aulani on August 9! It sounds like you have some nice plans for your trip. Is the Arizona Memorial the main thing to book for Pearl Harbor? Have you heard that there is a better day of the week to go to Pearl Harbor? Also, can you share which luau did you decided to book?

At Pearl Harbor, there is also the USS Missouri and the Bowfin submarine. We aren't sure if we are going to do those, but I knew that I couldn't go to Oahu without paying my respects at the Arizona. I haven't heard if any days are better than others. We are going on our first morning in Hawaii, that way we will have somewhere to go when we wake up super early from the time change.

We have the luau at the Royal Hawaiian booked right now. We had a hard time trying to decide, but that one won out due to location. We really like that you have Diamond Head in the background. It's a little more expensive than some other ones, so we hope it's worth it.
 
At Pearl Harbor, there is also the USS Missouri and the Bowfin submarine. We aren't sure if we are going to do those, but I knew that I couldn't go to Oahu without paying my respects at the Arizona. I haven't heard if any days are better than others. We are going on our first morning in Hawaii, that way we will have somewhere to go when we wake up super early from the time change. We have the luau at the Royal Hawaiian booked right now. We had a hard time trying to decide, but that one won out due to location. We really like that you have Diamond Head in the background. It's a little more expensive than some other ones, so we hope it's worth it.


Thanks for all the info! A luau with Diamond Head in the background sounds beautiful! I will definitely look into that one. We will be on Big Island first so I am trying to figure out what days we'll feel like relaxing at Aulani and what days we might want to take the trip to Pearl Harbor or see other sights. We arrive a Saturday and leave on a Friday
 
It's for 10 days. We don't want to off-road. It's more for space and for something different. We drive regular cars all the time, so he wants to drive something new.

We rented a jeep while in Maui and drove the Road to Hana. We loved the jeep but kind of forgot about luggage. We were so cramped that none of us could see any of the others in the jeep. Lol! Once we got rid of the luggage we loved having the jeep!

Susan
 














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