1st time at Aulani help

[blossomz]

Hi everyone,
We are finally planning our first trip to Aulani. We want to be there when there are whales, so my understanding is between Dec and Mar. of 2018. To those who have already been there..I need advice!! Do we want to spend the entire time only on Oahu? If not..what did your do to see another island? How many other islands? How long would we need at Oahu? Would we keep our "home base" in Aulani and take day trips? (We will book on points). What about flights? Stopping midway at DL before and or after to break up flights? We will be flying out of Baltimore. Other sage advice? Thanks so much in advance! Please give me all your best! YIKES!!

 

[wanderlust7]

How much time do you have?

We always spend at least a week on one island, unless transiting through Honolulu is cheaper, then we'll spend a few days in Waikiki. I believe Maui has the best whale watching if that's important to you.

Aulani can certainly be your home base. But if you want to save points, Waikiki can be a good base too (more convenient to Hanauma Bay and Diamond Head). People seem to either love it or hate it though. Personally, I like the big city vibe and the great food options.

 

[happymommy]

I'm from Baltimore and go to Hawaii at least every other year (we own at the Marriott Ko Olina Beach Club). PM me if you want any help!

We always go for 2 weeks, and have never taken the kids to another island. (okay I lied - my oldest was born on Oahu so he went to Kauai at 3 months, the Big Island at 4 months, and Maui at 9 months old) This summer I'm going for a month. Younger kid and I go and use the studio for 2 weeks, then DH and DS come and we switch to the one bedroom. During that time when all 4 of us are there, the younger kid and I are going for a few days to the Big Island. He wants to see VNP, and I have a friend who lives in Kailua-Kona, so we'll fly into Kona, stay one night at the Courtyard, then drive over and spend at least 2 nights in VNP (you really want to stay in the park, as it's a drive from Hilo, but we'll see).

Really your decision depends on how long you are going for. Two weeks on Oahu to me is good! I like to spend some time relaxing and enjoying the resort! When we eat out, it's more often lunch if we're in town, but most dinners we eat in (grill or something). I do grill for lunch a few times, but Aulani has grills that are apparently only available for dinner time (and they only have a few, even though they have so many rooms, I don't get that).

We do not stop coming or going. We use airline miles, so I book when I can get decent flights. I prefer coming home with lie flat seats, but only get them sometimes (first class). Coach coming home sucks! Lie flat seats you can get on American through DFW (next trip we have that) or Delta through ATL (done that a couple times). I book flights with just one stop, but of course you can fly United from Dulles nonstop as well (my friend did that flight, and she had nothing but complaints, but each time you can have issues. If I took that flight, I'd love first class; they have lie flat seats).

Having lived on Oahu, understand you may or may not see whales. We saw them from shore on base (lived at the Marine Base in Kaneohe), but did a whale excursion when my son was one, and saw nothing.

The water is a bit cooler in the winter, and I am a wimp. When we lived there, I rarely swam in the ocean in the winter. Like I said, I'm a wimp! Most folks are fine with it!

 

[alldiz]

Hi everyone,
We are finally planning our first trip to Aulani. We want to be there when there are whales, so my understanding is between Dec and Mar. of 2018. To those who have already been there..I need advice!! Do we want to spend the entire time only on Oahu? If not..what did your do to see another island? How many other islands? How long would we need at Oahu? Would we keep our "home base" in Aulani and take day trips? (We will book on points). What about flights? Stopping midway at DL before and or after to break up flights? We will be flying out of Baltimore. Other sage advice? Thanks so much in advance! Please give me all your best! YIKES!!

Hi I haven't been yet but have been researching a lot for our upcoming trip in July.
How long will you have for vacation?
What do you want to see? Volcanoes, Road to Hana, lush scenery, surf? From what I have read here on these boards a solid 5 nights per island is needed.
I know that flight is long from the East coast. We have DVC and are stopping in Disneyland 3 nights on the way. I did it on this way because flight is 1hour longer On the way there. Also I hope it helps with jet lag. We will have 5 nights at Aulani and 1 night Waikiki before the NCL cruise around islands.
Because Aulani is so expensive and amazingwe will be mostly doing a resort stay with an outing to North shore one day. Managed to get a Pearl Harbor excursion on way to airport. On morning of cruise from Waikiki we will go to haunama bay.
Decide what your budget is many Dis'ers stay somewhere else for a few nights and do most sightseeing then.
I would love to stop way home as well but I am already gone 17 days! My job dammmit LOL and truth I miss my cats
IMO to stop in California few days then 2 islands needs 2 weeks.
Happy planning I hear Hawaii is so special
Kerri

 

[k1koala]

Are there any MUST DO day trips for a first timer staying at Aulani?

 

[hilarys]

Are there any MUST DO day trips for a first timer staying at Aulani?

In my mind there are two -
1) North Shore - town of Haleiwa, beaches, walk to Waimea falls, shrimp trucks
2) East side - Kualoa ranch is beautiful and it is fun to do a movie tour. Kailua beach is not to be missed. Beautiful calm beach.

Aulani is a beautiful resort and we love it, but there is so much to see on Oahu. Pearl Harbor is another must do for many - we know we will be back so we are waiting until the kids are older and have studied WWII.

 

[nkereina]

My trip report in my signature has some photos and details of the island hopping we did. It was cheapest for us to book round trip airfare from the east coast out of Honolulu. It was also only one plane change. So, we started our trip staying 3 nights in Waikiki, then did 3 nights in Maui, 3 nights and Kauai, and ended with 6 nights in Aulani. It worked out really well for us and I don't feel like we missed anything. Focusing on Waikiki, Diamond Head and Pearl Harbor in the beginning meant we could avoid driving to this busy area when we had a car at Aulani, and we were also awake early still adjusting to the time change which was important for Diamond Head and Pearl Harbor. Ending with 6 nights at Aulani, we had a car and were able to do the North Shore and the windward side of the island along with a few days of relaxing and enjoying the resort.

My only advise if you decide to island hop is to book your flights for very early or very late in the day. I booked my inter-island flights for mid-day, with the thought that we could sleep in, leisurely pack up and make our way to the airport, and then by the time we got to our next hotel, our room should be ready. All of this was true, but we did feel as though we lost the best part of the day whenever we had to fly due to this. Would have been better to enjoy the full day on the island we were leaving or the island we were arriving at by booking a late or early flight.

 

[Iamaplanner]

I can't speak from experience as we too are planning our first Hawaiian vacation.
I can just share what we are planning....
We are travelling for two weeks so we are planning one island each week. We chose Oahu (Aulani) and Maui (Honua Kai - VRBO).
We are coming from Canada and we are not sure when we will be back to Hawaii, so we wanted to see at least two islands.
We have young(ish) kids so I also thought three islands may be a bit too much plane hopping.
In terms of activities, our general plan is to alternate between a hotel/beach day and then a day out/adventure day.