Any other ideas or suggestions for touring our first couple days are welcome.
We haven't been to the Big Island yet, so I cant help you there, I will be looking for pointers from others on that one.
We spent the first 4 nights in Waikiki before heading out to Aulani. It was part of our plan to get some of the touring done first and then move on to relaxing at Aulani.
Foodwise DH had put together a list of places we wanted to try, he compiled it all from recomendations of friends who used to live on Oahu, and his own research.
So on the Waikiki days we tried to cross off a lot of the things on our to do list, both touring and foodwise -
Touring:
-Pearl Harbor- always amazing!
-Hike Diamondhead-I was so glad that we did this as we had not got around to it on our first trip a couple of years ago.
-Hanauma Bay snorkeling
-Bishop Museum- full of Hawaiian history... helps prepare you to appreciate all the hard work the imagineers put in to make Aulani a story of Hawaii. Before our first trip to Hawaii I had also read the book "Unfamiliar Fishes" by Sarah Vowel, this book really delves into a lot of the history that is seen in the Bishop Museum.
-North Shore-checked out turtle beach and explored the Turtle Bay Resort, great spot to sit out and watch the surfers.
Food:
-Koa Pancake House- highly recommend the Red Velvet Pancakes and the Loco Moco, they had a location that was pretty close to Pearl Harbor so we wound up going to that spot after our early morning of touring there.
-"Town" restauraunt- amazing farm to table restauraunt that we had read about in Sunset magazine. Dinner there did not disapoint!
-Breakfast at Sweet E's--we were the only non locals there- the breakfast was super yum! Again another hard one to find as it was tucked away in the back of this two story complex. We went there after hiking Diamond Head so we had calories to burn on Stuffed French Toast!
-Lunch at Goma Tei- this Japanese noodle house is in the Ala Moana Mall and was super popular!
-Leonards Bakery for malasadas- a must do!
-Alan Wong- DH and I went here for dinner on our Anniversary trip August 2012 and it was pretty darn amazing!
-Shave Ice at Waiola Shave Ice-in Honolulu- Our friend Andy, who grew up on Oahu, recommended this as his favorite Shave Ice.... and we all had to agree after trying it, it was our favorite too! Matsumoto's is good but Waiola was even better... or at least we thought so.
Hope that helps!