What's there to do near Aulani?

DisneyBliss7

''Ohana means family''
Joined
Jul 11, 2011
We are in the early stages of planning our first trip to Hawaii! If we book at Aulani, what is there to do near us? Not on the resort.. like hiking, shopping, boating etc?
Also, what are the beaches like? Are their big waves?
 
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When you say "near," do you mean near by car (like less than an hour) or "near" like walking distance? If you mean the latter, the answer is not much. But all of Oahu is essentially within an hour by car.

There is a very small shopping area across the street--a few shops, an ABC store, and a few restaurants. There's also an LPGA quality golf course (so quite pricy). Not sure if there are any boating excursions that leave from the marina down the street or not.

And one exit down the highway is a typical shipping area--Walmart, restaurants, etc.

The beaches in the immediate area are quite small and range from no waves in the coves to waves crashing directly onto rock in other areas. I'd recommend looking at an aerial view of the area on google maps.

But if you clarify your question a bit, you can get tons of great info right here on this board
 
Keep in mind that Ko Olina is a planned community. It's a tourist trap in a sense, along with high end condos. It's akin to a gated community. In immediate walking distance there may be some boating tours available, Paradise Cove luau, and then a few restaurants, convenience type store, and some small tourist shops are available. You could visit them all in half an evening. You're also free to visit the other resorts in the area for dining.

Leaving Ko Olina, Aulani is on the west side of the island, north of Waikiki and southwest of the North Shore. I agree with PP that the drives to main activities and attractions are not bad, but Aulani is known for having a bit of an isolated location. Regardless, Oahu is an island so no drive anywhere should take you longer than two hours at most.
 




What about using public transit?
Public transit is slow in Hawaii and will eat up a lot of your day. Plus you're the mercy of their schedule which severely limits you. Trust me, was carless for 2 years here.
Regardless, Oahu is an island so no drive anywhere should take you longer than two hours at most.

Being an island doesn't always equal a short drive. Oahu is only 600 square miles, but you have places that are well over 70,00.
 
I imagine that you have looked at the excursions on the Aulani web site: https://www.disneyaulani.com/activities/excursions/
I think they have added quite a few since we were last there.

We have gone on snorkeling trips twice, once in March and once in August. The snorkeling trip in August was fantastic, because we were able to see large sea turtles in the water. The trip in March was nice--lots of fish--but no turtles. We tried to go on the whale watching cruise, but it was canceled due to rough seas.

We went on a walking tour to Waimea Falls (by bus out there, then walking to the falls). This trip offered very beautiful flowers, flowering trees, and bushes. There was a reconstructed Hawaiian village, with an explanation of the customs. One could swim in the pool at the falls, but there was a warning sign for leptospirosis, which put us off. However, as an alternative to swimming, there was a fascinating booth where a woman explained various Hawaiian musical instruments, which could be tried.

We also went to the Polynesian Center, which is actually run by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons). This was quite interesting, because they had small villages with shows and activities that represented various Polynesian Cultures (Tahiti, Tonga, Fiji, Hawaii, Samoa, and Aotearoa), an excellent film, a luau, and a show in an open air theater. The last was one of the most impressive performances I have seen. It is quite difficult to see the entire Center in an afternoon--a full day would be better. The bus out there may stop at the Dole Plantation/gift shop. I enjoyed this, but your view may vary.

There are activities at Aulani itself. Of the indoor activities, I liked the cel painting best. Outdoors, we went on a Polynesian sailing canoe, which left from the lagoon. This was restful and extremely enjoyable. The pools and lazy river are great and the lagoon is quite nice--the waters are calm. The adult pool is great, and there were times in March when I had it entirely to myself for a brief period. There is an evening show three or four days a week, with Hawaiian music and Disney characters in Hawaiian dress. Also, there is a fireside talk by "Uncle." This was an excellent performance when we went.

There is a shopping shuttle to Honolulu (I assume it is still available). Also, you can rent a car right at Aulani (from Alamo) and return it to the resort.
The concierge there can provide information on all of the excursions that are available--learn to surf, horseback riding, etc.

The excursions now include trips to Kaua'i and Maui, which sound great though somewhat pricey. We are likely to do them when we go back (at some point).

We did not go on the Pearl Harbor tour, because I thought it would make me too sad. (My dad was a WW II pilot.)
 
Public transit is slow in Hawaii and will eat up a lot of your day. Plus you're the mercy of their schedule which severely limits you. Trust me, was carless for 2 years here.
Isn't that part of the "island time" thing that people are warned about? I am tentatively planning but I am very worried about how everyone assures me I need to relax and enjoy the moment. Meanwhile I am trying to create a touring plan so I am striving for balance.

It's one thing for the bus to be 4 minutes late, I can cope with that, but if we are going to be late to a reservation someplace because the driver can't fit everyone on the bus and they don't have enough buses scheduled, I will not be relaxed. Hmmmm... achieving balance...
 
Isn't that part of the "island time" thing that people are warned about? I am tentatively planning but I am very worried about how everyone assures me I need to relax and enjoy the moment. Meanwhile I am trying to create a touring plan so I am striving for balance.

It's one thing for the bus to be 4 minutes late, I can cope with that, but if we are going to be late to a reservation someplace because the driver can't fit everyone on the bus and they don't have enough buses scheduled, I will not be relaxed. Hmmmm... achieving balance...

It's not really an island time thing. I think Hawaii doesn't have enough express or limited stop runs. So many of the routes are the type where they're stopping every four and five blocks which makes the commute that could be 20 minutes in a car 40 to 45 minutes on the bus. And even when you use the app to check when your bus is supposed to arrive, that doesn't mean that it's actually coming. I've been in situations where it's told me the next bus is in seven or eight mintes and it never actually comes. I'm not sure if that's a technical failure with the app, or it's actually the bus system messing up.

And I used to get perturbed at buses the didn't have a more frequent schedule. There were times where I had to arrive really early, or I had to stay much later than I wanted to because I had to wait for the bus to come.

The only time I think the bus is an OK choice is when people are staying in Honolulu/Waikiki and are trying to get to places within the city. If you're outside of Honolulu, or are in Honolulu but are trying to go a fair distance away, I would not recommend the bus at all.
 
Being an island doesn't always equal a short drive. Oahu is only 600 square miles, but you have places that are well over 70,00.

I was only speaking to Oahu because that's the only island relevant in this thread. Distance-wise, anywhere you can drive to on Oahu is relatively short. Traffic is the factor that can make or break that. But in terms of distance, you can't go too far out of your way.
 
I was only speaking to Oahu because that's the only island relevant in this thread. Distance-wise, anywhere you can drive to on Oahu is relatively short. Traffic is the factor that can make or break that. But in terms of distance, you can't go too far out of your way.
I'm fully understanding that. I'm just pointing out that saying things are not very far "because Oahu is an island" isn't accurate. Being an island is not indicated of size. It doesn't take very far to go most places because Oahu is a small island. Semantics, I know, but it does make a difference.
 
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I'm fully understanding that. I'm just pointing out that saying things are not very far "because Oahu is an island" isn't accurate. Being an island is not indicated of size. It doesn't take very far to go most places because Oahu is a small island. Semantics, I know, but it does make a difference.

Ok. It goes without saying that islands come in all shapes and sizes, but my point being that you can't go too far in one direction or the other. But fair enough, point taken.
 

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