please remove

[olafLover]

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[trs518]

While on Waikiki, how do you plan on getting to Pearl Harbor and Hanauma Bay if you don't have a car. Of the top of my head, I would have to assume that you would need to use some sort of public transportation.

As for potential hikes on Oahu, here are some good options: http://www.unrealhawaii.com/hikes/

 

[olafLover]

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[nkereina]

First, congratulations on your upcoming marriage! DH and I honeymooned in Hawaii in 2016 and had a similar itinerary as you, except we didn't have enough time to visit the Big Island unfortunately! So I'm jealous My trip report with details and photos is linked in my signature.

• 3 nights Waikiki (no car)
  • Definitely do Pearl Harbor
  • Probably snorkel on Hanauma Bay
  • Probably do Kualoa ranch on the drive from Waikiki to Aulani (which tour?)
• 3 nights Aulani
  • Take one morning to tour the north shore
  • Couples massage in Laniwai
  • Character breakfast
  • Hope to take the night time photography lesson
• 5 nights Kauai
  • We'd love to take a helicopter tour over the Na Pali coast (which company?)
• 5 nights Maui
  • Dive (or snorkel) in Molokini
• 5 nights Big Island
  • We'd love to take a helicopter tour over the volcano (which company?)
  • Hiking around the lava streams
  • Night dive with manta's

We also spent 3 nights in Waikiki with no car. It worked out well for us, as many of the shops and restaurants we wanted to visit were in walking distance of our hotel (Waikiki Beach Marriott). We also avoided the traffic and parking hassles, as well as costs. We did a tour to Pearl Harbor through Discover Hawaii tours who I would recommend. They picked us up right at our hotel and facilitated getting our tickets to the Arizona memorial, so we didn't have to worry about that. We arrived around 7:15am and our tour time was 9:15am, so that gave us about 2 hours to browse the museum part of it. When our trip out to the Arizona was done, half of our group left to go to the Swap Meet but the other half stayed and did the Missouri. So, depending on exactly what you want to do there, they do have an "extended" tour of Pearl Harbor.

We did Kualoa Ranch from Aulani. I will warn that it's not at all on the way from Waikiki to Aulani, but it would kill time between check-out in Waikiki and check-in at Aulani. We did the VIP Movie Tour which was great! I would recommend it for movie buffs.

At Aulani, we also did the couples massage, North Shore, and character breakfast. I might recommend doing a massage in the morning and North Shore in the afternoon, and having a nice dinner somewhere up in Haleiwa. Then you can get the "off site" stuff done in one day and spend the rest of the time enjoying Aulani.

In Kailua, we did a helicopter tour with Island Helicopters. They were very easy to find at the airport. We did the Jurassic Falls tour which is the tour that lands at the site of the falls from Jurassic Park and lets you view them up close. In addition to the falls experience, the tour also takes you over Waimea Canyon and the Na Pali Coast. Really enjoyed this, but it was experience. Total experience was about 90 minutes. What we enjoyed more in Kauai was our sunset dinner cruise with Capt. Andy's Sailing Adventure. It was a 4 hour catamaran style boat tour around the Na Pali coast and the views were amazing. We also saw dolphins and the sunset was great. The food was one of the best meals of our trip. I will warn that you WILL get wet from sea spray and splashes, they make you leave your shoes locked up at the dock so you are barefoot, and its not a good tour for someone prone to sea sickness. But if none of those are a concern, it was awesome! One of my favorite things we did on our trip.

Luau

• I'm now considering Old Lahaina Luau on Kauai or Smith's on Kauai

We did the Feast at Lele luau in Maui, which is very close tot he Old Lahaina Luau. We chose Feast at Lele because you sit at your own private table, you have servers, and they include fire dancing. It's my understanding that Old Lahaina Luau is more traditional, so you sit at communal tables, go up to a buffet line, and they do not include fire dancing as that is part of another Polynesian culture. I don't think you can go wrong with either luau though - they both get great reviews. We chose to do the luau in Maui because the Maui luaus seemed to get the most consistently good reviews across the board.

 

[olafLover]

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[nkereina]

Yes, I know Kualoa ranch isn't on the obvious route to Aulani, but I think it's a bit far from Aulani itself and this way we indeed have something to do on our way to Aulani.
I like your idea of doing all the "outside" stuff on one day, but I'm afraid if we do that, the other days aren't going to be resort days. Like I said, we're very active, so I think I have the best chance of getting resort time if I plan one activity each day and leave the rest of the day for the resort. I do like the idea of eating in Haleiwa though!

Kualoa Ranch is about an hour's drive from Aulani, but we did hit rush hour traffic plus an accident to get there in the morning for our tour time. Whatever tour you decide to book, try to do it mid-day so you can drive there from Waikiki, and then over to Aulani, outside of peak traffic times. But if it's Saturday or Sunday, that wouldn't really be an issue.

If you're not big relax resort people, then I agree that doing the one activity a day thing works well to break it up. The only thing I will caution is that the pool chairs at Aulani get full early on in the day, as you may have read here. Arriving mid-morning through mid-afternoon can make it tough to get a decent spot by the pool. Usually late afternoon you can find something, and usually you can find something near the adult pool which is secluded off to the side. However, the beach usually never has a chair availability issue so that's always an option as well!

Haleiwa Beach House is a really nice place that the Dis Unplugged podcast recommends. It would be a nice place for lunch or dinner. We went to Kono's which is a quick service and very casual place (eat outside on picnic tables), but the food is amazing! They server breakfast as well. The food trucks are also an option, just wasn't anything that appealed to us there.

 

[olafLover]

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[nkereina]

Did you like the character breakfast and would you recommend any other dining options at Aulani? The reviews I read weren't that good, so I think we'll only do the character breakfast and maybe a quick service.

The food at the character breakfast was good, but the place was a madhouse. It was loud and busy, difficult to walk with plates of food at times. It was very much like Chef Mickey's in that sense, if you're familiar. We did it once and are glad we did it, but probably wouldn't go again. That said, we aren't big on characters to begin with so if that's important to you, it might be worth it. There's also a character dinner at Makahiki, though we did just the regular dinner there which was enjoyable.

If you can take or leave the characters, then I'd recommend Ama Ama breakfast! We had the most amazing mac nut pancakes and lobster breakfast sandwich there, with an awesome ocean view. It was half empty during breakfast so it was peaceful. It's not all you can eat, but still worth it.

The quick service place, Ulu Cafe, leaves a bit to be desired IMO. Much smaller scale than WDW resort quick service. If you're looking to save some money, check out Monkeypod across the street from Aulani, especially during happy hour. Pizza Corner across the street was good too for something more simple. A nice, quick walk and good, relatively inexpensive food.