First timer Itinerary help

[Keira1387]

I am working on an Itinerary for our Aulani trip later this year. Hoping to limit leaving the resort to only two days. We are coming from East coast, so early mornings will be easy for us. How does this schedule look? TIA!

Day 2
Diamond head at open/ eat at?/ Pearl Harbor 1sh

Day 4
Dole at open/Kualoa ranch ATV/ explore North shore

Any input is appreciated!

 

[TeamRiley]

Is it just you? Or are small kids involved? If there are small children Day 4 is do-able but makes for a pretty long excursion..

 

[Keira1387]

Is it just you? Or are small kids involved? If there are small children Day 4 is do-able but makes for a

Is it just you? Or are small kids involved? If there are small children Day 4 is do-able but makes for a pretty long excursion..

We have an older child that is usually a trooper. We could easily take off the dole plantation. Was really just going to stop in when they opened, ride the train and leave.

 

[Unclelude]

We did your day 2 plan. It's nice to do the walk early when it is cool. We ate in Waikiki ... Island vintage I think... Stupid long line. There are tons of eating spots in Waikiki. We could have had more time at pearl harbor... We wanted to go in battleship, but ran out of time. If only doing the Arizona and other 'free' stuff probably enough time.

Day 4 looks loaded. I guess depends on how long your ATV thing goes... It's a fair amount of time driving to all those places. Might run out of daylight.... That being said, we did Dole and north shore in one day too.

Of all the shave ice we thought Matsumoto's was the worst! Even Disney was better. The one we liked the most was on the road up to the space force base... About half way. Forget the name. Out of the way, best by far. Some sketchy parts up that road...

Have fun!

 

[Keira1387]

We did your day 2 plan. It's nice to do the walk early when it is cool. We ate in Waikiki ... Island vintage I think... Stupid long line. There are tons of eating spots in Waikiki. We could have had more time at pearl harbor... We wanted to go in battleship, but ran out of time. If only doing the Arizona and other 'free' stuff probably enough time.

Day 4 looks loaded. I guess depends on how long your ATV thing goes... It's a fair amount of time driving to all those places. Might run out of daylight.... That being said, we did Dole and north shore in one day too.

Of all the shave ice we thought Matsumoto's was the worst! Even Disney was better. The one we liked the most was on the road up to the space force base... About half way. Forget the name. Out of the way, best by far. Some sketchy parts up that road...

Have fun!

Thanks so much for the reply! ATV tour is 2 hours. Thanks for the tip about the shaved ice. Had it on my list, but I will cross it off!

 

[newdeal]

Day 4 is fine, Dole is not much to write home about so it won't take too much of the day at all. That said it really isn't on the way to Kualoa, it is on the way to the north shore and Kualoa you can get to by driving north and then around the eastern side of the island but it is a reasonably long drive that way. Day 2 depends what you want to do but Pearl Harbor can be a full day activity and hiking Diamond head can be strenuous depending on your fitness level. Its a whole lot of stairs. You may not feel like rushing from there to try to squeeze in pearl harbour. Pearl Harbor is more on the way back to Aulani from the North Shore/Dole Plantation but again that wouldn't leave the appropriate amount of time for Pearl Harbor if you plan to do all of the activities there (which I would suggest doing at least the arizona, missouri and bowfin)

 

[denecarter]

Of all the shave ice we thought Matsumoto's was the worst! Even Disney was better. The one we liked the most was on the road up to the space force base... About half way. Forget the name. Out of the way, best by far. Some sketchy parts up that road...

We really liked Maili Shave Ice and Snacks... it is approximately half way up to the Space Force base.

 

[tankin]

I would swap half your day 2 and 4... Diamond Head and Kualoa Ranch are in the same general direction. I would pair them together.

The H2 to go to Dole is basically at Pearl. You could do PH first thing in the morning and then head out to to Dole and the North Shore

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I am working on an Itinerary for our Aulani trip later this year. Hoping to limit leaving the resort to only two days. We are coming from East coast, so early mornings will be easy for us. How does this schedule look? TIA!

Day 2
Diamond head at open/ eat at?/ Pearl Harbor 1sh

Day 4
Dole at open/Kualoa ranch ATV/ explore North shore

Any input is appreciated!

Honestly I think both of these days are WAY too packed. We got to Pearl Harbor at "rope drop" and we were there until dinner time. Same thing with Kualoa Ranch. I would take at least four days to do this amount of stuff. Kualoa is a day, Pearl Harbor is a day, Dole/North Shore is a day, and Diamond Head is a morning.

How long is the trip in total?

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Of all the shave ice we thought Matsumoto's was the worst! Even Disney was better.

Disney and Matsumoto's use the same machines and ingredients. But I agree, neither is the best on the Island. Matsumoto's just got famous because Barack Obama used to talk about it.

Thanks so much for the reply! ATV tour is 2 hours. Thanks for the tip about the shaved ice. Had it on my list, but I will cross it off!

Shave* ice, not shaved ice. Locals will make fun of you if you call it shaved ice.

 

[Keira1387]

Day 4 is fine, Dole is not much to write home about so it won't take too much of the day at all. That said it really isn't on the way to Kualoa, it is on the way to the north shore and Kualoa you can get to by driving north and then around the eastern side of the island but it is a reasonably long drive that way. Day 2 depends what you want to do but Pearl Harbor can be a full day activity and hiking Diamond head can be strenuous depending on your fitness level. Its a whole lot of stairs. You may not feel like rushing from there to try to squeeze in pearl harbour. Pearl Harbor is more on the way back to Aulani from the North Shore/Dole Plantation but again that wouldn't leave the appropriate amount of time for Pearl Harbor if you plan to do all of the activities there (which I would suggest doing at least the arizona, missouri and bowfin)

For us, we will make a quick stop to dole and be on our way. If we don’t make it, we’re ok with that!

 

[Keira1387]

Honestly I think both of these days are WAY too packed. We got to Pearl Harbor at "rope drop" and we were there until dinner time. Same thing with Kualoa Ranch. I would take at least four days to do this amount of stuff. Kualoa is a day, Pearl Harbor is a day, Dole/North Shore is a day, and Diamond Head is a morning.

How long is the trip in total?

We are planning on staying at Pearl Harbor for just a few hours. Our Kualoa is a 2 hour excursion, so should only be there 3 hours I would think.
Our trip is 6 days due to the flights that we need. I know our days will be packed though.

We really liked Maili Shave Ice and Snacks... it is approximately half way up to the Space Force base.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[Keira1387]

I would swap half your day 2 and 4... Diamond Head and Kualoa Ranch are in the same general direction. I would pair them together.

The H2 to go to Dole is basically at Pearl. You could do PH first thing in the morning and then head out to to Dole and the North Shore

This is so helpful! I’ve looked at the map several times, but hard to get a feel for what to group together! I know WDW with my eyes closed, and this is out of my comfort zone.

Would you say diamond head first thing in the morning and then afternoon Kualoa is the afternoon since we will be able to make a reservation?

 

[Keira1387]

I really appreciate all information! Trying to fit in as much as we can. This is going to be a once in a lifetime trip for my parents.

 

[newdeal]

I would personally skip Dole completely and spend more time at Kualoa or Pearl Harbour. Never done the ATV but have done the catamaran twice, movie tour and hourse back tour. All were great but for sure I liked the catamaran the best. You get to go on a boat ride across the Hawaiian fish pond to the hidden beach and then board the catamaran for a nice ride out in the ocean. Dole on the other hand is a gift shop, a tram ride through some fields of pineapple plants in various states of death and then back. The maze was closed when we were there but Dole is for sure skippable.

 

[BradleyCB]

I would personally skip Dole completely and spend more time at Kualoa or Pearl Harbour. Never done the ATV but have done the catamaran twice, movie tour and hourse back tour. All were great but for sure I liked the catamaran the best. You get to go on a boat ride across the Hawaiian fish pond to the hidden beach and then board the catamaran for a nice ride out in the ocean. Dole on the other hand is a gift shop, a tram ride through some fields of pineapple plants in various states of death and then back. The maze was closed when we were there but Dole is for sure skippable.

It looks like Aulani isn’t currently offering the catamaran excursion? I see references to it online but all of the links to Aulani’s website result in errors.

 

[denecarter]

It looks like Aulani isn’t currently offering the catamaran excursion? I see references to it online but all of the links to Aulani’s website result in errors.

Did you mean Kualoa catamaran?... that's what newdeal was talking about.

 

[BradleyCB]

Did you mean Kualoa catamaran?... that's what newdeal was talking about.

Ah! Thank you for correcting my misunderstanding.

 

[tankin]

This is so helpful! I’ve looked at the map several times, but hard to get a feel for what to group together! I know WDW with my eyes closed, and this is out of my comfort zone.

Would you say diamond head first thing in the morning and then afternoon Kualoa is the afternoon since we will be able to make a reservation?

If it was my family, I would plan on being at Diamond head when it opens and then plan some "depending on how quickly we get done" stops (Pali Lookout, Makapuʻu Point / Lighthouse for example) with Kualoa in the afternoon

 

[Diana Lyn]

Our first morning at Aulani was very similar to your Day 2.

Leonards for malasadas
Diamond Head for opening
Duke's Waikiki for lunch/walk around that area for a bit
Pearl Harbor at 1pm

We had plenty of time

We didn't plan on Dole in our schedule, it was more-we have a few hours, let's go over there for a visit. We headed over to Matsumoto Shave Ice from there.

On the way to Kualoa for our ATV tour, we stopped at the Byodo Temple. Then we hit the food trucks and drove back to Aulani via the North Shore.