First-timer, suggestions for adults

[BeckyT13]

Hi! I am contemplating a trip to Aulani for me and the Fam. It would be my husband and myself, our 4 adult children, one spouse and a 3 year old and a 4 mo old. My question is about the activities at Aulani..... I know there are lots of things for kids to do, but are there fun things for adults also? We might spend a day or two at the beach/pools, but I think we would tire of too much time there. I'm happy to do some excursions to the PCC and Diamondhead and the north shore, but I'm wondering if we shouldn't just stay offsite if the main attractions for adults are offsite. We would likely plan for about a week on the island, and we aren't really fans of resort hopping. Thoughts?

 

[maxbuffmelvin]

We are childless adults and we love Aulani. We are also Disney resort fans, so we are used to staying at resorts geared toward families. We never resort hop as we find Oahu small enough to drive to all points as long as you plan around rush hour.

 

[tankin]

@BeckyT13 Your question is really more about you than anyone else and, therefore, only you can answer it. We tend to go for a week... do two or three days at Aulani doing beach / pool / spa time and the rest exploring Oahu. So, if you don't consider the beach and the pool a "main attraction" you might want to look at a different resort.

Driving Oahu is easier than our metro area so I wouldn't hop

 

[kboo]

@BeckyT13 Your question is really more about you than anyone else and, therefore, only you can answer it. We tend to go for a week... do two or three days at Aulani doing beach / pool / spa time and the rest exploring Oahu. So, if you don't consider the beach and the pool a "main attraction" you might want to look at a different resort.

Driving Oahu is easier than our metro area so I wouldn't hop

OP - we spent 10 days on Oahu with 2 kids under 12, and resort hopped 3-waikiki and 7-aulani. We only left Aulani/Ko Olina area on 1 day during that 7 days (we had a rental car the whole time) and I do wish we had spent more time doing trips elsewhere. If I could do it over again, I might have split the trip 5-5 and saved a little money. The Waikiki area is more convenient than Ko Olina to drive to other places on island. I would still stay at Aulani at the end of the trip, splurge on the spa and fine dining experiences there, and relax.

Things we really enjoyed at Aulani:

The pools: there are a lot of them, and if you're a water slide or lazy river fan, I would spend at least 2 days doing that
Snorkeling: we paid the length-of-stay so we could bop in and out with the kids. If only adults, maybe go once (and stay longer than 5-10 minutes, lol). We also snorkeled in the lagoon and saw a few fish and some sea turtles, which was exciting.
Dining: we went to several restaurants outside Aulani that were a short walk or drive (Roy's, which you can walk to but we drove because kids). All the usual suspects listed here.
Lagoon/Beach: we also stand-up paddle boarded on our last resort day, I wish we had done this sooner.
Spa: because of the kids, DH and I split up and did this on 2 consecutive days instead of together.

There were other adult activities, like stargazing, some ukulele lessons and other things we did not do, that we would have done if our kids were older. We didn't feel like we ran out of new things to do until day 5 or 6.

I wish we had explored the North shore more, this was our first trip to Hawaii where the kids were out of strollers, didn't need to nap, could hike, etc. We would have done surfing lessons also, but inertia took over once we checked in to Aulani.

 

[cedricandsophie]

It’s a personal choice. We are 4 adults. We go for 10 days every year and never leave. We lay at pool, read, do the lazy river and slides. We either cook in or go out to dinner in the area. We go to four seasons next door at least once for happy hour. We might do luau. We have been all around the island and every island so we don’t feel a need to explore.

 

[jfulcer]

We rented a car and drove all over the island. Eating at food trucks. Visiting beaches. Watching sunsets. Stopped at random restaurants. Went to random locally owned stores. We did the normal touristy stuff but didn't want to just sit at the resort in the lazy river. We never would have found Monkey Pod accross the street and the little grocery store a couple doors donw.

 

[izma]

I would suggest renting a car for at least some of your time at Aulani.. Oahu is not large and some excursions might only take half a day. There is an app "SHAKA" that provides self guided audio tours over your phone. The tours take you some neat places, you can go at your own pace and you can turn around and go "home" at any time. The North shore is great. Haleiwa, and Waimea Falls Park are fun and interesting.
Have a fun trip!

 

[mort1331]

Lots to do if you have a car,,,or minivan with big family. You did not say what time of year your going.
But some of your adult children and the 7 yrs old might love trying to surf, Doing a day at Pearl Harbor, Check out the different tours at Kualoa ranch. Check out as pp mentioned Shaka app. We enjoyed the Tao Luau as it was small family and included swimming at the falls,,fun time.

 

[Lilsia]

Even if you go out and about during the day, you still get to come back to a beautiful resort in a very peaceful location. If you truly want night life, then stay in Waikiki since that is the only place on the Island that stays open late. But you will be hearing sirens all night, smelling weed, seeing homeless, etc.
You have to remember that almost everyone is on Island time, get up early and go to be early. Plus with the time change, most people don't stay up late anyway.
A Hawaiian vacation is more of a enjoy nature and chill as opposed to out and partying type of place. And no matter where you stay, you will still have to drive everywhere to do your excursions. Might as well stay at a nice resort in a nice area.