Aulani Travel advice

[luckyman_apd]

We are book at Aulani for late June for an 8 day trip. As east coast travelers, it's a far plane ride. Always figured we'd do aulani at some point but here we are and now I'm planning to book flights. We are staying for 8 days, and would like to make the most of it......I.E...not spend time adjusting to time zones and travel exhaustion. My wife and I have traveled to the West coast to Vegas and San Diego but no where else. We have the time and $ to take a flight a day or 2 earlier to the west coast somewhere, and then get a flight to continue on to Hawaii to morning of our check-in. Just kinda looking for ideas on where to go for a day or ahead of time to break up the travel and give ourselves time to adjust so we don't spend an entire day or so at Hawaii recovering from the travel to get there. I have a 14 year old and an 18 year old daughter (that will be getting ready to ship off the college after this trip). Seattle (Sea-Tac) actually has the best prices on flights to continue on to Hawaii. Getting from PHL to any of the west coast city we were thinking are all within the same cost range.

Just curious if anyone had any input on a good city to layover at, that won't cost a fortune to do anything (possibly with a lot of things to do in a central area) and has safe foot travels. I've been told Seattle can go from great to very sketchy quickly.

The flight home is already booked lol...red eye back to a stop in central USA and a quick connection back home. We'll have the weekend to adjust to the jet lag back lol.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

So, for good non-stops from the west coast to Hawaii, I'd ask what airline you're focused on, if any. For instance, if you're after Southwest, you're looking at San Diego, LAX, Vegas, Phoenix, San Jose, Oakalnd, Sacramento and I think Long Beach. So pretty limited options unless you want to do a two hopper for your next leg.

Alaska, you're flying through Seattle, congrats. Seattle's nice, though.

Somewhat more options on United.

I am a big fan of San Diego, but depending on where in SD you'll need a car. Vegas is Vegas, of course. Phoenix is sprawling and you need a car.

 

[DonMacGregor]

This is why living on the West Coast in the Best Coast, LOL. Same distance to travel in either direction...

 

[AstroBlasters]

We are book at Aulani for late June for an 8 day trip. As east coast travelers, it's a far plane ride. Always figured we'd do aulani at some point but here we are and now I'm planning to book flights. We are staying for 8 days, and would like to make the most of it......I.E...not spend time adjusting to time zones and travel exhaustion. My wife and I have traveled to the West coast to Vegas and San Diego but no where else. We have the time and $ to take a flight a day or 2 earlier to the west coast somewhere, and then get a flight to continue on to Hawaii to morning of our check-in. Just kinda looking for ideas on where to go for a day or ahead of time to break up the travel and give ourselves time to adjust so we don't spend an entire day or so at Hawaii recovering from the travel to get there. I have a 14 year old and an 18 year old daughter (that will be getting ready to ship off the college after this trip). Seattle (Sea-Tac) actually has the best prices on flights to continue on to Hawaii. Getting from PHL to any of the west coast city we were thinking are all within the same cost range.

Just curious if anyone had any input on a good city to layover at, that won't cost a fortune to do anything (possibly with a lot of things to do in a central area) and has safe foot travels. I've been told Seattle can go from great to very sketchy quickly.

The flight home is already booked lol...red eye back to a stop in central USA and a quick connection back home. We'll have the weekend to adjust to the jet lag back lol.

Are you going to try the Disneyland-Aulani combo?

 

[jekjones1558]

Have you considered flying straight through to Honolulu and spending a couple of nights on Waikiki while you get over the jet lag ? If you have never been there, it is something to see and experience. You could take it at an easy pace, maybe do an outrigger canoe ride on the Diamond Head end of the beach. Or you could do the hike up Diamond Head for a wonderful view. If you happen to be there on a Friday night, there are fireworks from the Hilton (which I think look best if you view them from one of the boats that take passengers just for fireworks or a dinner cruise). Or you could visit the Arizona Memorial. Just another option.

 

[tidefan]

Are you going to try the Disneyland-Aulani combo?

I would second this!

 

[IsThatYouTigger]

Are you going to try the Disneyland-Aulani combo?

We did this! We live in central Florida and were going to Hawaii for a wedding…traveling with our 2 year old. We flew into LAX and stayed at Grand Californian for 3 nights (cash)…flew into HNL and had fun with the wedding and then stayed at Aulani for 4 nights (points). Total trip was 10 nights. It was wonderful! We decided to break it up to help our son, but I think if we were to do it again we would reverse the trip. Fly to Aulani and then do Disneyland on the way back. Much much easier for us to adapt to the time change going west…felt like we had been hit by a ton of bricks once back in Florida .

 

[Royal Consort]

We fly annually to WDW from Australia. Twenty three hours each way. Done this the past 10 years. Most often, we do this journey in one shot on the way over (Disneyland on the way home). Jet lag is just part of travel but your adrenalin and excitement assist in being on the go. If you want to break it up, go to Disneyland but honestly I'd just fly straight there. It's about 10 hours right? Personally that's a short flight so it will be over in no time. You can start setting your clock to the new time zone several days before you fly to acclimatise before you get there. My biggest struggle is day one. If I get to my destination in the morning and go without napping the full day I'm set by day 2.

Don't eat or drink alcohol on the plane. No soda. Keep hydrated with water and that will assist jet lag.

 

[PiratesOfTheSea]

I would second this!

I would third this as well. LAX probably have the best price/options combo out on the West Coast and if you are worried about safety then DLR will be safer than any major city out here. If DLR is too expensive then maybe San Diego.

Seattle is getting their act together but the biggest threat there is that SEA has gotten blocked by "protesters" on a regular basis so if you are unlucky you might miss your flight because some people needed TikTok clout.

I'm assuming you are used to Philly so San Francisco is probably fine in your case. We live in San Jose, there is nothing that interesting here worth a stopover for tourists. Oakland is not worth it even as a local.

If you are stopping over on the West Coast then I'd recommend skipping it as it just felt too much like a garden variety tourist trap to me. I honestly wish we had stayed at Aulani instead.

 

[luckyman_apd]

Wow, yesterday got so busy I didn't even get a chance to read any replies. I HAVE thought about a DL stop. We were there years ago when the kids were little.....like 3 weeks after carsland opened. Waited 2.5 hours to ride it with my daughter. Thank GOD for rider switch pass lol.....my son was too little to ride at the time. But she got to go twice for waiting that long with me lol. I just don't know that I can justify the price of 4 park tickets for only 1 or 2 days.

Flying direct to HON......curious idea. Maybe I'll price out some hotels there. Interesting idea I didn't think of. But I might have to travel to NY to get a better flight out.

I'm not picky on airline. Seasoned Spirit traveler here....and no, I'd never take a discount airline that far. 2.5 hours is my max time for that lol. We get R/T flights all the time for $80 or less a person on Spirit/Frontier with a personal item only...We've learned to stretch a dollar to make the most trip over the years lol. Even the Hawaii trip we think we can get away without any checked bags as we have laundry in the 1 br. Stopping on the west coast first, looks like a 737 or airbus 320 series for most flights to HON (which we're used to but only with LESS legroom with the cheap airlines)

The flight home is a straight shot on United....777 red eye, and then a short 320 back to PHL

 

[Flossbolna]

We flew Southwest from HNL to Long Beach in 22 and liked it a lot despite it being a 737.

There is other stuff to do in LA besides Disneyland. You could do Universal Studios or the tour at Warner Brothers. The first has the real studio tram tour with a theme park added on. The second one is a more in depth look into a studio.

Knott’s is also really fun for a day.

But I also like the idea of a couple of nights in Waikiki. We really like it for the different type of speed than Aulani.

6 hours time difference flying West is not too bad to get over. You will just be tired earlier in the evening, but usually the excitement of vacation will keep you awake. Going back East is what kills me every time (I often travel from Germany, my home, for vacation to Florida which is 6 hours difference, too).

 

[tidefan]

We flew Southwest from HNL to Long Beach in 22 and liked it a lot despite it being a 737.

There is other stuff to do in LA besides Disneyland. You could do Universal Studios or the tour at Warner Brothers. The first has the real studio tram tour with a theme park added on. The second one is a more in depth look into a studio.

Knott’s is also really fun for a day.

But I also like the idea of a couple of nights in Waikiki. We really like it for the different type of speed than Aulani.

6 hours time difference flying West is not too bad to get over. You will just be tired earlier in the evening, but usually the excitement of vacation will keep you awake. Going back East is what kills me every time (I often travel from Germany, my home, for vacation to Florida which is 6 hours difference, too).

To this point, we flew out SW of LGB this past June to Aulani after a DL stay and it was great! LGB is so much easier than LAX that it is worth it if the prices aren't too far apart, plus it't much closer to DL than LAX...

 

[MarkinMA]

Did you make your travel plans already? I'm going to be doing the same thing (from Boston) in Aug. Boston to San Francisco where we have some family. We'll stop there, have a visit with them for two days, then fly from Oakland to Honolulu. Jet Blue BOS to SFO, then Southwest OAK to HNL. Besides the family visit - that entire leg of the trip is on points. OAK to HNL I'm actually able to fly the group on points, so this is nice for the wallet.

If we didn't have family to visit - I would totally be looking at the DisneyLand double shot...
Its Hawaiian Airlines non-stop for us on the way home - all 11 hours of it.

What did you decide? If anything yet...

 

[DVC Doctor]

I would simply make the flight from PHL to Hawaii and take an easy first day on the beach. The larger hassle is to stop with people and luggage and stay a night or two in Seattle (it is an interesting city) and then travel again to Hawaii.

 

[WildernessMickey]

I just returned from Aulani and I found that flying all the way to Hawaii the first day was way easier than the flights home. I would fly all the way to HNL and stay at Waikiki for 2 nights and then start your Aulani stay, or just go straight to Aulani. We did wake up early those first few mornings, but we could walk the lagoons, make coffee in the room, and watch the sunrise.

Maybe break up the trip on the way home. Most flights to get to the East Coast depart HNL in the afternoon or evening and involve a red eye which was much more difficult for me to recover from.

 

[hpygrll]

We're tacking on Aulani in September after being at Disneyland for the Halloween 1/2 marathon weekend. We're East Coast, so we'll fly to Hawaii after the race weekend. Coming back we're gong to fly into Long Beach, spend the night and fly back the next day. I will NOT do a red eye - I'll never recover!

 

[WDWLODGE]

We recently returned from our first trip to Aulani. We flew into LAX & spent 3 1/2 days at Disneyland to break up the trip. After 9 days in Oahu we went to Phoenix to visit some family for a few days before heading back to Pittsburgh. It worked out really well for us.

 

[DISJeff74]

First trip to Hawaii and Aulani in early April. Flying Hartford to Dulles and then Dulles to HNL direct on United. A 10-3/4 hour flight!!! I did splurge for the Polaris lay flat seats both directions. Our return red eye stops in Chicago. By far the longest flights I’ve been on.

 

[jlmarr]

Delta flies from PHL to SNA and LGB (no non-stops), each about 15 miles from Disneyland, and sooooooo much easier than LAX.

Hawaiian Airlines flies LGB to HNL, cheaper if you accept a layover on one of the other islands like Maui.

Southwest also flies out of LGB and SNA, but I didn't check for HNL flights.

 

[tidefan]

Delta flies from PHL to SNA and LGB (no non-stops), each about 15 miles from Disneyland, and sooooooo much easier than LAX.

Hawaiian Airlines flies LGB to HNL, cheaper if you accept a layover on one of the other islands like Maui.

Southwest also flies out of LGB and SNA, but I didn't check for HNL flights.

We flew LGB to HNL this past June. It was very easy and you are correct, sooooo much better than LAX!