Split Stay in Hawaii

steveyjc81

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 18, 2010
Coming from the UK, and considering a split stay if booking Hawaii - ( adults and a 6 year old)

5 days - 1 week at somewhere cheaper than Aulani where I can adjust to the time difference ( - 11 hours) and log flights and so the main sightseeing (Pearl Harbour, North Shore, Dole etc) then

5 days- 1 week at Aulani to relax completely and soak up everything Aulani has to offer.

Does this sound like a good idea/ bad idea. Would anyone have a suggestion for where to stay at the first part?

Thanks, Stevey
 
There are a ton of less expensive options in Waikiki. I think kids like the Hilton Hawaiian Village. If you could swing 6 days at Aulani and 4 in Waikiki, I think that would be better. 1 day to rest at Waikiki, 1 day to tour the Kualoa Ranch and beaches on the East Side. 1 day for Dole plantation and North Shore. Then get to Aulani as early as you can check in.
 
We did that too for money as well as convenience. We stayed in a hotel along the Waikiki beach area first for 5 days. Do a day tour to North Shore. Beach day. Shopping day etc.

Then we moved to Aulani and just stayed there a few days. Enjoyed all the activities at Aulani morning to night.

The high price tag of Aulani really assumes that you use the facilities there. It’s no point paying the high price and go out to tour Waikiki during the day.
 
with aulani the price point is also due to where its located...all of the koolina resorts are up there in price (tho others do tend to have a bit bigger rooms, or more upscale amenities...but very close in price).

if the overall length of your stay is 2 weeks...maybe also consider adding in 2-3 days for one of the other islands (maybe 5 in waikiki, 3 on another island, 5 at aulani).
 


Aulani for 5 days will be boring if you plan to not leave, there isn't that much to do just at Aulani. Waikiki is not a nice place to stay imo its just a big city by the beach and nothing more. Everything is closer to Waikiki but its still a drive, may as well just drive from Aulani and not have to pack up all your bags and move. If I was going to do a split stay it would be 5 days at aulani (drive to the southern tourist areas from there), 3 days at Turtle Bay (the North and Eastern shores are the best part of Oahu), and the rest at another island. If you want Aulani to be cheaper then rent DVC points. This also will mean your parking is free
 
We had 16 days in Hawaii and stayed at 4 different hotels (including Aulani), and visited 3 islands. We spent 3 nights in Waikiki, 3 nights in Maui, 3 nights in Kauai, and 6 nights at Aulani. That may be too little time for some on the islands with too much moving around, but we really enjoyed it and would do it again. We decided to bookend our trip with our stays on Oahu because it was cheaper for us flying from the east coast to book roundtrip flights to and from Oahu. I have no idea what your path would be from the UK, but I imagine to fly into or out of an island other than Oahu would require you to change planes in Honolulu, rather than a direct flight from wherever you will have to layover.

I agree with PPs that if you decide to split your stay up and remain on Oahu, Waikiki is a great area to spend the rest of the time. Many hotels are cheaper than Aulani, and IMO, you can get away with not having a rental car in Waikiki which will save you on parking costs, the car itself, plus the traffic hassles. There's a lot in walking distance, there's an inexpensive trolley that goes up and down the main strip of Waikiki, and there's tons of bus tours that offer transportation to and from Waikiki hotels. We did bus tours to Diamond Head and Pearl Harbor, which worked out great. We stayed at the Waikiki Beach Marriott which was a good central location. Hilton Hawaiian Village is very popular, but its resort-like just like Aulani and its at the far end of the strip making for longer walks along the main road. We wanted something more central, and cared less about the hotel amenities since we spent most of our Waikiki time away from the hotel.

With 6 nights at Aulani, we spent every other day off-site exploring other areas like the North Shore, Kualoa Ranch and the windward side. We had a rental car during this time, which I would highly recommend. We had 2 full days at Aulani where we did not leave, plus our arrival evening, departure morning, and another 1 or 2 nights where we were back by 6pm-ish. We felt that was more than enough time to fully enjoy the resort. We also visited the Marriott up the street, as well as Monkeypod and Pizza Corner across the street. We ate at all of Aulani's restaurants and visited the spa. The luau wasn't going on at the time, but we did attend the show they had at that time. I agree with PP that Ko Olina, the area Aulani is located in, doesn't have a ton of stuff to do. Its an isolated area and its a planned, gated tourist community.
 


Hopefully July will be our 4th visit to Hawaii. On our Oahu portion of our 1st trip we spent part of our time at the North Shore at Turtle bay and the other part in Waikiki at the bus depot also know as the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Not a chance I would stay at the Hilton again. Overall we werent fans of Waikiki. Not a fan of being in a city while at the beach. With all the high end stores and chain restaurants IMO was not what I personally envision as a Hawaiian Paradise. With that said the beach was nice (except of the course for the attached grass area overflowing with homeless. It is convenient for Peal Harbor and Diamond Head. If you do decide to stay at the Hilton, make sure you join the Hilton Honors program and do your check-in on line. It will help avoid a 30 plus minute wait for check-in. With over 3000 rooms over multiple buildings it is densely populated. We added Oahu on this upcoming trip just to experience Aulani for a few days before heading to Maui. Fingers crossed that travel restrictions on the islands have eased and gone before our trip.

Everything I'm reading about Hawaii is that residents of Hawaii want tourist to stay the %$# away. Very well could be a bit of a hostile environment when tourists are first allowed.
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2020/...g-may-play-key-role-reopening-tourism-hawaii/

Limiting Hotel Guests
 
some residents don't want anyone coming in until this is done...but barring the federal government basically putting everyone in hawaii on its payroll...thats simply not feasible.

most are currently only seeing the immediate dangers of the virus which is completely understandable. many are only demanding that tourists not come because the governor refused to act for so long, and still refuses to do much more than absolute bare minimums (and only when forced to do so).
 
Hi Stevey - I travelled with my daughter (11yrs) last December and had 6nts in Waikiki and 5nts at Aulani. We stayed at the Beachcomber by Outrigger, one block back from the beach. Our flight was about 10hrs from Australia's east coast. We had the best time and enjoyed Pearl Harbour (got the free tkts through the National Parks website) and took "The Bus" it was USD5.50 for me and USD2.50 I think for my daughter this is a one day bus pass. We also did the one day South Side and one day North Shore tours with Oahu Private Tours (oahuprivatetours.com) I would highly recommend these tours. It is just your travel party and the guide, so able to change things up to suit your party. This is how we got to the Dole Plantation (we just really wanted a dole whip and a look through the gift shop) the North Shore and the food trucks. This also left time for the beach and shopping. At Aulani, we enjoyed our 6 days of relaxation by enjoying the pools and beach, enjoyed animation cell painting, ukulele lessons and the VIP lu'au. We also really enjoyed Rainbow Reef, which opened on our second last day (due to the pool maintenance going on at the time we where there). We would have bought the length of stay pass for Rainbow Reef if it was open when we arrived. I thought that there was alot for us to do, that we didn't have enough time for everything. We didn't leave the resort, except to go across the road to Monkeypod and the shops. I hope my two cents worth, is helpful to you and your family. Given the current situation, I doubt you will be going anytime soon.
 
Sounds very reasonable to me. I would suggest doing Aulani last....save the best for last.
 
We did a split stay at Aulani too. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Waikiki and Aulani one time, and that was a nice change of pace for us (we usually just stay at Aulani).

As many already said, a must for staying at Aulani is a rental car. The resort is not really near anything and if you want to explore other parts of the island you will need to have a car to venture out.

Have a great trip!
 
When we visited Hawaii, we did a split stay with one week at a friend’s house in Oahu and one week in Kauai. I wouldn’t want to stay in Oahu for two weeks, but if I did, I would stay in the North Shore first to be close to the sights and activities up there (and surfing, if that’s your thing) and then switch to Aulani for pure relaxation. We stayed in the North Shore and dipped down to Aulani for two meals including the character breakfast for the kids, but I found myself wishing we had spent at least a few nights there. It’s really nice and reminded me of Animal Kingdom Lodge at WDW.
 
We did 12 nights on Oahu, 9 at Aulani and 3 at the Outrigger Waikiki Beach resort club level. A fabulous breakfast spread was included each day (the pic looking over at DH is from the breakfast area). We used our 3 days on Waikiki to do: dinner at Duke’s, fireworks at HHV, Diamond Head, Hanauma Bay, Blowhole, Kailua and Lanikai, then a day in the water at Waikiki. Hotel was in a great spot but beach is small and crowded. We didn’t mind as we only did one full day on the beach there. We also had a car to get to all of these places from the hotel. A few pics are attached.
 

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Coming from the UK, and considering a split stay if booking Hawaii - ( adults and a 6 year old)

5 days - 1 week at somewhere cheaper than Aulani where I can adjust to the time difference ( - 11 hours) and log flights and so the main sightseeing (Pearl Harbour, North Shore, Dole etc) then

5 days- 1 week at Aulani to relax completely and soak up everything Aulani has to offer.

Does this sound like a good idea/ bad idea. Would anyone have a suggestion for where to stay at the first part?

Thanks, Stevey
We have a split for Hilton Hawaiian Village and Aulani. We figure our time at HHV will be more excursions (hikes, Pearl Harbor) and Aulani will be relaxing, beach, swimming.
 

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