Trip length?

Krs1300

Mouseketeer
Joined
Apr 4, 2013
If you were planning a trip and knew you PROBABLY wouldn't make it back for a while... how much time do you think is reasonable to spend at Aulani? The only thing we'd REALLY want to see outside of Aulani is Pearl Harbor.

We would be traveling with our two kids - ages 4 and 8 at that time.

Thanks in advance!
 
I’d say 3 days at Aulani and only Aulani is enough. Add in a day to Pearl Harbor and you only need 4 days.

My family would go stir crazy if we stayed only at Aulani any longer.
 
When we did 7 nights, we didn't feel like it was enough. This time we are doing 9 nights. Planning 3 day outings and other short random outings, otherwise we'll be at the resort.
 
We usually do 6 nights and it never feels long enough. It is me, DH, and DS6. We've been there three times in the last 4 years.
 


I would go for 7-9 nights. We have been twice, once for 7 nights and once for 6 nights. Due to flight times, our time in Oahu was only 6 days and 5 days. Neither trip felt long enough - especially the shorter of the two. If you never plan to leave the resort, then you could get away with a shorter stay. But Oahu has so much to offer. I'd go for longer and spend some time exploring the island as well.
 
I agree with PP that 3-4 days at Aulani doing nothing but enjoying the resort was sufficient. We spent 6 nights at Aulani which gave us about 3.5 resort days and it was just enough for us.

That said, we spent a total of 16 days in Hawaii for our honeymoon, which included stays in Waikiki, Maui and Kauai. If/when we return to Hawaii, I would probably do 10 days on Oahu with 3 nights in Waikiki and the rest at Aulani most likely.
 
We spent 4 days at Aulani and the last day we actually left 3 hours early. We also spent 1 day completely gone from Aulani sightseeing. After a few hours each day we just got bored of playing either in the Lagoon or pools, sitting by the water. If your family is good with just spending time relaxing, playing in water than it may be perfect for yall and could probably stay longer.

Now, if your going to explore some of the island besides Pearl Harbor than doing 1 day of sightseeing 2 days of Aulani etc then you could definitely stretch it out to a week or more. If Pearl Harbor is really all you want to do maybe 5 days with it being 2 days of Aulani, Pearl Harbor, and then 2 days of Aulani.

Depending on where your flying from though 5+ days would probably be best because the first day is normally just a jetlag day.
 


I think it would depend on where you are coming from. We live in Florida so to make that trip I wouldn't go for under 10 days. Our first trip we stayed for 10 days only left Aulani a few times. (Pearl Harbor/swap meet day and North shore day) Second trip we stayed 12 days and did 3 day trips and this past summer we stayed for 10 days and did 3 or 4 day trips but also added Maui onto the end of our trip for 3 days.
 
I agree with Amw1064. How long you should plan to stay depends partly on the time-zone shift that you have to deal with. For people coming from the Eastern time zone, longer will probably be better.
 
Interesting to read the opinions. I am coming from the EAST Coast and planned 8 days 7 nights in Oahu. Would you split the time between Waikikki and Aulani or would you just stay put at Aulani? We want to do a North and South SHore tour with a private company, WW2 stuff, the ranch movie place and a few days at the resort...Throw Diamond Head in there too! Am I better splitting the stay? thanks! Sorry OP for jumping in!
 
Interesting to read the opinions. I am coming from the EAST Coast and planned 8 days 7 nights in Oahu. Would you split the time between Waikikki and Aulani or would you just stay put at Aulani? We want to do a North and South SHore tour with a private company, WW2 stuff, the ranch movie place and a few days at the resort...Throw Diamond Head in there too! Am I better splitting the stay? thanks! Sorry OP for jumping in!

I have done that a few times and it is honestly such a pain in the you know what to pack everything up before checkout and then shlep it all to the next hotel for check in at 4. You cant really do anything that day because you are moving hotels so I have gotten to the point where if we dont have to, we dont do it. Just my opinion and what works for us...
 
I have done that a few times and it is honestly such a pain in the you know what to pack everything up before checkout and then shlep it all to the next hotel for check in at 4. You cant really do anything that day because you are moving hotels so I have gotten to the point where if we dont have to, we dont do it. Just my opinion and what works for us...

Thanks..I just don't want to battle traffic if easier to stay elsewhere a few days. I have never been so no perspective based on my sites I want to visit vs distance between two hotels
 
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We split our stay between Aulani and Waikiki and we were glad we did. The kids really enjoyed the beach in Waikiki (even though it was rocky) compared to the Lagoon at Aulani. In Waikiki there was more people watching, seeing surfers in the water, and close to a lot of local restaurants. We wanted Aulani to be mostly our sit by the pool and relax days and Waikiki to be our see the island days. We actually left our Waikiki hotel by noon as we, I, was hungry after surf lessons and decided to "just get to Aulani" and then we got disappointed by the lack of food really. Most hotels will help you find transportation to the next hotel (but that was pretty expensive) and will store your luggage).
 
We split our stay between Aulani and Waikiki and we were glad we did. The kids really enjoyed the beach in Waikiki (even though it was rocky) compared to the Lagoon at Aulani. In Waikiki there was more people watching, seeing surfers in the water, and close to a lot of local restaurants. We wanted Aulani to be mostly our sit by the pool and relax days and Waikiki to be our see the island days. We actually left our Waikiki hotel by noon as we, I, was hungry after surf lessons and decided to "just get to Aulani" and then we got disappointed by the lack of food really. Most hotels will help you find transportation to the next hotel (but that was pretty expensive) and will store your luggage).

Thanks! That's what we are leaning towards. Where did u stay in Waikiki?
 
We stayed at the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort (the one with Duke's restaurant) with a beach view. We were very happy with it (except it did have a tiny pool but Aulani makes up for that).
 
We stayed at the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort (the one with Duke's restaurant) with a beach view. We were very happy with it (except it did have a tiny pool but Aulani makes up for that).

Do u recall the number of nights u spent in each hotel?
 
3 nights at Waikiki and 4 nights at Aulani. To be 100% honest though if we redid this trip we would do 4 at Waikiki and 3 at Aulani or 4 at each.

Thanks we are flying from east coast so planned on stopping at Disneyland for 3 nights then Waikiki 4 nights then 4 or 5 nights aulani. I could reverse the nights . Is diamond head more accessible from Waikiki? Looks like it go me...We have been to Disneyland the last two years but seems craxy not to stop on way down since we fly so far. Airline prices will determine that. Thank u!!!
 
Diamond head is right there by Waikiki. Most of the Waikiki hotels key rooms actually get you on one of the trolleys that take you to Diamondhead. Or you could walk the 2-3 miles or Lyft it for like $10.

Nothing is near Aulani at all. We did rent a car at Aulani and toured some of the island one day. But Waikiki is very accessible to a lot of things around the island plus better prices for car rentals.
 
Thanks..I just don't want to battle traffic if easier to stay elsewhere a few days. I have never been so no perspective based on my sites I want to visit vs distance between two hotels

We stayed at the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort (the one with Duke's restaurant) with a beach view. We were very happy with it (except it did have a tiny pool but Aulani makes up for that).


I must admit, it is closer to Hanauma Bay and Diamond Head from Waikiki than it is from Aulani and you definitely dont want to be in that morning traffic along the highway from Ko Olina/Kapolei so from a touring perspective for you it is probably better to stay in Waikiki for those few days.

I think the Outrigger Waikiki Beach is seriously one of the best choices for a first time Waikiki visit, mostly because of the location. It is central to everything, sits right on the beach and has more of a holiday feel than some of the properties that are a block back from the strip.
 

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