Trying to plan for possible 2019!

[ErinsMommy]

Travelers will be myself, DH and DD (who will be 12 for most of 2019) - DD has pretty advanced ADHD so sitting and relaxing at a beach, and touring/seeing the sights of Hawaii, wont be fun for her much past day 2 or 3 - take her to Disney and she's all about ride til she drops. We'll be coming from NY too so the distance is something we're taking into account because we can only go for a week due to work and school schedules.

I've seen some posts about a DL and California Screaming as a possible stop over. How far from Disneyland/CS is Aulani? What about time flying? DD's school breaks in April and again in November. Either of those months more desirable than the other? Anything "exciting" in Hawaii for the child? <Personally we've gone as a couple quite a long time ago and went to Kaui and Maui and loved every minute of it, its really my DD that has me concerned.>

Thanks for any advice/tips/suggestions.

 

[keaster]

Time flying from LAX to HNL is about 5 hrs 40 mins. Does your daughter do okay on long plane rides?

Easter in 2019 in around the week of April 21st, so it will likely be pretty busy over that time. November depends if you are planning to go over Thanksgiving!

Aulani has great pools, two cool slides and a lazy river, so that may be good to keep her busy and active! They also have a snorkeling lagoon, beach rentals (paddle boarding, etc).

They have Auntie's Beach House with activities, but with her ADHD I'm not sure how she is with group activities?

Off site you can do zip lining at Kualoa Ranch, do surf lessons at a variety of places, hiking, lots of things for someone who wants to be on the go!

 

[ErinsMommy]

Time flying from LAX to HNL is about 5 hrs 40 mins. Does your daughter do okay on long plane rides?

Easter in 2019 in around the week of April 21st, so it will likely be pretty busy over that time. November depends if you are planning to go over Thanksgiving!

Aulani has great pools, two cool slides and a lazy river, so that may be good to keep her busy and active! They also have a snorkeling lagoon, beach rentals (paddle boarding, etc).

They have Auntie's Beach House with activities, but with her ADHD I'm not sure how she is with group activities?

Off site you can do zip lining at Kualoa Ranch, do surf lessons at a variety of places, hiking, lots of things for someone who wants to be on the go!

Thank you for the info! It would probably be better just to fly either direct or stopover somewhere than to get off at LAX. We would likely go in the 2nd week of November as that's when NJ schools are closed for most of the week due to election day and teachers convention. She's experimenting this year with group activities and seems to be holding her own, but gets bored very quickly and wants to always be on the go.

 

[Jamesmom7]

My son loved the lazy river and water slides, you can get boogie boards and sand toys free, there’s an interactive type electronic scavenger hunt thing for kids, a kids club area, and luaus on site. Outside of there we did one of the the atv tours at kua loa ranch, watched the surfers in the north shore, went to pearl harbour, enjoyed a helicopter tour, did a luau, and I’m sure there was more. My son is 7 and has high functioning autism. Not very patient and wants constant entertainment. He actually really enjoyed watching the surfers for a long time. He also got a kick out of random chickens running around. North shore was a highlight for him. He slept through the helicopter which kind of killed me inside. It’s something I thought he’d enjoy. The atv tour was all around a blast. You can walk over to the lagoon next to aulani and see turtles and if you are lucky Hawaiian monk seals. He surprisingly also enjoyed pearl harbour. We are visiting again in September and I found a swim with sharks inside a cage thing and I think I will book it. I can’t say for sure he will get in but I hope so. There’s really so much to do. I feel like we could come back a thousand times without being bored. There’s also a store that has all kinds of Japanese foods and stuff at the ala Moana mall and we went and bought a ton of Japanese candies because he was into them at the time. I can’t offer much about the flight. We have a layover this time in lax but we
Did direct last time. My sons been flying since 6 weeks and has always been a great flyer. I saved half the cost by booking a layover but my husband wasn’t entirely happy. Aulani has this area with a ton of fish they can snorkel in also. My son wouldn’t do it but I’m sure your daughter would enjoy it. Overall my son loved it there. Your daughter likely will even if she’s “too old” for character dining. If you do a luau book the more expensive ticket. You get in early and she can do the activities early and it gets you an open bar as well as better seats. We were also big into Pokémon when we went and there’s tons of places there.