Counting Down to Aulani...and I have questions

[kimberwee]

So we are in the final stretch on our wait to visit Aulani. This will be the first trip for DD (10) and second trip for DH. I went to HS and University of Hawaii @ Manoa on Oahu, but its been about 15+ years since I have been back. As you can imagine, I am beyond excited to return to old friends, old haunts and OMG the FOOD!

First concern, we will be landing in HNL around 1:10pm and anxious to stretch our legs after a long day of travel. We are renting a car from Enterprise for the duration of our stay, which will take some time. (We are DVC so parking at Aulani was not a factor and having lived on Oahu, I know that the island is best experienced by exploring) My question is: with this timing, what is a reasonable expectation for an arrival time at Aulani without any other stops?

Also, for anyone who has had the same mid-afternoon arrival, can you share your Day 1 experiences/plans?

We have the usual touristy stuff planned for most of our days and a couple of resort only days.
I want to take them to the Polynesian Cultural Center. Am I insane to consider going on a Saturday? should we just suck it up and attend the Luau there or wait and go to Paradise Cove on another day?

I have also been looking for a whale or dolphin watching/catamaran excursion. Can anyone provide reviews for the excursion offered through Disney and Hawaii Nautical? The description says Aulani Beach towel...do we keep that? Those things are expensive and weigh in on the price consideration.

Mahalo in advance!

 

[adamak]

I'd say you'll get to Aulani around 3 pm. Assuming the flight is on time, no major snafu @ Enterprise so you should get your car by 2 pm. 1 hour-ish to Aulani.

We're from E coast, so by the time we land, we're usually exhausted. I made sure we'll have early dinner to compensate the jet lag. And then crash around 8 or 9 pm and hope to have an early start the next day. If you're there by 3 pm, I'd hit the pool for a bit, maybe early dinner / happy hour, then retreat to a movie in the room that night? I also normally did our grocery run when we land.

Can't answer the other questions. I remembered seeing whales in Feb / Mar just by staring out. It's awesome. But enjoy! Sounds like a real "welcome home" for you!

 

[Littlelulu01]

We just returned. Arrived at 1:05pm on a Friday. Got Alamo car and headed towards Costco by Aulani. We were not in any traffic to Costco. We were done with a major shopping haul and back on the road to Aulani by 3pm. The 5 minute drive was 45 minuets by this time. Definitely recommend skipping the stop and heading straight to aulani to avoid the rush hour which starts by 3pm weekdays. We had to return to the airport to pick up kids from a 9:30 pm flight arrival and total drive time from Aulani to hnl was under 30 mins - after rush hour.

 

[pamelaj]

On the first day, we have picked up our rental car, stopped by the Leonard's truck for malasadas and then headed straight to Aulani. I think it takes about 1-2 hours? There is also a Starbucks next to the malasadas, so we have stopped there to wash hands (from the awesome donuts) and get coffee. Since our kids are younger, (6 and 8 last time) one of us went to get groceries when they were in bed at Target or Costco. This allows more time at the resort the first day and avoids traffic

Once we arrived at the resort, we checked in, wandered around the resort until our room was ready, then went in the pools until dinner. We ate poolside the first night, to avoid extra work. I try to keep it easy the first day, after a long flight. We haven't been to Polynesian Cultural Center or the Disney excursion, but we did the catamaran/snorkeling trip with Ko Olina Ocean Adventures and it was great. It is so close to the resort, we walked. The prices were reasonable and the staff was amazing with our kids. Hope it is a great trip!

 

[thedogatemyhomework]

if your arrival day is a week day...either head straight to aulani, or pick someplace to explore until about 6 pm. The traffic is likely worse than you remember...by quite a bit. Since you’ll have luggage with you stopping at a beach or tourist spot will be problematic.

Polynesian cultural center is something you’ll simply have to deal with whatever crowds are there if you want to go. If its just the luau you want, paradise cove is good, and the aulani one has a pretty good show.

If you want to combine dolphins with the luau (sort of) you could try looking at sea life park.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We were In Aulani last February, and never saw a whale off Oahu, and we looked. We had spent a week on Maui before hand and saw plenty. If I were only going to Aulani, I would definitely book an excursion to see whales, and not depend on viewing from shore.

 

[lorenni]

if your arrival day is a week day...either head straight to aulani, or pick someplace to explore until about 6 pm. The traffic is likely worse than you remember...by quite a bit. Since you’ll have luggage with you stopping at a beach or tourist spot will be problematic.

Polynesian cultural center is something you’ll simply have to deal with whatever crowds are there if you want to go. If its just the luau you want, paradise cove is good, and the aulani one has a pretty good show.

If you want to combine dolphins with the luau (sort of) you could try looking at sea life park.

Not quite a highjack - more of a minor detour...

So, our flight lands at 2:43 (for now - it originally landed at 2:15, now updated to 2:43 so we’ll see if the schedules get tweaked again before we fly in May) on a Thursday afternoon. The idea of rush hour traffic after a long day coming in from Toronto is just soul crushing. So assuming it takes an hour to collect luggage and the rental car - any suggestions as to what we can do to kill some time before heading west?

Is there a Target or similar store near the airport that we could hit up to get supplies while we wait out rush hour? Yes, we will have luggage in the car, so we’ll want to avoid touristy spots.

Or should we just bite the bullet and head to Aulani no matter what time it is? Worst case - how long will it take?

 

[thedogatemyhomework]

Absolute worst case...14 hours...however the chances of multiple unplanned lane closures at the worst possible time on the freeways are very very low...only twice I can remember in the last 30 or so years.

More realistic worst case...3-4 hours (typically should be around 1.5 to 2 hours). The closest target to the airport is near pearl harbor/aloha stadium...not too far away, but you’ll still be going through some of the traffic (can’t avoid it unless you just don’t leave the airport.) if you get in slightly before 3, you probably won’t have luggage and car until close to 4, there isn’t much right around the airport to do...if you’d rather drive longer (maybe an extra 30-45 minutes) but have a less stressful drive, you could try going from the airport to the h-3 and drive through kaneohe/kahuku/north shore by the time you get back to mililani and head toward aulani most of the traffic would have cleared. However if there are any accidents/road work being done along that path it can be just as stressful and take even longer.

If you really want to play it as safe as possible maybe try looking if any of the airport hotels have hourly rates, or if renting a room for a night to shower, and wait out traffic would be preferable (not to stay the night, just to stay till 7 pm or so)

 

[Elima2015]

Not quite a highjack - more of a minor detour...

So, our flight lands at 2:43 (for now - it originally landed at 2:15, now updated to 2:43 so we’ll see if the schedules get tweaked again before we fly in May) on a Thursday afternoon. The idea of rush hour traffic after a long day coming in from Toronto is just soul crushing. So assuming it takes an hour to collect luggage and the rental car - any suggestions as to what we can do to kill some time before heading west?

Is there a Target or similar store near the airport that we could hit up to get supplies while we wait out rush hour? Yes, we will have luggage in the car, so we’ll want to avoid touristy spots.

Or should we just bite the bullet and head to Aulani no matter what time it is? Worst case - how long will it take?

Personally, unless things go awry and you get in much later (or big luggage delay or rental car delay), I'd just head to the resort and get all the traveling part over. I can relax once we get to our room, so waiting an extra 3-4 hours for traffic to clear would feel worse to me. We arrived once right at 5:00 after a very delayed and very long travel day. We managed to be on the road to Aulani with luggage and rental car around 6:00 and I feel like it took a bit over an hour (tail end of rush hour, probably). We got our kids to bed and then my DH ran back to Costco while I unpacked. But you should really do what would be least stressful to you.

 

[buffettgirl]

Not quite a highjack - more of a minor detour...

So, our flight lands at 2:43 (for now - it originally landed at 2:15, now updated to 2:43 so we’ll see if the schedules get tweaked again before we fly in May) on a Thursday afternoon. The idea of rush hour traffic after a long day coming in from Toronto is just soul crushing. So assuming it takes an hour to collect luggage and the rental car - any suggestions as to what we can do to kill some time before heading west?

Is there a Target or similar store near the airport that we could hit up to get supplies while we wait out rush hour? Yes, we will have luggage in the car, so we’ll want to avoid touristy spots.

Or should we just bite the bullet and head to Aulani no matter what time it is? Worst case - how long will it take?

There is a target on Lawehana Ave which is very close to the airport. - exit the airport by following the signs to the Rental Car Returns - Nimitz Highway (not H1) . Turn left on Nimitz, turn right on Valkenburg, Turn left on Bougainville. Stay on bougainville past the large military shopping complex, through the traffic light at Radford and then turn right on Lawehana. That's my "home" target and it's never felt unsafe at all there.

If you know you're going to be making a stop, you will kill some time there. You could also go for a very early dinner at any of a number of restaurants in the airport.

But your timing will put you smack in the worst of traffic. It's not pretty.

 

[corgi_monster]

That's my "home" target and it's never felt unsafe at all there.

If you know you're going to be making a stop, you will kill some time there. You could also go for a very early dinner at any of a number of restaurants in the airport.

But your timing will put you smack in the worst of traffic. It's not pretty.

Another vote for Target. I usually go late at night after my daughter has gone to bed and have never felt unsafe there. There is a constant stream of car and foot traffic throughout the parking lot, even at 10pm. They have a small section of Hawaii-themed souvenirs and their grocery prices are often cheaper than Safeway and Times.

Moanalua Shopping Center has been completely renovated since you were last here and has a number of local and mainland eateries.

Traffic has gotten exponentially worse imo. OP, 15-20 years ago I used to commute from Makakilo to Iolani and UH everyday. Drive times have nearly doubled since then. There seems to be less afternoon traffic between UH and Kalihi, but the traffic from Red Hill to Ewa Beach is significantly heavier. I'd rather sit in a covered parking lot and take a nap than be on the road between 3pm-6:30pm.

 

[MouseOfCards]

We just returned. Arrived at 1:05pm on a Friday. Got Alamo car and headed towards Costco by Aulani. We were not in any traffic to Costco. We were done with a major shopping haul and back on the road to Aulani by 3pm. The 5 minute drive was 45 minuets by this time. Definitely recommend skipping the stop and heading straight to aulani to avoid the rush hour which starts by 3pm weekdays. We had to return to the airport to pick up kids from a 9:30 pm flight arrival and total drive time from Aulani to hnl was under 30 mins - after rush hour.

 

[MouseOfCards]

We just returned. Arrived at 1:05pm on a Friday. Got Alamo car and headed towards Costco by Aulani. We were not in any traffic to Costco. We were done with a major shopping haul and back on the road to Aulani by 3pm. The 5 minute drive was 45 minuets by this time. Definitely recommend skipping the stop and heading straight to aulani to avoid the rush hour which starts by 3pm weekdays. We had to return to the airport to pick up kids from a 9:30 pm flight arrival and total drive time from Aulani to hnl was under 30 mins - after rush hour.

That also happened to us! From the airport, we made a stop at the Costco and then decided to have an early dinner at a nearby restaurant. The normally 5 minute drive from there to Aulani took us an hour!