Kohola Ranch Yea or Nay & How Long is Drive From Aulani?

keishashadow

Proud Redhead...yes, I have some bananas!
Joined
Dec 30, 2004
Initially, was going to skip visiting the Kohola Ranch but the longer movie tour sounds like it would be fun, Restaurant sounds decent for the lunch buffet.

Will have a car, can either work Kohola in one day when staying at Waikiki, after Hanauma Bay but would likely hit traffic heading back to the city. Might be ‘too long’ of a day so early in our trip & not sure how much time we will wind up spending @ Hanauma. Had just planned on driving up the coast to see some of the beaches afterwards before heading back to Hotel.

Other option is to visit when departing Waikiki on our 4th day on Oahu before we check into Aulani for 3 nights, not sure if I want to give up any precious time there.:)

I’m seeing estimates of an hour’s drive from Kohola Ranch to Aulani. Should I factor in (any) evening rush traffic taking longer? Looking at tour that would be over approx 3:30 pm. Earlier ones would put us smack into HNL am rush.
 
We were st the ranch last year from aulani and we are going on the movie site tour in may when we go back. On a good day, it’s about an hour drive from aulani.
 
We did the 2 hour horseback tour at Kualoa Ranch(I am assuming that is where you are talking about) it is was a highlight of our trip. The drive up there is amazingly scenic and it was worth it to us. The food there was not that good. But they are a working ranch and have steaks for sale. We purchased some filet steaks and grilled them up back at Aulani for dinner that night.
 
Hmm never thought to just pick up steaks, that may be a plan!

I’m not a fan of horses after getting bit by one, it’s another tour that basically hits the majority of the property’s sites.
 


We went to Kualoa, and loved it. We did three tours (the Hollywood Movie Tour, the taste of Kualoa Trolley Tour, and the Jurassic Jungle Jeep Tour). Our favorite was the Jurassic Jungle Jeep Tour because the scenery was just so stunningly beautiful. The movie tour was great too, especially the Battery Cooper where they have a bunch of movie props. The ranch was one of our favorite things on our trip (though the three tours were a bit much).

We took a bus from Waikiki and it was about a 45 minute ride from there. Not sure about how the ride is from Aulani.
 
We did the VIP movie tour, which is the longer one, and loved it! We also had the lunch buffet and thought it was delicious. More details and photos in my trip report in my signature, although I've heard the VIP movie tour has been updated with new additions since we were there!

When we visited, the VIP movie tour was only offered twice a day - morning and afternoon. We preferred the morning time slot, which I think had a 9:15 start time. Our confirmation required us to be there at 8:30 to check-in. Not knowing what to expect with traffic, we left Aulani at 6:45 and pulled in the Ranch parking lot at 8:30 exactly. We encountered rush hour traffic on the highway. As we got closer, the windward side was one lane in either direction and very backed up with traffic that time of morning.

I think the commute from Waikiki is a bit shorter in terms of distance, but I'm not sure how the traffic compares. It seems like driving from Waikiki in the morning, you'd be going against the flow of traffic with most people heading in towards Honolulu. But I can't confirm.
 
We did the VIP Movie Tour and it was fantastic. We were staying at Aulani and drove but it was a Sunday morning so very light traffic.
Have a great time!
 


We did the VIP movie tour, which is the longer one, and loved it! We also had the lunch buffet and thought it was delicious. More details and photos in my trip report in my signature, although I've heard the VIP movie tour has been updated with new additions since we were there!

When we visited, the VIP movie tour was only offered twice a day - morning and afternoon. We preferred the morning time slot, which I think had a 9:15 start time. Our confirmation required us to be there at 8:30 to check-in. Not knowing what to expect with traffic, we left Aulani at 6:45 and pulled in the Ranch parking lot at 8:30 exactly. We encountered rush hour traffic on the highway. As we got closer, the windward side was one lane in either direction and very backed up with traffic that time of morning.

I think the commute from Waikiki is a bit shorter in terms of distance, but I'm not sure how the traffic compares. It seems like driving from Waikiki in the morning, you'd be going against the flow of traffic with most people heading in towards Honolulu. But I can't confirm.

I am so thankful the help here! I keep watching slots disappear from the schedule while I procrastinate.

Wasn’t expecting the drive to take quite that long. My rule of thumb is to always add an extra half hour onto any new journey when we have a specific time to meet.

6:45 am sounds early but with the 6 hour time difference for us, shouldn’t be a problem for us even if we do sleep in lol.
 
I am so thankful the help here! I keep watching slots disappear from the schedule while I procrastinate.

Wasn’t expecting the drive to take quite that long. My rule of thumb is to always add an extra half hour onto any new journey when we have a specific time to meet.

6:45 am sounds early but with the 6 hour time difference for us, shouldn’t be a problem for us even if we do sleep in lol.

I'm not sure if our long commute is typical during rush hour, or if we hit a freak traffic day. We didn't see any accidents so we chalked it up to the Hawaii traffic we had heard so much about! lol! If you go on a weekend, I would think traffic would be much less and would make for a shorter commute. It would also get you out of the resort on a weekend day, which are usually busier at the resort than weekdays are.

We also had a 6 hour time adjustment to contend with. Took us about 3 days to fully adjust, but during those first three days, we were wide awake by 5am. So if you plan to do the Ranch at the start of your trip, the early time would be easier to handle. We also found that because Aulani has a lack of evening entertainment, we were early to bed and early to rise anyway throughout our trip. Its much easier to wake up early on vacation! lol!
 
I'm not sure if our long commute is typical during rush hour, or if we hit a freak traffic day. We didn't see any accidents so we chalked it up to the Hawaii traffic we had heard so much about! lol! If you go on a weekend, I would think traffic would be much less and would make for a shorter commute. It would also get you out of the resort on a weekend day, which are usually busier at the resort than weekdays are.

We also had a 6 hour time adjustment to contend with. Took us about 3 days to fully adjust, but during those first three days, we were wide awake by 5am. So if you plan to do the Ranch at the start of your trip, the early time would be easier to handle. We also found that because Aulani has a lack of evening entertainment, we were early to bed and early to rise anyway throughout our trip. Its much easier to wake up early on vacation! lol!

Yes, it’s laughable but I figure I will be getting ready to retire to room before 8pm each night.

I am respecting the nearly universal warnings as to the rush hour traffic. Same with food prices, have nearly doubled our usual budget for it.

It would be a weekday visit, we only have from Sunday late am to around 4 pm the following Saturday on Oahu before cruise. So much to do there, feeling decidedly greedy about losing any beach/pool time our days at Aulani the latter part of the week. I’m sure we could easily find a spot on beach in afternoon after doing the tour though early one am. Will think on that option.
 
I’m sure we could easily find a spot on beach in afternoon after doing the tour though early one am.

You definitely can! There were always ample loungers available on the beach throughout the day. After Kualoa Ranch, we went to the beach in Kailua which was amazing! Powder white sand, very different from the leeward side where Aulani is. It was beautiful. A good option not far from the ranch if you want to squeeze in another stop!
 
You definitely can! There were always ample loungers available on the beach throughout the day. After Kualoa Ranch, we went to the beach in Kailua which was amazing! Powder white sand, very different from the leeward side where Aulani is. It was beautiful. A good option not far from the ranch if you want to squeeze in another stop!

Thanks again, did see Kualoa offered a beach tour but figured we could find something nearby on our own
 
Thanks again, did see Kualoa offered a beach tour but figured we could find something nearby on our own

Kualoa Ranch has their secret beach excursion which is a beach on their property. Kailua is a town about 20 minutes away from the Ranch that is not affiliated, just similar names :) Its a quaint little town, and I know John & Kevin from the Dis Unplugged podcast love visiting Kailua when in Oahu. There are multiple beaches in that area, but the main one is Lanikai Beach. I'm not sure if its just that area or if its the entire windward side, but the beaches there were drastically different than over at Aulani and the leeward side - white soft sand and clear waters!
 
Kualoa Ranch has their secret beach excursion which is a beach on their property. Kailua is a town about 20 minutes away from the Ranch that is not affiliated, just similar names :) Its a quaint little town, and I know John & Kevin from the Dis Unplugged podcast love visiting Kailua when in Oahu. There are multiple beaches in that area, but the main one is Lanikai Beach. I'm not sure if its just that area or if its the entire windward side, but the beaches there were drastically different than over at Aulani and the leeward side - white soft sand and clear waters!

Taking notes! So many vowels in the names there, Certainly, throwing me for a loop lol
 
Kualoa Ranch has their secret beach excursion which is a beach on their property. Kailua is a town about 20 minutes away from the Ranch that is not affiliated, just similar names :) Its a quaint little town, and I know John & Kevin from the Dis Unplugged podcast love visiting Kailua when in Oahu. There are multiple beaches in that area, but the main one is Lanikai Beach. I'm not sure if its just that area or if its the entire windward side, but the beaches there were drastically different than over at Aulani and the leeward side - white soft sand and clear waters!
I second these 2 beaches! Beautiful!!!!!
 
We took a bus from Waikiki and it was about a 45 minute ride from there. Not sure about how the ride is from Aulani.

Was it a public bus, or part of the tour you booked? When I went in 2017 we drove over on a Saturday and traffic was no issue. But I need to go on a weekday this year :(

Thanks!
 
I highly recommend the VIP movie tour at Kualoa. You see more sites and have more opportunities to stop, get out and take pictures than any other tour. My husband is a big movie fan and we loved it. We did the morning time slot and it took us about an hour to get there from Aulani.
 
I booked it for the 12:45 pm. Figured we could eat breakfast at hotel (will miss that free spread i’m Sure lol), take a walk on beach & leave Waikiki after am rush.

Will lose most of day @ Aulani but it will give us 2 full days to just lounge there and part of the 3rd.
 

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