Am I crazy for this DL / Aulani plan?

[Mardigras2025]

It sounds like a fantastic trip! Either one does, even with construction going on at Disney World. But Oahu and Disneyland are both amazing, and if you can make the timing and cost work, I would go for it.

Some comments, in no particular order:

• Try to fly in and out of John Wayne airport in California if you can. It's much closer to Disneyland
• The Hilton Hawaiian Village is huge and can be crowded, but it's also on a nice section of beach
• Parking in Waikiki can be tough and expensive, but parking in Aulani is free if you rent points. Waikiki is walkable, Aulani has a few restaurants nearby, but you generally need a car or taxi to get around.
• You'll want to rent a car for at least a day or two to explore the north and east sides of the island
• Food recommendations for Hawaii:
  • Sunrise Shack
  • Leonard's Malasadas
  • Foodland deli and poke
  • Moke's Bread and Breakfast
  • Jax Wood Fired Pizza
  • Kono's BBQ
  • Food trucks on Kamehameha Highway - I though Giovanni's was overrated, but there are tons of other options
  • Zippy's
  • Any ramen, pho, or other noodle place you find. Oahu has great noodles

Thanks for the advice and recommendations! Not locked in to the Hawaiian Village idea if we go this route - very preliminary choice due to location, kid friendly, etc. and have seen some other families who end up at Aulani start at the Hawaiian Village. Definitely looking at other kid-friendly options for a split stay and for exploring Oahu!

As for John Wayne - would you choose John Wayne with a connection, or a direct/nonstop flight to LAX that lands before 8am? I lived in LA, and certainly understand the difficulty of getting an Uber and then driving in traffic down to Anaheim… but the early direct flight seems to outweigh the negatives, particularly with a short time at DLR and more flights ahead of us. But definitely willing to look at connections if John Wayne and avoiding LA traffic is the way to go.

And thank you for the food ideas! Can’t wait to get started on planning if we jump into this!

 

[Tigger's ally]

Thanks for the advice and recommendations! Not locked in to the Hawaiian Village idea if we go this route - very preliminary choice due to location, kid friendly, etc. and have seen some other families who end up at Aulani start at the Hawaiian Village. Definitely looking at other kid-friendly options for a split stay and for exploring Oahu!

As for John Wayne - would you choose John Wayne with a connection, or a direct/nonstop flight to LAX that lands before 8am? I lived in LA, and certainly understand the difficulty of getting an Uber and then driving in traffic down to Anaheim… but the early direct flight seems to outweigh the negatives, particularly with a short time at DLR and more flights ahead of us. But definitely willing to look at connections if John Wayne and avoiding LA traffic is the way to go.

And thank you for the food ideas! Can’t wait to get started on planning if we jump into this!

We used Karmel transfer from LAX to GC on our trip out there two years ago. Highly recommend that avenue. For the price, it was no hassles. There were four of us and I paid $140 each way in what could have been a shared van but we were by ourselves both ways. Drivers knew how to get there the fastest as they weren't being paid by the minute.

 

[jimmymc]

Thanks for the advice and recommendations! Not locked in to the Hawaiian Village idea if we go this route - very preliminary choice due to location, kid friendly, etc. and have seen some other families who end up at Aulani start at the Hawaiian Village. Definitely looking at other kid-friendly options for a split stay and for exploring Oahu!

As for John Wayne - would you choose John Wayne with a connection, or a direct/nonstop flight to LAX that lands before 8am? I lived in LA, and certainly understand the difficulty of getting an Uber and then driving in traffic down to Anaheim… but the early direct flight seems to outweigh the negatives, particularly with a short time at DLR and more flights ahead of us. But definitely willing to look at connections if John Wayne and avoiding LA traffic is the way to go.

And thank you for the food ideas! Can’t wait to get started on planning if we jump into this!

Landing in the morning, LAX is good. Landing anywhere near rush hour and I would've said John Wayne.

Waikiki is in a pretty good location for touring the island, but the high cost to park can make it difficult. If you're OK renting a car, I would also check Turtle Bay. They have a resort and timeshares available to rent from owners.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

Hi all, I am considering a wild pivot in vacation plans with the 7 month mark coming up for us any day and want to get a sanity check:

3 nights - grand Californian 2br villa (renting points)
3 nights - Hilton Hawaiian village in Waikiki or another option (potentially 4 nights?)
3 nights - aulani 2br (renting points)

This is compared to our currently planned base case trip in March 2025 of 7 nights at the Polynesian.

It will be a group of 6. I will have a 6 year old daughter, 4 year old son, and my in-laws. We are coming from the Midwest, so the west coast means time change and longer flights (including no directs to Orange County on the way there and no directs home from Oahu).

The HI trip is actually not much more expensive overall due to less park days (3 at DL vs. 5 at WDW), and less Disney meals. This is our kids first trip with the next one planning for when they are 8 and 10 (but plans can change…).

The middle part is flexible if we find somewhere else to stay. Willing to consider making it a 10 night trip as well to make up for the long flights.

Our daughter has been begging to go to Hawaii, but we also want to take them on their first Disney trip at this age (specifically my daughter who will be 6.5). My wife wants her parents to go with us, and factoring in tickets, food, and two Poly studios - that quickly adds up and makes me wonder if it is worth it vs. taking them to another destination.

We also lived on the west coast for years, and promised these same grandparents a trip to Hawaii at that time so that they could spend time with us and their granddaughter, which was cancelled by covid and ultimately resulted in us moving back to the east. Now they see their grandkids all the time, so that trip quietly disappeared.

If we did DL on our way to HI, the kids and grandparents still get that experience but on a smaller scale. Maybe everyone is adjusted to the time changes a little better on the way to HI. Then the grandparents get to go to a dream destination. My wife and I have been to Maui and Kauai, but not Oahu. I am sure we will take the kids to another island some other time.

I am also attracted to the idea of Disneyland in general for 4 & 6 vs. Disney world - walkability, park hopping, napping if needed, all seem a little easier. Big Thunder, Dinoland, Test Track, and more all being closed at WDW makes me think it could be a good time to choose DL and do the undertaking of a WDW when the kids are a little older.

Apologies for the rambling - really just trying to get thoughts around this and if I am too crazy or not. I posted something similar to Reddit a week or two ago, and thought it calmed me down and kept me in the WDW plan, but surprisingly my wife is excited for this new alternative.

Is this doable? Possible to be enjoyable or a recipe for nightmares?

We did something similar in 2016 (5 nights in Maui, then Cali/Disneyland the 2nd part for 6 nights), and I wish we would have done Hawaii longer. Might be tiring to move around 3 times.

 

[Mardigras2025]

Landing in the morning, LAX is good. Landing anywhere near rush hour and I would've said John Wayne.

Waikiki is in a pretty good location for touring the island, but the high cost to park can make it difficult. If you're OK renting a car, I would also check Turtle Bay. They have a resort and timeshares available to rent from owners.

Thanks! Will look into the timeshares - could be nice to do a condo before moving to Aulani. Is the North Shore bad for a home base if exploring the island though? I know some people say turtle bay is fairly isolated.

 

[Mardigras2025]

We did something similar in 2016 (5 nights in Maui, then Cali/Disneyland the 2nd part for 6 nights), and I wish we would have done Hawaii longer. Might be tiring to move around 3 times.

Thanks! This is what I was worried about - moving too much or not staying in HI long enough to make this idea worth it. Do you think 6 or 7 nights in Oahu would be worth it?

 

[cedricandsophie]

We own at aulani and go for at least 10 days every year, coming from chicago. We never leave aulani but we have been all around Oahu and the other islands so not much we need to see. Personally I don’t like Waikiki that much. Too crowded and the beach is ok but nothing special. If you want a beach that has a lot of action and surfers consider the north shore. Aulani is a lagoon s very calm and not many waves. But it is safe and pleasant.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

Thanks! This is what I was worried about - moving too much or not staying in HI long enough to make this idea worth it. Do you think 6 or 7 nights in Oahu would be worth it?

Yes, I would say a week would’ve been perfect, and then back to Cali to slowly readjust to time zones again! Especially with littles

 

[jimmymc]

Thanks! Will look into the timeshares - could be nice to do a condo before moving to Aulani. Is the North Shore bad for a home base if exploring the island though? I know some people say turtle bay is fairly isolated.

It depends on what you want to see. For visiting Haleiwa, Kualoa Ranch, Waimea Falls, it's closer and will have less traffic. Diamondhead and Hanauma are closer to Waikiki.

 

[Finerfam]

Hi all, I am considering a wild pivot in vacation plans with the 7 month mark coming up for us any day and want to get a sanity check:

3 nights - grand Californian 2br villa (renting points)
3 nights - Hilton Hawaiian village in Waikiki or another option (potentially 4 nights?)
3 nights - aulani 2br (renting points)

This is compared to our currently planned base case trip in March 2025 of 7 nights at the Polynesian.

It will be a group of 6. I will have a 6 year old daughter, 4 year old son, and my in-laws. We are coming from the Midwest, so the west coast means time change and longer flights (including no directs to Orange County on the way there and no directs home from Oahu).

The HI trip is actually not much more expensive overall due to less park days (3 at DL vs. 5 at WDW), and less Disney meals. This is our kids first trip with the next one planning for when they are 8 and 10 (but plans can change…).

The middle part is flexible if we find somewhere else to stay. Willing to consider making it a 10 night trip as well to make up for the long flights.

Our daughter has been begging to go to Hawaii, but we also want to take them on their first Disney trip at this age (specifically my daughter who will be 6.5). My wife wants her parents to go with us, and factoring in tickets, food, and two Poly studios - that quickly adds up and makes me wonder if it is worth it vs. taking them to another destination.

We also lived on the west coast for years, and promised these same grandparents a trip to Hawaii at that time so that they could spend time with us and their granddaughter, which was cancelled by covid and ultimately resulted in us moving back to the east. Now they see their grandkids all the time, so that trip quietly disappeared.

If we did DL on our way to HI, the kids and grandparents still get that experience but on a smaller scale. Maybe everyone is adjusted to the time changes a little better on the way to HI. Then the grandparents get to go to a dream destination. My wife and I have been to Maui and Kauai, but not Oahu. I am sure we will take the kids to another island some other time.

I am also attracted to the idea of Disneyland in general for 4 & 6 vs. Disney world - walkability, park hopping, napping if needed, all seem a little easier. Big Thunder, Dinoland, Test Track, and more all being closed at WDW makes me think it could be a good time to choose DL and do the undertaking of a WDW when the kids are a little older.

Apologies for the rambling - really just trying to get thoughts around this and if I am too crazy or not. I posted something similar to Reddit a week or two ago, and thought it calmed me down and kept me in the WDW plan, but surprisingly my wife is excited for this new alternative.

Is this doable? Possible to be enjoyable or a recipe for nightmares?

Just a few weeks ago, I started thinking about a similar plan for a possible first trip to Hawaii for my family (3 nights in DL followed by 6-7 days in Hawaii). But the more I researched Oahu, I got excited and more interested in spending as much time there as possible and was also concerned about moving between 3 hotels if we split between DL/Waikiki/Aulani. So my current plan would be to do 4 nights in Waikiki followed by 5 nights in Aulani.

That said, my family has been to WDW plenty and DL twice, so I know I'll have other opportunities to go back to both. If I was in your shoes, I'd probably settle on 3 nights in DL (2 park days would be a very quick tour of both parks) and 7 nights in Oahu, but all 7 nights at the same hotel so that you can really settle in and enjoy the experience. I'm sure you'll have an amazing trip no matter what you decide on!!

 

[Mardigras2025]

Just a few weeks ago, I started thinking about a similar plan for a possible first trip to Hawaii for my family (3 nights in DL followed by 6-7 days in Hawaii). But the more I researched Oahu, I got excited and more interested in spending as much time there as possible and was also concerned about moving between 3 hotels if we split between DL/Waikiki/Aulani. So my current plan would be to do 4 nights in Waikiki followed by 5 nights in Aulani.

That said, my family has been to WDW plenty and DL twice, so I know I'll have other opportunities to go back to both. If I was in your shoes, I'd probably settle on 3 nights in DL (2 park days would be a very quick tour of both parks) and 7 nights in Oahu, but all 7 nights at the same hotel so that you can really settle in and enjoy the experience. I'm sure you'll have an amazing trip no matter what you decide on!!

Thank you! The more I consider it, the more 7 nights in Oahu sounds more reasonable. If we did 3 nights in DL, we would still have 3 park days since our flight gets in early on the first day. We’ll just miss early entry on day 1 (likely getting in around 10am) and then take breaks if needed and recognize we will be in Hawaii soon.

 

[Mardigras2025]

For those saying to stay in one place on Oahu, would you rather:

- nix Grand Cal and stay at a good neighbor (no early entry, other perks like slightly shorter walk and Disney bubble), and then stay at Aulani for 7 nights

- keep grand cal and don’t stay at aulani at all? Find somewhere else on Oahu

- maintain current plan of three stays, but make middle part at different resort/hotel/timeshare 4 nights

I think for budgetary reasons, 3 nights at Grand Cal followed by 7 nights at Aulani might be hard to swallow, even with renting points.

 

[Van@Disney]

can you swing pixar hotel or disneyland hotel? That way you can still be in the bubble at a bit less of a price. There’s the tower if you’re DVC.

 

[Mardigras2025]

can you swing pixar hotel or disneyland hotel? That way you can still be in the bubble at a bit less of a price. There’s the tower if you’re DVC.

I am renting points directly from someone and she is unable to book at Disneyland Hotel. I’m not sure why exactly, maybe because it is too new? The new villas look very nice, but unless I find an owner there I think Grand Cal is actually more cost effective. I have not looked into Pixar too much, but have not heard great things! I can definitely take a look, but I think if we don’t get Grand Cal due to it being booked at 7-month mark or budget cuts, we would consider another hotel in walking distance. Definitely need to start mapping out backup options.

 

[Finerfam]

For those saying to stay in one place on Oahu, would you rather:

- nix Grand Cal and stay at a good neighbor (no early entry, other perks like slightly shorter walk and Disney bubble), and then stay at Aulani for 7 nights

- keep grand cal and don’t stay at aulani at all? Find somewhere else on Oahu

- maintain current plan of three stays, but make middle part at different resort/hotel/timeshare 4 nights

I think for budgetary reasons, 3 nights at Grand Cal followed by 7 nights at Aulani might be hard to swallow, even with renting points.

I think if you plan to spend majority of your 3 DL days in the parks, I'd choose a cheaper Anaheim hotel and spend the extra to stay 7 nights in Aulani!

For DL hotels, we stayed at Candy cane inn on harbor Blvd earlier this year and really enjoyed our experience there - free breakfast and free parking (if you'll have a rental car), as well as a cute trolley shuttle to the park but it's only a 10 min walk. Previously we stayed at Fairfield inn in 2019 and it was perfectly fine but out of the two we liked candy cane inn way better.

 

[longboard55]

Hawaii is super easy from California, grab a 8am flight out of Long Beach and you can eat lunch in Hawaii

 

[jimmymc]

For those saying to stay in one place on Oahu, would you rather:

- nix Grand Cal and stay at a good neighbor (no early entry, other perks like slightly shorter walk and Disney bubble), and then stay at Aulani for 7 nights

- keep grand cal and don’t stay at aulani at all? Find somewhere else on Oahu

- maintain current plan of three stays, but make middle part at different resort/hotel/timeshare 4 nights

I think for budgetary reasons, 3 nights at Grand Cal followed by 7 nights at Aulani might be hard to swallow, even with renting points.

I personally think 3 hotels are fine. I would make the middle one on Oahu as cheap as possible and use that time to explore the island, then spend your Aulani days at the resort. Grand Cal is beautiful, and I think staying there adds a lot to the Disneyland portion of the trip, but I'm also not sure what prices you're looking at. The hotels across the street are clean and easily walking distance to the parks.

For staying at one hotel in Hawaii, I would need more information. The three major tourist locations I would consider are Aulani area, Waikiki, and Turtle Bay. Turtle Bay is the most remote and you would need a rental car for the whole trip, but it can be cheaper and is in a beautiful setting. Aulani is pricey and has a lot of amenities. Waikiki is a central location and has a range of hotels at different prices. What are you looking to prioritize in Hawaii, and are there any must-see places?

 

[Mardigras2025]

I personally think 3 hotels are fine. I would make the middle one on Oahu as cheap as possible and use that time to explore the island, then spend your Aulani days at the resort. Grand Cal is beautiful, and I think staying there adds a lot to the Disneyland portion of the trip, but I'm also not sure what prices you're looking at. The hotels across the street are clean and easily walking distance to the parks.

For staying at one hotel in Hawaii, I would need more information. The three major tourist locations I would consider are Aulani area, Waikiki, and Turtle Bay. Turtle Bay is the most remote and you would need a rental car for the whole trip, but it can be cheaper and is in a beautiful setting. Aulani is pricey and has a lot of amenities. Waikiki is a central location and has a range of hotels at different prices. What are you looking to prioritize in Hawaii, and are there any must-see places?

Thank you! I think the middle portion of the trip is for exploring. It would be nice to have nice pools, beach, food for relaxing if we need it. But the grandparents have never been to Hawaii. They are history buffs, so obviously Pearl Harbor is a must (with or without the kids). But otherwise unique beaches, mild to moderate hikes, waterfalls, unique food. Maybe the ranch. Maybe check out North Shore to watch surfers if it’s not too late in the season for that. If whales are still around, could consider something there if it is kid friendly. Could save snorkeling and potentially luau for Aulani portion, but mostly relaxing then - lagoon, lazy river, activities, characters, shaved ice, etc. I don’t know a lot about Oahu, but excited to do the research when we go down this route!

The thought process for the three hotels was not running around the island while staying at Aulani - although I know everyone would love to return from a day of excursions to Aulani.

 

[momof2halls]

We did this in 2022 and it was great! We're from the East and flew from ATL to LAX then over to HNL. We headed to Hawaii first and started at Wakiki Beach for 5 nights, then over to Aulani for 5 nights, and finished up at Disneyland for 3 nights. We were able to utilize the time difference on the front end of our trip to explore Oahu, the middle of the trip was full of relaxing at Aulani and we were able to slowly adjust back to our usual time zone by spending our last 4 days at Disneyland. We're planning another trip to Aulani next year and will keep the same itinerary. No matter what you decide, it's sure to be an amazing trip!

 

[VandVsmama]

For those saying to stay in one place on Oahu, would you rather:

- nix Grand Cal and stay at a good neighbor (no early entry, other perks like slightly shorter walk and Disney bubble), and then stay at Aulani for 7 nights

- keep grand cal and don’t stay at aulani at all? Find somewhere else on Oahu

- maintain current plan of three stays, but make middle part at different resort/hotel/timeshare 4 nights

I think for budgetary reasons, 3 nights at Grand Cal followed by 7 nights at Aulani might be hard to swallow, even with renting points.

Nix GCH. Stay at good neighbor hotel on Harbor Blvd. Stay at Aulani for 7 nights.

People make the drive from Aulani to other parts of the island to be a bigger deal than it really is. If you've lived in CA before, you think it's no biggie. Took us about an hour to get from Aulani to Kualoa Ranch.