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Hi Friends!! For this travel edition, I wanted to talk to you about Oahu with kids! A few years ago, for my 40th birthday (I won’t tell you exactly how many years!!), I wanted to go to Hawaii with my family. Being a family of five can be tricky when booking a hotel. I searched and searched and we came down to wanting to stay at Aulani, A Disney Resort or Grand Wailea on Maui.
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I considered even hopping islands and staying at both, but we decided on saving that money and staying on one island. Both would definitely be a splurge, but I found some great deals that made our vacation not overly expensive.
I did open up a Hawaiian Airlines credit card and a Chase credit card to get a bunch of free miles for our flights. I think I managed to get all 5 of us there for under $1500 round trip. I only recommend opening credit cards if you can pay off the balance that is needed to get the bonus points. If you don’t, you’ll end up spending more money on the interest than what you get in bonuses!
My kiddos luckily get out of school the last week of May, so this is still considered Spring time rates at a lot of hotels, Aulani included! They were also running a special, if you stayed three nights you got the fourth free, so we ended up staying four nights. If you have young kids, love Disney, and can find a good deal, this resort is definitely worth to go to one time!
Aulani, A Disney Resort Review
The setting is gorgeous!! These are my pictures and it really is this beautiful. The hotel is set on a cove, so we went from the amazing pools, water slides, lazy river to the beach and back.
I even got some alone time to read! Is there anything better than reading with this view??
As with everything Disney, this hotel is geared towards kids. There are a ton of activities going on daily and they have a drop off kid’s club called Aunty’s Beach House. There is so much going on in the house and you can spend extra and sign up for premium experiences. My daughter was definitely on the older side for the kid’s club when we went (she was 11), so we didn’t utilize it to its’ full potential.
We did have them go for one to two hours most days while my hubby and I enjoyed a cocktail or kid free dinner. Then we would take the kids to the outdoor movie or just walk around the grounds.
We enjoyed many of the free activities. We painted some pictures, watched pool parties, played lawn games, and did a scavenger hunt around the park. We did spend a little extra money to go snorkeling in Rainbow Reef with some cool fish!
There was plenty to do to fill our days. We did not need a car or leave the resort the entire four days we were there. The rooms were also amazing! We had a separate bedroom which is always nice. The kids slept on the pull out sofa and trundle-bed in the front room. There was a nice little kitchenette so you can definitely bring some food.
I’m so glad we went to Aulani and we had a fabulous time. It was definitely worth a little splurge. For us, it was a once in a lifetime trip!
If you’d like to find the best deal, compare prices, and read what other travelers have to say about Aulani at TripAdvisor click here.
Another great site to check for deals is Get Away Today. Find info about Aulani Disney Resort & Spa, Ko Olina Hawaii here.
North Shore Oahu with Kids
For the second half of our trip, we rented a car and a VRBO on North Shore. It was nice and quiet after the business of Aulani. We stayed in a 3 bedroom house looking over the beach. It was a very short walk down to shore and we spent most evenings walking down in the surf. You can read all about this house, Hale Moana, on VRBO here.
The ocean itself was too rough and rocky there, so it wasn’t a place you could go down and have the kids swim. There was a place we walked down to and did a bit of snorkeling, but most places on North Shore we drove too. There were amazing beaches nearby where we snorkled with some sea turtles!
We drove up to Waimea Falls one day, which was really cool to hike around and swim under the water falls.
We loved visiting the little towns nearby and of course enjoyed shaved ice with condensed milk more than once!!
These were our evenings at the house. Gorgeous, peaceful, and breathtaking!!
We absolutely loved Hawaii, both parts of it. It was actually perfect for my family to have the two separate places to stay. We are a bunch of introverts and definitely needed some quiet time after Aulani!
Mahalo Hawaii!! We can’t wait to return!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Let me know if you have any questions!
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