Aulani dining and excursion reservations

[Jenn]

Heading to Aulani in June. We would like to try the restaurants at the resort and book an excursion or two (Pearl Harbor for sure). Should I do this in advance or will it be fine to book while there? We are very open and have 7 full days to work with.

 

[Iceman93]

I would definitely book the excursions in advance. Some really are limited, and I know you'd be disappointed if you got there to find out they were full.

Dining is more of a mixed bag. I've heard some people say they could walk up to both Makahiki and 'Ama 'Ama at any time to get seated. I just know that when I was there last September (reportedly a slow time), there were lots of disappointed people being turned away from 'Ama 'Ama at both breakfast and dinner, and the only reason we got in (repeatedly) was because I had made reservations online months before.

If you don't mind being "locked in" to some of your mealtimes, I would recommend at least making a couple of reservations.

 

[Rob S.]

If you have a car, I would recommend doing Pearl Harbor on your own. That way you can stay as long as you want and see what you want. I would suggest getting there (Pearl Harbor) earlier in the morning to reserve the tours at the times you want.

 

[dianeschlicht]

If you have a car, I would recommend doing Pearl Harbor on your own. That way you can stay as long as you want and see what you want. I would suggest getting there (Pearl Harbor) earlier in the morning to reserve the tours at the times you want.

I totally agree, and I would go one step farther and say a car would give you a LOT of freedom to do other things on the island, and also other places to eat. Some of our favorite dining experiences on Oahu were at little "hole in the wall" type places up on the North shore.

Pearl Harbor should be booked ASAP. My advice is to book within the first hour of opening. After about 9:00 AM the area gets so crowded and not fun to be in.

I wouldn't worry so much about getting dining reservations ahead of time. We found it easy to get in most places, and we found so many other places to eat other than the resort that we enjoyed as much or more.

The excursions put you at the mercy of a lot of people, and that wastes a lot of time. We saw a lot more on a lot less time by driving ourselves.

 

[eva]

If you have a car, I would recommend doing Pearl Harbor on your own. That way you can stay as long as you want and see what you want. I would suggest getting there (Pearl Harbor) earlier in the morning to reserve the tours at the times you want.

Absolutely! We are at Aulani right now. We rented a car and the only tour we booked was the Pearl Harbor tour. I thought it would be nice to avoid the traffic and have somone else bother with getting the tickets. We were pretty disappointed. The guide was the biggest BSer and wouldn't stop talking about ridiculous things, like drinking kava to get a buzz. We spent way too much time on the Missouri and had absolutely no time to see any of the museum at the Arizona. Our guide kept saying that he knew everything about the Missouri because he sailed on her in the Navy. Then we found out he had only been assigned to her for a week. We spent hours walking around the Missouri listening to him talk incessantly. Then he just dropped us off and the Arizona with our tickets. Told us to go to the movie theater in 15 minutes. Right after the movie you ferry across to the monument. Once we returned he met us in the parking lot and took 15 extra minutes coming back by driving through Pearl City telling us his favorite restaurants and bars. Do the tour yourself!

 

[WDW_Diane]

Heading to Aulani in June. We would like to try the restaurants at the resort and book an excursion or two (Pearl Harbor for sure). Should I do this in advance or will it be fine to book while there? We are very open and have 7 full days to work with.

We are also going in June. Looks like there are no Pearl Harbor tickets available until July, on the government website.

 

[Anal Annie]

The Pearl Harbor tickets for the mornings book up pretty far in advance - I booked ours a couple of weeks or so ago for August 10th (to include the USS Missouri) and had hoped to get the 9:15 time but it was gone when I went online to get them. There were 5 tix left for the 8:45 slot and then nothing else until Noon so we took the 8:45 time. I think we may head into Waikiki afterward to hit the Hard Rock Cafe (DS collects their T-shirts). Definitely check out the website for availability and go on your own so you can pace yourself (plus they charge a lot more to do the excursion from Aulani than it would cost you to just do it yourself). If there are no tix left on the website for when you want to go they do sell a few walk-up tix every day but they say you should BE THERE by 7:00 when they open if you want to get in.

 

[dianeschlicht]

For those of you going to Pearl Harbor (self guided), DO make sure you do the Missouri. It is one of our favorite things to do and something our whole group enjoyed this last trip. I took far more pictures of the Missouri and Bowfin than I did anything else at the Pearl Harbor museum. Both were super interesting, and if you can read, you don't need a guide.

 

[DenLo]

If you have a car, I would recommend doing Pearl Harbor on your own. That way you can stay as long as you want and see what you want. I would suggest getting there (Pearl Harbor) earlier in the morning to reserve the tours at the times you want.

If you have a car, I would definitely book any Pearl Harbor attractions online that you want to do. June is a busy month and if anything is available for walk ups, it books up right after opening time. http://www.recreation.gov/tourParkDetail.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=72369

My DSIL and family did the excursion though Aulani and thought it was a great excursion. However they spent so much more money doing that excursion than we did renting a car and booking tickets online with the National Park Service.

BTW regarding car rentals. We booked through Alamo at the 7 month mark and got a rotten price. We just kept checking and about 8 weeks from check in the price dramatically dropped. So we cancelled our reservation and got a larger car for half the price. I read on other websites that many were finding the same thing for other car rental companies.

 

[aclov]

This will be my 2nd time to Pearl Harbor, first time was self guided this time we are going with a tour as I thought that might be easier. We have dinner resv at AMA AMA and also going in June!

 

[WDW_Diane]

The Pearl Harbor tickets for the mornings book up pretty far in advance - I booked ours a couple of weeks or so ago for August 10th (to include the USS Missouri) and had hoped to get the 9:15 time but it was gone when I went online to get them. There were 5 tix left for the 8:45 slot and then nothing else until Noon so we took the 8:45 time. I think we may head into Waikiki afterward to hit the Hard Rock Cafe (DS collects their T-shirts). Definitely check out the website for availability and go on your own so you can pace yourself (plus they charge a lot more to do the excursion from Aulani than it would cost you to just do it yourself). If there are no tix left on the website for when you want to go they do sell a few walk-up tix every day but they say you should BE THERE by 7:00 when they open if you want to get in.

Can you see anything or even get in Pearl Harbor without

 

[WDW_Diane]

We are staying in Ko Olina during our entire stay. We will want to go into Honolulu for sightseeing probably two different days. Is it better to go on the weekend, or weekdays, traffic and crowd-wise?

 

[WDW_Diane]

Can you see anything or even get in Pearl Harbor without

Can you see anything or even get in to Pearl Harbor without tickets? Since there are no website tickets left during our stay, we would be forced to buy a "package" deal.
Is the ticket just to ride over to the white memorial building over the sunken battleship, or is the ticket for the whole deal?

 

[dianeschlicht]

Can you see anything or even get in to Pearl Harbor without tickets? Since there are no website tickets left during our stay, we would be forced to buy a "package" deal.
Is the ticket just to ride over to the white memorial building over the sunken battleship, or is the ticket for the whole deal?

Tickets include the memorial, the Missouri, and the Bowfin if you wish to do those. Any ticket gets you into the mueseum, but I don't think the tour guides let you do much of that. The fact that large tour groups buy up large blocks of tickets is the reason you can't find any online.

 

[eva]

For those of you going to Pearl Harbor (self guided), DO make sure you do the Missouri. It is one of our favorite things to do and something our whole group enjoyed this last trip. I took far more pictures of the Missouri and Bowfin than I did anything else at the Pearl Harbor museum. Both were super interesting, and if you can read, you don't need a guide.

Oh, I very much agree! But our guide spent nearly 3 hours of our 5 hour tour there. We only drove thought the Punchbowl and barely had enough time for the movie and ferry to the Arizona Memorial. If you can do it on your own, do! But if you can't, still do the tour with a tour company. Everyone that is interested should go.

Ps - They had a standby line while we were there. Everyone in the standby line got into the movie and the ferry to the memorial. So you might just take your chances.

 

[Anal Annie]

Oh, I very much agree! But our guide spent nearly 3 hours of our 5 hour tour there. We only drove thought the Punchbowl and barely had enough time for the movie and ferry to the Arizona Memorial. If you can do it on your own, do! But if you can't, still do the tour with a tour company. Everyone that is interested should go.

Ps - They had a standby line while we were there. Everyone in the standby line got into the movie and the ferry to the memorial. So you might just take your chances.

IMHO there really isn't anything else to do at the Punchbowl but to drive through it. I didn't go there until my 4th trip to Hawaii and then when we drove through (which is also all that we did on our tour too) I was like "OH. This is it?!" Honestly I could've gone the rest of my life without it and would never have missed it. The Missouri however DOES take quite awhile to get through. We are going again this summer because last time we went our DS was only like 9 so not old enough to know what he was seeing. This time though he will be 16. He is taking AP US History now and will have Modern World History next year so it should have more meaning to him. We spent nearly 5 hours on our Pearl Harbor tour on that trip. I'd guess the movie & Arizona take 45-60 minutes and probably 2-3 hours on the Missouri.

 

[eva]

IMHO there really isn't anything else to do at the Punchbowl but to drive through it. I didn't go there until my 4th trip to Hawaii and then when we drove through (which is also all that we did on our tour too) I was like "OH. This is it?!" Honestly I could've gone the rest of my life without it and would never have missed it. The Missouri however DOES take quite awhile to get through. We are going again this summer because last time we went our DS was only like 9 so not old enough to know what he was seeing. This time though he will be 16. He is taking AP US History now and will have Modern World History next year so it should have more meaning to him. We spent nearly 5 hours on our Pearl Harbor tour on that trip. I'd guess the movie & Arizona take 45-60 minutes and probably 2-3 hours on the Missouri.

I guess that is why people that are really interested in history/WWII and such should probably do the tour on their own. We definitely could have spent a bit more time on the Missouri, but not by missing the entire museum at the Arizona and no time at the Punchbowl. DH is a WWII buff and he definitely wanted to get out at the Punchbowl. We both enjoy walking around military cemeteries. I guess to us it is like just driving through Arlington or not get out of the car at Normandy. To be honest, we should have done a full day of all three on our own.