Can anyone recommend fun places for the whole family in Hawaii?? We have not visited previously and are starting to do our homework now. We will be traveling with three children ages 5-12 and would like to hear recommendations on hotels and sites for families.
Thank you.

Which island(s) are you thinking about going to??

How long are you going for also?

We are planning to spend two weeks in Hawaii and haven't decided on which islands. More than likely, we will spend time on the big island and some time on one other island. We plan to go in late May/early June.

We stayed on the Big Island at the Hilton Waikaloa Resort when our kids were 9 and 15 and they loved it. It was a little too Disneyland like for our tastes and the kids never wanted to go sight seeing! It's a place they will remember!

My initial thoughts are to spend time doing the "tourist" type attractions and then spend at least one week in a more relaxed setting. Our kids enjoy an adventure and we would like to explore the natural side of the islands as well.

Are you going to the big island for the volcanoes?

Are you intending to skip Oahu/Waikiki/Honolulu altogether? Most first visits don't typically include the big island though there is less touristy things to do there so the relaxing thing can be had pretty easily on the big island.

If you can fly directly to Maui I think families can have a great time there. A stay in Kaanapali would be lots of fun for the kids.

After that you could move to the big island as there are direct flights on Hawaiian Airlines and Aloha Air.

Hilton Waikoloa Village is fun for kids but so is the Waikoloa Beach Marriott which is next door. It's smaller and located on a great bay.

Your kids will love what you love at that age. I have gone with kids and the parents loved hiking the kids loved hiking, parents had an appreciation for museums, kids had an appreciation of museums. Don't you see this as a parent, kids love what you love or what you have exposed them to? Sure this can change as you enter teen years but you probably already have an idea of what they don't like, yes?

In Kauai, I have gone with kids 8, 12,13,11,16. If I go with parents that expose their kids, they pretty much are up for anything. That means hiking, swimming, snorkle, museum going (put into context by a smart parent), shopping, trying new foods. Its always been my experience that if I am excited about something so is the kid. If I go with parents and I have (this is a lot of people)(no shame here)who tailor events specifically for their idea of what a kid will be ready for or will be interested in we spend an inordinate amount of time in the hotel and in the mall. Sorry this just happened to me. Something I noticed when traveling with 3 different families, 3 different trips to Hawaii.

Stayed at Hilton Waikola on this past trip. I think as an adult you will appreciate it for one day and then it will become tired. I would not spend more than a few nights there unless you want to park your kids on the menihuni program and amscray. They just don't offer the customer service of smaller hotels. Ask about the Myna bird problem in the tower you are looking at. I would not rent space in the Laguana tower ever, the birds at sunset can be deafening and they don't stop chirping until early morning hours. Course this is not always predictable, we were told they would only squeal for a couple of hours and then they would start up at 6AM!!! They went until about midnight and did not start up again. We were told to stuff a towl under our door to muffle noise. At capacity they will not switch your room with this problem. Late checks outs are also difficult during full capacity as well as cleanliness of the grounds. We had a room service tray in front of our room from previous guests for 2 days. Now the front of the room is outside so that was dirty dishes in the sun for 2 days (blocking the path that everyone on our floor used to leave)and they were not even our dishes or our neighbors dishes. It also took us 2hours to check in even though we arrived at 5PM well after standard check in of 3PM. We were told to expect our bags in our room 45 minutes later.
Last peeve, there are 3 people that take your bags from your car, one removes from the car, a second removes from the entrance, a third brings them to your room. We were 4 people so it was $30 bucks to get our bags to our room only. We were told we could not take our own bags to the room which of course was silly but we were too tired to complain. Over tip or stiff one of the guys. They don't share tips and the burden is placed on you.

I liked the Haipuna Prince on the Kohala coast, just next to the state park of Haipuna beach. Life guards on this beach don't recall seeing a single life guard at Waikoloa. Something different hotels do to keep insurance risk low. Unless I just missed the guy? Three swiming areas so if there was a life guard he/she was in some obscure area. Haipuna Beach State Park has a life gurads every few hundred yards think I saw two life guard stands on the stretch of sand in front of the hotel.

Did anyone purchase an Entertainment Book for use in Hawaii. Seems there are lots of discounts for tours/food and it looks worthwhile.

I have only looked at it Hawaii2006 a lot of events are dated so you pass the date you miss the bate. The bate is commercial activities you really don't need to explore to have a wonderful time on Hawaii.

We saw a ton of people heading to Manoa falls one day on a tour, $90 a person I bet. They were families all in new sneakers LOL. A little research and they would have saved the $ on the tour and the & on the sneakers.

You can research others findings with the coupon book though here on the forum. Just be sure to click on the name of the poster and see if they are common travelers or just people on here promoting the book LOL. I look at those books on every trip I just don't see the bonus. You can find your own snorkle spots,hiking spots, and better restaurants don't offer coupon options.

You know though this is just one opinion. Do a search.

Are finalizing plans and we will do the tourist sites in Honolulu and then off to Kauai. Two weeks total time in Hawaii. Would appreciate any current updates about getting around between islands and fun places to visit with kids (ages 5-12). Thanks.

In Oahu drive to the North Shore and stop for a snorkel at Shark's cove (no sharks). Pick up some shaved ice and mochi ice cream. Stop at the pineapple farm and have the pineapple sorbet, it's delicious! Look up Kailua Beach, the river flows into the ocean there and the kids can literally pick up the small fish. Lanakai Beach is nearby, a little hard to find, but beautiful. No facilities though. Suggestion...pack a collapsible cooler with water bottles and snacks. At the Hilton Hawaiian Village, you can see a fireworks show on Friday nights. Stop in and see the penguins in front of the Alii tower. My daughters absolutely loved them! Of course there is Pearl HArbor, Diamond Head and Waikiki Beach. To get around interisland you need to take a jet, Hawaiian Air or Aloha. The flights are very quick. There is so much to see and do, you never quite get to do everything. We didn't go to Hanauma Bay. Got there 7:00 a.m. and it was already blocked off.

Hawaii2006--Good choices for a first trip, (Oahu and Kauai) IMHO!!
The best planning book that is children-oriented for Kauai is Lenore Horowitz's "Kauai Underground Guide" and you can get a sense of it if see her website, explorekauai.com. The book gives a young child (and older) and parents viewpoint in terms of recommended activities on Kauai. Her love for the island and expereince through many years of visiting with her own family is evident on every page.
On Oahu, please don't miss Pearl Harbor. Your twelve year old, and even the younger ones, will get something from it. My daughter and her friend were 10 and 11 when I first took them, and they learned and felt so much there.
Have a great trip, and keep asking lots of questions as you have done!

Re: the Entertainment Book, I think the most useful thing is getting the card for the hotel discounts, many of which are half price if you ask for the "entertainment rate". However, you can use ANY state/locale's Entertainment Card for that. Just one example, Outrigger/Ohana hotels often honor it and will give you 50% off their hotels' rack rates, depending on the season, and how far in advance you book.

Thanks for the info about the Entertainment hotel discounts, I'll be sure to see if we can use it. As we finalize plans, more questions will follow. Thanks again for your recommendations.

The coupon for the Polynesian Cultural Center more than covered the cost of the book for our family. We also used the Atlantis Submarine Tour coupon. We used other coupons as well. We compared all the various discounts etc. for rental cars and found that the Entertainment coupon rates were often the best value.

We also bought an Activity & Attractions Association gold card which more than paid for itself. Their website is hawaiifun.org - the great thing is that they list all of their discounts on their website so you can decide if it is worth it for you.

Do you plan to snorkle at Haunama (spelling?) Bay? We really enjoyed it - our youngest was six at the time and had a great time. We bought a snorkel suit for her at Sam's Club that had flotation built right into it and the water is pretty shallow there. If you go, plan to be there as soon as they open. The wait gets VERY long VERY quickly. Take the public bus, which drops you off right by the entrance of the park - don't drive there. Parking is extremely limited so we ended up parking off site and our rental car was broken into. The police said that these break-ins are extremely common because they know the tourist will be occupied down at the Bay for several hours and that cameras, purses, etc are often locked in the cars.

The airlines that go from island to island generally partner with large airlines so you can use frequent flier miles for the flight - it requires fewer miles than a regular domestic flight, you'd have to check you plan's specific requirements. This is not worthwhile if are accumulating all of your miles on one program - but it is a good way to use miles that are close to expiring etc. We had some miles with Northwest that were accumulated through having long-distance phone service with MCI. NWA doesn't fly out of our airport and the miles were just sitting there. We were able to get three free tickets for our family between Maui and Oahu. It may be worth looking into - maybe not.

Lots to do on Oahu including some websites that are good for all islands:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=34696831

On Oahu:

Bishop Museum has a new Volcano Exhibit Building where kids can learn about volcanoes and actually make them erupt. I went yesterday and was really impressed.

Children's Discovery Center is nice. Mostly geared for kids under 10.

Sea Life Park is nice. Kind of like a small Sea World. If you've ever been to, or plan to go to a Sea World, forget about Sea Life Park.

Hawaiian Adventures Water Park is nice, but rather pricey.

Honolulu Zoo is Nice as is the nearby Waikiki Aquarium.

Chinatown is nice to tour with kids.

Hawaii Maritime Museum is nice and close to Chinatown. It includes a tour of the Falls of Clyde, an old sailing ship.

Kauai:

www.kauaidiscovery.com

www.kauai-hawaii.com

Dusty I think the Hawaii tourist board should start hiring mainlanders who come over frequently, can you put in a word for me?

good Choice Hawaii 2005 I think when you go with kids its good to blend Oahu with any outer island.

Lenard's Malasadas in Makiki, Dusty maybe you could give her the address. Kids loved this when I went.

Oceanarium when you are walking in Waikiki.

There is also a night time exhibit in Aquarium. I have always meant to do. This is a small aquarium but has WORLDWIDE significance. PBS just did a documentary on Aquariums across the U.S and came here. I was surprised that its research was so wide reaching. Would have just anticipated them visiting Sea Life Park over this place but I am no marine biologist. They have learned how to grow coral and most aquariums in U.S if not the world have some of this Aquarium's coral.
....chills, just went to shark cam in the aquarium LOL http://www.waquarium.org/

Rusty...reading in the Honolulu Star bulletin that there was a law restricting street entertainment in Waikiki? Not sure who this impacts? Does this include city sponsored Halau presentations? Use to always see these in Waikik when J Harris was major. Did these demonstrations end?