Vacation With Kids in Hawaii
You think Hawaii is for romantic vacations only? Think again. Hawaii is actually a great place for a family vacation, especially the main Island of Oahu and the Waikiki Beach area. There are many cool and fun things to do, nature and marine life to see, and great places for rest and relaxation. More than likely, your greatest worry is going to be how to squeeze in so many great places into your short vacation time…
Here are some cool places that you can enjoy with your kids:
Atlantis Submarine
This popular adventure takes you more than 100 feet below the surface for a 45 minutes underwater tour of Marine life in Waikiki. The submarine passes by coral riffs, sunken shipwrecks and airplanes, sea turtles, and countless fish and other sea creatures. The 64-passenger submarine is air-conditioned and has large view ports and comfortable seating.
Bishop Museum
The new Science Adventure Center feature Over 16,000 square feet of interactive exhibits and high-tech displays that let kids discover the volcanoes, oceans and diverse environment of Hawaii and the Pacific. Other exhibits of the museum include live hula performances, planetarium shows, garden tours, dramatic storytelling, Hawai’i Sports Hall of Fame and exciting traveling exhibits in the Castle Memorial Building.
Cirque Hawaii
Cirque Hawaii is a multi million dollar state of the art theatrical extravaganza in the heart of Waikiki. The show is an exotic blend of strength, balance, humor, skill, beauty and grace, and features aerial, dance and acrobatic acts, including Trapeze, Flying Silk, Skip Rope, Bungee, Clown, and Polynesian Warriors. This awe-inspiring 1 hour and 15 minutes show is a great entertainment for the whole family, and can be combined with dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Dole Plantation
Dole Plantation is a popular Hawaii attraction. It has “The world’s largest maze” (2001 Guinness Book of World Records), two-mile, 20-minute “Pineapple Express” train ride, and a Plantation Garden tour.
Hawaii’s Children’s Discovery Center
The Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center is a world-class interactive center. Kids are invited to explore, experiment and play with interactive exhibits, using their senses of touch, sight, hearing, and smell to better understand themselves and the world around them.
Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park
Hawaii’s only water park offers many fun rides and adventures, including inner tube rides, free-fall six stories down speed slides, mega wavepool, body surf or inner tube ride on 2 to 4 foot waves, tube cruise down an 800-foot long continuous river, interactive children’s playground filled with waterfalls, mini-slides and water cannons, multi-level activity pool with seven family slides, lily pad walks and other water attractions.
Honolulu Zoo
The Honolulu Zoo features over 1,230 animals in specially designed habitats. You can get a glimpse of the endangered nene which is the Hawai’i state bird, visit the African Savanna, native Hawaiian forest birds, Pacific Islands and the Children’s Zoo. The zoo also features family programs such as Twilight tours, Snooze in the Zoo, Breakfast with a keeper, birthday Parties, and day camps.
Luau
A luau is a Hawaiian party and feast. Most Luaus feature native Hawaiian food and entertainment, such as Hawaiian music and hula dancing. Many Luaus greet you with the traditional lei, and feature the traditional imu ceremony, in which the roast Kalua Pig will be dug up from the rock-filled underground oven (imu) where it has been slow-roasting all day. Dinner buffet usually includes multi-course Polynesian delicacies as well as American favorites. After dinner it’s show time – a Polynesian revue featuring songs and dances from Hawaii and other Polynesian islands.
Polynesian Cultural Center
This popular attraction is located about an hour from Waikiki. This 42-acre open-air park has seven native villages that are designed to immerse the visitors in the Hawaiian and other South Pacific cultures. Natives will be demonstrating the arts of dancing with fire, making jewelry from plants, and climbing 50-foot trees in bare feet. There are also native arts and crafts demonstrations such as carving tiki statues, canoe pageant, reenactment of war dances and wedding ceremonies, an IMAX theater, an authentic luau and a Polynesian night show.
Sea Life Park
Sea Life Park is a world-class marine attraction located 15 miles from Waikiki on Oahu’s beautiful and scenic Makapuu Point. The park features a 300,000-gallon aquarium, housing sea lions, dolphins, sharks, stingrays, turtles and other marine mammals in a variety of entertaining and educational attractions such as dolphins dancing, sea lions singing, and penguins performing. Other attractions are the Sea Lion Feeding Pool, Sea Turtle Lagoon, Sea Bird Sanctuary, Hawaiian Reef Exhibit and Pirate’s Lagoon. There are also some interactive programs for swimming with dolphins and snorkeling by the stingray’s side.
Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay
Hanauma Bay is located along the East Oahu coastline, and is a protected marine life conservation area and underwater park. This bay, which is all that remains from an ancient volcano, is one of Hawaii’s favorite places for snorkeling, scuba diving, or swimming among turtles and tropical fish. There are over 450 species of colorful tropical fish in Hanauma Bay, many of them are indigenous to Hawaii.
Waikiki Aquarium
This great family attraction features an amazing variety of marine life from the tropical Pacific and Hawaii. It has a wonderful collection of bright and colorful exotic tropical fish, as well as sharks, living corals, endangered Hawaiian monk seals, graceful sea jellies, and many more unique and fascinating marine creatures.
Waikiki Beach
Waikiki Beach is one of the best known beaches in the world. It is usually crowded but is a very nice area for swimming, surfing, snorkeling, surfboarding, sun tanning, sand castle building, and outrigger canoe riding.
Waikiki Trolley
The Waikiki Trolley is a popular means of transportation in Oahu, and is fun and convenient. The Trolley’s four lines routes cover almost all tourist attractions and stops at most major shopping malls in Oahu.
For more details and photo gallery please visit the Kids Vacations section of our web site: http://www.cool-kids-places.com/kids-vacations-hawaii.html
Dee Adams
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/vacation-with-kids-in-hawaii-707792.html
When is the best time for a Hawaii vacation with kids?
We would love to go to Hawaii next year (March or later) and wanted any input on the best time of year to go, where to stay, vacation packages, etc. We have 5 kids (ages 4, 5, 10, 12, & 14) also, so activities for the whole family would be awesome. Any help is greatly appreciated!
dont go during hurricane season!! i think the spring time is best-a vacation on spring break may be nice and they won’t have to miss any school a + for u! have a nice trip!
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weather.com
Being from Hawaii. I would say anytime of the year is perfect. The weather is the same almost all year round. The weather is unpredictable so its hard to say really, its not like Hawaii has seasons. As for activities, there is the beach, driving around the island, Polynesian culture center, pearl harbor, and Iolani Palace. For a family day at the beach, Hanauma Bay is a good place to go. It has the best snorkeling in the world.
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We went to Maui & in all honesty it was not really kid friendly. Except for the really nice aquarium there would have been nothing for my son to do. I’m glad we didn’t bring him.
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Right after Easter hotel & airfare prices reduce significantly. April, May & 1st part of June, because it’s off season. Dec. – March is winter & everyone wnts & does come to Hawaii & everything is morre expensive & crowded. Your time period is good, more availability of everything, rooms, tours, rental cars, & don’t be afraid to ask for an upgrade, it never hurts to ask, if your nice & they like you & ur adorable kids they might just give you anything you want. Look on , gohawaii.com & craigslist.com, then go to the appropriate categories you want these are 2 good sites. Maui is excellent, I lived there, beach is free except for snorkelgear & make your own sandwhiches & juice & water in a styrofoam cooler w/ a bag of ice, that’s a really enjoyable day, inexpensive, & the kids will sleep like baby’s after all day running/swimming/snorkeling in the hot sun. Whaler’s Condo, or Napili Kai Beach Club,Kaanapali Alii, on the beach, have kitchens, Westin Maui, on the beach, no kitchen, waterslides, 7pools, depends how much you want to spend.
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16 yrs. Tourism business on Maui, the rest on Oahu.Feb., March rainy season, by the end of March you should be alright.
We went Labor day 2005 for 10 days, very little tourist then, but gasoline prices were hitting the HIGH when we arrived due to the hurricanes in New Orleans.
Was great because it was considered the Off season. The flight out was not full and neither was the flight back. We were upgraded to Premium economy on United because we booked early.
We stayed at the Hilton Double Tree Alana Hotel, had a pool that was great. Price was great, view of ocean and we were not in with the rest of the tourist. Booked a year in advance (we are cheap) We were able to come and go every quickly. Being on Waikki beach is not what it appears to be. The other beaches we visited were much cleaner and nicer.
Check out http://www.robertshawaii.com/ they have tours that take you around if you do not have a rental vehicle. We found out about them while we were there and used their Activity Information list to find out what to see.
Highlights of the Oahu Grand Circle Island include:
Diamond Head – great but bring water and go first thing in the morning
Pali Lookout
Hanauma Bay (closed on Tuesdays)
Halona Point ("Blow Hole")
Mormon Temple
Byodo-In at the "Valley of the Temples" (admission included)
Kualoa Nursery
North Shore
Waimea Bay
Haleiwa
Waimea Falls Park http://www.hawaiiactivities.com
This is where Lost and Jerasic Park was filmed near here.
Look at this web site. We used the map 100% of the time and it was great. http://www.driveguidemagazines.com/ found a lot of
things we never saw on the internet without it. Skip the popular beach and go to the local’s beach, better, cleaner and less people.
We stopped at the local supermarket to pick up soda and breakfeast foods for the hotel room( we have a frequent user card from there too now, told you we were cheap).
Subway was our daily lunch choice (hey we are really cheap), as it was right near our hotel, that with our soda and chips from the market, kept our expenses down.
For activities we did the following
Parasailing (loved it, but not for kids)
Dole Plantation (kids will like it) http://www.dole-plantation.com
Shopping http://www.hilohattie.com/
Atlantis Submarine http://www.atlantisadventures.com/
Pearl Harbor
You have to get some shaved ice on the North Shore in Haleiwa Matsumoto’s Shave Ice stand, not far from here is the diver off the rocks.
Did not do but because of time http://www.sealifeparkhawaii.com
This is where the movie 50 First dates was filmed.
Oh by the way our airfare was $20 for both of us, frequent flyer miles booked a year in advance (TOLD YOU WE ARE CHEAP).
Hope you love it as much as we do.
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Been there done that, want to go back
That sounds like a great time to visit the islands. I’m sure you already know to avoid travel during any holiday as rates go up everywhere on the planet.
Since you have 5 children with you I would recommend staying at one of the larger resorts who now have programs for the kids. Your 12 and 14 year old are probably not going to be interested in the same things as the younger kids, but some things are great for the whole family, like the historical tours.
Regardless of where you decide to stay maybe consider hiring a local tour guide. The cost of the guide will more than pay for itself. Just book a guide through the resort, travel agency, or through Maui.net. There are so many free and fun things to do but most are not on the tourist maps. If they were then it wouldn’t be free anymore. A local guide can show you the places that local go. I am actually surprised that nobody has recommended this yet. Do not accept any guide who just approaches you are the airport or on the beach. On Maui this might be safe but in Honolulu the crime rate is just as high as any other major city and yes they do target tourists.
Anyway, Maui is my favorite island. Lahaina has all the historical sites, plus there are plenty of beaches you can go to like the park at Kihei, dive shop right across the street to rent a few masks and fins. The kids can take turns swiiming right off that beach where there is almost no current so it is fairly safe and you can see so many tropical fish, just swim right along with them. Get some of those little inflatable arm bags for the younger kids. A guide can also arrange a trip up to Haleakula park where you can go down into the crater of you like. You could rent a car and make it yourself but you would miss so much.
The only problem I see is for your 4 and 5 year olds who are just a little too small to avail of a lot of the activities. This is why one of the larger resorts who have programs for the yound kids would be a great choice.
Anyway check out http://www.maui.net to find a guide or the best prices on hotels, resorts, everything you need. This is a local website run by some guys right in Kahului, Maui..
I honestly don’t think you can have a bad time on Maui though. But do be careful in Honolulu where there is crime just like any other big city. I would get off of that island as soon as possible as all of the other islands are pretty safe. Honolulu is also a port city so plenty of shady characters around. Maybe contact Hapa Travel in Maui when you get there for more info about getting around the islands.
Have a great time
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We are upcountry people from Haiku, Maui, Hawaii
summer… you can go surfing, wind surfing, practically any surfing…. go to the beach… go to the water parks… go to the swapmeet…. get some food which is hella good…. and see the attractions…. and a lot of other things…
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i used to live there