Disneyland before Aulani -- tell me how you did it

[lovedisney123]

If you included a stop at Disneyland before flying to Aulani, please tell me where you stayed and what you thought of the experience. We plan to go next year for spring break so will have 1 week. We thought it may be nice to stop in California for a day before flying to Hawaii. But we are not sure if we should do that, or just go right to Hawaii since we have 1 week for vacation. Thanks!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

We did that a couple years ago. We are from the midwest and we flew in on an evening flight. We needed to keep the Disneyland portion as cheap as possible so we stayed at an Airbnb about 10 mins away and got 2 day single park tickets. Then we flew out early the third day to Hawaii, where we had 8 days.

Since you only have a week for vacation, I wouldn’t recommend the DL stop. Hawaii is incredible and you’re going to want to soak up the maximum time possible.

 

[Daisy7425]

I don't think that is enough time to stop in Disneyland and get enough time in Hawaii. Most people here even say one week in just Hawaii is too short (although we are going for 8 days because it's the most we can manage with vacation time).

I'd imagine on day one you'd fly to DL, have a half day in DL, day two is a full day in DL, day three fly to HI. That would only give you three full days in Hawaii.

 

[Nalshersmom]

We stopped on our way back from Hawaii. We spent 2 nights in the Grand Californian and a free night at the Holiday Inn Express. It gave us something to look forward to after having to leave Hawaii. We spent 18 nights in Hawaii, and I still wish we had time to visit Kauai. It was a very nice ending to our trip.

 

[kyton]

We’ve done 10 days at Disneyland (staying at Grand Californian) followed by 5 days at Aulani then 5 days in Waikiki.

You don’t say where you are flying from but I have a general rule that you don’t go anywhere for less then the amount of hours you fly converted to days. Ewe fly from Australia so 9hr to Oahu = minimum 9 day stay. This is because you write off your first and last day with travel only leaving the days in the middle to actually experience / relax / enjoy where you are visiting.

i wouldn’t be stopping at Disneyland for a day - it’s simply not worth it.

 

[abdgeek]

If you included a stop at Disneyland before flying to Aulani, please tell me where you stayed and what you thought of the experience. We plan to go next year for spring break so will have 1 week. We thought it may be nice to stop in California for a day before flying to Hawaii. But we are not sure if we should do that, or just go right to Hawaii since we have 1 week for vacation. Thanks!

The answer to your question really depends on whether your flight will connect thru LAX. If it does, you can try to arrive in LAX early in the morning to give you all day to visit DL. If you can get a late night flight on that same day to Hawaii, that would be the best scenario.

I have visited DL while on the way to other places before. I always stay at the Grand Californian because I own there. As OP have said, there are cheaper places to stay that are within walking distance of DL. Stopping at DL means you will only have about 4 days to enjoy Aulani unless you can arrive early and leave late at the beginning and end of your trip. While you can’t do everything in the Magic Kingdom and California Adventure in one day, you can do the main rides by spending a couple of hours in each. You will also want to check the DL hours for April to see how late the park is open. Good luck with your decision.

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

I'm from FL so it was actually a lot cheaper to fly to Hawaii from the west coast and get separate flights to Cali than to fly direct from here. Flew out of Long Beach to Hawaii and I would do it exactly the same way again.

 

[nkereina]

IMO, one week is not enough time to justify a stop in DL. We had 16 days and still decided we'd rather maximize our time in Hawaii. We wanted to just get there, so that's what we did.

We recently took a separate DL trip, flying in and out of LAX. People gripe about LAX, but the flight times and prices were significantly better compared to the Orange County airport that's closer to DL. It was about a 90 minute commute with traffic in our experience - we took a shuttle on the way there, and an Uber on the way back. We stayed at the Tropicana across the street from DL for easy access.

 

[Paflyers]

We leave on Feb 5th. We live in the Midwest. Spending 5 days in DLR and then Spending 8 days at Aulani. We opted for the stay at DLR, one because I love Disney and NEEDED to see Disneyland, and two because we thought it would make for a nice adjustment to the time changes, and three it was cheaper to book all one-way flights across the board. I got flights to LAX for $85 each and flight to HNL for $120 each. The flights back were a little more pricey, sitting at $320 each, but I didn't care!

 

[Karebear]

I live in California and have been to Disneyland and also Hawaii multiple times. I honestly don’t think that one week is enough to justify a stop in Disneyland and still be able to enjoy Hawaii. You could stay at Disneyland for one day but there is just too much to see to do it all in a day and then you will really cut into your Hawaii portion of the trip. If you had longer, then I would say go for it. But with only one week, just fly to Hawaii and enjoy that

 

[plygph]

We did this because we were flying with 2 small children to break up that long flight to HI.
Airport: LAX
Rented cars
Hotel: CANDY CANE INN nice comfortable place close to Disneyland with FREE parking and FREE shuttle.
2 days
Back to LAX and onto Aulani

 

[Amw1064]

I do not think 1 week is enough time to stop at Disneyland. This past summer we stayed 3 nights at the Fairfield Inn across the street from Disneyland and then 12 nights at Aulani.

 

[lovedisney123]

OK Thank you SOOOO much everyone! You convinced me. We will just go to Hawaii. Maybe the next years spring break we can do a week at Disneyland and visit Hollywood. Sounds like it needs to be two different trips. Wish spring breaks were longer Thanks again!

 

[nkereina]

OK Thank you SOOOO much everyone! You convinced me. We will just go to Hawaii. Maybe the next years spring break we can do a week at Disneyland and visit Hollywood. Sounds like it needs to be two different trips. Wish spring breaks were longer Thanks again!

This is exactly what we did. Hawaii on our honeymoon in 2016, and then a Disneyland/LA/Hollywood trip this past Spring for a week. Trip reports for both are in my signature!

 

[lovedisney123]

Thanks!