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Northern California Babies
Anyone been to Maui with their pre-schooler?
A trip to Maui literally just landed in our laps! A relative offered up a week in her timeshare (usually $350/night) and all we have to pay for is our flight. We're going in late November and will be staying on the Kaanapali shore.
I've been to Maui a few times, but never with a child and the last time we went I was 7 months pregnant so we didn't do much.
Anyone have any tips for how to make this a great trip for all of us? Bonus points for restaurant recs that are budget friendly 
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Re: Anyone been to Maui with their pre-schooler?
Um, I'm JEALOUS!!!!!
No real recs, sorry. I think that L will be very entertained with the pools, the beach and all the sights and sounds while shopping and checking things out.
Haven't been to Kaanapali, but there were a lot of budget friendly finds (with kid fare too) in Lahaina.
Have fun!!!!
OMG! AMAZING!
I've only been to Hawaii once (with the high school band, ha ha, band camp!) but my parents have gone quite a few times. It may not be as relaxing for you but they always, always check a cooler full of different prepared meals my mom does ahead of time so they don't have to go out to eat every meal, Hawaii is SO expensive and usually those condos/timeshares have kitchens.
Of course go out a few nights but the awesome thing about that is you can splurge on better places if you only go out a few times. Just a thought.
Jealous! Miss L will LOVE it! Can I come in your suitcase?!?!
Kaanapali is great for kids! We went last December and are going again this year. We tried to do a non-beach activity every other day.
The boys loved the train and the glass bottom boat:
Train: https://www.sugarcanetrain.com/
Glass Bottom Boat: https://www.mauiglassbottomboat.com/
We didn't go to the aquarium, but kept the info in case of a rainy day (got lucky with no rain on our last trip)
Aquarium: https://www.mauioceancenter.com/
We played at the beach in front of our hotel, but have heard there is a beach called
Baby Beach in Lahaina that has much calmer waters than most other beaches, because an offshore breakwater blocks many of the big waves from reaching the
shore.
We stayed in a condo so ate mostly in our kitchen or at the resort restaurants. There are definitely casual, budget friendly spots to eat in Lahaina, will try to think of the names of a couple.
Restaurants:
Kimo's: pricey for dinner, but lunch on the Lanai is fairly reasonable for the awesome view https://www.kimosmaui.com/static/index.cfm?contentID=68
Penne Pasta Cafe: not on the ocean, but good food https://www.pennepastacafe.com/index.html
107 Read/listened to in 2011: 91 Books/16 Audiobooks
Read 2012: 33/50
the book we had when went to Maui was excellent, called Maui revealed, https://www.wizardpub.com/maui/maui.html
I didn't go with a child, but it had great reviews of everything, very thorough, very up to date, and they have a website where they will notify you of any changes/closures, etc.
We were in Kapalua bay which has a great beach and it's awesome for kids and for snorkeling both.
If you are staying in an apartment which it sounds like you are, that is great because you can make a lot of food at home. We ate in a lot, bought great fruit, sandwich stuff and only ate out at night, and not every night. We had great luck at a place called Paia fish market but that is far from Kaanapali. We loved Paia though, great little town, right on the way back from the Road to Hana (or road to hell, lol!).
We have been there a bunch of times with E and once with J. We usually stay in Kahului, but we've stayed in Ka'anapali once. Last year we brought E to the aquarium and he loved it. They have sharks and sea turtles! It's a lot smaller than the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but it's worth visiting.
The beaches that I like are mainly in Kihei and Wailea:
-Kamaole I, II and III
-Ulua
That'll be a bit of a drive for you from Ka'anapali, but you can always head in that direction in the morning, have breakfast or brunch and then head back afterwards. What kind of restaurants are you looking for? There's a good poke place in Kihei called Eskimo Candy.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/eskimo-candy-seafood-market-and-deli-kihei
You HAVE to go to Da Kitchen. There's one by the airport in Kahului. Their fish n chips dish is soooo good. They're a little pricey, but you can probably split a dish with your hubs since the portions are huge. The loco moco there is good, too.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/da-kitchen-cafe-kahului
This is my favorite place to get shave ice from:
https://www.yelp.com/biz/local-boy-snack-shop-kihei#query:local%20boy%20shave%20ice
If you like coconut, you should get the "Snow White". HTH
Have a great trip!
We're staying at the Marriott Ocean Club. We went there for our babymoon (the accommodations were a wedding gift from the same aunt) and we dreamed out loud about bringing our girl there some day. The kids' pool is so fabulous - pirate ship, sandy bottom, the whole shebang. I can't wait
My sig pic was taken at Baby Beach in Lahaina -- we loved it there!
For budget friendly eats, I'd recommend Honokowai Okazuya and Saigon Seafood. We also picked up various types of poke at the Foodland seafood counter. Longs Drugstore also has a good bakery section. We picked up coconut turnovers and ensemadas made by Home Maid Bakery, which is located on the island.
If you don't mind making a drive, Tiffany's in Wailuku and Da Kitchen/Da Kitchen Express (Kahalui & Kihei respectively) serve huge portions of good local food. You can easily make one meal into two or share one entree.
how cool! we stay at the whaler, and i totally remember drooling over the pool with the pirate ship. So fun!