Originally Posted by
kamchatsky
For me the most important is to showcase Hawaii and USA to my wife and my small kids (aged 6 and 3), and let them have a good time ...
Having said that they would prefer to be centre of the action rather than driving back to Waikiki all the time. If we do stay at Waikiki I think we will spend one day driving up to North Shore as it seems to be nicer and quieter place.
Well, Hawaii isn't Waikiki.
Waikiki is now a mass-market, Las Vegas Strip-esque destination that has little in common with the Old Hawaii romanticism of the 1930s through the early 1960s. Moreover, you'll feel like Japan won the war because over half the tourists are Japanese (not a bad thing, just weird -- especially at Pearl Harbor).
If you want them to experience the real Hawaii you either need to go to the North Shore or another island. Otherwise, all you're experiencing is a big city with too much concrete, too much traffic and a major homeless crisis that just happens to be on an island in the Pacific. Driving up to the North Shore for just a day is a waste of your time and their time. There is so much to do and see up there. You could spend a whole day just on some of the best beaches in the whole state of Hawaii
If I had up to 14 nights in Hawaii and didn't want to stay on the North Shore, I would fly into Honolulu, spend two nights, three days there seeing Waikiki, Honolulu and the North Shore. I'd then go to another island or even two other islands, each for five nights (utilizing the fifth night free with Marriott award redemptions), and then go back to Honolulu and fly home. You could spend your 14th night in Honolulu before flying home, as there are more flight options out of Honolulu than the other islands.
The Big Island is like two or three smaller islands put together in terms of places to visit and things to do. You could stay in two different hotels for five nights apiece.