Maui - Hawaii with Kids - page 252

The pools (including Baby Beach for the very young) are just one of a host of
activities. You can send the little nippers off to Camp Grande for hours of enter-
tainment in arts and crafts and much more. Also check out the family work-
shops where you and the kids can take up hula and ukulele lessons, lei making,
lauhala bracelet weaving, and computer graphics T-shirt design. Programs for
ultra-cool teenagers include Teen Spa Night and Teen Night at the nightclub,
even teen basketball.
This “fantasy” hotel is beyond your wildest imagination. Just walking around
is an adventure: There's Hawaii's most elaborate spa; a restaurant in a man-made
tide pool; a Japanese restaurant decorated with real rocks hewn from the slopes
of Mount Fuji; 10,000 tropical plants in the lobby; and nothing but oceanview
rooms, outfitted with every amenity you could ask for. The rooms are a good
size and have plenty of room for a crib or rollaway bed. (If there are more than
four in your family, though, I recommend getting adjoining rooms.) Though
minimalists may be put off, there's no denying that the Grand Wailea is plush
and professional, with all the diversions you could imagine. Oh, and did I men-
tion the fantastic beach out front?
3850 Wailea Alanui Dr., Wailea, HI 96753. & 800/888-6100 or 808/875-1234. Fax [phone].
www.grandwailea.com. 780 units. $465-$810 double; from $1,650 suite. From $825 concierge tower. Resort
fee $15 for lei greeting on arrival, welcome drink, local calls, coffee in room, use of spa, admission to scuba
diving clinics and water aerobics, art and garden tours, nightly turndown service, self parking, and shuttle
service to Wailea area. Extra person $25 ($75 in concierge tower). Children 17 and under stay free in parent's
room. Cribs free, rollaway beds $25. AE, DC, DISC, MC, V. Amenities: 6 restaurants; 12 bars (including a
nightclub w/laser-light shows and a hydraulic dance floor); 2,000-ft.-long Action Pool, featuring a 10-min.
swim/ride through mountains and grottoes; use of Wailea Golf Club's 3 18-hole championship golf courses,
as well as the nearby Makena and Elleair golf courses; use of Wailea Tennis Center's 11 courts (3 lit for night
play and a pro shop); complete fitness center; Hawaii's largest spa, the 50,000-sq.-ft. Spa Grande; Jacuzzi;
watersports equipment rental; complimentary dive and windsurf lessons; bike rental; children's program
(including a computer center, video game room, arts and crafts, children's theater, outdoor playground, and
infant-care center); game room; concierge; activities desk; car rental desk; business center; shopping arcade;
salon; 24-hr. room service; in-room and spa massage; babysitting; same-day laundry service/dry cleaning;
concierge-level rooms. In room:A/C, TV, dataport, kitchenette, minibar, fridge ($25 per stay fee), coffeemaker,
hair dryer, iron, safe.
Expensive
Wailea Marriott, an Outrigger Resort This classic open-air, 1970s-
style hotel in a tropical garden by the sea gives you a sense of what Maui was like
before the big resort boom. The rooms are big; even with two double beds there's
still plenty of area to roam about with two kids in tow. You might want to look
at a junior suite, which costs slightly (in some cases just $15) less than two con-
necting rooms and comes with 1 1 ⁄ 2 bathrooms, a king bed, and two twin sofa
beds. If you need more breathing room, go for two rooms, but the hotel cannot
guarantee connecting rooms.
Upon check-in, kids ages 5 to 12 receive a complimentary “Island Explorer
Kit.” This educational kit (complete with activity pack, discovery guide book,
compass, mini-binoculars, and sunglasses) has a series of guides to help kids
learn more about Hawaii on self-guided excursions. Other activities for kids
include the Cowabunga Kids Club, a day camp for ages 5 to 12 designed to help
visitors experience Hawaii's culture through a variety of activities.
What's truly special about this hotel is how it fits into its environment with-
out overwhelming it. Eight buildings, all low-rise except for an eight-story
tower, are spread along 22 gracious acres of lawns and gardens spiked by coco
palms, with lots of open space and a half-mile of oceanfront on a point between