u/Music-teacher-2005

We’re planning a trip with a group of friends for a few 40th birthdays and I think we’ve settled on ECPM. We visited EPM a few years ago and loved it.

I’m in a couple Facebook groups and have seen some consensus that it’s not a great place for groups, although most of these comments also mention that it’s not a “party” vibe, which is fine with us. Most of our group are not big “partiers.” I’ve seen a few comments that go as far as to suggest that a larger group would be disruptive to the super quiet vibe of the resort.

Has anyone been there with a larger group? Is there any truth to the comments I’m seeing that suggest it’s not a good place for a group of friends? Not exactly sure how large our group will be, but we have 4 couples going and potentially a few more will join. We will most likely hang out together at the pool during the day, maybe want to have dinner together but are ok going our separate ways sometimes.

On a separate note, my husband and I are completely overwhelmed with the room choices and aren’t sure which would be best for a trip like this. We won’t be spending tons of time in the room so I think the two story terrace rooms are unnecessary but we are intrigued by the swim up rooms.

Any insight on either of those things is welcome!

We will be visiting Oahu in September and plan on doing some hiking. Not sure exactly where yet, but I know there are a lot of options.

We both own hiking boots. Looking into getting some type of water shoes or sandals for the beach. I’ve seen many people say they’ll wear keens or Tevas for hiking.

My big question is: are my hiking boots going to get wet if I wear them hiking? And by wet I mean, are we going to have to walk through any streams or anything where I would maybe prefer to be wearing a teva-type sandal instead?

I’m feeling like I prefer my hiking boots for the support, but if they’re going to get wet and smelly, I’d probably look for some sandals that could be worn hiking.

I’m sure I’m overthinking it lol.

I’ve searched and seen some vague mentions about car rentals but I’m having trouble making a decision. We are visiting Oahu in September and planning to stay part of the time on the north shore and part of the time in Waikiki.
I’ve seen mentions of renting a car just for a day to avoid parking fees at hotels. I have never used a car-sharing or rent for a day type of car rental before so I’m curious about a couple things.

Are these readily available to the point that we could count on it?

Can we arrange/reserve them ahead of time, or is it the type of thing where we could decide the night before that we want a car and easily find one?

I’ve never used something like Turo…the overthinker in me is nervous about things like insurance etc. with something like that. Is that something I should learn more about before we visit?

I’m looking at some hotel packages through Costco and there is an option to include a rental car on some of them, but I’m trying to determine what the best route is. I don’t want to book something like that and then have the car just be a pain in the ass.

Someone explain this like I’m 5, please!

Edit to add: I know we will need a car on the North Shore no matter what. I am mainly asking about the Waikiki portion of our trip.