Was having second thoughts but sooooo glad I did not cancel! It was beautiful. My 13 year old said he would do it again and that was with a 1:30am wake-up time since we were staying in Lahaina.
I did a guided tour earlier in the trip with a different family member so I felt very comfortable in the self-guided tour. Had I not done the other tour I might have been more nervous about cars even though it is fine if you stay to the side. My 13 year old is not a great biker and he got down the mountain no problem even with the grade and turns. I did not find the traffic overwhelming if that is a concern.
Tips:
1. I wish I had more layers for the sunrise. I had long pants, t-shirt, light long sleeve, sweatshirt and their rainjacket. Wished I had another layer on my legs, gloves, and hat. It will be cold at the top. I went in July at it was 39 degrees at the top.
2. When they suggest you go to the bakery, DO IT! It might feel touristy because everyone stops there but my family thought the donuts were VERY good.
3. The bfast place that Marlon suggested was good (looks like a house--owned by a couple).
4. WHEN THEY ASK IF YOU WANT TO STOP AT VISITORS CENTER ON WAY TO TOP TO GO TO BATHROOM, SAYS YES!!! It is still very dark and the stars were amazing. I have not seen a night sky like that in 30 years. It was awe-inspiring. By the time you drive up to the top day starts to break and it will be too light to see the stars. I may have liked this 5 minute stop even more than the sunrise.
5. I really liked doing the self-guided tour myself so we could stop where we wanted to.
6. Do this early in your trip! We came from Michigan with a 6 hour time change. The first couple days we were waking at 4:30am. The 1:30am wake-up time would have been easier than it was later in the trip, though, I was fine. We still had energy for the rest of the day, too. (AKA I still went snorkeling in the afternoon).
7. They have nice rainjackets so use them. Much thicker than the ones I brought with me which helped at the top of the mountain. They also provided a backpack to use which I did.
Things to consider:
1. You may not see the sunrise....there are clouds often. The clouds, though, on my tour where below the volcano so we could see the sunrise over the clouds.
2. Tip your driver!!! Marlon was amazing. Funny, told us so much about the area and the volcano. Seemed like he sincerely wanted to teach us about the area. Did a great job of pointing out directions on the way up the volcano so when the self guided headed down it was easy to stay on route. There was only one turn that we second guessed ourselves but we took a map down which was VERY HELPFUL. He was funny enough to get my 13 year old with a quirky personality to laugh so hard he could not stop.
3. The motorcycle style bike helmet is not nearly as unwieldly as you might think. It was as light as a bike helmet and it did not obstruct any view if you are fitted correctly. I did not even register I was wearing anything different than usual.