Oahu - What to do? What to eat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any luau recommendations? We’ll be traveling to Oahu in August with two under 5, MIL and a few other adult family members.

Since OP is staying at Aulani, I’d recommend the one there. It’s a great one with no commute necessary.

[Anonymous]

-Arizona / Pearl Harbor
-Head down to the Aloha Tower one evening for food, ride up in the tower for nice views/history lesson, and drinks, and shopping.
-Diamond Head hike
-Hanauma Bay (touristy but it IS a nice place to snorkel as it's shallow)
-Head to the North Shore for a day. Watch the surfers. Have lunch, etc.
-Luau. All the hotels have them. I personally would skip the Polynesian Ctr.
-I heard the Pineapple plantation was nice but we did not do it.

I'd head to the Big Island. LOTS of things to do there.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Polynesian Cultural Center is touristy but the kids had fun there.

I don’t recommend it. I hadn’t understood the Mormon influence before I went, and I didn’t appreciate the subtle but distinct proselytizing.

They didn't try to proselytize or convert me. They never mentioned God or religion once. I guess if you're biased against Mormons you won't like it.

Oh for Pete’s sake. What a ridiculously histrionic response.

Are you always this dramatic?

It’s not dramatic to point out over-the-top absurdity. Goodness. You are ridiculous.

Yes it is over-the-top absurd to be so afraid of Mormons.

I'm not afraid. But if they are going to put themselves out as an authentic Polynesian history location . . . well, they're not then, are they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:-Arizona / Pearl Harbor
-Head down to the Aloha Tower one evening for food, ride up in the tower for nice views/history lesson, and drinks, and shopping.
-Diamond Head hike
-Hanauma Bay (touristy but it IS a nice place to snorkel as it's shallow)
-Head to the North Shore for a day. Watch the surfers. Have lunch, etc.
-Luau. All the hotels have them. I personally would skip the Polynesian Ctr.
-I heard the Pineapple plantation was nice but we did not do it.

I'd head to the Big Island. LOTS of things to do there.

DP here. Is the big island still good for non-hikers? I don’t want to hike on vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Polynesian Cultural Center is touristy but the kids had fun there.

I don’t recommend it. I hadn’t understood the Mormon influence before I went, and I didn’t appreciate the subtle but distinct proselytizing.

Thank you for heads up.

[Anonymous]

Kualoa ranch. It is a huge place with incredible mountains. It’s in tons of movies and Magnum PI is there in so many episodes. They have different kinds of tours and we did two back to back (horseback riding and then a Jurassic Park tour). You take the Pali Highway to get there and that is incredible as well. We stayed at Aulani and could not believe how different the two sides of the islands are. We kept towels and suits in our rental. We swam in waikiki and then again up at the north shore. We went to big island and found little spots to snorkel. We did the Paradise Cove luau and I do not recommend it. We could see the Disney luau from our room every night and honestly it was so lovely. Our hotel on big island had a super nice one as well so nice luaus do exist but sadly Paradise Cove is not one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kualoa ranch. It is a huge place with incredible mountains. It’s in tons of movies and Magnum PI is there in so many episodes. They have different kinds of tours and we did two back to back (horseback riding and then a Jurassic Park tour). You take the Pali Highway to get there and that is incredible as well. We stayed at Aulani and could not believe how different the two sides of the islands are. We kept towels and suits in our rental. We swam in waikiki and then again up at the north shore. We went to big island and found little spots to snorkel. We did the Paradise Cove luau and I do not recommend it. We could see the Disney luau from our room every night and honestly it was so lovely. Our hotel on big island had a super nice one as well so nice luaus do exist but sadly Paradise Cove is not one of them.

Online reviews od the Aulani luau are…bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kualoa ranch. It is a huge place with incredible mountains. It’s in tons of movies and Magnum PI is there in so many episodes. They have different kinds of tours and we did two back to back (horseback riding and then a Jurassic Park tour). You take the Pali Highway to get there and that is incredible as well. We stayed at Aulani and could not believe how different the two sides of the islands are. We kept towels and suits in our rental. We swam in waikiki and then again up at the north shore. We went to big island and found little spots to snorkel. We did the Paradise Cove luau and I do not recommend it. We could see the Disney luau from our room every night and honestly it was so lovely. Our hotel on big island had a super nice one as well so nice luaus do exist but sadly Paradise Cove is not one of them.

Online reviews od the Aulani luau are…bad.

DP: let's be honest. Luaus are supposed to be touristy and kitschy. Please don't go in expecting some kind of fine dining experience! Relax and have fun and enjoy it for what it's supposed to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any luau recommendations? We’ll be traveling to Oahu in August with two under 5, MIL and a few other adult family members.

The luau at Waimea Bay is very nice, and the grounds are beautiful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kualoa ranch. It is a huge place with incredible mountains. It’s in tons of movies and Magnum PI is there in so many episodes. They have different kinds of tours and we did two back to back (horseback riding and then a Jurassic Park tour). You take the Pali Highway to get there and that is incredible as well. We stayed at Aulani and could not believe how different the two sides of the islands are. We kept towels and suits in our rental. We swam in waikiki and then again up at the north shore. We went to big island and found little spots to snorkel. We did the Paradise Cove luau and I do not recommend it. We could see the Disney luau from our room every night and honestly it was so lovely. Our hotel on big island had a super nice one as well so nice luaus do exist but sadly Paradise Cove is not one of them.

Online reviews od the Aulani luau are…bad.

I’ve been and it was well done. I prefer Lahaina Luau on Maui but Aulani’s is a good choice if staying there.

[Anonymous]

OP here! Thanks for the great rec's! We actually haven't decided yet on the Luau (meaning where). We're definitely doing on, and yes the Aulani one would be convenient, but if this trip is a "one and done" then maybe we do a different one. Not sure. We have plenty of time to figure it out at least!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kualoa ranch. It is a huge place with incredible mountains. It’s in tons of movies and Magnum PI is there in so many episodes. They have different kinds of tours and we did two back to back (horseback riding and then a Jurassic Park tour). You take the Pali Highway to get there and that is incredible as well. We stayed at Aulani and could not believe how different the two sides of the islands are. We kept towels and suits in our rental. We swam in waikiki and then again up at the north shore. We went to big island and found little spots to snorkel. We did the Paradise Cove luau and I do not recommend it. We could see the Disney luau from our room every night and honestly it was so lovely. Our hotel on big island had a super nice one as well so nice luaus do exist but sadly Paradise Cove is not one of them.

Online reviews od the Aulani luau are…bad.

Trust me. There is bad and then there is Disney. The Aulani luau is Disney. So the setting and music are done very very well. And there is a story in the background. Beautiful. Fake. Paradise Cove was trashy. Massive tables of bad food, huge lines for drinks, plastic glitter skirts. Up charges for lots of stuff. So no, compared to Paradise Cove, Disney wasn’t bad at all. It was amazing. But there is a very authentic luau near Waimea Bay and it is supposed to be super nice. I just didn’t want to do that drive through the center of Oahu at night. But IDC what you read online. I saw it and the only people who would conclude Aulani’s luau are the dedicated anti-Disney people who think everything Disney does is fake and lowbrow. If paradise cove is the real deal, I will take fake every day of the week.

[Anonymous]

Do all the good ones cost $200pp???

[Anonymous]

Hawaii is expensive and yes luaus are expensive. Also, for Pearl Harbor, you should book the Arizona ahead of time. Also, renting a car opens up Costco for groceries. The little store near Aulani is very limited and expensive as well. Costco is a big deal in Hawaii because everything is so expensive. It’s literally like 10 minutes so not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do all the good ones cost $200pp???

DP: We've only been to Maui but I can tell you that our luau last year was $190pp, and that was on the low-average side. We're also heading to Oahu, staying on the west side, but not doing a luau. It's the kind of thing you only need to do once. Still was a lot of fun though!