Go Oahu Card - worth it?

[Adi12982]

I saw someone on here mention they got one for their trip. I have looked online but the terrible reviews for it are a few years old, see some amazing reviews for it with no dates - so no idea. Is it worth it, or should I just decide what we want to do (finalize that list) and pay for each place individually? Have any of you used it? Did you find it worthwhile?

 

[Adi12982]

Bump. . . hoping for a replies. I saw Costco sells a 4 day pass for the cost of a 3 day pass from their site. . .

 

[Elima2015]

I think it depends on how much touring you plan to do on your trip. For me, my idea of a vacation is relaxing with as little agenda as possible. I just looked at the list of attractions and I felt overwhelmed. If I purchased the card, I would feel obligated to get out and do as much as possible so as to not waste it. However, that could be completely different for you! If you feel best on-the-go or will be in Oahu for a long time, then it might be worth it. I see you have a little one, so if she will be coming along, I'd consider how well she would do visiting the attractions. We brought 2.5 year old twins to Aulani and while we had grand plans to do more things, we ended up only leaving the resort to sight-see twice during a week long stay as we all had much more fun playing at the pool and beach. Not to mention being around the hotel for naps and meals. I would pick out the things you really want to do and price them out individually to find out how much you would really save. Some of the items are free or close to it (like the Diamond Head hike - I think it is only like $5 per car to park). Also keep in mind travel times from Aulani and between locations if you want to fit more than one place in per day.

 

[buffettgirl]

I would say see what you're going to do and then decide if the card will provide discounts. I would not go by the prices they have listed for the attractions. Often you can get better discounts elsewhere,and in many cases you're going to have added fees that aren't covered.
And you have to also factor in that the card assumes you'll be doing more than one attraction a day. In many cases, you're not going to want to do that.

 

[cmph]

We got Go Oahu cards, and it did save us a lot of money. To address some potential issues mentioned above - our kids were 7 and 11 during our visit (May/June this year), so no nap to work around. And as to the "how much do you want to plan" question - that will totally depend on individual families. DH went to Oahu as a teenager with a friend and saw very little; the kids and I had never been. We wanted to see as much as possible, knowing a repeat isn't going to happen any time soon. We stayed 8 nights and got the 3 day card. We pre-booked the dolphin encounter at the aquarium and the catamaran tour but otherwise booking wasn't necessary for anything else we did (on the card; we did reserve Arizona times but that obv had nothing to do with the card). We did purposefully do two things per day for maximum savings, but to be honest - we would have done that anyway b/c traffic sucks and if you're going all the way to the other side of the island, you might as well make it worth your effort. There is NO WAY we ever would have paid for the dolphin encounter, which is crazy expensive and I saw no discounts offered elsewhere. Otherwise, it was covering things we would have done anyway, and saved us money doing so. If you don't want to do more than 1 thing per day - not a wise purchase. However, I would also advise you not to plan to do like 7 things all over the island on 7 separate days b/c the traffic will make you crazy. Ultimately, I'm very glad we got it and saved the money. I have zero regrets. Would I get it again? Probably not - b/c if we go to Oahu again, it'll be for purely Aulani amidst island hopping... we saw pretty much everything we wanted to already. I can link to my trip wrap-up post if you are interested in what I used it for. Just let me know and I'll dig it up.

 

[newdeal]

seems like a lot of the prices they list are way over-inflated. The thing is that their prices include transportation from waikiki in a lot of cases. If you have a rental car or are staying at Aulani then transportation may not apply or be included. For example, the price they list for Pearl Harbour, Hamauma Bay, Diamond Head etc. These are things that are free or cheap and they list big prices due to transportation

 

[cmph]

seems like a lot of the prices they list are way over-inflated. The thing is that their prices include transportation from waikiki in a lot of cases. If you have a rental car or are staying at Aulani then transportation may not apply or be included. For example, the price they list for Pearl Harbour, Hamauma Bay, Diamond Head etc. These are things that are free or cheap and they list big prices due to transportation

I'm not sure which things you specifically are referring to, but that's not entirely accurate. Yes, timed tix to the Arizona are free, but the narrated tour is not, and the price is the same on their own site for that. I personally thought all the added costs due to the shuttles were obvious (you can read the overview and details for each thing to figure that out).

They most definitely are putting list prices rather than any discounted prices. I'm not sure why they would do anything else, though. I priced out everything we wanted to do prior to buying the Go Oahu card using the company's own pricing, not Go Oahu's listed pricing, and we saved a lot in purchasing the Go Oahu card. If the things we wanted to do weren't already on there - well, then that definitely wouldn't have encouraged us to buy it. We didn't plan to or do any of the shuttle-based things, so YMMV with that. It only makes sense if the things you want to buy are already on it, so all I can say is to price it out for non-Go Oahu prices first (not from their site) and compare your own total price (not Go Oahu's) to the card cost.

 

[M<3'sMickey]

We wen to Oahu for our honeymoon and stayed at Aulani this past August. We got the Go Oahu card through Costco and thought it was very worth it. That being said, we had three days chock full of activities from the Card. We rented a car and drove around the island a lot to go to a lot of the destinations. We thoroughly enjoyed it and I recommend getting it. We also had plenty of time to spend relaxing at Aulani too (we stayed for a week).

 

[Sepo]

We did not get the card and afterward thought it would have saved us a small amount. As a PP noted, the freedom to not be obligated and try to see more to save more is compelling. Still, being back a few months now, I might've liked to see more.

I think if you were thinking of doing any of those "Premium" experiences, then yes. Otherwise, probably not.

With regard to the traffic, either we were lucky or I am calibrated differently given how horrible the traffic is where I live. I think I throw my life away in the car : )

 

[NanMar]

how does the Go Oahu card work?

 

[cmph]

how does the Go Oahu card work?

That depends on which one you buy. You can buy "build your own" cards where you essentially pre-purchase admissions at their discounted rate. However, that's really not what we're all discussing above. The kind that we bought are multi-day passes, essentially. For example, I had a 3-day Go Oahu card. With that, I got one premium experience plus access to anything offered on the card for 3 calendar days. See their web-site for the list of things offered. We didn't use ours 3 days in a row; I think you have up to 2 weeks from the first day of use to finish. Each "day" is a calendar day, so if you start using it at 2:00pm, it's a pretty bad use of it. For most things, you just show the print-out of your email for admission at the ticket booths (like at Dole, the non-Arizona stuff at Pearl Harbor, etc). For space-limited things, you have to pre-book and give them the Go Oahu card number (from your email) to hold the reservation; I had to do that for the catamaran, the Kualoa ranch jungle jeep tour, and our dolphin encounter premium experience at the aquarium. Some places will still need a credit card to hold a reservation in case you no-show, but they don't charge to it otherwise. Again you'll just show your print-outs when you arrive at the excursion/activity.

 

[nkereina]

We just got back from our honeymoon in Hawaii and did several of the activities that the card offers, but not all in one day. We did the windward side of the island one day, Waikiki area another, North Shore on another, etc. It seems like the value is when you do many activities in one day which would not have been as enjoyable for us. We preferred to spread it out.