Hawaii Attraction Prices

[daughtersrus]

We're going to Oahu in about a week for DD's Make-A-Wish trip. I've been in a funk so I really haven't planned anything (MAW set us up with a luau~at Paradise Cove and a dolphin encounter for DD~ at Dolphin Quest).

I know that we want to see Pearl Harbor and USS MO. DD (20) would like a surf lesson and we're thinking about driving to Diamond Head and snorkeling in Hanauma Bay.

Can anyone give me an idea as to the costs or recommendations for specific places?

I've priced some of the surf lessons and it seems that they go anywhere from $40 to well over $100. Being from ILshe'll probably never surf again but wants to try. Is there somewhere where we should rent snorkel equipment from besides at the Bay?

DD uses a wheelchair so hiking Diamond Head is not an option but would it be worth it to drive there?

I've only got a week to figure all of this out!

Thanks!

 

[CindoMindo]

Pearl Harbor and Mighty Mo are a must. We also went snorkling in Han. Bay - didn't bring much cash with us from what I remember and we rented Snorkle gear there maybe $5 a person. There was a tram that will take you back to the top and that was about $2 person I think. Did not cost much for a afternoon activity. Bring a underwater disposable camera - amazing pictures! Don't think you will miss anything by not going to Diamond Head if your not climbing to the top - the amazing view is at the top, but it is one hard hike! They do a flea market type thing at the Aloha stadium on Wed and I think Sat - great place to go shopping - but must check the days since its been 4 yrs since the last trip there. Paradise Cove is great, but have not even thought about surfing so can't help you there. Don't recommend any whale watch tour - waste of time and money. Have a great trip!

 

[daughtersrus]

Thanks for the reply.

I've sent a few emails to some of the surf places that I've found online. Hopefully, some will get back to me before we leave.

 

[DisneyNutMic]

Paradise Cove luau is a nice one. We did that one. Pearl Harbor is a must and I don't remember it being terribly expensive but it's been 15 years since I went. What about a helicopter tour of Diamond Head. That might be a neat option for your DD. Have a great time. It's a beautiful place.

 

[Muushka]

I saw this the other day. I am not sure if it is a deal or not. In any event, I hope you all have a wonderful time.

From Costco website http://www.costco.com/Browse/Produc...ang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC18537-Cat29676&topnav=

The Go Oahu™ Card includes admission to over 30 of the best attractions, activities and tours Oahu has to offer. Do as much as you like each day for one low affordable price. Tailor your own customized itineraries allowing each person to do what is most fun for them! And with unlimited flexibility, you can change your plans on the fly. It’s the perfect way to save time, save money and eliminate hassles on your Oahu Vacation.



Whether you are a first time visitor or a seasoned Hawaii traveler you will experience a whole new way to discover Oahu. From rich heritage and cultural attractions to learning how to surf; with free admissions and exclusive offers we have it all for you as a Go Oahu™ Card holder.

Go Oahu™ Card 3-Day Card with Guidebook:

* Ages: 13 and up (Adult)
* Ages: 3 - 12 (Child)

TOURS AND EXCURSIONS:

* Dole Plantation Pineapple Express Train Tour and Plantation Garden Tour
*
Hawaii Heritage Center and Chinatown walking tour
*
Pearl Harbor and Honolulu City Tour
*
Full Day - Grand Circle Island Tour
*
Waikiki Trolley - 1 day pass (one pass per life of card)
*
Makani Catamaran Cruise
*
Kayaking in Hawaii
*
Hanauma Bay Snorkel Adventure
*
Diamond Head Crater Hike

MUSEUMS:

*
Pacific Aviation Museum
*
Bishop Museum
*
Hawaii Maritime Museum
*
The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu
*
Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center

CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL ATTRACTIONS:

*
Dole Plantation – The Maze
*
Battleship Missouri Memorial
*
USS Arizona Memorial Audio Tour
*
Hawaii’s Plantation Village
*
Queen Emma Summer Palace
*
Iolani Palace
*
USS Bowfin Submarine
*
Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii
*
Byodo-In Temple at Valley of the Temples
*
Honolulu Academy of Arts

MISCELLANEOUS:

*
Sea Life Park by Dolphin Discovery
*
Hawaiian Oceans Outrigger Canoe Ride (three to four waves)
*
Kailua Sailboards - ½ day Bicycle Rental
*
Kailua Sailboards - ½ day Snorkel Gear Rental
*
Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park
*
Choice of one Hawaiian Ocean’s Waikiki Beach Gear Rental per day:
o
Boogie Board (3 hours)
o
Fins (3 hours)
o
Umbrella (3 hours)
o
Chaise Lounge (3 hours)
o
Surfboard rental (1.5 hours)
*
Plus your choice of a one of the following: a Free Surfing Lesson, general admission to Polynesian Cultural Center, a full day car rental* from Dollar-Rent-A-Car or admission to Germaine's Luau. The choice is yours! (option must be used on one of the days the card is valid for)

*Taxes, surcharges, and additional fees not included



Plus receive up to 20% savings on shopping, dining, and much more around the island. You even get free gifts at select locations.



The Go Oahu™ Card is activated the first time you use it and is valid for up to 14 days from first use. The Go Oahu™ Card is accompanied by a full color guidebook, featuring detailed information on all included attractions and special offers.



For additional information please visit www.gooahucard.com call 800-887-9103.



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[DisneyNutMic]

Oh I forgot the Dole Plantation. How did I forget that? I swear I think I could stand under that giant pineapple in the center and drink that FREE pineapple juice FOREVER (and I don't even care that much for pineapple juice).

 

[apnep]

Where are you staying? Sometimes the hotel offers free lessons on land and then you pay the $40 for the hour in the water.

I just planned my aunt's trip and they are there now having a blast!

If the hotel doesn't offer lessons, try Hans Hedemann Surf School in Waikiki. They offer 2 hours lessons for $75 and it includes, the board, suit, and reef shoes. Also, I suggest using the trip planner on Yahoo to help plan your trip and see good reviews of places to go and see.

Good luck!

Ang

 

[CapnJacksGirl]

Probably our favorite thing from our trip to Hawaii was the catamaran ride. We did it the day before we left, otherwise we probably would've done it everyday. We sat out on the net in the front, so the water sprayed on us a little and it was so cool to see the sealife.

Hope you have a great trip!

 

[khertz]

Definitely don't spend time driving to Diamond Head. As someone else said, the best view is from the top. We got some great pictures of Diamond Head from Waikiki Beach. If you couldn't go to the top, seeing it from far away is much better than up close.

We also did the Dole Pineapple Plantation, which was free to tour the gardens (gorgeous!). You only had to pay to get the pineapple snacks or ride the train, I believe.

Pearl Harbor was great! Don't know how it works with going with MAW, but we had to get there pretty early to get a decent tour time. Also we toured the 'Iolani Palace where the Hawaiian royalty used to live before it became part of the US, and did a Hummer tour of movie & TV filming locations. The movie/TV tour was my favorite, but it was mostly based on filming locations for the TV show Lost, so if your DD is not a fan of the show, it probably wouldn't be worth the money. The palace wasn't very expensive, we did the self-guided audio tour for $12 a piece, and there is a guided tour for I think about $20 per person.

We did a few other hikes, a luau, and snorkeling, but looks like you have that stuff covered.

Have fun on your trip!!! We absolutely LOVED Hawaii!

 

[IloveDisney77]

We were just in Oahu for 4 days a couple of months ago before our 8 day stay on Kauai. Here some of my thoughts on what we did...I hope this helps!

Pearl Harbor/Might MO- Must do, as you know. One word of advice...get there early, and when I say early, I mean an hour before they open early. They open at 7:30 (first boat at 8) I believe and we were there already at 6:45. At that time there were already 100 or so people in front of us. They opened the main gates at 7 the day we were there and then everyone walks up to where they are giving out the timed tickets to get out to the memorial. We were able to get on the first boat at 8. We were one of the first one's off and it was so quiet and peaceful. This part is free however if you want the audio tour, which I highly recommend, it is added money...7 or 8 dollars I think..Mighty Mo was worth the tour fee, can't remember cost, I thought it was $20for an adult and half that for a child. We didn't do the sub, though I've heard it is interesting as well.

Waikiki Beach-
-On the beach near the Westin Hotel/Dukes Restaurant are outrigger canoes that you can ride for $5 a person as I recall...the men will row you out and then you "surf" in on the waves...they did it 3 times I believe...it was fun and cheap!
-shop...need I say more.
-Eat...lots of good restaurants around there.
-Surf, lots of places do surf lessons right off the beach
-Zoo, at the very end of the beach area....seems nice, but we didn't do it

Honolulu-
-Get Dim Sum in chinatown...cheap and oh so yummy
-Tour Iolani Palace- It was nice...wife liked it...me, I could take it or leave it.

Diamond Head- As others have said, the view is from the top...however, if you are going to be in the area, I would still go see it. I thought it was still nice to drive through the wall of a volcano and see the inside of the crater. You can get a frozen treat from the vendor, sit in the shade and watch the peole zig-zagging up the mountain.

Hanauma Bay- Snorkeling is fantastic. Well worth it! Two pieces of advice...Get there early...seriously, get there EARLY(once again, see the theme here)...The parking lot fills up by mid-morning 9 to 10 ish...I guess it is only 1 piece of advice Another thing to take into account is not to leave anything in your car, including the trunk. There have and continues to be lots of break-ins in this lot. They do have some storage lockers at the bottom but once again, those can fill up quickly. Costs: $1 to park, $7.50 per person to enter (free 12 and under) and then $ for snorkeling gear. The tram to take you down is 75 cents...the tram cost to take you back up, $1.25 per person. Most people walk down and then ride it back up...we did it both ways

We made a trip of going to the bay first thing one morning and then driving around the East side of the island up to the North Shore. You'll pass the Polynesian Cultural Center (supposed to get very good but we were short on time and it is pricey) and just before you reach the northern end of the island you'll pass a bunch of "shrimp shacks"...some are better than others...the one we always eat at is Giovannis. VERy good, entire shrimp meal for 10 or 11 dollars...they are known for their garlic shrimp...talk about garlic...if you like garlic, wow, it is good!!!! After lunch, we stopped at some of the beaches, did some sightseeing and then as we were headed back towards Honolulu we stopped off at the Dole Plantation...tourist trap plain and simple. With that said, we liked it...once. We did the garden tour(there is a cost of 5 or 7 per person), which was actually quite nice, and the train tour (7 or 8 per person adult, cheaper child)...OMG, DO NOT do the train ride....it is lame, you go through a pineapple field, loop past a big pond, and then back to the station...what made it horrid was the terrible high pitched squeaking of the wheels on the track...awful awful...I'm getting a headache just thinking about it.

At the end of the day, there is so much to do you can't go wrong. Relax and enjoy yourself. My favorite thing to do on a Hawaii vacation...relaxing on the beach, watching the surfers and doing nothing at all. Great way to spend some time!!!

 

[2luvmickey]

Heed the warning of getting there early for many places!

Pearl Harbor and Hanauma Bay especially! Watch the parking at the Bay, but if you have a handicap placard, it would be easier. These two places are must sees in Oahu.

My kids LOVED the Dole Plantation, and this was the first place they experienced the now infamous Dole Whip!! We had to make a second stop at the plantation just for the Whips.

We enjoyed the Byodo-In Buddist Temple. It is a replica of a 900 year old temple in Japan. Take your turn at the 5 foot "Peace Bell," and buy some food for the koi in the surrounding pond. It's like those fish have never eaten, it was quite a funny site. Here's a helpful website:

http://www.hawaiiweb.com/oahu/sites_to_see/byodo-in_temple.htm

Many hotels offer free music or lighting ceremonies, I know the Hilton Hawaiian Village has beautiful gardens (with penguins!), a little shopping area and free music.

We did so much in Oahu, don't try to pack it all in. Just remember to relax and savor the special moments with your loved ones.

 

[Costumesaremylife]

It's so easy to get up early in Hawaii because it is six hours behind.

My mom and I went to a restaurant which was called The Top of Waikiki. It revolves and has a great view of the whole island. We went for the early bird dinner, which was a really good deal.

Also we took a $2.00 trolley ride around just to see where it went. And there's a free trolley that takes you to Hilo Hatties for shopping, of course!

We did a lot of walking, there are clear paths and at night they light the path along the water front with torches. It's so beautiful.

 

[apnep]

Definitely don't spend time driving to Diamond Head.

Nonsense! Go to Diamond Head and walk up the stairs and see the bunkers they have up there. When you get to the top you will a magnificent view! Been there, done that, and would do it again.

 

[vacamomma]

At the Ohana Waikiki Beachcomber hotel their is an awsome magic show called the Magic of Polynesia. Tickets start at $70 but it's dinner and a show. I wasn't impressed with Top of Waikiki resteraunts food but the views were amazing. The polynesian cultural center is so worth the money. Next time I will tour the grounds myself instead of having a guide though. I liked their Luau too. I totally underestimated how much all the excursions would run, we spent about $1000 for everything we did. So that was food, shopping and excursions. Next time I won't go in March it rained for 3 days straight? My luau at paradise cove got canceled But that gives us an excuse to go back. I can't wait for the new Disney resort to open, it's gonna be great!

 

[MichelleinMaine]

Nonsense! Go to Diamond Head and walk up the stairs and see the bunkers they have up there. When you get to the top you will a magnificent view! Been there, done that, and would do it again.

Her daughter is in a wheelchair. Diamond Head most definately not WC accessible! I do second driving in to the parking area just so you can drive through the tunnel and be sitting at the bottom of a volcano though. That is neat in and of itself.

Just in case you didn't know (MAW may have told you)- most (all?) beaches in HI have beach wheel chairs. We went with a friend who is a double amputee- he was able to get down into the water everywhere (and loved Hanauma Bay.) He continues to go back every year, even getting married there, because he is so impressed overall with the accessiblity.

That said-the boardwalk around Waikiki is great. FYI though the Royal Hawaiian Hotel (aka Pink Palace) breaks it up though. We were trying to walk with him the length of it- the hotel makes you detour through/around it. The handicapped exit involved going through the janitor's closet. It was a little wierd, lol.

Have a great trip!

 

[MichelleinMaine]

The polynesian cultural center is so worth the money. Next time I will tour the grounds myself instead of having a guide though. I liked their Luau too. :

Agree about worth it + not getting a guide. I was not impressed with their luau though (disclaimer, our GUIDE got us there 1/2 hour late). The show part was fun, but the food was served like in a college cafeteria. Not much for ambiance.

Their night show was wonderful in a do-it-big way. I would also recommend keeping an eye out for shows by smaller hula clubs. The absolute best show we went to was by a local club on the Big Island. It was girls and ladies of all shapes/sizes , you could tell they just loved to dance and to share their culture with others. I still smile thinking of it.

 

[daughtersrus]

Thanks again for all of the suggestions.

MAW is providing us with a sand wheelchair. It's supposed to be at our hotel when we get there. DD is little and requires quite a bit of support so hopefully it will work for her. If not, DH's arms are going to get pretty sore carrying her.

We're staying at the Hyatt Regency on Waikaki Beach. We'll also have a minivan to use all week. We're borrowing a GPS from a friend so hopefully we won't get too lost. We're used to dealing with Chicago traffic so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

I'm going to sit down today and try to plan things out. I need to get a map and plot out where each of these attractions are so that I can see what options we have.

How long should I allow for Pearl Harbor/MO? If we get there early, would we have time to do something else later?

MAW planned our luau and that's going to be at Paradise Cove. The bus will pick us up at our hotel around 3:30 so that may be a day that we spend the morning at the beach.

DD(23) wants to go to Dole but of course DD(20) doesn't like pineapple. DD(16~MAW child) loves anything frozen so we'll stop there for at least a Dole Whip but probably not spend a whole lot of time there. Thanks for the info about the train.

The boat rides sound fun but I'm not sure if they would allow DD on. She could probably sit on either my lap or DH's. Do they have life jackets?

Dumb question but do we all need "surf" shoes if we want to snorkel or is it more of a sand beach?

Sorry for so many questions.

 

[Sugar Jones]

We did this circle Island tour through the cultural center on our honeymoon:

http://www.polynesia.com//citour.html


Totally worth the money. We loved it. I'm sure they would accomodate w/c passengers.

Honestly the people in Hawaii were the nicest people I've ever encountered while on vacation. Your family is going to have a wonderful time.

I say definitely try to get to the original Hilo Hattie (sp?) store if you can, it's huge and the I remember something about a huge Hawaiin shirt too This was 10 years ago in September so I'm trying to remember everything

We did a dinner cruise as well and It was definitely an accessible cruise because there was a person in a wheelchair at our table. I just can't remember the name of the cruise operator, sorry

 

[Sugar Jones]

We didn't have water shoes when we were snorkling or at the beach in Oahu, but I do remember thinking I'd wished we some when were on a beach in Maui, there was lots of sharp stones (shale?)

 

[apennel]

If you get up to the North Shore of Oahu, near the Dole Plantation, you might make a stop at Turtle Beach. There is no charge, and as a midwesterner, it was amazing to me to see the huge sea turtles.