Aulani visitors - Who has toured USS Arizona without reservations?

[shrinkydinky]

We're going in June, and when i went to the Parks and Recs website, they are sold out until July. My husband wants to see the Arizona, Missouri, and Bowfin with his son, and i didn't want them to be disappointed. i spoke with a woman at the Missouri to get the low down on what to expect. She said that you can always get tickets for the Missouri or Bowfin on a walk-up basis. But it's a more difficult getting into the Arizona. i asked how the tour companies can have tickets when you can't get them at the actual site. She said they have caches of tickets, and she sees the Aulani tour bus there all the time.

So i spoke to the Aulani and they have two tours. One is for just the Arizona, leaves the resort at 6:30am and returns at 9:30am. You see the visitor center museum, a movie, and go over to the memorial. It cost $51.95 per person.

The other tour leaves at 7:30am and returns at 1pm. It includes the Arizona, Punchbowl, and an hour guided tour of the Missouri. It costs $79.57 per person. The person i spoke with at the Aulani said she has been on the tour and it was really nice. She said the guide was informative and entertaining. i opted for that one for my husband and step-son. Figured it would be better than them driving over, standing for hours, and maybe missing out on tickets. It doesn't include the Bowfin, but it sounded like they could drive over there on another day if they really wanted to see that.

 

[travelbug]

We're going in June, and when i went to the Parks and Recs website, they are sold out until July. My husband wants to see the Arizona, Missouri, and Bowfin with his son, and i didn't want them to be disappointed. i spoke with a woman at the Missouri to get the low down on what to expect. She said that you can always get tickets for the Missouri or Bowfin on a walk-up basis. But it's a more difficult getting into the Arizona. i asked how the tour companies can have tickets when you can't get them at the actual site. She said they have caches of tickets, and she sees the Aulani tour bus there all the time.

So i spoke to the Aulani and they have two tours. One is for just the Arizona, leaves the resort at 6:30am and returns at 9:30am. You see the visitor center museum, a movie, and go over to the memorial. It cost $51.95 per person.

The other tour leaves at 7:30am and returns at 1pm. It includes the Arizona, Punchbowl, and an hour guided tour of the Missouri. It costs $79.57 per person. The person i spoke with at the Aulani said she has been on the tour and it was really nice. She said the guide was informative and entertaining. i opted for that one for my husband and step-son. Figured it would be better than them driving over, standing for hours, and maybe missing out on tickets. It doesn't include the Bowfin, but it sounded like they could drive over there on another day if they really wanted to see that.

This is great information! Thanks so much for posting it. It gives us an option to consider.

 

[Disney Dreams]

Thank you, everyone, for the useful information posted here. Seeing the various Pearl Harbor elements is high on DH's list for our upcoming trip.

Appreciate the information!

- Dreams (and DH)

 

[Anal Annie]

Thank you, everyone, for the useful information posted here. Seeing the various Pearl Harbor elements is high on DH's list for our upcoming trip.

Appreciate the information!

- Dreams (and DH)

I booked awhile back for August. Not sure what you are doing wrong but times ARE available through October. (I entered the combo one that includes the USS Missouri.)

http://www.recreation.gov/tourDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&tourId=317599

Try again...

 

[Debbie Jean]

We're going in June, and when i went to the Parks and Recs website, they are sold out until July. My husband wants to see the Arizona, Missouri, and Bowfin with his son, and i didn't want them to be disappointed. i spoke with a woman at the Missouri to get the low down on what to expect. She said that you can always get tickets for the Missouri or Bowfin on a walk-up basis. But it's a more difficult getting into the Arizona. i asked how the tour companies can have tickets when you can't get them at the actual site. She said they have caches of tickets, and she sees the Aulani tour bus there all the time.

So i spoke to the Aulani and they have two tours. One is for just the Arizona, leaves the resort at 6:30am and returns at 9:30am. You see the visitor center museum, a movie, and go over to the memorial. It cost $51.95 per person.

The other tour leaves at 7:30am and returns at 1pm. It includes the Arizona, Punchbowl, and an hour guided tour of the Missouri. It costs $79.57 per person. The person i spoke with at the Aulani said she has been on the tour and it was really nice. She said the guide was informative and entertaining. i opted for that one for my husband and step-son. Figured it would be better than them driving over, standing for hours, and maybe missing out on tickets. It doesn't include the Bowfin, but it sounded like they could drive over there on another day if they really wanted to see that.

Did the second tour last February. It was excellent! Well worth the money... no worries about tickets, driving, etc. so it was possible to really enjoy the experience. BTW, we had plenty of time to see the Bowfin on our own. I'd definitely do another tour with this company in the future

Well worth the money

 

[WDW_Diane]

Bummer, bummer, bummer. I went online to reserve tickets for Pearl Harbor, and they are all sold out until about 2 weeks after we've left. I could kick myself. I understand that they keep a very limited number of tickets back for walk-ups. There will be 3 of us. We'd be willing to get up before dawn and arrive early to be able to get tickets.

Any thoughts on how early we should get there? Any particular day of the week give us a better chance? Anyone reading this been successful recently at getting tickets as a walk-up? We will be at Aulani the last week in June.

Another thought. Is it possible that some of the tickets that have been sold are in the hands of tour operators? Should we consider trying to get on a tour, even though it would cost us more to do it that way?

Thanks for any thoughts. Gotta return to kicking myself now.

We are at Ko Olina now and were in the same situation. Our family of three got to Pearl Harbor at 7:10 on a Wednesday morning and he parked the car while I joined the end of the line, which looked to be 100 people. It went fast and we got our tickets to return at 12:45, I think the last ones are for 1:30. Get there a little earlier than we did.
I'm sitting on my lanai listening to Starlit Hui right now.

 

[gumbypee]

What exactly is starlight hui?

Thanks

 

[Debbie Jean]

What exactly is starlight hui?

Thanks

The Starlit hui is Aulani's "luau" without the food... it's shorter and includes some Disney, though, is very respectful, I think, of native tradition. It's done several times a week so you need to check the schedule. Depending on where your room is located, you may actually have a balcony view

YouTube has lots of clips, e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiU1XAF0ino

 

[gumbypee]

Awesome! Thank you for info!

 

[princesscinderella]

We just returned from a week stay at Aulani, we were very sad to go. We did get walk up tickets to see the Arizona. We got in line and it was already almost to the street at 6:45. It moved quickly once the park opened and we got tickets for the 9:15 time. We were told that there were no more tickets available for the day for the Arizona as of 7:30. I would recommend seeing the bowfin and the Arizona too, you have to pay for admission to those but they are well worth it. Our kids especially loved the bowfin submarine.

As for the starlight Hui the show was held on Monday and Thursday night during our stay. We planned to do a bunch of sightseeing things on the island and only ended up seeing pearl harbor and weimea falls as we were having too much fun at the resort to leave.

 

[Cinderpamela]

We're going in June, and when i went to the Parks and Recs website, they are sold out until July. My husband wants to see the Arizona, Missouri, and Bowfin with his son, and i didn't want them to be disappointed. i spoke with a woman at the Missouri to get the low down on what to expect. She said that you can always get tickets for the Missouri or Bowfin on a walk-up basis. But it's a more difficult getting into the Arizona. i asked how the tour companies can have tickets when you can't get them at the actual site. She said they have caches of tickets, and she sees the Aulani tour bus there all the time.

So i spoke to the Aulani and they have two tours. One is for just the Arizona, leaves the resort at 6:30am and returns at 9:30am. You see the visitor center museum, a movie, and go over to the memorial. It cost $51.95 per person.

The other tour leaves at 7:30am and returns at 1pm. It includes the Arizona, Punchbowl, and an hour guided tour of the Missouri. It costs $79.57 per person. The person i spoke with at the Aulani said she has been on the tour and it was really nice. She said the guide was informative and entertaining. i opted for that one for my husband and step-son. Figured it would be better than them driving over, standing for hours, and maybe missing out on tickets. It doesn't include the Bowfin, but it sounded like they could drive over there on another day if they really wanted to see that.

This is great info for folks that cant get a reservation on the gov't website! Actually the tour that includes the punchbowl visit sounds like a really nice deal... and the fact that you dont have to do the driving and parking is good too. A great option if you find that the parks website is all out of tickets! Thanks for posting shrinkydinky;48313299!!

 

[WDW_Diane]

We just returned from a week stay at Aulani, we were very sad to go. We did get walk up tickets to see the Arizona. We got in line and it was already almost to the street at 6:45. It moved quickly once the park opened and we got tickets for the 9:15 time. We were told that there were no more tickets available for the day for the Arizona as of 7:30. I would recommend seeing the bowfin and the Arizona too, you have to pay for admission to those but they are well worth it. Our kids especially loved the bowfin submarine.

As for the starlight Hui the show was held on Monday and Thursday night during our stay. We planned to do a bunch of sightseeing things on the island and only ended up seeing pearl harbor and weimea falls as we were having too much fun at the resort to leave.

We just got home a couple of hours ago too, so hard to leave that beauty! What did you think of Waimea Falls? We didn't get to that.

 

[gumbypee]

Oh I hope they change the starlight hui day by October. I am on a cruise and only will have one night at aulani (thanks dad!) and it will be a Friday night.

 

[Debbie Jean]

This is great info for folks that cant get a reservation on the gov't website! Actually the tour that includes the punchbowl visit sounds like a really nice deal... and the fact that you dont have to do the driving and parking is good too. A great option if you find that the parks website is all out of tickets! Thanks for posting shrinkydinky;48313299!!

The Punchbowl is a drive-through, the tour doesn't actually stop. Our driver was terrific... a certified Battleship Missouri tour guide, he took us through the ship rather than passing us off to someone else... everything was very well organized with plenty of time to explore on your own, as well...

Well worth the money!

 

[OKWJan]

We did the tour through Aulani and were very happy with it. The bus picked us up right at the hotel, drove us through the Punch Bowl National Cemetery, then to the Missouri, and ended at the Arizona. Our driver, Bambi, was a native Hawaiian and told lots of stories along the way. He was great, fun, and informative. All the tickets were arranged, with no waits. Worth it for us just to sit back and relax.

We had 11:30 tickets for the Arizona and saw there were a lot of people in the stand by line. Not sure how many got in.

You will LOVE Aulani!

 

[OKWJan]

Waimea Falls was very pretty and the gardens are beautiful, but unfortunately, a man drowned while swimming in the falls when we were there , and we had to leave. Note: if you want to swim in the falls, don't be too proud to wear one of the life jackets that are available. The water is 30' deep and the falls create an undercurrent.

We talked to a native Hawaiian who grew up there and has been swimming in the falls since she was a child. She said there have been very few drownings, but you have to be careful. It was very sad.

That took care of my desire to swim in a waterfall.....the waterfall in Aulani's lazy river is good enough for me

 

[princesscinderella]

We loved Waimea falls, we did not swim in the falls as our kids are little (3,5 & 8) and it was a rocky walk just to get down into the pond. We saw an older man slip 3 times trying to get down into the pond. The grounds and the walk to the falls is beautiful through a botanical garden and paved making it easy to get to with children. I wanted to go see some of the other larger falls but were informed that the hike sometimes is not as easy for kids. I would recommend bringing a picnic lunch as there are some picnic tables along the path. Its a great 1/2 day excursion. You drive by the dole pineapple plantation on the way to the falls from Aulani so you can do both in one day if you are so inclined. I'm not a huge pineapple fan and the kids were asleep in the care on the way back so we did not stop at the plantation but you can see the rows of pineapple plants along the road. It was a 45min drive from aulani to the falls.

 

[travelbug]

OP here, still at Aulani for a couple more days.

We did get Arizona tickets as walk-ups on Tuesday. We arrived at 6:45 and the line was all the way out to the street and around the corner. But once 7:00 arrived, the line moved quickly. We got tickets for 12:45 which worked out perfectly. We toured the Missouri, the Bowfin, and the Pacific Aviation Museum while waiting. Also had a quick lunch at the Aviation Museum where they had great options for food.

Really enjoyed the Arizona memorial tour. Always so moving. I had been there before, almost exactly 20 years ago to the day. I was glad I could return. First time for the relatives with me and they were so glad we got in.

 

[living20057]

I "think" the first tour of the day is at 8:00 so when they say the tix window opens at 7:00 that is for tix distribution.

BTW I have literally been checking every for several weeks now for the date and time that we want to go in August. Last week the entire morning was still wide open. But seeing your thread reminded me it was time to look so when I went online I found that ALL of the time slots for the 9:00, 10:00 and 11:00 hours were GONE already!! Completely!! There were still 8 slots left for 8:45 and then nothing else until Noon so I quickly grabbed 3 of the 8:45 ones!! We had decided we wanted to go around 9:15 or 9:30 so 8:45 isn't too far off from what we wanted. We just figured with needing to arrive an hour early and it being almost an hour away from Aulani we didn't want to go TOOO early (DH doesn't want to get up at 5:00). Hopefully this way we can get up at 6:00, leave by 7:00 and be there by 7:45.

Question for those who have been recently - how's the parking situation? Do we need to allow any extra time to park & walk in or anything. Since we've only done hired tours before we were dropped off by the entrance. I've never had to park there. Does my plan to leave Aulani at 7:00 sound reasonable for an 8:45 reservation? We chose a Saturday morning hoping to avoid some of the rush hour traffic problems.

OP - GOOD LUCK!!

There is a parking lot right across the street. Make sure you have nothing in your vehicle that someone might want. I made sure I put everything away out of sight before we left the hotel. There was a car broken into next to where I was parked.

 

[WDW_Diane]

There is a parking lot right across the street. Make sure you have nothing in your vehicle that someone might want. I made sure I put everything away out of sight before we left the hotel. There was a car broken into next to where I was parked.

I agree, there are warnings everywhere about not leaving anything valuable in your car.

We had no reservations for Pearl Harbor. We showed at at about seven a.m. on our first day before adjusting to Hawaii time, so no big deal. We got in line with hundreds of other people. I thought, we are at the end of this giant line, no way will we get tickets. We did, no problem.

Our tickets said to return at 12:45. This was a Wednesday, so we went over to the Aloha Stadium Swap meet, very close by. This was a fantastic way to spend the waiting time. We met people who live on island and who were selling or making things at the best prices we ever saw during our trip. We bought almost all of our souvenirs there, fresh fruit, a piece of luggage, etc. after this, we went to get lunch, and then back to Pearl Harbor. Would do the same thing again!

Parking both times at Pearl Harbor was close and easy.