Kualoa Ranch Options

[DVCSunDevil]

What catamaran/snorkeling tour did you book?

Ko Olina Ocean Adventures. They have really good reviews and were recommended on other threads.

 

[magicaldisney]

Ko Olina Ocean Adventures. They have really good reviews and were recommended on other threads.

Thank you. I'm going to start looking at that now.

 

[kboo]

Kualoa Ranch has a "half day" thing that includes 3 tours and lunch? For not much more than the UTV tour. Has anyone done that and do you get to pick the tours, or is it set out for you?

Thanks.

 

[Paul Stupin]

My wife and I did the tour where we drove a small ATV called a “raptor,” kind of like a heavy duty golf cart, and drove in a long line of them to various sites, where we’d get off and listen to our guide. It was fantastic and fun, for us way better than sitting in a bus.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Kualoa Ranch has a "half day" thing that includes 3 tours and lunch? For not much more than the UTV tour. Has anyone done that and do you get to pick the tours, or is it set out for you?

Thanks.

It is pretty much set out for you. The half-day package will be the Movie Sites Tour (bus tour) and the Ocean Voyage, with lunch.

Best Of is three tours and lunch - Hollywood Movie Sites Tour, Jungle Expedition, and the Kualoa Grown Tour.

UTV, horseback and e-bike are 100% a la carte because they sell through easily. When we were there, the next available UTV tour slot was booked two weeks out.

 

[Anal Annie]

Kualoa Ranch has a "half day" thing that includes 3 tours and lunch? For not much more than the UTV tour. Has anyone done that and do you get to pick the tours, or is it set out for you?

Thanks.

We'll be there in 3 weeks and ultimately decided to book the tour they call "Best of Kualoa" for $149.95 pp. It also includes 3 different tours (movies, jungle Expedition & something called Aloha Alina) plus lunch. I think check-in is at 8 and it ends @ 3:00. DH wasn't really interested in the ocean voyage/ beach part of the "half day tour". He said we're already staying on a beach.

We booked a shark diving excursion on the North Shore for another day so we'll get a nice ocean voyage that day.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

We booked a shark diving excursion on the North Shore for another day so we'll get a nice ocean voyage that day.

The shark excursions are notorious for seasickness. Prepare for that if you want a "nice" ocean voyage.

 

[kboo]

Before kids we did shark dives in French Polynesia. Ironically I think the smaller the boat the better the seasickness (or lack thereof). Now I have diving FOMO.


Thanks for your Best of Kualoa info - I guess we will a la carte it since we definitely want the UTV and I'm also less interested in the beach part.

 

[Anal Annie]

The shark excursions are notorious for seasickness. Prepare for that if you want a "nice" ocean voyage.

I had not heard that one before. Why would they be any worse than any other ocean related excursion? We've done numerous snorkeling excursions in the past without any problems...and we have a friends with a small boat that we go out on...

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I had not heard that one before. Why would they be any worse than any other ocean related excursion? We've done numerous snorkeling excursions in the past without any problems...and we have a friends with a small boat that we go out on...

Largely because they are going off the North Shore. north shore tends to be bigger waves to cut through.

 

[Anal Annie]

Largely because they are going off the North Shore. north shore tends to be bigger waves to cut through.

Wouldn't that be a more seasonal problem (i.e. winter when the waves are bigger)???

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Wouldn't that be a more seasonal problem (i.e. winter when the waves are bigger)???

Definitely winter, but can also depend on weather conditions.

 

[Anal Annie]

Definitely winter, but can also depend on weather conditions.

I did read that earlier was better than later for calmer seas so we booked the 9-10:30 slot. There was an even earlier time but I just didn't want to have to get up THAT early. I mean it IS supposed to be a vacation and it's not Disney World with all the rope dropping & Genie+ BS. Fingers crossed!!

 

[DVCSunDevil]

We just completed the Raptor tour today. It was fantastic. Our teenage daughters complained beforehand about the tour seeming to be “boring”. By the time we hit our first stop, they were already having a great time. After the tour’s conclusion, they both said they wished it wasn’t over. Our guides were great and the pictures we got were awesome. I would highly recommend this tour!

 

[kboo]

We just completed the Raptor tour today. It was fantastic. Our teenage daughters complained beforehand about the tour seeming to be “boring”. By the time we hit our first stop, they were already having a great time. After the tour’s conclusion, they both said they wished it wasn’t over. Our guides were great and the pictures we got were awesome. I would highly recommend this tour!

We just did it today and loved it too! Thanks to the advice here we did the Kualoa Grown (the farm one), had lunch at Auntie pat’s and then the raptor tour. Anyone who’s thinking of doing more than 1 tour, definitely leave the raptor tour for last. My 7yo was already complaining the farm one was a little “boring” but she also didn’t understand some of it.

The other sort of surprising thing was that we really enjoyed the ride-along raptor tour more than I think we would have liked the drive-yourself version of the tour, because we basically got a guide all to ourselves. Also she knew how much she could push it on some of the turns and puddles which made the ride a lot more exciting!!