Family Vacation Central

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On a day that we rented a car in Oahu we went to the Dole Pineapple plant and took a tour. This was a great way to spend a few hours but we had to battle against the heat in the middle of the island.

The trip to Dole was one of the great side trips on Oahu that we wanted to do. The big things at Dole are the tour of the plantation and the biggest maze in the world. There is also a train ride but we didn’t do it, the kids were too hot and tired by then.

Tour of the  Dole pineapple plantation

The tour of the plantation is either a walk around by yourself or you can follow around a tour guide. We followed the tour guide and he was great. We learned about the growth of pineapples, the history of Dole and how to pick pineapples the guide was a real cool guy that let us know lots of stuff and loved to ask and answer questions.

The worlds biggest maze

The pineapple maze is huge and a lot of fun. My daughter and son went with me but my poor 4 year old son was just too hot and gave up. My daughter and I finished the maze in about an hour and a quarter and it was a lot of running around and getting lost. There are two ways that you are able to do do the maze, with a little map which helps a lot but is still difficult, or just freeform which is super hard and is a way that you can become a legend at the maze. The record time for the day and all time is listed at the maze and when we were at the Dole Pineapple Plantation is 30 minutes or so…really tough. This is cheap to do as well as the tour and I thought was a lot of fun for the family although it can cause a bit of fighting (No not this way that way instead).

Dole is great and is a pretty cheap trip for the family. $4 for the tour and $6 for the maze per person but I think that you get a lot of entertainment for the money.

Eating in Hawaii is a bit of a battle. For most people the food is either too light, like shaved ice, or way to heavy like burgers at Chilis.

There is no shortage of food to be had in Waikiki. There is the famous Perrys Smorgy on Kuhio Drive that has a different buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner and is said to be good once on a trip but twice may be a bit much. There is everything from low end fast food to some of the best restaurants in the country.

Traveling with kids means that you may have to eat some fast food although I do know of a family whos kids got sick on a trip from eating nothing but McDonalds. The best bet is to vary your meals and try to eat like you do at home.

First of all try to eat a great meal for breakfast. We found that the IHOP on Kuhio was a little too much food for the kids and if you can not bring it back to the room for later or tomorrow then the food is mostly wasted. Actually the best meal to eat out is dinner because if you have a lot of leftovers it is easy enough to bring back to the hotel and huck it into the fridge.

Lunch for our trip varied a lot. If you are at the beach it is easy enough to find a hot dog and hamburger but on some days when we got out really early the kids were drained and wanted to get back into the hotel room for a nap and some quiet time by the pool. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the strangest tourist events I have seen is the movie on the beach in Waikiki. There is a giant screen setup on the east end of Waikiki beach and they play movies for free for anyone that wants to watch.

The event is called Sunset on the Beach

The movies are not often the newest movies but are usually good movies and the place you are seeing them is great. You get to the beach, called Queens Beach and sit around and watch the sunset and as soon as it is dark enough the movie starts.

Did you want popcorn or food while you are watching the movie? No problem, there are food vendors around and of course there is a lot of food in the neighborhood anyway, it’s Waikiki.

The movies are free and are sponsored by local businesses and organized by the Hawaii tourism bureau.

To find the spot just look for the area pictured above by walking east along Waikiki Beach until your are past the kiddy pool and you will see the stands and screen frame.

Hanauma Bay is one of the great natural places that has been turned into a tourist spot that I have ever been to. Traveling to Hanauma Bay takes a few minutes but is an all day adventure that everyone in the family will love. There is very shallow water that you can stand in, no waves and lots and lots of fish to see in the water with just a mask and snorkel. To me this is a giant aquarium that is very safe, easy to swim in and gives you memories that will last a lifetime.

Hanauma Bay is about 30 minutes east of Waikiki and is a coral bay that is millions of years old but is perfectly suited for people to enjoy tropical fish in a wild setting and still be completely safe. You will be able to find all of the services that you need including food, soft drinks, masks and snorkels and even liefeguards if you get a little disoriented in the water.

There is a cost to go to Hanauma Bay and it is a bit of a commute from the hotels of Waikiki. On the main strip of hotels on Kuhio Avenue you have to find an eastbound bus 22 which runs every 20 minutes or so and this will take you to Hanauma Bay. The bus trip takes about 30 minutes or so. Read the rest of this entry »

There are a lot of choices for commuting around Oahu and especially Waikiki and I have used a few of them.

First of all you can run the whole gamut from Cabs to rental cars to buses and in fact there are two kinds of buses even within Waikiki.

First of all is the cabs, if you want to get around from the airport to the Waikiki hotel area you can only take either a cab or perhaps a tour bus. The cabs cost between 35 and 40 American dollars and the tour buses that shuttle people to and from the hotels from the Honolulu airport are about $12 per person. As a family of four we were able to pull off a deal with a bus driver for $30 to get to our hotel for all of us - great deal I thought.

Once you are in Waikiki there are plenty of buses to take you around the area. Some hotels offer a free bus that takes you to and from the Ala Moana shopping center. This can also be done for a $2 city bus trip. We went to the mall a few times and it is very close to the WalMart which is a great place to get food, suntan lotion and other things that you may need for your stay in Waikiki. The cost in Waikiki for almost anything is overpriced to say the least.

City buses actually go right around the island for $2 so if you wanted to spend the day on the bus you could go right around the island or even take the bus just to Hanauma Bay for the day. We caught a ride out to Hanauma Bay with an enterprising Hawaiian with a minivan and this was a quick and fun way to see some of the south of Oahu but coming back that day we took a city bus and except for the wait it was a great experience, the buses in Waikiki are very clean and we never ran into any troublesome people at all. Read the rest of this entry »

This post started out as a warning. while in Hawaii and Waikiki we found that some of the beaches were terrible for kids and others were really good. There can be a lot of time wasted looking for beaches that are great for kids when in reality probably the best beach on the island is within walking distance from your hotel.

The beach that I find the best first of all is the stretch of beach in front of the big pink hotel. The hotel is the Royal Hawaiian and in front of the hotel is a busy but pretty stretch of beach that is perfect for kids. The reason that the beach here is perfect is that the waves are smaller but are still exciting for the little ones and in walking out the water gets about five feet deep and then gets shallow again around 200 feet from the beach. I would walk with my four year old son out to the slightly deep water and then carry him for a bit and then I could put him back down to run around in water that was only a foot or two deep.

Going further down to the east on Waikiki beach will take you to the wading area of Waikiki beach. This area is great as there is a big cement wall that works as a wave break, the water is a little cloudy but it is a great place to watch the kids as there are no waves and it is contained so you do not lose the kids too easily. Read the rest of this entry »

Magnum PI was one of the great fun to watch shows of the 80s. My wife used to watch an episode everyday in reruns while looking after the babies. Anyway the show Magnum PI really was filmed in Hawaii and if you go north on Oahu you can find the house that they used to film Tom Selleck in all his hairy chested greatness.

The picture to the left is a picture of the entrance to the house. This is important to know as the house is unmarked and very hard to find we thought.

There is always confusion about where the house is and we saw a listing in the Lonely Planet guidebook for Hawaii that said what general area to look for the house. After we got back from out trip to Hawaii we had a lot more luck in seeing exactly where the house is and we got pictures of the wrong house while we were there Read the rest of this entry »

Washington: Edythe Harvey, MD, a psychiatrist with Menninger has offered five suggestions to alleviate stress during one’s vacation and enjoy the holiday time to the hilt.

“Going on vacation is a time to get away and relax, not stress out about. So start making plans now to leave work at work and focus on the most important people—your family,” Harvey said.

Try something different. Vacationing when kids are out of school is certainly a convenient time but can be the most expensive time to go on vacation, as well as the most crowded at popular destinations, adding the unwanted tension you’re trying to leave behind. Consider roads less traveled, especially if you’ve already been to Disney, for example.

“And by roads, I mean think literally. Get in the car instead of on the plane for your next trip, but only if that is something you know your family will enjoy. You know your family and whether a car journey will help you achieve your goal of relaxing or not. Discuss options together and come up with something everyone has agreed they think they will enjoy,” Harvey said. Read the rest of this entry »

MCNBC has an article today about kid friendly vacation spots. The list and article includes many places in the US as well as Spain and Hawaii and even has a little slideshow of kid friendly vacations that you can take.

Today as a bit of an early Mothers day event the four of us went out and painted pottery.

Here is how it works, you go to a pottery place, pick a piece, paint it, and the come back in a week and it has been fired and is all glossy looking.

As a family event this is not really cheap but it allows everyone to really interact. In our case we shopped around a bit and my four year old son got a little 12 dollar dinosaur, while my eight year old daughter got a 26 dollar turtle piggybank and my wife and I just helped the kids with colors and painting. For the kids there is a sitting/painting fee and no cost to us. Read the rest of this entry »