Kristen's activity reviews | Book tours, activities & fun things to do on VELTRA

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Reviews by Kristen
Last review on 2016/09/24
# of Reviews: 3

Fun Show

Posted on: 2016/09/24

The Magic of Polynesia Show was a fun was to spend part of an evening. It was nice having the magic and comedy of John Hirokawa paired with the fire dancing and Polynesian Hula dancing that you would see at a Luau. The dancers were great, and John has excellent showmanship and stage presence. John also interacted with the crowd, throughout much of the Magic of Polynesia Show, which was fun as well. The show moved quickly from trick to trick, which kept things interesting. Everyone in the audience seemed entertained. It was very entertaining and worth the money spent! We would recommend this show to others who are visiting Waikiki.

Rating: star
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date: 2016/09/01
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Late-Entry Ambassador Package - Average Experience

Posted on: 2014/10/04

After reading so many reviews, we expected this experience to be great; however, we found most of the evening to be okay at best. The prime rib and seafood, "prime" dining, is not good. Much of the hot food was luke-warm, the roast beef...I mean prime rib...although pretty sure it was roast beef, was way overcooked and just gross, and much of the food was slimy and just inedible. There was one hot seafood item which was somewhat hot/somewhat still frozen, and my husband said was disgusting. It was not prime dining. I would suggest skipping dining there altogether.

We had some time to walk around; however, most of the exhibits are just artifacts or movies/shows. The Samoa live show was interesting and entertaining, but the videos were boring and I can't imagine what you could spend an entire day there doing (we went late at 4 PM and had plenty of time). The "Ha, Breathe of Life" show was the best part for sure. The show was entertaining; however, it was very long. We went to another luau and show earlier in our trip, booked through the cruise line, and I would say that show was better. "Ha, Breathe of Life" was very long and had a lot of repetitive dancing. They do a part of the show for each Island, so after awhile the dancing gets repetitive. Some aspects were really neat: fire dancing, a few of the dances with props, etc, but it would have been better if it hadn't been so extremely long and repetitive.

Overall, I can't say that I would recommend this experience. If I did, I would recommend the show, without eating dinner. Additionally, be prepared to pay extra for everything and have things that cost money constantly offered to you (I understand, it is a vacation destination, but for the Polynesian Cultural Center, which doesn't allow tipping and is all about culture, it just seemed weird after awhile). Next time we go to Hawaii, we will try a luau closer to the resort area, and skip the Polynesian Cultural Center.

Rating: star
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date: 2014/09/01
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Royal Package - Great Day!

Posted on: 2014/09/08

We had a great time at Sea Life Park. We did the Royal Package and all were amazing, except the sting ray swim/interactive program.

We did the sea lions first, and it was awesome! We have done other dolphin and ray swims in the past, but never were able to find something for sea lions, and this was very cool and fun. We were the only two in the group, so we had a ton of one-on-one time, and got to do lots of fun training techniques and commands. Also got to swim with the sea lion...really fun, and very worth it.

Next, were the rays. This was really boring and not well done, except the fact that they gave us lettuce and let us feed the fish in the pool. The rays were not interested in interacting with us or the trainers, and all you got to do was touch their bellies. We have had MUCH better ray encounters and swims before...with pictures. Not worth it (even with only two of us in the group again).

Third, we did the shark trek. Again, just the two of us. You put on dive helmets and go down in the shark pool. This was really cool. Just the experience of going down, with the helmets, and being with the fish was awesome. They have a HUGE ray in the tank as well as several sharks and lots of fish. We again got to feed the fish, and saw them feed the huge ray. It was very cool, and we got some good pictures courtesy of Sea Life Park (for a price of course). Also, they are very informative.

Last, was dolphins. AWESOME dolphin swim. The foot push and fin swim were great. It was very interactive, and they keep the groups very small. One of the best dolphins swims I have ever done.

NEGATIVES: they were 20-25 minutes late getting us for each activity-very aggravating. They want you on time, but keep you waiting a LONG time. The cost for pictures is outrageous-more than any other swim or excursion I have ever done (we got them anyways...how could you not?). Food at the park is terrible.

Rating: star
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date: 2014/08/31
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