Travel Tuesday: The Polynesian Cultural Center, April 11, 2025

When we went to Hawaii for the Hapalua, the other things we wanted to do was to climb Diamond Head, go to the big island, visit Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and go to a luau. I read about a few different luau options and heard good things about the Polynesian Cultural Center. 

It had activities, recreated villages, shopping, a luau, AND a nightime show. Sure, it was a long day out, but we could take a bus back and forth and it seemed both fun and weird. 

And we LOVED it. 

First we caught a bus from near our hotel -- nice, easy, and comfortably air conditioned. It's also possible to book a circle island tour option, but that leaves at 6:30am and the day was going to be long enough. We therefore drove straight there, but hey, in Oahu it's pretty once you get out of town!

We had booked the Aliʻi Lūʻau package, largely to guarantee good seats at the show. After grabbing a quick lunch in the Hukilau Marketplace (yep, now you can probably hear Bing Crosby, too), we went into the center itself. 

I don't think I realized how big the center is, and I didn't really understand that a "group guided tour" was, well, a big group guided tour. 

We rode the canoe to the far end of the park with our very, very nice guide. It was pretty, of course, but we were itching to explore on our own. 

We told the guide we were just going to do our own thing. Let's just say she did not seem surprised. 

We visited villages, saw a big beautiful boat, lots of carvings, and watched different dance performances and even a drumming competition that had everyone in stitches. 

One highlight for moe: one of the areas had a display on Hawaiian quilting. I'd never seen any close up and it inspired me to get a pattern and give it a go. (Okay, give it a go SOMEDAY.)

Eventually it was time for the luau. Now, when we were planning the trip I looked into ordering a lei greeting -- but it just seemed like a hassle. So this is a genuine grin because we were greeted with a lei before the luau!

The performance told a story about Liliʻuokalani, the last queen of the Hawaiian kingdom. There was a royal procession and a beautiful elder woman walked on stage in Victorian dress. A teenager at the next table gasped, "The QUEEN of Hawaii is HERE?!?!?" Full disclosure: the same thought flitted across my mind for a second before I remembered she had been dead for over a century.

Fun fact: Liliʻuokalani wrote "Aloha ʻOe"

There was excellent dancing, too, and the food was great -- lots of vegetarian options, including tofu poke. Oh, and we were served smoothies IN PINEAPPLES. We are still using the souvenir bamboo straws!

two big smoothies, one in a pineapple

After dinner we took a trolley (think oversized Disney World parking tram) a mile or so away to Lāʻie, HI to visit the very pretty LDS temple. We learned more about the history of the center itself, and a fun story about the Hukilau song. 

In 1865 the Mormons purchased a 6,000-acre plantation in Lāʻie and dedicated a temple there in 1919 -- the first build outside of the continental US. When the temple accidentally burned down in 1940, the local church members decided to start a hukilau as a fundraising activity. 

A hukilau is an ancient Hawaiian fishing method in which a large net is laid in the ocean with lengthy ropes extending to the beach tied to each end. Long leaves, or lau in Hawaiian, which are bound along the length of the ropes, flutter in the water and help scare the fish into the net as the community pulls (huki in Hawaiian) the ropes, gradually bringing the net to shore. --polynesia.com

Hundreds of people attended the first Lāʻie Hukilau to watch traditional music and dance, feast at a luau, and even help huki the nets. The success inspired Jack Owens to write The Hukilau Song. 

What a wonderful day for fishing
in the old Hawaiian way,
where the hukilau nets are swishing
down in old Laie Bay.
Oh we're going to a hukilau,
a huki huki huki huki hukilau.
Everybody loves a hukilau,
where the laulau is the kaukau at the big luau.
We throw our nets out into the sea,
and all the ama-ama come a-swimming to me.
Oh we're going to a hukilau,
a huki huki huki,
huki huki hukilau.

These hukilau continued off and on for years, and helped inspire the creation of the Polynesian Cultural Center itself. 

After wandering the grounds for a bit, we took the trolley back to the center and went to the Pacific Theater for the HĀ: Breath of Life show. No photography was allowed, but the show was great -- storytelling, singing, dancing, great production values, and really well performed. A highlight in an already excellent day! 

pre-show view from our seats

Eventually we piled on to the bus for the long ride back to Waikiki. We'd had a fine, weird day out. Would I recommend it? Absolutely. Do I need to go again? Nope. Was the Aliʻi Lūʻau Package worth it? Absolutely. 

Travel Tuesday is a project I'm working on to get old photos and memories out of notebooks and onto this blog.