O'ahu Go Pass - Huge Savings - Recommended 3 days itinerary
Do you have to use it consecutively? No, you just have to use within 2 weeks from the first day you use your pass
Do you have to print it out? No, you can just show it on your smartphone
Do you need reservations for some? Yes, the O'ahu Go Pass will list which ones need reservation - especially for the Catamaran (a month or two in advance, we called 2 weeks in advance and it was not available) however, there are places that are not as crowded - one example: Polynesian Cultural center, we came on a Wednesday and we did not have reservations for the Luau and they said they could accommodate (i.e., weekdays for example - weekend, may be best to make reservations as it would be more crowded)
Day 1:
1st stop: We started with Kualoa Ranch (we made reservation the week before we left), we got there at 9 AM and got on the tour at 10:15, it took about 90 minutes. There is a restaurant on site,so you can get breakfast (it's like a cafeteria style setup so you can just pick what you want and pay, at lunch, they setup a buffet that you can opt for instead of you don't want to buy a la carte - $17.95 (Nov 2015 price).
2nd stop: non O'ahu pass stop, however I suggest a stop along the way: checking out north beach along the way to the Polynesian culture center, there are a couple of good eats along here, i.e., Shrimp shack food truck - check into Yelp and you get 10% off (here is a link to my Yelp to see all my food reviews in O'ahu) and Ted's Bakery for amazing crème pies and the famous crab and bacon sandwich.
Do you have to use it consecutively? No, you just have to use within 2 weeks from the first day you use your pass
Do you have to print it out? No, you can just show it on your smartphone
Do you need reservations for some? Yes, the O'ahu Go Pass will list which ones need reservation - especially for the Catamaran (a month or two in advance, we called 2 weeks in advance and it was not available) however, there are places that are not as crowded - one example: Polynesian Cultural center, we came on a Wednesday and we did not have reservations for the Luau and they said they could accommodate (i.e., weekdays for example - weekend, may be best to make reservations as it would be more crowded)
Day 1:
1st stop: We started with Kualoa Ranch (we made reservation the week before we left), we got there at 9 AM and got on the tour at 10:15, it took about 90 minutes. There is a restaurant on site,so you can get breakfast (it's like a cafeteria style setup so you can just pick what you want and pay, at lunch, they setup a buffet that you can opt for instead of you don't want to buy a la carte - $17.95 (Nov 2015 price).
2nd stop: non O'ahu pass stop, however I suggest a stop along the way: checking out north beach along the way to the Polynesian culture center, there are a couple of good eats along here, i.e., Shrimp shack food truck - check into Yelp and you get 10% off (here is a link to my Yelp to see all my food reviews in O'ahu) and Ted's Bakery for amazing crème pies and the famous crab and bacon sandwich.
3rd stop: the Polynesian cultural center (this is the one place that you can opt to go twice with the pass - this is also the bonus luau that you can make reservation in advance or if you are planning to go during the week, you can just show up that morning to make reservation, we opted not to do the luau here but it would recommend it if you want to spend an entire day here, lots to do and it's a ton of fun for everyone in the family. Additionally if you skip the 2nd stop. This place has a ton of food options (food trucks, stands, hot dogs, rice plates, etc..)
4th stop: Waimea Valley - there is a restaurant here as well. If you haven't eaten. Here you can opt to pay an extra $6 per person to get a golf cart round trip tour of the valley or $4 one way. I can see why some people opted for this, we walked for a bit before we saw the waterfall (its about a mile).
5th stop: Dole plantation - you must get here by 3pm if you want to be able to do all 3 places (pineapple express, explore the garden and race the maze to find all the clues) Also-I would recommend getting one order of waffle cones or waffle bowl or just a bowl - it's plenty for 2-4 people and a little savings as well, as a cone is $5.50 without toppings, $5.95 with and a waffle bowl, two times the size, comes with pineapple and a topping of your choice for $8.95
So all this would have cost you two O'ahu pass in one day.
Day 2:
We did Pearl Harbor - the USS Arizona to start, this requires a time slot and they were very precise with their start time and end time. I was truly impress with how well they coordinated this USS Arizona Memorial.
Then we took a bus to USS Missouri then the Aviation museum, all this takes about 3+ hours if you are streamlining it.
Otherwise, it's about 5 hours. There are food on site and snacks at pretty much every location.
All this separately cost $60+
Day 3:
NOTE: We skipped a couple of days before doing day 3, we spent the day at the resort at the beach and the pool. The pass does not require usage consecutively just within two weeks from day 1.
1 stop: We went to Sea Life which is the Hawaii version of Sea World but significantly smaller and was not very crowded, great for kids and adults alike (just make sure to get a bug spray with SPF - mosquitoes are so bad). See my packing list for Hawaii for all the products that I bought.
**NOTE: since you will be on your feet a lot, I would recommend getting a good pair of Teva. I brought my Nike sneakers but it was so humid that I ended up wearing my Teva that I bought back in college and they were amazing, my feet did not sweat or get all hot from wearing sneakers all day. I was comfortable and happy to how well these Teva withstand the terrain and I can get dirty or wet and can just simply rinse it off. The ones I have are the original which are not quite as comfortable as these hurricanes (I bought 2 pairs since I returned from Hawaii for half of the cost of the original that I spent I think a $100 back in college). I am attaching the link to Amazon of the Hurricane that I bought (it comes in many colors). I also bought another pair of original just because it is more delicate in appearance to wear with my summer dresses for my upcoming cruise - stay tune for those tips).
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