The Polynesian Cultural Center is 42 acres of fun and culture. The Center opens for business about noon every day except Sunday (the Center is closed on Sunday). The map give a kind of an idea of the general layout. On the left side is the Hukilau Marketplace, a collection of souvenir stores and food establishments. No ticket is required but spending money is highly encouraged. There’s something for everyone available there. On the upper left is the “Pacific Theater” where the ninety-minute night show is held at 7:30 pm. The show tells the story of a oung man being born and growing up in the various Polynesian Islands. It’s a fun show with lots of music, dances, native costumes, and dramatic moments … along with plenty of fire!

A ticket is required to get into the cultural displays and experiences on the right side of the map. Several types of tickets are available. General admission gets one into the ticket-required area and a reserved seat at the night show. An “Ambassador” ticket adds a guided tour. The ticket holder is grouped together with other Ambassador ticket holders speaking the same language and with a very knowledgeable guide speaking the same language. A “Super Ambassador” ticket puts the ticket holder into their own tour group with a knowledgeable guide, but no one else is included. People who take the Ambassador or Super Ambassador tours generally rave about their experience and their tour guide.

There are three dinner options available.

• Add a luau to the ticket. Depending on how many visitors are at the Center, one, two, or three luaus will be available. The Aloha Luau is always available and is the largest venue, seating about 800 people. If sufficient guests are at the PCC, the Ohana Luau will be available. This luau can seat about 400 people. Finally, the Kuai Luau may also be available which seats about 200 people. The Luaus have an excellent buffet along with a show that lasts a little more than an hour. One highlight of the luau is pulling the roasted pig out of the “imu” (earthen oven) and making it available to the guests as part of the buffet. The luaus open around 4:45pm and it’s a good idea to be on time so as to not miss any of the show.
• Add one of two buffet dinners to the ticket. The Island Buffet is the most popular and can seat up to 2,000 people. The Prime Dining buffet has the same food as Island Buffet, but adds prime rib to the menu. Both buffets have Asian as well as American food choices along with food choices suitable for children. Neither buffet offers a show and one can show up anytime between 5:00pm and 6:30pm to eat dinner.
• There is also in the Hukilau market place a couple of food trucks, a restaurant, and a hot dog stand. Quite a few PCC guests opt for getting something from the food trucks. Be aware, however, that these trucks aren’t set up to handle crowds, so the wait for the food can be a half hour or more after ordering. None of the food trucks take a credit card, but the Pounders Restaurant takes all major credit cards.

Throughout the “islands” are other souvenir shops and each “island” has a show and other activities periodically during the afternoon. Tonga and Samoa are by far the most popular “islands” with Tahiti and Fuji close behind. There simply isn’t enough time in the afternoon to see and do everything that might be available.

Because of that, the PCC offers a “bounce-back” ticket. Before leaving the PCC, stop by the ticket office (top left of the map) and get a “Free within Three” pass. That’ll get you back into the PCC Islands any day within the next three days at no cost. Food is not included but can be added on.

The PCC has an IMAX-style theater which shows a fifteen-minute quite tame large-screen video about Hawaii (no vertigo!). The scenery is stunningly beautiful. At 2:30pm there is a canoe pageant in the canal in the middle of the Center featuring dances and performances from the various Polynesian cultures. Some of the dances are quite vigorous and the dancers take some delight in spilling the guy pushing the canoe with his long pole into the water.

The canal through the middle of the “islands” offers a couple of boating opportunities. Larger groups can board a double-hulled canoe with a fairly buff young man standing on the back pushing the canoe up and back on the canal. A one-way and a round-trip tour is available. There is no cost for the canoe ride.

There are also kayaks and paddle boards available in the later afternoon for a price. Finally, at the far end of the Center four-man canoes with an outrigger are available to paddle around the canal. All of the canoe rides are popular and a lot of fun. They all shut down between 2pm and 3pm for the Canoe Pageant at 2:30pm.

The PCC is first and foremost a museum showcasing the music, dress, culture, and ecology of the Polynesian Islands. Secondly, it is the means by which 1,700 students from Polynesia and Southeast Asia earn money to fund their education. These students work about 20 hours a week in addition to carrying a full academic load and have jobs as dancers, wait staff at the luaus and buffets, photograph helpers, cleaning crew (a very large cleaning crew works every night to make the Center spiffy for the next day), and many other things. Thirdly, it is also a “gateway” to the Laie Hawaii Temple Visitors’ Center.

Every afternoon (except Sundays, of course) between 3pm and 6:40pm 35-minute tram rides are available to PCC guests. The trams leave every twenty minutes, drives through BYU-Hawaii, through the town of Laie, and then lets everyone off at the Temple Visitors’ Center for fifteen minutes. During that time guests can tour the Visitors’ Center, walk around the Temple grounds, take pictures, or just sit, relax, and enjoy the beautiful spirit of the place. Between 150 and 350 visitors a day take advantage of the tram tours, depending on how many guests are at the PCC. The Temple and Temple Grounds are beautiful and very serene. I’ve often heard it called “The Taj Mahal of Hawaii” … a very fitting description. After fifteen minutes the tram picks them back up and returns them to the PCC.

Nina and I volunteer most every week at the PCC at one of the luau’s helping with tickets, counts, or helping people find their way around. It’s a beautiful, interesting, and intriguing place to visit. Every visitor to Oahu should plan for an afternoon and evening at the PCC.

Ta ta for now!