Oahu Tourist Attractions Actually Worth Your Time and Money

Hawaii can be an expensive place to travel. It seems like no matter where you go, there will be someone there to sell you something, be it some overpriced snorkeling gear rentals or a boat ride with no guarantee of seeing the wildlife you wanted to see. You definitely have to be picky about where you budget your spending, and these are a few Oahu attractions we visited that I think are actually worth your money…

Pearl Harbor Attractions

If you are at all interested in World War II history, the Pearl Harbor attractions are a must-see. The actual Pearl Harbor exhibits and USS Arizona Memorial are free to visit (Memorial is free but requires tickets that can be booked in advance), with audio guides available for $7.50. In addition, there are three other museums in the same area that can be combined to make a full day trip. 

USS Arizona Memorial

We opted to make it a day trip, getting the $65 Passport to Pearl Harbor that got us into all four attractions with one pass. It’s a pretty good deal since the full price of each piece combined would amount to $71.50, but if you only have a few hours to spare, in addition to the free USS Arizona Memorial, I’d recommend spending them at the Bowfin Submarine Museum. For only $12 you can enter the museum and also take a tour of a real submarine, audio guide included. It’s a really neat experience if you’ve never been inside a submarine before.

Inside the submarine

Oahu Photography Tours

You may be thinking, why would I spend money on a photography tour when I can just explore and take photos on my own? Of course that is always an option, but we found Oahu Photography Tours to be a great experience and well worth the money for a couple reasons. First, our tour guide Alex knew all the best locations to take photos, from the more well-known beaches to the random side streets that you would never find on a tourist map. Second, as a long-time photographer himself, Alex was very knowledgable about different types of cameras and photo composition, and was able to provide some helpful tips to everyone in the group, personalizing based on each person’s camera and experience level. I would recommend giving it a try for anyone interested in getting nice photos (and willing to wake up at the crack of dawn for the sunrise tours), ideally towards the beginning of your vacation so the tour can also serve as an introduction to Oahu.

Start of the sunrise tour

Visiting the less populated scenic beaches

Polynesian Cultural Center

The PCC is a one-of-a-kind attraction that’s part theme park and part museum. The main part of the park consists of a large piece of land separated into six “villages”, each representing a different Polynesian culture - Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, Fiji, Aotearoa, and Hawaii. Each village is staffed by people native to those places who put on performances and run hands-on activities, giving an general introduction of their culture to visitors. We chose to get the ticket packages that also include a luau dinner and post-dinner “Broadway-style” show. I found the entire cultural center to be really worthwhile. If you have a day to spare in your itinerary and you are at all interested in learning about Polynesian culture, I would highly recommend it.

Hula dancers from Hawaii

Learning how to make fire like the Samoans

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions about these attractions (or suggestions for others you recommend!) in the comments below, and look out for my next post on some of our favorite food on the island!

How to not spend all your time in line at Universal Studios Hollywood

Fellow Harry Potter fans have a new reason to visit Universal Studios Hollywood with the recent opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter within the park. It may not be as big as the Orlando version (not a new trend as far as theme parks go), but it’s a way for west coast Potter fans to enjoy drinking butterbeer, exploring Hogsmeade, and buying overpriced wizard robes without having to travel cross country. From my recent trip to the park, I’ve come up with a list of tips to help you maximize your time in the park.

Hogwarts, home of the most popular ride in the park

#1. Buy your tickets online

If you know what day you’re planning on going, there’s no reason not to buy them online in advance. This allows you to skip the lines at the ticket window. But more importantly, buying in advance gives you an hour early entry to the Harry Potter World section of the park. Which leads me to my next point…

#2. Be at the front gates before opening

If you followed step 1 you should have early entry - that’s 8am this time of year, but it could also be 9am or 7am depending on when you go, so make sure to check the calendar. The next step is to make sure to be there a little before that time. You wont be allowed into Harry Potter World until actual early entry time, but you want to be at the front of the mob crowd when they do open. Trust me on this.

Hippogriff on the hippogriff ride

#3. Target big attractions first

This means going for the 4D Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride at the castle first. We went for this first thing and waited about 25 minutes. Later in the day wait times were up to 120 minutes. After the 4D ride, we went for the hippogriff ride, which was a mistake. We should have went to Ollivanders next for the wand ceremony. By the time we got around to that wait times were up to 70 minutes, so we ended up waiting until later in the day to come back to that. After visiting Ollivanders, feel free to stop by Flight of the Hippogriffs. This is a low wait time ride, only going up to 35 minutes maximum on the day we went. 

Visit Ollivanders to see the popular wand choosing ceremony

Here are also a few more general tips for the rest of the park:

#4. Wait until you’re at the park to buy front-of-the-line passes

You can upgrade your pass at the park for the difference in price between the front-of-the-line tickets and regular tickets, so there’s no monetary incentive to getting them ahead of time. Depending on the day, you may find you don’t even need the FOTL passes, so you can save that money for buying more butterbeer. 

#5. Plan to see shows around the middle of the day

The park is fairly empty early in the morning, gets crowded starting late morning, and tapers off again right around dinnertime. Wait times for rides also increase and decrease correspondingly. To avoid wasting too much time in line, plan to see shows around midday to mid afternoon when lines for rides are the longest.

Go for the Studio Tour in the morning or late afternoon to avoid huge lines

#6. Go on a mildly drizzly day

If possible, try to visit on a day with some light rain, because most Los Angelenos are allergic to rain. At least that’s what it seems like - we visited on a day that had some occasional showers, and the park was much less crowded than usual. Just throw on a raincoat, wear some waterproof sandals, and go. You were going to get soaked on the Jurassic Park ride anyway.