The Polynesian Cultural Center

Dear Tourists,

This is a blog post specifically for you! If you:

1. Plan on travelling to Hawaii anytime soon
2. Plan on travelling to the island of Oahu anytime soon
3. Want to see how the 'other brown people' live
4. Want to experience a cultural experience that's hard to experience anywhere else.

THEN THIS POST IS FOR YOU.

So I spent a year trapped as a slave... I mean jailed in prison...

I worked at the Polynesian Cultural Center for a good year of my life lol. It's really cool if you want to meet the WORLD FAMOUS Kap Tafiti, or if you want to see a dude climb a tree, or if you want a fresh coconut, or if you want to see some good looking shirtless guys (as well as some not so good looking guess. Don't worry I don't discriminate on ugly levels.) So I'm gonna give you a step by step guide of how to get the most for your money. It'll be wild.

I'm not gonna go into detail about the villages because I don't wanna spoil anything for you, but please go and try all the activities and just make the best out of it! (also i'm being really approximate about the times give or take 5 minutes.)

What you'll need

Here are some things that you should take with you to be prepared for the day ahead.
1. GET CASH. While most places do accept cards, the systems are sometimes slow so it'll be easier on you with cash. Especially at the food places.
2. GET WATER BOTTLES. You can literally buy a litre of water for a dollar anywhere in Hawaii. The center has water, but they charge like $3 for a bottle of water. If you buy your own water, they have water fountains.
3. (this ones optional) but a backpack would be smart just to carry all your things and all the things you're gonna walk out with.
4. Camera. There are a lot of sexy people at this joint, you're not gonna wanna miss this instagram opportunity. (Also, famous people come here all the time. Who knows. You could get lucky.)
5. An open mind. Nothing kills an experience like a racists. These kids come from all around the world and are trying to share their experiences with you. They might not have the best English, but they are doing what they have been trained to do best.
6. GummiBears (I'll get to this later.)
7. Bug Repellent. There's a lot of mosquitoes.
8. Sunscreen. Well duh.

STEP ONE:

So first of all. I suggest that you get your tickets. If you know someone that can hook you up with discounted tickets. Do that. Get the general all day pass, tickets to the night show, and a dinner option (unless you don't want to eat at the buffets. There's really no need for a tour guide unless you want someone telling you about the weird trees and the birds and to be honest, mostly useless facts. It's just how it is. It depends. If you'd rather do your own thing and not follow around a college student then just follow my guide and do your own thing. (If you want a tour guide, go for it. They're all pretty good. My favorites are Clifton, Israel, Paige, and Marania. They're good at what they do and they know what they're talking about.) Anyways tickets. I suggest you you get to the center at around 11:30am. This ensures good parking, no queues for tickets, and you get to browse the little gift shops in the Market Place before it opens!

HAWAIIAN VILLAGE

The first show you're going to want to go to is HAWAII. It starts at 12:05pm. It's the furthest village from the entrance, and it is also the host village because obviously you're in Hawaii. So you go through, you give the people your tickets GET A MAP. Don't you dare enter that place without a map. You'll be so lost. But also, don't be afraid to ask for directions. If you see a lady in a red dress and bead looking necklace with a name tag, or a guy in a red shirt and black skirt type deal wearing a bead looking necklace with a name tag these are the tour guides. Ask for directions. Or any other employee. They'll tell you where to go. Anyways. Hawaii, you'll walk past the Island of Samoa. You'll probably hear a man playing a guitar and singing/directing you. Then you'll walk past the Island of Aotearoa (New Zealand) keep going around and you'll see a canoe. Take a right from the canoe and you'll see a bridge. Across the bridge, you should see the Island of Fiji. Most likely there will be someone hitting a log. Go around them and you've found the Island of Hawaii!! Chances are you'll have time to explore the village a little bit. You can go look at the huts all around the village show casing things about the Hawaiian culture as well as info about how Hawaiians used to live. If you're lucky, the village chief will see you and come talk to you about the village. You can also try freshly made poi. You can take hula lessons. You can even stare at the fish in the stream. And there's even some traditional Hawaiian games you can play! You'll know that the show is starting when you hear a conch shell blow. Make your way to the performance house and enjoy the show! (Unfortunately I have no photos of Hawaii, I just never really made it to taking photos over there.)

TAHITI VILLAGE

The next show you're going to go to is in the Island of Tahiti. Instead of going back over the bridge towards the way you came, you'll see another bridge. Go across that bridge. You should hear some drumming. Go towards the drumming. You should see a villager standing near the sign and they will show you where to go. Depending on the weather, the show could either be in the big building if it's rainy, or outside on the lawn if it isn't raining. The show starts at 12:30pm. There are lots of activities to do! There's fishing, dance lessons, temporary tattoos, spear throwing, drum lessons, Tahitian bread you can try. There's also little museum pieces you can look at and learn about the different islands.
This will showcase this fast hip-shaking dances of the people from French Polynesia. They're native language is Tahitian, but they also speak French. They're very friendly people and there's no doubt you will enjoy what they have to share with you.

The Village of Fiji

The next village you should go to is the village of Fiji! You will leave the village of Tahiti, walk the opposite way you came and cross the first bride on your right. The show will start at 1pm. There is a coconut oil demonstration, tattoos, and lots of different huts you can visit to learn about the people of Fiji. Once the show starts, you go into the performance hut and they will hand you a stick. It's a musical instrument they use to help include you in the show. If you can, I suggest you try to get as close to the front as you possibly can, You might get scared at times, but they won't hurt you. They're incredibly friendly.

    

Canoe Pageant

So now that you have finished 3 island village, we'll call this intermission. It's where the whole center is preparing for the canoe pageant which starts at 2:15pm. Now this is what I suggest. You have someone save your seats in Fiji. Get seats as close as you can to the water so you can see the performance very well! What the canoe pageant is, is it's a show done on canoes. Each village has a canoe designated to them, they show you their dance, and then they paddle away! So have someone save your seats in Fiji. Then go get some food! There are snack bars all over the park. There's one near Tahiti that you passed leaving Hawaii. There's one that you passed near New Zealand. There's one in Samoa, the first village you passed. And there's one in Tonga. Now I'll do a section dedicated to food later.

So once you've got some food, there's usually a canoe pushing around people serving a fruity sorbet. They're pretty good. Then the pagaent starts! I can't tell you the order because it's changed but you'll really enjoy the show and how the MC presents the show.
 
             


And if you're lucky, you'll get some goofy workers on the side!

    
 


Island of Samoa

Now that the canoe pageant is over and you've probably cried about how awesome it was, the next village you're going to head to is the village of Samoa! This show starts at 3pm. In samoa, you can buy a coconut fresh from the coconut king! You can learn how to make fire, how to twirl a fire knife (of course with a stick not an actual knife) and you learn how to weave, and about the Samoan culture! This show is pretty famous and one of the most popular ones in the world. They teach you about the uses of a coconut, the lifestyles of Samoan culture, and they climb a tree! It's really educational and you'll be cracking up the whole time!
       

Island of Aotearoa (aka New Zealand)

So now it's about 3:30pm and the next show is starting. In New Zealand there is so much to do. You can learn how to swing poi balls, you can learn how to play the Maori stick game tititorea, you can play another stick game which name slips my mind at the moment, there is also tattoos, and museums showing the Maori culture! This show is probably one of my more favorites, but I'm biased because these are my people. They'll sing songs for you, they'll swing the poi, they'll do the haka. It's both beautiful and intimidating. They'll also introduce themselves and tell you where they come from.
     

Island of Tonga

Now this the last village. The show starts at 4pm And also another village where I don't have that many pictures. You'll love this one because it's just as funny as the Samoa. I can't tell you what activities they have here because they just reopened the village from renivations. I can tell you, however. that you can come here to weave and row your own canoe.


GIFT SHOPS

There are gift shops all over the park. There is one in samoa. This one specializes in Samoan pieces as well as Artwork by Kap, the Samoan chief. He'll sign your painting if you buy one and he'll take a picture with you as well! There are little trinkets, shirts that are popular in the Pacifics, jewelry, and more.

The next shop is in Tonga. This shop has a little bit of everything. They have things from Hawaii, Tahiti, New Zealand, Tonga, and Fiji. It's quite a big store so feel free to explore!

Another shop is located near the island of Tahiti. It specializes in Tahitian goods, and they are absolutely beautiful. They sell Sarongs, Jewelry, and shirts. It's really small, but it's nice.

Then there is an even bigger store which is called the ULU store. It's next to a theater where you can watch the video "Hawaiian Journey." It's a movie that I recommend seeing if you want to video of the Hawaiian Islands. There are art pieces in the Ulu store as well as clothing, music, trinkets, other stuff. It's cool. It's got air-conditioning.

The Ukulele Experience is the next store. It's outside of the park and it's a place where you can learn about how a ukulele is made, take free ukulele lessons, they also sell the best mochi ice cream ever. Besides the one you can buy from the grocery store there too.

There's also small kiosks around the market place. One place that sells light up poi balls and fire knives. There's also a place where you can get spray on tattoos, there's a place where you can go 'farming'for pearls.

Ok honestly now I'm bored talking about the shops. Let's move to the food.

Food

In the villages there are 3 main food kiosks. One in Samoa. (The food menus are bound to change, but here's just what I remember. Maybe I'll update later.)
They sell Hot dogs, sausage and rice, sandwiches, panipopo (Roll covered in coconut sauce), drinks galore, a pina colada and guava colada (all non-alcoholic.) Sometimes they have chocolate covered bananas.

Next to the food stand is a coconut stand. They will cut it open so you can drink the water inside, Then they crack it open and you eat the meat inside.

Another food stand is in New Zealand. This one is my favorite. They sell Fijian curry with Rice (SO FREAKING GOOD.) Meat pies, quiches, sausage rolls, and ice cream. They also have fruit cups and musubis (spam wrapped in rice wrapped in seaweed. They're amazing.)

The food in Tahiti changes sometimes. So the only thing I know they have is Ice Cream.

In the market place there are lots of food places. there is a crepe stand and it's awesome. They have savory and sweet crepes and they don't take very long to make.

There is a food truck called Tita's Grill and they have HEAPS of authentic Hawaiian food. My favorite thing from there by far is the coco rice and toast. They also have pretty good chicken and rice.

There is another food stand and they make acai bowls and smoothies and those acai bowls are the best things ever on a nice sunny day.

The last food place (that I'm aware of) is Pounders. It's got a lot of food options that change every so often. So for sure my favorite thing is the pastry place inside. The poi rolls (they're purple) are AMAZING and I love them.

There is also the option of going to the island buffet and their food is great and there are so many food options, thinking about it is making me hungry,

Now the luau's have the same food, but you also get a show with dinner! I recommend luau, It's very entertaining to watch. The only downside is that it might take a while for you to get your food since they dismiss by table.

Night Show

Now the Night Show is the highlight of the night. It is a bit later in the evening, but you'll love the story line and the dances are amazing. The show starts at 7:30. The seating is assigned, but you'll still be able to see the show no matter where you are. The night show, "Ha: Breath of Life." Is a story of a young man who grows into manhood. I suggest you take care of any business before hand because there is no intermission. It's just a straight show, beginning to end. It starts off in the Tonga, then moves to Hawaii, after Hawaii is New Zealand. Samoa is next, then Tahiti, then Fiji. It's a beautiful thing and I won't go into further detail, but hopefully you'll love it as much as I do.


There is a whole lot more than what I told you about PCC, but I just wanted to be broad. You can see the shows in any order at anytime, but if you want the full experience I suggest you make a full day of it or come back again after. Some people do the guided tour one day, then general admittance the next. So do what you want, when you want, it'll be fun.





If you've made it this far and remembered the gummibears... I do this thing where I take a bag of gummy bears with me, lick them, and stick them to various places around the park. If you don't attract much attention like me, it'll make people wonder what's going on and think it has to do with a grand prize. It's just being a nuisance.