Cass, Rob & Kira - 20 Hours at Aulani and other Oahu Adventures July 2024

[Timon]

Part 2

My animal-loving kid made a beeline for the horses.

You can take horseback tours here too. This would be amazing but it's way too hot for me to even think about it!

"Hello, my name is Kira and I love you already!" Sums it up basically.

Happy girl.

Kira and I both noticed this horse, way over in the corner, by itself, in the shade and we both had the exact same response.

Same, horse, same!

I had to drag her away from the horses because I wanted her to check out the rest of the area.

I loved this amazing wooden sculpture.

So many tv shows and movies were filmed here at the ranch. They have a special spot that showcases all of the stars that have filmed there.

We recently re-watched Pearl Harbor for the billionth time and she has discovered how cute Josh Hartnett is. I've known for about 20 years now.

As we wandered over by where we check in for the tour (you have to check in twice, once at the main location and then again where you board your tour vehicle) she spotted a horse. She was sad to find out that it was not real.

But it didn't stop her from hugging it.

Here's a very big hint as to what kind of tour we are taking.

I love the theming here, check out the fence sign.

Eventually, you do plan to have dinosaurs on your dinosaur tour, right? ​

The ranch is just so gorgeous, I love it here!

We headed over to the check in area for our Jurassic Adventure Tour. This tour was a lot longer and a lot more expensive than the Movie Sites Tour but I am a HUGE Jurassic Park movies lover so I just had to book it! I have very fond memories of seeing the original movie with my dad in the drive-in theatre back in 1993. I saw it once in the regular theatre and then twice at the drive-in and loved every single second of it. I have probably seen the original movie over 50 times, at least! It is my second favourite movie ever.

While only one scene from the original movie was filmed here, (the T-Rex chasing the Gallimimus) many of the scenes for the Jurassic World movies were filmed here and we all love the new movies.

Here is a look at the vehicle for the JA Tour.

We checked in with our tour guide and then hung around until it was time to board. We had some fun too.

They had this glorious MP tree that kept us in the shade while we waited and I noticed that there was a palm tree that grew right in the middle of it.

Time for our tour! Our guide, Nick was awesome. He gave us a brief introduction to the tour and then off we went.

It was two per seat so we sent the extrovert of the family to sit with the stranger.

The ranch has cows, pigs, chickens and other animals and we saw lots of them.

You can probably guess one reason why I love it here so much.

This is the Battery Cooper, which used to be the first stop on this tour but sadly, they no longer stop here. We stopped long enough to grab a photo but didn't go in. Rob and I went in and explored last October and it was very cool!

If you want to see it, I made videos from that trip, here's the Oahu day:

You can see the highway down below.

Caught some surfers.

And then you go around this bend and you are met with the most gorgeous scenery ever!

Stay tuned for what they call the Jurassic Valley, which is truly spectacular!

Unfortunately for you fine folks, you will have to wait a couple of weeks as I am headed back to Florida tomorrow to meet up with my bestie.

See ya later, gator!

 

[missjackiemcg]

We recently re-watched Pearl Harbor for the billionth time and she has discovered how cute Josh Hartnett is. I've known for about 20 years now.

Oh, yes, ma'am. He's adorable!! I LOVED him in The Faculty and Hallowen H20. Definitely wore out my VHS tapes with how many times I rewatched those in high school!

 

[Timon]

Part 3

Welcome to Jurassic Park.

This is what they call the Jurassic Valley and it has been used in countless film and tv shows. If you are a movie lover, chances are you have seen this valley in a movie or two. It has been used in Jurassic Park (the T-Rex and Gallimimus chase scene, where Dr. Grant and the kids hide behind a log), George of the Jungle, all the Jurassic World movies, Mighty Joe Young, 50 First Dates, Pearl Harbor, Windtalkers, Godzilla (you can still see the giant footprints), Kong: Skull Island, Jumanji movies, Hawaii Five-O, Magnum PI, Lost and soooo many more!

This was our first stop so we got out and took some pics. Just beyond those trees is where Tim said "They're uhhhh flocking this way."

In the background, you can see two other tours going on, the Raptor ATV tour and the bike tour.

We got back into the vehicle and drove for a very short amount of time to the next stop.

Here is the Kissing Gorillas mountain, used in Mighty Joe Young. You can also see it very briefly when Dr. Grant and the kids hide behind the tree trunks if you have a keen eye.

I was taking more photos while Rob and Kira got back on the truck.

Our next stop was one of my faves. This deck was built for Jurassic World and although most things that are built for movies usually come down after filming, the Ranch had asked the filmmakers to leave this one (and another big one you will see in the next chapter) still standing.

This is the loading area for the Gyrosphere ride, where Zach and Grey boarded just as the park was being shut down.

It was only used for a very small part of the film, here is one of those scenes.

Every time we stopped, Nick would pull out an iPad and show us some scenes of a movie that was filmed in those exact spots. It was a little hard to see because it was so bright out but it did the job.

It was a short walk to get up to the deck.

But the views were so worth it!

Me and my kid enjoying the scenery.

Nick took a family pic of everyone who wanted one, including us.

Back onto the truck and down the hill, we could see our next stop, the radio tower bunker from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, where they went to track Blue.

The cows were enjoying some shade.

You could also see the base of the tower from Fallen Kingdom just down below. This is also where they were running down the hill to escape the volcano eruption.

I believe Nick said that this is what's left of the tree trunk that Dr. Grant, Tim and Lex hid behind in the original Jurassic Park movie.

Kira would not last in a real Jurassic Park because she would just try to hug all of dinos.

I could spend all day here, it is just so beautiful!

Back onto the truck we went and we headed out of the Valley. We drove by the Kong: Skull Island area that we stopped at on the Movie Sites tour. Rob and I got some great pics here last year. They also have a reproduction of the tree trunk from JP.

On this tour, we only drove by.

Back onto the road, where the Cooper Battery is and we headed over to the other side of the Valley.

These are the four main Tiki Gods in Hawaiian Culture. They were working on the last one.

I am at my image limit, so stay tuned to see the other side of the Valley and another very cool shooting location from Jurassic World.

 

[Timon]

Oh, yes, ma'am. He's adorable!! I LOVED him in The Faculty and Hallowen H20. Definitely wore out my VHS tapes with how many times I rewatched those in high school!

LOL! VHS tapes! Those were the days! It's nice that we can see him in 4K now.

 

[Timon]

Part 4

As we headed over to the other side of the Valley, the views were different but just as gorgeous.

I tried to get Rob to look for this selfie but he was too busy enjoying the view. I don't blame him.

The ponds were used for the Mosasaurus scenes, although they were heavily CGI'd.

This is the tiny island of Mokoli'i, also known as China Man Hat Island.

This part of the ride was wild. You see those roads? The downhill, twisty one? Yeah, we went down that! It was very fun and this part of the ranch was just FILLED with MP trees, it was so awesome!

As we went down into the very lush part of the ranch, under some very gorgeous MP trees, we ended up at a very cool leftover set piece from Jurassic World.

This is the area where the Indominus Rex would have roamed.

And then through the trees, we came across the Indominus Rex enclosure.

We drove through the gate that the panicked park employee opened to get away from the Indominus Rex.

And then we parked on the other side of it and walked over.

We walked up the stairs that you see Claire and Owen going up, to where Claire shows Owen the IR for the very first time.

Rob was wearing his lava dirt shirt that he got 24 years ago on this island.

At the top was the area where you can see the IR pad and it had tons of photos of all of the scenes that were shot on this part of the ranch.

I made Rob and Kira recreate the scene with Claire and Owen waiting to see the IR.

Everyone from our vehicle was in there at the same time so I couldn't get it exact but it was close enough.

And here is the scene with Claire.

Kira recreated it for us.

Standing at the top of the stairs, look how lush it is behind the enclosure.

Looking down at the claw marks from the IR.

They also have a map of the island from JW.

We headed back down to explore where the IR would be. We didn't spot him but Kira did find some raptors though.

Looking back up to the control room. This was so neat to see, I am glad they kept this on the ranch.

Close-up of the claw marks. They took the top part of the fence down after filming, for safety reasons.

It was still massive though, hard to understand the scale of it until you are standing next to the gate.

Right in front of Rob and Kira is where Owen hid under the vehicle, smothering gasoline on himself to mask his smell from the Indominus Rex.

That was our last stop of the tour so once we were done, we headed back. They definitely saved the best for the last because that was freaking cool.

More massive MP trees.

By the time we got back, we were hungry so we decided just to eat there.

Remember I was going to show you our view that we had for breakfast? Well, we had the same view for lunch.

We got some fries, an Acai bowl and a shrimp plate and we just shared it all.

It was all delicious and it filled us up enough for our next adventure.

Rob takes a little longer to eat than Kira and I so he stayed to finish his lunch while Kira and I did our shopping and then we met him outside the front entrance.

I cannot recommend Kualoa Ranch enough! They have something for everyone and you could keep going back over and over and do different things each time. And if you are a movie lover, you definitely need to make a stop here. The JP tour was a little on the expensive side but the Movie Site Tour is about $50 USD per person and is definitely worth doing!

We said goodbye to the Ranch and headed to our next stop. We were basically doing the same things, in the same order, that Rob and I did last October but this time we got to share it all with Kira. There was so much beauty today, the Ranch was just the beginning.

Stay tuned to see where we headed next.

 

[missjackiemcg]

This is absolutely precious! I love that Rob snaps candid pictures of you and of Kira on your trips! I'm lucky if I can get my husband to actually smile and pose to be IN a picture, let alone taking any!

Everything looks absolutely gorgeous! I have friends who recently did a Jurassic Park tour in Hawaii (not sure if it's the same one), but came back with nothing positive to say. Just the views alone would have me stunned!! I'm just not sure what there is to be grumpy about visiting a place so incredible!

 

[Kanga2Roo]

That tour looks sooo cool! I would be in heaven with all that. And the scenery...just gorgeous

 

[Gamedog]

Following along. Seems like quite the trip!

 

[Timon]

Part 5


Our next stop was the Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden. Rob and I drove through this surreal place last year and I fell in love with it so I just had to make sure that Kira saw it too. Many people will spend hours here, have a picnic, walk to the lake, etc., but it was just too hot here so we just elected to stay in the car and enjoy the lovely A/C and check out the amazing views.

I could have taken eleventy billion photos and well, I probably took just short of that but I won't share them all with you, instead I shall share just a few of my faves. I will say that these photos just don't do the place justice, so if you are ever in Oahu, please go visit this amazing place.

It was actually designed and built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for flood protection and each area has plantings from tropical regions around the world. Each area is marked and you can stop at the Visitor's Centre to learn all about it. Rob and I had stopped there last October but we knew it would be lost on our teenager and we still had one more stop before heading back so we didn't want to push it so we skipped it and just drove all the way to the end and back.

The main road at the entrance is an iconically gorgeous spot and so many people used to stop and take photos and videos in the middle of the road so they had to put signs up saying that there is no stopping allowed.

It really is much better in person, even if you just drive through like we did. You can walk and hike and there's many places to take really nice photos.

Now it's time for our final stop before we headed back to the resort.

Back in 2000, Rob and I ended up eating at a McDonald's that was just across from this place. The internet was in its infancy back then so I had no idea that we ate right across from this little gem.

Rob and I had visited here last year and I thought it was just beautiful and worth a second visit to show Kira. It's mostly a memorial park or cemetery but at the very back of the park is the Byodo-In Temple, a replica of the one in Japan and was dedicated in 1968 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaii.

Byodi-In translates to "Temple of Equality" and it although inside the temple, sits an 19-foot Buddha, it is not a functioning temple and it is open and welcome to all faiths.

There is parking near the Temple but there's only so many spots and it is often busy. We were visiting about 30 minutes before closing so parking was not an issue for us. Kira and I went ahead while Rob was doing something at the car.

There is a $5 fee to enter but when I got my wallet out and told the guy "three adults, please", he just waved us by. I guess we were close enough to the end of the day, he didn't care.


When Rob finally did show, we were waiting for him just past the admission booth and he asked the guy if we had paid for him and the guy replied "Oh, they are free but it's double for you, chief!"

Right past the admission booth is the bridge over to the temple.

So pretty! If you are a fan of the TV series Lost, this temple was used a couple of times in the show and was also used in the film Pearl Harbor.

Kira and I rang the bell before entering as it signifies peace and happiness and prosperity to those who ring it three times.

You must take your shoes off before entering.

Both Kira and I lit some incense and did the prayer offering.

Rob, who is a devout Catholic, chose not to enter the temple at all.

We then bought some fish food at the store so Kira can feed the birds and fish. She was too hung up on the birds to even get to the fish.

Needless to say, feeding the birds in her hand was the best part for her.

They had two black swans swimming around, both of whom were gorgeous.

This, by the way, is my 1000th photo in this trip report. I have never gotten past 800 photos in any particular trippie, and I still have a couple more days to go still!

We tried to get more fish food but the store had closed by the time Kira had almost ran out. I hit up the washrooms and as I was coming out, Rob was over past the stores helping the ladies haul their boxes and and pack up for the day. That right there, folks, is Rob summed up in a nutshell. He is always and forever the gentlemen with the biggest and kindest heart.

He's also a people-person and enjoys chatting with all of the strangers. Kira and I are introverted non-people persons, so thankfully we have a token people-person in the family to handle all of the extroverted stuff for us.

Kira was in her happy place and kept finding more birds to feed.

Once she was done, we headed out.

It was a short visit but a very good one. Kira talked about feeding the birds for the next two weeks.

We were heading back to the resort next but had one quick stop for a treat on the way back. Stay tuned to for that and the rest of our evening.