Weather: 79°F Mostly Cloudy
Location: Kualoa Ranch, Kaneohe, Hawaii, United States
We left bright and early at 7 am to head to Kualoa Ranch. We were supposed to go to Leonard’s Malasadas on the way and I failed to put it in the GPS. Q still hasn’t forgiven me.
It was a beautiful drive over there. I wish I had better pics. It rained off and on the whole way there. I was kind of nervous it was going to pour on us. I had read a lot of Trip Advisor reviews about it raining on people and it being muddy. I don't love being muddy!
We don't get to drive through tunnels being from Kansas. It was exciting driving through the mountains and tunnels and seeing waterfalls coming down over the sides.
I insisted we stop and get a bottle of water so I could have my spark. I thought we would have gone to a store by now and bought a case. I liked the pretty bottle. Just call me Nevia.
Finally we arrived at the ranch, just as a tour bus pulled up. As the crowds poured off I started to feel uneasy about corona virus. I instructed the kids to stay away from people and to not touch things. Our tour was at 8:30. We were told to arrive at 7:45. We were right on time. We had to walk through the gift shop to the back area where you check in.
Aria was excited to see horses. I had really wanted to do the horseback tour, but Aria wasn't old enough. I'm glad the kids still got to see the horses.
There was a building to the left when you went in the back area and there was a queue to get in to register. I saw a few people wearing masks which made me feel weird. We just tried to stay away from people and give space. When we got up to check in, we had to pay some additional money. I had booked the movie tour and I decided we should to the 2 hour UTV tour instead. This was a great decision! More on that later.
Antonio kept wanting to go in the gift shop. Now don’t get me wrong. I love a good gift shop. But it was crowded. I kept having to tell him to step away from people.
Finally it was time to line up for our tour. First they gave us helmets and ponchos. Luckily we were the first tour and they are cleaned once a day. I don’t believe them, but I tried to tell myself they were clean.
We went over to listen to the safety briefing and I needed to use the restroom. I had just gone, but I had also drank a whole bottle of water on the drive. I asked the guy where to go and he said clear back to the gift shop and to hurry. I ran there and back.
When I got back they were loading on to the UTVs.
There was probably 15-20 utvs at our tour time. We divided into groups of 5. We super duper lucked out with the best tour guide. I really can’t even explain how amazing this tour was. We had the best tour guide, Isaac. We stopped at many scenic spots for photos. Drove thru small rivers, over rocks, all kinds of stuff.
We saw tons of sites where movies and tv shows were filmed. They were setting up for something the day we were there. It kind of looked like a wedding to me.
We stopped where Jurassic Park was filmed and Issac took a ton of fun pictures for us. We were so lucky to have him. I would see other guides drive right past where we were and not stop for pictures. I would have seriously felt like I was missing out without him.
After this stop it was back in our UTV's to go over some crazy hills and through water. Isaac was a crazy driver and our group loved it. My kids would yell and laugh as we went through water and it splashed all over us. My husband was loving driving like a wild man. Again, I saw other tour guides going by very slowly. We were definitely in the fun group!
We stopped at another beautiful area where they had built a road specifically for the new Jumanji movies. It was called Jumanji road. So cool!
This was an actual bunker during WW2.
I really can't even explain what an amazing tour this was and how awesome Isaac was. 10/10 would recommend! We all loved it! Highlight of our trip for sure!
As we headed back to where we started we saw some wild pigs!
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