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You are here: Home - Hawaii Travel Ezine - #54 Hilton Waikoloa Village
Hilton Waikoloa Village Hotel ReviewThe and Hawaii ... Travel Ezine, dated 05/01/02, by Lisa Weber
01. Title Article - Hilton Waikoloa Village 02. Travel deals - 3 packages, and a cruise 03. Hawaiian Word - mana 04. Hawaiian article - FYI Kauai 05. Featured Website - Hawaii Island Directory 06. Featured Links - Issue Sponsors: Alii Villas #311, Aloha Hale, vacation condos Aloha everyone, the first of May is May Day, except in Hawaii, where it is Lei Day. Read a little more the island tradition at the Honolulu Advertiser If you are interested, Mike Tyson is training for his next fight at a Maui hotel Lisa Issue Sponsor
01. Hilton Waikoloa Village Hotel Reviewhttp://www.hiltonwaikoloavillage.com/Well, my father-in-law has returned home to New Jersey, and hopefully he enjoyed his time here. One thing I know he enjoyed was our trip to the Hilton Waikoloa Village Hotel. We spent two nights and three days at this "Disneyland for adults" (as one of my friends calls it) in late April and had an incredible time. This place is simply breathtaking. It is located on the Kohala Coast of the Big Island, near the Waikoloa Kings Shops and the Outrigger Waikoloa Hotel. It is a humongous hotel; spanning over 60 acres with over 1200 rooms. April is a great time to go, the hotel was operating at about 50% capacity because of the time of year, and therefore it seemed practically empty to us. We had no problems getting a table at dinner or a lounge chair by the pool. We arrived on a Wednesday afternoon (check in is at 3 p.m.) I went to check in and left my father-in-law in the lobby with strict instructions not to look around too much - I wanted to witness his reactions. When I came back to him he looked at me rather dumbstruck and said "There's a boat in the lobby!" And so there is; not only a boat, but a train too. The hotel is so large that getting from the lobby to your room could mean a walk of almost a mile, so the hotel has a monorail train and several small boats that run past the lobby, the towers, the restaurants, and the activities all day. The boats run in a clever canal filled with barracuda, ulua, and several smaller fish that fascinate kids and adults alike as they swim past. We looked around a bit in the lobby, trying to get the large parrots (notorious jewelry stealers, according to the sign) to talk to us and commenting on the 10 foot high, gorgeous green dolphin sculpture. We then hopped in the first boat to come by to go to our rooms in the ocean tower. The standard rooms are nice; large bed and a fold-out couch, and we even had a partial ocean view in a room billed as garden-view. There was no fridge in the room, which I didn't like because we had to open up the monstrously-overpriced mini-bar to put my father-in-law's insulin in. Once it was open, of course my husband had to help himself to a $12 beer. (ok, maybe it wasn't *that* much) We immediately changed into our suits and went out to the pool closest to our rooms for a swim. There are several pools, but we only swam in the two very large ones. The first one we went to was the Kohala Pool. This pool is great for the little kids, with three levels, and three small slides. It has a small waterfall and a slight current. We then walked to the Kona Pool on the other side of the complex - oh mama! I've never seen anything like this pool! It's very large; complete with a sand-filled kiddie pool at one end, and a 175 foot waterslide at the other end, and lets not forget the several waterfalls in between, plus three hot tubs. We spent several hours here on Wednesday and Thursday, most of them going down the waterslide or sitting in the hottub. After the pools, we had to eat something and ended up at the Palm Terrace, because it was very close to our rooms. It was expensive. Very expensive. We had the buffet for $32 (per person!!) I know I didn't eat $32 worth of food, but I would still say it was worth it because it was the best buffet I have ever been to. Nothing was dried out, everything was fresh, and there were so many choices of everything that I hardly knew where to begin. We had the Palm Terrace buffet again for breakfast the next morning ($22.50!) and were again very happy with the meal. Every choice (and there were lots, including your own omelet made while you watched) was perfect and fresh, and although I wanted one of everything, I didn't have the room. My father-in-law tried papya for the first time, I had about 40 strawberries (it's hard to get good strawberries on the Big Island) and we all had plenty of pineapple. Of course we also had scrambled eggs, apple crepes, waffles, pancakes, eggs benedict, ham, bacon, sausage ... and breakfast pastries. We divided the rest of the morning between the lagoon and the Kona Pool. The hotel doesn't have a real beach, but they do have a 4 acre ocean-fed lagoon. This lagoon is especially good for kids, but nice for everyone. It is a perfect place to learn how to snorkel, which my father-in-law did easily because there is no tide, and no waves, making it probably the only place in Hawaii to snorkel and not have to watch your back. We saw multitudes of ocean fish, plus one turtle, and a couple of eels (I touched one! - not slimy, just smooth and silky). We also spent about 45 minutes enjoying one father attempting (but never quite succeding) to catch a small fish for his little girl. That afternoon my father-in-law did the dolphin quest program, meeting four young dolphins up close. We watched the incredible sunset, and I passed out early from too much sun, while my father-in-law and my husband took the shuttle to the nearby King's shops ($1.00 each way) for dinner. The shuttle is also an easy way to get to Anaehoomalu Beach, if you absolutely must have a beach. As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed this hotel, and do plan to stay there again. As soon as we got home we signed up for the Hilton Honors Program. However, there were a few things I did not like about the hotel, and I'll state those now:
Have a great time! Lisa Issue Sponsor
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FYI Kauai, May Issue I just love this ezine, everything you want to know about Kauai.
Hawaii Island Directory I haven't bought or seen this CD, so I can't recommend it, I just wanted to point it out to you as something new I have run across. It appears to focus solely on the Big Island.
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