My family and I had an amazing time using these passes. We purchased the Oahu, Hawaii. I highly recommend to plan everything out in advance when purchasing Go City. If not, you will not enjoy it or it will be a waste of money. A lot of the activities will be far apart and require reservations. It’s definitely a money saver but again you have to plan it out. It was easy to use and I love the app. It’s convenient and it provides all the information needed to book, phone numbers, and location.
Buckle up everyone - I have a lot to say about this place.
Simply put, this place is a cheap money grab. We bought the Go City passes for the specific reason that it included this Luau and all of the other Luaus were the price of the Go City pass alone. That old saying “You get what you pay for” should’ve come to mind, but we bought the passes (which are great other than this “attraction”) and booked our spot at the Luau.
When we booked there was an option for transportation - $40 for the two of us. I figured it was a decent deal since it’s a 20 minute trip one way, so we went for it.
The day of the luau (this morning) I received a call to confirm my reservation and then they upsold me $20 more a ticket to sit in the Splash VIP area that was closer to the stage and included real orchid Leis. I guess I’m a sucker, because I shelled out another $40 for the “Upgrade.”
The bus picked us up on time. It was clean. The driver was nice and safe, but took the longest way ever to the venue - 50 minutes using his route whereas our phone navigation gave us a 20 minute route with less traffic. We finally arrived and the check in staff was welcoming and accommodating. We got our orchid leis and then we’re ushered over to have our photos taken with a beautiful hula couple. We posed for the two photos and then and went on in to the bar.
Heads up - The “Free” drink tickets are exclusively for soda, beer, or well drinks. Any of the cute “signature drinks” with umbrellas and orchid floaters require and exchange of your free drink ticket PLUS $10. They even have a super cute hollowed out pineapple that you can order a cocktail in for only $22 in addition to your free drink ticket. Again, I’m a sucker in paradise so I ordered the pineapple…. I was originally told they accepted cash or card, but while waiting on my drink, the bartender tells me “Oh, our Square reader is down… you’ll need to pay cash…” I only had a little cash on me and didn’t really want to spend it all, but my drink was ready and there was a line waiting behind me… I asked if they could take Venmo or Zelle but cash was suddenly the only option… So, I was a sucker under pressure and handed over the cash I had for this dumb pineapple.
The buffet was large but the food was mediocre. Many people picked at their food and threw most of it away.
The show started pretty much on time but the first hour is really just a guy in a costume telling jokes, educating the audience on coconut trees (he did climb a coconut tree which was the highlight of the show), and killing time for the sun to go down.
SPEAKING OF THE SUN - That Splash “VIP” area they “upgraded” me to was right in the path of the setting sun so everyone at our table spent the first hour with their hands over their eyes, squinting to see what was happening on stage. All of the other tables were in the shade. Also, the “Splash VIP” tables aren’t “VIP” - the couples who sat around us didn’t upgrade and only had the shell leis on that come with the basic package… soooo, all we got for the $40 “upgrade” fee were the two orchid leis that they sold at the door for $10 each…. SCAM.
Then the photo woman came around and showed us the SUPER CUTE photos we took with the gorgeous hula couple as we entered the luau. For the discounted price of ONLY $50, you can buy the printed photos, and AS A BONUS they’ll let you download the digital copies for FREE ????. Well here’s the thing, the printed photos have this horrible digital photo ID number watermarked across the bottom of the photos… it looks ridiculous.. like do you really want to frame a photo that has a big 12-digit alphanumeric code across it?? For $50??? NO! So I asked if they could remove the watermark if I wanted to purchase and she said “YES! Absolutely!” She told me she would go into the office, remove the watermark, and reprint my photos. That sounded great, but I told her I didn’t have $50 in cash and she said “Oh, we only take card!” Shocked at this I said “Oh, we were told your Square Readers are down??” And she said, “No, they work!” ……….I was annoyed with the bartender at this point, but I’m a sucker for a cute tourist photo, so I tapped my card and paid the $50. She told me she would be right back with my reprinted prints.
The show started and wasn’t captivating. A few couples got up and left early on and we talked about leaving too so we could spend our time doing something more interesting. Backstory: We went to a Luau in Maui a few years ago that was amazing! This… just doesn’t compare on any level.
30 minutes passed and no reprinted photos showed up, so I went over to the Photo Booth and asked when I would get them. The workers there said, “Oh you’re the one who wanted a reprint?? It’ll be like 5 more minutes..” So obvi they’d been talking about me but I stand by my request - the photo ID watermark looks cheap and basic AF.
10 minutes later the employee who sold me on the photos came over to me, apologized, and said “Our system is down - we can’t remove the watermark for you…..” She hands me the original prints with the watermark on them and says “So sorry.”
At this point, I am PISSED and shocked.. so I say “excuse me, what?” She repeats herself and said, “Yeah our system is down.. just like our Square Readers.”
Y’all. I nearly fell out of my chair!!! I said, “Well the Square reader sure seemed to work when you just took my $50!” She said “So sorry” again and then I just point plank asked her if she lied to me just to get me to buy the photos. She of course denied it repeatedly, but come on! I’m a sucker but I’m not dumb! She offered no refund, no other options.. just an apology and then walked away.
I immediately called an Uber. I didn’t even care that we were leaving ~40 minutes early and that I already had prepaid transportation back to our hotel. I started writing this review on the ride back to help others not make my mistakes.
This place is a scam and a bad example of a Hawaiian luau. Stay away. Don’t be a SUCKER like me. Go somewhere better and remember it’s true - You DO get what you pay for!