It's Wednesday and today we started our day with the character breakfast. Of course, we overslept and had to hustle to make our 8:30am ressie. We arrived on time and were sent to a 45 minute line to meet Mickey....WHAT?? Ok, we're good, how about we just go to our table? Uh, no, not an option. So, we said hi the big cheese and were finally seated at 9:15am.
We were finally seated and honestly, the buffet was quite pricey and nothing much better than we have at WDW. I can do without raw fish for breakfast for sure. I did enjoy the Stitch waffles. So, we were expecting to see Stitch....oh no, Stitch does not meet guests at breakfast, he's out causing some sort of ruckus at the pool. We were honestly getting ready to abandon our table when Minnie and Goofy finally came around.
All in all, it was nearly 2 hours out of our morning and quite honestly, breakfast at Ohana is less expensive with better food, better service and better characters. We certainly left full, but next time we visit Aulani, I will eat in my villa or on the beach and spend the time on the beach.
We realized we had a bit of the drive up to the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) so we decided to get on the road just before 11am. We got our trusty driving direction card and plugged in Dumb A (just in case) and off we went back to the North Shore. Glad today wasn't our beach day on the North shore because boy was it raining. We finally arrived at the PCC a few minutes after 12, parked and as we were walking, the golf cart picked us up and took us to where we needed to check in. When initially researching the PCC, we found it interesting and after pricing out individual pieces/parts, we opted to do the super ambassador package. After we checked in and actually learned a bit more, I'm REALLY glad we did this package. The PCC is actually run by BYU Hawaii. There is a program for young adults of Polynesian heritage. The students work 19 hours per week and attend classes full time. The students are majoring in careers which are in need on their home islands and as long as they return home and work for at least 4 years, they have no college debt. The students are profoundly grateful for the people who purchase any type of ambassador package, but are even more so with the super. It was just the squatch, me and our guide for the whole day. What an experience! We had the opportunity for so many experiences which were very personal and just us. We met our tour guide Sepa, she was from Tonga, and received our kukui nut leis and we were off. We also learned how the shaaka originated, which was very cool since we'd been doing it since we'd arrived! The gentleman (his name was Shaaka) had lost 3 fingers in an accident and this was how he waved. There is more to the story, but I don't remember all of the details!
We wandered around the marketplace and then we entered the actual places where each country is represented. We were greeted by a beautiful waterfall and received a shell lei.
Sepa took us to New Zealand first and we had the place all to ourselves. We were able to learn their games and had the students in the village all to ourselves until the first group came in. After New Zealand, we went over to Tahiti. Again with the imu cooking pit. I keep asking the squatch to dig me a hole, but he keeps telling me no, we're not messing up the yard and cook in the house like normal people. I say, the neighbors already think we're nuts, so who cares if I cook outside from a hole in the ground? The food tastes delicious when cooked this way!
Next stop was Tonga to see the village performance. nice thing about the super ambassador package is front row reserved seats for each village performance.
After the show, we took in some spear throwing. I am happy to say, I did better than the squatch!
After spear throwing we wandered over to see how the kings live!
We checked out Hawaii next. We were able to taste real poi, not the fermented yuckiness like we had a the luau, and fresh poi actually isn't too bad. We again had front row seats for the Hawaiian performance, which was very informative on the origins of the hula.
We arrived in Samoa and learned how to weave coconut leaves and made a type of toy fish. The squatch named his "Floyd the fighting fish" I have no idea why. He then proceeded to annoy the stuffing out of me with it until I finally took it away. We also learned how they turned the leaves into fabric to make blankets, I now understand why these are so expensive. Samoa was very cool! We again had front row seats for their village performance and the squatch was pulled out of the crowd to drink from the coconut that was cracked. He was also given a woven crown and a large basket. Yes, we did get the basket home and in one piece. It is currently drying to harden and I will definitely find a place for it!
There was also a man, who thought he was a monkey, and was climbing the palm trees like nobody's business!
The squatch receiving his crown
After we left Samoa, we took a quick pit stop and then it was time for the canoe pagent! this was really cool! Each country of Polynesia was represented. The dancers were awesome and again, we had primo seating!
After the canoe pageant, we were taken to Fiji where a performance group from one of the native tribes was actually visiting. SCARY!! that's all I can say, SCARY!! Ok, they were very cool, but SCARY!! I would never remotely ever, want to run into one of these tribes in a dark alley!
After the scary, loud tribe we had our canoe ride with the other super ambassadors which was very tranquil. Our paddler was very entertaining and bordering on jungle cruise skipper entertaining. After our canoe ride, it was time for a washroom stop and then off to dinner. Up next, more hula girls and our second luau!
