Today was devoted solely to spending time at the Polynesian Cultural Center located in north Oahu. I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and buy the Hawaiian Alii Luau package which included entry to the park, their evening luau, and their Horizons evening show. The buy-one-get-one free coupon in our Hawaii entertainment book certainly came in handy.

Since we weren't in a rush this morning, we headed over to Duke's Canoe Club for their breakfast buffet. At an affordable $10/person, their breakfast buffet offerings are well worth the price. Plus you can't beat the location: right on Waikiki Beach.

Afterwards we strolled back to our hotel to pick up our car before taking the Likelike Highway to the north side. It's a nice scenic drive out to PCC although a bit longer than I had expected. About an hour+ or so each way. So going there wasn't a problem but driving back was a bit unsteady cause you're stuffed with food, tired from all the walking and driving down a dimly-lit two-lane road for the most part.

It's been a while since the last time I was here so I made the same mistake as I did the last time I came with my parents. We decided to walk all the way to the farthest edge of the park and work our way back. Well, in this case we actually took their canoe ride to the farthest edge of the park first. After that their Rainbows of Paradise canoe show was starting so we hung out for that. By the time we made our way three-quarters of the way back, it was already time to head over to the luau area so we missed the Samoa shows! Which are the best ones out of the bunch! Grrr... at first we were gonna come back again in a day or two (their tickets are valid for 3 days from purchase) but never actually got around to it.

Anyway, the shows they have for each island is entertaining for the most part but they always require audience participation. Which is ok if it incorporates a good chunk of the audience. I'm not fond of the ones where they pick people mostly because I'm afraid of being picked. =) But I enjoy the shows after that particular part is over with. And since they seem to get a lot of Japanese tour groups there, invariably they always have to choose at least one Japanese person which tends to be alot of fun. Language barrier and all.

As for the luau, it's basically dinner with live entertainment. And probably best if you go with a group. Otherwise you get stuck at a table with people you don't know and unless they're all socially aggressive, don't really care about getting to know you. But we had fun and the food was good and plentiful. Love kailua pork! =) However, the food was pretty much the same as what we just had the evening before at Ono's. So if you just wanted to try the food, just go to Ono's and pay $12 instead of a luau where you'll spend upwards of $100.

After dinner, everyone ambled over to the big open-air theater (hitting the numerous gift stores and kiosks along the way) to await the big show - Horizons: Where the Sea Meets the Sky. Big, colorful production where every Polynesian nation represented at the PCC does a native dance number. Very entertaining overall, highlighted by the Samoan fire knife dance. Besides that the Tongan drums and Tahitian hula were also fantastic. Very hypnotic, that hula.

So that was day 4. By the time we got back to our hotel we were beat. And with another full day ahead of us, we just went right to bed.