Hawaii Kai Carnival

Yesterday was my first time going to the Hawaii Kai Carnival. My daughter is at the age where she's more interested in things like and every morning that we pass this carnival, she says "rides, rides." We had a free afternoon so we decided to take her there. We weren't sure if she would be able to ride anything because she's so small. Okay so first things first, parking wasn't a problem. We just parked across the street at the beach. Just be sure that you do not park in the boat parking. There were a lot of cops there monitoring the parking. At first we thought we could park in the Park and Ride lot by the dog park but there were signs that it wouldn't open up until public until 6 ( we got there at 4:00). You will have to pay admission to enter the carnival. The attendants don't deal with money. Instead there's a card dispenser where you get a play card that allows you to enter and play some. So to enter it was $20 for two of us on one card. I asked the lady at the front if that only covered our admission but she said that it also had some credit on it to play games. She said 180 credit to be exact. So we walked around to see what we could ride with my daughter. We found several. We rode on the ferris wheel, merry go round, a boat ride, and kid swings. For each ride, you have to scan you card instead of giving the attendant tickets. I gotta say that the card we initially bought with the $20 didn't last long. After a few rides, we had to refill it. Each ride was 33 credits so with one of us going with her each time, it was 66 credits for one ride. We refilled the card for $20 more and that went quickly as well. She only went on 6 rides in 1 hour for $40. My daughter had a lot of fun but this carnival is super expensive. My husband was saying how Disneyland is more of a deal. Yet, he says we can come here next week if she wants too. And that's how my daughter gets spoiled...

We had a great time with my 2-year old. He was tall enough for 6 rides so it was perfect. We spent about $100 for 2 hours of games, rides, prizes and food. I really wasn't expecting my son to be able to go on too many rides but he's a big boy so it worked out! My husband loved the Filipino food, Leo had a corn dog & I snacked on a funnel cake & slushy. It was a warm day but nice and overcast so it wasn't too bad--I don't do well in heat or sun unless there's water to jump in nearby. Apparently the whole carnival is cheaper during the day which was a nice surprise. Next time I want to go at night! This was the breakdown: $100=1000 or $10=100 or $1=10 creditsIt's usually 20 credits to enter, but during the day it was 10. You also need to purchase a $20 fun pass that's used to enter and also has credits to play with. So if you went during the day it costs 10 credits, you'd have 190 credits left to use for food, rides and games. Here's an example of some of the rides Leo was able to go on: Carousel: 33 credits-- must be 24" to rideSpeedway: 33 credits--must be 36" to rideMagic maze: 33--must be 36" to ride**tip: bring cash so you don't need to pay ATM feesI did wish there were more food vendors to choose from. Carnivals are always a bit pricey, but you're paying for the atmosphere & experience. This was my son's first carnival so seeing the look of happiness & excitement on his face was well worth it.

As most yelpers have mentioned this is a very expensive carnival. Entrance fee is $10 if you arrive before 5pm and then $20 per person after that (so get here early). Upon entering you pur hase a rechargeable card which will serve as payment for admission, rides, food, and games so this is a plus and you dont have to worry about holding too much. You can reload money into these cards via the little kiosk machines and using cash. Most, if not every ride costs a magical 33 credits to ride (this is such an ackward number and makes even a family of 3 not be able to ride as much). We were only there for maube 30 minutes and spent close to $70 just to be able to ride more than 2 things. On the bright side the ferris wheel had a nice view of the water (ofcourse! After all you are in Hawaii). I think I would havw likedthis carnival so much more if the ride credits were not so steep. I cannot imagine how much a family of more than 3 persons would have to pay just to be able to enjoy a few things here.

2 stars... but I mean, it's Hawaii Kai and Hawaii Kai gets no action so maybe a 3? Even so, the area of the carnival is small, the food selection is slim, and your money doesn't last AT ALL since there are no lines. If you're all about riding the rides, then yes, go to the Hawaii Kai carnival because usually there are NO lines or just a little wait. Which is cool and all, but not when you have a kid that wants to keep riding rides. The wait time between rides are so minimal, you'll blink and poof $50 is gone! So be very careful. The same goes with the games. I'd only go if I tell my kid, you get to ride only 3 rides. Choose wisely. LoL.

I wouldn't bring my kids here to have fun, Chuck E. Cheese would suffice. The horrifying part about this carnival is that it actually goes on for two weekends. I thought one weekend would be enough, but apparently not. The music was what really killed it for me, they played horrible acoustic music I never heard before in the dinning area under a tent that was filled with wooden tables that left splinters in you. And then the moment you stepped out of the tent you heard repetitive EDM that seemed to be mixed by some Z-list DJ that maybe had 4 followers on Sound Cloud. The ride selection was poor, E.K. Fernandez has a plethora of rides that could have been selective for this carnival, I've seen them before at the 50th state fair as well as Punahou Carnival, and they chose the worst ones possible for this location. The lines for the rides were fast however, because no one was there!!! It was a ghost town. I honestly thought I was on a hidden camera show, because I was playing games by myself, I even rode the Ferris Wheel by MY..SELF. It was so eery, I didn't even trust eating the cotton candy... it just didn't feel right. The worst part about the carnival was the left over credits on your card that couldn't be used. Switching from cash to card, this carnival seemed to be an outdoorsy Dave and Busters minus the fun and minus the crowd. My friends and I all were left with coincidentally the same amount of credits on our cards "14"-- the cheapest thing you could buy was a beverage but that costed 15 credits, so we unfortunately couldn't get our money back but we also couldn't spend our last amount either because we weren't allowed to put our points together to purchase anything. Disappointed, we left wondering if everyone exited the fair with 14 credits on their cards as if it were some sinister joke that the creator of these cards must have designed. The best thing at the carnival was the filipino stand with the roasted pork, noodles, and rice plate that unfortunately ran out after I bought the last plate. Apologies to the Korean family that stared as I slowly stabbed a juicy freshly square-cut piece of pork with my plastic fork and raised it to my mouth while they heard the words Weee'rrree Soooold Ouuttt (slow-mo). Save your money, don't go. I would have been happier giving my money to a homeless person in Chinatown.

I went to the animal fair! The birds and beasts were there! Wait... that's not the right song. Ha, it's been so long that I forgot what to sing at a carnival. Actually, I don't think you're supposed to sing a song at a carnival. But you could!It has been years since I've been to a carnival and it was so fun! I was actually hesitant at first to go because at some point years ago I had decided that it wasn't for me. I'm so happy that my friend insisted that I go. We both had not been to a carnival in years and I forgot what I was missing out on.Flash forward to the present and it brings back the feels from when I was a kid. Entry was only $2 during peak times and $1 during all other times. When you first enter there is a huge tent that is for people to watch clowns perform and also doubles as a place to eat your food. Several food booths are near by. I grabbed a funnel cake right away and a corn dog shortly after. Food was terribly delicious!From the outside this carnival looked too small. It is like a miniature version of the 50th state fair. But on the inside it had all that I needed to make me happy. A campy atmosphere straight out of the 80s or 90s surrounded me and made me feel like a kid again. In fact, everything looked like it could have been from that time period because practically everything looked the same. From the food booths, to the rides, to the games, there was not much difference.For rides, we rode the swing carousel, the ferris wheel, and the merry-go-round (which I could not stop laughing on lol). Ahh the joys of being a kid again. I had no excuse that my little nephew or little sister was with me. It was a bunch of us grown adults on that merry-go-round. Rides were not too expensive ranging from $3 to $6 each. We also had fun throwing darts and I won a prize! Then we played this game where we shot water at targets to try to beat everyone else. I even tried to knock some milk bottles off a table with a sack which made me realize that I would be a terrible baseball player.If you ever miss the times when you were a kid when things were so much simpler, I recommend you coming here. It made me feel a part of myself that I had not been in touch with in a long time.

My husband planned a field trip to Hawaii Kai carnival. We live on the west side, so we usually don't go to this specific carnival because of the distance. I was a little confused as to where we should park, because there isn't any posted signs for parking. My husband opted to park at the boat harbor across the street. The parking was free, but we were greeted by a police officer that told us that there are assigned rows to park in other than the boating lanes. It was a little confusing at first. The Hawaii Kai Carnival is a lot small than the usual 50th State Fair, but they covered most of the popular rides and games such a the swing, ferris wheel, faraoh boat, merry go round, little roller coaster for kids, etc. My 5 year old really enjoyed himself. Luckily for us (and our wallets), we checked in at around 4PM, admission was only $1 each and most rides were 33 or 40 points which was equivalent to $3.33 or $4. I was hoping they would have the bumper cars, but I guess they were short on space. As far as food goes, they had the usual food stands that served burgers, pizza, cotton candy, deep fried oreos/twinkies, funnel cake, etc. The only other vendor I seen was Dick's lechon which smelled really good. Lol. I'd say pricing for the rides and food/drinks were average in the $3-$8 range for most items. I'm a little disappointed at the pricing of the games. Most games were 33-40 points and had a mimimum of 4 players. I'd hate to be a sore loser, BUT it makes it almost impossible for my kids (5 and 2 year old) to win anything. On the bright side, they played one of those laundry basket basketball games which everyone wins, and got one of those inflatable emojis (that was 86 points/$8.60 worth), and didn't complain about anything else. I have some mixed feelings about the new power card system which is the same as Fun Factory. Basically upon arrival you have to purchase a $20 card that has 200 points. It is CASH ONLY. Each $1 is equal to 10 points and can be used for rides, games, food & drinks. It is convenient, BUT we spend money WAY faster when you don't have actual scripts/tickets. Plus it takes away from the old school experience of paying with tickets. Luckily they do have little machines spread around the area to check balances, and a lot of police officers patrolling the area to load cards.Rides, games, popcorn, slushee, deep fried oreos, 3 hours and about $90 later, we were done. My kids had a blast. We don't go to carnivals often so I'd say it was worth it. We'd probably spend double when my 2 year old is brave enough to ride.

The quality is great, rides and booths and set up, all that is done really well. But this carnival is SUPER EXPENSIVE. I was expecting it to be pricey but within 45 mins we'd blown through $80 and all we'd done were a few rides and games! It's easy to be fooled because they make you buy a card for $20 and everything is sold in points, so it costs 55 points to go on a ride, 80 points for a game etc. just be aware!!

My grandkids had fun! Rides, games, treats! It's expensive, rides are $3.30-$4 each and an adult has to ride if your child is too short! I enjoyed a $12 lechon pancit plate. $4 for a burger and $3.50 for a cotton candy. The kids picked out unicorn bubble blowers! It was worth it because they had a great time! The 7 year old broke a plate, popped a balloon, and won the water gun unicorn race! She was so proud! We will go again next year.

Possibly my children's favorite carnival to visit. it's not so crowded and the weather is usually either on the brink of rain or just nice and cool. they are always very organized and very professional. it's great to drive past on Kalanianaole and see the lights!! Wish they would bring back some of the food vendors though!!