Hawaii Vacations Blog - Hawaii Travel by a Hawaii Expert!

Every now and then even us locals like to book a hotel room in Waikiki and go on a mini vacation :)  My husband and I had decided that we would stay in town on Friday night and take the kids to the Honolulu Zoo and to see the Magic of Polynesia show.  We then decided to make a day of it and spend the night at the ResortQuest Waikiki Circle hotel so that we could wake up early Saturday and do some surfing before going back to our side of the island (North Shore). 

under the banyan tree at the Honolulu Zoo

We take our kids to the zoo at least once a month and it’s not because there’s anything super impressive about the Honolulu Zoo but because it’s just a fun thing to do when you have small children!  I had a moment of de ja vu when we were standing outside of the zoo under the big banyan tree and my two year old daughter was running around the chasing the white pigeons in the area - i remember being a child and doing the same thing - and as i took photos of her my mind was filled with the images of my own childhood photos at the zoo.  Whats our favorite thing about the Honolulu Zoo?  we love the chimpanzee exhibit, it’s always fun to try and find the black sun bear who i swear is always hiding, the orangutan’s have a nice new home, and the petting zoo has had a major facelift and now has lots of interactive areas in addition to the animals the kids play with.

Usually when we stay in Waikiki we like to say on the beach and our first choice of hotels are Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach, Sheraton Waikiki and the Hilton Hawaiian Village.  This time I really wanted to experience somewhere new and the ResortQuest Waikiki Circle has always interested me - i guess mainly just because of its oddly round shape :)  The people at ResortQuest Waikiki Circle were awesome, when I called and told them I wanted to bring my family we received a complimentary upgrade to an Oceanfront room (Mahalo Les!!).  On the Diamond Head side of Waikiki there are hotels (like RQ Waikiki Circle, Pacific Beach Hotel, and RQ Waikiki Beach Hotel) that are across the street from Waikiki Beach but they have Oceanfront category rooms and the reason is that these hotels are fortunate enough to have open access to the beach right across the street with no other hotels or buildings blocking the view and thus these hotels will call their rooms that are facing the beach Oceanfront.  We had a room on the 4th floor and it definitely felt oceanfront - I mean you’re right there and the view is great - you can people watch as well as watch the ocean.  The beds in the hotel room were super comfortable and the TV had pay per view movies as well as nintendo which can be a plus with kids.  The shower was on the small side but not ridiculously small and there was a small fridge in the room.  We got the Aloha Free Deals coupon book which I was impressed with and found that many of the coupons were for places that we actually go from time to time.  Here are some photos of the room and the view.  We had a great time and for me I discovered a new hotel that I would stay again for those occasions where we just need a nice, clean, comfortable room but still with an great view of the ocean.  For me personally I love to see the ocean from the hotel room and really am not interested in staying in rooms with no view and ResortQuest Waikiki Circle can give you that without the high prices found right across the street.

the view from an Oceanfront room at the ResortQuest Waikiki Circle


ResortQuest Waikiki Circle

After getting settled into the hotel and relaxing for a couple of hours we walked down to the Outrigger Ohana Waikiki Beachcomber excited for the Magic of Polynesia dinner and show.  Photography was not allowed in the showroom so I don’t have any pics to share but I have to say I thought the show was amazing.  Magician John Hirokawa kept our attention throughout the show and this being my first magic show I was skeptical about how impressive the magic tricks would be buy boy were we blown away.  My husband and I had our 6 and 2 year old there and our 6 year old loved every minute and our two year old went back and forth between loving it and getting frightened (the music was loud and some of the costumes were quite dramatic - none of this was in excess but for a two year old it was much at times).  What I found to be a special treat was that I knew I was going to a magic show but I didnt know that I was also going to be entertained with polynesian dancing and even a fire dancer - John Hirokawa really does an amazing show working his magic in with polynesian culture.  I even learned that John Hirokawa is a local boy born and raised here on the island of Oahu.  I don’t usually recommend shows but the Magic of Polynesia I will defintely recommend it was entertaining, exciting and absolutely magical!!

What better way to end than with a beautiful Waikiki sunset….

photo taken from the balcony of an Oceanfront room at the ResortQuest Waikiki Circle.

Mahalo,
Angelica Friedmann

Island Travel Specialist
Hawaii Aloha Travel
800-843-8771 ext.21 (main)
808-237-5261 (direct)
My Bio & Hawaii Travel Blog:  http://www.hawaii-aloha.com/angelica/
Email:  angelica@hawaii-aloha.com