Pearl Harbor...buy a tour or get up early?

[Granny]

My wife and I will be at Aulani in mid-April and we will definitely want to go to the Arizona Memorial. I see that we can get there early for the free tickets or else book a tour somewhere that includes the Arizona Memorial.

We are probably not interested in touring the Missouri or other ancillary museums surrounding the Memorial area. I wouldn't mind it but it would not be a fun time for my wife.

If we go the route of going early for the free tickets, exactly how early would we have to leave Aulani (we have a rental car)? I mean, do we have to leave by 6:30 am to drive to the location and get in line?

We aren't typically early risers so I thought that maybe book a tour that includes Pearl Harbor and maybe I can find something that allows us to leave Aulani at a little later part of the morning. I've read that the Pearl Harbor excursion offered by Disney from Aulani is little more than a shuttle...not really a tour. So I am looking into other local tours that include the Arizona Memorial. We tend to like bus tours anyway but to do them it looks like we have to drive into Honolulu and find a place to park so the bus can pick us up.

I suppose we may just bite the bullet and get up early that one day, but I was wondering what others may have done who don't want such an early start to their day.

 

[happymommy]

Depends on where you're coming from. We come from the East Coast, so it's really no trouble to get up early.

If you have a rental car anyway, I'd just go early, then have a nice lunch in Pearl City on your way back. Tons of places to eat (we have some favorite Korean places along the way).

I'd rather have control of my day by driving myself.

 

[cgattis]

We went in June, and the second my 60-day (free--well, like $1.50 service charge) ticket reservation window opened, the earliest tour time was 11:00. There are ticket times like every 15 or 30 minutes all day, so you could just pick a later time and leave to get there after rush hour.

 

[trs518]

Definitely get the tickets online at the 60 day window. That is the best option.

 

[Karlan29]

I agree with @cgattis. We paid the service fee of 1.50 per ticket and have a reserved time of 2 pm in March. I don't want to risk these tix or get up at the crack of dawn for "free" ( time is $$$ on vacation) - I think having tix in advance is the way to go.

 

[Granny]

Wow, I didn't even know there was an online ticket option. That's a definite way to go for us, and I'm fine to make the drive from Aulani.

I just found the web site for reserving tickets, and we'll go that route. Not to be too anal, but the web site said we can reserve 2 months in advance (as opposed to 60 days). I know how we all can be about booking Disney stuff right on the first available day.

Thank you all for your prompt and great advice!

 

[buffettgirl]

https://www.recreation.gov/showPage...arbor/home.jsp&contractCode=NRSO&parkId=72369
tickets are also released at 7am the day before as well. If you check tomorrow, there are tickets at 2 and 2:30 still (and it's 8am here). If you go on at 7am there are always next day tickets. I have never had trouble getting tickets the day before.

 

[cgattis]

https://www.recreation.gov/showPage...arbor/home.jsp&contractCode=NRSO&parkId=72369
tickets are also released at 7am the day before as well. If you check tomorrow, there are tickets at 2 and 2:30 still (and it's 8am here). If you go on at 7am there are always next day tickets. I have never had trouble getting tickets the day before.

That's 7 am Hawaii time.

 

[buffettgirl]

That's 7 am Hawaii time.

well, yes. I just figured anyone doing it this way is probably here.

 

[Granny]

https://www.recreation.gov/showPage...arbor/home.jsp&contractCode=NRSO&parkId=72369
tickets are also released at 7am the day before as well. If you check tomorrow, there are tickets at 2 and 2:30 still (and it's 8am here). If you go on at 7am there are always next day tickets. I have never had trouble getting tickets the day before.

Thank you for this additional information. To be sure I understand correctly, I can go and reserve at the 2 month mark and at some point on that day or ensuing days, tickets for that day will be sold out? And then even for "sold out" days, they will re-open the ticket reservations the day before? Again, that is very helpful information!


And I'm sure the link you provided will work fine once the government decides to fund themselves.

 

[85glht]

We went in June, and the second my 60-day (free--well, like $1.50 service charge) ticket reservation window opened, the earliest tour time was 11:00. There are ticket times like every 15 or 30 minutes all day, so you could just pick a later time and leave to get there after rush hour.

I did not know about this option. In your case, this would be the way to go. I wouldn’t book a tour when you can go for free (we’ll next to free in this case). Then you can come and go at your leisure.

 

[buffettgirl]

Thank you for this additional information. To be sure I understand correctly, I can go and reserve at the 2 month mark and at some point on that day or ensuing days, tickets for that day will be sold out? And then even for "sold out" days, they will re-open the ticket reservations the day before? Again, that is very helpful information!


And I'm sure the link you provided will work fine once the government decides to fund themselves.

Yes, sold out isn't really "sold out" , it's just sold out of all the tickets they've released in advance. There are always more tickets.
Online, the morning before at 7am (hawaii time) they release a bunch of tickets for the following day . Usually these are later day times.
Then, they release a limited number of tickets EVERY day for walk up. You don't have to get there at 7am. I've walked up many times in the late afternoon and had tickets.

 

[newdeal]

The arizona memorial is definitely the low point of pearl harbour for me. There really isn't that much going on there. The missouri and the bowfin were excellent though, I think you wife would like them. Pacific aviation museum not so much

 

[Poipu04]

The arizona memorial is definitely the low point of pearl harbour for me. There really isn't that much going on there. The missouri and the bowfin were excellent though, I think you wife would like them. Pacific aviation museum not so much

I found it very solemn and moving to stand over the watery grave where so many young men took their last breath defending our nation. Arizona survivors are allowed to be interred with their brothers via scuba divers with their ashes. They have done this ceremony not so long ago.

 

[Poipu04]

http://m.hawaiinewsnow.com/hawaiinewsnow/pm_152732/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=pkngkjbJ

Here is a link about the burials at the Arizona. You still see oil bubbling up from the wreck.

 

[buffettgirl]

i tend to agree. It was a cemetery for me. That's all. I've been to many military cemeteries and I felt nothing different there. On the other hand, reading all the displays in the museums, watching the movie, walking around the area, that all was so much more moving. For me, the actual memorial was no more or less moving than Arlington.

 

[newdeal]

i tend to agree. It was a cemetery for me. That's all. I've been to many military cemeteries and I felt nothing different there. On the other hand, reading all the displays in the museums, watching the movie, walking around the area, that all was so much more moving. For me, the actual memorial was no more or less moving than Arlington.

Agreed, I was most moved by the photo of the signing of the peace treaty on the USS Missouri. My grandfather was a POW in Japan during the war. We are Canadians but he was rescued by the Americans. Two of the guys standing there behind the person signing were tall and skinny and the guide said they were POWs that had been freed. Could have easily been my grandfather (but wasn't, he didn't pass away until 10 years ago so I knew him well)

 

[85glht]

My wife and I also visited the U.S.S Missouri. We just did a self guided tour and walked around the whole ship. We both enjoyed it very much. There is a plaque on the deck to mark the exact spot where the Japanese officials signed their surrender officially ending WWII.

 

[cgattis]

i tend to agree. It was a cemetery for me. That's all. I've been to many military cemeteries and I felt nothing different there. On the other hand, reading all the displays in the museums, watching the movie, walking around the area, that all was so much more moving. For me, the actual memorial was no more or less moving than Arlington.

I was stunned that 99% of the movie was actual film footage from the attack! It was absolutely amazing to watch and I agree, it was very moving to see those real faces in that chaos.

 

[Maddysdaddy]

I just logged in through the website noted in post #7 above, and it took me all of three minutes to obtain tickets at the two-month mark. As noted in post #3, the earliest availability was at 11, so I'm guessing that tickets for earlier admissions are likely the ones that are handed out day-of.

For fun, I took a look at availability for a day earlier, and there were still a limited number of tickets available.