Day number 2 we spent in Laie at the Hawaiian style Disneyland, complete with $5 fruity sorbet treats everywhere you look. If anything, this place was incredibly gorgeous - lusciously gardened with tropical plants. It was seriously as close to the garden of eden as it gets, despite the artificial rock walls and waterfalls. Just fyi the center doesn't actually open until 11:30 am. We took our sweet time picking up our rental car and driving the 45 minutes from Honolulu, but still arrived just before opening. Also, if you are military these guys offer some really good reduced rate packages which we failed to find out until afterward. 

We spent the day wandering to each of the island presentations and oh sweating to death. It was terribly hot and humid. When you look at the map, the park seems almost small and easy to conquer in a few hours, but you literally spend all day here and still don't see everything. Each island offers demonstrations unique to their culture, with some added fun and humor. Our favorites were Tonga and Samoa. Although the performers at Aotearoa (don't ask me how to pronounce that) were very entertaining when doing the Haka. Boy they sure get into that dance or whatever you want to call it.  

The canoe parade goes on in the middle of the afternoon. Everything else shuts down so you don't really have much other choice but to watch it. It wasn't all that exciting or interesting, so this might be a good time to leave and explore the town or get some cheaper food outside the park if you aren't interested. 

After the parade, we went on the free tour offered by the church as part of the cultural center. They take you through the BYU Campus and over to the Hawaii Temple. Don't worry about not getting a spot because this tour is pretty bare, unfortunately. It was funny listening to them give the basic missionary speeches and talk about temples. They asked if we had every seen a temple before and told them we lived in Utah. They no longer tried to convert us - haha. We stopped at the visitor's center where we met the Mission President and his wife from Kaysville - actually they live just a few blocks down from my parent's house. They were some of the many who asked if we were honeymooners. We said no but were glad to know we still appeared to be in love - haha. The temple was so perfect looking and beautifully accented with fountains, flowers, palm trees. Paradise. 

We made it back to the park in time for a surprisingly good buffet dinner. The fresh, juicy fruit was so yummy. We ate until we were beyond stuffed then found our way to our seats for the evening show HA! The Breath of Life. Honestly, we really liked the show, the performers were fantastic, but were disappointed that the entire production was in their native tongue without any translations. Even just projecting them up on the screen above and being able to follow the story would have made the show so much more enjoyable! Nonetheless, we had a great time and definitely feel more educated about the polynesian island cultures.