yoko

onedog: Thanks. I guess your post came while I was writing my previous one. All those walking tricks are really good to know. I read on a Japanese Hilton forum that the birds are a bit of a problem all over the Lagoon Tower (as supposed to just some parts of the Ocean Tower). Did you find that to be true? Perhaps it depends on the season.

jss5200

Yoko, We returned a couple of weeks ago from an ALON stay at the HWV (stay:mid-March) and during our stay there were not very many people in any of the pools as the water was fairly cold. The air temps were very pleasant for lounging around the pools but it was quite a shock to get into the chilly water. The water in the Lagoon pools seemed to be a little colder because these pools are larger and somewhat deeper than the Ocean Tower pools. The constant wind also made it seem colder on any wet parts of your body that were above the water while you were in the pools. Despite this, we spent 3 days of our stay around the pools simply enjoying the beautiful views and surroundings. It's a very relaxing place to read a book and de-stress. The areas where we saw the most younger children seemed to be the sandy beach area of the Lagoon pool, the ocean water beach area, and on the slides in the Ocean Tower pool. Enjoy your stay!

Alison

Hi! We will be going to HWV too and all this talk about seeing turtles in the ocean lagoon is getting us all excited. My 6 and 8 year old love turtles! A question -
how far out can a 6-8 year old child venture out in the ocean lagoon w/o the water going over his/her head? My kids are decent swimmers but have never snorkled.

RIFSLAW

Alison:

We just returned last Sunday. My 13 year old son says you can go out "pretty far" without the water going over their heads in the lagoon. He guessed the deepest part was maybe 8 feet.

If you have other questions about the resort or the island...ask away. We went with 3 kids...13,12,10

EWR-COflyer

The deepest part of the lagoon is somewhere between 11' - 13' (I remember seeing a sign to that end). As to how far a 6-8 year old can venture out w/o going over their heads, I would say maybe 20 - 25 feet at most. And, be sure that they're wearing something on their feet, whether it be snorkeling gear or protective beach shoes... there are some sharp lava rocks in there. I saw an adult man with a pretty nasty cut on his heel that the hotel EMS folks were trying to bandage. Again, the same sign that talks about the depth of the lagoon mentions the sharp rocks too.

That being said, I don't want to discourage you... the area that a 6-8 year old would be in is mostly sand under your feet. I'm just giving you all the details.

Sweet Willie

I understand if one has children, I understand if one is a stay at the resort person, I understand if one does not really have a passion for food, but if you don’t fit the above description stay away from the HWV.

Too Disney like w/the trams and boats. Pain in the a$$ to get from your room to your car.

Food is OK to very mediocre and dinner is a king’s ransom.

No beach, have to take a shuttle.

Many people have mentioned emailing or contacting the resort to request an ocean view tower room. If you are diamond should this not be automatic?!?! I just stayed at two Starwood resorts (Lodge at Koele and Sheraton Kauai) in Hawaii and was upgraded to the top rooms available w/out any pre-contact, just the way it should be. When we checked into the Hilton we were given a Palace Tower room which at first I was disappointed with, but soon realized we were only in the room to change or sleep so I did not care and was happy to know that I was only spending 100,000 HHonors points for the room. If I had spent 175,000, I would have been very angry.

The spa was very nice, weight room a little small, the hot tub in the men’s locker room seemed like a great place to relax after working out and wait for my wife to get done w/her spa appointment. I say seemed because I caught a case of Hot tub folliculitis. I’m very sure of it as my doctor quizzed me on my activities and concluded that due to when my symptoms occurred and the hot tub at the HWV was the only hot tub I was in during my vacation, that it is indeed the culprit.

Other than being disappointed (just not our kind of resort) w/the HWV, we had a GREAT trip. Our trip report of Lanai, Kauai and the Big Island here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum81/HTML/003652.html

onedog

Maybe it was just our bad luck, but we occasionally had to wait quite a bit for the elevator. When we needed to get to the 4th floor to take the walkway over to the tram side, sometimes we had to wait. If we had a higher floor and had to take an elevator everytime we popped in and out of our room, it could have been a bit inconvenient. Not the end of the world, but with a toddler, every second counts.

That being said, the elevators wait won't kill you, but with a toddler who may or may not get impatient, this could have been an issue with us. If you have older kids who understand that sometimes the elevator doesn't magically appear, take a high floor view.

onedog

The inner courtyard of the Lagoon Tower has many beautiful trees. Right around dusk it seems like ALL the birds on the island come home to roost in the Lagoon Tower. The are not shy about talking up a storm either when they arrive. This lasts for about 1/2 hour and then they must go to sleep because they all stop chirping all at once? It is definitely noticeable when the birds show up in the evening and when they go to sleep. But the birds are not a 24hr nuisance by any means. The Pupster actually liked the birds. When we could hear them in the evening, we would go outside to look at the birds and try to find them in the trees.

onedog

When we first went to the ocean lagoon, a sea turtle was swimming around 5 feet from the edge of the sand. This was probably 3 feet deep? The Pupster was all excited and we followed the turtle in the water for maybe a good 10 minutes. The turtles are pretty tame too and did not get spooked by all the people swimming in the water and getting all excited when they see a turtle. One time I was swimming with one turtle and had shadowed it across the whole lagoon when it disappeared under the snack house near the dolphin lagoon. As I turned around to swim back, there was another sea turtle swimming up to me!

We bought one of those disposable underwater flash cameras and have a couple of pretty good pictures of me and the Mrs. swimming with the turtles.

The ocean lagoon is pretty shallow in most areas. In some of the areas an average 6-8 year old can walk from one side to the other. If they are decent swimmers, they will have pretty much full reign of the lagoon since there are now waves or swells. If they have never snorkled, this would be the perfect place for them to learn. You can also rent snorkling boards. These looks sort of like boogie boards, but with a clear window in them to see into the water. I saw a fair number of people using these in the ocean lagoon.

yoko

Hi:

I enjoyed your trip report at the link. The ditch rafting thing looks very interesting.

May I ask you a few questions about the Palace Tower? I have seen quite a few posts recommending either the Ocean Tower (for the view) and Lagoon Tower (for the proximity to pool and lagoon). But I have not been able to find much information on Palace Tower. What is its positive attribute? Is there any reason one might want to avoid it?

Sweet Willie

closer to lobby than Ocean tower, not as hectic/noisy as Lagoon or Ocean towers because it does not have shops, pools or restaurants in it.

I can't compare to the other tower's rooms, but I felt ours was large w/two bath sinks (which we always appreciate).

Ocean views, there are some rooms that have a decent view, but there are some tall palm trees which obstruct the view almost completely.

I would not recommend a top floor room on the side where the executive lounge is located. The masses of people tramping down the hallway would be a bother to me, fortunately we were on the other side room 7281.

RIFSLAW

Willie:

I agree with your assessments. If we had not brought our children, we never would have stayed at this resort--though I suspect the food prices are no different than other Big Island resorts. We have stayed at the Orchid at Mauna Lanai and the hotel (for just a couple) was terrific..but food was very expensive. We have eaten at the Four Seasons..again another resort I recommend for just a couple...but the food there was also pricey.

As to the towers...the Ocean Towers is pretty far from the lobby..or lagoon...or the tennis facilities.

Eugene

Alternatively, you can buy one at Wal-Mart in Kona for $13 or so.

Eugene

I agree. In fact, unless we opened the room door, we wouldn't even hear them at all (our corner room was a bit farther away from the courtyard).

dingo

I have to disagree, but do respect the opinion here. We don't have children, we don't stay at the resort, and we don't have a passion for food, at least not at the hotel.

B/c we don't have kids, we were off and running daily. Due to that, the lack of a beach at the hotel was no big deal at all. It would have been if we were resort stayers or had kids, but again, we're not. Lack of food...again, we're off so good food was had elsewhere.

It would have been nice to have a beach indeed. The food thing, no big deal to me. I'd stay here again but that's just me. If I had kids, the Mauna Lani (I think that's it) would be better...much less in the pool area, but had a beach.

So, I guess I agree with your opening remarks. My personal feel is, if all you intend to do is sit around a resort go to Florida or California (whichever is closest) and save time on the flight.

But I'm the type of person that would enjoy Hawaii even if staying at the Econolodge...but you'll never catch me actually staying there!