The too big Island

Best Things Nearby:
the supermarket & the public beach

Best Things About the Resort:
we could see both snow capped Mauna Kea (the highest mountain in america) and the ocean from our terrace.

Resort Experience:
It was not an all inclusive resort, more like an apartment complex, next to a golf course that was not part of Paniolo Greens. You could get a discount by being a guest at Paniolo, but otherwise it was misleading in the RCI description of the resort. A diehard golfer would have been disappointed.

The pool was nice and the hottub was really huge, so it accommodated our whole family of 5 and others comfortably. The activity center was not opened all the time so the kids did not do anything there.

Given the island we were on with so many natural wonders to take in, we spent few daytime hours at the complex. The tennis courts were nice.

If you just want a home base to go to after you've done all of your sight seeing then it's a great place: the 2 bedroom was actually more like a 3 bedroom, it had a sitting room with a TV and a third bathroom. We have 2 15 year old girls and a 10 year old boy, so the sitting room was his room and he had his own bathroom, much to the girls delight. There were 4 TVs, 4 balconies, a full kitchen. We saved alot of money cooking a few meals there: microwave, stove, dishwasher, all the pots, pans and dishes we could ever need just like home.

• Unit Type: 2 Bedroom
• Activities: Fair
• Amenities: Fair
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Good

The kids loved it and I was amazed at how much the staff knew about the Forest Gump movie--they quizzed us throughout out the meal. There was lots of movie memorabilia on hand, too.

We did not like most of the native foods. They were too bland, especially the poi. Lau Lau was ok (pork wrapped in palm leaves and steamed), but the show was great - very entertaining and informative on all the cultures surrounding the Hawaiian islands, like Tahiti.

The sub held 40 people. We took a boatride out to where the sub was moored, then filed into the sub. It took us about 150 feet down to view the coral reef and all the fish that live there. There's so many colorful fish and vegetation. Our pictures came out pretty good since we were taking them through the glass, Not much glare, but do not use the flash!!

The tour took just our family in a van from Paniolo to their cattle ranch in the mountain; it's the second largest ranch on the island next to the famous Parker Ranch, which is the largest ranch in the country.

The tour guide, a non-native, stopped a few times to show us famous locations where important battles or ceremonies took place and we stopped at the place the original statue of King Kamaehameha was erected. (The second one is in Honolulu. The original was lost at sea, a second one was commissioned, and then the original was found.)

The ranch was huge, so we split up once there. I went on a horseback ride with one of the girls and the rest of them went shooting and cattle branding. We met back up at the lunch that was included in the fee to go on the tour. The horeback riding was an additional $35 per person. Lunch was burger and chilli, totally Mainland American fare, no Hawaiin food, thank god, yuk!! We returned to Paniolo via a lovely town called Waimea.

Amazing sights, especially if you stay until dark and watch the lava flowing to the sea. The orange glow can be seen for miles. They lend you flashlights to traverse the cooled lava to get closer to the current flow.

The big island of Hawaii had so many other things that we wanted to see and just had no time to go see them, like the famous black sand beach or the southern coast and a couple of waterfalls that I had read about. I would have liked to go to the Mauna Loa planation to get the macadamia nuts instead of getting them at a gift shop. There is also a volcano winery that we would have loved to tour, but we got our Hawaiian wine from the local supermarket in Waikoloa, where Paniolo Greens is located. I would have also like to go to the top of Mauna Kea, but that does defeat the purpose of a warm sunny vacation, since we would have to wear parkas and could ski down the mountain if we wanted to.