Enjoy Christmas canoe rides again at the Polynesian Cultural Center

Once again, visitors can experience our “Christmas in Polynesia” on select evenings in December with seasonal canoe rides and other performances that are especially designed as wholesome family entertainment.

A PCC nativity tableau in an earlier Christmas canoe ride

Jimmy Mapu, Assist. Manager, Guest Services

The details:

• The canoe rides will run on December 12-13, 15, 17, 19-20, and 22-23.

• The rides on those evenings start at 6:45 p.m. and will run until all the ticket holders are accommodated each night. (Please note, however, the PCC Box Office closes at 8 p.m.)

• The cost is $10 per ride for adults and $8 for children.

• Each PCC Kamaaina Annual Pass holder can take one free ride on each of the event evenings.

• Other PCC “Christmas in Polynesia” events will take place in the new Hukilau Marketplace bandstand area.

“This year’s Christmas Around the World is a compilation of the best of all our past Polynesian Cultural Center Christmas canoe rides,” said William Mahoni, PCC Director of Major Events. “We will depict traditional themes, of course, but we’ll also celebrate different countries, including France, Brazil and India. Our final country will be the USA, which we’ve never done before. It will be a wholesome, entertaining experience for the whole family.”

“I particularly love this experience,” Mahoni continued, “because our production also depicts the story of the Savior’s birth in a variety of Polynesian nativity tableaus. Despite all our efforts and the long days of preparation it takes to put this on, it’s a huge reward knowing we will also help people remember the birth of the Savior at Christmas time.”

Mahoni pointed out the PCC Christmas canoe rides involve a cast of about 120 people, including approximately 60 children from the nearby community. “We’re on target: We’ve been setting up lights for the past month-and-a-half, and we’re almost finished with that. The costumes are almost done. We’ve almost finished with the audio recordings, and the large main decorations will go up by the end of November.”

“This will be our last Christmas Around the World,” he said. “Putting on special event canoe rides really stretch our human resources, so in the future we’ll be refocusing on our core product and new additions.”

“If you’ve never experienced the Polynesian Cultural Center’s Christmas lagoon rides before, or if you want to enjoy it again, I urge you to join us in December for a delightful evening of Christmas celebrations.”

Story by Mike Foley

Mike Foley, who has worked off-and-on

at the Polynesian Cultural Center since

1968,  has been a full-time freelance

writer and digital media specialist since

2002, and had a long career in marketing

communications and PR before that. He

learned to speak fluent Samoan as a

Mormon missionary before moving to Laie

in 1967 — still does, and he has traveled

extensively over the years throughout

Polynesia and other Pacific islands. Foley

is mostly retired now, but continues to

contribute to various PCC and other media.