A Fun-Filled Day at Dole Plantation

We recently took the kids to Dole Plantation, one of the most popular attractions on Oahu, for a "Pineapple Experience" full of fun activities!

Having originally opened in 1950 as a fruit stand, Dole Plantation now offers activities (including the World's Largest Maze), dining, shopping, as well as fun events throughout the year. 

Activities start at 9:30am, and we arrived at about 9:15am since we wanted to get on the first Pineapple Express Train Tour (seating is first-come, first serve - the ticket booth is open before 9:30am, so if you want to catch that first train buy your tickets early!).

The train tour is approximately 20 minutes long, and it took us through the pineapple fields as we listened to a narrated story of James Dole and the pineapple industry.  Not only did we see lots of pineapples, but we saw the equipment used to harvest pineapples, as well as other products grown at Dole Plantation, such as ti leaf, bananas, and sugar cane.

Boom Conveyor Infield Harvester

Red Ti Leaf

Sugar Cane

After the train tour we took some fun photos, fed the koi ($.50 for fish food), and checked out some of the smaller pineapple patches on display.

Next we took on the World's Largest Maze (according to the 2008 Guinness Book of World Records), which consists of over 2.5 miles of paths and is over 138,000 square feet in size.

There were 8 secret stations hidden throughout the maze.  Each station revealed local trivia, and you could stencil a symbol onto your card as proof that you found the station.  Our family did a great job working together to find all 8 stations.  We did get lost quite a bit and hit dead ends several times, but that just made the maze more challenging and fun!

The Plantation Garden Tour is a self-guided tour using an audio wand and headset to learn about eight different gardens, which included Native Species, North Shore Agriculture, and the Lei Garden, as well as to hear stories of what life was like in the plantation days.  In the garden there were so many different types of plants - Blue Ginger, Papaya, Giant Cyad, and more!  I loved seeing all of the pretty flowers, such as the colorful hibiscus, and the pond was just so pretty and tranquil!

After a morning of activities with the family, we made sure to get some refreshing Dole Whips, and I also bought some treats and gift items (there sure are a lot of fun pineapple and Hawaii products to buy, like cookies, candies, souvenirs and more!).

Our family had such a great time at Dole Plantation.

Not only did we learn all about pineapples, but we learned about what other types of plants are commonly grown on the North Shore, and what life was like in the old plantation days.  We worked together as a family to find all of the stations in the World's Largest Maze, and we indulged in the world-famous Dole Whip.        

It was a definitely a fun- and pineapple-filled day!

Dole Plantation
64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy
Wahiawa, HI 96786
(808) 621-8408

Open daily from 9:30am to 5:30pm; closed on Christmas Day; free parking.

Click here for prices on activities.  Kama`aina discounts available on activities, as well as gift shop and food purchases.

Thank you to the sponsor for hosting my tickets to participate in the activities.