Hawaii Movie Tours was somewhat interesting, but a far cry from similar tours offered in other locales such as San Francisco. Hawaii Movie Tours is fairly expensive for what you get, and WAY too much of the tour is devoted the the abandoned and decrepit Coco Palms hotel....if you are a big Elvis fan, you might find this interesting, but they spend too much time there.
Our tour guide talked a lot about the destruction wrought on the island by Hurrican Iniki back in 1992. But beware of stories passed as fact - our tour guide decribed to us that Iniki was spawned by the remnants of Hurrican Andrew that wreaked havon on South Florida, but in fact, Iniki and Andrew were not related at all. See the National Hurricane Center web site for details. Because our tour guide was wrong about Iniki, it made us wonder what other tales she may have spun.
Also, the tour focuses so much on Elvis films, that other films made on Kauai are ignored or only touched upon briefly. You are provided with a simple list of movies filmed there, with very little discussion about this lengthy list, and very few stops at actual filming locations.
Yes, they will take you to the beach where brief segments of the pilot for Gilligan's Island was filmed, but the SS Minnow is long gone and with development in the area, it is difficult to visualize how it must have looked in the early 1960s.
Lunch is provided, but it's just a home-made sandwich, a bag of chips, and a canned drink.
Knowing what I know now, I would not have taken this pricey tour. Elvis fans may find it entertaining and enlightening, but everyone else should be warned that it is weak in it's coverage of all other films, and probably not worth the money and your limited time on this beautiful island. You'd be better off exploring on your own.


