Copyright © 2008 Movie Tours®, Inc. All rights reserved.
Revised: 12/29/08.
Virtually unheard of before 1996, the term Movie Tours® was created by the founders of Movie Tours® to give a unique identity to their one of a kind sightseeing tour. Creating a fun vehicle-a Theater On Wheel®-the founders developed a first of its' kind tour of famous movie locations on the island of Kauai. So visitors would not have to depend on their imaginations or memories of movies made long ago, the founders equipped each vehicle with DVR's, televisions and surround sound. At each location, they then played the scene or scenes filmed at that spot. Following that, guests disembarked from the bus for photo opportunities and learned fascinating facts (and some fiction!) about the filming of a particular production. They also arranged for special licensing permits from all the major studios to show these copyright features on board their vehicles. In keeping up with technology, all vehicles have now been outfitted with all new digital media.
Since then, Movie Tours® has turned into a multi-million dollar business, not only on Kauai, but now in Monterey, CA, San Francisco, CA and Boston, MA. Coming soon, Chicago, Hollywood, San Diego and Portland, Ore. Offering a licensing program to use the federally registered trademark 'Movie Tours®' and Theater On Wheels®, the company is in negotiations to license the name in other major cities across the US , Canada and Europe.
Warning: While we feel imitation is the greatest form of flattery, we must say that there are imitators out there using our name to benefit themselves. While we are dealing with this infringement of our trademark, you might check with us to see if a Movie Tour® you have seen online or elsewhere is an authorized licensee of Movie Tours®, Inc. If you aren't getting an original, you are getting an inferior product. Imagine if a neighbor built a car in his garage, put the name Rolls Royce on it and sold it to you.
We offer four tours.
1. The Coastal Tour
2. The Coastal Ultimate Tour
3. The 4x4 Tour
This is the tour that put us on the map, the first tour we began offering in 1996. While it has changed a bit with new films having been made on Kauai, it still reigns supreme in our offerings. Taking place in our 14 passenger mini-buses with the latest digital media installed and heard in fantastic surround sound, the tour covers from the southeast to the north shore of Kauai. Productions featured on this tour include Donovan's Reef, Six Days, Seven Nights, Blue Hawaii, Fantasy Island, South Pacific, Honeymoon In Vegas, Lilo & Stitich, Dragonfly, Pagan Love Song and many others. You will even see a prominent location from the original Jurassic Park (all three were filmed on Kauai).
Note: We are going to force you to sing showtunes from South Pacific and Puff the Magic Dragon. Oh gees!
We also have lunch on a beautiful north shore beach. Go ahead, wiggle your toes in the water.
TOUR HIGHLIGHT: The very special Coco Palms Resort. This was a home away from home for Elvis and also the location where he filmed Blue Hawaii. Remember the wedding scene? You will see the spectacular lagoons used in the scene. The Coco Palms was heavily damaged in Hurricane Iniki in 1992 and has never re-opened. We are the only people allowed to take you behind the locked gates and reveal the Coco Palms' rich filming history. (The Coco Palms has sold and the county has issued permits for it to be rebuilt. We don't know the schedule of when they will begin demolition and construction, so cannot promise that it will be available to see in the far future).
Cost of the Coastal Tour is $89.00 plus tax for adults and $79.00 plus tax for children 11 and under. Lunch included. The tour is five hours long plus pick-up and drop-off time. This tour runs seven days a week.
While we would love to be able to drive to every movie location on Kauai, it just isn't possible. Because there are so many and we are limited by time, we have chosen what we think are the best. BUT, there are some other really great ones that cannot be driven to, so we have come up with a way to get to them. FLY!!
On this VERY POPULAR tour, we couple it with a dazzling 55 minute helicopter flight to some breathtaking locations including the Manawaiopuna Falls, the opening scene in the Jurassic Park, the Rice Ranch, location for Raiders of The Lost Ark, Wailua Falls, from Fantasy Island, Mt. Waialeale Crater, the wettest spot on Earth. At this fantastic location, if we have had any rain, you will see dozens and dozens of waterfalls falling thousands of feet right in front of you. You will fly thru the Waimea Canyon (what Mark Twain called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific) and see the unreal Napali Coast, the tallest sea cliffs in the world. This is a full island ride in a comfortable Astar 6 passenger (plus pilot) helicopter operated by Island Helicopter company. With a perfect safety record, Island has helped film some of the features we talk about.
Cost: $273.91 (does not include a $25.00 per person fuel surcharge which must be paid directly to the helicopter company).
Overweight charge: If you weigh more than 250 lbs or a couple's combined weight is more than 440 lbs, there will be a charge of $125.00 for an extra seat.
The tour is 6 1/2 hours long. North and South shore customers need to check-in at our office in Kapaa. We can pick up customers staying at an Eastside resort.
After a few years of wowing visitors with our great Coastal Tour, we let our little brains start creating again. What else could we offer our guests in the way of a one of a kind movie experience? We finally went to Ford Motor Company and asked if they could build us a special four wheel drive 15 passenger touring van. Remarkably, they said that in partnership with Quigley Motor Company, they could!!! So we said great, give us three of them. And they did. Thanks Ford.
It took us awhile to get this tour right. At first, the whole thing was off-road and we just absolutely beat our passengers to a pulp (our drivers too). We almost had to take them back to their hotels on a stretcher. This wasn't a lot of fun for us or our guests so we came up with a happy medium and now everybody loves it.
The first half of the tour is on the road but to places that most folks wouldn't go to on their own. Ahukini Pier, Kauai's first port, is a really interesting place used in many films, very off the beaten track and totally falling apart. Great photo op. Then off to Wailua Falls, used in the opening of every Fantasy Island episode, some network commercials, Castaway Cowboy and The Amazing Race. More great photo ops.
Then off to the Coco Palms Resort, just like the Coastal Tour. This stop is so good, we had to put it on both tours. Watch for Elvis's ghost.
Hungry? It's lunch time on a popular Kauai Beach, Lydgate. Following lunch, we go to Opaekaa Falls, a popular tourist stop just off the main road. Besides the falls, we'll look down on the village used in Outbreak. Ok, now hang on to your hat, it's time to go offroad! If you've had recent back surgery or are in your later stages of pregnancy, this is probably NOT a place you want to go to........deep into the Wailua Rainforest, driving thru rivers and streams on a road only a dirt biker would love. Why are we going there? Because that is where Steven Spielberg built those fantastic gates for Jurassic Park. While the gates are gone, the large cement pillars which held them up are still there. This area was also used in Dragonfly with Kevin Costner, Flight of The Intruder and Komodo vs Cobra, a film for the SciFi Channel starring Jerri Manthey of Survivor fame.
Productions covered in this tour include Pagan Love Song, Donovan's Reef, Six Days, Seven Nights, To End All Wars, Fantasy Island, Amazing Race, Blue Hawaii, Outbreak, Jurassic Park, Flight of The Intruder, Dragonfly and others.
Please keep in mind the offroad part of the tour can get bumpy!!! On the other hand, you will see a part of Kauai that is breathtaking, and get much closer to the waterfalls of Mt. Waialeale and the crater.
Cost: Adults $95.00 plus tax. Children 11 to 5-$85.00 plus tax. Minimum age is 5. The tour is about 6 hours long plus pick-up and drop-off time. This tour runs Mondays thru Fridays except Holidays. Keep in mind it can get bumpy.
Guests are required to sign a liability waiver in order to take this tour.