Rearview: Several Hawaii theme parks had short-lived rides

Earlier this year I began exploring locations that were considered for Hawaii auditoriums, stadiums, meeting halls, museums, schools and other entities.

In this article I’ll look at a variation on this theme: theme parks.

Theme parks are souped- up amusement parks. They have a central organizing principal that offers more than fun activities, food and entertainment.

The mainland has Disneyland, Marineland, Universal Studios, Six Flags, Busch Gardens, Legoland and even Dollywood. Millions of people attend them yearly. Why couldn’t Hawaii emulate them, some have asked?

Nearly 20 theme parks were proposed in the islands. Some got off the drawing boards, raised capital, cleared bureaucratic hurdles, managed to open their doors but did not hold the public’s attention long enough to last more than a few years.

In this first article I’ll look at the theme parks that have opened but are now in our rearview mirror.

Castle Park

I had a lot of fun at this 16-acre amusement complex, which opened in 1980 across the street from Aloha Stadium, but I think I went there only once. True to its theme, it had a castle, moat and drawbridge, although I don’t know why the developers thought islanders would respond to it.

Visitors could play an 18-hole miniature golf course, explore a haunted mansion, volcano, pirate ship and drive grand prix race cars or bumper boats. It had two 400-foot water flumes snaking down from a hilltop into a fresh water lagoon.

Castle Park didn’t attract enough visitors, and it closed in 1990. It became a shopping area with a Kmart, Foodland and McDonald’s.

Primo Village of the Pacific

During the 1970s, Primo Beer was very popular. Well over 50% of the beer sold in Hawaii was Primo.

Primo Village was located by a Hawaiian fishpond on the brewery property at 98-051 Kamehameha Highway in Waimalu from 1973 to 1979. It was a little makai of where Best Buy is now.

The village consisted of a “chief’s house” as well as houses for cooking, eating, tapa making and canoe building. It had meeting rooms, an information center, a refreshment area and a gift shop.

The village re-created an ancient Polynesian community. It had gardens of tropical plants and trees, flowing water, Polynesian temples and statues, and thatched Pacific island buildings. And, of course, complimentary Primo beer. Entertainment included music and Polynesian dancing.

Paradise Park

All the way back in Manoa, Paradise Park opened in 1968 and called itself the “World’s most exciting tropical exhibit.”

Its 15 acres featured 600 exotic birds, such as cockatoos, flamingos, macaws; pathways through lush gardens; pools with Japanese carp; and a jungle of orchids and bamboo.

Treetops restaurant was popular. I remember having lunch there amid a torrential downpour. It was open-air but covered. I loved it.

It changed hands several times and was not popular with its Manoa neighbors, who resisted the busloads of visitors on their quiet streets. Every now and then a proposal to revive it in some way surfaces.

Marineland

Inspired by the theme park with the same name in Los Angeles, a Hawaii version opened in 1960 at Kewalo Basin.

It had two 50-foot-diameter tanks that were 5 feet deep. Each had five window ports for “ringside viewing.” They hoped to offer islanders and tourists an exhibition of deep-sea marine life that had seldom, if ever, been presented to the public.

Marineland also had three sand sharks, three small hammerhead sharks, a 300-pound sea bass, three Pacific porpoises or “spinners,” mahimahi, or common dolphin, aku, eel, lobsters, turtles and stingrays.

It had a show with a daredevil — Charlie White — who rode a 13-foot tiger shark. Receipts were low and it shut down in 1962.

Kahuku Sugar Mill

The original Kahuku Sugar Mill opened in 1890 and closed in 1971 after processing millions of pounds of sugar. In 1976 it reopened as a theme park where guests could learn about the “world of sugar” and plantation life. Artwork by Herb Kane illustrated the process.

It had memorabilia of Hawaii’s railroads, including a replica of a Kalakaua passenger car. It projected 630,000 guests a year but never came close to it. Within a few years it shut down.

Ulu Mau Village

Ulu Mau (“forever growing”) Village began at the Diamond Head end of Ala Moana Park in 1958.

Lani Abrigana said, “I was a child in the 1950s and remember going on school field trips to Ulu Mau Village. It was a fascinating place to learn about Hawaiian culture.”

It was a place where people could glimpse life in old Hawaii, with grass houses, lau hala mats, shell displays, and Hawaiian quilts.

Admission was just 35 cents, and, as you might imagine, at that rate it never brought in much money. Nine years later it moved to Heeia in Windward Oahu where it also failed to thrive. It closed in 1977.

Lalani Hawaiian Village

George and Emma Mossman began the Lalani Garden Poi Inn at 2558 Kalakaua and Paokalani avenues in 1928. It offered “a night in ancient Hawaii to see life as it was back then.”

Renamed the Lalani Hawaiian Village, it had thatched huts, with weavers and tapa makers. Luau with poi and “Hawaiian foods cooked in the old manner” were held.

It offered classes in conversational Hawaiian, chanting, swimming, fishing, surfing, weaving and food preparation.

The village also had a Hawaiian senior named James Kuluwaimaka, who was a court chanter for King Kalakaua. He, and more than 50 others, lived in pili grass huts on the property. More than 140 of his chants and their meaning were recorded by the Bishop Museum before his death in 1936.

Lalani Hawaiian Village was the first theme park in the islands and well ­regarded. But it suffered during the Great Depression and World War II. Around 1960 the property was developed, and the Waikiki Beach Marriott is there today.

Hawaiian Villages

In 1956, Big Islanders opened two Hawaiian Villages, one in Keaukaha and the other on the Wailoa River, less than 2 miles away from each other in Hilo.

The Hawaiian Villages had grass houses, luau, Hawaiian canoes, a scale model of a Hawaiian temple, Hawaiian handicrafts and musical instruments, and hula to “capture the romance and culture of Hawaii.” They lasted about 10 years. Similar villages sprouted in other spots but never caught on.

Next time, I’ll look at some of the theme parks that were built and managed to stay open, such as Sea Life Park in Waimanalo, Kualoa Ranch in Kaneohe, Wet ‘n’ Wild in Ka­polei, the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie and the Dole Plantation north of Wahiawa.

I’ll also take a look at projects that never got past the planning stage, such as Kane Fernandez’s dream of opening a “Caneland” in either Campbell Industrial Park or Kahuku, as well as Maurice Sullivan’s dream of a Pupu­kea Cultural Center on the North Shore.

An Undersea City of Hawaii was proposed for Ala Moana, and an Oscar Show World was designed for Hawaii Kai. It would take 500,000 visitors a year to a movie theme park with sets and studios.

Andy Anderson hoped to built an amusement park in the Kewalo area, and several developers planned Disneyland-type theme parks in the islands.

If you have memories of any of these theme parks, let me know.

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Have a question or suggestion? Contact Bob Sigall, author of the five “The Companies We Keep” books, at Sigall@Yahoo.com.