A Luau experience by Waikīkī Starlight Luau. Back to all Oahu tours.
Tour Summary: A rooftop luau at the Hilton Hawaiian Village that you walk downstairs to. Friday moves to the Great Lawn for the fireworks, and a show-only ticket skips the buffet.
Doors open at 5:30pm, dinner comes first, and the show itself starts at 6:45pm. 
The keiki line is separate for ages 12 and under, with tater tots, corn cobettes and teriyaki chicken. Kālua pig sits on the hot line next to huli huli chicken, BBQ beef brisket and the day's island catch. The cold line also carries Hawaiian macaroni salad, lomi salmon and poi.
6 Tour Highlights:
- Walking distance from any Hilton Hawaiian Village room, no coach and no drive
- Friday edition on the Great Lawn timed to the Hilton's weekly fireworks
- Show-only ticket at $126.14, roughly half the dinner price, one hour, no buffet
- Fire-knife segment, the strongest few minutes of the performance
- Open-air rooftop garden deck at sunset, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday
- Check-in on the 6th floor of the Mid-Pacific Conference Center
Important: The venue can be moved between the rooftop deck, the Great Lawn and an indoor room at short notice, sometimes the morning of, and that is not grounds for a refund.
Tour Information:
| Price: | Adult |
|---|---|
| (excluding taxes & fees) | $200.34 |
Price note: The Friday fireworks edition costs about $60 more per person than the same seat on a regular night, and the show-only ticket is a separate product with no dinner. Children 4 to 11 pay $83.74, ages 3 and under are free, and everyone 12 and older pays the adult price.
Tour Provider: Waikīkī Starlight Luau
Activity: Luau
Tour start time: 5:30 PM (dinner show, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday), 6:15 PM (show only), 5:30 PM (Friday Night Firework Luau, Great Lawn)
Duration: 2.5 hours
Location: Waikīkī
Included: Polynesian dinner show performance. Buffet dinner on dinner tickets. Assigned seating by ticket tier. Live music and fire-knife segment
Cancellations: Free cancellation up to 48 hours before the event start time, Hawaiʻi time. Inside that window the booking is non-refundable, and a venue change made by the operator does not reopen it.
Read more: about luau in our Oahu luau guide.
Read more about the Waikīkī Starlight Luau
You get to this luau without leaving the resort. If you’re staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village it happens on the property you’re already sleeping on: no coach at 3:30 PM, no hour on the H-1, no shuttle back at 10 PM with a hundred other people.
Check in on the 6th floor of the Mid-Pacific Conference Center at 5:30 PM, and walk back to your room when it ends 2.5 hours later. A standard ticket covers the buffet dinner, the show and seating in the tier you booked, and there’s a separate keiki line for ages 12 and under.
A rooftop garden deck, not the beach
The operator’s own listing calls this beachfront on the Great Lawn, and the same listing tells you to meet on the 6th floor of a conference center. Both are true on different nights. The regular Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday show sits on a rooftop garden deck built above the conference center’s parking structure, with the Hilton towers around you rather than open ocean. It’s not a beach, and we wouldn’t book this one for the setting.
Friday fireworks, or the show without the buffet
The Friday edition moves to the Great Lawn and is timed to the Hilton’s weekly fireworks, at Golden Circle $263.94 against $200.34 for the same seat on a Tuesday. The show-only ticket at $126.14 starts at 6:15 PM, runs an hour and skips dinner entirely.
Most of the low ratings name the buffet: cold plates for late-served tables, trays running empty. The show-only ticket drops the part people complain about and keeps the performers. The fire-knife segment is short.
The venue moves, sometimes on the morning of
Guests have been shifted to the Great Lawn or an indoor ballroom for wind or weather, and sometimes because the lawn was booked for a corporate event. Notice has come as late as the morning of, and refunds have been refused. Ask which venue your date is booked into when you buy, and get the answer in writing.
Cancellation is 48 hours, Hawaiʻi time, before the start. There’s no imu here, so nothing is unearthed. The route up is by escalator with no elevator, and we’d call the operator directly about mobility needs rather than assume. Expect a line at check-in.
Book this if you’re sleeping at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and convenience is the deciding factor, or if you want the Friday fireworks from a seat rather than from the lagoon path. If you’re driving in from Ko Olina or Kailua for a luau evening, book a different one: at 3.4 stars across 1,074 reviews this is the lowest-rated luau we cover, and the reviews mostly say the same thing: it costs too much for the food and seating you get.
About Waikīkī Starlight Luau
Book this one for the location, not the food. From a room at the Hilton Hawaiian Village you walk downstairs at 5:30 PM and walk back afterwards, which no other Oʻahu luau does, because no other one is inside the hotel you’re sleeping in. The performers hold up and the Friday edition puts you under the Hilton fireworks. At $200.34 the buffet is what the reviews complain about, so if you’re driving in from elsewhere on the island, spend the same money on a luau with a real imu and an ocean in front of it.
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