Hilton Waikoloa Village

Kirin Chinese Restaurant was another of our favorites. It offers a full selection of various Chinese cuisines from the regions of Hunan, Szechuan, Peking and Canton.

Imari is the resort's Japanese restaurant. The gentle strains of Japanese music waft through the open air restaurant and zen garden adorned with cascading waterfalls and artfully arranged flowers. Imari is tremendously popular and reservations are a must. You can chose to dine in any of three styles of Japanese cuisine: Teppanyaki, where chefs expertly prepare your meal before you; Shabu-Shabu, a traditional Japanese dining experience served table-side, or at the Sushi Bar, where you will enjoy a variety of fresh Japanese delicacies.

The most well-known activity (and attraction) available at the resort is situated in the one of the resort's natural lagoons which is home to a number of Atlantic Bottlenose dolphins. The resort's dolphin programs are operated by Dolphin Quest whose trainers offer daily Dolphin Encounters where guests experience an up-close encounter and supervised swim.

Participants in a Dolphin Quest program receive education about the dolphins and their environment while at the same time having fun by experiencing personal interaction with the dolphins. These dolphin encounters book quickly. If you're interested, be sure to book your space well in advance, preferably before you depart for Hawaii.

High-Speed Internet Access

For those of us who travel with our laptops, high speed Internet access is available in each room for $9.95 for any 24-hour period. It's well worth the cost. I'm always surprised how many hotels and resorts in Hawaii have not yet realized how important this option is to many visitors.

It's difficult to find anything negative about the Hilton Waikoloa Village. I jokingly kidded our host that the only thing I disliked were the guest room towels (which were ribbed and hurt my sunburned back). One thing which is a sore subject with many guests (and staff alike) is the monorail system or tram. In fact, some staff will tell you that "tram" is a four letter word at the resort. The trams supposedly run every ten minutes, but they are reliably unreliable. The automated boards that tell you how long you'll have to wait until the next tram is to arrive will drive you crazy as time actually increases rather than decreases as you wait. After a day or two, you'll discover that it's usually quicker to just walk or take one of the canal boats. Unless your transporting shopping bags or luggage, or happen to catch a tram when it's there, my advice is to avoid the tram.

Pocketbook Issues

Accommmodations and dining at the Hilton Waikoloa Village are not inexpensive, although there is a wide variety of price ranges available and special packages that will further help with the cost. The resort pricewise is on the par with most other major resorts in Hawaii and offers much more choices in activities, entertainment and dining.

We stayed at the Hilton Waikoloa Village for five nights and you really need that long to appreciate everything the resort has to offer. Even so, you'll leave feeling that there's much more that you could have seen and done which, once again, is very much like a Disneyland experience and that's probably just what the resort has in mind.

We'll be offering an extensive photo gallery of the Hilton Waikoloa Village as well as separate features on its art collection and the Big Island Festival in the future.

As is common in the travel industry, the writer was provided with complimentary accommodations and meals for the purpose of reviewing those services. While it has not influenced this review, About.com believes in full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest. For more information, see our ethics policy.