April 2024 - Making Money Dance

We visited Oahu for the kids’ Spring Break Vacation. We stayed in Waikiki for 9 days as our “home base” but we drove around the island during half of our stay. For this trip, I purchased a Go City Oahu 3 day “All Inclusive” pass. I bought 2 adult and 2 child tickets.

^{Kualoa Regional State Park – The Chinaman’s hat on the background}

While planning our trip to Oahu, I know there are certain things I want to do with the kids like the Luau, Polynesian Culture Center (PCC) and a visit to Kualoa Ranch. Individual prices cost more than the Go City Pass as you will see below.

How does Go City Pass Work?

There are two types of Go City Pass. An Explorer Pass and All Inclusive Pass. The Explorer Pass let you choose the number of attractions to visit for a set amount. Once you visit your first attraction, you have 60 days to use it. This make sense if you have a specific attraction to visit in mind. The All Inclusive Pass let you visit all the attractions that Go City partnered with for a set number of days. You can pick from 1, 3, 5 or 7 days. Once you visit your first attraction, your pass is “activated”. You then have 14 days to use the pass before it expires.

All Inclusive Pass Itinerary in Oahu

We purchased 3 days All Inclusive Pass for our vacation. This all inclusive pass includes a “Premier Attraction” which is only available for all inclusive option. Our itinerary looked like these.

Day 1 – Travel Day

Day 2 – We used our Go City Pass to visit Kualoa Ranch. We did an early Grown Farm Tour. In the afternoon we visited the Polynesian Culture Center

Cost of Individual Tickets for 2 adults and 2 kids: $551.72
Go Pass Tickets: $814.14

Day 3 – Beach Day in Waikiki

Day 4 – We took a Catamaran Tour in the morning and a Luau in the evening

Cost of Individual Tickets for 2 adults and 2 kids: $982
Go Pass Tickets: $0

Day 5: Beach Day in Ko’Olina

Day 6: Secret Island Tour in Kualoa Ranch

Cost of Individual Tickets for 2 adults and 2 kids: $198.74
Go Pass Tickets: $0

Day 7 and Day 8 – Beach Day and a stroll in Waikiki

Day 9 – Travel Day

The total cost for individual tickets were $1,732.46 while the Go City passes were $814.14. Our savings were $918.32.

We could have save more by visiting more attractions, but with 2 kids, we like to lay low and stick to a couple of attractions per day.

The Go City Pass is vary easy to use. Go City Pass will ask you to download the app and redeem your tickets. Once redeemed, it will show your QR Codes. I took a screenshot of the QR code and saved it on my photo so it is easy for me to find. Once activated, it will also show you the expiration date. The expiration date is the 14th day once you activated your pass.

Go City Typically have sales going on ALL THE TIME. During the time I bought my pass, Undercover Tourist is the cheapest. You can also check out Groupon because they sell it as well.

Overall, I recommend using Go City. You have to plan ahead, but it can be totally worth it with some big savings in the end!

Happy Travels!

March brought us the start of spring. These are the days that makes it worth it to live here in the Pacific Northwest. We might endure the long and gloomy days but the gorgeous days like the ones we have in March totally make up for it. We have more appreciation of nice weather and we were outside as much as we can utilizing our neighborhood playgrounds.

This month, MBP was invited to a birthday party with his friends at an arcade/bowling place. The kids got some cards to play with the arcade for a couple of hours, pizza and cake. We also went to a local high school for “Easter Egg”. The kids saw the Easter Bunny and some princesses.

This month, we spent $3,912.8. Another month under $4k, which is good. Let’s take a look.

Description	Amount
Groceries	823.92
Healthcare/Medical	538.63
Automotive	447
Education	323
Utilities	306.99
Kids Activities	293.34
Home Improvement	289.14
General Merchandise	203.52
Charitable Giving	200
Alcohol	110.3
Dues & Subscriptions	104.21
HOA	84
Restaurants	69.68
Clothing/Shoes	33
Gasoline/Fuel	26.58
Gifts	20.13
Mobile Phone	17.2
Pets/Pet Care	14.16
Travel	8
Total	3912.8

Groceries – $823.92

Our grocery spending in February was low, so this probably average out with 2 months. We didn’t buy anything out of ordinary this month. We still shop at WINCO and Costco and hardly price compare.

Healthcare/Medical – 538.63

Mr. MMD got a new retainer. This is specifically fit him by his dentist. It cost $450. He also paid $50 deductible for his last dental cleaning. I paid $5 for my vision insurance and $33.63 for some lab exams. We paid our health insurance through a gift card by having enough rewards from preventative care. Our dental insurance was paid February.

Automotive – $447

I switched from Geico to Progressive. The last bill from Geico was $673.37 for the same policy. We saved over $200 by getting other quotes. I thought about getting our insurance from Lemonade which charge you a “per mile” insurance. We might go camping this summer and might drive more. I ended up signing up for Progressive. The bill is the 6 month insurance for our 2011 Toyota Prius and 2011 Volkswagen Jetta. We only have liability and personal injury protection.

Education – $323

AHP’s preschool tuition. He goes 5 days a week for 3 hours.

Utilities – $306

Our electric and gas were $181.72. This should go down as the weather warms up. Our sewer is flat at $69.41 and water bill was $55.86.

Kids Activities – $293

I signed up MBP for a summer camp for a week this coming summer. We like to stay local to enjoy the glorious weather here in the Pacific Northwest, but it will be good for him to go to some camp at least for a week. I also got some stuff for easter from the dollar store for $19.16. We got the kiddos some items from the Scholastic Book Fair for $13 and lastly, we got MBP’s class some items requested by his teacher for $11.18.

Home Improvement – $289

Some more items for the yard, some wood for another planter and some plants from Costco.

General Merchandise – $203.52

Catch all from Costco and Amazon. These are items like toilet paper, paper towels, new pan or anything that we don’t want to categorize.

Charitable Giving – $200

Church offering for March. Both MBP and AHP joined me to church on some Sundays. They get a choice if they want to go. Sometimes they do, but sometimes they don’t.

Alcohol – $110

A wine for my book club and Mr. MMD’s liquor and beer from Costco.

Dues and Subscription – $104.21

I signed up for a year of ad-free HBO max. They are having a sale and I was able to avail a $25 statement credit from Chase. Total for the year were $89.96. Our Amazon prime were $7.65. I also paid for a month of Paramount Plus. I forgot to cancelled my free subscription.

HOA – $84

Our HOA fee to maintain the 20+ miles of trails and numerous playgrounds in our neighborhood. I’m still not a fan of HOA, but we uses the trail almost every day to go to school. We also definitely enjoy the playgrounds.

Restaurants – $69

We went to our local Diner after the easter egg hunt. The kiddos also visited the same place for some milkshakes on one sunny Saturday. Included here as well were MBP’s hot lunches for school. We started letting him having hot lunches from school once a month. I put in $11.25 on his account. This is about 3 lunches.

Clothing – $33

I got MBP new shoes from REI, which we might return. I’m still not sure.

Gas – $26.58

One tank of gas for our Prius.

Gifts – $20.13

A gift for MBP’s friend for his birthday.

Mobile Phone – $17.2

A gig of data for 2 lines from Xfinity Mobile. I just received an e-mail that this will increase soon.

Pets – $14.16

Our furbaby’s compostable poop bag.

Travel – $8

Deposit for our Catamaran Tour and Kualoa Ranch Tour for our trip to Hawaii.

Review: Go City Oahu Pass