Aloha Hawaii
A Tourist Trap episode whereby the cast packs up and vacations in Hawaii, land of Hula and Luaus. Often a thinly veiled excuse for a Beach Episode, if not outright inexplicable considering how expensive traveling there can be for mainlanders. Expect to see a huge amount of native Hawaiians, even though they make up less than a quarter of the population, and a majority of Hawaiians are Asian or part-Asian. Hawaii-themed episodes seemed to reach the peak of their popularity back in the '70s and '80s, when shows like Hawaii Five-O, Fantasy Island, and Magnum PI were on the air and going strong.
A subtrope of the Vacation Episode.
Examples of one-shot Hawaii-themed episodes:
Anime and Manga
- Urusei Yatsura, complete with Gratuitous English.
- Minako was hoping to have one of these in one chapter of Codename Sailor V, but the plane ended up going to Greece instead.
- Sazae-san had a TV special where the family goes to Hawaii.
Film
- 50 First Dates is also set in Hawaii.
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall has the protagonist go to Hawaii to escape his love troubles.
- The Descendants is set in Hawaii and the various cultures and internal politics of Hawaii are pivotal to the plot.
Literature
- Towards the end, the main character of Clone Republic takes a vacation to Hawaii with a friend.
Live-Action TV
- Jon and Kate Plus Eight renewed their vows as an excuse to go to Hawaii. That didn't work out so well.
- The Jeffersons
- The Brady Bunch
- Lampooned in A Very Brady Sequel, which features a scene where the bad guy gets a flat running over a tiki idol. [1]
- Sanford and Son
- My Wife and Kids
- Charlies Angels
- Sesame Street
- The Fall Guy
- The Rockford Files
- A two-part crossover story started on Magnum PI with "Ki'I's Don't Lie" and and ended with the Simon And Simon episode "Emeralds are Not a Girl's Best Friend". The shows were broadcast back to back on CBS for several years, making this a good ploy to retain viewers for two solid hours.
- Full House
- Growing Pains
- Saved By the Bell
- Mamas Family
- Modern Family
- On Boy Meets World Corey and Topanga have their honeymoon in Hawaii.
- Step By Step
Music
- Elvis Presley did several projects in Hawaii, largely under the influence of his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, who'd been stationed there in the Army. This includes a 1961 benefit concert for the Pearl Harbor Memorial, three movies (Blue Hawaii; Girls, Girls, Girls; and Paradise Hawaiian Style), and the 1973 TV special Aloha From Hawaii.
- The Strokes made a song about Hawaii.
- "Holiday in Waikiki" by The Kinks satirizes this trope.
Newspaper Comics
Web Comics
Western Animation
- Lilo and Stitch is set in Hawaii; however, the Crossovers they had with other Disney Channel shows did feel like this.
- Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
- Phineas and Ferb
- Rocket Power
- Slinkman in Camp Lazlo wanted to go to Hawaii for his break, but Lumpus, lazy as always, tricked him into thinking Camp Kidney was Hawaii. It took a while, but when Slinkman finally did believe that lie, the bean scouts also caught on the act (thinking of it more of a fun game).
Real Life
- A popular honeymoon destination.
- The Polynesian Resort at Walt Disney World is an entire vacation resort based on this stereotype: all of the buildings are modeled on massively oversized longhouses and various "Hawaiian" music is played (often ukelele tunes) throughout the resort. All of the hotel buildings are named after Pacific islands and chains like Hawaii, Tonga, and Tahiti. Guests entering the Great Ceremonial House (the main building) are often given a lei and a fire dancing/torch lighting ceremony is held every day just before evening. This is only the tip of the iceberg.
- Nearby resorts have been doing something similar for quite a while as well, with paid luaus.
- ↑ A tiki idol has a prominent role in the TV episode(s).