Have you driven past the Maui Golf and Sports Park at Maalaea Harbor and wondered what that was? Minigolf on Maui? Surely that is too small a place to be worth going to?
When you walk into the Maui Golf and Sports Park you will be surprised. This wedge-shaped property is incredibly well designed to fit two 18 hole minigolf courts, extreme trampoline, a small climbing cliff, mini volcano and – the piece de resistance – bumper boats.
Over the years we have hosted a number of kids’ birthday parties here. While minigolf is a lot of fun, really, all they want to do is ride the bumper boats and use the super soakers to spray their friends and parents watching from the sidelines.
We recently took our youngest for his birthday again. As of this week masks were optional – on Maui you currently need to wear masks indoors but not outside (and this place is outside).
A few things of note:
- it’s Maalaea, it will be windy. Wind can be deceptively cooling – remember to use sunscreen so you won’t burn.
- wear something that can get wet and bring a towel/change of clothes. After a round of minigolf the bumperboats are super refreshing. You could technically stay dry, if you convinced everyone not to use their spray guns, and if you kept the boat out of the waterfall. But where’s the fun in that?
- Yes, they have two large bathrooms with plenty of room to change.
Other birthday considerations
This week’s birthday festivities included
- mango-custard filled malasadas
- a Cold Stone icecream cake
- dinner at Outback Steakhouse (Roundtable Pizza was a close second choice)
Mango malasadas? I stumbled across a pop-up bakery (Coppa’s) on Facebook that made these to order. They were filled with a mango custard. They were very delicious.
Malasadas are Portuguese-style donuts, made fresh to order. Typically you can get them plain or with a custard filling, or guava jam filled (at Komodas). Our family has a birthday (and special day) tradition of picking up malasadas for breakfast.
- Home Maid Cafe (made to order before 10am)
- Sugar Beach Bakery (made to order before 10am – pre-order online)
- Komoda’s (arrive very early)
- Nalu’s has them on their menu