Party Of The Year

Traditionally, I’ve spent my new year’s celebrating at home with family get-​togethers. Thanks to friends connected with the Party of the Year event, I bought a general admission ticket and decided to eschew tradition this time around to see for myself what the hype was about. To say I had a blast is putting it mildly — the night turned out to be one of the most fun nights in recent memory, an unforgettable and grand way for me to cap off 2014!
I originally planned to go in the later evening, but received a tip where, if I came by earlier and volunteered to help out before the festivities started, I could possibly get in for free. Which is exactly what happened — after helping out the staff with arrangements, I not only got the staff shirt, but also the wristband to get into not just the VIP area, but the Super VIP area! It was awesome seeing everyone working and setting up for the celebration later in the evening.
I sold my ticket and enjoyed mingling with friends, old and new. At ground level, it’s great entertainment for the entire family, which includes the ferris wheel and other amusement park rides, as well as a load of vendors ranging from Thai food, to pizza, and much more. It was pretty much like an Eat the Street event. As you go inside and make your way up to the next level, there are more vendors selling drinks and more food, and this is where I got to watch Steel Pulse and Far East Movement perform.
Make your way up one more level, and if you got the right wristband, you’ve entered the Super VIP area, which is where I hung out most of the time. The set-​up here was fantastic, with lots of chairs and tables for you to hang out and celebrate with others. We got a table, drank a lot of Grey Goose, and had such a wonderful time. After it was over, we wanted to keep going, so we went to Ginza nightclub, the official club for the after party.
All in all, I’m very grateful to have experienced a plethora of priceless memories which I won’t ever forget in my lifetime. The event more than lived up to my very high expectations. I don’t know if I will forgo tradition again in the near future, but if the opportunity arises again, I will not hesitate to celebrate my new year’s at the Kakaako Party of the Year event!

Much mahalos to the Unilocal crew for the hook ups to this event!
ETS 2015 Review:
If we only went to ETS and not the concert, we probably wouldn’t have gone so early considering there is only so much food you can eat. BUT if I had a bottomless tummy, I could most definitely spend hours here.
1. Crepes. I honestly can’t remember what it was called but there was only one crêpe stand that night and they were new (I think). I ordered a caprese for $ 8 (I think it was $ 8 ish). I would give it 3 stars at most. I love caprese but it was a bit bland and lacking in flavor overall. It was okay but nothing special and a bit overpriced.
2. Pop pop donuts. 3 489 734 589 347 stars! Pop pop donuts are AMAZING. Can we please just clone this truck and have one available on every street corner? The world would be a better place. Warm, fluffy, and fresh outta the fryer. 14 for $ 5 was such a good deal. Cinnasugar, coconut, and chocolate were the ones we tried and it was AWESOME on so many levels.
3. Pauls poppers. 4 stars. It’s such a simple concept but they make it work. I got the spinach artichoke and the jalapeño cheese (3 each). The spinach artichoke was good but nothing special. The jalapeño cheese had a nice spicy kick to it so if you like your spicy like I do, this is the popper to order.
I wanted to try the acai bowls from HI Cravings but unfortunately I was too full and it was waaaaay too cold to eat one of those that night. Maybe on another nice summer day when it’s above 80 degrees…
Concert area:
Initially we were a little confused on how to get tix, mostly because some of the crew members had no idea where I could get my tickets/​which line I needed to stand in. Finally we got directed to the right place and the woman told us that once we got in, we couldn’t leave. At that time we hadn’t eaten yet so she told us to get food first and then come back or else we wouldn’t have access again. After reading another review I see that we were given wrong information. That’s a little upsetting because I was really cold and wanted to go outside for a coffee but had to suck it up because we wanted to see far east movement. :(
Despite having different artists perform in such close vicinity of one another, surprisingly the sounds didn’t overlap or cancel each other out. Each band performed at a nice volume but you still couldn’t hear the other bands at the opposite stage. Props to the sound crew!
Spent most of the night on the far east movement side, closer to the water. We wanted to get good seats for their show. FEM did a pretty good job at getting the crowd pretty pumped up and they definitely are crowd pleasers. Unfortunately like someone else has mentioned, they didn’t play any of their own music. My bf went to their show back in 2010 at pipeline (WHO REMEMBER’S PIPELINE?!) and said he was a bit disappointed too. However, despite their lack of original music, their mixes were great and they are fantastic performers. The opening DJs were pretty good too (even though I don’t remember their stage names…)
The fireworks show was FANTASTIC this year. Last year I was feeling a little tired so we sat on the grass outside of the eat the street area to watch the fire works. Maybe this year it was because we were closer to the action but man the show was epic! The fireworks were almost directly above us and there weren’t any trees or buildings blocking the view. It was soooo worth freezing my butt off to see the display at midnight.
Overall, it was a pretty good event. The ETS+music made for a good new years eve party. The only issue seemed to be the organization of the event and miscommunication between volunteers/​workers. I can see how an event of this size can cause different employees to give out different information. Those kinks should still be settled overall. Also, parking was such a pain. We found street parking by ward warehouse, right outside spaghetti factory. However, when we initially drove in the parking fee was $ 20! I would walk a mile in heels before paying $ 20 for parking… (maybe moderate size heels, I don’t know about them stilettos…)
Despite the kinks, I’m super grateful to Unilocal for hooking it up. Overall we enjoyed the food and the music and it was such a great way to ring in the new year with my bf. He even mentioned that he would want to go again next year! :)

I hate to say, but the Party of the Year didn’t live up to the hype for me. For the entire month of December, I constantly heard radio commercials, saw posters and heard exciting things about the party. The staff wasn’t the friendliest and they didn’t seem to have it together. There were live bands, DJ’s, professional dancers, multiple stages and a really good mix of party go-​ers from tenny boppers to aunties and uncles and even grammys and gramps.
The best part of the party was Eat the Street, which was open to the public. All of the food vendors were in the parking lot and you didn’t need tickets for that section. It was like Eat the Street on steroids. Basically way more food vendors that usual. There was also a ferris wheel in the Eat the Street section. I wouldn’t say the party was a flop, just a bit disappointing. I had fun but I don’t know what it was missing but I guess the party was just a bit over-​hyped and it missed the mark.

Thanks Unilocal for the free tickets! We arrived around 9:30pm to grab some food before heading in to the party. We ate lomo saltado from Mimi’s Place, a waffle dog, and a slice of pizza. All of it was delicious!
I love the fact that this party is in the park. There is so much room for people to move around so you don’t get that over crowded feeling.
The VIP area had their own DJ and my only disappointment is that they didn’t have an area outside the VIP area to listen to the music — that stage had the best music!
Drinks were expensive, but that’s expected at any NYE party. The fireworks at midnight were phenomenal! And, as a bonus, we were able to see the Hilton’s fireworks show, Aloha Tower’s, and others.
Thanks Unilocal

Unilocal 365 Challenge 2015 #1/​365
Rachel and I got hooked up with some free tickets thanks to Unilocal,so we decided to check out the 5^th annual Party of The Year for the first time. There were some good and some bad things about this event, but it was still a decent time.
First off, I really like the fact that there was a section of the party that was free for anyone to attend, which included the mini Eat The Street and E.K. Fernandez rides. Being that Eat The Street is one of my favorite events, I was ecstatic. The E.K. Fernandez rides were the usual expensive prices, bringing out three rides and one game ($ 2 a coupon, and 2 coupons to ride the Ferris wheel and other ride). So that was cool to just have and see the Ferris Wheel lights from afar.
Now to the event, apparently there were some coordination mishaps, as we were initially told that we were able to pick up our tickets at will call at 7, but when we got to the gate, the bouncer told us that the gates did not open up until 8:00pm. We were fine with that, since we could just circle around the food booths a couple more times until we realized that we should have been standing in the pre-​line that appeared outside the gate! However, once the gates opened, acquiring the tickets were easy and quick, and we were able to exit and re-​enter with a stamp on our wristbands.
When we came back later around 10 to catch the hourly fireworks show, we entered and I was excited because there was a somewhat long, dark walk to the top of the hill that came out between where the two stages were. I’m glad it hadn’t rained too much that day and the night before, because if it did, it would have been a muddy mess.
We checked out the DJ stage first, since Far East Movement was about to come on. Little did we know, Far East Movement was only DJ-​ing and not actually performing. I was pretty disappointed in that. I am not the biggest EDM fan so while we were in the crowd for a bit, it was pretty cool seeing the crowd dancing at the waterfront from on top on the hill.
Moving on to the amphitheater, where there were reggae bands playing, the vibe was a lot more mellow. There was a section for dancing, but we elected to sit on the grass and stone walls and just enjoy the music. I liked this side better, even though I am not the biggest reggae fan either (bigger than EDM though).
The VIP section looked cool from the outside, and from the sound of it, they played more of my kind of music there. Next to the VIP section laid an area with a couple of food booths, and a tent that sold bottled water for THREE DOLLARS. I guess it could have been worse; and I guess this IS a borderline-​rave event. There was also bull-​riding which I did not see many people do.
I felt like Rachel and I were just waiting for 12:00 to come around so we could see the final fireworks show of the evening, and just when we thought we had found our perfect spot on the top of the hill, some fire-​dancers kicked us out of our spot! Like, what the hell, we were here first! It ended up in us finding an even better view on another hill where we could sit down directly underneath the fireworks.
It was kinda fun, but being that I am not a huge EDM or Reggae fan, I would not have paid the $ 50 to get in. If I did I probably would be giving it one less star: P Thanks, Unilocal

Party of the Year is advertised as Hawaii’s number one and best New Years Eve party four years in a row with amazing fireworks shows every hour with the grand finale at midnight, so when Unilocal was offering a chance to score free tickets, of course, I jumped on it. Working in the area, I saw the chaos that parking was turning into when I was leaving work at about 3:00, so my friends and I came early and were able to score free street parking early.
When we walked over to the entrance of Kaka’ako Park, a line of people had formed waiting to get into the Eat the Streets area. We asked security/​staff where we should go to later in order to pick up our tickets to Party of the Year and were given a variety of answers all of which we later found out to be incorrect.
The Eat the Street area was well set up with lots of vendors offering a wide variety of foods from your typical mainland carnival foods like fried oreos and twinkies (hello heart attack on a plate) to more local style foods, and of course who can attend an event without getting some Wow Wow Lemonade? I particularly enjoyed the deconstructed musubis from Uncle’s Kitchen… amazing.
Getting into the actual Party of the Year was a bit of a cluster. The email indicated that ticket pick up was at 7pm however event staff had no idea what was going on and was sending everyone to different lines and giving different answers for everything. After wandering for about an hour we were able to get in no worse for the wear. In the future, security and event staff should know what the rules are regarding re-​entry, cameras, selfie sticks, blankets, and food and beverage before the event takes place in order to avoid confusion and people from having to run back and forth to their cars. Additionally there shouldn’t be selective enforcement of the rules. Once inside we saw several selfie sticks, blankets, towels, and even a man with a HAMMOCK. In the restricted 21 and up area, they also failed to enforce the drinking age limit and when an issue arose rather than addressing people who were drinking and asking to see the bracelets, a security woman came bullishly up to folks who in fact were all wearing bracelets. Additionally, the bag searches were a joke as my bag was searched thoroughly, yet no one’s person was searched and people easily could have brought contraband to include weapons into the event. My highlight of the evening was having someone ask me for rolling papers… dafaq?
The stages were set up well and the sound quality was really good for an outdoor venue. Once inside, I was pleasantly surprised by all the choices you had of things to do to include the mechanical bull and some other silly things. The drinks were also pretty reasonably priced considering the venue. There were also limited food vendors inside for those who didn’t want to wander back out to the Eat the Streets area.
Far East Movement did a good job entertaining the crowd, and I had a good time people watching or as I called it «watching the mating habits of young adults.»
The fireworks were fun, but the hourly ones left much to be desired… kind of anticlimactic, but fun nonetheless.
I am glad that I didn’t pay for this event to be honest. It was maybe a 6 on the fun scale of 1 – 10 but I think it could be because I am an old fuddy duddy.
A huge thank you to Unilocal for the tickets, you enabled me and my friends to enjoy a New Years Eve out and about without shelling out major moola and we did something I don’t think I would do on my own. I think this is definitely a fun event, but likely a lot more fun if you’re younger and didn’t wake up at 4am on NYE to go to work.

Even though it’s been going on for five years now, I never really got around to going to the Party of the Year in Kaka’ako. After seeing the possibility of getting free tickets on Unilocal,I jumped at the opportunity to try it out. Although it was a pretty fun event, I left happy that I didn’t pay $ 50 for the experience.
My boyfriend Jake and I hung out in the free area with some other friends, trying out dishes at different food trucks and riding the ferris wheel. There were a few rides, maybe three total, but ride tickets were $ 2 a piece. Our ferris wheel ride cost $ 4 per person.
If you’re at any Street Grindz event, you HAVE to try Hawaiian Twisted Tater if they’re there. They slice potatoes really thin by using an actual drill — that’s how the potato slices get «twisted.» Getting the Bacon Cheddar Ranch Tater Tray is always the way to go – it’s like nachos, but MORE amazing. This time, the truck really outdid itself with a new item: Fried Oreo Sundaes. Deep fried Oreos topped with ice cream, chocolate sauce, and sprinkles. Talk about dying happy. And they didn’t jip you on the number of Oreos you got! There were plenty to share.
The Street Grindz booth had set up a festive backdrop to take New Year’s pictures in front of – which was really fun. A wall of gold streamers and decorative balloons served as a great background for some beautiful keepsakes of our evening!
Once 7pm rolled around (when were instructed to pick up our tickets), we walked over to the main entrance where security had no idea what was going on. No one was directing people, and no one was distributing tickets. We were told to wait until 8pm. But wait where? No one knew.
We came back at around 7:45pm when we saw activity at the entrance — i.e. lines forming — and surprisingly, moving. Staff members were walking up and down lines this time, making sure everyone was waiting in the right spot based on the kind of ticket they had. Finally they were starting to get it together. Picking up the tickets was nice and easy, but first I had to get through the most thorough bag check of my life. He asked me to unzip every pocket in my tiny clutch, asking me if «I had any drugs in there,» while no one was even doing body searches. One girl was asked to throw away the cigarettes in her purse, but I still saw guys smoking inside because they had gotten it through in their pockets. The system didn’t make sense.
What I can say is there was easy re-​entry. We had planned to go inside the event a little later in the evening, so after picking up our wristbands all we had to do was get them stamped, and we were good to go in and out for the rest of the night.
Once inside, we were just in time to see Far East Movement come onstage. We left after a while because they didn’t seem to be performing their own songs, as they were at the DJ stage. The live bands were performing at the amphitheater, which was a much more comfortable place to just plop down on some grass or a wall and listen to some reggae. This event was advertised this year as being more «family friendly,» and I could see this area fulfilling that. It felt like a concert at the Shell.
I was excited that they were going to have fireworks every hour until midnight starting at 9pm. However, they were kind of a let down and had me worrying about what the finale would be like. Luckily my fears were put to rest when we got to see a beautiful 20 minute show to ring in 2015 while sitting on a big grassy hill. It was definitely a romantic end to our night.
TIP: Ladies, WEAR FLATS. I was so glad I did because you are walking up grass hills constantly. I felt bad for the poor girls I saw wearing 5-​inch heels… Don’t know how they did it.
PARKING: I didn’t want to pay $ 5 — $ 10 to park in Lot C or the Piano Lot like the flyers suggested, so we found free parking on Cooke St. and just walked over. It was a couple blocks down, but we didn’t mind.

Party of the year…
I begin my review with heartfelt thanks to Emi and Unilocal for affording me passes to the Party of the Year. (this gift earns this review 2 stars –1 for Unilocal and the other for the gift of pass)
I don’t mean to sound ungrateful or seem to slap a gift horse in the mouth but there is a lot to say about the organizers and the coordination of the event. I, along with a few other Unilocalers stood in at least 3 different lines, were given at least 3 different instructions, given different entry times, and when they finally got it straight, we were told they could not find the master check in list from Unilocal.
But all’s well that ends well as we did get in (finally). There were at least 6 food booths in the park where the Party of the Year was held (not outside with the carnival and Eat the Street Booths). Bud Light had their bar set up and in order to have an alcoholic beverage we were locked in an area; like a corral of alcoholic beverage drinkers all in one place (it was actually pretty amusing now that I think about it).
A water game; you sit in a ball and it rolls around in a pool of water. Looked pretty entertaining if I must say so.
DJ’s were doing their thing on the beach front area and also up on the knoll of the park.
As the evening wore on, the park did get crowded with families and singles and groupies and then of course, the fireworks show at midnight was the crowning glory bringing in the new year.
All in all it was an okay event. I think a bit more coordination and planning with the staff members would be helpful to the overall cause and concern on the event. Would I go again? I would have to say the jury is out on that point.

Last night I went to the Party of the Year. They had fireworks every hour. They had great DJs. I didn’t have any issues waiting for the port-​a-​potty. The only issues with the port-​a-​potty was the fact I couldn’t see anything inside it. That made it difficult. We ate at the Baja food truck. Their tacos were 3 for $ 11. Pretty good. I had a carne asada, chile verde, and pollo. The medium salsa had some kick, but wasn’t anything to write home about. The drinks seemed weak, designated drinking areas. The bouncer said to «watch the kids» $ 9 for drinks $ 7 for bud light or Stella. 5 drinks later and not even a buzz yeah. We ended up leaving by 10pm.
Thank you to Unilocal for the tickets to check this place out. I definitely seen some more food trucks that I look forward to checking out.
I would stop in, but I’m not sure I would come back and stay for longer than an hour or two.

I in no way consider myself to be a cool person. I know I am not Kim Kardasian or Jay Z. I could not even get into the coolest party of the year in Chicago even if I had Ang Jolie under my arm and had reserved bottle service.
That being said– I do a little bit about music, having had two artists that I managed and knowing other artists.
So– from now on– don’t read my review like I am calling sour grapes. I am grateful for my ticket and happy to go next year, as I was lucky enough to go last year also and I knew what I was getting myself into –mostly.
Event– wise, it is at the back of Eat the Street (which I’ll review elsewheres). Needless to say– I ate before 7 pm. Last year– tickets were mailed to us all early. And we were let in so much earlier. This year we had to ask a ton of people what to do and finally a few of us Unilocalers found that it will be at Will Call. OK got through that.
3 main music venues. There is the main stage that plays reggae/​island/​local music like a live band in HI does. Seating is on grass and I prefer that the least as I want to dance. This year the DJ booth area at the top of the hill was only VIP. Here is where you can say — sour grapes. I should have gone for the bigger ticket to get VIP to hear great DJs that I already know and like including DJ Shift, Super CW and DJ Tohma in a 21+ only area where there are no keiki running around.
Then there is where I enjoyed most of the night. The open air DJ booth on Ocean Front.
Negatives that I really have to point out: If you don’t want to see parents bringing 5 year olds that just hop and jump near the beat… If you don’t want to see a tween girl and boy on their first date chaperoned by her mom and auntie and his gramma… If you don’t want to see drunk guys fighting and at least one losing a tooth or more… If you don’t want to get pushed into constantly… Tons of swearing… Then you won’t like this area.
MC Kay Kay Kai had to use ‘you white people’ love this song for an AC/​DC rif– because he knew all the army guys and Cal guys won’t know what hoele is. Tons of unaccompanied men which made for awkwardness in the setting.
Security did their best, can’t blame them. I think they did the best they could in the open air setting.
Positives.
Romeo Valentine from Power 104 I think did a great job of MCing the early night. Way better job than Mike Banks or Kay Kay Kai. The coolness factor was infectious and he was in the groove.
Far East Movement made a great set. Some of the songs were new and they had a very lively mi and set. There were a few moments with dead air. I expected more from their lively MC to fill the void but all in all– I was very impressed with the quality. Far East Movement was what I really wanted to see the most and they did not disappoint. I saw a few of their cool DJ tricks that I had not seen before and could hear it in the music– even over the screaming.
The DJs did a good job of keeping the energy up almost all the time. It took most a second to realize — but they mixed in a Brother Iz song — maybe cause of the transition between djs getting their equipment up but it’s HI and appropriate but I could tell — many of the visitors didn’t know it.
Plenty of room for dancing and getting your drink and groove on at the same time.
The night ended early to me– about 1 amish. Last year was longer I remember leaving while there was still tons of music still going on. Each year though is different.
Mahalo Nui Loa to Emi and Unilocal though for great tickets. It was a great event. We would have loved to have said Happy New Year to you if you were here with us.
Wonderful event– just know and be ready for the things that go with a fully run huge multi-​plateform venue that caters to tourists with tourist pricing. Still– I am giving 5 stars because I could not do better by myself making an event like this possible and I know it is a ton of work and coordination. I also love the great music that they bring in to HI.

This place is packed. I just picked up some food from the eat the street vendors. It’s the first time I tried Paul’s Poppers and it was pretty good. The garlic chicken from All Kind Grindz was ok. Then, I’m heading up to watch The Far East Movement perform. They brought the house down. It was an awesome show. The fireworks at midnight were spectacular. I saw some new ones that they didn’t have before. The rainbow one was nice. Thanks for the tickets Unilocal

Party of the Year 2014 at Kakaako!
Eat the Street is located at the park as well tonight, so so so many delish food vendors! i grabbed some tasty ice cream sandwich, some takoyaki balls and hot truffle mushroom pizza.
Sorry– after grabbing a bunch of yummy treats, I picked up my Unilocal issued tickets at the Will Call tent at the front of the line. It was weird to not show my Unilocal profile, and give my HI Drivers License instead.
Once inside, guests are greeted by free samples of Pepsi Cherry, pretty nice if you ask me!
For the 21+, drinks are pretty pricey, with $ 7 bud lights/​Stella. Assorted hard liquors + single mixers are $ 8 – 9. Suuper small cups, but what’s new at outdoor events in Hawaii right?
Can’t say too much about the music yet, but there is a good variety of sounds going on.
Restrooms are plentiful so far, but they’re sure to be busy once more people get drunk for 2015.
Stay safe Unilocalers! Cops are on the prowl here and on the roads tonight!