For $48/person, can anyone elaborate on the Kona Welcome dinners served in the past?
Is the dinner/event in line with other IMNA welcome dinners or do they step it up, being the Big Show and all?
Thanks.
It is all about the experience there. If it is your first time there go to the Welcome Dinner and absolutely also go to the awards.
Thanks for asking was thinking the same thing myself? Taking 4 people with me so $200 could be a nice new tri toy or dinner for the entourage 
Herbert why do you say go? I have been to other IM’s is the Kona welcome dinner different? Appreciate your insights?
Does the welcome dinner sell out or should we get tickets now?
Thanks,
RF
If you are chosing between the pre-race dinner and the awards banquet, definitely chose the latter. It is much more fun, with much less nervous energy. The pre-race dinner seems just a modest step up from the typical pre-race IM dinner.
Another benefit of going to the awards banquet is you get to see the Pro Women dressed like two-bit dish-towel who-ahz.
Go to the dinner! It’s worth every penny - the show is fantastic with “Island Breeze” dancers, fire, and great island music. The video’s are awesome and the MC’s - Reilly and Babbot do a great job of keeping is moving.
You will NOT be disappointed! Z
After attending 15 of them, I might be a bit jaded.
Yes, they are a bigger show than the (former) NAS dinners. There is usually some entertainment from the King K’s Luau show group. There is inspirational speaches and you will get to hear the joke Bob Babbit tells every year. The food is okay, but banquet quality of course. Its a great place to get motivated and inspired for your first time to Kona. We go to meet up with friends we only see a couple times a year at races.
It would depend on how much your family is into the experience if it is worth the $ for them. Our family was happier going out for a nice dinner on their own.
I would choose Awards over the Pre Race meal for my family, other than a spouse. Definitely would not pay for little kids unless you are actually on the podium.
Thanks appreciate the feedback from all. I think I am going to pony up and go, this is my first and most likely only trip for doing IM Kona. My 13 yo son loves that dam what not to do the night before video but I am really hoping they do not show it again :-P.
Peace,
RF
Thanks all.
My wife, son and myself wounldn’t miss it for the world. Sounds like a great experience and because of it I’ll cough up the money and treat the in-laws to dinner for a change!
I’ll be the guy with the most amazed look on his face…because I still can’t believe I’m going to be a part of this whole thing!!
I will be there too. Same look as you might have as I don’t plan on coming back anytime soon, if at all.
Cannot wait and feel like the luckiest person to be able to participate among some of the best in the world.
Couple more weeks.
For me it was always nice to go out in town that nite, most of the resturants were almost empty and quiet. From what I have heard, the rubber chicken and overcooked spagetti with tomato sauce has not changed much. ANd I still remember the year when a couple hundred people got some intestinal crap from the bad salad, and basically ruined their races…Ironman in the heat with a bad digestive system and the runs= not so fun day…Just depends on how much of the Ironman hype you need to have your island expirence, I didn’t need much myself…
If it’s your first time, go to both the carbo and awards dinners. I’d get the in-laws just to the awards (which I’m doing this year). Food is OK, but you are there more for the event than for the food. At the awards stay until the end to watch the Race day video, although by then the family might be too tired for it. (I wish Janus and the race video swap places)
i went to both a couple of years ago. the pre-race one was a lot of fun. i wanted to stab my eyes out at the 4 hour long awards dinner though when reilley started talking about how ironmen make the world a better place. depends on what your thing is. if your ego needs a stroke, go to them. otherwise, for $50 you can get a pretty good meal elsewhere.
At the awards stay until the end <<
That’s almost as hard as the race itself!
Last year was fun in the torrential downpour. Sedi and I ended up sitting under the table and then took refuge under the overhang and finally got a couch inside the King Kam watching everyone swim inside.
clm
I have gone to 4 of them and if you’re an athlete they are OK at best. If you have attended any of the other IM prerace events its not too much different. The show is hit and miss and the talks are nothing special. However, if you are taking your family I would prefer a nice dinner at a local place over a buffet in a parking lot. $48 is just not worth it.
At the awards stay until the end <<
That’s almost as hard as the race itself!
Last year was fun in the torrential downpour. Sedi and I ended up sitting under the table and then took refuge under the overhang and finally got a couch inside the King Kam watching everyone swim inside.
clm
picture or it didn’t happen… oh, I guess it did happen.
MI -TRI - I guess the answer depends on why you’re in Kona. The Welcome Dinner, formerly the Carbo Loading Dinner is all part of the ritual in my mind. Sure, for $48 bucks you could a great macadamia nut crusted Mahi mahi at Jameson’s (recommended by the way), but if you don’t do each part of the week, you’ll end up with maybe a little less of the Ironman experience.
This is going to be corny but I would strongly recommend to everyone that they participate in the Ironman parade, the athlete’s village, definitely the Underpants Run on Thursday, both of the dinners and mandatory pre-race meeting, and if you get there before, say Tuesday and are not in mental zombie land about the race, do something nice for the family like a snorkel cruise on the Fair Wind. Maybe go deep sea fishing or, even better, the Swim with the Dolphins ride aboard Neptune Charlie.
You’re going to be tapering anyway and there’s only so much people watching to do at Lava Java or the Kona Inn. There’s so much to see and do - I say do it all!
Go to the dinner! It’s worth every penny - the show is fantastic with “Island Breeze” dancers, fire, and great island music. The video’s are awesome and the MC’s - Reilly and Babbot do a great job of keeping is moving.
I love all of it, I just wished that Reilly and Babbitt finally would get rid of the shirts they wear seemingly at every Ironman Hawaii. 
I’ll see if I can get either of them to wear a slowtwitch t-shirt.
I would go to the pre-race dinner. I think it is spectacular, and I have been a few times. I have a link to a slide show from 2007 here and from 2006 on the sidebar. The slide shows include lots of photos from the dinners. With no disrespect to NAS at all (I love them), but the events in Hawaii are on a whole different level.
Best wishes and have a great experience!!
What not wear an Aloha shirt, yeah right. At least I’ve worn a different one each of the 21 years in Kona.