Mighty Joe Young

Walt Disney's 1998 movie Mighty Joe Young was filmed in Hawaii and California.  The three main filming locations in Hawaii were the Kualoa Ranch on Oahu, Kipu Ranch on Kauai, and the Kahili Ranch on Kauai.  Another famous and recognizable filming spot was the Hollywood sign in California.

In the movie when Jill is playing Hide and Seek with Joe, they are at a waterfall.  When I searched online, it was claimed that the waterfall used in the movie was Wailua Falls.  But looking at photos of Wailua Falls, it was definitely not the waterfall featured in the scene.  It looks to me like either Ho'opi'i Falls, Kipu Falls, or Kilauea Falls, although I cannot find confirmation of that online.  I am positive it was not Wailua Falls, though.  Here is a snippet of that scene:  Mighty Joe Young plays hide and seek

Here is a chase scene from the movie:  Mighty Joe Young chased by hunters

Kualoa Ranch on Oahu, Hawaii

Only about 45 minutes from the Honolulu Airport is the site where a large portion of the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies were made -- Kualoa Ranch.  Many other movies were also made at Kualoa Ranch, including Mighty Joe Young.  There are many tours you can take, but we chose the Jurassic Adventure Tour.  Their official website is here:  Kualoa Ranch  Its google maps location is here:  Kualoa Ranch  The Jurassic Adventure Tour costs $150 and takes about 2 1/2 hours.  You ride in an open, covered shuttle to different parts of the park where Jurassic Park or Jurassic World were filmed.  We got out several times for photo ops.  I enjoyed the tour very much.  They also point out where several other movies were made on the Ranch.  We saw a sign for "Mighty Joe Young" showing a portion of the park that was used for filming this movie.

the free parking lot

We ate at Auntie Pat's cafe

Birds were hanging out everywhere, as you see all over Hawaii

enjoying our lunch

There are specific meeting places for each tour

our meeting place

We had a bit of fun with the wall decorations

getting on our shuttle

Our tour guide took this photo next to this fake stump that was in the spot from one of the films, just before T Rex jumped out

and then T Rex did jump out!

our tour guide gave us these tiny dinosaurs as souvenirs

Kahili Ranch on Kauai

On our Director's Cut movie tour of Kauai in April of 2026, our tour guide drove us past this beautiful area where this scene from Jurassic Park was filmed:  Meeting the Dinosaurs  This scene from Jurassic World was also filmed here:  Dead Apatosaurus Scene and the beginning of this scene from Jurassic World was also filmed here:  Gyrosphere Goes Through Gate and also this scene from Jurassic World:  Gyrosphere Ride  Mighty Joe Young was also filmed on Kahili Ranch.  The official website of Kahili Ranch is here:  Jurassic Kahili Ranch

Kahili Ranch is located here:  Jurassic Kahili Ranch

The Hollywood Sign in California

Mighty Joe Young wasn't actually at the Hollywood sign in the movie - they built a set for this part. 

But if you would like to visit the real Hollywood sign in California, you can't get very close to it.

We visited the Hollywood sign in 2022 and got photos at the viewpoint for the sign:

My daughters and I at the Hollywood sign viewpoint in 2022

We did try to get closer to the Hollywood sign, but it is in a residential neighborhood with no parking and access is completely blocked off.

2022