DAY 7: Rest day and 'Ohana Dinner
So today, unlike our last "rest day" spent on our feet at Disney Springs was a true rest day. I had it planned to basically just be at the pool. As you all know, the Poly is an absolutely GORGEOUS resort and it is pretty much the idea place for a vacation day of rest by the pool. The only slight bummer is that after a week of temperatures in the upper 80's (no joke, in freaking December!) a cold front came through and the high was supposed to be 68. Not as nice as in the 80's for the pool but Disney does, in fact, heat their pools and we live in New England in a beach town and spend all summer long at the beach and I'm not sure the water temp gets as high as 68 until late August... so 80 degree water temps even with 68 air temps was still lovely for us. I mean really lovely. I know people from the south might find this intolerable but we hung out in the pool and my only regret was that with our late breakfast and early 'Ohana dinner planned it was too short a day. If I ever manage to stay at the Poly again for an extended visit (our next trip is only 2.5 days in the parks before a cruise so we will be doing the park commando thing) I am going to plan a couple of days just to enjoy the resort and the pool and have NOTHING planned after. But since we had a 3:30 'Ohana we had to leave there by 1:30 and the kid was not happy about only spending a couple of hours at the pool. He of course cheered up but it was really the only time he gave me flack about something and I felt kind of a little guilty about not just going with the flow at that point, but I really wanted to go to 'Ohana and we had
MVMCP that night so I kept us on schedule.
Here are a couple of pool shots, showing what a lovely pool and a lovely day it was. Upshot of it being on the cooler side is I think most people did not consider this a prime pool day and it was quite empty.
Action shot of the kid coming down the slide (he made me go down several times too. "made me" haha)
you can even kind of see the huge grin. I am still wistful for cutting this part of our vacation short. But we had food to eat and as you all know, the struggle is real!
So we went back and showered and got dressed for the Christmas party and came down to 'Ohana. Here is a shot of the pretty poly christmas tree - not as huge and grand as some but I grabbed a shot anyway:
So anyway in my review of 'Ohana I will address the major criticisms of this restaurant. 'Ohana is one of those polarizing restaurants... people either LOVE it or HATE it. I have been going on and off for the better part of the last two decades, once every few years it seems and my last trip there was prob about 6 years ago. I have been through several menu changes and was looking forward to trying the most recent menu. As you know it is a really hard ADR to get but I was able to score one after it not being loaded initially at 180 days and checking until they were.
Criticism #1 of 'Ohana: They are always running late and you have to wait well past your ADR
As I've said many times, I have a strong preference for being in first seating when a restaurant opens and this is no exception. I know 3:30 might be a bit early for most but the timing was great for MVMCP for us so I was happy to grab the early time. We got there right at 3:30, checked in and were seated within a couple of minutes. No wait, no muss, no fuss, perfect (and even unrequested) window table. Here is our view from the table. If you are not the "go with the flow" type about seating times and such I recommend going early because the restaurant was mostly empty and it was very very low key.
as you see it had gotten quite a bit more overcast since our swim time. It was fine, it never rained so it was all good. Here we are at our table in our fancy christmas party duds:
Criticism #2 of 'Ohana: the service is hit or miss
Again, I don't think any servers STRIVE to be inattentive, it just happens when they get slammed during the busier part of the evening. The restaurant was kind of empty when we got there and our servers were super attentive. One thing I didn't remember from before is we actually had a team of servers... one took care of the sides and wings and that stuff and the main server took care of the meats. Honestly service was perfect for a place like that, they were always there when we needed them and not naggy or annoying when we didn't.
So upon sitting down we were brought the bread, but the butter was missing... the hostess ran back and got some and stuck an umbrella in it for our trouble:
So this is bread. And butter. It is not super yummy deliciousness like the bread at breakfast. It is bread. and there is so much other good food, I highly recommend taking a hard pass on it. The kid ate a piece and it wasn't the best bread ever and food came out pretty quickly so we didn't eat much of this.
I got another "Island Sunset" too... I really wanted the lapu lapu but after reading reports of how much booze is in it and knowing I have the tolerance of an 88 lb 17 year old girl, I decided to go with something a lot less boozy. Also I hate being buzzed while I am responsible with my kid. Honestly when he starts to harsh my buzz (AND HE WILL... I love him but it is inevitable) it makes me cranky. So better to just not get buzzed in the first place and happily have the day be all about him. But someday I will have the lapulapu, maybe from room service on our next trip in the evening after he has gone to sleep so I can be happy and buzzed in peace and quiet. Anyway the drink was good and refreshing and had just enough buzz during dinner that was gone by dessert and just right for a night of partying at the MK:
I also love how these things come slightly melty because you mix it up with your straw and it is the PERFECT texture for drinking... not like when you get a slushie and suck out all of the flavor and are stuck with the ice. Good to the last drop.
So also with the bread came the salad. I love salad and the picky kid does not do veggies so I had this all to myself. You all are going to think I am a freaking weirdo but here goes: This was honestly one of the most lovely self indulgent moments of the vacation. I had this huge salad to myself and was not sharing with anyone and I could make myself a plate picking out the good stuff and leaving most of the lettuce behind. I like this salad a lot and maybe it is a waste of "stomach space" but it was lovely and COLD and crunchy and fresh and not overdressed and any salad with minimal lettuce is good by me.. I did toss it a bit but didn't feel one iota of guilt having mostly "stuff."
While I was munching salad and sipping my drinkie-poo and the kid was eating bread and sucking down apple juice like there is no tomorrow, our server came by and asked if the kiddo needed anything special. I requested some mac and cheese as a side for him knowing he would not likely like the noodles or potstickers (although fried dumplings are a recent thing that he NOW likes, woohoo! but back then no) and it was noted and came out with the appetizers.
It wasn't long after I was done with the salad that the pan of noodles, veggies, potstickers and wings showed up:
the noodles were good but as I suspected, the kid didn't like them. They were kind of basic and plain, about what you'd expect and I enjoyed them as a side with all the MEAT. The veggies were delicious, lovely and crispy and stir fried just the way I like them. Note that if you like mushy veggies you won't like these... I have seen reviews stating they are undercooked and no... they are cooked the way they are supposed to. The potstickers were perfect too, I think they deep fry them so hard to go wrong with an all over perfect crispy coating, right? The wings were kind of meh though, the skin was not crispy (strike 1) and I found the coriander flavor to be overwhelming(strike 2). This was kind of a bummer as I remember LOVING these wings but maybe just a bad night... did did not like them either and I suspect it was for the same two reasons (if I find the coriander too much he will REALLY find it too much). When the assistant server came and asked if we wanted anything more from that plate I asked him if they had wings that were actually crispy and he kind of looked at me like I had sprouted a horn and said "Ummm I think they were all made at the same time so probably not??" So I let it drop. As you know, there is WAY more food than you can eat here anyway so I was not really missing the wings.
the mac and cheese came out with it and I served some out to the kid before taking the picture. As you can see, it is standard disney mac and cheese... which is just fine by the kid to be perfectly honest. Also you can see he was shredding the bread rather than eating it, so it must not have been very good because the kid loves bread (but is also picky about texture and won't eat "soft" bread like supermarket bread... so bakery sourdough it is in this household!)
I just gave him a little because he was whining about being hungry but I wanted him to eat the rest of the food so just enough to plug up the whining. He turned out to not eat that much of this ultimately and a lot was left. A small bowl would have been PLENTY.
Criticism #3 of 'Ohana: All of the food comes at once.
I have seen and I don't understand why people complain about this. Like, I don't want to sit and fill up on noodles and veggies and not get any meat. I want to eat it all together. So I dished out the noodles, veggies, wings and potstickers for myself and tried a wing and by the time the wing was done, the meat had arrived. So to me, this is a feature and not a bug but I guess different strokes for different folks, I have seen this posted about 'Ohana by more than one person. I like getting the food all at once and tucking into the feast on my plate. Also because the food came all together like that, I am able to post a pretty nicely composed 'Ohana plate without it looking like a dog's breakfast like so many do (no offense to anyone who posts their half eaten plates but I often see these posted with an apology but it is due to the timing of the food. Since ours all came at once this is what I was looking at... notice no wing!)
uh YUM. that's all I have to say. Yum yum yummy yum yum. Starting at 12'oclock are the potstickers. YUM. Then the shrimp, chicken, veggies and noddles. Steak in the middle. I got about 1 bite of my first round steak before the kid had plowed through his, declared that the chicken had the "texture of snot" but he "sure could use more of that steak" and took mine. Chicken thigh texture is a bit problematic for the kid but I don't mind it (and no it doesn't have the texture of snot) but he LOVED the steak. It is not filet or anything but they were nice, clean cuts of steak with no tendon or gristle or anything he would find texturally offensive with a yummy teriyaki style sauce. It was also cooked pretty much medium, maybe slightly on the medium rare side of medium, which is his preference (and mine with less expensive cuts). Luckily as I said before our waitress was pretty attentive and was back by to see if we needed anything within a few minutes and I was able to score more steak... and the kid got like another 5 or 6 pieces after eating his first "let's try this" piece and my two pieces. I kind of expected him to start mooing after this trip but he didn't. So the kid ate his weight in steak and mac and cheese (are you noticing a theme here?) and loved it... as evidenced by his face being smeared with sauce and his big goofy grin:
that is a steak and mac and cheese buzz if I ever saw one.
I enjoyed all of it. The chicken was perfectly cooked and I do prefer thigh. The veggies were crisp and perfectly seasoned. Everything was pretty strong tasting so a bite with some noodles and some meat was really balanced. The steak as I said before weas great. The shrimp were the highlight though, I remember when they were those HUGE prawns and always seemed kind of tough. These were the perfect size and cooked to PERFECTION. Sweet and fresh and tender. I still dream about these shrimp honestly. But this was so much food I didn't end up getting seconds and I wish I had because then maybe I would not be dreaming about those shrimp still. That was the biggest surprise for me honestly, they are smaller than they used to be but oh so delicious.
Criticism of 'Ohana #4: It's loud and chaotic.
Yes, yes it is. If that is not your bag, get the room service or go to Kona. The kid did the coconut races and it was crazy but also fun and if you don't want fun then find somewhere else to be
actually to be perfectly honest, this was the only time it was loud and chaotic. The rest of the time everyone seemed too busy stuffing their faces to be talking too much. It's not a quiet, romantic dinner but for most of the meal it was no louder than any other restaurant of its size I've ever been to.
So basically after being good and not asking for seconds because I didn't want to be overly full for an evening at the MK, it was time for dessert (aka "blow that plan out of the water.") I remember when they used to have pineapple with caramel sauce for dessert (anyone remember that?). and it was good. but this is awesome. All of my crap about not being a dessert person went out the window because this stuff is THE BOMB. I absolutely love the 'Ohana bread pudding and the kid was really interested in trying it too so I resisted the urge to stab his hand with my fork and let him have some.
This is the best dessert we had all week HANDS DOWN. The bready bread pudding is not too sweet but punctuated by the bananas foster sauce and the ice cream and it's just heaven on a plate. I managed to put half of this big serving away BY MYSELF and if you notice that I only ever had a bite or two of any other dessert, that is saying something.
In addition to sharing my bread pudding the kid was also brought a kid's dessert, which he much preferred to the bread pudding.
he declared this the best dessert of the trip too. Brownies are his favorite chocolate delivery method and what looks like frosting is actually marshmallow... and m&m's. this was a total dessert win for him.
So for us, 'Ohana was a huge win. The only thing I wish is that we had taken more time in the pool, then gone to 'Ohana and ate my weight in shrimp, then went back to lay around the pool. I was cramming a LOT into our trip and I was cognizant of not overdoing it in the food department and ruining the evening by having to walk around feeling so full, but I kind of wish I could have gone all out in gluttonous glory and then just lie around like a beached whale. Don't get me wrong, we had an awesome time at MVMCP too and I did manage to not overdo it to the point of being uncomfortably full as we walked so it was fine but dang I wanted more shrimp, lol.
The other thing is that I booked my 3 FP+ from 4:30-5:30, 5:30-6:30 and 6:30-7:30 thinking that 2 hours from start of dinner at 'Ohana to end of FP+ window would be enough time but it really wasn't. We ended up showing up to Peter Pan at around 5:45 and we were allowed on the ride so it was all good but it was a pretty tight window. I figured the meal would take more like an hour given that it was self paced and all and the service was so quick but it still took closer to 90 minutes all told. So just keep that in mind if stacking this meal with another event. But seriously, I know some people say 'Ohana has gone downhill but having lived through the turkey breast and pineapple phase of this meal, shrimp and bread pudding are MUCH MUCH MUCH better. I will continue to enjoy 'Ohana but I think this is a sometimes meal, made better by not going EVERY SINGLE TRIP. IMO familiarity breeds contempt and when you have a stellar meal it is a good idea to take a break and let the longing build a while lest your next experience not live up to your last.
So there we have it... but as I mentioned, today is not over. Next we have MVMCP and the Fireworks Dessert party. Stay tuned!
That is SOO awesome that you could swap your reservations! And whew, what a stress lifted off your shoulders that you don't have to stalk around for a reservation or a waitlist... phew. I totally loved when we stayed at the Poly.. we did a split and only did 3 nights there so we got AK/HS out of our systems and didn't touch a bus for the entire 3.5 days. You can't beat it!
We got to try Boma for the first time on our last trip and really enjoyed it. Especially all the pog juice
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Yes it is perfect Disney age which is why I try my best to get him there as much as I can swing. I love your lineup, all of my favorites! I would probably put 'Ohana and GG breakfast pretty much equal so it really just depends which characters you prefer/what fits into your schedule better. I personally am planning to indulge in the 8am GG into Soarin' strategy!
) so ROL package was a must this trip since we haven't seen it yet. Also DS requested we do Jiko (because of their fillet with mac&cheese). When I just added up all the cost for those three meals, we were somewhere near $400 so spending extra $220 for DxDP and adding 3 more TS and plus all the snack and resort mug (since I need lots of coffee in the morning) just made sense. I thought I would probably never get DxDP (because it truly is lots of food) since we usually get TiW but this year with AP discounts and I don't usually get adult beverages, it's really hard to break even with TiW. At the end of the day, I think we will save around $200 with DxDP than paying OOP for all those meals. Now I just need to wait till tomorrow to start our vacay!!!
....we ate dinner here on our trip prior to our most recent one and I will go back there just for that bread pudding 
at "texture of snot". The steak is going to be way undercooked for my mom if it is on the medium rare side of medium. She's not a huge red meat fan, though, so at least she has plenty of choices!
