Ohana at Disney's Polynesian Resort

For our last night in Disney, we went to the Polynesian Resort for dinner at Ohana. The Howles had eaten here before and were VERY excited to return. I was not as excited. Being from Hawaii, I am not a fan of cheesy Hawaiian themed events and this entire resort and it's restaurants seem to fall in this category. But they were insistent that this place was awesome and the bread pudding was THE BEST EVER! I am so glad that they were right and I was very wrong.

We had to wait a few minutes for our reservations so we wandered around the resort. It was beautiful with lots of tropical greenery everywhere. There is a man-made beach that faces the Magic Kingdom and is a perfect place to watch the nightly fireworks. I definitely want to stay here on our next visit.

Once we were seated, our server brought our drinks then a big bowl of salad with honey lime dressing. This is one of Disney many family style restaurants where they bring out big platters of food for the table to share. Next came the appetizers, honey coriander chicken wings and pork potstickers. This was the point when I first realized I had misjudged this place. Ordinarily, I do not like chicken wings but these were delicious! The potstickers were crispy and flavorful. They bring out as much as you want and we requested another appetizer platter.


Next came the skewers. They have a huge, open oak fire grill in the middle of the restaurant and they grill skewers of steak, pork, turkey and shrimp. Again, I am normally not a big fan of turkey but I liked the turkey here. The steak and pork were great too. It was all cooked perfectly and the oak fire grill added such a good flavor to all the meats. Each of the meats had their own dipping sauce which just made them even better.

But the shrimp was my absolute favorite. I must have eaten at least 20 grilled shrimp. They kept coming around with more skewers and giving us more food. I think Curtis and I probably ate the most out of the group. I could not stop eating the shrimp!


The sides served with the skewers were vegetable lo mein and stir fried vegetables. The sides were just as good as the skewers. The vegetables included broccoli and snow peas and they were some of the best vegetables we had all week, perfectly cooked! Dessert was bread pudding and it was so good it is getting its own post.

Overall, the food was excellent and one of the best meals of the week. But the absolute highlight of the evening for me was the entertainment.


There was a Hawaiian entertainer named Malia. She was the epitome of what I don't like about tropical themed events, fake leis, obnoxious songs and all. Pat even asked me if I thought she really was Hawaiian and I said no. Again, I ended up being wrong. As she came by our table I noticed her name tag. All Disney Cast Members, regardless of their positions, wear name tags with their name and home town. She was from my home town, Makakilo! This is a huge deal because Makakilo is so small that it wasn't even our official mailing address. The city in our mailing address was Eva Beach which was the next largest town nearby with a post office. So she and I chatted for a while about Hawaii. She was so funny and reminded me of one of my friends who still lives in Makaliko. Then she lined all the children up and taught them a hula song and dance. It was one of the few I actually remember from childhood, The Hukilau! It is extremely cheesy but by this point I was so full of food and the Aloha spirit that I really enjoyed it!

-Joy