February 17th- WDW Day - Part Five
When I last left off, I had returned from some solo park time at Epcot, and a peaceful walk along the Sassagoula River. Around 7:00 pm, we headed up to the front of the resort to catch a Minnie Van to the Poly. We ended up waiting about 20 minutes for our ride. Around the 15-minute mark, Mom asked, “Could we have just driven my car to the Polynesian?” Well...yes...but it’s already paid for now, might as well utilize the Minnie Van. Plus J and I have had issues finding parking at the Poly before, and I didn’t want to risk not finding a spot, since it was a busy holiday weekend.
Eventually our Minnie Van arrived, and we were on our way. I wish I could remember our driver’s name, but he was a younger guy (I’m thinking around 23-24), so I was pretty impressed that he got a Minnie Van position, since those jobs are pretty coveted. He told us that he had done the Disney College Program back in 2017 or 2018, and that he was one of the poor clipboard-wielding souls that has to man the resort bus stations in the morning. I told him I always felt sorry for those cast members, since I’ve seen my fair share of angry guests harassing them about bus wait times. After a quick ride, we said our goodbyes and he dropped us off at the Poly.
Our first destination was Trader Sam’s Tiki Terrace. J and I love it there, especially when they have a live musician playing ukulele, and you can watch the Electric Water Pageant from the seating area. A got the Polynesian Punch, Mom and M each got the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum, and I got my usual Pearl...a white one...again. I have like 6 white pearls sitting in my office, so I left this one on the table. I’m determined to get a black one someday!
Around 8:30 I believe, it was time for Happily Ever After. We had a goal to watch it from the Tiki Terrace, since none of the other girls had seen it. Our view was not great, since all of the umbrellas were up, but we were able to see it somewhat. The table next to us had some young kids that kept running up and standing directly in front of us, and then running back to their table. I may have shot the parents a look after the third or fourth time. 1) Why do you have your kids at a bar at 8:30 pm, and 2) if you insist on bringing your kids TO A BAR, could you at least keep them from running all over the place? This isn’t Chef Mickey’s. I could have sworn Trader Sam’s (inside and outside) was 18+ only after 8pm, but I guess that is no longer the case.
ANYWAY, after we had paid our bill, we headed back in to check in for our very late ‘Ohana dinner reservation. Mom waited in the very long line with me, while M and A browsed in the gift shops. The ladies in front of us were talking about their kids meeting Lilo and Stitch, and I piped up and told them that dinner wasn’t a character meal. They didn’t believe me when I said that the characters were only at breakfast. I told them that I’d eaten dinner at ‘Ohana at least once a year for the last six years...no characters at dinner. They were flabbergasted - one of them said that it didn’t say on the website that there were no characters at dinner. I told them that if there were characters, it would say something about it in the title of their meal, i.e. Lilo and Stitch’s Best Friends Breakfast. I felt bad for them, but at the same time, stuff like that is why it’s so important to book at least your first trip with a Disney-accredited travel agent. Any travel agent worth their salt would know that there are not characters at ‘Ohana dinner. I did think that it was kind of ironic that they ended up accidentally getting one of the harder-to-get dining reservations, and I hoped that they were able to get their reservation changed over to breakfast.
Once we were checked in, Mom and I went to find M and A, and prepared them that it could be a long time before we were seated. In all the times J and I have dined here, we’ve waited anywhere between 5 and 40 minutes after checking in before we were called up. This time, it was only about 15 minutes. We were seated at a table with a great view of Cinderella Castle...too bad the fireworks had already gone off! Nevertheless, it was nice to see it. Little did I know, it would be a while before I laid eyes on the castle again...
We met our server, placed our drink orders, inhaled most of the bread, and soon enough, the salad came. Now, I remember being disappointed in the salad the last time J and I ate at ‘Ohana...May 2019 I think? I was hoping that it was just a fluke, but nope. The same disappointing salad as last time. I remember the salad in years past being really flavorful and delicious, but this was just a sad pile of kale and spinach with a half a teaspoon of vinaigrette dumped on top. Why mess with a good thing, ‘Ohana? Thankfully, the sides were still as good as ever.
We devoured the dumplings, wings, and noodles, and eventually asked for a second helping. I could easily go to ‘Ohana just for the dumplings, noodles, and bread pudding! Sides delivered, it was time for the meats. I don’t eat shrimp, so I didn’t partake, but everyone else enjoyed it. The sweet and sour chicken was delicious as always, but the steak was a little over-cooked and tough. We were thinking maybe it had just been on the fire for too long since it was the end of the night? It wasn’t *bad* just a little too chewy. Our server was a little off-putting though, as he insisted that we take more meat than we wanted. We would ask for just a couple pieces, and he would give us six or seven. I know that it was the end of the night and they were probably trying to get rid of everything, but don’t force us to waste food. Eventually, dessert arrived, and all was well in the world.
I don’t have anything revolutionary to say about ‘Ohana bread pudding. It’s delicious. It’s the stuff dreams are made of. It’s one of the things that keeps us coming back to ‘Ohana. Like many others, we’ve had inconsistent service over the years. Some great servers, some that took ten years to bring our food, and some that shoved all the food at us at once. The food has been mostly consistent, aside from the salad. The steak this night was tough, but other times, it has been great. We’ll continue going back probably once a year, but hopefully we don’t get this particular server again.
Bill paid, it was getting pretty late, and we were ready to head back to POFQ. We walked out to the front of the resort and requested a Minnie Van, and wouldn’t you know it...we got the same driver as last time! We spent the ride back to the resort debating over Toy Story 4 (I fall squarely in the Hate It Camp), and talking about the California Redwoods (the driver was from Northern California). We enjoyed our ride, and I took some pictures on the way back to the room.
I just adore French Quarter, especially at night. And that lobby!

Once we got back to the room, we all changed into pjs and collapsed in bed. We had an early morning ahead of us.
Up next: Traveling home and final thoughts