Meal Time Monday - 'Ohana

'Ohana means family and here everyone is treated like family.  This is one of my family's favorite meals in all of Walt Disney World.  'Ohana is located at the Polynesian Village Resort.  Today we are going to look at Dinner.  The meal is served family style and is all you care to eat.  It is the perfect meal for anyone who loves MEAT.  Vegetarian's have options here but this meal is a carnivore's paradise.  

With an open kitchen, skewers are prepared over an open flame for all to see and smell, but there is more to 'Ohana than just food.

This place is fun as well!  This is not a character meal so if you are looking for a place where you can have some excellent food while your kids are entertained and without having to worry about having autograph books out for autographs.  It is also really nice to have the food brought to you.  You can get tired of buffets after awhile.  

One of the attractions for the kids is the Coconut Races.  Here Clair is getting her coconut and broom.

And here she goes.  The kids do a lap of the restaurant with their coconut and broom.  

There is also a parade with the ukulele player.

Now the kids are learning to hula.

At a certain point they are sent to get a parent to learn with them.  They learn what all the movements mean as they learn the dance.  I leaned a lot as well.   Depending on what night you are there or what time determines weather you will dance or race.  You really don't know what you will do until it happens, but our kids have really enjoyed both!

Now onto the meal.  As you know from my other food reviews, I'm not a foodie, so bear with me.  First out is some bread.  It is a pineapple bread that is really sweet and they serve a honey butter with it.  There is no picture because our kids devour it as soon as we sit down!!   They also serve wings and pot stickers, both are very tasty.  The wings are very mild and have a sweet taste and the pot stickers are very meaty and soft.  There is not too bold of a flavor with the pot stickers, but they are served with sauces on the side if you want to kick it up a bit.  Doug always tries them out but I just eat them plain.

The sauces served are Sweet-n-Sour, Peanut, and teriyaki.  These can be used for any part of the meal.

Also served with the appetizers are Vegetables and Noodles.  Doug likes the noodles but I'm usually too full to bother with them.   Also in this picture is the kids mac and cheese and chicken nuggets and fries.  Just ask about the kids plate when you are seated and the server will take care of them.  

Now onto the reason we are really here.   The MEAT!  They bring around skewers and skewers of meat.  Steak, pork, and shrimp are brought around.  When the server is putting it on your plate you tell them when to stop.  If you want more just wave them down and they will bring it to you.  If you get some that are too dry or not cooked the way you like, just ask for whatever you need.  That is the great thing about this meal, the meat never ends.  There are subtle flavors in all three.  I am fairly picky and I enjoy them all.  Doug really likes the shrimp, but they are a "peel and eat style" so it slows him down a bit.  

How can you not enjoy a meal cooked this way?  

After the meal, there is an amazing dessert that is also consumed too fast for pictures.  Bread pudding with a banana caramel sauce.  I think an entire meal of just this would be worth it to me.  The kids can also get ice cream or a brownie, we have seen both for them.

After your bellies are full you are just a monorail ride from the Magic Kingdom where you can show off your lei while riding on Cinderella's horse.

OR... walk to the TTC and hop on the monorail to Epcot!

'Ohana's is located in the Polynesian Village Resort. 

I highly recommend booking this restaurant 180 days in advance of your trip for a normal dining time for dinner. 

It is one table service credit on the Disney Dining Plan(and a good use of one)

The menu is located here.

Meal Time Monday - The Plaza Restaurant

We are finding our way to the end of Main Street U.S.A. for a bite to eat at The Plaza Restaurant.

Click to enlarge 

Here is a look at the menu. 

It is nothing fancy, but it is a great place to get a relatively inexpensive meal without fighting the crowds at the quick service restaurants. 

One thing is for sure the view is one of the best. This place is small and when I say small I'm mean like 20 tables tiny.  The size of the restaurant is the main thing pushing demand on booking your dining reservation early. Advanced Dining Reservations (ADRs) can usually be found for non-peak times of day the week of for parties of 4 or 6 people. 

Doug went with the burger. It is only a few dollars more than over at Pecos Bills in Frontierland and according to Doug it is "immeasurably better". 

I had the Philly and is was exactly what I expected. Not a meal that you mention in your Instagram feed to make your friends jealous, but your taste buds and wallet will thank you.  

There are lots of other sandwich type entrees available here. Click on the menu above to make it larger and check it all out. 

Alden had the kids burger and fries. 

The girls both went with the grilled cheese.  Sam had grapes and Clair had fries. They like to share their sides so they each get a few of the different sides. 

Overall we had a good meal at The Plaza Reaturant. We would not hesitate to book it again. We arrived at the Magic Kingdom 3 hours early that day because all of our travel went super smooth and they got us in after just a short wait. 

The Plaza is one table service credit on the Disney Dining Plan. 

It is located in the Magic Kingdom Park. 

Find out more here. 

Trip Report 2013 - Day #5 - Epcot Rope Drop, Cape May Cafe

Rise and Shine!  Not sure my girls know how to use a bed.  

It's a Monday during the Food and Wine Festival so that means we are heading to EPCOT!  We try to avoid Epcot at all costs on the weekends during the Food and Wine Festival.  Lots of people love it and that translates into crowds.  

We found our favorite spot.  Right at the rope with no one in front of us.  

This a picture at about 8:10am

Way down to the right (as you look at the park) is the character meal entrance.  If you have an ADR before the park opens for Akershus this is were you need to head to, in order to get into the park.  

This picture is from our spot on the rope looking back at about 8:40.  It is so nice of all these people to remind us why we get up a little earlier than them.  

First stop today was Soarin'

We then walked into the Character Spot with a very little wait.

We all got in the photo with Goofy.

Clair is having trouble with which camera to look at.  

Heading to Test Track to use our Fastpass +  

Alden photo bombing Samantha in the line at Test Track.

In the design center, the girls are mostly focused on pink and stars.

The girl team with their car.

The Boy team with a monster truck.  

A close up of our vehicle.  We still had lots of time to change things if we wanted.

What do you do after the fastest attraction at Walt Disney Wold?  Go to a late breakfast!  We walked over to Disney's Beach Club Resort.  It is just a 5 min walk from the International Gateway (Epcot's back door).

We had a late breakfast ADR at Cape May Cafe!

Mickey waffles for everyone.

We had a great time with the characters here.  Minnie was first up.

Not sure why Alden is checking out Donald Duck's armpit.  Thank goodness for digital cameras.  We can snap so many pictures and not worry about wasting film and paying to have the armpit shot developed.

That's a better one.

Minnie stopped by a second time.  The place was really starting to clear out so 3/4 of the tables were empty.  We had one of the last reservation times.  We never felt rushed and they still had all the food out on the buffet.   Minnie Mouse also drew a picture with Alden.

Alden got a better picture with Donald the second time around.

Izzy seems to go everywhere with Clair on this trip.

A picture of our girls outside the Beach Club.  It is one of our favorite resorts because of its location and pool.  

Back into Epcot and it is time for Duffys and Perrys to color.  Our first stop is in Morocco. 

The learning never stops at Epcot.  The kids had fun learning words from the Kidcot Cast Members.

A photo op with the Torii Gate.

More stops at Kidcots. We worked on our Japanese.  After some coloring we checked out the shops and the museums that the pavilions offer.  The kids love the Japan exhibit about Anime Art.

On to the American Adventure!

Always arrive early to catch the Voices of Liberty.  It is one of the best performances in the parks.  After the singing we headed to the show and continued to learn things about America.

Time to try out our Italian.

To mix it up a bit we signed up to help out Agent P and capture the Evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz.

It involves lots of looking at the Communicator and following instructions to find the next clue.

 Back to coloring in Germany.

Snack time in Germany.  If you like caramel then this is your stop, The Karamelle-Kuche.  It servers Werthers caramel and has a "show" kitchen.  The kids enjoy watching the treats being made while we wait in line. There are lots of choices, I always get just the basic caramel apple while Doug gets the pineapple spear.

Back to our mission…we defeated Germany and now we are doing China.  After you defeat him in one pavilion, it gives you the option to stop or keep going.  One adventure can take about 15min or so depending on how crowded the shops and other places you have to go are.  

After rounding out the World Showcase we headed back to Future world.  In the late afternoon early evening Future world really empties out and lines are nice and short compared to earlier in the day.  We walked right on the Seas and then talked to Crush.

Some fun in the Imagination Pavilion.

Heading into The Land for some Dinner and to use a Fastpass+ at Soarin'.

The kids wanted a picture with the sign.

A quick spin on Living With The Land while we wait for our FastPass+ window to open up.

After our flight over California we got a bite to eat at Sunshine Seasons.  This is one of the best counter service restaurants at Disney World.  It is a food court style place so that allows lots of options but that also translates into more than one line to stand in to make everyone happy.  We really like the Chinese food here.  It is better then the counter service restaurant in the China Pavilion.  

We still had time to sneak into the Disney Visa Photo Place before it was done for the night. It runs daily from 1pm to 7pm.  With your Disney Visa card, you get an exclusive meet and greet.  It usually features 2 to 3 members of the fab 5.  You also get a free 5 x 7 print.  

This time around we got Mickey and Goofy.

  You then go to the photo shop and pick out a picture that you want printed.  The rest of your pictures will be on your Memory Maker if you purchased it.  

Since we were in the Innoventions building for the picture we learned about fire safety at the "Where's the Fire" exhibit.  They have an interactive house that the kids have to crawl to get out of.  The Cast Members working do a great job of teaching the kids about fire safety.

It was time to call it a night.  We did something today that we rarely do, stay in one park.  With no hopping, that also means no break for a nap, so we will see if that haunts us tomorrow with a certain 4 year old.