When I left you last, we were departing the pretty fall decorations of the Magic Kingdom
and heading to the Polynesian for our 'Ohana dinner.
I should mention that as I researched restaurants months and months ahead of time, I stumbled upon 'Ohana in a review. When I heard that they bring around endless skewers of meat, I knew this was Chad's dream meal. To look at him you would never know that he can eat close to his own body weight at any given meal. So I put it on our ADR wish list, and as the date to book meals got closer, I realized this was actually my #1 meal choice as well (and I'm not even a big meat eater!). I was so thrilled when our
travel agent got it for us at exactly the day and time we wanted!
Our ADR was for 5 pm, and the plan had been to leave the park after lunch, head to POP for a break, then go straight to the Poly before visiting the MK again for a couple of hours. But, given the nap trauma of the day before, we decided to spend the day at the MK, head to the Poly, then head to POP for the night. Good choice!
We decided to take the resort boat over, since we thought it would be more fun for the kids. After waiting 10 minutes or so, a boat pulled up and we were off. It stopped briefly at the Grand Floridian before arriving at the Polynesian. Boy are they both beautiful resorts!
We made our way up to the 2nd floor, only to find a 15 minute line just to check in! I waited while the boys ran around like wild men, and finally we were checked in. The greeter was very nice, and I joked around with him, before requesting a table in the main dining room (I'd heard this was closer to the kids' activities). He also made mention of my birthday, so I figured a cupcake was in my future! We waited again for another 10 minutes or so before being led back to our table by "Cousin Brandon." He was so fun! When our pager went off, I handed it to him, and he took it, and then took a toy car right out of Cooper's hand (I was holding him). Cooper just stared at him like, "Oh no, you did NOT just steal my car!" Brandon gave it back and was teasing him, he was really nice. Definitely our best server of the trip!
When we got to our table, I learned that being nice to the greeter had paid off. We were right in the main dining room, directly in front of where the activity lady (Lipoa?) did everything, and we had a view of the kitchen (and the fire, which the boys loved!), and directly behind us was the perfect view of the castle! Did I take a picture of the castle? No, of course not!
We sat down and were immediately hit with salad, bread, noodles, pot stickers, broccoli, and wings. I have heard others complain that the food came quickly, but with two restless kids, I really appreciated that. We never felt rushed out or anything, there was just never a lull! After a few minutes I realized the boys were not going to eat any of the food. When Brandon came over I asked about getting a kid's meal, and he offered several choices. When I chose a hot dog, he said he'd bring two (and he never even charged us for Cooper's!). FYI, we were also never charged for his drink at any meal, ever. The boys were much happier after they got huge hot dogs and mounds of fries.
The skewers of meat began to come around. We each had different favorites. I loved the shrimp, Chad loved the pork, Sue loved the turkey, and my mom loved the steak. The only disappointment of the whole meal was that we were so hot and tired having come straight from the park, that we didn't have room for a ton (probably a good thing!). While we were eating, Lipoa started leading activities. She had the kids come up and learn the hula, so we did that, and got some leis. Then while I sat down with the kids, somehow my mom, Chad, and his mom ended up in a strange group hug. It was seriously hysterical!
And they were all totally sober!
They did some limboing, which the boys loved
We asked Brandon to take our picture, in our now sweaty and disgusting shirts! Oh well, better than nothing!
We enjoyed the most amazing dessert (that bread pudding is every bit as good as you hear!), and my birthday cupcake before leaving. It was towards the end of the meal that Cooper started getting really restless. At one point I was eating, and looked over to see him taking off at a full sprint through all the tables. I have the worst reaction time to things like that-it takes me forever to process what needs to be done. I just sat there sputtering, "Oh dear. Oh my." Really helpful, and it became another joke for the week. Someone with faster reflexes wrangled him in, and Sue ended up taking him out of the restaurant to walk around a little while we settled the bill.
Overall, we loved 'Ohana. I would recommend it to anyone!
We took our very first monorail trip back to the Magic Kingdom. (Note for anyone else heading to 'Ohana from MK-the monorail lets out right next to the restaurant, while the boat lets out outside and requires some walking, plus you have to fold your stroller up on the boat but not the monorail).
Cooper was in heaven on the "choo choo"! I thought it was so cute, he insisted on holding onto a pole, just like daddy!
We were lucky to hop right onto a POP bus and get back to the rooms. By this point it was a little after 8 pm. The plan had been for Chad to take the boys swimming while I finally got us unpacked. When we got to the room the kids were wound up, and Chad and I ended up having an argument. He wanted to just put them to bed (right, because going back on the swimming promise would go well!), and I wanted them to swim. I won.
The boys had fun, and burned off some of their energy. Plus we decided the swim was the night's replacement for a bath!
We were all in bed by 9:30, ready for DHS the next day!
) not too long ago. Boys! You gotta love 'em! I am anxious to read more about how Cooper did since we are headed to WDW in December.
He really did very well. I was worried he wouldn't sleep in the stroller, since if we go for a long day here, he won't. But they were pretty tired right away there, so he slept for 2 hours in the stroller most days. Did you ever find a good deal on airfare? I can't image a girl (in her pretty princess dress) drinking from a puddle. Boy are just boys.
But on the plus side I will never have to pray for getting into princess dinning.
I was wondering about the cooling fans. We have only gone in Jan and Nov so it was cool, we even needed sweatshirts. I am making one of many Walmart and Target runs this weekend for supply's. I will look for them there and hope to find them in a discount bin.
look from my DH as I plan for this trip and bring the laptop to bed so I can read more info and ideas.
Gotta love boys! Hey, at least he kept himself hydrated
