Help please - 'Ohana or Kona Cafe for dinner?

[Greenfield1984]

Hi,

So DH, DD2 (turning 3 while at Disney) and myself are going to Disney in August. I have all our ADRs made, including one for 'Ohana at 5:30. The problem is we want to stick around and see the Electrical Water Pageant the same night we do 'Ohana, and that would leave us A LOT of time to kill after dinner. I'm still looking for a later seating, but the only availability now is at 8:50...too late.

So now I've been thinking about doing Kona Cafe instead as I could get a later ADR and I've read really good reviews about it (and some not so good reviews about 'Ohana).

So what are your thoughts? 'Ohana, or Kona Cafe???

Thanks for your help!

 

[3prettyprincesses]

We prefer Ohana for dinner. Kona is very good but it gets really loud there since the whole restaurant is more open. Ohana puts us more into the Polynesian mindset and atmosphere which we love. There is plenty of food and the dessert is scrumptious! There are kids activities as well (hula lessons and a coconut race). I prefer the decor here but that's just me. If your ADR is for 5:30pm, that might be a bit of a wait till the Electrical Water Pageant begins. However, you could certainly spend time walking around the resort, play in the arcade, sit out on the beach and soak it all in. We did this last time and it was very relaxing. When are the fireworks for the time you're going to be there? They look amazing across the water from the Polynesian.

 

[SuzieN]

I hated 'Ohana - everything was sweet (not into sweet things unless they're desserts) and DRY! The menu at Kona looks good. If you can get in at a better time there that's what I would do. Of course, I will not be going back to 'Ohana anyway so take my opinion with a grain of salt!

 

[vettegirl]

I would go with Ohana, I find their food to be quite amazing and the atmosphere very fun and tropical. Kona is loud and not very comfortable in my opinion. The tables are way to close together.

 

[Lynn5700]

This is a tough one for me. I love both of them. If you have never been to Ohana, I would go with that. It is very good. Kona is really good, too. Either way I do not think you can go wrong. What time does the water parade start?

 

[thorphin]

I'm also trying to decide whether to go to Ohana (for the 3rd time) this trip at a weird time, or if I'd rather try Kona (for the 1st time).

Some scattered thoughts:
- Ohana's much harder to get an ADR for than Kona. Since you already have an ADR, you might want to hang on to it and use it.
- As I say, I've not eaten at Kona yet, but reportedly, service can be slow, so you'd want to plan at least two hours so that you don't miss anything. Last year at Ohana, we were in and out (and stuffed!) in an hour and a half from our ADR time.
- If you did Ohana, you'd probably have about an hour and a half to kill before needing to be on the beach. Spending that much time at Poly might be difficult, even with some shopping and sitting. You could take the monorail to the GF or the Contemporary and explore/shop a bit. We usually try to spend a couple of hours doing that every trip.
- You could try heading into MK and messing about on Main Street in the Emporium or something before heading back to the Poly, but this could be pushing it, timewise.
-Don't be afraid to just hang out on the beach and relax. The earlier you get there, the better chance you'll have for getting a chair for the water pageant.