Chapter 4: Day-1
- Part-8: Doing the Loop
After meandering a bit around the rarified grounds of the Grand, we hopped on the Resort-Loop Monorail for the ride over to the Polynesian. The Monorail actually runs clockwise around Bay Lake, so wed have to go all the way before reaching our ultimate destination. This, however, was actually part of the plan because as far as were concerned, the monorails are attractions in themselves. A stop at the MK for a better view of all the lights, color and festivities; a jaunt over to the Contemporary where the train passes smack through one of the largest holiday wreathes youve ever laid eyes on; a quick stop at the TTC where we are entertained by one more rendition of the Monorail theme song: Por favor mantengase alejado de las puertas, and we arrive at the Polly.
Were on time for our dinner ressies at Ohana so we stroll over to the desk and check in. They promptly reward us with one of their pagers and say itll be at least another 30 to 45 minutes (Did I mention, that they were r-e-a-l-l-y busy). Well, now we had time, so we just wandered the Great Hall for a bit (not wanting to get too far afield just in case they didnt really mean wed be waiting that long). There is much to see in the Great Hall at the Polly, but the lights are fairly low in the evenings and my camera is not what youd call: professional grade. So I just didnt get any really good pictures. An example of what I could get would be:
Not much to see here, but then again, that gives me a good reason to go back (s-o-o-n). We did, however, run across a ginger bread house competition (for kids I believe), which looked a whole lot like this
After a bit we succeeded in rounding up a few seats near the restaurant and then low and behold
More Disney Magic. Just across from where were sitting, another Swing Band shows up. A Saxophone quartet made up of one proud poppa, and his three sons (this is just way too cool). They immediately commenced to fill the Great Hall with excellent swing arrangements of a number of holiday classics and I quickly forgot that 30 minutes had long come and gone.
And (if your interested), it actually occurred to me to record the performance. Well.. The last tune anyway
Give em a listen for yourself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02OvQPm1As4
Buzzzzzzzzz
finally the pager goes off and were seated in the dinning room at Ohanna right by one of the windows with a superlative view of the MK in the distance (all is right with the world).
Now this is the part of the show where I discover exactly what the dummy-headed mistake (that I will invariably make during our travels) would end up being this time around. Way back on Expedition Everest (you did read that section, right?), I had pulled my reading glasses out of my shirt pocket and tossed them in the little net pouch of the train (so as not to loose them during the ride).
Dumb! After the ride was over, I climbed off the train and failed to reacquire my spectacles (thus ensuring that Id loose them after the ride instead). Net result
Tamara would be reading all the menus and such to me for the rest of the trip
(dang
dang
dang).
Back to dinner
After a bit, the various courses begin to arrive at the table, the entertainment cranked up and all were enjoying the evenings frivolities. I liked Ohana. I wanted to say that I loved Ohana, but I think it was an off night (at least in our corner of the room). At one point, we were forgotten about by our servers for a good l-o-n-g while, and although nearly all the food was excellent, the particular skewers from which we were served the beef and pork courses of the evening were rather over done and dried out. Every thing else was great, but being as these were the main courses, it was a smidgen disappointing. I suspect that this is not normal (especially after reading the various reviews and hearing multiple pod-cast descriptions supplied by other members of the DisDads club), so I intend to try this one again in the near. As such, you shouldnt see this as a negative review, because Ill be re-reviewing this particular establishment in future TRs (guaranteed).