Long wait at ohana's

[kappyfamily]

We have always done early adr's at Ohana's, between 5 and 5:30 and have never waited. I also find the food to be fresh and plentiful. I know some like to go late to see the fireworks but an early adr always works great.

I agree. We always book a 5:15 or so and always get in right away.

 

[LoriZH]

We've done O'Hana's almost every trip but I have decided to forgo it this trip due to our last experience of waiting. First time we went we waited over an hour and a half for our table, it was ridiculous and we had two 3 1/2 year olds with us. Second time we were seated right away so we decided to go for it the next trip, long wait again, maybe an hour past our ADR. Then we did breakfast, only about a 15 or 20 minute wait (very reasonable) so the last time we decided to once again do dinner. About an hour and a half after our ADR and 2 times calling over the manager we were about to walk out when they came up to us and gave us a table at the window to watch the fireworks from. It was very nice but was not in our plan.

This time I completely avoided making an ADR at O'hana's. I'll miss it because it is good food and good fun, but the wait is just not worth it, especially when you have children your sister's age.

So sorry she had to go through that but I would have called the manager over. One time at Rose and Crown we waited an hour and a half only to find out they forgot about us however, again they put us outside and we got to watch Illuminations and we had a really fun dinner.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

Even if the monorail is down, the ferry doesn't take that long to get to the Poly. It sounds like they were cutting it very close timewise to begin with (which happens very easily when you are enjoying yourself in the MK).

Even though they checked in late they shouldn't have had to wait this long, that's just nuts. I'm surprised the kids aren't screaming in hunger, I'd have left and either gone to Kona or the counter service place there.

 

[Jennasis]

They can see the fireworks from the restaurant. Don't they pipe in music too? The problem is that they missed their reservation and were considered a walk up (it appears) so they had to wait. Walk ups at Ohana are RARE. Lucky they got seated at all.

 

[Tigger1221]

Even if the monorail is down, the ferry doesn't take that long to get to the Poly. It sounds like they were cutting it very close timewise to begin with (which happens very easily when you are enjoying yourself in the MK).

Even though they checked in late they shouldn't have had to wait this long, that's just nuts. I'm surprised the kids aren't screaming in hunger, I'd have left and either gone to Kona or the counter service place there.

This may not be true. We had the same thing happen. The monorail was down and we had a reservation for Ohanas. It took an hour to get on a boat and get over to the Poly. We were very late and I was upset. We checked in and there were lots of other late people. One lady said they told her it would be over an hour. I asked a CM since we had DD 6 months at the time. They said they didn't know but it should be soon. Our pager went off in about 20 mins. We got out to the beach just as Christmas Wishes started. It was very nerve wracking. I gave us plenty of time but it was crazy. I was unhappy with Disney. I know they can't help a monorail breakdown but they should have a better plan in place.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

This may not be true. We had the same thing happen. The monorail was down and we had a reservation for Ohanas. It took an hour to get on a boat and get over to the Poly. We were very late and I was upset. We checked in and there were lots of other late people. One lady said they told her it would be over an hour. I asked a CM since we had DD 6 months at the time. They said they didn't know but it should be soon. Our pager went off in about 20 mins. We got out to the beach just as Christmas Wishes started. It was very nerve wracking. I gave us plenty of time but it was crazy. I was unhappy with Disney. I know they can't help a monorail breakdown but they should have a better plan in place.

I allow an hour for travel and also plan to get there 30 minutes early to check in so am usually fine. Of course sometimes things go completely wonky there no matter how much time you give yourself.

 

[Sam's_Mom]

We had the same thing happen last year for a breakfast reservation- no monorail and had to wait then finally walk from ttc. We were 30 minutes late and we offered a refund of the deposit or just to wait. It was my son's 9 birthday and we waited about a hour for a table.

 

[kaytieeldr]

This may not be true. We had the same thing happen. The monorail was down and we had a reservation for Ohanas. It took an hour to get on a boat and get over to the Poly. We were very late and I was upset. We checked in and there were lots of other late people. One lady said they told her it would be over an hour. I asked a CM since we had DD 6 months at the time. They said they didn't know but it should be soon. Our pager went off in about 20 mins. We got out to the beach just as Christmas Wishes started. It was very nerve wracking. I gave us plenty of time but it was crazy. I was unhappy with Disney. I know they can't help a monorail breakdown but they should have a better plan in place.

I'm not sure what kind of better plan WDW could have in place. From the Magic Kingdom to 'Ohana, guests have these options:

• Resort monorail MK to Polynesian
• Express monorail MK to TTC, walking path to Polynesian
• Ferry MK to TTC, walking path to Polynesian
• Launch from MK to Polynesian (with a stop at GF)
• Walk from MK to Contemporary, taxi to Polynesian

Granted, none of these would have worked if the sister-in-law were on a broken-down monorail. So again, what would your "better plan" be?

 

[seashoreCM]

There should be no penalty. Due to Disney transportation delays they should have been seated as if they were exactly on time, ahead of other parties with reservations who did not physically arrive before they did and ahead of parties with ADRs for times after their arrival.

To help make up for this, a limited number of parties with ADRs arriving early should be seated early ahead of walk-ups.

Now if 'Ohana was running late seating for everybody anyway, then that is a different program.

Were there buses from Magic Kingdom to Polynesian running while the monorail was closed?

 

[ohboyx3]

Even if the monorail is down, the ferry doesn't take that long to get to the Poly. It sounds like they were cutting it very close timewise to begin with (which happens very easily when you are enjoying yourself in the MK).

Even though they checked in late they shouldn't have had to wait this long, that's just nuts. I'm surprised the kids aren't screaming in hunger, I'd have left and either gone to Kona or the counter service place there.

No... They left in plenty of time. However with the monorail down the ferry was backed up.

 

[ohboyx3]

I allow an hour for travel and also plan to get there 30 minutes early to check in so am usually fine. Of course sometimes things go completely wonky there no matter how much time you give yourself.

They were in MK and left there an hour before their reservation. I would say that's plenty of time.

 

[Sparkly]

We waited about an hour for our 6:40pm ADR, but we arrived a little after 6pm.

Sorry to hear that your friends have had to wait so long

 

[ohboyx3]

They ended up getting seated around 9:30 and enjoyed their meal. They are unfamiliar with the property since this was their first trip. They were told they would be seated shortly and that wait ended up being two hours. They were about 30 minutes late from their initial reservation due to circumstances beyond their control. No one is to blame.... Things happen... I just figured they would have honored their reservation and surely could have seated them earlier! They didn't know what else to do... As they needed to use a table service credit and walk ups anywhere else would have most likely yielded the same result. I did tell them about Kona but by this point they had waited to the point that they might as well wait it out. As for people judging about them cutting the time too close. Leaving an hour before your reservation to get from MK to the POLY in my opinion is more than enough time. No busses were running that I know of their only option was to take the launch which was backed up due to the monorail being down. Anyways.... They still had a magical first day. Still in love with Disney.... Lol. Hopefully today will be better! I'm pretty sure they are over the monorail. lol

 

[capegirl]

We have always done early adr's at Ohana's, between 5 and 5:30 and have never waited. I also find the food to be fresh and plentiful. I know some like to go late to see the fireworks but an early adr always works great.

Same here! I will not go to 'Ohana unless I can get an early ADR.

 

[Megsie1000]

Those resort boats are tiny and have to load people going to Grand Floridian, too. They could never make up for the resort monorail if it goes down. It is no wonder they were backed up! And I am sorry but people should not be expected to have to walk from the TTC - not everybody is that mobile or able to make that journey. Yes - I realize it might not seem "far" to you, but it's "far" to a lot of people. If the resort monorail is down then Disney needs to have a better plan in place.

Really they need to fix this issue with the monorail. For the prices the people at those resorts are staying they should have reliable transportation. I realize "s*it happens" but this is an on-going problem reported by many and far from an "occasional" problem. We stayed at the Poly in January and experienced it ourselves first-hand. We left the Poly more than an hour (70 minutes) before a reservation at the California Grill. We were almost late and stuck on a hot, stinky monorail for 45 minutes. Not exactly magical and not how you want to start off date night when you're spending a premium on your food and babysitting for your kids. We were also almost late getting back to Poly to pick up the kids because, once again, we got stuck for over 30 minutes between the Contemporary and the TTC. That's nuts! We love everything about Disney but this is one thing where they have been screwing up big time, IMO.

Anyway - I am sorry for your SIL and I hope they were able to salvage their evening.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

I'm Actually thinking of changing plans for our next trip. We always eat at Ohana but had a long wait last time... I chalked it up to a fluke but now I'm not so sure.

In the past 3 years we have never been seated within 20 minutes of our ADR times and we usually show up 10 minute early. I think they have some table assigning problems at Ohana b/c its booked up all the itme and they don't plan appropriately for length of the meals

 

[phorsenuf]

They can see the fireworks from the restaurant. Don't they pipe in music too? The problem is that they missed their reservation and were considered a walk up (it appears) so they had to wait. Walk ups at Ohana are RARE. Lucky they got seated at all.

Every time I have eaten there it has always been a walk up except once when I made ADR's.

 

[Cynt]

This is nerve racking. I usually make an early ADR for Ohanas. Well this time around there wasn't anything available so I took the 9:30PM ADR. I was nervous at first but now I'm really nervous. There are 9 of us. I'm thinking what would happen if we showed up at 4:50PM to see if we could find anything available. Probably not since we're a large party but I'm sure considering it. And yes I check every day to see if anything is available.

 

[WDWNext]

I desperately wanted to do dinner at Ohana and see Wishes from the beach (10 pm). I could not get an ADR near 8:00 pm.... so I just booked Kona (20 steps from Ohana).
At Kona, I was seated within 5 minutes, the food was okay. Ohana was crowded (and thats an understatement) The waiting area was like crazy full, people were watching TV and standing in front of the restrooms.

I still would want to eat at Ohana's but as someone said I will aim for a 6pm dinner over an 8pm ADR next time as I saw the crowd first hand, and I would do this on a rest day rather than a park touring day.

 

[Planogirl]

They ended up getting seated around 9:30 and enjoyed their meal. They are unfamiliar with the property since this was their first trip. They were told they would be seated shortly and that wait ended up being two hours. They were about 30 minutes late from their initial reservation due to circumstances beyond their control. No one is to blame.... Things happen... I just figured they would have honored their reservation and surely could have seated them earlier! They didn't know what else to do... As they needed to use a table service credit and walk ups anywhere else would have most likely yielded the same result. I did tell them about Kona but by this point they had waited to the point that they might as well wait it out. As for people judging about them cutting the time too close. Leaving an hour before your reservation to get from MK to the POLY in my opinion is more than enough time. No busses were running that I know of their only option was to take the launch which was backed up due to the monorail being down. Anyways.... They still had a magical first day. Still in love with Disney.... Lol. Hopefully today will be better! I'm pretty sure they are over the monorail. lol

They could have also taken the larger ferry. It's a short walk from the TT&C to the Polynesian great house.

We've taken the ferry across at closing time when everything was really jammed and it usually moves pretty quickly. Of course, nothing is ever for sure.