New check in at Ohana

[peanmunch]

Thanks - that makes sense. ...There's always been a television by the bar, but sometimes they have it "hidden." ...We've enjoyed being able to catch some "important" sporting events there....

I remeber that TV..not sure if it's still there..this one is right by the new check in with some kiddie seating

Lori

 

[peanmunch]

Do you happen to have pictures of the new check in area?

no sorry..we were seated so fast I didn't have time. The check in is at the top of the stairs facing them..the walk in line is a roped off line along the railing that looks over the lobby..hope that helps!

Lori

 

[wdwlinz]

We were there when the changes took place. I have mixed feelings about the podium being moved. On one hand, it cuts down on the traffic by Kona. On the other hand, it creates a large line just outside where you enter/exit the elevator which got a bit chaotic at times as strollers/wheelchairs were waiting for the elevator.
We went twice to Ohana's, once with a reservation and once without. If you have a reservation, the changes are fantastic as it cuts the line down significantly and you don't have to wait behind people putting their name in.

However, the way they handle the line without reservations is completely ridiculous. Basically, they have you stand in line and as tables become available, someone comes out and says 'who has a party of 4; a table is ready'. The first party in the standby line with a group that size gets the table. They don't take your name down or give you a pager and let you wait in the bar. You stand in the line until a table becomes available and they will give you no indication if/when that will happen. We were the 10th party in line but we got a table before 3 of the other parties ahead of us because a table happened to open up that fit our group size. We probably waited in line an hour. It seems a very silly system and everyone was pretty upset about it but I guess if they are trying to discourage standby parties, it will work.

 

[sotoalf]

I wonder if this will alleviate the crowds at Tambu. That place is chaos when people with or without ADRs mill around.

 

[HunnyJar]

no sorry..we were seated so fast I didn't have time. The check in is at the top of the stairs facing them..the walk in line is a roped off line along the railing that looks over the lobby..hope that helps!

Lori

I appreciate you trying to explain it. Unfortunately, I'm a visual person so I'm having a really hard time picturing this in my head which is why I asked about the picture. Thank you again, though!

 

[wdwlinz]

I wonder if this will alleviate the crowds at Tambu. That place is chaos when people with or without ADRs mill around.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem to the nights we were there. Tambu was a zoo as always. :-(

 

[CathieArms]

as of two nights ago the check in procedure at Ohana has been changed. The check in station has been moved to the area near the staircase. There are now also two lines..one for people with adr's and a roped off line for walk in's. We were there at 5:15 ..pretty much pre-crowds so I didn't see it in full action but it does look like it will cut out the mass mob at an already crowded area. On another note...food was GREAT and so was the service.

Lori

Ish! This makes me wish I didn't cancel those ADRs we had...we'll be there in 12 days! Ugghh! The *only* reason I cancelled was because they were having such long wait times and I just couldn't handle that.

 

[peanmunch]

Ish! This makes me wish I didn't cancel those ADRs we had...we'll be there in 12 days! Ugghh! The *only* reason I cancelled was because they were having such long wait times and I just couldn't handle that.

We went to Ohana two times this past trip..one with adr's one without because dh missed the first night (he went to a tampa/bruins hockey game..can you believe he picked hockey over disney...lol) the night without adr's we went at 5:15 on a whim (we had 5:30 adr's at 1900 park faire and my boys were protesting a princess dinner ) we were told between a 1/2 and 1 hour but it seemed empty and were seated before our drinks were made at the bar ...less then 10 minutes. if you really want to go show up at opening and see what happens

Lori

 

[jkc0325]

We have 5:30pm reservations on our arrival night in July. I'm hoping it won't be too busy as we'll all be tired from our trip and I think we'll want to eat and head back to the hotel for an early night. Sounds like it will be easier to check in at least. I'm really looking forward to this dinner!!!