not sure about Ohana

[mom2_3girls]

I woke up bright and early this am and made my dining reservations. I got all the restaurants and times I wanted, but I'm really second guessing my Ohana reservation. We will be at Animal Kingdom during the day and eating at Tusker House for breakfast. We have 7:15 reservations at Ohana, but I read a lot that they are always running behind and then theres the mixed reviews. How long do you usually end up waiting for a table? I'm just not sold on it!

 

[goofyintoronto]

I felt the same way about whispering canyon. In the end, we skipped the place cause we were still stuffed from brunch....although if i were looking fwd to it, im sure i would have made it a priority to keep the ADR and not miss it for anything! Lol! Having said that....have you looked at the menu at ohana? Did you like the food that was listed? Thats what it boils down to. Also, location is important. Are you gonna be at MK that day? I see you have tusker house ressies, so you will be doing AK in the day right? Are you planning to park hop? (going to MK in the evening?). Thats a lot of running around if your not, to be honest. If you'll be at MK in the evening, i'd look at the menu's of Kona, Whispering canyon, GF cafe, 1900 PF. just so you can see if there's something else that excites you.

 

[Aunt Bee]

We always, always book 'Ohana for our first night at Disney. Wait times vary; our longest wait was 45 minutes but we had a large group. I hear about others waiting longer but we've never had that happen.

We go a little early, check in, and then we get a fancy drink and wait our turn. We like the food and the fun atmosphere; our grandkids love the activities and we enjoy watching them have fun. Plus, we love the skewered meat, the dumplings (pot stickers), the noodles.... It's good food.

Whatever you decide, have fun and enjoy your trip.

Aunt Bee

 

[mom2_3girls]

We will be at Animal Kingdom that day. We plan on getting there for am EMH...have Tusker House at 10:30 and than plan on hitting up the rest of Animal Kingdom until about 5:30/6 head over to Ohana for dinner and than go back to our resort. The next day is am EMH at Magic Kingdom we plan on getting up early and doing a half day at before we have to head home. The food looks good to me...I'm just a little concerned about the wait time and what my food allergic daughter will think (milk and wheat). We have only ever done character buffets and there are always many options there...the chefs are always willing to make her something different than whats out on the buffet. My #2 option would be 1900 Pare Fare for the evening.

 

[lemondog]

Here's my theory on reviews: you CANNOT judge a place by what other people think. I would say 75% of the people on the DIS can't stand Tony's, but we enjoyed it! We also love Ohana, although many, many people complain about the food. You won't know if YOUR family likes it until you go yourself.

We eat at Ohana every trip -- sometimes we are seated immediately, sometimes we have to wait. Our longest wait has been 30 minutes. I think it's kind of a crapshoot and you just won't know until you get there.

 

[DreaminOfDisneyWorld]

We've gone to 'Ohana for dinner the last two years and we've never had to wait more than 10 minutes to be seated. We were a party of 6 both times. We loved the food. Between the yummy bread, the multitude of sides (noodles, pot stickers, wings and more), the varieties of meat and amazing dessert we did not leave hungry. And they provide three kinds of dipping sauces so you can make the meats as flavorful as you like or hardly at all. I was cautious the first time we ate there after reading the reviews but I am so glad we gave it a try. It's one of our must-haves. Also, it's not a character meal but they do have activities for the kids throughout dinner. I hope this helps!

 

[Hopefully]

I think you should keep 'OHana. It is great and we love it. What time is Wishes that night? You can see Wishes from the restaurant if it is the right time, or if it is later, you could finish dinner and go to the beach to see Wishes - this is a great vantage point.
There usually is a wait, but how long is variable. It might only be 15 minutes or so. It is hard to tell.
The food is great, and it is a warm, friendly atmosphere. I say Try It !!!!

 

[princessSunshine]

I woke up bright and early this am and made my dining reservations. I got all the restaurants and times I wanted, but I'm really second guessing my Ohana reservation. We will be at Animal Kingdom during the day and eating at Tusker House for breakfast. We have 7:15 reservations at Ohana, but I read a lot that they are always running behind and then theres the mixed reviews. How long do you usually end up waiting for a table? I'm just not sold on it!

The first time we went it was about a 1/2 hour wait, the next timewas about 10-15 minutes, and last year was no wait We absolutely LOVE O'Hana, so just don't judge by the neigh sayers - more often than not people will post bad experiences/reviews than they will good reviews/experiences. Try it and judge for yourself, as for my advice I'd say GO FOR IT

For our family: TWO DAYS UNTIL THE MAGIC

 

[hannahdrewmom]

We will be at Animal Kingdom that day. We plan on getting there for am EMH...have Tusker House at 10:30 and than plan on hitting up the rest of Animal Kingdom until about 5:30/6 head over to Ohana for dinner and than go back to our resort. The next day is am EMH at Magic Kingdom we plan on getting up early and doing a half day at before we have to head home. The food looks good to me...I'm just a little concerned about the wait time and what my food allergic daughter will think (milk and wheat). We have only ever done character buffets and there are always many options there...the chefs are always willing to make her something different than whats out on the buffet. My #2 option would be 1900 Pare Fare for the evening.

This is a VERY long day. So I'd skip it. You are talking about leaving in the morning at 7am and going until dinner at 7:15. Even if you are seated at 7:30 you are talking about not being done with dinner until minimum of 8:30 and then back to resort close to 9:30. Plus tomorrow you need to be up at crack of dawn for EMH @ MK.

We have been to ohana many times. Some good, some not so good. Either way though it's not worth the extra transpo time and late dinner to do it. Have you thought about it for the next night when you are at MK? I'd think about yak and yeti for dinner since you are already at AK it's normally very good..

 

[disney*mom*82]

My opinion is skip it, if you are already doing a TS that day, I think it would be too much. We are pretty big eaters and dont do more than 1 TS a day and some days only 1 qs per day, depends on temp, food, etc.

When it comes to Ohana no matter what my opinion is skip it, I loved this place until the last time we were there and I will never return again. I cant go on about it, but if you do decide to go, be very careful about your daughters allergies.

I too got up early and booked all my ADRs today and was able to get everyone at the first time I asked for! Super excited!

 

[ElizabethB]

If you have to ask whether or not to eat at 'Ohana, my advice is to pass on it. We ate there once and have never been back. We could not see what all the enthusiasm on these boards was about. The meats seemed rather poor quality, we don't like peel and eat shrimp (too much fuss, especially with sauce, but calculated to slow people down on consumption!), and we thought the entertainment was truly poor. It was not worth the price and we have never gone back.

 

[mom2_3girls]

Thank you everyone on your thoughts! I think as of now I will just keep it...our trip isn't until March so I have some time to think about it.

 

[Paradise18]

We were there about 3 weeks ago and we loved it. I was nervous as I had read many people say the meat was tough/dry, but the night we were there it was just the opposite, very moist and tender. We did decline the shrimp - not a fan of having to peel them. My DD wasn't fussy about the meal and our server offered to bring her a hot dog that we were grateful for. She also loved the entertainment. We definitely hope to snag an ADR for our next trip.

 

[jennyf2]

We ate their for the first time last month & LOVED it! We had 8 in our party including 5 VERY picky kids--all 5 of them loved it (so did the adults)

 

[TBGOES2DISNEY]

We've always enjoyed Ohana despite the love it/hate it reviews. We aren't going on our next trip though b/c that thread about the health department violations scared me away!

 

[Jaaaacki]

We ate there last month and probably only waited 20 minutes. The experience was fun. My husband loved the food and I liked it a little but I'm picky. My kids had pb & j. My 4 y/o dd fell asleep and they offered to push to chairs together for her and said it happens all the time but once the parade got started she was ready to go. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the cm's.

 

[Coconuts]

On our upcoming trip in November, we have the same schedule! It's an AK day, Tusker House breakfast at 9:05, and Ohana dinner at 6:50. DH doesn't want to keep 2 ADR's in one day so that would mean Tusker House is out. He insisted that Ohana is one of his must-do's, and it's one of my favorite meals too. Tusker House though was my one surprise on our last trip. We tried it for the first time and it became my new favorite character meal. We'll see what I finally decide.

 

[DznyCrzy11]

I woke up bright and early this am and made my dining reservations. I got all the restaurants and times I wanted, but I'm really second guessing my Ohana reservation. We will be at Animal Kingdom during the day and eating at Tusker House for breakfast. We have 7:15 reservations at Ohana, but I read a lot that they are always running behind and then theres the mixed reviews. How long do you usually end up waiting for a table? I'm just not sold on it!

I say keep your Ohana dinner reservation! My husband and I ate at Ohana for dinner the first time this last trip and we loved it, but then again the food, along with the flavor, is what we eat frequently at home. For other lunches/dinners we ate at Les Chefs de France, Nine Dragons, Yak & Yeti, La Hacienda, San Angel Inn, Via Napoli, Mama Melrose's, and Tokyo Dining and out of all of those, we liked Ohana the best. Something you may want to consider though, Animal Kingdom is the furthest park from the Polynesian and buses run about every 20 minutes so allow enough time to get to the resort. Yak & Yeti at Animal Kingdom is also very good if you don't want to hassle with the traveling time. So there are some things you can think about. You still have some time to decide. Have fun!

 

[Mikey'swife]

If you kids were really little, I would say skip it since you had a long day. But with the youngest being 7 I would definately go.

I mean what are you going to do go back to your room at 7 and go to bed

Everyone in my family loves Ohana, I am sure they are going to very disappointed we are skipping it this Decemeber because I want to try some new things. It is fun and food is really good. We waited over 30 minutes only when we were over an hour late for our ADR .

Have a good time.

 

[LetsGoSteelers]

the wait times that were cited....were those w/ reservations or just showing up / walk-up times?

I tried to look for something 9/29, 9/30 and says nothing avail...