'Ohana . . . early or late dinner?

[lacy1101]

I realize it is totally a matter of preference, but just curious as to other's thoughts. 'Ohana is probably our favorite Disney restaurant and we have eaten there many times, anywhere between 8-10pm. I have a couple of different options for our upcoming trip:

1) Thursday, 8:05pm – We will be in Hollywood Studios that day. I have lunch planned for around 11:00am and have us leaving the park around 4:30pm to go back to the resort and have a little time before dinner. I thought we might try out the Hollywood Brown Derby patio around 2:30pm for an afternoon cocktail and possibly appetizer since dinner is later that evening (or we could visit the Abracadabar on the Boardwalk after leaving the park).

2) Friday, 4:55pm – We will be in MK that day and I currently have lunch planned for around noon and we would just stay in the park until time for dinner. We would have the rest of the evening free for whatever, i.e. Jelly Rolls, Christmas Tree Trail at Disney Springs, early bedtime lol etc. If we don’t go with this option, I still plan for us to do Jelly Rolls and the Christmas Tree Trail on another night.

I just found the Friday 4:55pm one and want to drop whichever one we're not keeping as soon as possible to make it available for other guests. Just curious what others would do in this situation? We are a group of 4 adults saying at the Boardwalk, BTW . . . thanks!

 

[allsaintsatx]

I would definitely do the 4:55 PM dinner, myself. Being that close to Ohana at the Magic Kingdom would be very convenient! And, as you said, you would have the rest of the night free. But, we have a tendency to eat the early bird special! Ha ha! 5 PM is our "usual" dinner time!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Early. By 4:55 you will only be seated 15-20 minutes late. At 8:05, expect not to be seated until 9 or later. Not kidding. You might be lucky and it will be sooner, but an 8:05 will be seated late.

 

[figment_jii]

I would also normally go with the earlier time, but if your lunch isn't until noon, that means only about 4 hours between when you finish lunch (assuming it takes about an hour) and when you'll be sitting down for an AYCTE dinner at 'Ohana. For my family, that would not be enough time to get hungry enough to go to an AYCTE location. So, I would go with the early 'Ohana (because there is less of a chance of being seated later and then you'll have the evening free to do other things) and try to find an earlier lunch or even a breakfast for that day. If the lunch cannot be moved, then I would go with the later 'Ohana option so that we would have time to get hungry after lunch.

 

[lacy1101]

I would also normally go with the earlier time, but if your lunch isn't until noon, that means only about 4 hours between when you finish lunch (assuming it takes about an hour) and when you'll be sitting down for an AYCTE dinner at 'Ohana. For my family, that would not be enough time to get hungry enough to go to an AYCTE location. So, I would go with the early 'Ohana (because there is less of a chance of being seated later and then you'll have the evening free to do other things) and try to find an earlier lunch or even a breakfast for that day. If the lunch cannot be moved, then I would go with the later 'Ohana option so that we would have time to get hungry after lunch.

We actually don't have a reservation for lunch, so I could easily move it up earlier.

 

[figment_jii]

In that case, I would try to eat either a late breakfast or a very early lunch to give as much time as possible between breakfast/lunch and 'Ohana. My family did something similar; we had a breakfast around 9:30 am and then dinner at 'Ohana at 4:00 pm. It gave us about 6 hours between the end of breakfast and the start of "dinner", so we were nice and hungry by then.

 

[DisneyMommy9]

I have a 350 reservation fir next Saturday, it will be like a late lunch early dinner

 

[purple figment]

I would choose the 4:55 dinner since you don't actually have a lunch planned. You could either have a late breakfast or an early lunch that will give you plenty of time to get hungry for dinner.

'Ohana is notorious for long waits especially with the later reservations. At 4:55 you won't have to wait very long so you'll have plenty of time in the evening to do whatever you want.

 

[Lisa F]

my strategy for places that tend to get backed up badly is hit them earlier rather than later before they get backed up quite as badly. Going to 'ohana at opening time before MVMCP. hoping to not wait long for a table

 

[Princess Minnie321]

i vote for the early on magic kingdom day because of the convienance of getting their quickly with the monerail.

I would definitely do a late lunch and skip dinner. We had a late breakfast and then our early ohana dinner and it was perfect. We were not starving all day and were hungry at the early dinner time. Our reservations yesterday were 9:30 breakfast and 4:05pm ohana.

 

[lacy1101]

i vote for the early on magic kingdom day because of the convienance of getting their quickly with the monerail.

I would definitely do a late lunch and skip dinner. We had a late breakfast and then our early ohana dinner and it was perfect. We were not starving all day and were hungry at the early dinner time. Our reservations yesterday were 9:30 breakfast and 4:05pm ohana.

I assume you mean late breakfast and skip lunch? The only thing with that is we will obviously be in MK that day and don't really want to use another table service credit for breakfast. What good counter breakfast options are there? Plus, we always like to go to CHH...just thought we could do an 11am lunch there and still be ready for 'Ohana. I suppose we could always split a meal there if we were really concerned with making sure we're hungry at dinner time.

 

[thelittlemermaid2]

I would also pick early! We usually do a "brunch" and then a big early dinner, that way we are hungry enough for Ohana!

 

[Princess Minnie321]

I assume you mean late breakfast and skip lunch?

Haha! Yes sorry! I meant late breakfast, skip lunch, early ohana dinner. We never ate breakfast in the magic kingdom. I did walk past a Starbucks on Main Street. Or maybe your hotel has a quick service restaurant? We are at the AKL and the Mara has good, inexpensive breakfast choices.

 

[North of Mouse]

We prefer early dining and always request around 5pm dining. We could never eat a large meal like 'Ohana's with that scrumptious bread pudding much later!!

 

[samsteele]

All of the PPs have given you excellent advice. I'd also keep the early ADR & eat an early lunch around 11am. Even though a party of adults, man can you ever get tired at WDW with the walking, early mornings, late evenings & just trying to fit everything in & hit those ADRs on time. By 8pm, I'm starting to drag so its nice to know that by that time you've done everything you wanted to do for the day & can just coast.

 

[emsstacey]

I would do lunch or a late breakfast and take the 4:55 reservation. Ohana takes forever!!

 

[over50visits]

The wait time past your reservation time is sooooo loooong at night, we gave up on going to O'Hana after they made us sit for 90 minutes once waiting for a table, and everything we walk past it now the waiting are is filled with families waiting. I can't believe Disney does that to people.

What I'm saying, if you want to eat there, the earlier the reservation time the better. I hate it that folks here have to say "you won't have to wait as long" for the earlier time! But that is really good advice. Your time at Disney is too valuable than to wait forever just to eat.

 

[Lesverts]

I did early, like 4pm early. I treated it as a very late lunch and it worked out perfectly.

 

[LovingPooh]

We prefer early. With ADR it seems like the earlier you have for dinner, the better your chances of being seated on time.