Spirit of Aloha Luau

[Cindy's Mom]

Has anyone been there recently? I called and made my ADR's last week and was planning on Mickey's Backyard BBQ but unaware to me, it isn't open every night and the nights it is opening doesn't work with EMH's, etc.

So I had 2TS's left over and the CM suggested the Luau. I know NOTHING about it, other than what I read on Deb's site. Can you tell me about the food, atmoshere or any other relevent tips I should know about.

 

[calliemom]

We've done the Spirit of Aloha 3 years in a row (most recently Nov2/07) and we just love to spend our last night at this show. Food is served family style with a yummy salad and fresh bread, followed by ribs and chicken and then dessert (not my fav part of meal). This last trip we saw the later show and found the food to not be as warm/fresh as we normally have gone to the earlier show.

Typical Hawaiian show with a cute little story line about the young/beautiful granddaughter coming back for a visit to the islands from the mainland and discovering her true love of all things Hawaiian. It goes through many native dances of the local islands and then ends off with the fabulous fire dancer "big muscular dude who twirls around some fire at high speeds while dancing". This is quite impressive especially if you haven't seen a fire dancer before.

We think it's great and wouldn't hesitate to go back or recommend to others.
This last trip you had to pay via category ie/cat.1/2 or 3 and this will determine your location in the small theatre. We choose the Cat. 1 which had us on the floor dead centre to the stage (great for pic's).

P.S. not sure how to post pics on this forum but if you like I can email them directly to you if you want to pm me your email address!

Just a note, I was told by a cast member back on our first trip 3 years ago that you should pick up your tickets from the concierge at your Disney Hotel as soon as you check in, as this is when the seat assignment is done. We have always done this and have always ended up with great seats. Not sure how true it is, but it has always worked in our favor.

Enjoy.

 

[daisyduck123]

We just did this for our 1st time on Dec. 22.

It was me, DH, DD13, & DS9.

I had no idea that they take your group picture (like Chef Mickey's, "OHana, etc.) until they were whisking us off to photograph us...so we were not really prepared & so we had to throw off our jackets at the last minute & you can see some of them in a pile on the ground in the picture...but I ALWAYS buy these type of pictures, so I can live with it.

The food was good...show was great.
We went to the 8pm show. I didn't know that it was almost 2 hours long. DS9 was almost asleep, as I almost was. We were exhausted.

**We had not known that we could've picked up our tickets at the hotel, until we arrived at the podium..next time we'll get them first.

We also were on the dining plan, but our credit card got charged instead. We were lucky to notice it while we were still there, & the manager switched it, no problem.

We'll probably go again in the future, after we visit some other places we want to try.

 

[ppan77]

Only do it if you have no other evening plans. We did it with the over Easter and thought we'd tour MK after. No such luck...we were too tired. It is a very long show with mediocre food. We will not do it again.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

Calliemom - thanks for all the details, I didn't know about picking up tix at your conciege prior to the show. We did however do that last year for Hoop Dee Doo, that would explain the dead center seats For Hoop Dee Doo, we did OOP and paid for Tier One, this year we are on the Deluxe Dining Plan and can't rationalize spending more money for Tier One and what the heck would I do with all those extra credits anyway

Daisyduck123, thanks for the heads up on the photo situation

ppan77 - we are doing this on a resort night - so we'll be fine timewise. Sorry you didn't enjoy the show.

 

[Disbound]

Thanks all for the great info! I was just going to post a new thread asking about this show as we've never seen it and love to do something new each year! Is it done right on the beach at the Poly? If it rains is it cancelled? How many shows per night are there and are they every night? Where can I get that schedule? One other question... my daughter is a horribly picky eater and many of the Disney restaurants will cook up some pasta or fries to satisfy her appetite, will the Luau do so? Also, if it's a night that the fireworks are, can you see them from the beach? Thanks all!

 

[dancin Disney style]

Just a note, I was told by a cast member back on our first trip 3 years ago that you should pick up your tickets from the concierge at your Disney Hotel as soon as you check in, as this is when the seat assignment is done. We have always done this and have always ended up with great seats. Not sure how true it is, but it has always worked in our favor.

Enjoy.

The seats are assigned at the time of booking. The earlier you make the ressie the better table you will have.

We went to the show in August 07' and we all loved it. I was worried because I had read a ton of negative reviews. The food was excellent and so was the service. My kids ranked it as their favorite dinner/event of the entire trip.

The only slightly negative comment I have is about the wait before you are seated. We were told to arrive 30 - 45 minutes before the show and it is not at all neccessary. They only begin seating about 15 minutes before the show time. There were VERY few seats in the waiting area, about 95% of the people have to stand and wait.

 

[M-I-C-K-E-Y]

Lodging at the Polynesian and reserving a day (in the middle of our visit) to stay there (despite the temptations to venture outward) we definitely embraced the entire tiki and island theme. 'Ohana is a favorite of ours (always the first night tradition) and Kona Cafe is a wonderful experience as well. However, if honest, I have to say that we wouldn't do the luau again. The show was fantastic, and that's a major part of the experience, but the food wasn't very good at all. I don't regret our experiencing this imporatnt part of any Polynesian Resort visit, but don't necessarily attend just for the food...

 

[nataliz]

We saw the Spirit of Aloha in June 2006 and really enjoyed the show. The food was pretty good. Here is a picture of some of the food.

It started raining hard at the end of the 2nd act, so they just waited until the rain stopped before beginning the 3rd act (which is probably the best act).

 

[Cindy's Mom]

One other question... my daughter is a horribly picky eater and many of the Disney restaurants will cook up some pasta or fries to satisfy her appetite, will the Luau do so? Also, if it's a night that the fireworks are, can you see them from the beach? Thanks all!

My kids are picky too, I asked and I think I read it at allears, that kids can choose from standard Disney kids menu, PB&J, mac and cheese, or chicken nuggets. That sealed the deal for me.

 

[katyjeka]

We attended in Dec. and this was one of many highlights of the trip. Food was good, although noone liked the rice, but the show was fantastic. This will be a must do for us from now on, even though it ran us almost $500, it was well worth every penny. Enjoy. Janice

 

[Fairy_Tale_Bride]

How early can you pick-up the tickets before the show date?
Where do you pick-up the tickets if you want to get them in advance?
Thanks!

 

[calliemom]

How early can you pick-up the tickets before the show date?
Where do you pick-up the tickets if you want to get them in advance?
Thanks!

If staying on site, you can pick them up at your hotels concierge desk upon check in. If not on site (as with our first trip) we just picked them up at the Poly's conceirge desk on our way out of the Magic Kingdom one day.