MK was so incredibly packed that we decided to hightail it out of there and go back to the cabin, grab a beer and change. Scrooge kept questioning me on how best to get to the Poly. I told him we either needed to do boat boat or boat monorail. To which he responded it was really bus, boat boat or bus boat monorail (meaning the FW internal bus). Which was true. For some reason he REALLY was having boat issues and didn't want to ride the boat again that day. Why, I have no idea. So upon his urging I called the FW front desk to confirm that there was not another way to get there. Big mistake. Big. HUGE in fact.
The very nice CM told me that it would be fastest to take a bus to the MK and then the monorail or boat to the poly. Bus/monorail pleased DH as we were within walking distance of the outpost main bus stop anyway and could avoid the internal bus entirely (again not sure why that was an issue but, whatever...he got over it as the trip went on). I questioned the CM on this, "really?" I said. "I thought you could only take the boat to MK from the Fort". "Oh no, there is a MK bus". says the nice CM "And it's really faster to go that way?" I questioned again. "Oh yes, well it's really a matter of whether you want an air conditioned bus or the open air of the boat (she thought this was rather funny). Ok fine. We'll take the bus and make Scrooge happy.
So...changed and refreshed with a nice cold Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, up to the outpost we go. And wait. And wait and wait and wait and wait. 2-3 of every other bus came by. No MK bus. Finally, 40 minutes later, I finally ask a nice DDT bus driver what the deal is and they look at me like I am insane and say.....
THERE IS NO BUS TO THE MAGIC KINGDOM!
Ok. It's Valentines Day, President's weekend. The world is PACKED. We are a party of 6. In the best of circumstances we can rarely just walk in anywhere, more or less in this situation. So we hightail it onto an internal bus to the Settlement and while on the bus I get on the phone to the Fort Front Desk and ask for a manager. I get put on hold. And then on hold again (they are looking). On hold again, they apologize for the delay. Finally, at least 5 minutes later, I get a manager. I explain the problem and that due to the misinformation (which I QUESTIONED as being correct and was assured it was) we were going to be very very late for our dinner reservation and that I needed him to fix it. He said he'd take care of it and call me back. Which he did. They held our reservation but we were all a little stressed at this point. Now. The positive aspect of this is due to advance schedules not matching the current ones while we were there we had been set to miss Wishes due to the time of our dinner reservation being right when it started. Thanks to the Fort front desk fiasco, instead we saw them from the boat to the contemporary (which is the route we chose, boat, then monorail) and they were magical! Arriving exactly 1/2 hour late we checked in and then had to wait another 15 minutes for our table. The poly was HOPPING!
I loved the energy and feel of the Poly. I think it was Steven's favorite resort. DH and I having been to Hawaii several times liked it, loved the food but other than it's amazing location do not have a strong desire to stay there. It felt dated but I think that's just us. I do like it though. Finally seated, we ordered.
Wall-E: Kids plate, fish of the day, with fries and a salad. Sprite
Goofy: Goofy and Tink "switched" kids TS for adult TS on the entree and he chose the Pan Asian noodles with shrimp. I gave Goofy my adult beverage and he got a berries go-mega (my FAVORITE odwalla juice) smoothie, the first of several of the trip.
Tink: Went for the kids mac and cheese and a coke. Lame lame lame
Steven: Also went for the pan asian noodles but got a virgin strawberry daquiri as his beverage (allowed). Had a second one on Scrooges beverage later
Scrooge: Went for the Prime Rib. Which I thought was lame, we were in Hawaii of all places. But he loves prime rib so...there you go. He chose the Agave Margarita to drink.
Me (Belle): Tuna Oscar and a Passion Fruit Mojito.
The reviews:
Kids grilled fish: This turned out to be at least 6 oz (maybe more) of grilled mahi mahi! Done to perfection. (I had a bite!) Simple, classic and quite good. Wall-E inhaled it.
Kids mac and cheese: It's mac and cheese. Enough said. LOL!
Pan Asian Noodles with Shrimp: These were HUGE and very delicious according to both the 9 and 16 year old. Also inhaled. I'm not sure they came up for air.
Prime Rib: Scrooge said it was good but that he regretted not getting the Mahi or should have ordered it M instead of MR. It was not as tender as he'd hoped for but the flavor was good. He loved the mashed potatoes and broccoli that came with it though.
Tuna Oscar: I had debated btw the tuna and the mahi. Our server recommended the tuna so that's what I got. OMG was it good. I mean amazingly good. We are fish snobs. We live in the PNW and have ready access to good fish and cook fish quite a bit so are pretty picky about it. It was amazing. Sashimi grade, cooked sashimi rare but blackened with some kind of polynesian blackening (it wasn't cajun but had it's own fabulous kick) served with fried green tomatoes, tempura-fried jumbo lump crab, and wasabi hollandaise. When I've had tuna oscar before it is with lump crab and is usually drowning in regular hollandaise. The wasabi hollandaise was just right, not too much and not too little. The tempura crabs were little bits of pure heaven. And the fried green tomatoes were nice and firm but not so green that they were hard as a rock (which I've had happen before).
Scrooge and I switched to a Bahama Mama with our entrees and they were pretty tasty.
For dessert we had...
Steven went for the Torte. He said it was amazing. It certainly was pretty!
Tink, the fondue which I did not get a picture of. It had fruit and macaroons and by the fact nothing was left, I'm sure it was good.
Goofy and Wall-E went for the kids sundae.
For myself, the sugar free apple stack. Apples with wontons, vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. YUM! Loved this, probably my favorite dessert as well.
Scrooge got a mocha (espresso beverage) as his dessert.
As far as our adult drinks went...
Agave margarita. Scrooge said it was good, seemed oddly disturbed by the fact it was served in a different glass than the picture on the menu. It wasn't "strong" enough for him. He was much happier with the Bahama Mama.
Passion Fruit Mojito. I really liked this, a little on the sweet side and you certainly don't taste any alcohol but that's pretty normal with a mojito. I liked the bahama mama as well but can't say I loved either drink enough to get again. While I was looking for something super tropical I never found that one that was exactly right the whole trip. I did have fun exploring though!
I would ABSOLUTELY eat here again. I would try Ohana's, I would have a drink in the Tambu lounge (almost did actually but then our pager went off). I loved the look and feel of Kona, some have commented that it wasn't themed enough or was too casual and we didn't feel that way at all. It was actually a surprisingly small restaurant for Disney, I thought, which was kind of nice and we enjoyed the ambiance, energy, service and decor. Our initial round of drinks took a while but other than that, no issues.
) like crazy. I will stay tuned in to you. We all are so unique, and Disney just can't please everyone all of the time! All of my children love fresh to "fried," and desserts are not that impressive to any of us (SO would prefer an appetizer!). It still is a complete toss-up for us. Again, thanks!
