The morning after the Halloween Party we were really hoping the kids would sleep in. Ha. Ha. Ha. We knew they wouldn’t but we also didn’t schedule anything early on in the morning in hopes of having a restful day.
I know last post I mentioned that you have to know your child and that if your younger kid can handle a late night then GO FOR IT with the Disney Parties! However, I will now also add to MAKE SURE you have a VERY chill day planned for the next day.
We didn’t have that luxury due to planning the trip so last minute so Tess got pushed way beyond what she should have been pushed to have to handle that day especially after being up SO LATE the night before!
I love planning surprises for our trips and love that the kids have been often enough now to have favorite things and experiences. It makes it even more fun to surprise them! I LOVE how pumped Kye is when he realizes where we are going for breakfast 😉
Candy stash from the night prior!
This is a MUST HAVE for a Disney trip! I take it on any vacations with me as it helps my makeup to stay put for long days at the parks!
Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray
The kids were SO EXCITED about Ohana and breakfast with Stitch! I scheduled this breakfast for later in the morning like I did for Cape May. It worked out GREAT because we just skipped breakfast and made this meal our breakfast and lunch. Valid excuse to stuff our faces, right?
It makes my heart so happy to see KYE so excited! He loves some food 😉
Okay so I want to get my complaining out of the way. Ohana is a character breakfast experience. I blogged about it when we surprised Kye for his birthday last year (and yes, his shirt from last year still fits and he wore it again this year and Britt’s shirt from last year Tess wore this year!).
We love character meals because you get to really interact with the characters and avoid the long lines at the parks to meet them. Ohana ain’t cheap and a BIG reason we justify the cost is for that character experience.
When we walked up to sign in for our reservation (30 min early) we were behind a family who was an hour late for their reservation. Usually Disney prioritizes people by when they show up based on their reservation time. Typically we’d be seated prior to the people who showed up super late. But instead anyone who signed in was lumped together. In line. To meet Stitch.
We were given a buzzer and told that when it went off we should ignore it and to just continue in line to meet Stitch. It was CRAZY. The line was SO LONG. We waited 45 min. Standing. In line. SO frustrating.
I am very confused at WHY Disney decided to make this change. In the past Stitch would roam (with other characters) around the dining area and visit each table. It was great! They also had a fun parade with Stitch around the dining area with kids and it was a really fun experience.
Now you meet Stitch prior to eating. Even if they wanted to make that change I don’t understand the need for the line. They already give out buzzers to let you know when your table is ready…why not just tie that in with meeting Stitch? Have your buzzer go off and then meet Stitch then head to your table? Why not allow guests to sit in the wonderful lounge areas in the Polynesian and explore the resort while they wait rather than have them in line being annoyed and complaining?
Everyone in line was not happy. We even called a manager over and several people around us also spoke to him to complain about this change. I understand Disney is always changing but typically those changes make experiences better, not worse. Or at least they typically make logical sense. This change just doesn’t. It BIG TIME took away from our experience (as well as the other guests too).
We were told the change was made to allow more time to interact with Stitch rather than a quick meet and greet at the table? But that doesn’t even make sense because once it was finally our turn it was quick-quick-quick-smile here-move on. VERY rushed.
I have emailed Disney my thoughts because I think it’s important to provide feedback. How will they know they need to make changes if people don’t let them know there is an issue? Until things get resolved we FOR SURE won’t be dining at Ohana for breakfast again and won’t recommend that others do either.
While Zach stood in line we checked out some shops and the resort a bit 😉
They even went ahead and gave Britt her birthday card while in line. Which also was kinda a bummer rather than at the table?
Meeting Stitch!
Ok last negative thing, I promise! But another reason we like character MEALS is that all the kids are so comfortable in that setting. Standing in line forever to meet a character means grumpy Daddy AND grumpy kids. Tess was NOT having it which was SO sad because she’d been super pumped to meet him!
Zach and I were both super peeved but agreed to stop the complaining and focus on the FUN. Once we got seated we considered it a fresh start!
I will say the food is even better than it used to be. SO GOOD. It’s not a buffet but is instead an all you can eat situation where they bring out food and just keep bringing more until you’re full! The ham was super awesome as was the sausage and DUH the WAFFLES!
We were sitting in a pretty neat spot because it was where the characters passed to go on break. So we got to see them over and over again as they passed by! I think it made our actual personal experience even better because the kids got super pumped seeing them and waiting for our turn 🙂
Tessie was thrilled to see Pluto!
Mickey is Tess’s FAVORITE. I adore his Hawaiian attire!
We had to wait a good while for Lilo. She kept coming by and motioning that it’d just be a few more minutes. By the time she got to us we were so excited I think even I jumped up and hugged her right away haha!
I love how happy all my babies were with these character experiences. I think it just shows that Disney is SO FUN for ALL ages!
She taught us how to do the hula!
We love Lilo!
We had completely forgotten about any sort of Birthday Song for Britt so it was a genuine surprise!
I don’t care how stuffed I am, I cannot resist the birthday cupcakes at Disney. They are served COLD and they are SO GOOD.
On our way out I wanted to show the kids a great hidden Mickey I found on the stairs!
Checking out the resort a bit before leaving!
Another awesome hidden Mickey (found by Kye!)
The Polynesian is seriously a GORGEOUS resort and I love the Hawaiian vibe. I’m super interested to see if the switch up Ohana and add in Moana? She would make so much sense there!!!
I’m sad that we didn’t have the best experience ever and am hoping Disney switches things up so we can go back to Ohana again soon!
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