Ohana: Best Disney Restaurant for Fireworks Viewing
One of our favorite places to eat when we go to Disney World is ‘Ohana at the Polynesian Hotel on the second floor of the main lobby. It is a family favorite for a couple of reasons; the ambiance and food are great, it is a ton of fun, and the great views of the fireworks. It is a very popular restaurant to go to and reservations can be hard to get so be sure to plan in advance or keep trying close to your visit date. It is a casual restaurant, so no need to get dressed up after a day in the parks unless you wish.
The entire restaurant has a Polynesian theme to match the hotel. They have tiki torches, an open fire, old-fashioned glass balls, Moai like statues, and drinks served in pineapples. They also have live entertainment, but mostly for the kids. They play games, sweeping coconuts with a broom. Or they teach the kids how to luau dance. And the participants always get a colorful plastic lei.
The meal is served family style and it is all you care to eat and a great place to go with a group. The food starts off with a coconut pineapple bread and a green salad with papaya lime dressing. Then they bring out sweet and sticky chicken wings and pork pot stickers. After that, they bring the side to the table, stir fried veggies and lo mein noodles. During this, they are walking around with all the different types of meats on a skewers that were grilled over the open fire. Peal and eat honey lime shrimp, Teriyaki Steak, and grilled chicken. The more important part of the meal is dessert. Dessert is bread pudding with vanilla ice cream and a caramel banana sauce. Seriously delicious and you have to save room for dessert, I don’t have a picture cause it was gone before I thought to take one!
The best reservation to get is about 30 minutes to 1 hour before the scheduled fireworks time. When you arrive, ask for a table close to the window so that you can get a good view of the fireworks. During the fireworks display, they dim the lights in the restaurant and pipe in the music from the fireworks. If you can’t get a reservation for the fireworks time, you can hang out at the hotel and walk to the back by the pool and see the fireworks from there. They have speakers outside where they play the music from the fireworks as well. Our favorite fireworks to see are the Hallowishes fireworks done on nights where there is a Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. It is a bigger show and they seem to take up the whole sky compared to Wishes, which is still pretty fantastic.
Just in case you aren’t filled after that tremendous dinner, I would recommend stopping by the pool area and getting a Dole Whip. Perhaps to enjoy if you didn’t get one of those fireworks reservation times.
We love ‘Ohana and make it a point to visit when we go to Disney World and we think you should too!
