Here’s some promotional footage from Disney showing all of the previous Idol winners and finalists who came down for the opening of The American Idol Experience last weekend at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I’m still a little skeptical of just how this one’s going to do in the long term because it’s hard for me to imagine there being enough buzz about this show when it’s not on TV to garner six or eight shows worth of contestants each day - I know I’ve pretty much gotten tired of watching the show already, but I suppose only time will tell…
A little momento from our quizzical time spent exploring The Seas with Nemo and Friends, and I’m also happy to see that this one showed up a lot faster than last year’s message from the future…
Great break from the ordinary, and I think I even managed to stay at least reasonably within my calories to boot! Here are a few of the highlights…
photo courtesy Orlando Vista Hotel
A Night at the Pineapple Inn… So unfortunately due to Disney’s insane prices during the peak season, we ended up staying off-site for this trip, which had its pros and cons. Our choice - the Orlando Vista Hotel - but of course, you may know it better as the hotel with the giant pineapple out front…
Ultimately I guess we’d probably go back if we didn’t have any other off-site options, but at the same time, we certainly missed the perks of being right in the middle of the action, despite only being a couple of blocks away from Downtown Disney anyways. The pros - the price was right and the room size was decent, so we ended up with the equivalent of a moderate resort at Disney for about $85 … similar rooms on-property were over $200 because it fell both within peak season and just outside any passholder discounts. Even the value resorts were well over $100 / night, which I simply refuse to pay for that class of room, and at least the Orlando Vista had a hot tub, which the values do not. Albeit, it was very crowded when we partook in its bubbly warmth Friday evening, but it was still better than no hot tub.
As for the negatives, well … only a couple of things. First of all, it was really noisy between the drag racing competition outside and the AC inside! Apparently some folks opted to have a drag racing competition out on the road that runs in front of the hotel, which carried great into our room. And I’d say that true, the hotel really has no control over that kind of stuff, but for what it’s worth, at least on-property the guest rooms are so far away from any roads that you really don’t experience the same issue. On the other hand, they’ve got complete and total control over the air conditioner, which was so loud that I actually just got up and turned the thing off at one point in the night - luckily it being February, it was still cool enough without the thing. And then come morning, let’s just say that the bathroom experience certainly left something to be desired with the sub-adequate pressure in the shower that made the drip coffee maker in the lobby look inviting … call me spoiled, but at least in Disney’s hotels the showers have some ummph! to them!
Then again, if it hadn’t been for their preposterous prices, that’s where we would’ve loved to stay in the first place…
Ever Get Hit in the Face By a Bird?! I Have! So we’re moseying along the walkway that connects Adventureland to Main Street USA - coming up on The Crystal Palace - when out of nowhere, a freaking duck flies by and smacks yours truly right in the side of the face! I really wish we’d have somehow gotten pictures of it to make it more believable, but it all just happened so fast our friends in front of my wife and I didn’t even know what hit me…literally! Basically the dive-bomber came in from behind us, but didn’t judge his distances quite right or something because he ran smack dab into me, then sort of bounced off of Sara’s shoulder before landing on a grassy patch on the other side of the fence and wabbling into the river. True story!
Memories of Randy… I noticed this when we were walking past the Tea Cups and it really caught me off guard - for those who might not be familiar with the name, Randy Pausch was an incredibly motivating man who got everyone’s attention in the fall of 2007 after he gave a presentation at Carnegie Mellon called The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer the year before. The man lead an amazing life - he was a computer science professor at CMU, he put in some time working with - of all folks - Disney Imagineering, and he eventually came to found the Alice project, a type of software designed to help teach students computer programming. If you’re looking for a good bout of inspiration (and tears), his now famous lecture is still available on YouTube, and last year Disney also published a book of his stories that’s a great read as well.
New Feature Brainstorming - Where in the World??? And lastly, I don’t want to make too big of a deal about it here just yet, but in the course of my brainstorming for new columns and whatnot for this site that naturally seems to happen when I’m in Orlando, I think I came up with a new feature idea that I might try to play around with this fall. It centers around the concept of a guessing game for the various details that you might find around Walt Disney World - I’m not entirely sure on how to pull off exactly what I’m picturing just yet, but for now let’s just say that it should definitely add a fun bit of interactivity to the site!
In the meantime, see if you can identify where these can be found around the World:
Location: Disney’s Polynesian Resort Cuisine: Asian / Tropical (menu from AllEars.Net) Price Range: moderate (entrees $12 - $16) Overall Verdict: great food, relaxing atmosphere
Finally!
Much like my last review of Yak & Yeti was a long time coming, I’ve also been looking forward to this month’s review for quite a while, although for a very different reason – that’s how long it’s taken me to actually get into the place!And mind you, it’s not necessarily anything against the restaurant itself, per se – sometimes they weren’t accepting walk-ups at the time I showed up and others we simply got sidetracked and ended up eating elsewhere, but nonetheless I’m happy to say that I finally managed to get in for a meal at this famed Disney eatery…
I think it pretty much goes without saying that the Polynesian is one of the most iconic resorts in Disney’s collection, and that authentic themeing most certainly carries through from the two-story lobby of the main building right into the restaurant as well.Now I’ve never been to Hawaii or really anyplace more tropical than Florida, really, but nonetheless when I walk around the grounds of this resort, it feels like you’ve been transported to a far off land where the ladies all wear grass skirts and life in general just runs at a much more easy-going pace.It’s easy to relax around this place, and when we factor in a great meal like the one I had to boot, now that’s what I call a vacation!
The ambience to be found at Kona Café is quite peaceful.The restaurant seats a decent number of people, but it isn’t huge, so I wouldn’t imagine the noise from other patrons being too unbearable, although in the interest of full disclosure I should mention that the place was nearly empty when we actually sat down to eat.Compared to other Disney eateries, it’s actually a fairly small dining room, but more in a cozy than cramped kind of feeling.If you’re looking for a nice, relaxing lunch getaway just outside the Magic Kingdom, this seems like the perfect place to grab a good bite to eat along with a much-needed break from all of the crowds…
But onto the food – I’ve got to tell you that my one single regret about coming here for lunch instead of dinner was simply that I’m not nearly as ready to stuff my self when I’ve got a whole afternoon’s worth of park touring still ahead of me as I might be with a dinner at the end of a long day!The menu that was placed before us had a whole lot of items that I’m going to have to go back again later to try, not to mention the mouth-watering desserts that our server paraded us past on the way to our table.This is clearly not a one time does the trick kind of restaurant!
After a fair amount of hemming and hawing, I finally settled on the Chicken with Peanut Sauce Polynesian Plate Lunch, whereas my wife opted for the Teriyaki Fried Steak version of the same plate lunch and our friends respectively chose the Beef Teriyaki Salad and the Angus Chuck Kahuna Burger.And mind you, I didn’t bother to take pictures of their meals as well, considering that while Sara was well used to it, outsiders might find it kind of weird for someone else to be taking photos of their lunch, but for what it’s worth, both of their meals did look pretty good as well!
Aside from having a copious amount of vegetables that I wouldn’t normally eat (lots of peppers), the flavor in my dish was totally on par with what I was expecting, which was a nice Asian-style chicken with that same peanut sauce that I’ve come to idolize over at Yak & Yeti … man, what is it with the Disney chefs and peanut sauce?!Mind you, it wasn’t necessarily as thick as the dipping sauce that I love from Yak & Yeti, but it had the same flavor and frankly, my only wish would’ve been less veggies and larger portions of the chicken.And coupling the rice with some of the leftover sauce remnants, well, let’s just say that it wasn’t too difficult for me to clear my plate this time around.
As for everyone else’s meals, they all seemed to enjoy their food as well – I know that I never even got a bite of my wife’s teriyaki steak because by the time I thought to ask, it was already long gone!I think a close second behind the atmosphere at Kona Café is the food, which is about what I expect when I dine at restaurants at Walt Disney World, and the fact that their menu has enough offerings that I’m already looking forward to the next time we get to eat there certainly speaks well for the food itself!
While I can’t guarantee that my next meal at Disney World will definitely be here simply due to the vast variety around the World to select from, I do think that it’s safe to say that my next visit to Kona Café is going to consist of one of two things – either a) a late dinner after Wishes ends at the Magic Kingdom, possibly watched from the beach at the Poly; or b) that same idea, only skipping straight to dessert instead of eating a full meal.Either way, I’m happy to profess that my suspicious were correct about this peaceful, Hawaiian hideaway and the next time I’m looking for a quiet getaway for a relaxing lunch, I’ll know that paradise is merely a monorail ride away…
Review based on a dining experience from February 2009.
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