Review: 'Ohana Best Friends Breakfast

This is it: the final post in my series of reviews of the most recent character meals I've done at Disney World! If you'd like to read the other installments, you can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here. In my opinion I saved the best for last, because the Best Friends Breakfast at 'Ohana at the Polynesian Village Resort is easily my favorite character meal! However, opinions are subjective so I'm going to use the same method to review the Best Friends Breakfast at 'Ohana that I used for the other character meals. I'll be rating the atmosphere, characters, food quality, service, and overall value on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the best. Hopefully, by the time we're done, you'll understand why this is my favorite character meal!

The Polynesian Village Resort is a beautiful deluxe resort right on the Magic Kingdom monorail line!

Seriously, I want to live at this resort.

Atmosphere
The atmosphere of the Polynesian Village Resort is wonderful! Stepping onto the grounds, I could almost feel myself relaxing, which is amazing when you consider the fact that I was in the middle of a popular resort right on the monorail line. But the decor and the music and the general vibe of the Polynesian make you feel like you are truly on vacation. My complaint with Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner at the Grand Floridian was that, whereas the resort atmosphere was a 10 out of 10, the atmosphere of the actual restaurant itself (1900 Park Fare) was less impressive. That is definitely not the case for 'Ohana! 'Ohana is on the second floor of the Great Ceremonial House, which is the main lobby of the Polynesian, and the atmosphere of this restaurant is wonderful! There are huge windows with views of Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom, making it an inviting and truly enchanting place to have a meal. Honestly, for me the atmosphere of 'Ohana is tied with the food as the highlight of this meal. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in this restaurant and found myself not wanting to leave! 10 out of 10 for sure!

The interior of 'Ohana is themed beautifully!

The view from our table: you can clearly see both the Magic Kingdom train station and Cinderella Castle!

Characters
The characters who generally attend the Best Friends Breakfast (as we learned at Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner, characters can be subject to change) are Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, and Pluto. Confession time: I've never seen Lilo and Stitch. I know, I know: what kind of Disney fan does that make me, right?  But I've never seen it, so I was a little curious as to how I would enjoy this character meal. In my mind, I would basically be showing up for Mickey and Pluto and just kind of enduring Lilo and Stitch. However, even for someone like me who has never seen the movie, Lilo and Stitch were so fun to meet! Like the other character meals, Lilo, Stitch, and Mickey all came around one at a time to each table and spent plenty of time taking pictures with the guests. Pluto had a meet and greet for 'Ohana guests set up right outside the restaurant, and we posed for our picture with him as we were leaving. I really enjoyed the character interactions at this meal a lot. Any time you get to meet Mickey Mouse you feel like a kid again, so 10 out of 10!

Food Quality
As you've seen if you read my other character meal reviews, it's not a given that the food quality at a character meal will be great. Whereas the food at the Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast was very good, the food at Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner was not my favorite. However, the food at 'Ohana is AMAZING! It's not a buffet like Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner or an al a carte meal like the Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast: it's served family style. In my opinion, family style meals are the best of both worlds because the food is all you care to eat, but it's delivered hot and fresh right to your table! When we were first seated, we were given a loaf of sweet bread to snack on while our waitress got our drink order. After we'd gotten our drinks, a breakfast platter complete with fresh fruit, Mickey and Stitch waffles, biscuits, scrambled eggs, sausage links, ham topped with pineapple compote, and breakfast potatoes was brought out to us. We made very quick work of our breakfast! Everything was good. The waffles were out of this world: we asked for seconds on those! I honestly can't think of anything negative to say about the food at 'Ohana. It was great, there was plenty of it, and we very much enjoyed everything! 10 out of 10.

Service
The service at every character meal I've reviewed was great, and 'Ohana was no exception. Our waitress was prompt, personable, and knowledgeable. She also brought me my own personal carafe filled with coffee, which automatically makes her amazing. A solid 10 out of 10 for service!

Overall Value
In past reviews, we've established the fact that character breakfasts are a better deal for those paying out of pocket than they are for those on the Disney Dining Plan. If you're on the dining plan, you'll get the most for your money by using your table service credits for lunch or dinner. But, for those paying out of pocket, I don't think you can do better in terms of value for a character meal than the 'Ohana Best Friends Breakfast. You get to meet Mickey Mouse, the most iconic Disney character ever, plus three other great characters. You also get to enjoy a delicious breakfast in a great atmosphere. Add to that the fact that the Polynesian is a quick monorail ride away from the Magic Kingdom and 'Ohana becomes one of the most attractive character breakfast options on property. I'm going to give 'Ohana a 10 out of 10 for value for those paying out of pocket and a 9 out of 10 for those on the Disney Dining Plan.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this series of character meal reviews! If you'd like to see the video of my experience at Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner, you can watch it on YouTube here. And if you'd like to be notified when I release my videos of the Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast and the 'Ohana Best Friends Breakfast, or if you'd just like to see more tips and strategies for planning a magical vacation, consider subscribing to my YouTube channel! See you next week for a brand new blog post all about CAKE!