In a Nutshell

Location: Polynesian Resort
Food type: Hawaiian
Price: Moderately high-high (depending on where you sit)
Type: Family
Serving style: Family-style
link

Rating

On a scale of 1-5, 5 being the highest

Food: 3
Show: 3
Overall environment: 3
Dealing with food allergies: 2
Kids: 4
Recommended: No

The "fakey luau" as Nani once referred to the luau where she worked in the film Lilo and Stitch fits this place oh so well.

Let me just start by saying that I had a bad experience with the food there. You go to a Hawaiian restaurant,and generally, you find pineapple there. Guess who's allergic to pineapple? Me. And Disney's website didn't register that allergy. So they didn't know that when we got there. Which meant we had to tell them. Would you believe that every single dish contained pineapple or nuts (one of my other food allergies?). Every single one. I had to eat tasteless food with no sauces or anything on them. Ribs don't taste that good without the bbq. I ended up eating a lot of salad with ranch dressing.

So my not being to happy with the way my allergies were handled didn't give meal great impression to begin with. Everyone else had the normal food that they serve, and for the most part, they enjoyed it. It wasn't up to par with other restaurants around the Walt Disney World. It was definitely NOT worth the price.

But the price was also for the show, which was tacky, to say the least. The whole premise was that this girl is going to the mainland to go to college. You're at her going away party, which just happens to be a luau. So for a lot of the time that you're sitting there, you see no dancing. Just a tacky show with actors who I thought were not believable (and I've been a stage actrise before).

The dancing was good, once they eventually got to it. There was a fire dancer who was completely unbelievable. And there were other really good dancers (Being a female, I couldn't help but notice the male bodies in the show).

As far as kids go, they should like the show. Even though it is tacky for adults, kids should like it, and all of the kids around me loved the dancers. If you have a child who's a picky eater, this may not be great for them, as they can either eat the same thing as the adults or order off the very limited kids menu (as in no french fries limited).

Overall, I think that this one is one to skip. If you still want Hawaiian flavors, Kona Cafe is a better choice.