Growing up in the 80s and 90s, Disney World did nothing better than market dream vacations to broke kids.

Every so often my family would receive a DVD in the mail from Disney that had information on how we (*WE*) could call now to reserve a hotel at one of their fabulous resorts. We (again *WE*) would be able to spend lovely days enjoying the best food, rides and meeting characters with lovely weather and bliss in our hearts.

As a far more realistic broke child of the 80s and 90s, I knew that these DVDs would be as close as I would get to Orlando...but it still didn't hurt to make a back up plan for what I'd like to do if I ever got the chance to go. So from southeast Michigan I dreamed, and in all of my dreams Orlando looked a lot like Hawaii.

When I finally did get the chance to go to Orlando with family, we never made it over the the Polynesian and years later as an adult I decided to check that dream deferred off my bucket list.

As a not-so-broke adult, I still can't afford to *stay* at the Polynesian but I can now at least eat like I can and scoured the disney app foreservations at the flagship restaurant O'hana. Eventually we were able to score a breakfast reservation, and while it was without the character dining experience of Stitch and Lilo strolling through the dining room it was much more affordable.

When I say I came home dreaming about that O'hana bread! The food was delicious, the drinks fruity, the water tasted suspicious but not nearly as disgusting as The Plaza (IYKYK) and the atmosphere was like being transported to something not quite Hawaii, but close enough to the stylized tv image of a Hawaii you might see on reruns of Gilligan's Island, the Brady Bunch or Fantasy Island. It might be fake, but real enough for a mid-westerner on a budget.

The experience was an absolute delight, and somewhere out there I saw my inner child giving me the biggest of props for making a small dream come true.

On our return trip this past April, it made sense to try to experience the lunch/dinner menu as well as other bloggers and park reporters have raved about the specialness of this meal, especially the O'hana noodles. By their account and how hard it is to get a reservation, I was expecting nothing less than the spectacular experience we had for breakfast.

Let me start off by saying the food is good.

It's just good. Not earthshattering, not tear-inducing. Just good, and somehow it wasn't good enough for the value. We started off with a bread service and salad which were both very fresh tasting and delicious.

Then the noodles, beef skewers, shrimp, wings, and on and on to the point that I didn't even get a chance to take additional pictures because there was just so much food.

At the end of the meal we were given an amazing pineapple bread pudding with a caramel sauce that was almost indecently tasty. But by that point we were so stuffed that it was nearly impossible to appreciate it.

So why do I think this place is just okay? The food is good, the views are spectacular and the waitstaff were all phenomenal. What's wrong?

For me, it was just too much. We were a party of two sharing these massive portions, when on our previous trip we had 5 people to share the meal. It seems like unless you are a party of one, the portion size of the food will be the same and it was just too much for us. It was a bit disappointing to see all that food go to waste, but at the same time the cost per person for dinner at O'hana is $60 per person ($38 per child 3-9).

And those O'hana noodles? Mid as all get out. They were just teriyaki glazed noodles which tasted very similar to the kind you can get at Costco (for a lot cheaper). I enjoyed my experience, but the value wasn't valuing for me.

If you were to ask me to compare the food to something, I'd say the lunch/dinner menu at O'hana is the equivalent of the Peter Pan ride. You might be curious considering how popular it is, but it is fairly overrated for the experience you actually have. This is definitely a place that I'm glad I had the opportunity to experience at least once so now I know.

If you are in a position to drop $60 per person for a decent meal with enough folks that are actually going to eat their worth, and not bat an eye at the cost then this might be the place for you. This would also be a good choice for a group of 4 or more adults, as I saw a lot of kids barely touching their food.