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Listener Questions

Zach writes in with this:

Hello! I am looking for a couple of book recommendations for a WDW history/making of book please as well as a coffee table book with lots of great photos of the resort. A recommendation for a Disneyland book or two would be appreciated too. Thank you! Zach.

Designing Disney’s Theme Parks: The Architecture of Reassurance. Karal Marling, editor.

Disneyland: by our friend Sam Gennawey: The Disneyland Story: The Unofficial Guide to the Evolution of Walt Disney's Dream

For coffee-table books, it’s got to be Taschen’s Disneyland book, and Marc Davis: In His Own Words.

From Bruce:

I hope you can clear something up that’s been bugging me for YEARS: whenever Disney makes a piece of media like a comic or book or video game set in or around a part of a Disney park, it is almost always set in or inspired by DisneyLAND, not Disney World. I first noticed this when the video game Epic Mickey II came out; I was sure that since the first one was set in Disneyland, its sequel would expand in scope and be set in Disney World. But nope—Disneyland again.

Is this a mandate from Disney, that all media set around the parks has to be based on Disneyland and/or inspired by versions of lands from Disneyland?

Is it just that the majority of the artists creating these works are from Southern California and so reference their “home” park more than any other? It sees to me that if there were a mandate it would be to base things on the most-visited and most popular of their parks-Disney World. I know that Disney ties their movie releases to resorts or lands for the incremental increase in Park revenue that ensures, so why aren’t more things set in Disney World?

Charles writes in with this:

Len, you talked about the Harmonious barges in Epcot and how they are to become water fountains during the day, and the size of the water pumps you would need to pump out that much water.

To me, perhaps the most appropriate way to describe the amount of water the pumps would need to pump would be... a deluge. A deluge of such magnitude that the world's greatest waterfalls flowing together for more than a million years would only just begin to approach its results.

Patents

Ohana Feature Piece

Times change. Tastes change. And plans change.

No one resort-hotel at Walt Disney World exemplifies that credo more than the Polynesian Village.

How many of you have seen the plans for this resort-hotel from the early, early days of “Project Florida.” ? Back when the centerpiece structure of this “South Seas” -themed structure was a modern high-rise hotel.

How the Poly differs from the South Seas hotel WED originally planned

That plan was proposed by the Imagineers (and then designed by Walter Beckett and Associates) back in 1966. And just so you know, WED was serious about that whole “South Seas” thing. If you look at the overall property map of the Walt Disney World Resort, you’ll see that the Polynesian Village was deliberately placed in the Southern-most corner of Seven Seas Lagoon. Hence this resort-hotel isn’t just themed to the South Seas. It’s actually located in Disney World’s version of the South Seas.

Anyway … Given that the Contemporary Resort (which -- at this point -- was known as the Contempo Bay Hotel. The thinking -- at the time, anyway -- was since both of Disney World’s opening day resort-hotel were to be built on the water, they should have names that reflect that. So -- at this point in Project Florida’s history -- the Polynesian was called the South Seas resort-hotel, the Contemporary was to be called the Contempo Bay. And resort-hotel No. 3 -- which was to built right across from the Ticket & Transportation -- would have been the Venetian. With a series of canals cutting through this proposed 500 room resort-hotel that which would have allow Guests who were staying here to traverse this property by hopping in a gondola.

Like I said, a lot of Disney World’s original plans (circa the mid-to-late 1960s, anyway) keyed off of water. Anyway … Over time, the Imagineers realized that -- if the Contempo Bay resort-hotel was supposed to be tall, sleek & modern (make Guests feel like they are “ … living in the world of tomorrow.” That’s an actual quote from the 1970 brochure for the WDW Preview Center) … Well, then it just didn’t make sense that the central building of Disney World’s South Seas-themed resort-hotel be tall, sleek & modern-looking too.

Stepped away from sleek & modern design to more authentic Great Ceremonial House

So the high-rise portion of what was now being called the Polynesian Village Hotel got cut. In its place, the Imagineers developed the Great Ceremonial House (which would then serve as this resort-hotel’s Lobby / grand entry point). And to reinforce the idea that this South Seas-themed resort-hotel was indeed a “village,” the Great Ceremonial House would be surrounded by eight longhouses. Each named after a distance, romantic-sounding locale like Bali Hai, Bora Bora, Fiji, Hawaii, Maui, Samoa, Tahiti and Tonga.

Important to stress here that -- originally -- Disney’s Polynesian Resort Hotel reflected a very colonial take on the South Seas. As in: The white man had come to this dark, remote, savage place and then tamed it. And now -- because of that effort -- you, the Guest, could now have the best of both worlds. The exotic look & feel of the South Seas as well as easy access to rum drinks.

No one aspect of Disney’s Polynesian Village reinforced the core concept of this version of that resort-hotel more than the Papeete Bay Verandah. The Papeete Bay Verandah was deliberately designed to celebrate French Polynesia. Its three key influences were Tahiti, France & Disney.

Papeete Bay Verandah reflects 1970s take on food / what a vacation dining experience should be

When it first opened in October of 1971, the Papeete Bay Verandah was supposed to be the most sophisticated eatery in all of the Polynesian Village. Men were encouraged to wear jackets as they dined on exotic dishes like Chicken Pago-Pago (which was a marinated chicken breast glazed with a honeyed sesame sauce that was then served in a pineapple half).

A small combo would play South Seas-inspired tunes from the 1930s & 1940s. And every night, a group of performers (who were doing double duty at the Polynesian Village’s nightly luau) would hustle over to the Papeete Bay Verandah from Luau Cove and then perform in the aisles.

This -- in and of itself -- was part of the problem with the Poly’s Papeete Bay Verandah. It didn’t have a clear enough identity from the Polynesian Revue (That was the original name of this resort-hotel’s “Spirit of Aloha” nightly luau).

That -- coupled with the fact that America got on kind of a health kick in the 1970s and started paying close attention to the amount of butter that was being used to prepare their food -- and … Well, if you were a restaurant that served things like a poached pear marinated in apricot brandy and then served with a strawberry cream sauce, all of this calorie counting then became a problem.

Then add to the fact that the Polynesian Village Resort was the hotel at Disney World where Guests were told that they could relax, that “ … tomorrow there will be another day just like this one” and yet Papeete Bay Verandah was the onsite restaurant where the staff there gave you attitude / reluctantly let you in if you weren’t wearing a jacket and then served you rich, heavy food … You see the disconnect, right?

Success of Minnie’s Menehune Breakfast props up Papeete Bay Verandah for over 15 years

The irony here was that what keeps the Papeete Bay Verandah afloat for a number of years was Minnie’s Menehune Breakfast. This family-friendly character breakfast (which came on the heels of the huge success of staging a similar sort of early morning dining experience over at the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village aboard the Empress Lilly. That started back in 1976 or thereabouts …

Minnie’s Menehune Breakfast started at the Poly in 1977 or thereabouts. It featured Minnie, Mickey, Pluto, Goofy, Chip & Dale all dressed in Hawaiian shirts, grass skirts and leis. The fare served at this 8 - 10:30 a.m. was as far away from French Colonial cuisine as you could get. Scrambled eggs, Mickey waffles, bacon. The closest Minnie’s Menehune Breakfast got to the tropics was the orange juice that was served and the assorted fruit at the buffet. Which the kids typically ignored.

Anyway … The money that was raised in the morning at Minnie’s Menehune Breakfast was what helped keep Papeeye Bay Verandah in operation well into the late 1980s. But as the 1990s arrived … It was time to face facts. The times had changed. People’s tastes -- especially when it came to the menus they preferred and the sort of dining experiences that they now wanted to have. Especially when they were on vacation -- had changed. So it was now time to reimagine this over-two-decades-old dining experience at the Polynesian.

Quick side trip here to Smoketown, Pennsylvania to a restaurant that the Imagineers had been fascinated by since the early 1970s. And that was the Good 'N Plenty.

Popularity of Pennsylvania Dutch Country restaurant catches Disney’s eye

The Good ‘N Plenty had been on Disney’s radar for decades at this point because of the way it handled huge numbers of people. Which would travel to this 750-seat family style restaurant (with an additional 150 seats outside. Which really came in handy this past year, what with the pandemic and all).

Anyway -- The Good ‘N Plenty served up authentic Pennsylvania Dutch fare. But what fascinated Disney about this family-owned restaurant turned tourist attraction was how they’d serve upwards of 4000 people every day. Huge buses full of people touring the Pennsylvania Dutch country would roll in, disgorge 40 or more passengers at a time. 75 minutes later, this same group of people would waddle back to their bus, stuffed to the gills with apple butter, chow chow & shoo-fly pie and then drive off to the next stop on their Pennsylvania Dutch tour.

The way that the Good N’Plenty did this was the almost military-like precision with which the whole dining experience was handled. The Guests were first marched in and sat communally at long tables. As soon as their butts hit the chairs, the breads, butter & rolls -- along with the pitchers of drinks -- hit the table. 5 minutes later, the servers would deliver the first wave of appetizers, which would arrive on huge platters and then be served family style.

It’s worth noting here that the Good N’ Plenty first opened in 1969 as a 114-seat restaurant and -- by 1971 -- was already so successful that it expanded into a 600-seat restaurant / Pennsylvania Dutch Country tourist attraction.

And Disney … It began “borrowing” ideas from the Good N’ Plenty as early as 1974. I point your attention to how the food is served at the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue. Each course of the meal hits the table virtually at the same time. It’s all served family style. The drinks come in pitchers. You get the idea.

Popularity of Brazil steakhouses that serve meat on skewers also catches Disney’s attention

Okay. From the Pennsylvania Dutch Country, we now travel to Brazil. To be specific, to the Rodizio style of serving food. Which is where the servers walk around the restaurant with these three-foot-long skewers of various types of meat. Which have just been pulled off of the grill and are then served -- warm & tender -- at tableside.

It was at the corner of Pennsylvania Dutch Country & Brazil that the Imagineers then found a hook for their redo of the Papeete Bay Verandah at Disney’s Polynesian Resort. Only -- instead of the Good N’ Plenty’s farm-style long communal dining tables -- WDI envisioned a space where the dining tables would be arranged in rows and resemble long, segmented surfboards.

And as for all that meat on skewers … Well, the Imagineers wanted the Guests to see that cooking happening right in front of them. Which is why Ohana (that was the name that they settled on very early on for this new family dining experience. Because Ohana literally means family) was supposed to have -- in its open kitchen -- what was then the world’s largest indoor fire pit. An 18-foot-long, semi-circular oak-fired behemoth.

This sort of redo was obviously ambitious. Not to mention expensive. The Papeete Bay Verandah was closed in September of 1994 and then basically stripped back to the walls to allow for construction of ‘Ohana’s centrally located open kitchen.

‘Ohana opened at the Polynesian on April 12, 1995 and immediately became a hit with the carnivores who vacationed at Walt Disney World. Gone was any hint of French Colonial sophistication. In its place was a large open dining room where columns of carved tiki gods supported this restaurant’s raised thatched roof.

How the new ‘Ohana dining experience differs from the old Papeete Bay Verandah experience

You’re greeted at ‘Ohana’s check-in podium by a “cousin.” That’s one of the main conceits of this eatery. That everyone here is family. So your servers are your cousins.

Anyway … Your visit to ‘Ohana starts with a brief tour of the restaurant.  You’re first walked by the open kitchen, where you get a quick glimpse of the various drinks you can order with dinner. You’re then taken by that 18-foot-long semi-circular fire pit, where you then get to see all of those long skewers of meat & shrimp being grilled. From there, you’re taken to your table and your dining party is seated.

From there, we get a replication of the Good N’ Plenty dining experience. This -- just like that Pennsylvania Dutch Country tourist attraction -- is an All-You-Care-To-Enjoy dining experience. (EDITOR’S NOTE: When did All-You-Can-Eat become offensive? Is this one of those shell shock / battle fatigue / operational exhaustion / post traumatic stress syndrome things? )

What arrives first on the table is pineapple coconut bread. Then come the appetizers (i.e., honey-glazed chicken wings & fried pork dumplings) followed by a mixed green salad.

Then those three-foot-long skewers of meat begin arriving at the table. The precise batting order has changed a few times over the past 25 years. Early on, ‘Ohana offered:

    • mesquite grilled turkey

    • asian BBQ pork loin

    • marinated sirloin steak

    • and spicy peel n eat shrimp.

Changes to ‘Ohana’s menu met with controversy

This was later changed to:

    • sweet and sour chicken

    • grilled shrimp.

    • and then a final course of Szeuhuan seasoned sirloin steak.

The decision to drop the pork loin at ‘Ohana was a controversial one. I’m told that it wasn’t so much a matter of cost as it was that every additional skewer of meat added 10 minutes to the average meal time. And when you have a restaurant that’s as in demand as ‘Ohana is … Well, if you shave ten minutes off of everyone’s dining time, that means you can then turn a few more tables that much faster / get in a few more diners.

Likewise the decision to drop the mixed green salad course was controversial. Servers argued that they regularly clear away still full family-sized salad bowls of greens because the Guests don’t go to ‘Ohana for salad. They go to this restaurant because they’re there to gorge on meat.

They also return there -- trip after trip after trip -- because they loved ‘Ohana’s noisy, crazy, family-friendly atmosphere. Kids wielding brooms racing up & down the aisles having coconuts races. Hula lessons. Ukelele players. Every so often, the cooks pour oil on the fire pit and this huge belch of noise & heat happens.

Why people try & get a later-in-the-evening dinner reservation at ‘Ohana

Tough reservation to land. Especially an hour from when “Happily Ever After” is presented over at the Magic Kingdom. People jockey to get one of those tables by those floor-to-ceiling windows that face towards the Kingdom across Seven Seas Lagoon. The soundtrack that accompanies “Happily Ever After” gets piped into the restaurant as this nightly fireworks display gets going across the water over at the Magic Kingdom. They even dim the lights in the restaurant to facilitate fireworks viewing.

Dinner then concludes with ‘Ohana’s famous bread pudding. Which is served warm, with a side of banana caramel sauce, and topped with vanilla ice cream.

As I mention earlier, they’ve varied the menu at ‘Ohana from time to time. Adding things like lettuce wraps, stir-fried vegetables and egg noodles with pineapple in teriyaki sauce.

‘Ohana was crazy-popular right from when it first opened back in April of 1995. But given that too much ain’t enough is Disney’s overall corporate philosophy … Since this family-friendly restaurant was doing turnaway business at night, they quickly decided to open ‘Ohana for breakfast. Which is when this eatery offers scrambled eggs, island-style fried potatoes, and Hawaiian pork sausages.

Release of “Lilo & Stitch” in June of 2002 only increasing ‘Ohana’s popularity

What’s important to stress here is that ‘Ohana was already a huge success before “Lilo & Stitch” arrived in theaters in June of 2002. Once that Chris Sanders movie introduced the world to the concept of “ ‘Ohana means family,” getting a dinner reservation for this Polynesian Resort restaurant went from being tough to almost impossible.

“Lilo & Stitch” characters began showing up at ‘Ohana’s character breakfast. Which ultimately got so popular that the Poly had to stretch that restaurant’s breakfast service from its old 7:30 to 11 a.m. run time out to Noon. Likewise dinner service at ‘Ohana wound up being extended as well. It used to run from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. In February of 2016, dinner began being served at ‘Ohana starting at 3:30 p.m. (late lunch?).

November of 2016 was when Disney’s “Moana” was released to theaters. Which then caused a resurgence in interest in the Pacific Island culture. Even more people began trying to book vacation packages to stay at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort.

Interesting side note: In 1985 (right after Michael Eisner came on board as the new CEO of Walt Disney Productions), the Polynesian officially shortened its name from Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort to Disney’s Polynesian Resort. In April of 2014, the decision was made by Disney Parks, Experience & Products to re-embrace this resort-hotel’s original name: Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort.

“Moana” carpet installation at ‘Ohana hinted that Polynesian Village was about to embrace this film

March of last year, ‘Ohana seemed to be just begin to embrace “Moana.” The week before COVID shut the entire WDW Resort down, Guests noticed this restaurant had just received a new “Moana” themed carpet. If you look at the pattern, you can see the silhouettes of Maui, Moana and the Heart of Te Fiti.

As I mentioned at the top of today’s story … Times change. Tastes change. And -- as we all learned over the past year -- plans can certainly change.

Back in March, we learned that Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort will be reopening in late July this year. Moana-themed rooms to join that Moana-themed carpet that was installed at ‘Ohana back in March of 2020.

Big question: When this eatery re-opens, which sauce will you be using to flavor that meat as it comes hot off of those skewers? Peanut, Spicy Mustard, or Sweet ‘n’ Sour?