OK. Enough is enough, Bob. Question after question. It feels like we’re taking a test that never ends! So, who here knows when ‘Ohana opened?
How about 1995? Quoting Main Street Gazette, the Papeete Bay Verandah “opened with the Polynesian Village Resort back [in] 1971.
The restaurant offered [a] breakfast and lunch buffet as well as a Polynesian Revue in the evenings. This revue was held earlier in the history of the restaurant and was different than …
… another Polynesian Revue which was offered down in Luau Cove.”
Their breakfast offering, called Minnie’s Menehune Breakfast, “was one of the first character breakfast buffets offered on property. Minnie, Mickey, Pluto, Goofy, Chip and Dale would appear during the meal, dressed in Hawaiian style shirts, grass skirts, and leis.”
“The Papeete Bay Verandah closed it’s doors permanently in September of 1994 to make way for … ‘Ohana! For more about this WDW “extinct eatery”, check out Main Street Gazette!
Have a great weekend, my friends! See you real soon!!
I LOVED this place! It had the BEST breakfast buffet!
Tell us more! What was it like? Was it very different from ‘Ohana? We never got to see it as our first-ever visit to WDW came in 1995.
It was totally different. It was a restaurant more on the lines of the Kona Cafe. The draw was the view, of course, and as a kid I would be so thrilled when my parents got a window table and we could see the castle. Especially true in the early years when it was the only park. There was no center grilling station in the center like there is now in O’Hana’s, just the buffet station. I still remember tricking my dad into eating sliced beef tongue by telling him it was spicy ham! LOL
Hmmm… I replied but the comment disappeared. It was totally different. It was a restaurant more along the lines of the Kona Cafe. The big draw was the views from the windows, and as a kid I would be so excited when my parents got a window table. In the early years there was only one park, and I would be all excited seeing the castle across Seven Seas Lagoon because I knew we were headed there next! One funny thing I do remember, I tricked my dad into eating beef tongue there by telling him it was spicy ham. He didn’t think it was as funny as I did! It was a great place…
Not sure what’s happening, Bob! I replied to you twice but it isn’t showing up! WordPress is acting strangely on my iPad. Can’t see my stats either…I loved that restaurant tho. Maybe my comments will show up…
No worries. I moderate the comments to help keep out spam. They should be there now.
Thanks for all the detail, Rod! It sounds fantastic! And, I’ll have to watch out for the old “spicy ham trick”. I’m adventurous, but I’m not THAT adventurous!
I’m not getting WP stats on my iPad either, by the way.
Oh man, I totally remember our character meals there! They were great fun! Great character interaction!
Thanks, Jennifer! What characters were usually there?