Kona Cafe Dinner Review

By Budget Diva

After reading the Canadian Diva's wonderful review on her dinner at Kona Café, I just had to book a dinner reservation for my family! I love the Polynesian Resort and the tropical setting. Last year when I went to Disney World my family and I loved the Spirit of Aloha dinner show at the Polynesian Resort. Kona Café is located on the second floor of the main building at the Polynesian Resort right beside O'hana.

We arrived a few minutes early to our reservation and we were given a pager. After just about five minutes we were paged and seated. Our waiter brought us bread with honey nut butter. The butter was not your typical butter and I could have eaten it without the bread it was that delicious! I had been dying to try to the Lapu Lapu drink which is served in a pineapple! The Lapu Lapu consists of tropical juices, Myers Rum and 151 rum. I did request that the bartender omit the 151 rum to keep the drink toned down. We were going to the Magic Kingdom following dinner and I did not want to be stumbling! haha

Lapu Lapu

For our entree's my husband ordered the Kona Coffee Rubbed Pork Chop served with mashed sweet potatoes and seasonal veggies. I ordered the Teriyaki Style New York Strip served with sticky rice and stir fried broccolini. My husband said he loved the pork chop and would highly recommend it. I really enjoyed the New York strip, however, I wished that I had substituted the sticky rice for another side. I thought the rice was somewhat bland. The children ordered chicken nuggets and fries and enjoyed them very much.

My daughter enjoying the chicken nuggets and fries

Teriyaki Style New York Strip topped with diced pinapple

Kona Coffee Pork Chop

We received complimentary cupcakes because we were celebrating our wedding anniversary. Overall the dinner at Kona Café was wonderful and I would give them an A for service and value. The meal cost $98 before tip including the drink. We hope to return to Kona Café again.

To read more articles by the Budget Diva check out her blog Disney With Babies, Toddlers and Preschoolers

Asking Characters for a Favor

By Dopey Diva

    When we were at Disney World last September my son was disappointed to be missing his best friend's birthday. I had an idea and hoped it would work. His friend LOVES Aurora and I thought it would be a great surprise if we could send him a message from Aurora. I didn't know if she would be able to do it but it was worth a try. We wrote "Happy Birthday Jonathan" on a piece of paper. My son told Aurora the story of how he was missing his friends birthday and how much he loved her and would it be possible to take a picture with her holding the Happy Birthday sign. She was more than happy to do this and she also kissed it!

Not only did we get to send a picture of Aurora with the birthday sign but were also able to take back the sign with her lipstick kiss on it! 

I think this was definitely a birthday present he will never forget.

Dapper Day at the Disneyland Resort

Author: Nick the Disney Devo

My wife, Barbie, and I took a trip to the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim in February of this year.

Originally, we were supposed to be there from February 20th thru to the 24th, but Mother Nature had other plans for us.

We were walking back to our resort, the Grand Californian, after breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen in the Disneyland Hotel, when I got a text from our airline saying our flight had been cancelled due to a snow storm in Denver, Colorado, where we had connecting flights. Immediately upon return to our room, I was on the phone trying to get a different flight. The only thing available was the next day. While I started the search for another room, my wife went to guest services, and added another day to our park tickets.

We got another room at the Paradise Pier Hotel, across the street from the Grand Californian. After check in, we headed right back to Disney California Adventure. When we got there, we noticed many guests were dressed in vintage clothing from the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

It turned out that this was an unofficial event known as Dapper Day. From the Dapper Day website:
Started spring of 2011, DAPPER DAY organizes fashionable gatherings at The Disney Resorts in LA, Orlando, and Paris: a spring, all-day event, and a fall "evening affair." For the 21+ crowd there's our periodic cocktail party "FOLLY" held at exceptional venues around LA throughout the year.
It was pretty awesome! If we'd known, we absolutely would have dressed for the occasion.

This event is particularly suited (no pun intended) for Disney California Adventure, as the park has a nostalgic feel throughout.

In fact, the characters here even dress Dapper, in costumes only available at Disney California Adventure. Note our "flight home" clothing. Not awesome.

My wife Googled Dapper Day. In addition to the official website, there was a link to a pin on eBay. It even said Dapper Day pin in the description! We went to Elias and Co, on Buena Vista Street, and found the pin. Upon closer inspection, we realized it says nothing about Dapper Day, but as it's Mickey and Goofy dressed as Dapper Dans, we bought it anyway to commemorate the day. It was $12.95.

Upon returning home, we checked the website again, and this is indeed Disney's official pin commemorating the day. So if you are into dressing in vintage clothes for fun, and your next Disney park trip coincides with one of the events, get Dapper!

This article was originally posted on the Disney Musings Blog, where Nick is co-writer with his wife Barbie.