When planning for Disney World, you may look into some experiences that are more unique. One of those options can be a dinner show as there are a few to choose from. We recently did the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, which features an all-you-care-to-enjoy family-style dinner and a show with Polynesian dancing and fire! We were pretty excited to get to check this out as we love everything that the Polynesian Village Resort offers.
We contacted Disney’s Special Diets before our experience to let them know about our needs and allergies. We were told that the appetizers are very vegan friendly and that they would offer us a stir fry and tofu. So we were all pretty pumped about what we were going to get.
We did the first seating, they offer one at 5:15pm and another at 8:15pm. We all checked in and were seated in the back area but near the middle of the stage, we had a great view of the show.
Tara and Paul had already checked in before we arrived. The meal is served family style, so we were given large plates with our appetizer on it to share.
There was a cold soba noodle salad, fresh pineapple and a mixed greens salad with ginger-lime dressing. We were also given vegan friendly rolls, but no vegan butter was available.
The noodles were probably our favorite part. They had a good flavor to them and they were loaded with sesame seeds.
The mixed greens salad was pretty basic, but it’s nice to have some greens with dinner!
With the cost of the dinner show, certain alcohol is included (basic beer and wine). We all opted for the souvenir hand carved coconut rum drink instead, which is a pretty cute keepsake.
They do the show and meal in stages, so you can enjoy the show and then stuff your face between. The dancing was great, the costumes were beautiful and the songs were fun. Our toddlers enjoyed everything and stared mesmerized at the stage throughout most of the dinner.
After another portion of the show happened, it was time for our main dish. Two large boats of jasmine rice and stir fried vegetables came out. The vegetables had a great flavor and were a mix of carrot, bokchoy, summer squash, and broccolini.
After a while our server came over to ask if she could take our plate. We said sure thinking she would bring another, we weren’t really sure what was going on. We hadn’t received any tofu yet and we were watching the tables around us have large plates of proteins and the same rice and vegetables we had received.
Our server eventually came back with some dessert. Our dessert was fruit and Enjoy Life soft baked cookies. We were hoping we could get the coconut pudding that they have at O’hana and Kona Cafe, but our little ones enjoyed the cookies.
We were all feeling a little disappointed that we never got tofu, so Tara went to say something and was basically told “if you wanted tofu then you should have asked for it.” This was disappointing since we had been in contact with special diets multiple times before our meal about it and were assured we would have tofu. They had our reservation name, number and party amount. Our server came over a little after and apologized saying she didn’t know we had wanted it and offered to have the chef make it, at this point we were all pretty over eating and didn’t want the chef to have to make it for us. We eventually spoke with a manager who ended up comping us for two of the meals because of the miscommunication. Our biggest point in mentioning all of this is that even when you think you have done everything you are supposed to, always ask or remind who you are dining with.
After dessert, the best part of the show began, the fire dancers! This was by far the coolest part of the night. If we were to ever go again, I would probably opt for the second seating so it would be dark for this. The venue for the show is outside, but all of the tables are shaded.
I don’t know if we would go back. The show itself was great, and the food was tasty, but it was not a cheap experience. If the vegan option greatly improves, we would check it out again and go to the later showing.
Want to check out some of the dancing? Watch our YouTube video!
So did you call ahead and let them know you were Vegan or just tell your server when you were seated?
Yes we noted when we booked. However they are much better now with the vegan options, we have a newer post up if you search for it.
Okay thank you so much!!! Your site has been such an amazing find. Thank you for doing this and sharing this information for us! I feel totally prepared to navigate Disney vegan!
We went today, and our stirfy was tasty and had nice big wedges of a sweet chili-glazed tofu. Our dessert plating was a bit nicer too, including a decent amount of grapes, melon (a bit unripe admittedly), strawberries, and 3 each of the small cookies and 2 each of the other chocolate chip cookies.
Hopefully they learned from your post 🙂
The bread was still lousy though, haha. And no vegan butter to go with it, rendering it mostly inedible.
Although I still wish they had more than cookies, haha.
Sorry that they were so unapologetic about not preparing tofu. Do you know of anyone who has been served tofu? Is it possible to request the coconut pudding ?
Yes others have gotten tofu. And I think if you request it when you are seated they may be more willing to get you that dessert, we would have much rather had that!
Love that you guys are doing this! 🌱🌱🌱