I loathed the Luau

[NJMan66]

Hi. I would consider myself to be a practical person who has a high tolerance for things when they do not go well. I am not critical of most things and try to see the best in everything I do. But I cannot, with good conscience ever recommend the Luau to anyone because of its cost.
I went this past September on a beautiful night at 8:15PM. I was staying at the Poly so I did not have far to walk. I also had tier one seats and arrived about 30 minutes ahead.
I went with 3 adults and 2 kids and paid $236; in advance.

After paying $15 for 3 drinks outside the theater in the waiting area, we were seated and actually got good seats. Our entire party was excited, and our expectations for fun were high.

Unfortunately, most of the show was complete nonsense; except for the fire dancer. Actually my 6 and 9 year old girls were bored until the end. The food was decent, but the beer and wine they give you was substandard. I had to ask the Manager if he would be willing to give me and my wife some “better” wine and beer to drink. He was nice and complied with our requests.

The service was just flat out awful. I actually felt bad for our server because he ran his but off the entire show taking care of the 6 tables they gave him to manage. Two times I actually got up and got food once and then beer once directly from the kitchen. I did give the guy a small tip because I knew he was working hard.

When the evening ended I was in total dismay for the money I had just spent (totaling $261). I know people will say they liked the Luau and that I am being too critical. I say this, for $150 for a party of 5, I would agree the Luau was worth the try. At the rates Disney charges, I say spend your money elsewhere.

[AbeeNormal]

I'm really sorry to hear about your experience with the Luau.

I guess I am glad that we booked Ohana's instead because of the price difference.

Thanks so much for sharing and again I'm sorry it had to be like that, I hope the rest of your trip made up for it.

[LandFan]

I agree totally. It's not worth it for the $$.

[medic9016]

We tried it with our free dining plan two years ago. I don't think we would do it again because of the price. There is so much better food for that price. We have have great service to very bad service through out WDW over the last couple of trips. IMO I think the wait staff is short on staff.

[DizneyRox]

I loathed the Luau...

When the evening ended I was in total dismay for the money I had just spent (totaling $261). I know people will say they liked the Luau and that I am being too critical. I say this, for $150 for a party of 5, I would agree the Luau was worth the try. At the rates Disney charges, I say spend your money elsewhere.

Join the club...

The only good news is that it seems word is spreading. Maybe something good will become of this, although I'm unwilling to give it another shot.

[SBETigg]

We disliked it seventeen years ago when we did it on our honeymoon and it doesn't sound like it has improved. In seventeen years. But it's still there.

[biodtl]

I definitely won't go again. We enjoyed it, but moreso because our kids enjoyed it - they got to go up on stage and dance, they loved the fire dancer, and they loved the fancy drinks and light bulbs. But as for us - the food was just OK, the beer was warm and it was expensive (I really liked our photo, but it was our last day and we had already spent our budget).

[NJMan66]

I'm really sorry to hear about your experience with the Luau.

I guess I am glad that we booked Ohana's instead because of the price difference.

Thanks so much for sharing and again I'm sorry it had to be like that, I hope the rest of your trip made up for it.

The rest of my family's trip was amazing. Thanks for the thoughts.

[SurferStitch]

Sorry the luau wasn't up to your expectations.

DH and I went several years ago, and enjoyed every minute. Food was simple, but excellent. Service was also excellent. Can't complain about the wine....I had delicious Chardonnay. We also found the show to be quite beautiful, although I don't know how much it has changed.

I don't think I would have ever gotten up and gone to the kitchen myself for food. There were so many servers buzzing past our table, that if my server hadn't been available, I could have easily asked another server to find them. That's just me.

We almost booked it for our trip this year, but we just ran out of nights. We will definitely do it next year, though. We want to see the show since it changed.

[mouseketeer mom]

Another Luau lover here. We went once in 2004, and will be spending Thanksgiving dinner at the Luau again this year! We can't wait. We found it really entertaining, and the food very good. They went out of their way to make our nite enjoyable. Even bringing our kids extra "kid" food, in case they didn't like the adult meal, without us asking!

[LibertyTreeGal]

Gosh that's too bad -- must be why, by and large, the luau does not get high marks around here.

[KylesMom]

must be why, by and large, the luau does not get high marks around here.

We have contemplated the luau on several different trips, but as LibertyTreeGal mentioned, it just hasn't received high enough marks here on Intercot for us to outlay that kind of cash. Although I know each Disney Dining establishment has their "off nights", this one in particular has more than their acceptable share. I'm sorry it was such a bust for your family. But I'm sure glad to hear that the rest of your trip was amazing!

[Goofy Pluto]

It's been a while since I've gone, but I remember not enjoying it so much. You're right, for the cost, it's not worth it, and I can't imagine that my wife or kids would like the food.

[NJMan66]

Another Luau lover here. We went once in 2004, and will be spending Thanksgiving dinner at the Luau again this year! We can't wait. We found it really entertaining, and the food very good. They went out of their way to make our nite enjoyable. Even bringing our kids extra "kid" food, in case they didn't like the adult meal, without us asking!

I'm glad you loved the Luau. The beauty about human nature is that with anything, some people love one thing while others don't. That's what makes this world so diverse.

[Jared]

It doesn't seem like anyone particularly enjoys the luau nowadays, especially people who have seen the show recenly. Sorry to hear about your bad experience.

Consider the evening an experiment, and now you know to try another meal next time.

[Tinkerfreak]

Let me start by saying I used to love the Luau and recommend it but that is no longer the case. We just did this a couple of weeks ago and the show is definately not the same. There are many different performers (including a man dressed as a woman) and the show just has become boring. Even the guy who does the firedancing was not the same one and was not as good. Not to mention he kept pretending to burn his crotch and grabbing himself, not kid friendly in my opinion. It rained and they still held the show so we had great seats right front and center but got rained on. They really should have cancelled it. There were people letting their children stand right in front of our table so my kids were having a hard time seeing. I had to ask kids several times to move aside so we could see. They did mention this to the audience a couple of times but apparently those kids parents thought that it did not apply to their children. I think a manager or someone should have told the kids to return to thier seats.
We will definately not do this again. We were really surprised how downhill it has gone in the past couple of years. It will be Hoopty Doo for us from now on!!

[brogan54]

we went this past sept and thought it was awful the show that is food was just ok thought hoop de doo was much better and more value for the money

[#1donaldfan]

WOW....now for our upcoming trip we don't have to worry about that........we almost did it this year, don't remember why we didn't....we were going to try it in '08...guess not......thanks for the warning....

[PirateLover]

We did it on our last trip with the Dining plan. It was nice but definitely too long and could've done without some of the hokey filler. Our server was EXCELLENT! She got my mom to order a Pina Colada (I have never seen my mom drink) and my mom went up onstage for the may birthdays! We loved our food (aside from dessert) and our beer was fine. I agree however, that if I was paying out of pocket, I couldn't justify the price.

[Stickey]

We went to the Luau in September, we enjoyed it. The food and service were both good. Our server brought refills before I had to ask.

The show was o.k. The fire dancer was great.
A man dressed as a woman in the show?
Those drinks must have been potent.

Crowd control was lacking. Some people failed to understand that your view is determined by the tier you purchase. If you want the front, then you must reserve the 1st tier. Otherwise, it is not acceptable to move toward the stage prior to the time of the general announcement. It is very inconsiderate to block the view of those who paid for a tier one table.

The luau is worth a try. It will not be the best value at WDW, but will be fun for any one that is interested in this type of show.