Wendy's Gone Walkabout

Polynesian Fire Luau is an Orlando dinner show that focuses on Polynesian culture and dance. We saw an advertisement for it so donned our best Hawaiian clothing and checked it out! I’ve been to Hawaii a couple of times and attended a luau there, and there’s nothing that can beat a Maori hangi in New Zealand — but if you can’t go to the islands then having the islands come to you makes for a fun night.

Seating is assigned so you don’t need to worry if you’re running late (we arrived at 6:05 when the start time was listed as 6 pm and we were totally fine). They’ll greet you at the door with a lei of (fake) flowers and show you to your seat. The music started at about 6:15 or 6:30 so we had time to grab a drink and food beforehand.

The show itself was somewhat simple but well done — they have three female dancers and two male dancers plus the musicians. They went through different songs and dances from Tahiti, Hawaii, Tonga, Samoa, and New Zealand. I was especially impressed by the male dancers doing the Haka as it isn’t an easy thing to do. I can’t help but be affected every time I watch a Haka.

My ex father-in-law and mother-in-law have passed away now, but we used to play bridge with them back in the day. They were avid travelers and had been all over the world. One of Marsh’s favorite stories was about a trip they took to Tahiti. They had a coconut bra and grass skirt hanging on the wall and every so often he’d tie one on and start reminiscing about the way the women’s hips moved when they danced in Tahiti. I couldn’t help but think of him when the ladies came out with their grass skirts and coconut bras and started dancing. I don’t know how they move their hips that fast! You’d have loved it Marsh.

As expected from the name, the show ends with fire dancing — they have to do this outside in the parking lot which was a little weird. Everyone gets up and walks outside and the fire batons come out. It was kinda fun to be standing for it though as you felt a bit more of the energy that way.

We liked the show, but weren’t impressed by the food — it was a buffet but they ran out of dessert before we got our dinner and never restocked it so we don’t even know what dessert was served. Dinner was steamed rice, fried rice, vegetables, fish, pulled pork, rolls and some kind of roll that was served floating in coconut milk. It was good, but not very exciting and not very Polynesian to me. They had a small bar and it was expensive ($45 for two drinks after tipping!). You come to expect that in the touristy Orlando places though and the bartender was nice.

Overall, we enjoyed the night but with so many other dinner shows to go to in Orlando, we doubt we’ll be back and don’t think it will be high on our list of places to take visitors when they come.

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