Aulani Makahiki Character Breakfast Review
Aunty’s Breakfast Celebration at the Makahiki is the Disney character breakfast at Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa in Hawaii. It’s the restaurant to meet Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Goofy in Hawaiian attire. This is a breakfast buffet, with Western and Asian options available. The restaurant is meant to be an international harvest, as “Makahiki” is an annual Hawaiian harvest festival held in O‘ahu to celebrate the season of bounty and peace. Calling this meal an “international harvest” is a bit of a stretch, but the food is quite good.
In terms of ambiance, since Makahiki doubles as a standard restaurant for dinner, and Disney has taken great lengths towards authenticity at Aulani, the restaurant is fairly elegant with jewel and glass motifs. Makahiki has a lot of sweeping lines in the design, and many murals gracing the walls. Like every restaurant at Aulani, it’s open air, with tables near the edge of the restaurant having nice views out into the Waikolohe Valley pool area.
The restaurant had plenty of open tables when we visited. Now that the character breakfast is offered daily, we understand this is typical. Although we didn’t think of it at the time, if quality character photos are important to you, request a table near the outer, open-air side of the restaurant. The lighting isn’t as harsh there, and will allow for better character photos.
Let’s take a look at the food and characters at Makahiki…
The check-in podium for Makahiki, with one of the beautiful, locally-designed murals to the right and the ‘ÅŒlelo Room, a bar and lounge inspired by the Hawaiian language, to the left.
After checking in, you’ll head outside to have a photo taken with Mickey Mouse. We had to wait in about a 10 minute line for this, and it was a quick series of photos and on your way type thing. The restaurant was about 75% full during our visit, so maybe if it were less busy the interactions would have been better?
After having some photos taken, we were immediately seated and the concept of the restaurant was explained to us, along with the split between Western and Chinese/Japanese foods. Here’s a sample menu, but note that what’s actually offered changes regularly.
Sarah and I had quite different experiences at Aunty’s character breakfast. Above is one of my plates of food, including items such as Eggs Benedict, Pork Sausage, Turkey Bacon, Bacon, Portuguese Sausage, and Ham. Pretty typical of what I had at the meal.
Here’s a typical dish of what Sarah had–a bunch ‘0 fruit. Not pictured are plate after plate of “Freshly Sliced Island Fruits” that she had.
Sarah also had a lot of smoked, grilled, and seared fish. Actually, we both had a lot of fish. It was all pretty good.
There were also potatoes and a couple types of egg concoctions. The eggs pictured above were an upgrade from the standard fake Disney eggs found in the US parks, but they still were nothing to write home about.
The breakfast desserts (err…”Keiki Corner” kids stuff). Stitch waffles were a neat change of pace from the normal Mickey Mouse waffles, but it would have been cooler if they were shaped like Stitch.
In terms of food, Sarah was incredibly enthusiastic about this breakfast buffet, calling it the best Disney breakfast buffet we’ve done. She said the fish and fruit were all incredibly fresh and full of flavor, both of which were a big deal to her. I agree with regard to the fish, and I also though the various types of sausage were pretty good, but I thought the rest of the items were fairly uninspired. For a restaurant premised on being an international harvest, the amount of cuisine that wasn’t standard Western food was minimal. The few Hawaiian items that were on the buffet were highlights, and while most things were good, I wasn’t really “wowed” by anything. Hawaii has some great local cuisine (and generally good Asian food), but Makahiki did a mediocre job of showcasing that, I think.
Still, the bar is fairly low when it comes to Disney breakfasts, so I don’t know how much I can dispute Sarah’s claim of this being the best Disney breakfast buffet we’ve done. I’d put it a good distance behind Enchanted Garden in Hong Kong Disneyland, but otherwise, it’s probably second best. (Note: we’ve never done breakfast at Boma.) Again, though, this isn’t all that big of an accomplishment, as we think Disney breakfast buffets are notoriously ‘meh.’ If you’re instead using other off-site restaurants in Hawaii as the measuring stick, Makahiki’s cuisine might only do okay.
In terms of character interaction, we thought Makahiki was probably hit or miss. The ‘greeter Mickey’ thing is what it is, but the other characters generally seemed better about spending more time with guests. Goofy made multiple stops at our table.
In terms of characters, I actually think that the Aunty character was the absolute highlight. She livened up the restaurant, leading kids on a parade around the dining room and singing traditional Hawaiian songs. She also interacted with guests, and really felt like what your Aunt might be like if you were Hawaiian. She had plenty “Aunty-isms” and various bits of Hawaiian wisdom. I wish every server were like Aunty, because she struck me as the Hawaiian version of “Mom” at 50’s Prime Time Cafe. She was a hoot.
We still hadn’t met Minnie Mouse when we were done eating, and after we paid it appeared that she was still a good distance away, so we mentioned that we hadn’t seen her to our server, who indicated that he’d get her to come over. No big deal, we thought, as this happens from time to time at Walt Disney World restaurants, and Cast Members are usually pretty good about bringing the characters over within 10 minutes or so.
Our friends with whom we visited waited for a bit, but ultimately left because it was taking too long. From the time we mentioned not having met Minnie Mouse to our server (which was about 15 minutes after we were done eating), it took another 30 minutes for her to make her way over to us. We understand the characters can’t just blow past tables of small children as they make their way over to a missed table of adults, but we thought this 30 minutes extra was unreasonable. Perhaps we are the ones being unreasonable, though? In any case, we’re not taking this into account when scoring the restaurant as it is highly anecdotal, but it still seemed worth mentioning.
Overall, it’s tough for me to get excited about the Makahiki character breakfast at Aulani. There are only three characters here, and the interactions were only okay (especially considering that Mickey Mouse is stationed out front of the restaurant and you’re lined up to see him). Add to this the fact that characters were especially easy to meet throughout Aulani (and in better-lit environments) and we don’t really see the value of this meal from the character perspective, unless you’re interested in seeing Aunty–and you should be.
In terms of cuisine, the food is very good as compared to other Disney character breakfasts, but average as compared to other breakfast options in Hawaii. There are some Hawaiian and Asian items to at least give a little interest to the buffet, but it’s mostly just American cuisine. What’s there is mostly good, but considering the cost and lack of variety in a locale where you could have some really interesting cuisine, it’s difficult to recommend too enthusiastically. If you absolutely must do character dining or don’t have interest in venturing off-site, this is a good option. Don’t let this tepid review dissuade you from trying Aunty’s character breakfast–Sarah absolutely loved it and would give it a higher score if she could. On the other hand, I think that it’s a one and done experience. I would like to venture off-site to try more interesting and authentic Hawaiian dining options in the Ko Olina area, but that doesn’t by any stretch mean this is a bad option. It’s pretty good.
If you are planning a trip to Disney’s Aulani Resort & Spa in Hawaii, we highly recommend reading our Aulani — A Disney Resort & Spa Trip Planning Guide for comprehensive advice for Aulani and beyond!
Overall Score: 8.5/10
To read other Disney restaurant reviews from Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland, organized by location, check out our Disney Dining Reviews Index.
Your Thoughts…
Have you been to Makahiki? What did you think of it? Is it something you’d like to try? Any specific recommendations from the buffet? If you have any questions or thoughts to share, please post them in the comments. We love hearing from readers!
My family visited for breakfast yesterday January 18. My two year old was very ecstatic to see Disney characters. It was disheartening to watch Pluto kept dismissing my toddler that he shooed her bye and turned away each time she tried to touch Pluto. Needless to say Pluto is not a kid at heart Or maybe because my child is Asian.
Eggs n’ Things in the Ko Olina Station has recently opened for breakfast. They have locations around the Island with lines out the door. We’re homeowners at the Beach Villas next door.
It will be nice to see Donald there!!
During our December 2013 visit to Aulani, my wife and I did the character breakfast (we also had dinner at Makahiki). Generally I am not a fan of buffets, but this was enjoyable because Aulani is also catering to the large number of Asian guests. During our visit, outside of the keiki corner, it seemed as if half of the buffet was geared towards the Asian guests (including the Hawaiian inspired dishes in that category). There was enough variety of food to keep anyone satisfied. As for quality, it was a buffet. It was a nice break from cereal (Target and Walmart are a short drive away, and there is an ABC store within walking distance). Breakfast at Ama Ama was better but, of course, no characters.
It is easy enough to meet the characters at Aulani without having breakfast. While Mickey and Minnie can be surrounded at times, we often so Goofy by the lazy river waiting to interact with guests (and even playing in the water). Even so, character meals can be fun and, you do have to eat.
The pictures look beautiful! Hawaii is far far away from nj, but I’m sold on an Aulani visit!
Another demographic who will love this is Disney fans who live in Hawaii who usually fly to FL to get their fix. My dad lives on island and he loves to hit up Ko Olina but hasn’t gone to Aulani bc he had heard it wasn’t that Disney-fied. Wish there was some kinda Disney luau show though, like many of the other hotels do but with a Disney twist. That would be more his speed. But he might have fun taking my niece here. We loved the Ohana character breakfast with my daughter. Thanks! Great review as always !
The Starlit Hui is sort of “Disneyfied.” Its main portion is a beautifully-done and culturally rich Hawaiian show, but at the end (or after it’s over) characters come out for a fun little show. We HIGHLY recommend the Starlit Hui–it’s incredible.
I went to Aulani in December of 2012. I went by myself and did the character breakfast on my last morning which was a great way to end the trip. The food was good. Never had fish for breakfast before but it was yummy.
A nice touch was a sweet moment with Goofy. When he realized I was by myself, he gave me a kiss on the hand and came back a few minutes later with a flower for me. Just a little something extra to make a guest feel good.
I would definitely go back to Aulani any time. I still think about that trip often.
I enjoy your blog. Heading to Disney World in December with the family. Have gotten some good ideas about things to do while there. Thanks.
That’s very sweet of Goofy. What a magical moment!
We would also definitely go back to Aulani. It is an amazing place, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it grows and evolves. It seems like there’s a lot of property there where they can expand, so I hope it continues to be successful!
Loved it. Went twice on our last trip, and will probably go twice on our next trip (which is next week).
I’m guessing you didn’t have the loco moco? Because that rocked. my. socks.
There are a few “Aunties”, but our favorite by far is Aunty Angela. It may sound corny, but we truly feel like we are going back to visit someone who felt like Hawaiian family to us.
Our kids ranked this as one of the top character breakfasts. They loved when Aunty came out and gathered them for songs/parades/etc. Easily some of the best interaction of any character breakfast we’ve done anywhere.
Having just experienced it a few weeks ago myself I’m on Team Sarah. It’s the best Disney breakfast buffet I’ve had and I thought the food was plenty varied and offered interesting options (including the Hawaiian Loco Moco and pulled pork hash).
It’s especially welcome for people, like me, who were not staying at Aulani to come to a meal and have access to the three characters.
As for the rest of Ko Olina, it’s worth noting the area is very isolated and alternate options, while they exist in the few neighboring resorts and shops, there isn’t a lot out there.
That’s a good point about Ko Olina, although there are at least a couple of places in the nearby shopping center, and next door at the JW Marriot. I recall looking at Yelp while we were there, and there were at least a couple of nearby 4-4.5 star places on Yelp open for breakfast.
Also, the pulled pork hash was REALLY good. Thanks for pointing out that one. Forgot about it! 🙂