We'reGoingToDisney
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2019
We are going to be staying at the Marriott Ko Olina, next door to the Aulani, for 3 nights during spring break. We debated staying at Aulani, but we booked at pretty short notice and the Marriott was more affordable for a 2 bedroom condo and the room layout suited our group of 6 better, plus my parents are not Disney people. We are also spending 5 nights in Waikiki at the start of our trip. Our party is myself, DH, and our 13-year-old twins, plus my parents. My parents and DH and I all appreciate good food, especially seafood. The kids ... not so much. Sometimes they are adventurous, sometimes not - last summer when we went to WDW for the first time, we ate at Tiffins as our one really fancy meal, and in the end it was super successful but at first look at the menu the kids really weren't keen on anything (they did end up with some great food and surprised themselves with what they liked). So on this trip, we would like to plan 2 "nice" dinners, and then wing it / find cheaper local places for the other evenings. While in Waikiki, we are staying at the same hotel as the Morimoto Asia Waikiki restaurant, and we have a dinner reservation there on our first full day. I had hoped to visit Morimoto Asia in Disney Springs last summer, but it didn't happen, so I'm excited that we'll get to try his restaurant in Waikiki. Then, at the end of our trip, we are looking to book one upscale dinner in the Ko Olina area. I've read about Roy's, 'Ama 'Ama at Aulani, Mina's Fish House at the Four Seasons, and Longhi's at the Marriott. If we didn't have the picky kids, I think we'd want to try 'Ama 'Ama or Mina's Fish House - although they both look really expensive (even for Hawaii standards). But then I saw a menu on the Aulani website for the buffet dinner at Makahiki. The food seems like it would tick the boxes for the more adventurous grown ups as well as the less adventurous teenagers. And, we can get a reservation for 6:45 pm on our last night. But ... it is a character meal! I really don't know how my parents would react. They're pretty easy going, but that's certainly not something they've ever had any experience of. For myself, DH, and the kids, we had our first experience with character dining last summer at WDW, when we did lunch at Crystal Palace and breakfast/lunch at Tusker House. We really enjoyed those experiences, but we were of course at WDW and so were wanting those character interactions as part of the experience. On this trip, we are going for the Hawaiian experience. (We have all been to luaus on other Hawaiian islands before, and are not looking for a luau on this trip, just a nice sit down dinner with good food and good ambience)
So my question is, is the food at the Makahiki dinner good? Good enough that we should also muddle through with the character experience with my (older) parents and (too cool for it all) teenagers? Or would we do better at 'Ama 'Ama and try to find something the kids would eat? Or (as DH has suggested!) leave the kids to order a burger at the Marriott and just have the 4 grown ups go to 'Ama 'Ama? Or Mina's Fish House? Or ... ?
Thanks for any advice you can offer!
So my question is, is the food at the Makahiki dinner good? Good enough that we should also muddle through with the character experience with my (older) parents and (too cool for it all) teenagers? Or would we do better at 'Ama 'Ama and try to find something the kids would eat? Or (as DH has suggested!) leave the kids to order a burger at the Marriott and just have the 4 grown ups go to 'Ama 'Ama? Or Mina's Fish House? Or ... ?
Thanks for any advice you can offer!