It’s really no secret that here at the Disney Food Blog, we love Dole Whip.

Sitting right next to the Enchanted Tiki Room in Adventureland, Aloha Isle Refreshments is the classic location that many Disney World fans associate most with Dole Whip. We stopped by recently to review the offerings there, and decided to eat everything on the menu!

Before we dive into the review, let’s set the record straight. While an Enchanted Tiki Room show was an opening day attraction in Magic Kingdom, Dole Whip was NOT on the menu in Disney World back in October 1971. In fact, Dole Whip wasn’t even created until 1984! Before that, Disney World sold pineapple juice and pineapple spears in Adventureland — but no Dole Whip.

Now, let’s get back to our most recent trip to Aloha Isle Refreshments!

Atmosphere

This is an outdoor snack stand, and there’s usually a wait. When we arrived around 11AM on a recent weekday, there was a cast member at the front of the line, directing folks to the cash registers to order to try to disperse people evenly.

Once we reached the counter, it was not a long wait to order and receive our treats — the whole thing probably took about 8 minutes. There are no tables at Aloha Isle, and many people choose to eat their Dole Whip treats while on the move. But if you’re looking for a table, you might find outdoor seating at Tortuga Tavern or a stand-up table in the alcove nearby.

Menu

As we promised, we ate everything at Aloha Isle for this review! But in all fairness, there are just six items on the menu. They include three different Dole Whip soft serve flavors: coconut, pineapple, and vanilla, two floats (with Dole Whip), a pineapple upside down cake (with Dole Whip), and fresh pineapple juice — a nod to Dole’s roots in the Magic Kingdom!

Prices here range from $4.29 for the juice to $7.99 for the Tropical Serenade Float. Now let’s try some frozen stuff!

Eats

First up, we tried the cup of Dole Pineapple Juice available for $4.29.

This is a small cup — the size of Disney World kids meal cups, and, well, it was pineapple juice. If you enjoy pineapple juice, you’ll like it, and we understand the nod to Disney history in serving it here, but we can’t think of too many reasons to order it when you have so many other options! Also, we’d just like to state for the record that we’re jealous of this cup that the pineapple juice comes in at Pineapple Lanai at the Polynesian Village Resort.

This makes it look way prettier! Now on to the frozen stuff! You can get a cup of soft-serve for $5.99 here. Flavors available are pineapple, coconut, vanilla, or a pineapple-vanilla swirl. We got the swirl!

This cup is everything good about Dole Whip — the classic pineapple flavor mixed with creamy vanilla to temper the acidity of the fruity side of things. As you can see, they really pack the soft-serve in the cups here, and we feel like $5.99 is a pretty good value. We also gave the coconut soft-serve a try!

Now I am crazy for coconut, and especially coconut ice cream. I’ve tried them all, and I’m here to repeat once again that this is the best coconut frozen treat you will find anywhere. Too many coconut-flavored things are light on the actual flavor and wind up just tasting sweet, but this one packs that punch I am looking for. Again, this is a good value in Disney World at $5.99.

Let’s move on to that Pineapple Upside Down Cake, because my coworker and I who went on this Dole Whip adventurer have a HACK for you!

The Pineapple Upside-down Cake is priced at $6.99, and it typically comes topped with pineapple Dole Whip. BUT, cast members told us you can get any of the soft serve flavors on top — pineapple, vanilla, swirl or COCONUT. We went for the traditional pineapple here, but you had best believe I will be back for a Pineapple Upside-down Cake topped with COCONUT soft-serve soon!

Both of us really enjoyed the combination of the soft-serve and the cake here. The cake had pineapple chunks baked right in to the top, and that full bit of the soft-serve, fruit and cake was bliss. We did note that the cake on its own would probably be too dry to be enjoyed without some sort of topping. The cake did have the buttery brown sugar topping we’re accustomed to on traditional upside-down cakes. And we get it — with the sweet pineapple soft-serve that probably would have been too much!

Whew, we’re in the home stretch here, but there’s still more frozen, fruity desserts to taste. Now we bring you the Tropical Serenade Float.

The Tropical Serenade name here is a nod to the original show in the Enchanted Tiki Room. On Disney World opening day, the show was known as “Tropical Serenade.” This float is $7.99 and is coconut soft-serve, pineapple-orange-guava (POG) juice, and an Upside-down Pineapple Cake Pop. Again with that coconut soft-serve we love, and with the POG juice, you’re just getting all the tropical flavors. But that cake pop … we were basically just asking ourselves why it is there. It’s dipped in a candy coating and rolled in sweetened flaked coconut. Inside, it’s a pile of mush. We didn’t get any flavor at all from this — it’s just a gummy, sweet thing that we don’t need here. Dare we say it was just in the way?

Don’t get us wrong, we would get this float again, but we will order it without the cake pop garnish. It’s adding nothing at all here. Now, we’ve reached the end of our Dole Whip journey here with the Pineapple Float for $6.99!

This one is super pineapple-y — pineapple Dole Whip and pineapple juice. You have to REALLY like pineapple to finish this. We do really like pineapple, but we think this float is actually a little more tasty with the contrast of the vanilla soft-serve or swirl to add a little creaminess and a secondary flavor here. With pineapple on pineapple, this is a one-note snack.

Overall

Aloha Isle Refreshments remains a go-to snack location in Magic Kingdom, and Dole Whip remains a must-have snack. But we’re surprised by how much we enjoyed the coconut soft-serve here, and recommend that if you’ve always stuck with the classic pineapple, you try the coconut at least once. The standouts here were the Pineapple Upside-down Cake and the soft-serve cups. The floats are good, too, but there’s a little too much there to finish. They would be great to share, thought!

Nosh or Not?

Stop by Aloha Isle Refreshments for a treat if you …

• Are looking for a frozen treat on a hot day.
• Want a classic Disney snack.
• Love tropical flavors.

You can skip Aloha Isle Refreshments if you …

• Do not like pineapple, coconut, and other tropical flavors.
• Have already tried Dole Whip and don’t think it’s a must-have on every trip.

That’s a wrap on our review of everything at Aloha Isle Refreshments! Keep following Disney Food Blog for more reviews!

Want to make Dole Whip at home? We’ve got the recipe right here!

Which Dole Whip treat is your favorite? Share it in the comments!

The post REVIEW: We ATE EVERYTHING at Aloha Isle Refreshments in Magic Kingdom first appeared on the disney food blog.