First Look: The Tropical Hideaway at Disneyland Park

[figment_jii]

The new "It's an Ambush" Dole Whip Sundae looks interesting...the spears look like Pocky!

 

[Daisybelle]

Looking at the menu posted, it looks like a counter service restaurant. Right?

 

[Malcon10t]

Have friends there now. I'm interested in the sweet lumpia and the orange whip!

 

[Malcon10t]

Looking at the menu posted, it looks like a counter service restaurant. Right?

Yes!

 

[midnight star]

It’s media preview day

I saw someone report that it opened to the public at 11am..I hope it’s fully open Sunday when I go.

 

[Malcon10t]

I saw someone report that it opened to the public at 11am..I hope it’s fully open Sunday when I go.

My understanding is my friends previews were from 9am-10am. And it was set to open to the public after that.

 

[DLgal]

I heard on gothic rosie's page that there is a soft opening today! Those who are at the parks, check to see if you can go!

It's open to everyone. We went in. I got a raspberry pineapple swirl dole whip. The buns looked and smelled disgusting. I wasn't interested in the lumpia. My dole whip was pitifully small. It was over $6 with tax. It was pretty good, but not earth shattering. I felt majorly ripped off...I got maybe 5 bites out of it.

Other than that, there isn't much to this place at all. It's just a bunch of tables. The setup us strange because there are two counters one for Dole Whips and one for the buns and lumpia. You get your food and then line up to pay at common registers. The issue is, there are no line setups, so people just crowd around the counters and its kind of a mess. Then, your dole whip melts while you wait to pay for it. Spoons are at the registers so you can't start eating it before paying. The Ambush Dole Whip looks good and is a MUCH better deal at $8 because you get like 3X the amount of Dole Whip, plus fruits and pocky sticks. Every time anyone orders that, they ring a gong.

Overall, it's a nicely themed area, but I was hoping for something more elaborate with more food offerings. For how much they hyped this, it was a letdown overall.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

It's open to everyone. We went in. I got a raspberry pineapple swirl dole whip. The buns looked and smelled disgusting. I wasn't interested in the lumpia. My dole whip was pitifully small. It was over $6 with tax. It was pretty good, but not earth shattering. I felt majorly ripped off...I got maybe 5 bites out of it.

Other than that, there isn't much to this place at all. It's just a bunch of tables. The setup us strange because there are two counters one for Dole Whips and one for the buns and lumpia. You get your food and then line up to pay at common registers. The issue is, there are no line setups, so people just crowd around the counters and its kind of a mess. Then, your dole whip melts while you wait to pay for it. Spoons are at the registers so you can't start eating it before paying. The Ambush Dole Whip looks good and is a MUCH better deal at $8 because you get like 3X the amount of Dole Whip, plus fruits and pocky sticks. Every time anyone orders that, they ring a gong.

Overall, it's a nicely themed area, but I was hoping for something more elaborate with more food offerings. For how much they hyped this, it was a letdown overall.

Ahhhhh what a bummer! I wonder why the Dole Whip serving is so small??? Sad to hear the buns looked and smelled unappealing. I was looking forward to those!

 

[DLgal]

Ahhhhh what a bummer! I wonder why the Dole Whip serving is so small??? Sad to hear the buns looked and smelled unappealing. I was looking forward to those!

We just got unlucky. The guy behind me had a normal sized dole whip. I felt really ripped off. The lady who made mine and my MILs looked like a manager type. Maybe she just doesn't have the serving size down. She made it pretty tall, but SUPER skinny.

The buns are also $6 each. Seems excessive to me. They are not that big, about tennis ball sized. And they charge 60 cents extra if you want hot sauce.

Honestly, the fillings of the buns are just not my taste, but people eating them seemed to like them. I am not a fan of bulgogi beef and the others didn't sound appealing. The chicken one has squash in it which I can't stand, so I skipped it (that was the one I would have tried).

The lumpia is also ridiculously expensive. It's $6.99 for two spring roll sized things. Probably 3 bites each.

I just expected so much more from this place.

 

[DnA2010]

It's open to everyone. We went in. I got a raspberry pineapple swirl dole whip. The buns looked and smelled disgusting. I wasn't interested in the lumpia. My dole whip was pitifully small. It was over $6 with tax. It was pretty good, but not earth shattering. I felt majorly ripped off...I got maybe 5 bites out of it.

Other than that, there isn't much to this place at all. It's just a bunch of tables. The setup us strange because there are two counters one for Dole Whips and one for the buns and lumpia. You get your food and then line up to pay at common registers. The issue is, there are no line setups, so people just crowd around the counters and its kind of a mess. Then, your dole whip melts while you wait to pay for it. Spoons are at the registers so you can't start eating it before paying. The Ambush Dole Whip looks good and is a MUCH better deal at $8 because you get like 3X the amount of Dole Whip, plus fruits and pocky sticks. Every time anyone orders that, they ring a gong.

Overall, it's a nicely themed area, but I was hoping for something more elaborate with more food offerings. For how much they hyped this, it was a letdown overall.

I actually thought that the machine dispenses a certain amount of dole whip? Like it's a set serving size?

 

[DLgal]

I actually thought that the machine dispenses a certain amount of dole whip? Like it's a set serving size?

Not at all. It's a standard soft serve machine. It dispenses as long as the handle is pulled down.

 

[dotfurio]

The pics I saw on FB today looked interesting. I definitely want to try it when we go back!

 

[DnA2010]

Not at all. It's a standard soft serve machine. It dispenses as long as the handle is pulled down.

That’s actually not what the CM told me

 

[cruisehopeful]

We happened to see that it was open yesterday as we were looking for some lunch around 11:00am. We went in and got in line, but decided that we didn't want anything from there as we wanted a full lunch. We both said maybe we'd go there again some other time, but really, I think I would only go there if I brought food from somewhere else. Nothing appealed to me there.

 

[midnight star]

I am going to try and go on Sunday. I want to try a different flavored dole whip and the Lumpia

 

[DLgal]

That’s actually not what the CM told me

The CM lied to you. I have watched dozens and dozens and dozens of Dole whips be served. Besides, the new, larger Dole Whip "sundae" thing has a different amount of Dole Whip in it, as do the floats. I watched yesterday as a CM started to dispense an Orange Pineapple swirl and realized after a couple seconds she was using the wrong machine...the person had ordered raspberry pineapple. She pushed the lever back up, it stopped, and she dumped out that one and started on the new one.

 

[DnA2010]

The CM lied to you. I have watched dozens and dozens and dozens of Dole whips be served. Besides, the new, larger Dole Whip "sundae" thing has a different amount of Dole Whip in it, as do the floats. I watched yesterday as a CM started to dispense an Orange Pineapple swirl and realized after a couple seconds she was using the wrong machine...the person had ordered raspberry pineapple. She pushed the lever back up, it stopped, and she dumped out that one and started on the new one.

Dumped out?! How crazy!

 

[ButterflyKisses77]

Strange choices for food on the menu....
Also the voice of the animatronic bird Rosarita (?) is highly annoying and doesn’t even go with the look of the bird

 

[midnight star]

Went by the Tropical Hideaway today. Didn't buy anything because we had to go use a fastpass, and then didn't make it back over to Adventure land. But the menu is very small. I wonder if it will get more options at some point? I still want to try the lumpia.

 

[Lesley Wake]

I was there on Saturday. It was surprisingly uncrowded (but I think that also comes from the first day of all but very highest levels of APs being blocked out). The line for Dole Whips at tiki room was long as usual-probably a 30 min wait. Meanwhile it was less than 5 minutes for me to get the loaded whip, a bao, and ears! There also wasn’t an issue getting a table. I don’t think that will necessarily be the norm though, because it seemed more like out of town visitors just didn’t know about it!

For the Whip, I liked it. I liked the dried hibiscuses on top because it gave it a nice different texture. I did see someone having a normal whip but it looked like they added a bit of fruit and the hibiscus on top, so I would probably do that if I get the chance again. (I didn’t try the bao-it was for a friend.)

The atmosphere was nice and relaxing, and Rosita was actually cool, making stupid jokes! I will definitely be back!