Can You Really Make Mickey Waffles At Home?

We love Disney around here. If you’ve spent any time in the SavEars group, you know they love Disney over there too!  Everyone has an opinion about their favorite must have Disney food too. Is it the Dole Whip? A Mickey bar? Or is it, perhaps, the famous Mickey Waffle?

Mickey Waffle lovers rejoice. Recently shopDisney introduced to us a real Mickey Waffle maker! There have been sort of version of this floating around for a while, but they promised this is the real deal, the same shape waffles you get at your resort, or Tusker House- or wherever your favorite mickey waffle purveyor is.

I was happy to score one of these little beauties and the idea for an experiment was born- could I truly bring a little piece of *actual* Disney into my kitchen on a regular basis? Let’s find out several things: Does the waffle maker do a good job making Mickey shaped waffles, and does the batter actually matter?

I purchased two kinds of waffle mix, the kind they use at Disney (Golden Malted), and Hungry Jack, the more budget friendly option.   Golden Malted on Amazon runs you about 59c an ounce,  while Hungry Jack clocks in around 10c an ounce at Walmart (depending on your location, of course).   Let me also note here that the “Just Add Water!” text on the Hungry Jack package is a lie.  For their waffles, it required similar ingredients to Golden Malted- an egg, some kind of oil, and the water.

The waffle maker allows you to make 6 waffles at a time, three on either side.  This allowed me to taste test waffles at the same level of freshness- hot out of the waffle maker!  I usually prefer to add cinnamon to my waffles, but I was going for authenticity here.  Sigh, the things I do for you guys.

These waffles were cooked on the same setting at the same time.  As you can see, lefty got much darker than righty.  We’re already seeing a difference in the batter!  Go ahead and decide which one you think looks more like a “Disney Waffle”.  The waffle maker nailed the shapes, although there was a little difference in how the batter spread so occasionally we ended up with a wonky ear.  It’s all good, both were the excellent 3-D double sided shaped waffles that look exactly like what you’d get on Disney Property.  My daughter was THRILLED to see Mickey waffles on her plate. I can see these being a lot of fun- I’m thinking cake batter “waffles”, topped with ice cream would be such a neat treat to make! So that answers our first question- Yes, Virginia, you CAN make excellent Disney shaped waffles at home.   However, the most important thing is can we make them taste like they are fresh from your resort?

My husband went through the process blind, not knowing which was which and he weighs in as well, so you get a totally unbiased opinion.

Smell: Golden Malted.
This is all my husband, as I couldn’t really discern a difference, but I’d been at “ground zero” mixing both batters.  The first batches were cooked completely separately and he is adamant that the second batter I put in smelled better as it cooked.

Eye Test: Golden Malted.
We both agreed that the more attractive looking waffles were made with Golden Malted. The waffle iron was put right in the middle between light and dark, but the Hungry Jack definitely came out darker.   That picture above?  Left is Hungry Jack, Right is Golden Malted.

Also, Golden Malted didn’t soak in the syrup as much as the Hungry Jack. In just a minute or two my Hungry Jack waffle was a sodden, delicious mess, while the Golden Malt was a delicious fluffy waffle that maintained it’s fork integrity. AKA, it didn’t feel like it was going to fall apart on the journey from the plate to my face.  I’m not mad at either approach, but I did notice at Disney World it takes longer for Disney waffles to absorb syrup and never really soaked it up like waffles I was used to making at home.

Taste: Golden Malted
Don’t get me wrong, Hungry Jack did a great job and made a perfectly good waffle that tasted like most other waffles we’ve grown to love. But the real Disney experience hinges on the Golden Malted.  As we ate the Golden Malted mickey waffles, the sounds of a Disney commercial

Going back for seconds, everyone chose Golden Malted. On the platter, they still felt crispy and firm, even after sitting out a few minutes, while the Hungry Jack are much softer.

The mickey waffle maker is awesome and can give you the appearance of Mickey waffles, but if you want the true Disney experience, I definitely recommend having Golden Malted on hand.  It’s more expensive, but hands down it was the superior waffle for us.  It’s also cheaper than planning a getaway trip because you’re jonesing for some mickey shaped food.  Buy it from Amazon and use up some of those survey rewards to treat yourself!