My Top 5 Disneyland Desserts

Today I’m talking about 2 of my favorite topics melded into one sweet package – Disneyland + Desserts! One of the best reasons to go to Disneyland is for all the treats that you can find. They impart that Disney magic on everything, even the food! Now, I still have not been to Disneyworld (I know, gasp!) so here I will share with you my favorite desserts from the Disneyland Park in CA in addition to a little ode to a sorely missed favorite of mine.

Now, even though these are farther away from my number 1 Disneyland dessert, the artistry of the caramel apples around the park are not to be dismissed. Disney is great at creating so many different types of caramel apples that you can’t help but want to collect them! The problem is that they are perishable so you can’t! I’ve seen the standard Mickey and Minnie caramel apples but I’ve also seen some awesome ones like a Cheshire cat apple, bunny apples, pumpkin apples and even a rainbow apple.

Imagine this – you’re walking around Disneyland, you’re tired, it’s crowded, you’re about to kill the people that are in your party because they don’t want to take a break and your feet are killing you and all of a sudden you smell it – the churro cart and everything melts away. All of a sudden you realize – “Hey, I’ll tell my friends it’s churro time!” After they oblige you’ve got an awesome Disneyland treat AND a reason to sit down and take a break! You can’t beat the churros at Disneyland. It’s not like they are a ton better than ones you can get outside of the park, but because you are in the park they do seem better. Also, some of the churro carts in the park offer dipping sauces like chocolate!

Ice cream shaped like Mickey – this is one of my favorite Disneyland summer treats! What’s great about most of the ice cream treat stands around the park is that they have a 3-D display of the ice cream novelties that you can buy. It’s always nice to have a visual of what you are about to eat like when you go to the Japanese food court at Mitsuwa (It’s a Southern California reference if you’re unfamiliar). This is a classic Disneyland dessert at it’s finest.

Ummm, hello, fried dough + powdered sugar + Mickey mouse shapes = Smiles! I think the Mickey Mouse beignets at Cafe Orleans are one of the most unique things about Disneyland park. I mean, how do you get them that shape? Do they have a special cutter to do that? I almost want to stage (aka intern) in their kitchen just to learn how to make them. They are perfection.

Ahh, and now we’ve come to my number one Disneyland dessert. I’m listing the Dole Whip as my number one treat mainly for nostalgic reasons. You can find the Dole Whip at the Dole Whip shack in front of the Tiki Tiki Room. The Tiki Tiki Room is one my parents favorite attractions at the park so getting a Dole Whip and watching the show always reminds me of family (Ohana). You are even welcome to enjoy your Dole Whip treat during the Tiki Tiki Room show but please, don’t throw it at the animatronics or I will hunt you down and kill you =)

Now, I did tell you that I would share with you one more Disneyland dessert treat that is sadly no longer with us – Fantasia Ice Cream (super sad face!!). Back in the day, Disneyland’s main ice cream sponsor was Carnation Ice Cream. Carnation created an ice cream flavor ONLY available at Disneyland in CA and later at Disney California Adventures. This ice cream flavor was a color extravaganza with Banana, Pistachio and Cherry ice creams! It was almost like a rainbow sherbert without the sherbert and a taste similar to spumoni without the chocolate. Unfortunately, Carnation (which was later taken over by Nestle) was replaced by Dreyers and they felt there was not much demand for the flavor and the recipe has been lost to the public forever. You can recreate the flavor at Cold Stone Creamery, kind of, but of course it is nothing like the original. One of my life’s goals is to get this back in the park. If anyone who reads this has any incite on this lost gem please email me!

And there you have it, my top 5 Disneyland Desserts! What are yours?