The Happiest Place (to Eat) on Earth, part 3

Neither Katie nor I are particularly fanatical about dessert. Given the choice between filling up on the meal or saving room for dessert, it's a safe bet that we will be filling up on the meal. Make no mistake, we do enjoy dessert, and typically choose cookies, candy or ice cream (or a combination of the three) over cake or pie, but you'll probably never hear either of us say, "I can't wait for dessert" when dining out.

While at Disneyland, however, we make a serious effort to save room for dessert. Even with the overwhelming variety of non-dessert junk food we like to eat there, the call of all things frozen, frosted, nut-covered and/or chocolate-dipped always proves too powerful to ignore. With that in mind, I present the final part of our Disneyland retrospective, an account of the many desserts we ate (or simply gazed at) during our trip.

Our first stop is the Candy Palace, located on Disneyland's Main Street U.S.A. Like most other elements of Main Street, the Candy Palace is decorated in antiquated style in order to replicate a turn-of-the-century middle-American candy shop. The kitchen area is located in the front of the store, enabling guests to observe as Disneyland's "master confectioners" make batches of English toffee, fudge, and rocky road candy.

Behind the glass candy counter is a wide assortment of treats available for bulk purchase, including coconut haystacks, Rice Krispy squares, and chocolate-covered S'mores.



The Candy Palace also offers many packaged candies and snacks, including some produced on-site, and others shipped to Disneyland from elsewhere.



Marceline's Confectionery, located in Downtown Disney, operates on much the same principle as Main Street's Candy Palace. Guests can watch as confectioners make caramel apples or chocolate-dipped marshmallow sticks. Behind the counter one can find cookies, cupcakes, chocolate-covered pretzels and chocolate almond bark.


The caramel apples made at Marceline's - as well as other candy shops throughout Disneyland - come in a variety of styles.

On previous trips, it wasn't unusual for us to buy several chocolate-dipped S'mores. This time, however, we decided to try some new selections.

A peanut butter sandwich. Though nearly indistinguishable from a S'more on the outside, the inside features peanut butter in place of the S'more's marshmallow filling.

A Minnie Mouse-themed caramel apple. The ears are chocolate-covered marshmallows.



A Mickey Mouse mini-turtle. Three bites of caramel, pecan and chocolate goodness.


Like its pretzel counterpart, Katie made short work of the mini-turtle.


The rocky road cup seen here made me forget all about the S'more, my previous favorite.


Here I am stuffing my face.

Marceline's sign features what is known amongst Disney aficionados as a "Hidden Mickey." Can you spot it?

No trip to Disneyland would be complete without ice cream. Between the two parks and Downtown Disney there is no shortage of ice cream parlors. However, we are partial to Gibson Girl, located on Main Street U.S.A. and one of the few locations where actual hand-scooped ice cream can be enjoyed. Reminiscent of an old-time soda fountain, Gibson Girl serves up generous scoops of ice cream packed into freshly-made chocolate-dipped waffle cones.

Katie got mocha almond fudge, while I opted for strawberry.

When Katie starts playing with her food, that means she's done.

I'll leave you with a video I shot at the Candy Palace.