Episode 59: More Mickey Waffles – Podsnack Series
In this episode, we continue our Podsnack Series about Mickey Waffles. Turns out, there is a whole lot more about these tasty snacks than you might think. Paige once again delivers hard-hitting questions and Stephen keeps up his momentum. We get real about our feelings on breakfast foods and Stephen admits he hasn’t had Nutella.
Disney DCM-9 Mickey Mini Waffle Maker, Black
The Great American Waffle Company
Transcript
Hello everyone. This is the Parks Academy where we discuss and celebrate all things theme parks related. We focus mainly on Disney parks and resorts in both Anaheim and Orlando. My name is Paige.
My name is Steven,
and today we will be continuing our mini-series about the history of popular Disney snacks.
Two things. First of all, we did a, a little poll about what people wanted to hear us talk about and uh, the topic on this one, the one we’re talking about this week, was obviously the one that was most picked. Um, I’m really, was kind of confused why everyone wanted to pick it, but you said you have some really extensive stuff on it, so I’m excited about that.
Secondly, um, if you guys saw on Instagram yesterday, we didn’t release an episode yesterday cuz I got this just insane, like,
throat
issue, um, where I was like congested and sounded like a, a robot person. Mm-hmm. Um, so it’s coming out late, but it’s here. One of our friends actually wrote to us on our, uh, soc MAs and said, um, she, she thought that I actually put on like a, um, a voice filter.
L o
think it was real.
real. That’s funny.
funny. Yeah. Yeah.
I think the pollen got you good this
time. I think so too. So
good old spring allergies. But we’re back. I’m
now. I’m drinking so much water.
And taking all the Mucinex.
so much Mucinex. I’m just imagining that whenever I cough, this is gross. Plug your ears or don’t eat something when you’re listening.
When I’m coughing something I feel I want to, I’m imagining it’s like the Mucinex commercial with a little booger with like the hat? Yeah, and like the little, you know, like yellow. Like yellow stained. Tank top or whatever he wears. It’s very funny. So I’m gonna try to bring
thanks for all the sniffles for the listeners,
gonna bring everything without coughing is the plan.
There you go. And yes, the people have spoken.
Yeah. What do we, what
you hear they wanna hear about Mickey waffles?
That’s insane to me, but
But they really wanna hear about Mickey waffles. I think it’s probably because it’s a super, super popular item. just a snack food, but like an actual. Meal item, people will eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner,
like a staple. Know
people make them at home with their little Mickey waffle irons. So I think because it’s not just a snack, I think it is such a bigger deal and more people are thinking about it.
Yeah, I have, I genuinely have no idea where you’re gonna go with this.
Cause with churros, I knew that there was a lot to talk about with, um, doll Whip, same thing. But, um, I’m excited to get into this one. What are you excited about this week?
What I’m excited about this week is we will be using our Hershey season passes for the first time. Yeah. Woo.
This weekend we’re going.
I’m excited.
Yes.
Um, that’ll be a lot of fun.
The weather’s supposed to be nice. It’s not gonna be too hot. The crowds shouldn’t be crazy yet cause we haven’t hit like Memorial Day and school being out
there. Right, right.
I’m excited.
Yeah, I’m excited about that too. Um, there’s a couple roller coasters.
I’m really looking forward to going on. Um, I don’t think the Wildcats revenge is open yet. It might be.
should be.
I don’t know if it had its big grand opening. I haven’t seen anything about it on their social. Um, but I haven’t looked that close. But, uh, jolly Rancher remix, I’ve been wanting to go on that one and I hadn’t had the opportunity yet.
So I’m looking forward to going on a few things and.
and since
Since we’ve already been to Hershey with our kid like four times to the park once with her, um, I’ll be able to sort of split off a little bit and try a couple roller coasters.
It says coming this summer.
Yeah, I didn’t think it was open, like fully open yet.
It will be interesting to see if that means it’ll be open like right after. Yeah. Memorial day. Oh,
so this, uh, this week or last week, I think I saw the official signage go up on the building. That’s why I wasn’t so sure. But, um, yeah. And then, uh, additionally with that, we’re also gonna be going to the Disney Store outlet store.
In Hershey, Pennsylvania, right next door to Hershey Park. Um, I can’t wait for that either. I’m actually almost more excited to go there than I am, um, to, uh, you know, to go to Hershey Park itself.
That was a really fun surprise that if you listen to our road trip episode from Spring Break that we just happened to find a Disney outlet that’s pretty darn close to our house.
So, yeah, well
it, it’s. It’s less than, it’s less than an hour and a half away. Right? And so that to me is like,
like an hour. Perfect.
Yeah. Yeah. Great. Um, I, this week, um, this week I think I am excited about,
uh,
uh,
do we need to play some e s
no, no, no. I have no, no, no, no, no. Um, here’s what I’m excited about, just this morning. Um, it was announced that the Yoda legacy lightsaber is going to be released.
That, uh, yeah. I, I, I never post about news or merch, but I did on our social today. And then Ed Ezra Bridger’s, Ezra Bridger’s, lightsaber from Rebel’s was also released, supposedly. But you, it was actually supposed to be out today, but you, for some reason, people are having a hard time finding it on, uh, shop disney.com.
I probably won’t, uh, be buying one because money. Um, and also I don’t really just need to like collect a bunch of legacy lightsabers. I already have two and a Savvi, so that’s probably enough for me for now. But, uh, it looks cool. I’m glad they have it. And um, it’s just been one that I, I thought would be a cool wishlist item.
So the Yoda legacy Saber’s gonna be fun. It’s gonna be small, compact, you know, much, much, much like what you would expect. So,
yeah. That’s awesome.
Yeah, it’s gonna be cool. So that’s, that’s pretty much it. Um, are you ready to get into Disney snacks? Waffle. Waffle style.
style.
All right, let’s do it.
All right, so today we are going to be talking about waffles. Honestly, this episode is gonna be pretty waffle history heavy. The introduction to Disney with waffles I think is not what I was expecting, but there’s also not a ton to report about it. So I think that’s actually gonna be kind of a small portion of this, and then we’ll talk.
Um, you know, as we always do about where you can find them and sort of how it has, um, grown and changed over the years since they first started. So, let’s first dive in with the history. I always start with, you know, what is this snack made of? And literally every single person knows what a waffle is.
Yeah, exactly.
But if you are. Not a baker, perhaps you don’t know All the ingredients of a waffle and waffles are made with flour, baking powder, sugar, eggs, milk, butter, and salt. Classic. Um, breakfast? Mm-hmm. Or pastry or baked. Yep. Good.
I have a little twist on them. When I make my waffles and pancakes.
You
add vanilla?
That’s a secret. It’s a secret recipe, but
Rewind what I just said, like play it
No, no, no. I, I add vanilla. Yeah.
Well that actually is a pretty.
it’s pretty common.
a pretty common thing. Vanilla extract. Almond extract. Like people like to add that for a little extra flavor. Some people will add something like a cinnamon or something just to add a little
garlic powder.
My dad always likes to add like blueberries to pancakes or waffle mix. Um, just
Chocolate
it up. Yes.
Um, I don’t like blueberry pancakes. They get super soggy and I’m just
a fan. Mm-hmm. I like chocolate chip pancakes. Yeah.
You know, waffles are just plaid pancakes.
That is funny that you say that cuz that kind of has to do with what we’re talking about
That’s funny.
And the history of waffles.
right, well then go for it
So let’s dive in. Um, waffle like recipes have actually existed for.
for
Over 4,000 years.
I completely believe that.
And the way that we know that is basically hot cakes were cooked. Mm-hmm. And flipped back and forth so that both sides received.
Equal heat. Yes. To make sure that it was not just cooked, but cooked like perfectly on both sides. Right. And so we sort of see these, some of these same ingredients, just like pancakes and waffles, are basically the same thing, just different shapes. And the way that they’re now cooked is just a little different.
And it’s like a griddle flat top versus
versus.
an actual waffle iron. Yeah. And so this history has. Been for over 4,000 years, um, in ancient Greece, and then later in the middle ages, different variations of these were made. And so they were kind of known more as wafers as we got into that time period. The first quote, unquote waffle recipe was made in the late 14th century, but it did not include a leaving agent, so it was not the same as the waffles that we know today.
So in the 15th century, then they started using that grid pattern, which Steven lovingly referred to as plaid
plaid pancakes.
That’s correct. And
that is still used today?
Yes.
Sorry, I had a scratch on my face. It’s okay. And leavening agents began being used then in the 16th century,
I feel like, um, Waffle irons. Just remind me of blacksmithing. So when you said 4,000 years ago, I was like, that sounds like it could be completely right.
I don’t know why I, I know that they weren’t, you don’t
over the fire. Yeah. Like
Like, I know you’re not blacksmithing waffles, but title, but, um, you know,
yes, but I mean like part of the process is similar.
Yeah, exactly. So that’s why
of, it’s similar. Yeah, for
up by arn,
So waffles first came to America because obviously Viz been around for 4,000 years. America ain’t that old. And so
you say America ain’t that old? Yes. Yeah. And you would know that if you went to the American pavilion,
would, you would get that history lesson,
out how old we actually are. That
really got us good on that one, that we don’t go to the America pavilion
I know, but you know, I already
literally never been, you’ve never been,
They have the best, they have the best bathrooms.
and you always eat the food there and drink the beers.
Yeah. True.
But, In America, waffles first came here with the Dutch immigrants in, this is not a trivia question.
What three states do you think the Dutch immigrants most settled in and brought waffles, Pennsylvania.
Yes. New Jersey. Yes. And uh, new. And New
Yes. Wow. You get a bonus point.
Yeah, I know. So that’s, uh, that was
impressive. Yeah,
that was pretty good, huh?
That was really good. There were 50 options and you picked the correct
I just, I, I knew that New Jersey and, um, I knew that New Jersey and Pennsylvania were shoe winds, just cuz you know, Pennsylvania, Dutch and what’s hap Yeah, I have relatives like, like ancestors that are Pennsylvania, Dutch.
So I don’t know any of them. Of course they’re, they’re, they’re dead because they’re ancestors, but, um,
You
You know, they’re somewhere out there.
So that’s where the waffles were brought to America, and that was in the 17th century. So we sort of have progressed from 14th century 15th. We added in sort of the iron grid pattern. The 16th century. We added the 11 agent and then 17th century gets brought to America. Recipes then here in America were based on Dutch, French, and Belgian recipes.
And so we’ve all heard, you know, the term Belgian waffles and I’m gonna talk a little bit about that in just a few minutes. But the actual word waffle was first used in the English language in 1725.
Wow.
Um, as the concept of the waffle was spreading throughout America and through England. Interesting.
Yes.
So older than the country itself,
Correct. That’s cool. Waffles. The actual term waffle is older than
That’s really interesting.
that interesting? Yes. Um, and then the original Waffle iron was just a cast iron hinge device that was held open. Over in open fire. Yeah. So much like you were comparing it or thinking of it as blacksmithing.
Yeah. They just took this iron device that had a hinge on it and so you would put the ingredients in between Yeah. And heat it up over the fire. And voila.
I had this, um, visual, I had this vision, and I’m gonna speak it into, into the universe not for manifest manifestation purposes, but for my own memory. Um, I was thinking about. Tm, tm. Tm, a blacksmith, um, cooking a Mickey Waffle over an open flame. Um, and how funny that would be as like a sticker or a shirt
or something. Mm-hmm.
So
that would be very
I’m gonna work on that. You should do, I might need to like call one of our artist friends because that would be very good.
Or consult a robot.
Yeah, no. Mid journey was my other thought too. See if like one of my AI tools can do it for me.
right. But that would be so cute. I know. That’d be really cute. Yeah, they could sell that in the America Pavilion.
I know a blacksmith Mickey. Mickey waffles. Yes,
But yeah, it’s Mickey is the blacksmith.
No, no, no. It’s just a blacksmith, you know.
But why would Mickey not be the blacksmith?
he’s making a Mickey waffle, like Mickey’s not, it’s just like a regular old blacksmith, but making a Mickey
Just a standard guy from 1730.
Yeah, exactly.
With his iron hinge device. That’s correct. Okay.
But it’s like he forged it to look like Mickey
Mouse.
Okay. I see what you
did pretty good, you know? Yep. That’s great. Yeah. Mickey’s not a
thing Was a little ahead of its time.
Yeah,
Because Weine did not have Mickey waffles in 1725, but we were
I’ve just, it’s just a thought that I had,
it’s a cute idea.
Yeah. We’ll see.
I like it.
All right, so we are still at the,
the,
Um, antiquated way of making waffles with a big old iron hinge device. And we are still in the 17 hundreds. However, once we fast forward to the 1910s, general Electric, introduced the electric waffle, iron, and then. By the time you get to the thirties, it is pretty much a standard household appliance at this point.
Just like everybody. Yep. Has a, I don’t know when microwaves or toasters came out, but let’s pretend they were also out. A waffle
came out well before microwaves,
correct?
Yeah, microwaves. A
that like the
came out in 1906 was when the U first US patent application for an electric toaster was filed by George Schneider.
Okay. And when did microwaves come out? Is that like sixties, seventies,
1967. Ooh. I was actually gonna say not to like, Put ’em on blast. But I was gonna say, I think both my parents are older than the microwave. No, wait. The first domestic microwave was introduced in 1955, but it failed to launch because it was expensive and because the microwave technology was still an unknown, just like ai.
So it wasn’t really until 1967. That the microwave finally caught on in America, ho American Homes. So, yeah. Yeah.
I was gonna say, I think I’ve had a conversation with one of our grandparents about how they remember when everyone on their street got a microwave. Yeah. Like I, I remember that conversation with one of our grandparents
Yeah. So 55.
who it was.
you know,
But it makes sense. In the sixties, 67
was when it like really started
right
together. So there’s, I mean, you got like a. Almost a 60 plus year difference between electric toaster and uh, your microwave. Different
technology. Yeah. Right. But all of that to say, everybody must have cared a lot about waffles and were making a lot of waffles cuz it was a common household appliance when you got to the thirties.
Um, and then frozen waffles. Which we now refer to as just Eggos, because that’s the main brand
ta it’s like saying Kleenex, you know? Right.
It’s the main brand that we know. Um, frozen waffles were actually introduced in 1953 under a different name. I think it was a set of brothers that had designed the frozen waffles and then they became ego’s brand.
Do you like ego waffles?
Um, I don’t not like ego waffles. Like I, we used to have ’em a lot when I was a kid. You just
yeah, so did we, so did we. I think they’re, I’ve always found them to be kind of gross.
I feel like the nineties and early two thousands was a lot of, let’s have all these frozen things and just heat ’em up really quick.
Like, yeah, like, um, pizza, kids cuisines and Hot Pockets and Tostitos Hot
Pockets were actually pretty good
And Eggos and.
pockets.
Yes.
Dinosaur chicken nuggets, you know? Yes. Just the list goes on. Um, snapping to grid with, with Eggo waffles, I’ve always found them to have like a bitter taste to them.
They taste very bitter to me and strange. Okay. It’s almost like the sharpness at the end of it, like it taste okay. When you first take a bite, but then it’s very sharp and I don’t know what it is, but I’ve always had a problem with the, with the, some of the taste or some of like the, the, the notes Okay.
Of the waffle.
Yes. Well, they’re not gonna taste as fresh, of course.
Mm-hmm.
Because they’re, they’re definitely frozen.
Yeah. I don’t know what, I can’t explain it. I haven’t had one probably in 20 years. Yep. But, um, yeah, something about the flavor of Eggo waffles just does not sit right with
Interesting. I wonder what their ingredients are. That’d be interesting to look at, to
I would imagine it’s not, I would imagine it’s not just what you rattled off as the ingredients,
I’m sure. Right. It probably has. Cutting vanilla, a handful of preservatives and things. Yeah, something else for sure. Okay. We’re almost to the Disney portion here, but a little bit. More about waffles and the actual history of waffles.
Steven, here’s a question for you. So do you know the difference between a Belgian waffle and a standard old waffle? Without looking it up, I
like it has to do with thickness. No wait, is it? Yes. Thickness, right? It’s like thickness and then one square and one’s not. Although I think like, that’s incorrect.
Well, it doesn’t necessarily have to be square or not, but
Right? Belgium
it’s larger,
larger, big, thick boys. Usually it’s
larger. So the, the grid lines are bigger so that the squares are larger. Um, and they have, um, they are traditionally eaten more as like a street food is actually how it started. Usually
you’ll see them
you usually just eat with your hands,
savory with like, Junk on them, like strawberries and jams and powdered sugars and
know your waffle history.
I, I really do. I majored in it. I actually majored in waffles, um, waffle economics in
That is fantastic. You know, so the traditional Belgian waffles are street foods. You eat ’em with your hands. Syrup is not usually a topping for them because that’s too messy.
Syrup should not be a topping at waffles,
but, but, The Belgian waffle was introduced to the United States at the 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle, and it did not grow in popularity until the 64 65 World’s Fair in New York.
Mm-hmm. Um, and that’s where they topped them with, just like you just said, strawberries and whipped cream.
cream.
So it really started to take off as a huge thing, a popular item, um, the Belgian Waffle in the mid sixties. So then let’s talk
super interesting.
Sorry about the World’s Fair because the Belgian waffle was introduced alongside, um, You know, great things like, um, small world and carousel progress and stuff like that,
which is why I felt like that was a good transition.
The world’s fair.
Were you gonna say that or did I just
Well, no, but that’s why I left, that’s why I left the history at that point and
mm-hmm.
No, I think that’s great.
to be the transition point to Disney because w. The way that it was then introduced to Disney. So originally they had started at Disney just serving Mickey pancakes because that’s easier.
It’s very,
very easy to
you’re just plopping the batter down in the Mickey shape, right? But Disney started then experimenting with their batter supplier and with different irons in the eighties, and discovered that they could, in fact, make Mickey shaped waffles.
So Imagineering
helped actually with the mold of the design to make sure that the waffle would stay intact with that shape after it was cooked, so it didn’t get all
that’s crazy that imagineers had to jump in and do
Yes. So imagineers were helping out with the whole process, and so because of this, because they had to get imagineering in on this as well as the batter supplier and the people that were making the irons, it was not just one person who’s credited with being responsible for. Um, bringing Mickey waffles to the parks, nor is there a specific day or year because it was such a process with such a team effort that the transition from Mickey pancakes to Mickey waffles must have been not as simple as, okay, we now have this, let’s switch over in either Disneyland or Disney World.
There’s no definitive person or date responsible for this transition.
That’s so interesting. Could you imagine like rally crump or like Mark Davis? Just like slaving away over waffle designs.
I know. Like trying to get the, uh, the waffle iron. Just the right shape. Just the right size to exactly get the dimensions of making mouse perfectly.
I feel like you’re gonna have someone say like, that’s not my job description.
Isn’t that weird? That’s
super funny. I’m into that though. That’s really cool. I
yeah, that is the history of waffles and how we got waffles into the Disney parks. So that brings us to the eighties, which is where we found that a lot of these big popular snacks really kicked off in the eighties.
Um, that was a, a turning point for Disney, I would say.
I mean there’s, yeah, the history, uh, yeah, it was inter, we we’re not into the, like talking about like the history of the culture and stuff, but the eighties was, yeah, the eighties was really an interesting time for Disney because it was like, you’re looking at like 20 ish years after Walt died, um, kind of filter through a few CEOs and just trying to get everything.
To
go. Mm-hmm. Right.
So that’s a really,
and the parks were all pretty established at that point. Obviously Wal Disney World was not what it is now. Right? Right. But you had both Magic Kingdom and Disneyland were both well established by the time you get to the eighties, and so they were really hitting their stride and the company was hitting their stride.
They had plenty of their great films out already, and they were really in the middle of making a lot of the big films that came out in the eighties and early
I’m telling you is Eisner. He really did a lot for the parks, like as far as, he threw a lot of darts at the wall and some of ’em just did not stick or hit the right area.
But yeah, he did a lot. So that’s
iconic.
Yeah.
for sure. For sure.
Big time. All
All right. Are you ready to talk about. Waffles in the parks. Yeah.
to totally.
Okay. So Mickey Waffles, obviously if you’ve been to any of the Disney parks, you can find them at most every breakfast place around the resorts around property.
They actually do come in two sizes, which I didn’t realize there was a larger size one I’ve only ever gotten. The smaller ones
I have had a larger one.
You have? Yeah. Okay. So they do come in the larger size, which is basically a plate size. It’s just one waffle or the smaller ones, they’re typically the ones you find on kids menus or they’re served as multiples.
Um, and so you can get those at most breakfast places. They are also just as popular in the international park. Ironically. And so Tokyo Disneyland, I thought this was so cute. I looked up the kiosk. There’s an entire kiosk restaurant that is dedicated to Mickey Waffles and it’s called the Great American Waffle Company.
Mm-hmm. At Tokyo, Disneyland. It is so cute. Tokyo
Disneyland is very quickly becoming like a bucket list for me. Mm-hmm. Um, Yeah, I keep looking at stuff they’re doing and I just really,
I know. It’s so cute. So I, I loved that. I thought that was really sweet because I know that obviously a lot of the snacks and merchant stuff would translate not just from the parks in the US, but to the international parks as well.
That’s right. It just seemed like, waffles seem like such an American and European thing to me that I was like, why would they even care about waffles? Sure. In Tokyo, Disneyland. But I think that is so cute. That’s that they have like a, a little. Kiosk and it’s literally called the Great American Waffle Company, which sounds like the most American thing you could think of that, or burgers like.
I feel like those would be the two things that they would call something American.
Yeah, I love that. That’s great.
Yeah. Um, the other thing is you can purchase your own Mickey Waffle maker at home. And so if you look online at any, for your favorite retailers, whether it’s a, you know, big box store or an online retailer, most of them will have Mickey Waffle makers available.
Now, are you referring to like the ones that you see at the park or the ones like the one that we have?
so two things. One, they’re their. Used to be a ton sold that, um, there were like issues with safety and I think a lot of them were either recalled or interesting people had issues with them like not working or catching on fire.
And that those were similar to the one that we have because the one that we have actually does make the thicker Mickey waffles. It’s not the exact same design as the ones in the park. So, but it does make thicker ones.
the one that we have.
Um, you have like, uh, it’s a pretty small footprint mm-hmm. For the actual
makes the mini ones, right?
Yeah.
Not mini ones. Mickey ones.
Ha ha ha. You know, miniature
the middle, the middle is, is very much of like your regular plaid, uh, waffle grid, and then you have two ears on the top. Um, I’ll link you to the show notes, but you can get it for 28 bucks On Amazon.
It’s the Disney dc m dash nine, mickey mini waffle dash maker, dash black.
So
Yeah. So, um, it’s good. I mean, I like it. It’s a good one. Yeah.
it’s great cuz it makes the, the thicker waffles, which I like. I know, because the problem is the other ones, most of the other ones that you find online, the waffles actually do have Mickey Mouse’s face on them instead of just the grid lines like ours.
But they’re really flat.
Yeah.
They don’t have the grid lines, but they’re really. Really fairly thin waffles. It’s like a pancake with just a press on top that makes, um, Mickey’s face and the ears.
Yeah. Like I see a Millennium Falcon waffle maker online too, and they’re very, very
flat one.
Yeah. I like the one that we have a lot actually. Right.
So you,
I’ll definitely look into the show notes. We’re not an affiliate member of Amazon or anything,
get zero
a fun little product and, uh, it’s, it’s actually really cheap. It’s got like almost 10,000. Uh, four and a half star ratings like average.
So it’s, it’s a good product. I like it.
Are you ready for the secret?
Yeah, go for it.
everybody. So buy the waffle maker, either the one we have, or you can just use a regular waffle maker or buy the other Mickey Mouse waffle makers, or whatever one you want. There’s all kinds of Disney ones anyway. Rumor has it that golden malted waffle mix, which you can buy anywhere
Mm-hmm.
Is what Disney uses in their recipe. So when you go to the Disney parks mm-hmm. Their waffles taste just a little different. They’re fine than just the standard. Yeah. Like no vanilla, no almond, you know, extract
no extracts, just,
just, but there’s something that’s a little different about them. Yeah.
They’re fine.
And people have figured out that it tastes exactly like the recipe that uses the golden malted waffle mix.
Interesting.
And someone within the Disney company was asked if they use that, and they said something along the lines of like, That is a supplier that we have an affiliation with and then like they like a very cryptic Yeah.
They didn’t wanna say yes and give away the secret
from like a rooftop next door, a blow dart like came shooting into their neck and they got dragged
Right. It’s never
to be seen or heard again.
So if you would like to completely replicate the Disney waffles, you can find that recipe online. You can buy Golden Malted Waffle Mix.
Yeah. I would say, I would say, um, that’s great. I love that for everyone, but I would say do it. Just try your hand at it from scratch. Yeah, because it’s better. It’s always better that way.
Homemade waffles and pancakes
It’s not hard. It’s super, super easy
And you can
And it’s more rewarding.
You can customize it if you have
whatever you want to do.
Allergies or intolerances, which is really nice. The thing that we enjoy about it is because I can’t have dairy, we can just sub out things like instead of using milk, or instead of using butter, we just do substitutes. Yeah.
vegan butter and almond milk or something.
Yeah. And it tastes just as good, and sometimes you get that little bit of sugar or almond flavor in an almond milk or something. So switch out the ingredients and see what you like.
like. Mm-hmm.
Okay, so let’s talk about. Um, inside the parks in Magic Kingdom, sleepy Hollow is actually one of the location that serves that full size waffle, and that comes covered in powdered sugar Tusker house in Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Yep. Also, they serve Simba and Nala waffles instead of Mickey waffles, which is adorable. They are so cute. But there are no other Mickey waffles served. In disease’s Animal Kingdom at this time
In Disney, the Animal Kingdom or
in disease. Animal kingdom. Okay. So in animal kingdom, the only waffles you’re gonna get are actually like Simba and Nala.
Interesting. Okay.
In Disney disease’s, animal Kingdom proper. Like not the resorts that are like linked with animal kingdom, quote unquote. But I thought that was interesting. And then Hollywood scoops in Hollywood studios sometimes serves. The smaller waffles with blueberries and whipped cream, which is great.
I’m sorry. Um, the Simba and Nala waffles get a D minus from me.
I think they’re cute.
They’re super rough looking. I think
I think they’re cute. Yeah. It’s basically like an imprint in the middle. Yeah. They’re not shaped like ci,
They’re okay.
They’re okay. It’s,
I mean, it’s gonna be hard to replicate what they do with the Mickey Waffle because you would have to literally have a waffle iron that is shaped like each of the
characters. That’s totally true. I just was surprised that it was like, it’s almost like a, um, it’s like a challenge coin kind of.
Yeah. You know, put a waffle form. That’s
I think that’s cute. Um, another fun fact is I’m fairly certain that almost every Disney resort serves Mickey waffles. Yeah, down to the value resorts all the way up
So when we were at Caribbean Beach Lass Go, we had breakfast, um, and I had Mickey waffles there.
So did I, and I had dairy free Mickey waffles, if you remember. They put the little stick
in free breakfast. I remember that.
that said allergy.
Yeah. Um, they were fine. I,
I thought they
I have thoughts about Mickey waffles, but, we’ll,
Oh
yeah,
man. Okay. They’re just like we talked about with churros and do whip.
There’s also all kinds of specialty things like the Valentine’s Day waffles. One year they were red velvet waffles with chocolate, strawberry, soft serve, hot fudge, and whipped cream with heart sprinkles. Sleepy Hollow is also served. Um, A fruit Belgian waffle where it’s a Belgian waffle that sort of folded kind of like a taco and it has Nutella spread and fruit, which I am just a sucker for Nutella and fresh fruit on anything, especially a waffle.
That sounds so delicious to me. And obviously chicken and waffles are a huge deal. Um, so you can find those in plenty of places. There’s a ton of different chicken and waffle options as well.
do you wanna hear something or do you wanna find out something about me?
You don’t like waffles?
No. I love waffles. I’ve never had nettella before.
What?
Mm-hmm. I think it was like 2011, 2012 when Nettella was everywhere and people were taking Babs in them and it was just nuts.
big fad.
Um, this was before TikTok, so God help us if it happened when TikTok was around. Um,
Yeah, I,
I never have had it, so to me it just doesn’t sound appealing.
Do you like hazelnut?
I have no opinion.
It basically just tastes like,
you know, I think maybe I’ve smelt it
thick, creamy chocolate with a tiny hint of nutty
So I think I, maybe I’ve smelled it or maybe I’ve taken a very small taste of it, but I’ve never like had it,
I like the consistency of it because it’s sort of like if chocolate were used as a spread on any dessert or pastry or something.
I think that’s what I like about it because it, it tastes very similar
Sure, sure. No, I mean it’s, you know,
eat, eat
their own. I just have never really had it before
and right back at you teach their own. Yeah. You don’t have to like
I’m not trying to like, justify anything or, or take a bold, brave stance.
I just,
just, you are much pickier than I.
well, I don’t love savory, sweet, some sweet things. I’m not the biggest fan of. If it gets too like cute, you know.
if it’s too cute, Steven won’t eat it.
I just don’t, yeah. I don’t know.
Don’t put Simba on a waffle. No, Steven won’t eat it. Don’t give it a cute fruity topping.
He won’t eat it.
And the thing is, I’m not a picky eater. Like, I’m not picky about ingredients, I’m just picky about the way things are put together. Sure. I’ll eat pretty much anything on its own. Yep. So
it. I get it.
that’s a weird, that was,
Uh,
that’s enough of
A side tangent about Nutella. Okay. Last fun fact here, and this is where I think it is so hilarious, and this has also happened with other snacks.
Like I did see this week that there are now churro mini ears that are being sold and they’re basically just like the churro dipped in chocolate. That are wrapped around in a circle to form the ear with a bow in between. Yeah, absolutely. They look really weird. But waffles, Mickey waffles have gotten so popular in the Disney parks that they have made dog chew toys.
Mm-hmm. They have, um, ears designed after them. Mm-hmm. Lounge flies, all the things.
jerseys. It’s crazy.
the things, all the merch shaped like Mickey waffles, all of them. Is
it the Mickey waffles that smelled like something, or is that something different? I know they had a, a piece of merchandise that smelled like the item. I think it may have been the waffles
Was it the, I don’t remember.
the pop? Oh, popcorn be terrible. I don’t remember what it
No. Popcorn kind of smells like pee sometimes. I can’t tell if there was like a dog that peed in the house or if you’re putting popcorn in the microwave. Yeah.
Oh yeah. I think it might’ve been the pretzel one. Maybe.
maybe.
Pretzel. What in the world did that smell like?
don’t know. Oh no, they did. It was the waffle. The waffle one was scented, and right now it’s going for $236 on Etsy.
That’s insane.
Ew. People love
is literally insane.
As we saw on our Instagram story, the people love the waffles. Yeah.
They really do. They
do. And I agree. I like the Mickey Waffles a
Yeah.
but now you know how to make them at home. Now you know where waffles came from.
Yeah.
Now you know the things. So instead of asking you the questions like, where’s your favorite place to get waffles
Kardashian Cafe in Disneyland. Okay. Because you can get the big ones. I love Kardashian Cafe. It’s a great little spot.
But you just said, mm-hmm. A couple minutes ago that you have feelings about Mickey waffles. Yeah. I have feelings. Okay. What are your feelings? This is your chance. Yeah, my
My feelings are that, my feelings are that a waffles, a waffle. Okay. And I think they’re fine. Um, I don’t think that they are the best thing I’ve ever had. I
nothing special.
No, I, I, I mean, you know, I, I think they’re fine, but it’s like, same thing with like, um, you know, getting popcorn at, at Disney.
It’s not the best popcorn I’ve ever had in my life. Sure. But it’s, it, it scratches an itch and it’s like,
it’s like, and it’s the ambiance.
Beyond. It’s, yeah, exactly. It’s like, okay, well I’m gonna go get this thing and it’s fun and I’m gonna have breakfast at Disney, and so I might as well get a waffle to shape like, you know, the mouse.
Um, and it’s, it’s a, it’s a good waffle. I don’t mind it. I’m not like mad about it. I’m not over the moon. It’s just like, it’s just totally fine. Yeah. Um, I would rather, I don’t like getting in like a quick service spot because you end up just kind of getting the small little syrup container on a paper plate and it just feels a little bit too, like I, I don’t, yeah.
I don’t know. Um, I’m also not a big breakfast eater either, right. So I don’t, most mornings I don’t eat breakfast. My breakfast is a big, hardy black cup of coffee. Yeah. You know, so, um, but they’re fine. Hey, But yeah, Carnation Cafes, where I would get, would get one if I had to, and I would like, it would be like butter and maybe powder sugar on it or something.
Okay. I probably would skip the syrup.
Yep,
yep. Maybe. Yeah. Or where do you like to get waffles?
I don’t really have a preference because it’s just sort of wherever we’re eating breakfast, there’s only places that I wouldn’t get the waffles because I have something else I really like to get, for example, at um, The Polynesian. I’m gonna get the Tonga toast.
I’m not gonna get waffles. And then what is the place on the boardwalk
Mm, that’s a really good question, but I cannot remember. That’s where I left my wallet in.
It’s where they have the
running out.
Um.
Character
Breakfast
and
the Boardwalk.
Uh, you are thinking, oh, Trattoria.
Yes. All for now?
Yes. They have some of the best pancakes I’ve ever had.
They had really good
So I’m gonna get their pancakes and I’m not gonna get a Mickey Waffle.
Do I don’t. Do they sell Mickey waffles there?
don’t know. But if they do, what I’m saying is I’m not getting it. So there are
of.
Of course they do
Yeah. Most breakfast places. Do
they also have a Mickey egg white omelet,
Hmm.
which is interesting. Yeah. They have allergy friendly Mickey shaped waffles. The whole, the whole lot. So that place is really good though. Yes, I’m with you. Um, so
I don’t have like a go-to spot where I like to get my Mickey Waffle. Mm-hmm. I just, I’ll eat it pretty much anywhere. And then there’s just certain restaurants where I love the breakfast that they offer so much that I’m gonna skip the waffle to get that.
Like I’m not gonna miss out on Tonga toast. It’s too delicious. I’m not gonna miss out on those pancakes. Right. They’re with the like fruit spread to go on it. Pretty good. I love thick pancakes. Yeah. Like they’re.
when we first got married. When we first got married, you like reprimanded me for making my pancakes too thin.
Well, because you made ’em pretty thin and pretty small.
I like to do like big old honking, like you saucer pancakes that are just thin, like a Swedish pancake kind of, you know.
Yeah. Sort of. Um.
ask for
CPEs.
I asked for pancakes.
unless you’re in like some kind of like a market in Seattle
or in
you wanna, yeah. I’ve had a crate before. It it, it was, it was good. They’re fun. Yeah. It didn’t really move me, you know,
just really like a good old thick
My thing is when I go out to breakfast, and this is probably a weird thing, again, I’m not a big breakfast eater, but when I go out to eat breakfast, I typically want your most standard breakfast possible.
So like, so like a couple of eggs over easy,
what is it called?
A grand slam at Denny’s? Yeah, but
but I don’t go to Denny. I don’t
yeah, but that’s,
I have a dream that a Denny’s did? Was there a Denny’s that opened up near us or was that a dream I
That was definitely a dream.
So anyways, last night, so anyways, last night I had a dream that a Denny’s opened up near us, um, in the shopping center that we usually go to.
Yeah, that’s strange. Um, but yeah, so for me, like breakfast is, if I go out to eat breakfast, it’s like toast, two eggs over easy. Some kind of like a sausage light Turkey sausage. Cause I’m trying to watch my heart, um, you know, both emotionally and physically and uh, black cup of coffee and maybe some like hash browns.
I don’t want home fries. So, That’s like my thing, and I just don’t like, I, I’m, I, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen me sit down at a restaurant and be like, can I get an order of pancakes or
apples? No, I don’t think I have. That’s what I usually. Yeah. Is my go-to
That’s like not me at all.
pancakes with just a side of sausage or hash browns or something?
Yeah. Yes.
And if worse comes to worst, she’s like, gimme an egg and the paper and a black cup of coffee. And I’ll be,
I love that this episode has turned into like our favorite diner food.
Yeah. We used to live near a great diner in California and we would go there a couple times a week, I
and we wanted to be regulars who came in and sat at the counter and the waitress just knew our names and brought us our drinks
then we moved away and we do have a pretty, okay. Good diner near us, but it’s very busy. Yeah. And it’s not like right around the corner. Right.
Yep. But it’s still very good.
it is still very good. Um, yeah, waffles, you know, what are you gonna do?
Are you ready for your trivia today?
I guess,
You got a bonus point already. So what are you, um, your,
so what we I’m four and seven. I think three and seven I wanna say,
say
because I missed one of ’em. Three. Three. I’ve gotten three, right. Seven. Wrong for all you.
No. Yes. You’re 3, 4, 7, 3. Oh
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You’re right, you’re right, you’re right. Okay. I’ve got, I’ve got like, I’ve got like head congestion, brain, you know? Yes. So
you have sympathy pregnant brain.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay. Question one. How many Mickey waffle irons do you think are scattered throughout Wal Disney World?
I hate questions like these. Well,
they’re, these are my questions. Okay. So, Sorry. Sorry about your luck, buddy. It’s okay. A hundred and fifty, three hundred, six hundred, nine hundred, nine hundred. That is way too many Waffle Irons.
I don’t know. Usually you trick me and it’s the highest one. Is it? Is it the second one? 300 or
Yes. 300.
Go with your gut. But I didn’t Mickey
waffle iron. I taught you that
know, but I was gonna go with my gut and I was like, I Should I go with a pattern of how you do it?
Typically,
I am a former teacher. I leave no pattern.
Yeah, you leave no stone unturned, no waffle on
There are 300 waffle irons scattered around Walt Disney, round Mickey waffle irons
like scattered, like just not plugged in and just kind of
go find the hidden waffle irons.
Okay.
It’s a new game that Disney created.
great. Yeah.
don’t go looking for waffle irons and
like, there’s like one on the track in a thunder mountain. You have to like, oh my gosh. No.
There’s one in Spaceship Earth where you have to, um, stare up at the ceiling when you get stuck.
Oh, okay.
to Michael Angelo.
Not none of that. None of that’s, that’s nothing. That’s literally nothing.
Um, okay. Yeah. Great.
Question two.
How many Mickey waffles do Disneyland and Disney World serve each year?
these questions
3 million, 5 million, 8 million. 10 million,
8 million, man.
Yay.
Yeah, these are, because it’s always C. Yeah. Thank you.
No, but if you guess, see every time you can get a 25% chance
for four.
Four, nine.
Four For nine four.
Four nine.
Yes.
Four
just four out of nine so you don’t get confused. Okay. Number three.
All right, man.
This one. Use your little no in.
in. Thank you for calling my head small. I
Which of the following is not sold as a Mickey shaped version in Disney?
I’m gonna know this for sure.
Okay? Go for it.
Cucumbers. Pasta Sourdough.
Or
Or chips?
Chips. Final answer
your final
Yeah. Chips.
Do you know where Mickey shaped chips are sold?
Um, wait, are they actually sold in Disney?
They’re not sold in Disney, but they are sold out of Disney. So you are correct.
Yeah, I know I was correct cuz yeah, I know I’m correct cuz living at the land obviously is gonna have cucumbers I’ve
that’s not necessarily where they’re served.
They do have
No, I know. That are shaped like yeah, I’ve
put on salads
and then um, because that’s the most cucumber shaped Mickey’s title is the most. Wait, Mickey shaped cucumbers title,
cucumber shaped Mickeys.
Wooey, uh, cucumber shaped Mickey’s title,
Uh,
Mickey shaped cucumbers are super obvious. You know, you got three circles, snip, snip, snip less. Let’s slice. Mickey Mouse. Pasta’s easy. You’re just kind of whatever. I don’t know what you’re gonna do with pasta, but it,
they sell it in bags. You
three pastas together.
You know where three or more pastas are gathered? Do you got Mickey
Mouse. There you go. Um, Uh,
and then, um, Mickey Mouse. I’ve seen sourdough. I’ve seen
Mickey Sourdough at Delicious Pacific Wharf. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
it’s delicious. Ships, uh, where do you get it? Outside of Disney. Mm-hmm. Is it a Disney, like, oh,
We have purchased these before for road trips. Um,
Um, I don’t know. Gas stations.
Targe
Target, huh?
Yep.
Oh, are you talking about like, um, goldfish? Yeah.
No.
We’ve had Mickey shaped chips. Huh? Yeah. What kind of
It’s veggie straw brand, but they’re chips.
I don’t like veggie straws. No, thank you.
Veggie straw brand, but they’re chips.
Yeah.
Okay. Got
And they’re shaped like Mickey Mouse, and they have him on the front, remember?
No.
I’ve literally bought them and snacked on road trips with
one of my biggest fears is when people snack and when me they eat in cars. And so, um,
just clarify? He doesn’t like when you snack anywhere, whether it’s in your kitchen,
No.
in your living room, in your dining room, in your bed.
In bed is like off limits. When we were on, we were on vacation in Maine and our daughter was like sitting in our hotel bed watching tv, and I got in bed later and there was like crumbs on my side of the bed and I, I almost shot up like Buster Kea and I went through the, uh, went through the roof because I was about to lose my mind.
Um, She just wiped her little fingers all over the place.
I almost broke a lease with my roommate in college cause he was eating Doritos in bed. And I was like, you, and I’m almost, I don’t wanna like quote this for certain, but I’m almost positive he wiped his nasty fens on the sheets. Um, it’s, it’s crazy.
Dorito fingers. What are you gonna do?
Um, yeah. Oh my gosh. Anyways, I don’t remember that. All I know is that, uh, veggie straws give me massive anxiety.
Our daughter also loves to eat veggie straws, and they’re much greasier
leave the worst grease trail you’ve ever seen.
It’s like a snail up,
like, she was eating veggie straws and like touched my keyboard on my computer and I was like, cool, now I gotta throw away this computer.
Last thing, and best part of when our daughter eats veggie straws is that she separates them by color and refuses to eat the green ones.
Yeah, we, we have a kid on her hands who’s very smart and likes to separate things based on color and. Like she won’t, when we bought her, like the Disney 100 goldfish, she only ate the goldfish shaped goldfish.
She didn’t eat the
she didn’t eat the characters. I was like, okay,
They all taste like goldfish, but she refused to eat Elsa or,
or, okay. The craziest the, the, it’s, it’s Woody. It’s Woody Elsa. No, it’s Woody. Oh, there’s Elsa. Elsa and Daisy Duck. Yes. That is the craziest trio of characters. What were they thinking?
I
I,
Woody, appealing Daisy and Elsa. They’re
to what they think is the boys of the girls and the older folks. That
That is the worst bell curve I’ve ever seen.
seen.
Well, that’s what I was not in the board meeting with the goldfish executives, but that’s what they were thinking, dude. Yep.
Okay. Um,
That’s all I have about waffles
Are you another, I have a question for you about waffles. Yes. Um, a lot of people like say you have to eat the ears first, that you, that kind of person. No,
I’m particular, I don’t like my food to touch. Here’s my only thing about waffles. Yeah. The waffle is the only thing on my plate.
Right.
I’m not. If you serve the waffles with a side of bacon, a side of eggs, it’s coming on a separate plate because the second my syrup touches my scrambled
you’ll send it back.
They’re going in the garbage.
send it right back.
don’t want soggy syrup be anything but my waffle. Yeah.
That’s like when I order tacos at a restaurant and like there’s a side of rice and beans, which if it’s a really good restaurant, typically you don’t get a side of rice and beans with your tacos.
I love rice and beans when my
But if your corn tortilla is touching beans and it becomes a soggy bean boy when you pick it up, pass,
Yeah. I, I also don’t go overboard with my syrup. Like, I don’t, I don’t like to fill the ears to the brim with syrup and then, Just
so when I was, when I was coming up, when I was coming up as a lad, um, in England, um,
um,
My, uh, my parents’ waffle maker was one of those ones where it, you know, like it was, they were shaped as like, um, triangles,
You know
I mean?
So like, it was, it, it basically was like, kind of, yeah. So it was the waffle iron, and then there was four distinct, four distinct quarters.
Yes, yes.
I used to only put butter on. I used to and all still only put butter on my pancakes or pancakes and waffles cause I’m like not trying to have syrup. So I used to cut ’em up and eat ’em like slices of pizza.
And my dad would always get so annoyed and tell me it wasn’t finger food,
but,
and I’d be like, I’d be like, I’d be like, Hey dog. It’s literally shaped like pizza and I don’t have syrup on it.
And it’s also bel, like
And so the
that they do it in
I would eat my waffles like a slice of pizza. Um, they were too small to fold in half like a New Yorker.
But I still.
Okay, this is my last thing about waffles.
Let’s just, we can go on, I could actually do this forever about waffles.
last thing about waffles. I swear, and I’m gonna throw Steven under the bus for a
minute. I don’t care. It’s fine.
because when we first got married we had a waffle maker. Mm-hmm. Do you remember what happened to our waffle maker?
Oh yeah. I remember it because what happened was, can I tell it or do you wanna say it? Yeah.
if you
Yeah. I don’t remember exactly what happened cause I wasn’t thinking, or I was new to the, to the earth and I decided instead of filling up like my quarter cup, Or like my third cup of mix and just putting it in the middle and closing it.
I put a third cup of mix in every single little section. Mm-hmm. And then I’ve closed it and it just went everywhere. It was crazy, you know, it was crazy. And
also flipped it before it had even had a chance. Yeah. And so it, there was waffle mix oozing out of every crevice of that waffle maker.
It was, I remember that.
I’m pretty sure we just threw it. We like got rid of it.
I’m telling you, it was all over the cord. Yeah, it was, it was. Thankfully, waffle makers are not that expensive. Yeah. There was no coming back
from you. No, there wasn’t. We should do a sh We should just create a different show about our cooking foibles.
I have more than you. Cause I cook more than you.
I don’t cook because I would have lots
kind of like when you’re a kid and you try to make a grilled cheese sandwich or like a um, or like a quesadilla and you just put it on like the higher setting to cook it faster. Yeah. And you just end up burning the outside and having cold cheese on the inside.
Yeah. It’s crazy, man. Life’s crazy that way.
I bake. I don’t cook. I
hate baking.
I love baking. Baking. I
There’s too many. There’s too many. I made shoe pastries one time just for fun. A couple years ago. They were delicious, but
they didn’t look.
they looked like crap, but they tasted good. Yes.
That’s what matters.
And, uh, yeah. Anyways, um, is that it?
That’s all we have.
all we got. All right guys. Well thank you so much for listening to our show. Um, again, we do appreciate it. Um, if you guys would, uh, would like to, you can support the show by, uh, living us a kind review and nice words on, um, on Apple Podcast. Um, you can follow us on Instagram, find us on the parks academy pod.com.
And also, um, if you’d like to, uh, you can support the show on Patreon if you see fit to do so. Um, If you want, that’d be great. Uh, thanks to our sponsor, uh, deep Cut Co for sponsoring the show and, uh, and making incredible handcrafted accessories and accoutrements for vinyls and, uh, and, and record players.
Um, you guys are awesome. You can get 10% off your first order with deep cut using the code T P 10 at checkout. Um, last week we said start in. Mexico? No, start in Canada. Start in adventure land. Start in Mexico, start in tomorrow land. I started noodling around with t-shirt ideas for those. Um, they’re terrible cause it’s my first round so I’m gonna keep working on it.
But um, I think we have something there,
I think we do. Yeah.
Well guys, thanks so much for listening. Start in Canada, start in adventure Land.
