Disney World Tour de Cupcake

On Saturday, after the Disney World Half Marathon, we did something that I'd been looking forward to for MONTHS.

Thanks to this blog here, I found this AMAZING thing....

The Ultimate Guide to Disney Cupcakes. I KNOW.

We started by taking the bus to Magic Kingdom, and the ferry to the Polynesian (have I ever mentioned that I LOVE the Disney transportation system?? It's true, I really do), where we had lunch (grown up grilled cheese - delicious!), and started Tour de Cupcake with this...

Chocolate Beer.

Initially, we were not really feeling any of the choices - there was this one, peanut butter and jelly, and something else. But how could we skip our very first stop!? That would be lame. So we sent L in to investigate, and she brought out the Chocolate Beer option.

Verdict: Delicious. It didn't really taste beer-y, but it sure was chocolatey. Topped with chocolate covered pretzels.

After Poly, we walked over to the Grand Floridian. Of all the deluxe hotels, this is the only one that never seemed like fun. It looks so stuffy! (My favorite deluxe options: Contemporary, Beach Club, Poly, and Wilderness Lodge a distant 4th).

Grand Floridian was also almost a disaster - we couldn't find the cupcakes! Luckily, we are cupcake detectives, and found them in the refrigerator case. Phew. Crisis averted.

At GF, we picked the S'mores cupcake.

Verdict: Pretty good. The beer cupcake was moister, and the graham cracker was kind of damp, and I really like burnt to a crisp marshmallows, but these were only lightly toasted. But it was still a good cupcake, and the chocolate ganache on top was SO GREAT. I guess it's really hard to go wrong with chocolate.

After wandering around for a bit, we took the monorail over to the Contemporary for our last stop on the Tour.

I picked the Red Velvet (which Becka had been dying to find) and the Pineapple Rum (pineapple is my FAVORITE).

Verdict: I didn't love the Red Velvet. I think I took a bite, and passed it on. But the Pineapple Rum was my FAVORITE of the day - the cream cheese frosting on top?? Yum. I should have gotten another one to take back to the room with me.

Overall:
I'm a little sad that we didn't expand the tour to the other resorts, but without a car, the logistics were kind of tricky - we just did the monoral loop. Plus, we were pretty stuffed (we only ate kids' meals for dinner HOURS later). If you've got lots of time to digest all the baked goods in between stops, I'd suggest you keep going. And bring friends, because it's easier to share that way :D.

The cupcakes are all $3.99 - not bad at all considering the size and deliciousness. Casey's Cupcakes near my house charges $3.50, are smaller, and are not surrounded by Disney magic.

Also, the cupcakes change seasonally, so what is available now may not be available when you go. For example, at Contemporary, I was really hoping for the dos leches cupcake, but they didn't have it - but they had pineapple, which isn't on the infographic. Oh well. Another time!

Resouces for planning your meals at Disney World:

• AllEars.net Dining - full menus with prices at every eatery in the World - counter service, kiosks, you'll find it all here. This is an excellent resource for budgeting, and I use it A LOT when we were deciding between going with the meal plan or not. (unrelated, they also had an unofficial "aid station" set up outside of Hollywood Studios during the marathon, and gave me some DELICIOUS pretzels - THANKS!)
• EasyWDW.com - this dude seems to spend all of the time in the universe wandering the parks, the resorts, the rides. It's kind of dry and mundane, but I dig that kind of detail. And he has the most pictures ever. He ALSO has pretty accurate (in my experience) crowd predictions to help you plan out your days - there are always parks that are busier than others, and he'll help you navigate the best options by day, with an explanation of why parks are recommended or not. Ideally, the unvierse will let me win the lottery, and I can have this job for the rest of my LIFE.
• DisneyFoodBlog.com - reviews of everything you can imagine to eat in Disney World.

Other desserts I've sampled around the world and really, really suggest you try: 

• The white chocolate elephant at Animal Kingdom, in the Kusafiri Bakery - excellent, and GIANT
• Chocolate caramel at Epcot in Karamel Kuche at the Germany pavillion in World Showcase
• Creme brulee, eclaires, napolean... basically, EVERYTHING in Boulangerie Patisserie at the France pavillion in World Showcase
• Creme brulee at le Cellier at Epcot in Canada
• Ice cream cookie sandwich at Sleepy Hollow in Magic Kingdom