Author’s Note: Like Tim & Jenn’s vlog, TimTracker.com strives to be a family friendly website,
but I do have the sense of humor of the average ten year-old, so this one may have more than a
couple poop jokes.
Recently Tim made a trip out to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to check out the new Toy Story gift
shop inside Toy Story Land.
Tim stopped in at the ABC Commissary and got to try a couple brand new, snacks. The
Sorcerer’s Hat cookie, which was originally available for the Hollywood Studios 30 th Anniversary
celebration, and Forky’s Hazenut Éclair, which is special treat in honor of Toy Story 4.
I thought the Sorcerer’s Hat cookie was one the most delicious and imaginative looking treats
I’ve ever seen at a Disney park, rivaling my favorite – the Spaceship Earth cupcake that used to
be available at the Fountain View Starbucks in Epcot. The cookie was a 3D blue fondant
Sorcerer Mickey hat with chocolate ears, perched on a flat shortbread cookie, and loaded with
frosting and cake. It looked really tasty, and according Tim’s review, it is.
Forky’s Éclair on the other hand did not exactly appeal to me visually. The strip of white
chocolate with Forky on it looked fine, but the orangish-yellow frosting looked a bit like
squeezable cheese. Apparently the eclair is orange and chocolate flavored, which reminds me
of the weird chocolate covered orange peel candies my family used to get at the Florida
welcome centers in the 80’s. Not my favorite flavor combo.
However I’d have to give both high-points for being creative and unusual desserts. That also
reminded me of another weird snack offering Walt Disney World once offered for a limited
time – very limited. So, it’s time to step into the Tracker Vault once again, and set the controls
back 4 years, to a time when Disney’s Animal Kingdom briefly sold brownies inspired by . . .
animal poop.
Yeah, that’s right. Animal poop brownies. I’m not making it up. In fact I’d give anything to have
been sitting in on that pitch meeting. “Guys, I was riding Kilimanjaro Safari today, and I had a
great idea!” Do you think it was someone in the food & beverage department, or someone in
animal care? The person I don’t envy is the unlucky Willie Wonka-Wannabe that had to do the
actual research to determine which, um, specimens would best translate into a chocolate treat.
I joke, but the truth is that, however you felt about the animal dropping brownies, it shows the
unbridled imagination combined with risk-taking that has always made Disney the best in the
creativity business.
The poop brownies, which were labeled “Match the Species” were sold exclusively at Zuri’s
Sweet Shop in Harambe Village. The different droppings belonged to the giraffe, elephant,
hippo, and the oh so adorable cotton-top tamarin.
Side note: Not sure they’re still around, but at one time, those little Einstein-headed primates
also had an exclusive cupcake sold in the park at one time.
This may be the weirdest statement I’ve ever written, but the one that looked the most
appetizing and also closest to real animal droppings, to me, was the giraffe. It was actually
multiple dark balls. Tim described them as tasting like a really thick Tootsie Pop. And of course,
due to a weird oily liquid under the chocolates, this video features the historic moment when
Jenn asked the age-old question: “Is giraffe poop oily?”
The elephant poop was a big lump covered with what appeared to be coconut flakes on top. It
looked dry to me but they both said it was actually tasty. Very nutty. Which, I mean, it’s an
elephant so . . .
The cotton-top tamarin poo actually sounded good too. It looked like a lumpy mess but they
said it was good and contained pretzel inside. And perhaps the least appetizing was the hippo
poo, which looked like a brown ball, and Jenn said tasted like a Cliff bar.
Sadly I never got to taste-test the poop treats myself. They didn’t last long. Why, we may never
know. Maybe people found it too distasteful (but did they even taste them?) But Suri’s always
offers some fun, interesting snacks to try out, along with the traditional sweets like candied
apples molded to look like wild animals, and rice cereal treats.
On my last visit, I tried a simple milk-chocolate Mickey head that had pieces of dried banana
inside. It was delicious. And more importantly, the chocolate was ice cold, so it was oddly
refreshing on a sweltering early-September day when the sub-Saharan Africa theming magically
extended to the temperature outside.
As strange as some might think animal poop brownies were, I love when Disney takes big
swings. Whether it’s an attraction, a show, or something as seemingly inconsequential as a
snack item, sometimes you have to take risks and do something completely unexpected. Sure,
they may strike out, but sometimes they send one sailing and everybody cheers. And when
those big swings involve chocolate, I’m 100% in favor of it!
Besides, how else would we ever hear Tim say: “We got too much poop for us to eat in one
sitting, so I just shoved a box full of poop in my backpack.”
