Sunday Brunchies and
Crunchies: Sweet Cream Cheese Pretzel
13 May 2012
Author's note: The 'Sunday Brunchies and Crunchies'
edition of Sunday Brunch explores a single item in WDW. Rather than
dedicate a post to one whole restaurant, we'll be taking a quick and
critical look at some delicious Disney treats and dining
individually.
Churros, popcorn, funnel cakes-what did you think
of? Carnivals? County fairs? Disney World? Food has such a
connection with our memories of summertime events and destinations
that just the mere mention of a food brings you back to the season
and the fun times had while enjoying such food. Walt Disney World
serves all of those great snacks, but also has its own assortment of
go-to Disney summertime snacks like the infamous
Dole Whip,
the classic
Mickey
Premium Bar, and one of the newest Disney snacks, the
Mickey
Mouse Soft Pretzel.
Soft Pretzels have been present at Walt Disney World
for a long time, though the usual Super Pretzel found at ballparks
and movie theaters had less appeal to me for a theme park snack.
That all changed when I heard about the Sweet Cream Cheese Pretzel.
I've had multiple friends tell me about its existence, though I
never had the chance to have one because apparently they are only
sold in certain locations in the parks. Upon further research, the
Cream Cheese Pretzel is also available in Epcot at the Fife and Drum
Tavern, the small snack stand in front of the American Adventure.
They've also been seen at the seasonally opened Pretzel Garden on
Streets of America and my friend Aaron recently saw them listed on
the menu at the pretzel cart at the exit of Great Movie Ride. Though
I know for sure you can find them at the Magic Kingdom in
Rockettower Plaza beneath Astro Orbiter at the cleverly named quick
service food stand, The Lunching Pad.


These elusive pretzels have been dodging the grasp
of my hunger for weeks since I heard about them. When hanging out
with my friends, we tend to end up in Magic Kingdom at nighttime
since typically it is the park that stays open the latest. So after
fun frolics in Fantasyland or sailing through the stars in Space
Mountain, we realize it's time to recharge with Disney snacks. At
this point someone in the group remembers that you can get Cream
Cheese Pretzels in Tomorrowland. With hunger in our bellies and a
sweet treat in our mind, we would proceed to rush to the Lunching
Pad-only to find out it is closed. For reasons beyond our control,
this dining location decides it should close an hour or two before
the park does. It certainly lives up to its name, as lunchtime is
far from over at this hour.
So for this week's Sunday Brunchies and Crunchies, I
was determined to finally have one of these pretzels and I knew the
only way I could was to actually have lunch at the Lunching Pad.
While half of the group headed to the nearby Cosmic Ray's Starlight
Café, our very own Hidden Mickey Monday writer Alex and I bolted for
Cream Cheese Pretzels.

FINALLY!
The pretzel arrived hot and fresh with an odd sort
of crumb coating. I had trouble trying to decipher what it was
because it had no particular kind of flavor at all. Visually, I'd
guess it was either a cookie crumb or streusel coating. If it was
the latter, perhaps it was more flour than sugar. Either way, I'm
thinking its presence is to help distinguish this pretzel between
the regular ones.
Upon first bite, you find the pretzel certainly
lives up to its name and then some. Cream cheese filling filled
every bite, though my first impression was that the filling was not
the overly sweet cream cheese taste one normally finds with cream
cheese frostings and fillings. It was sweet, but only just enough to
add a light background of sweetness for the main star of the soft
pretzel and cream cheese. Alex and I both felt like it was more of
cream filled bread than the dessert like pastry we were expecting,
which was not a bad thing at all.

Creamy cheese filling
The Sweet Cream Cheese Pretzel is somewhat of a
misnomer as sweetness is not the first descriptor one would think
of. If your goal is to have a sweet treat, you may be a bit
disappointed with this pretzel, but for others, it satisfies in many
ways. It's a great alternative to the other sweet treats of Disney
and also an interesting twist to the regular salty pretzel!