Posts Tagged ‘Candy Palace’

Disneyland Tour: Penny Arcade faux entrance

Thursday, April 19th, 2012

Disneyland Tour: Penny Arcade faux entrance

Why does the side entrance to the Candy Palace look like the entrance to a penny arcade? There are two reasons. First, because only people with money are attracted to an arcade, and Disneyland’s marketing department loves it when the park’s stores are filled with people who have money. And second, because people who are tricked into a candy store are less likely to say “Wait! This isn’t a penny arcade!” and more likely to say “Hey! Candy!”

This may sound cold, calculating, and unmagically marketing centered, but in reality it’s something that Disneyland has been doing from day one. The next time you visit the park, notice just how many examples there are of “bait and switch” tactics employed. For example:

  • Almost nothing in the Tiki Room is actually enchanted.
  • The Pirates are from Anaheim, not the Carri bean.
  • We’re supposed to believe that the Pooh ride is an “attraction?” Really?

Nothing negative is implied by these revelations, of course. All these minor deceptions are designed to enhance the guest experience in one way or another. If they leave you feeling a little uneasy, though, just remember that the Haunted Mansion really is haunted, Toontown is officially a California town, and the Matterhorn is, in fact, 100% matter.

Coming up next: Plaza Pavilion

Disneyland Tour: Candy Palace sweets

Tuesday, April 10th, 2012

Disneyland Tour: Candy Palace sweets

Within the Candy Palace can be found a variety of delights, such as salt-water taffy, fudge, chocolate, things covered in chocolate, fudge covered in things, and children covered in chocolate, fudge, and taffy. Goofy Candy Company products — famous for their wacky shapes, strange sizes, and/or unusual ingredients (e.g., hot pepper, bamboo sugar, and, before 1997, fiberglass) — can also often be found here. In the center of the Palace is the refrigerated case pictured above, from which can be purchased hand-dipped deep-fried Twinkies, chocolate-covered turkey legs, and cakes that appear to have been baked within cups.

A variety of traditional treats is also available, such as jellied beans, jawbreakers large and strong enough to actually fulfill the promise of their name, and a lovely display of colorful giant suckers, many of which were present on Disneyland’s opening day in 1955.

The Candy Palace’s quality standards are impeccably high, having earned a seven-star rating from the American Society for Dentist Job Security. Any treat that shows the slightest flaw or damage and isn’t peanut brittle is immediately removed from public view and taken back stage where it is labeled for donation to pre-diabetic orphans. From its earliest days, the Candy Palace was known for its flawlessly executed fresh chocolate mint patties, the perfection and quality of which gave birth to the popular phrase “in mint condition.”

One final notable thing about the sweets in the Candy Palace is that none of the delightful treats made on premises have any calories (in Disney parlance, both dieting and obesity are “bad show”).

Coming up next: Refreshment Corner

Disneyland Tour: Candy Palace chef

Monday, April 9th, 2012

It’s been a couple of days since our last post in the Disneyland Tour series, so we thought we’d get back into the game. We’ll try posting two or three of these a week and see if our readers are still interested in having their Disney knowledge expanded in this way.

Besides, we spent a whole day taking hundreds of photos of the park and they’re hogging space on our hard drive so we need to move them onto the internet to make more room for our collection of “Release Song of the South” petitions and Brave fanfic.

Disneyland Tour: Candy Palace

One of the most popular features of the Candy Palace is its large display window, through which chefs and chefettes can be seen hand-crafting various handsome confections by hand with their hands. In the early days of the park, the cast members in this display area were not trained cooks but rather actors who had auditioned to play the part of candy makers (or “Mousekonfectionteers,” as Walt Disney called them). They were massively popular — entertaining guests with wacky pantomime and occasional pie- or molten-sugar-throwing antics — but had to be removed when the health department pointed out that their creations tended to be low on tastiness but high on insects, hair, and foreign objects.

The Candy Palace is particularly busy during the holidays when the candymasters make large candy canes the old fashioned way, with cane sugar and actual peppered mints. Guests who want to purchase one of these fabulous creations must line up on Main Street on certain designated “cane crafting” days hours before the Palace’s opening, stand in the order dictated by their numbered wristband, take the “True Spirit of Christmas” pledge, and be prepared to fork over $20 for their allotment of a single cane. The high price has led to an inordinate number of candy-cane speculators who stand in line (or hire others to stand in line for them) in the hope of making a big profit by selling their candy cane on eBay for perhaps ten or twenty times its original price.

When the candy cane tradition first started, the treats were not in such short supply. Instead, Disney hired extra chefs to work in the Candy Palace’s window to increase output. But as demand rose, the number of chefs increased to the point that the display window became known as something of a minty, Christmassy, sweatshop of claustrophobic delights, leading to a change in policy.

Trivia: If you look carefully at this photo, you can plainly see that the Candy Palace’s window — like all windows on Main Street — is made from special glass that does not reverse reflections. It’s magical!

Coming up next: Candy Palace sweets

Disneyland Tour: Candy Palace

Wednesday, April 20th, 2011

Disneyland Tour: Candy Palace

In terms of customers per square foot, Disneyland’s Candy Palace has been the most popular shop on Main Street since the interactive Intimate Apparel Shop closed in 1956. It often has to stay open up to two hours longer than the rest of the park just to deal with the massive press of customers who can’t even comprehend leaving the park for the day without some handmade peanut brittle, a bar of chocolate, or a giant Lollypop-Guild-style lollypop (even though the Lollypop Guild was in The Wizard of Oz which isn’t even a Disney film).

Guests standing beneath the Candy Palace’s awning may notice the subtle scent of peppermint or vanilla. This scent is piped in from gigantic tanks of compressed scent back stage and helps give the Candy Palace’s regular guests their bright aura of joyful, nostalgic addiction. People noticing this scent and wondering where it came from led to guests saying that around the Candy Palace something wonderful was “in the air” — giving birth to the popular phrase.

Coming up next: Candy Palace chef