The Story
While going through some photos from a recent Disneyland trip, I came across one that instantly triggered a food memory.
A while ago my husband, Nate, and I were supposed to go on a Disneyland adventure with my BFF and her family. Unfortunately, some unforeseen events occurred, which meant no trip for us. We were really sad about not only missing the trip with our friends, but also missing our favorite time of year, Halloween. They had never been able to experience the magic of Halloweentime at Disneyland and we had been looking forward to seeing their delighted reactions as they went for the first time.
After much deliberation, and financial Disney magic, we decided that this situation was not acceptable. My sister, Kelly, Nate and I plotted and schemed until the perfect plan evolved. We decided to drive the 10 hours down to Anaheim, and surprise them in the park. We didn’t have enough money or time off work to stay for the entire duration of the originally planned trip (this was pre-annual passes), but we could, however, go to Mickey’s Halloween Party. The party was cheaper than a park ticket, got us into Disneyland after 4pm, and included trick-or-treating, attractions and our personal favorite, Halloween Screams, the firework display. In addition, it is the only time adults can dress up in Disneyland!
We knew this surprise had to be perfect, so in the wee hours of the morning, Kelly and I wrote a scavenger hunt that would lead them right to us. We get our best ideas with a major lack of sleep, and this was no exception. We made them a little book of incredibly witty rhyming “spells”, each one a clue, (this is where we make the churro connection). They needed to think that the book was just a scavenger hunt to show them our favorite Halloween stops and offerings, and Churros are a staple on our trips. We carefully chose clues that were inside jokes, and that would lead them straight to us. The book was wrapped up and then presented just before they left. The first clues were to take a family photo in front of the big Mickey pumpkin, trade some Vinylmation and then get a churro. We didn’t want to chance anything going wrong, or be seen before the perfect moment. We needed to know their location at any given moment so that we could sneak to our hiding place, so we instructed them to open the parcel at exactly 4pm the day of the party. There were also rules to which stated that they must go in order and stick together.
The final spell sent them to Haunted Mansion Holiday to count how many times they could spot Jack Skellington (mean, right?). We were nervous, hiding in some bushes like a bunch of creepers, just outside of the attraction, waiting, waiting, waiting. It couldn’t have been more perfect. Our friends had dressed up like a 50’s family from Disneyland’s opening day, our costumes were: young Elli (me) and Carl (Nate), and a Wilderness Explorer (Kelly) from Up!. The youngest daughter has a bad knee, and was in a wheel chair. The stage was set, all of our weeks of preparation were about to pay off. Enter Kelly.
Kelly: Hi. My name is Kelly. And I am a Wilderness Explorer in Tribe 54, Sweat Lodge 12.
Daughter: laughter.
BFF (the mother): Kelly! Kelly! Kelly! What are you doing here? Where is Ginny?
Kelly: I was wondering if you could help me. I’m trying to earn my assisting the handi-capable badge. Can I assist you with your wheelchair?
(This was actually all blurred together while BFF was going crazy.)
And then they saw us and everyone freaked out. Best. Surprise. Ever.
All of that reminiscing over a photo of a churro.
So what came of this nice trip down memory lane? The intense desire to bring this flavor home from the park. What better way to do it than with a cupcake? I scoured the interweb and found three highly rated recipes for a churro cupcake and the throwdown was on.
In part 2, find out who won.
P.S.
It’s my BFF’s birthday today! Happy Birthday!
Just a Spoonful of Sugar 