The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (146 page)

Clarabelle’s Hand-Scooped Ice Cream
(S)

[
FastView:
 
Sundaes, cones, and rich, decadent, hand-crafted ice cream bars.
]

The first
Mickey Mouse
cartoon released in theaters was sound-sation
Steamboat Willie
(1928).  But the very first
Mickey
animated short produced was
Plane Crazy
.  And it was in that very first
Mickey
short that
Clarabelle Cow
first appeared.  Although she’s a minor character, lesser-known than others in the
Disney
universe,
Clarabelle
is a classic, and she’s been been part of
Mickey
’s world since day one.

Like all of
Disney
’s anthropomorphic animals,
Clarabelle
evolved over time.  In
Plane Crazy
, she’s a plain old cow.  By the 1930’s, she’s bipedal, with skirt and blouse and high heels, and, like
Minnie
and
Daisy
, she prominently sports a hair bow.

Clarabelle
rarely appeared in animated shorts after the early 1940’s, although she made appearances in
Disney
comics from the 1930’s through the 1980’s.  But modern
Disney
animators and writers have a reverence for
Disney
roots, so
Clarabelle
still makes cameos in contemporary
Mickey
programs and video games. 
Clarabelle
will never be a star–but she has not been forgotten.

Mickey’s Toontown
opened in
Disneyland Park
in 1993–almost 20 years ago; where does the time go?–and the ice cream shop in
Toontown
’s food court was dubbed
Clarabelle’s Frozen Yogurt
.  Because who is a more natural purveyor of dairy products than a cow? 
Clarabelle’s Frozen Yogurt
is a tiny counter vending frozen yogurt, ice cream bars, and the odd sandwich.  The clever black-and-white pattern of its shutter conceals a
Hidden Mickey
.

In
DCA
, on
Buena Vista Street
, another, much more ambitious
Clarabelle’s
has opened: 
Clarabelle’s Hand-Scooped Ice Cream
.  Located between
Trolley Treats
and the
Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Café
,
Clarabelle’s
premises are pretty and airy, partaking of the 1920’s style of the district–delicate scrolls of wrought iron, painstakingly crafted decorative tiles, a black-and-white diamond-patterned floor.  Boldly geometric star-shaped lamps resemble, by stretch of the imagination, ice cream cones.

Guests queue between the iron railings.  There are no tables or chairs cluttering
Clarabelle’s
.  Seating is available outside on
Carthay Circle
, or next door at the
Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Café
.  Large menu boards over the order counters let you decide what you want while you wait in line.

All the ice cream served here is
Dreyer’s
, an old California brand, co-founded in 1928 by ice cream maker
William Dreyer
and candy maker Joseph Edy. 
Dreyer’s
is now owned by
Nestlé
, which has a contract with
Disneyland
(notice that the delicious hot cocoa you buy at
Disneyland
snack stands is manufactured by
Nestlé
).  The menu is simple and the products mouthwateringly tasty.

T
he ice cream flavors are classics: 
Butter Pecan
,
Chocolate
,
Chocolate Chip
,
Cookies and Cream
,
Mint Chocolate Chip
,
Mocha Almond Fudge
,
Strawberry
, and
Vanilla
.

Prices are reasonable considering the friendly–albeit
sometimes slow–service, and the freshness and taste of the ice cream.  Single-scoop cones or cups are $3.99 (Regular), $4.49 (Waffle), or $4.99 (Waffle dipped in chocolate, with or without sprinkles).

Dou
ble-scoop cones or cups are $4.49 (Regular), $5.19 (Waffle), or $5.49 (Waffle dipped in chocolate, with or without sprinkles).

Clarabelle’s
serves rich sundaes too: 
Chocolate Chip Cookie Hot Fudge Sundae
($6.29),
Mint Sundae
($5.99),
Mocha Sundae
($5.99), and
Strawberry Sundae
($5.99).  All sundaes include two scoops of ice cream, whipped cream, and sweet toppings.  For $11.99, have your sundae served in an adorable little replica of the
Red Car Trolley
.  (Rinsed and dried, the trolleys make cute souvenirs).

My personal favorite
s at
Clarabelle’s
, the unusual, standout items, are the hand-crafted ice cream bars. 
Hand-Dipped Ice Cream
costs about $5 each, and it’s a steal.  A Cast Member takes a
Chocolate
,
Mixed Berry Sorbet
, or
Vanilla Bean
bar of ice cream, and prepares it to your specifications.  They will dip it in
Milk Chocolate
or
Dark Chocolate
.  They will roll it in
Blue Raspberry Bursts
,
Chocolate Chips
,
Confetti Mickeys
,
Rainbow Sprinkles
, or the
Whole Herd
.

There are so many possible combinations of hand-crafted ice cream bars–all delicious. 
Mixed Berry Sorbet
dipped in
Dark Chocolate
with
Blue Raspberry Bursts
is a particular winner.  So is
Vanilla Bean
dipped in
Milk Chocolate
with
Confetti Mickeys
.  Have fun finding your own combinations!

Note that the Cast Members here tend to be conscientious craftspersons.  They don’t just jumble together your treat and toss it at you.  They build it, slowly and carefully, and that takes time. 
It’s worth the wait, during which you can examine all the details in the displays behind the counters; you might even spot a
Hidden Mickey
.

No matter what ice cream treat you choose, grab plenty of napkins at the nearby
Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Café
; with all that ice cream and fudge and sprinkles and what-not, something is going to drip, drop, or spill, especially if you have kids!

One word to the wise:  If you’re simply looking for a lemonade, soda
, or water, don’t wait in the often long lines next door at the
Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Café
.  Swing by
Clarabelle’s
, where you can choose from a limited beverage menu (prices range from $3 to $3.50) and be served in mere minutes.

Like
Clarabelle Cow
,
Clarabelle’s Hand-Scooped Ice Cream
is a bit player among celebrities, an ice cream shop next door to a vast café and across the street from a high-class restaurant.  But, also like
Clarabelle Cow
,
Clarabelle’s
is reliable and pleasant. 
Did You Know?
 
William Dreyer
, who hailed from Germany, arrived in the U.S. in the early 1900’s, one of many immigrants who settled in California and launched signature food corporations. 
Did You Also Know?
 
Clarabelle Cow
appeared in
The Band Concert
(1935), the animated short that inspired
DCA
’s
Silly Symphony Swings
.  She played the flute. 
Hidden Mickeys:
  One of the spots on the cows on the
Clarabelle’s Dairy
milk bottles is shaped like
Mickey
’s head.

Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Café
(B, L, D, S)

[
FastView:
 
Simple dishes and
Starbucks
coffee in bright and lovely surroundings where seating is plentiful.  Lines move faster than you expect.  Start or end your park day here.
]

Mickey Mouse
was a smash hit the moment he was introduced to the world in
Steamboat Willie
(1928).  If
Walt
had been a man of limited vision, he would have dedicated all his studio resources to cranking out more
Mickey
, all the time, until the last drop of profit had been wrung from films about the plucky little cartoon mouse.

But
Walt
was a man of limitless and uncanny vision.  He was fond of
Mickey
, the little mouse he voiced and had co-created, but
Walt
knew his studio could create other characters, too, and other stories, and someday make animation a genuine art form.

So while
a portion of the studio resources were deployed to continue making
Mickey
shorts, others were diverted to more innovative projects.  Called
Silly Symphonies
, these cartoons, while entertaining, were pushing technical and narrative boundaries that would one day lead to the creation and overwhelming public and critical acceptance of
Disney
’s full-length animated feature
Snow White
(1937).

Milestone
Silly Symphony
shorts included the very first of these shorts,
The Skeleton Dance
(1929), marvelously fluid, directed by
Walt
, and premiering at Hollywood’s
Carthay Circle Theatre
;
Flowers and Trees
(1932), the first real Technicolor cartoon; and
The Old Mill
(1937), which featured
Disney
’s initial use of its multiplane camera.

And, of course, the
crème de la crème
,
The Three Little Pigs
(1933).  This was
Disney
’s most popular animated short, an Academy Award-winning blockbuster that was held over at theaters for weeks, even months, much longer than many feature films were held, and launched a catchy song,
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf
, that is sung and covered to this day.

Sometimes in entertainment, lightning strikes.  The better you are, and the harder you work, the more often lightning will strike, but a lot of it is luck, and somehow plugging into the
zeitgeist
. 
Mickey Mouse
mesmerized audiences and critics from the first note he whistled in 1928. 
The Three Little Pigs
sparked incredible adulation and repeat viewing when it premiered in 1933.

Everyone wanted to see the cartoon again and again–so they did. 
The Three Little Pigs
was an old tale, dating back at least to the 1800’s, but
Walt
and his team had presented it in a way that made it irresistible to contemporary audiences.  The animation, the artistry, the characters, the music–it all blended in a heady little cinematic elixir that people wanted and perhaps needed to experience during those dark days of the Great Depression.

Everyone saw the cartoon and everyone sang
Frank Churchill
’s wonderful song, from top entertainers to the guy on the corner.  Who was afraid of “the
Big Bad Wolf
”–widely regarded as a symbol of the horrors of the Depression?  “Not me,” people sang, “that’s who!” 
Disney
had given everybody an anthem, a tune with which to flippantly scoff at the fear and privation and poverty which was hammering, or about to hammer, at their doors.

What inspired
Walt
to make music such a vital part of the cartoon?  There’s
Fiddler Pig
, and
Fifer Pig
, and that sprightly
Big Bad Wolf
tune–it’s impossible to imagine the short without its music. 
Buena Vista Street
posits a fictional theory as to what inspired
Walt
.  This district is layered with make-believe back stories, what-ifs.  What if a Los Angeles service station called
Oswald
’s sparked the creation of a cartoon rabbit?  And what if a lively Depression-era café in
Silver Lake
, filled with music and camaraderie, inspired
Walt
’s take on
The Three Little Pigs
?