REVIEW: One of These New Animal Kingdom Lodge Snacks Deserves Jail Time (2024)

Who’s ready for an adventure?

I certainly was yesterday when I was working from Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge for a few hours on my Disney World vacation. Just as I was finishing my writing shift, I was asked if I wanted to throw on my reporter hat for the first time and review the new snacks that had just landed at The Mara. Of course, my answer was a resounding YES and now I’m here to tell you about the wonderful (and not-so-wonderful) snacks I got to try, and if they’re worth your time and money!

The stars had aligned for me, because while I’m a super picky eater, dessert is easily my favorite part of any meal, and that’s what 3/4 of these treats are! But let’s start with the outlier first — I grabbed the Passion Fruit, Orange, and Guava Frozen Slushy for $6.29.

Now, I’ve never had Passion Fruit, Guava, OR POG juice before, so I didn’t know what I was in for, but I really loved this! It was so refreshing on this scorching hot day, and while it melted super quick, then that meant I just got cold POG juice, which was cool with me! However, while I love sweet things, I could see this being too sweet for a lot of people — it was on the cusp of being too sweet for me, and for reference, I prefer my sweet tea to taste like hummingbird food according to my Mom, so take that as you will!

But now it’s time for DESSERT! I started with the most simple one, which was The Mara Cupcake for $6.29. This is a plain vanilla cupcake with POG (passion fruit, orange, and guava) filling and vanilla and guava buttercream icing.

I have one word for this cupcake: JAIL. Seriously — do not pass go, do not collect $200, STRAIGHT TO JAIL. The cupcake itself was moist and definitely vanilla flavored, but the filling? WHAT WAS THAT? It didn’t taste anything like POG. I can’t tell you what it tasted like, because I honestly couldn’t tell, but it was almost grainy and WET (gross, I know) and I was so confused.

And this frosting was supposed to be guava? LIES. I didn’t detect a HINT of guava — it just tasted like normal buttercream that happened to be colored green. Which, that’s not a terrible thing considering it could have been a lot worse, but it just wasn’t exciting and DEFINITELY wasn’t guava. It will make your teeth green though, just a heads up.

Moving on to the Sunflower Cake for $5.99, this was the one I was most excited for. It’s described as a marbled chocolate and vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream and chocolate chips. Chocolate cake? Count me IN.

I also have one word for this treat: LIAR. YOU SIT ON A THRONE OF LIES. There was no part of this that was vanilla or chocolate cake — I’m 90% sure it was carrot cake. It was definitely a spice cake of some kind, which in my opinion is almost the complete opposite of marble cake.

Now, to give it some credit, it wasn’t a bad carrot cake. Although, if you like yours super strong with lots of spices, this won’t be your thing, but I didn’t mind it (but it was weak enough that, as I said, I STILL can’t really tell what it was). However, the frosting on the top was meh. Maybe it was because it had been melting for half an hour, but the frosting was very thin and didn’t have much of a taste. And while the chocolate chips added texture, that was about it. Overall, this one was mediocre — grab it if you like carrot cake, but don’t go out of your way for it.

Now, the Coffee and Coconut Brownie for $4.99 was what I was most nervous about because I actually hate coffee. Like, with a passion. I wasn’t about to tell my bosses that though and was going to power through regardless, but I was so surprised — this was my FAVORITE thing!

A big part of that is because the main flavor here is chocolate (🙌), and I got very small hints of coconut and coffee. In fact, I didn’t notice the coffee at all until I was halfway through it (yes I did eat half the brownie and have no regrets). I was actively avoiding the coffee beans on top though, which was easy to do, so if you’re more of a fan of coffee, you can eat those for a stronger taste, or stay away from them like I did if you want just a hint.

Overall, this is a hit for chocolate fans, and if you like coconut and coffee, it’s just an added bonus. The brownie was so moist and soft, but even when the edges were a little more dry, the chocolate and mousse fixed it easily. If you get anything from here, PLEASE let it be this!

And there you have it! I would say if you’re over near the hotel, stop by to give 3/4 of these a try, but I would suggest leaving that cupcake in the fridge for someone else to ingest and be confused about. Be sure to stay tuned to AllEars for the latest Disney World news!

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Which one of these would you try? Tell me in the comments below!