Corporate Downsides

There were two less great incidents on our trip. Neither were huge deals, but there were some common threads.

Remember two weeks ago when I said the only competition for the Minnie's Bake Shop Chocolate Chip Supreme cookies are the Colossal Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip Cookies at the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop in California Adventure? My sisters had requested that we bring them some, along with some Boudin sourdough bread from the Pacific Wharf Café right across.

One of the exciting things about staying at one of the resort hotels would be that I could have our purchases sent to the room. I confidently requested this service and was told that they (the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop) were not Disney, so they could not do that. She also could not accept the Disney gift card that I had been going to use to pay.

It felt like she was a little curt about it. That may have been my shock at receiving the two negatives in a row - so unusual for Disney. I interacted with two other people in the shop, and they were both friendly and warm as expected, but this took me back.

(I didn't really buy any other souvenirs until the last day in the hotel, so I never got to try.)

My sisters had one other request: Sprinkles cupcakes was doing a January Care Bear promotion, and although it was supposed to end a few days before we would be there, they wanted me to check.
There is a Sprinkles in Downtown Disney.

http://sprinkles.com/cupcakes/flavors/calendar-january/care-bears

I was pretty sure that there would be no hope of still finding Care Bear cupcakes, but I still agreed to look. I thought it would be really cool to try a cupcake ATM, which Sprinkles is known for:

http://sprinkles.com/cupcake-atm

One thing you may not know about me is that I have never been to a place that specializes in cupcakes without being disappointed. People may rave about them, like at Saint Cupcake. They often have ingenious and impressive layouts, like Kara's Cupcakes in San Francisco. (It looked like a jewelry store. So gorgeous.) I know cupcakes can be good, because I have had good cupcakes in other circumstances, but somehow the places that specialize in cupcakes seem to focus more on appearance, and the taste is kind of blah.

So far, I am four for four.

Don't get me wrong - the cupcakes were not horrible, but they weren't great, and it is weird to me that a shop that does nothing but cupcakes shouldn't have terrific cupcakes. Also, I bought them in the store, because I saw no ATM at this location. I would have had to go in anyway to ask about the Care Bears, but you guessed it, no Care Bears.

But, not for the reason you expected. The issue was not the date, but because this particular Sprinkles is located in Downtown Disney, they couldn't do the Care Bear promotion at all -- competing registered trademarks, I guess.

So somehow the place outside the park was too Disney, but the place inside the park was not Disney enough.

All in all, if these are the worst things that happened to us on this trip (and they were), we're doing okay.

I would say that I am taking recommendations for good cupcake shops, but the truth is I won't believe you anymore. Too jaded.