Slow-melting

You have a small group, or know someone who could devour half of a buffet on their own, in Walt Disney World and everyone is craving ice cream. What do you do? I’m willing to bet your mind immediately drifted to the grand-daddy of all sundaes, the Kitchen Sink at Beaches and Cream. But what if I told you there was a second option in the colossal ice cream category?

Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop, located in the Downtown Disney Marketplace, is well known for its hot beverages infused with chocolate and even their individual sundaes are mentioned now and again. However, when it comes to ridiculously over the top ice cream, the have a dish that steals the show. Known as the Earthquake, it is most certainly enough to rock your world!The foundation of this silver platter is eight scoops of ice cream, with choices including: Vanilla, Ghirardelli Chocolate, Strawberry, Espresso Chip, Cookies & Cream, Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Strawberry Cheesecake, Ghirardelli Rocky Road, Kona Coffee, Mint Chocolate Chip and Butter Pecan. Another assortment of eight comes from the catalog of toppings: Milk Hot Fudge, Dark Hot Fudge, Chocolate Syrup, Warm Caramel, Crushed Pineapple, Sliced Strawberry, Warm Peanut Butter, Marshmallow Cream, Blueberry and Butterscotch. Piled on and around the mountain of ice cream and toppings are freshly cut bananas, decadent chocolate chips, chopped almonds and whipped cream. I would say it comes topped with a cherry, but that would be slighting the no less than seven cherries which crown this beauty.

You would think, as we did when we ordered it, that this may make for some rather odd combinations, such as Cookies & Cream topped with Blueberry. Such arrangements would seem unappetizing, but they aren’t. Clearly, the hands that craft this massive sundae have been well educated in the art of blending flavors.

The true joy of this dessert comes from the interactions amongst all the people eating it. Whether it’s sharing a favorite flavor or arguing over who’s eaten too much of a specific scoop, there are sure to be laughs aplenty as you dig in the Ghirardelli’s Earthquake and I promise it will be gone before you want it to be. Clearly we didn’t have much of problem polishing this dish off…