I don’t know who comes up with these things, but today, August 6, is National Root Beer Float Day. Google it. It’s true. In honor of this frosty treat of perfection we are happy to share with you some Root Beer Floats of the Disney Parks.
Our first float comes to you from the newly opened Ghirardelli Store in Disney California Adventure.
Ghirardelli in Disney California Adventure
Ghirardelli uses hand scooped ice cream and serves their floats up in open-top plastic cups. You can opt for a cover, but not until you have a few sips/bites. It overflows quickly, so have your straw and spoon ready to take action!
Ghirardelli Root Beer Float
Next up, I give you the “Route” Beer Float served over at Disney California Adventure’s Cars Land. You can find this one in the Ice Cream Cone (Cone #2) over at the Cozy Cone Motel!
Sally serves up her floats with soft served ice cream swirled into a clear dome topped plastic cup (unless you opt for the $9.50 souvenir version). I LOVE that the lids are already on. Much less messy. Especially for kids!
Heading over to Disneyland, a great place to relax and get a root beer float is at The Golden Horseshoe. Watch a show, drink a float, enjoy some air conditioning. Fantastic!
Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe
The Golden Horseshoe uses hand scooped Dreyer’s Ice Cream and Barq’s Root Beer to create their signature floats.
Golden Horseshoe Dessert Menu
Served up in an open top plastic cup, The Golden Horseshoe is a great place to enjoy a Root Beer Float while you giggle to the tunes and jokes of its resident performers Billy Hill and the Hillbillies!
Golden Horseshoe Root Beer Float
Billy Hill and the Hillbillies on Stage at The Golden Horseshoe
Over in Disney World, you can get Root Beer Floats at lots of counter- and quick-service locations, ice cream shops, and more! They’ll come in both soft-serve and hard-scooped ice cream versions!
Here’s a gorgeous hard-scooped ice cream version float from Fountainview Cafe in Epcot’s Future World!
Hand-Scooped Ice Cream Float in Epcot
And here’s a yummy soft-serve version from Storybook Treats in the Magic Kingdom!
Root Beer Float
Of course, you can get your floats with just about any flavor of soda-pop, so don’t feel hemmed in by Root Beer when you’re in the parks! (Then again, if you’re there today, you HAVE to get root beer since it’s National Root Beer Float Day. ;-D)
HAPPY NATIONAL ROOT BEER FLOAT DAY! Where do you pick up YOUR favorite Disney Root Beer Float?
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I remember enjoying root beer floats while watching the Main Street Electrical Parade with my family out on the patio at the Carnation Ice Cream Parlor as our visits to Disneyland wound down in the evening.
at the golden horseshoe a classic!
Don’t forget that Ghirardelli has a WDW location as well.
The best part of a root beer float is the root beer/vanilla frozen foam caused by the plop of the ice cream into the soda! These bubbles are why hand scooped floats are superior to the soft serve variety. Soft serve doesn’t disturb the soda enough and just flows to the bottom. Also, the cups in the last two pictures are not good for root beer floats. The ice cream is held in the larger part prevented from splashing down deep into the soda, and the soda doesn’t come up and envelop the ice cream right away.
In my humble opinion the best floats are at the Fountain at the Dolphin, but you have to ask for it. On the menu they say they offer the soft serve variety, so tell them you want a hand scoop. 2 out of 3 times they had no problem with doing it. The third time I asked and the young girl behind the counter froze, stared at me with her mouth open for a minute, then uncomfortably muttered something about having to ask the manager. I ordered something else.
@Karen – That sounds like a perfect evening. I used to love to get ice cream over there too!
@Didiz – You are right, The Golden Horseshoe IS classic! Working on getting a review up soon.
@Galloping Gourmand – I agree, hand scooped all the way. They are however much better if you can sit and enjoy them. That foam is not convenient for walking around the parks. Which is why I liked the dome top one for my kids.