If you’re craving a delectable dessert as you traverse the pathways of the new World of Frozen expansion at Hong Kong Disneyland, Northern Delights is the place for you. You can satisfy your sweet tooth with several unique items at the treats shop, including the Coronation Sundae, the Olaf Snowflake Smultringer, and much more.

Northern Delights

Outside

The exterior of the confectionery is themed to a traditional Northern European building, aesthetically fitting in with the rest of Arendelle.

Inside

Northern Delights sells “Frozen”-inspired kitchenware and other merchandise in addition to desserts.

You can read more about the items and all other merchandise available at World of Frozen here.

Menus & Display Cases

Menus are displayed as both on-counter printouts and electronically overhead.

Most items offered at Northern Delights are stored in a chilled display case.

Northern Delights Menu Items

Olaf Celebration Cake – HK$55 (US $7.04)

We’re glad that the Olaf Celebration Cake isn’t overly large, as it’s not something we would be all that interested in sharing with others. It’s phenomenal. The cake is soft and quite moist; there are hints of carrot and raisin flavors that work in unison to create a cake that we can’t get enough of.

The dessert is enhanced by the cream cheese frosting that’s rich in flavor without being overly sweet or invasive. It complements the cake as opposed to overpowering it; we’ve had carrot cakes in the past that we could only take a few bites out of because of the distinct sweetness, but that’s not an issue here. We could easily eat the entire treat.

The Olaf decoration atop the cake is made of standard white chocolate. It’s not terrible, it’s just unremarkable compared to the rest of the dish. Perhaps start with the Olaf chocolate piece should you purchase this treat so you can save the truly spectacular cake for last.

North Mountain Almond Tart – HK$55 (US $7.04)

The North Mountain Almond Tart is a better photo than a dessert, but that’s perhaps to be expected given how photogenic it is. The tart crust is crumbly and contains an almond filling that’s very subtle in flavor; though some may find it bland, we thought it was pleasant. The treat’s ‘mountain range’ is constructed of a white chocolate-flavored cream filled with a bergamot orange filling, and while the citrus flavor was nice, we found it to be more akin to mango.

This dessert looks better than it tastes, but that’s not to say it tastes bad. We still think it’s a winner.

Olaf Muffin – HK$50

We found ourselves at a bit of a loss at several points while eating the Olaf Muffin — initially because we were confused, but then because we were impressed. The large round dome that acts as Olaf’s head is a soft buttercream-esque icing that has the consistency of a dense mouse; while there is some muffin layered into the dome, it’s a bit strong on its own.

When paired with the muffin, however, it’s delightful. It adds a different flavor profile while still complementing the moist cake, which contains an unadvertised blueberry filling that’s subtle, but effective.

While not the most earth-shattering dessert in terms of flavor, we think the Olaf Muffin is a winner. It’s quite cute and takes a nice photo, and the flavors mix just well enough that we don’t think you’ll regret picking this up.

Coronation Sundae – HK$95

Light Milk Soft Serve Sundae on Elderflower Flavored Slush

We generally enjoy the ice cream served in Disney’s Asian parks, as it’s milky and lacks the artificial flavor found in most American ice cream. This particular ice cream doesn’t disappoint. It’s fantastic and is certainly the star of this dessert.

While we weren’t fond of the overly floral elderflower flavor of the slush, the texture and quality of the ice cream more than made up for any shortcomings.

We would recommend trying this; the ice cream is expectedly fantastic, and you may like the elderberry slush more than we did.

It even comes in a collectible souvenir dish — what’s not to love?

Summer Snow Day Soft Serve – HK$65

Light Milk Soft Flavored

There’s no shortage of Olaf representation in these desserts, but this one may take the cake in terms of creativity. Olaf’s head is made out of a shaped and decorated marshmallow sat atop the ice cream, with raisin buttons and milk chocolate branch arms effectively creating the rest of his appearance.

The treat tasted good, but it did melt quite quickly in the Hong Kong climate.

You can’t go wrong with ice cream at any of Disney’s Asian parks, and the other elements here create an incredibly cute and tasty enough treat that we think most people will enjoy.

Northern Delights Chocolate Box – HK$120

The Chocolate Box comes with four “Frozen”-themed gourmet truffles, two of which are made of white chocolate while the others are made of milk chocolate. The chocolate is generally good; it’s of a high quality and is quite sweet, certainly living up to the “gourmet” in its name.

That said, they’re just decorated truffles. Though there are four pieces, only two flavor profiles are present. The Snowgie and snowman desserts possess the same white chocolate flavor, while the other two truffles in the box have identical milk chocolate tastes.

Each chocolate is rich and quite sweet, with the white chocolate truffles being almost overpowering.

They’re cute and tasty desserts, but they’re ultimately just chocolate truffles. We don’t think you’ll regret getting them, but there are far better options available at Northern Delights. That said, the box is quite cute, and we think this would be a nice treat to take home to someone as a gift.

Olaf Snowflake Smultringer – HK$50

This dessert is as fun to eat as it is to say. We had never heard of a “smultringer” before indulging in this dish (they’re Norweigan cake doughnuts, if you’re curious), but boy, are we glad that they know what they are now. They’re delicious, and we think they’re a must-get if you visit World of Frozen.

The cake is soft and dense despite being housed in a cold case. The chocolate that covers each doughnut is rich, and while we prefer the blue-colored milk chocolate to the white chocolate frosting, both are delightful. The circular doughnuts also contain an unexpected and unadvertised raspberry filling, but that, too, is fantastic, complementing the not-overly-sweet cake with a welcomed berry flavor.

Though it’s another Olaf-centric dessert, we also thought that the smultringers were quite cute. It’s simply a spectacular treat that we could not recommend more vehemently.

Snowflake Churros

Disney listed the Snowflake Churros as a Forest Fare menu item in their mid-October World of Frozen guide, but the dessert is instead available at Northern Delights. The venue switch makes sense, considering the churros are covered with the blue milk chocolate frosting found on several items sold at the location.

The churros are pre-packed, which should provide insight into their overall quality. They’re not good. Ours were rock-hard, which is perhaps the least desirable attribute a churro can have. They were stale and had the texture and flavor of cardboard.

It’s a shame, as the chocolate coating is delightful. That said, there are several superior items at Northern Delights on which you can find the milk chocolate frosting. It’s safe to skip the churros.

World of Frozen Food Review

Watch Tom review ALL the World of Frozen food, including the Golden Crocus Inn menu, in this video.

To learn more about some of the other food available in World of Frozen, check out our review of the Forest Fare quick-service stand and of the land’s main dining location, Golden Crocus Inn. Check out some of our other World of Frozen coverage here:

• PHOTOS, VIDEO: Mossi the Baby Troll Interactive Puppet Character Debuts at World of Frozen
• PHOTOS, VIDEO: See the Royal Arendellian Troubadours Perform at World of Frozen in Hong Kong Disneyland
• PHOTOS, VIDEO: Take a Complete Day & Night Tour of World of Frozen at Hong Kong Disneyland
• Full List (With Prices) of New World of Frozen Merchandise at Hong Kong Disneyland
• PHOTOS, VIDEO: Take a (Short) Ride Through the Forest on Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs in World of Frozen at Hong Kong Disneyland

For the latest Disney Parks news and info, follow WDW News Today on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

The post REVIEW: Melting Olaf Ice Cream, Coronation Slush Sundae, Olaf Jelly Doughnuts, & More from Northern Delights in World of Frozen appeared first on WDW News Today.

The Walt Disney Company Board of Directors has declared the conglomerate’s first cash dividend since 2019, a $0.30 per share payment that will be dispersed to shareholders early next year.

The Walt Disney Company Declares First Dividend Since 2019

The Walt Disney Company declared the cash dividend on November 30, announcing it in a press release published on their official website:

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) Board of Directors today announced a cash dividend of $0.30 per share in respect of the second half of fiscal year 2023, payable January 10, 2024 to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 11, 2023.

The Walt Disney Company

A cash dividend is defined by Investopedia as “the distribution of funds or money paid to stockholders generally as part of the corporation’s current earnings or accumulated profits.” In simplest terms: investors who own shares of The Walt Disney Company will receive $0.30 per every share they own on January 10, 2024. The conglomerate announced that the dividend is “in respect of the second half of the fiscal year 2023,” indicating that the $0.30 dividend was calculated from only half of the year’s profits.

The Walt Disney Company, per StreetInsider.com, previously declared two dividends each year, the first typically coming in June and the second coming in late November. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted them to stop issuing dividends, as the last payout declared prior to Thursday’s announcement was in December 2019. The Walt Disney Company shared their intentions to reinstate dividends in February of this year.

The dividend yield, or “the percentage of a company’s share price that it pays out in dividends,” per Investopedia, of The Walt Disney Company’s recent declaration is 1.3%, roughly in line with the 1.2% yield of their 2019 dividends. The latest dividend is of a significantly lower price, however; each of the company’s declared dividends in 2019 were for $0.88.

Mark Parker, Chairman of the Board of The Walt Disney Company, stated the following regarding the new dividend:

This has been a year of important progress for The Walt Disney Company, defined by a strategic restructuring and a renewed focus on long-term growth. As Disney moves forward with its key strategic objectives, we are pleased to declare a dividend for our shareholders while we continue to invest in the company’s future and prioritize meaningful value creation.

Mark Parker, Chairman of the Board

The Walt Disney Company had an annual revenue of $88.9 billion in their Fiscal Year 2023, according to the press release. The company’s stock is currently trading at $92.69 per share, a significant rebound from the $78.76 nine-year low it was trading at in early October but a far cry from the over $100 per share price it hit at roughly this time last year. The stock price soared in November of 2022 following the return of Bob Iger as the company’s CEO.

Check out some of our other recent coverage about The Walt Disney Company:

• Disney Turns Down Nelson Peltz’s Request for Board Seats, Both Release Statements
• Elon Musk Tells Disney CEO Bob Iger ‘Go F*** Yourself’ Amid Advertising Pause
• Iger Less Optimistic About Disney Business in China, Offered to Sit Down with DeSantis but Governor Declined

For the latest Disney Parks news and info, follow WDW News Today on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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Two American former Walt Disney World Cast Members are suing Disney and Patina Restaurant Group after they were allegedly fired to be replaced with Italian Cast Members at the Italy Pavilion in EPCOT.

Former EPCOT Cast Members Suing Disney, Patina Restaurant Group

The World Showcase pavilions in EPCOT are traditionally populated by international Cast Members as part of Disney’s Cultural Representative Program. The program was suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Until Q-1 and J-1 visa workers could return, Americans and green card holders worked the pavilions instead. The Cultural Representative Program resumed in August 2022.

According to Court Watch, Patina hired Dahyana Cosme and Timothy Gocklin in 2022 to work in the Italy Pavilion, home to the Tutto Italia and Via Napoli restaurants. This year, they were laid off and replaced with Italian Cast Members, who they had to train. The international employees were sponsored by the Cultural Representative Program.

Cosme and Gocklin are suing both Disney Parks and Patina in the Middle District of Florida’s Orlando division. They seek back pay, punitive damages, and other compensation.

Morgan & Morgan filed the lawsuit in May 2023. Disney was not originally a defendant, but they were later added to the case.

Attorneys John Morgan, James Henson, and Matthew Gunter said in a statement, “Our clients’ allegations paint a picture of an intentional and illegal scheme of firing American workers and abusing the Q-1 and J-1 visa systems to replace them. Disney and Patina had plenty of options to handle this situation fairly and legally — for example, by transferring all the American workers to another department or restaurant — but instead allegedly decided to wholesale terminate over 100 workers due to their ethnicity and citizenship status. Operating a cultural exchange program at an internationally-themed park does not absolve Walt Disney World or Patina from their responsibilities to follow all applicable labor laws, and we will hold them accountable for this alleged injustice.”

They continued, “These firings had devastating impacts on dozens of former employees we represent, such as forcing a student to drop out of college and a single mother to move her family across the country to go live with her parents.”

Disney and Patina declined to comment for the Court Watch story. They submitted a Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit in September.

According to Patina, Cosme and Gocklin were only hired as temporary employees. The pair claim in the lawsuit that this was a surprise to them when they read it in their termination letters. Patina also said rolling terminations were determined by seniority.

“Patina operates two restaurants within a cultural exchange program approved by Congress and authorized by the Department of Homeland Security,” Patina stated in court documents. “This program introduces the cultures of other countries to the United States and allows those from other countries to learn about our country.” They argued Cosme and Gocklin “do not allege they could speak Italian or explain Italian customs, traditions, and culture based on their first-hand experience.”

In their Motion to Dismiss, Disney and Patina cited an earlier lawsuit from Anesh Gupta, a Cast Member from India who sued Disney because he was told he could not work in the Norway Pavilion because he was not Norwegian. Disney won that case in 2013.

“The Plaintiffs do not, however, offer one single allegation that they met the requirement of being ‘culturally authentic’ to Italy for purposes of continuing to work as servers at the Italian pavilion at Epcot’s World Showcase,” the Motion to Dismiss reads. “As a result, just as it was not the race, color, or national origin of Gupta that disqualified him from working at the Norway pavilion, it was not the race, color, or national origin that prevented the Plaintiffs from continuing to work at Defendant Patina’s restaurants. Rather, it was the fact that they did not meet the requirements that they be culturally authentic.”

Disney also notes that Cosme and Gocklin were not technically Disney employees, but third-party employees. The original lawsuit argues that they followed Disney rules, wore Disney costumes, and carried Disney ID cards.

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