Disney vacation out of the question? This Olathe author offers a taste of the magic

As the holidays roll around, you might be thinking of previous vacations to places like the Disney parks. If your happy memories of Disney include drinks like Popping Yuzu Lemonade or a Poor Unfortunate Souls Float, Olathe resident Ashley Craft can help you recreate that experience without leaving the state.

Craft just came out with her second volume of Disney flavors, “The Unofficial Disney Parks Drink Recipe Book.” Her first was 2020’s “The Unofficial Disney Parks Cookbook.” A third volume focusing on the foods in Disney’s EPCOT will come out next summer.

“I don’t come up with this stuff. I just copy it. I just provide means for everybody to enjoy them,” she said.

Craft grew up in Anaheim, California, right by Disneyland. She even did Disney internships. At this point, she’s lost track of just how many times she’s visited Disney parks. She calls herself a self-taught home cook.

For this book, she made several special research trips to the Disney parks just to try different drinks.

“I have tested every single one of these in my own kitchen. I have tasted most of them at the Disney parks,” Craft said.

Craft, her husband and their three kids moved to the area last year when her husband got a job at the University of Kansas Hospital system. She wrote her first book in the midst of that move, during Disney’s pandemic shutdown, so that one was all from memory and internet research.

When she visits the parks, Craft tastes the drinks and foods, takes notes and photos and asks the park staff questions about what’s in it and what drinks are popular. During one research trip last year, Craft and her sister hit the four Orlando Disney parks in four days, sampling a total of 26 drinks.

“Any time I go to (Disney) parks, I eat all new foods and take notes, even if I’m not currently working on a book,” Craft said.

Although she does take her kids to Disney parks, the research trips aren’t always the best time to do that. Of her six or seven research trips in the last year, she took her kids on about half.

“When I go on research trips, I don’t get to go on a lot of rides. I go from one food place to the next. The kids aren’t as patient with that,” Craft said.

In addition to research trips, she went online, surfing Instagram, Reddit, Twitter and more to find out the different experiences people had with the various drinks.

“I want to find out what the flavor profiles are, what different colors are in there, what kind of cups are they served in. I just always think you can’t have too much information,” she said.

Although she has to pay for all her own research trips, the success of her first book has made that a good investment. Craft said in its first year, she’s sold 265,000 copies.

With 130 recipes that Craft says are easy for anyone to make, there’s a whole spectrum in the drinks book. People can start out with simpler ones such as Cotton Candy Lemonade, then stretch to more elaborate ones such as the Bam Bam Shake, which requires pre-baked elements.

When she’s testing a recipe, Craft makes three to five versions at a time with different proportions of ingredients. Her kids serve as taste testers, too.

“They love all of them, which is hilarious. They would just say, ‘Oh, wow. This is the best thing you’ve ever made.’ Then they’d take a sip of the next one. ‘Oh, this is the best thing you’ve ever made.’ It doesn’t sound as great if you say it over and over again,” she said.

Craft’s favorite is the Hoodunit’s Punch, a tropical drink from the BoardWalk area at Walt Disney World. Her kids prefer the various slushies and milkshakes.

The only recipes in the book Craft did not re-create herself are the alcoholic ones, since she doesn’t drink alcohol. Her publisher, Simon & Schuster imprint Adams Media, employed a mixologist for those.

Craft held a couple of cooking demonstrations at Olathe’s Indian Creek Library on Nov. 30. Olathe resident Tami Hurst attended with her 14-year-old daughter, Jessica. They both enjoyed seeing Craft at work.

“Jessica is a huge Disney fan, and she and I are still working through the first (book). She’s trying to learn how to cook, and she loves Disney,” Hurst said.

This story was originally published December 16, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Disney vacation out of the question? This Olathe author offers a taste of the magic."