Taco Bell's Pineapple Whip is no Dole Whip

Posted on Jun 2, 2020

As soon as we saw that Taco Bell was doing a Pineapple Whip Freeze, we got pretty excited. The reason for this was because we had seen at least one person compare it to the Dole Whip, a frozen pineapple confection that’s only available at Disney theme parks. We have craved the Dole Whip for untold years as the epitome of frozen desserts. We even wrote an article about Will wanting a Dole Whip very, very badly. The idea that we could have something even remotely approximating it in our own homes was tantalizing.

But, of course, we are living in the Virus Era and going outside for snacks isn’t the fun expedition it used to be. We had to wait for a good reason to go outside in the first place, and hope to fit in a quick swing around Taco Bell for a good reason. It wasn’t until we had to make a run for groceries that we felt like we could justify our desire to get the freeze. And so, on a crisp spring morning, we grabbed ourselves a quick breakfast at Taco Bell and ordered two Pineapple Whip Freezes with them. Hit the jump and indulge with us in what may be a dream come true…

“No need to even look at the calendar,” Taco Bell’s own website says, “the first official day of summer is whenever the Pineapple Whip Freeze decides it is.”

We thought that summer started on the solstice, but sure, whatever you say, Taco Bell. The Pineapple Whip Freeze is a pineapple slushy, basically, but with an interesting twist: a swirl of vanilla flavor to add creaminess and dimension to the pineapple taste. Freezes have been a part of Taco Bell’s menu for years now, and we don’t even think this is the first time they’ve done pineapple - they did a piña colada flavor back when they were still called “Frutista Freezes”.  As far as we can tell, this is the first time they’ve done an actual just-pineapple flavor.

So, according to a few food blogs that we tend to trust, the Pineapple Whip Freeze is very similar to the famous Dole Whip, a soft-serve confection that is only served at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. In our opinion, the Dole Whip sounds like heaven in a little plastic cup, especially when served in float form with pineapple juice. Sadly, we’re never going to be able to eat a real Dole Whip in our lives - we live in Minnesota, a state that’s approximately equidistant from either Disney park, making our chances of going to one slim even if we could afford it. The Pineapple Whip Freeze might be our best chance to try the Dole Whip, aside from ordering a big bag of the mix off of Amazon.

We grabbed our Freeze as a side to a Taco Bell breakfast crunchwrap, and hunkered down merrily in our car to enjoy the treat. The very first thing we noted was that our freeze was somewhat melted at the bottom. This is fine, slushies can be a very temperamental thing and them coming out slightly separated is normal. What concerned us is that we saw no traces of white in our drinks. The Pineapple Whip Freeze is, as mentioned above, supposed to have a shot of vanilla cream. We are completely unsure if our Freeze had any vanilla in it. 

Regardless, we sipped our Pineapple Whip(?) Freeze happily alongside our breakfast crunchwraps, a pairing that we can say did not really go together at all. The spice of the sausage didn’t work with the sour pineapple flavor, sadly. But don’t let that imprint on your impression of the Pineapple Whip Freeze in any way: it’s really good! Seriously, we loved this stuff. Though we couldn’t detect much hints of vanilla at all, it was an extremely solid pineapple flavored slushy. Pineapple is one of our favorite fruits, so this was a huge win in our books.

That doesn’t mean it was anything special, though. It really was just a pineapple slush. We could’ve gotten a bottle of pineapple soda from Wal-Mart for a dollar and made something similar to it at home. Maybe it would’ve been more interesting if there was more vanilla cream in it - we didn’t get even the slightest hint of vanilla flavor. But it’s still a great addition to Taco Bell’s menu, even if it’s just for a limited time. There’s also a secret “Tie-Dye” flavor that you must ask for directly that will mix the pineapple Freeze with strawberry and Baja Blast flavors!

We wanted the Pineapple Whip Freeze to fulfill a fantasy for us, and we knew on some level it would never live up to that standard. But it still surprised us with a strong pineapple flavor that was a pleasure to sip.

But you know what the best part was? Coming back to it after having to get our groceries. After a long and strenuous trip in the grocery store, having an ice-cold and half-melted slush to chug was the ultimate. A Dole Whip couldn’t compare… probably.

Categories: food

Tagged: 2020 4 out of 5 drinks pineapple taco bell