Disneyland's Famous Churros Never Would Have Happened Without This Man

Ever wondered why California's Disneyland is positively overrun with delicious, warm churros? Well as it turns out, you essentially have one man — the quiet, affable Jim Lowman — to thank.

In this really fun feature from the Disney Examiner team, writer Zeila Edrial focuses on Lowman, a longtime Disneyland Food and Beverage employee who oversaw the Fantasyland side of the park in the 1980s (he now runs the Plaza Inn side of things). After working through a few different ideas for a possible on-the-go snack that teens might enjoy, Lowman eventually settled on the churro.

As the story goes, Lowman happened to spot a churro stand while at the Long Beach Grand Prix in 1985, eventually tracking down the company behind the street snack (one J&J Snack Foods, in this case) to see about bringing them on as Disneyland vendors. They agreed, and essentially the rest is history. Lowman tried out a churro cart in one location, then added two more, and eventually Disneyland higher ups decided to make them a staple at just about every major intersection inside the park.

Head over to Disney Examiner to enjoy the full read on Disney’s beloved churros, including the reason for their extra-long length, and some of the other innovations that Lowman has brought to the Disneyland universe in his 50 years of employment with the company.