I tried the viral Japanese ice cream sandwich at EPCOT

I had seen this frozen dessert all over social media, so by the time I finally tried it at EPCOT, my expectations were pretty high.

The Frozen Wafer Ice Cream Sandwich is sold inside Mitsukoshi Department Store in EPCOT’s Japan Pavilion. You’ll find it toward the back of the store near the registers, tucked into the frozen section with other Japanese treats.

The sandwiches have been spotted in Vanilla, Strawberry, Matcha, and Sweet Potato, although flavor availability can change. I went with Vanilla.

What is the Frozen Wafer Ice Cream Sandwich?

This isn’t quite a traditional ice cream sandwich. Instead of cookies, the ice cream is sealed inside a thin wafer shell that reminded me of the flavor of a waffle cone.

The wafer itself was very light and airy, but it wasn’t crunchy like I expected. It had softened around the ice cream and had a slight chewiness to it.

Inside was a thick layer of vanilla ice cream with a thin coating of chocolate between the ice cream and wafer.

The vanilla was pure and straightforward, but the texture was what was different It was surprisingly soft, almost like soft serve had been piped into the wafer pocket and then frozen.

That softer texture actually worked really well with the wafer. I could bite straight through it like a sandwich without the ice cream squeezing out the sides or breaking the wafer apart.

Did it live up to the hype?

This is where my expectations probably worked against it.

The flavor combination reminded me of a vanilla soft-serve cone from McDonald’s with a thin layer of chocolate added. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I like a McDonald’s vanilla cone. I just expected something a little more interesting after seeing this dessert everywhere online.

The wafer does make it different, and I liked how easy it was to eat. There’s also something fun about trying a Japanese frozen treat while walking through the Japan Pavilion.

For me, though, it was a 6/10.

I’d eat it again, but if I were choosing purely based on what I wanted for dessert, I’d probably rather have the McDonald’s cone. I may need to go back and try Strawberry or Matcha before I completely make up my mind.