Does the Magic Candle Company Capture the Magic of Disney Attractions?

For years, I’ve heard about candle companies that reproduce scents from the Disney theme parks. These scents have been touted as authentic reproductions so perfect that you feel like you’re actually on your favorite attraction. There are a few different companies out there, but the Magic Candle Company is one of the most popular. Can they recreate the scents of my favorite Disney theme park attractions? I tried a few candles from them to see if they could.

All Magic Candle Company referral links in this post will give new buyers 15% off at the time of this writing. The author of this post will also receive Magic Reward Points for the referrals.

The Scents I Picked

While working on a reproduction of the talking skull from Pirates of the Caribbean, I had a strong urge for that familiar water scent—a scent that I only ever experience when on the attraction.

Scent has powerful connections to both memories and feelings. When I smell a familiar scent in public, I can be instantly transported to Disneyland. A certain tar and oil combination scent has me riding around the park via the Disneyland railroad, and a hint of bromine has me drifting through a bayou and tumbling down waterfalls.

The Magic Candle Company has many scents to choose from. I chose the ones that I was the most familiar with regarding scent. They are extremely rare scents to find outside of Disneyland, but they are magical experiences when they happen.

I bought small (7.25 oz.) candles of Pirate Life, Haunted, and Jungle Boat. Pirate Life was all I really wanted, but the website had a buy-2-get-1-free sale happening, and I couldn’t resist.

For small candles, these are a pretty good size; I was expecting them to be a bit smaller. They have an approximate burn time of 40 hours.

The wick is a flat wooden stick, a nice departure from the standard cotton wick. The flame is large as a result, but it gives a very satisfying crackling sound. The crackling is loud for the first 30 minutes, but it quiets down. I also noticed that the very first burning tends to shoot up tiny embers for a few minutes. Keep this in mind, and keep these candles away from flammable objects.

To prevent the wick from disintegrating after extinguishing the flame—this goes for cotton wicks, too—it’s best to snuff the flame instead of blowing it out. That is, the flame is deprived of oxygen. I simply use the lid, quickly placing it tightly back onto the tin. Best of all, snuffing produces little to no smokey smell.

If candles are not your thing, most (not all) of the scents also come as essential oil, wax melts, a room spray, fragrance oil, an air freshener, foaming hand soap, bath salts, a bath fizz, a shower melt, and a mani/pedi kit. And, with their 100% guarantee, the Magic Candle Company will replace any scent that you don’t like at no cost. They even let you keep the old candle.

After chatting with a company representative, the free replacements are limited to 1 per order. Keep that in mind when buying multiple items.

Haunted

The scents of Haunted give off a sweet vanilla with hints of wood (the label says it’s cedar) and a smokey/dusty smell. I would say that this candle neither smells like nor invokes memories of the Haunted Mansion. But, it does have a similar theme; it is reminiscent of an old, Victorian mansion, long abandoned. This is what I imagine Phantom Manor would/should smell like.

To enhance the effect, I tried putting on some Haunted Mansion music. That helped a lot to transport me, but it still had a Phantom Manor vibe.

Jungle Boat

I admit that I had no idea what I was expecting Jungle Boat to smell like. I picked it as my third, free candle in the hopes that I would either become a jungle boat skipper or stroll through the streets of Adventureland.

Jungle Boat has a floral scent that is slightly musty. It’s a pretty common air fragrance that I’ve found in other air-freshening products in stores. In fact, it kind of reminds me of the floral scent used in bug sprays to mask the heavy chemicals. I was not impressed, and I have contacted customer support to swap that scent out for Tiki Terrace (to stay with the Adventureland theme).

Pirate Life

This is the scent that I’ve been looking forward to most of all! I really need that pirate water smell.

The scents of Pirate Life give off the smell of crisp dryer sheets with a touch of the salty sea. This is definitely not a reproduction of the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. It invokes images of lounging next to a pile of fresh laundry at a Caribbean beach resort. It’s also a scent that is very similar to ones that I’ve smelled in stores. Although not even close to smelling like Pirates of the Caribbean, it still smells nice.

What is missing is the iconic bromine smell. The Disney parks use bromine in their water instead of chlorine because it has a milder scent and less is needed to be used. According to other reviewers, the Splash scent emits a bromine smell and is more akin to Pirates of the Caribbean. So, I went ahead and ordered that one, too.

Late Arrivals

As promised, here are the two late arrival scents:

Tiki Terrace

The scent that I get from Tiki Terrace is light coconut with a hint of citrus. The label’s description says that there are several other scents—orchid pedals, green leaves, white cedar, and vanilla musk—but I can only smell the coconut and the citrus.

While it is not a scent that I can recognize, I can definitely say that it reminds me of the Magic Gardens of the Enchanted Tiki Room. I can also imagine Disneyland’s Tropical Hideaway would also smell like this. Playing the soundtrack to the Enchanted Tiki Room really helped with the immersion.

Tiki Terrace is definitely an Adventureland smell, and it is hands down my favorite scent so far.

Splash

Splash definitely smells like a water ride riddled with musty chemicals, but it still falls short of smelling like Pirates of the Caribbean.

The chemical smell is not something that I can see anyone wanting to inhale for long periods of time . . . or ever. This is nothing like the attraction, nor Splash Mountain, unless the smell of bromine has changed since I last visited the park. I wonder how many candles I can exchange before I become an annoying customer.

Eww. Simply eww.

Overview

The Magic Candle Company is not a dead-on match for Disney theme park smells . . . so far. It’s kind of a hit and miss, but the smells are generally nice, and there are many more to try.

The candle’s wooden wick gives off a lovely crackle along with a wide flame. However, scents come in different products that may be better suited based on buyer preferences. And, I like that bad scents can be exchanged for different ones at no cost, so spending money on an unknown scent is relatively risk-free.

Both the post author and this website have not received any compensation for writing this post. Both the post author and this website have no material connection to the third-party brands, products, or services that have been mentioned unless otherwise explicitly stated. This is being disclosed in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”