Biggest park food disappointment?

[MestnyiGeroi]

Was there a park food that you heard hyped up before your first visit that, once you finally tried it, made you think, “This is what the fuss is about??”



I could name a few for myself, but I’ll start with one. I love Kennywood, but for years before I ever went I heard the stories of the great “potato patch fries.” “Make sure you have them! Time it right because they’re popular and lines can get long!”

Then I had them. Soggy, bland fries with melted Velveeta drizzled on them. It wasn’t even good by amusement park food standards. I mean, I’ve had far, far, far worse fare at parks, but this was the one that was the biggest disappointment.

 

[Matt N]

I've liked most of the theme park food/drink I've had, but for some reason, I didn't particularly like Butterbeer at Universal Orlando. I'd heard it hyped up by many people, but I wasn't a huge fan for some reason. I don't know why; I just didn't really like it.

 

[Howie]

Cinnamon bread from Silver Dollar City. Yeah it was nice, but... so are the cinnamon buns from Tesco Express down the road. Not that much difference to be fair.

 

[MestnyiGeroi]

Cinnamon bread from Silver Dollar City. Yeah it was nice, but... so are the cinnamon buns from Tesco Express down the road. Not that much difference to be fair.

Yes, this was another choice for me. I enjoyed them in all their gooey, decadent glory, but by the way I’d heard them hyped up I expected more of a gourmet or homey, handmade treat. Instead, they were just like giant chain doughnuts.

Again, I liked them a lot, and if I compare them to most park food, they’re great. But judged against any sort of “destination dessert” as the legends had foretold, they pale.

 

[MestnyiGeroi]

I've liked most of the theme park food/drink I've had, but for some reason, I didn't particularly like Butterbeer at Universal Orlando. I'd heard it hyped up by many people, but I wasn't a huge fan for some reason. I don't know why; I just didn't really like it.

Yeah, I’ve definitely heard the hype from many people now on that one. Haven’t tried it yet myself.

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

Never really been set up for disappointment about food. Expectations are always low and it's not something I'm particularly invested in while at a park.

All that comes to mind is funnel cakes.
Always known the name from RCT.

Thought it might be a nice cake.
Turns out its a mess of sub-par churro-type stuff.

 

[MestnyiGeroi]

Never really been set up for disappointment about food. Expectations are always low and it's not something I'm particularly invested in while at a park.

All that comes to mind is funnel cakes.
Always known the name from RCT.

Thought it might be a nice cake.
Turns out its a mess of sub-par churro-type stuff.

They are a mess. After all the years I’ve been going to parks, I believe I had one just once — to try it.

 

[Howie]

All that comes to mind is funnel cakes.
Thought it might be a nice cake.
Turns out its a mess of sub-par churro-type stuff.

There's a place at Silver Dollar City called Fanny's Funnel Cakes. Oh how we larfed! 'I've never had funnel cakes from Fanny's before', we quipped. 'Do your funnel cakes taste like Fanny's?'
Quality gags, yeah, no chaff. Forget Outlaw Run, it was all about Fanny's that day.

 

[Kw6sTheater]

The first time I had cinnamon bread I really enjoyed it, but after getting cinnamon bread at nearly every other Dollywood visit I've had plus my family coming up with their own spin on it, I just don't enjoy it as much these days.

 

[Hutch]

Ha I didn't even get the cinnamon bread at Dollywood. I was curious to try it going in, but we kind of forgot about it as we were doing the park. I did consider getting some in the afternoon, but honestly wasn't hungry and couldn't be bothered. I don't really regret it either, but I guess I'll try it at some point.

With regards to this overall topic... this is theme park food we're talking about... don't think we should really be hyping up any of it!

 

[caffeine_demon]

There's a place at Silver Dollar City called Fanny's Funnel Cakes. Oh how we larfed! 'I've never had funnel cakes from Fanny's before', we quipped. 'Do your funnel cakes taste like Fanny's?'
Quality gags, yeah, no chaff. Forget Outlaw Run, it was all about Fanny's that day.

Obviously I'm not going to make a "fanny batter" joke here as it would be inappropriate!

 

[oriolat2]

Another vote for the overhyped subpar potato patch fries from Kennywood. It was far from good. It's not that they tasted bad, but I didn't find them particularly good either. Just bland.

Unpopular opinion here: Be Our Guest at Magic Kingdom. It's not what it's cranked up to be. Maybe it's because I am European and some of these dishes are not exotic to me, but I found the place to be a glorified, expensive quick service. Nice theming and atmosphere but as far as food goes, Disney needs to step up their game.

 

[_dezaster_]

Another vote for the overhyped subpar potato patch fries from Kennywood. It was far from good. It's not that they tasted bad, but I didn't find them particularly good either. Just bland.

Unpopular opinion here: Be Our Guest at Magic Kingdom. It's not what it's cranked up to be. Maybe it's because I am European and some of these dishes are not exotic to me, but I found the place to be a glorified, expensive quick service. Nice theming and atmosphere but as far as food goes, Disney needs to step up their game.

Exactly! I was expecting high end quality food that Disney hypes themselves up to have but to me it just felt like any old park food. I've had better dining experiences at BGW.

 

[Zek_Teh_Kek]

I've liked most of the theme park food/drink I've had, but for some reason, I didn't particularly like Butterbeer at Universal Orlando. I'd heard it hyped up by many people, but I wasn't a huge fan for some reason. I don't know why; I just didn't really like it.

Same here, Matt. However, the Frozen Butterbeer is much better than the regular! It seems odd to me that the frozen is better than the regular, but the frozen is just very good!

 

[Hixee]

Same here, Matt. However, the Frozen Butterbeer is much better than the regular! It seems odd to me that the frozen is better than the regular, but the frozen is just very good!

I suspect that when it's frozen it's a bit more like butterscotch ice cream/slushie, but when liquid probably weirdly sticky. I've only had the frozen stuff, though, so can't compare.

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

This butterbeer can't be worse than the original one they were doing at the studio tour. It tasted like Irn Bru with a vanilla ice cream float.
USJ was nicer but still very meh.

 

[Edward M]

I’m gonna say all the food in the Universal parks has disappointed me. The prices are the same as Disney, but the quality is far inferior. This isn’t a compliment to Disney, though I think their food is higher quality than most parks. This does not include Citywalk though, where I’ve had a good meal or two. So the lesson here is, don’t eat IN the parks.

 

[Matt N]

I’m gonna say all the food in the Universal parks has disappointed me. The prices are the same as Disney, but the quality is far inferior. This isn’t a compliment to Disney, though I think their food is higher quality than most parks. This does not include Citywalk though, where I’ve had a good meal or two. So the lesson here is, don’t eat IN the parks.

To be fair, the food I've had in Universal has certainly been nice bar the Butterbeer! I had some nice pizza in Jurassic Park once!

I have a question if the disappointment in Universal's food is common, though; would you guys take Universal's food or Merlin's, as that also seems to generate disappointment?

 

[Pear]

Strange to hear how bad the Kennywood Potato Patch is. I've never had a bad experience at the one at Lake Compounce and their food is quite good as well!

 

[DelPiero]

Cinnamon bread from Silver Dollar City. Yeah it was nice, but... so are the cinnamon buns from Tesco Express down the road. Not that much difference to be fair.

I mean, you're all clearly wrong, but onions I guess.
The ones at Dolly were better than the ones we had in SDC I'll agree, maybe I got a fresh batch the first time.
That's not to say that they aren't still one of my fave things I've ever eaten at a Theme Park, they are renowned for a reason though, lots of love for the Cinnamon Bread around.

It's a difficult one for me as I've not really hyped up any food at parks before, apart from the Cinnamon Bread and general awesomeness of both SDC and Knoebels, I haven't wandered into a park thinking "can't wait for lunch".
Generally I go in with zero expectations and either find something amazing which I didn't expect or it's standard crap TP food.

I guess the worst food I've had was maybe at SFGadv, their Buffalo and Blue Cheese fries were minging and got binned, usually I scoff everything but these were awful.