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What Makes a Good Culinary Experience?
111 Plays1 month ago
Bring your appetite for this one! We are joined by our friend Alex (aka Rides and Bites) to talk about culinary experiences in the parks. We discuss creativity in culinary, some of the best meals we've ever had on a park visit, how food quality versus immersion and theming can impact a dining experience, and a quick trip recap from Alex!
Go follow Alex on socials!
X: https://x.com/ridesandbites
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ridesandbites_/
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Transcript
Introduction and Humorous Anecdote
00:00:00
Speaker
You're listening to the inverted creative podcast. I'm Allison. I'm Brian. And I'm Jen.
00:00:12
Speaker
Y'all really kind of missed it like right before we started recording, but I fully sell on my kneecap and like shook the entire house just trying to show off my cat.
00:00:28
Speaker
I looked away for a second. The noise was real. like I had to jump back up. I'm like, what the actual heck happened? And I just you're gone and you're just yelling in pain. Yeah, get it together. I was late. This is two days after I ah slipped on ice and also fell and hit my arm on my car. I'm doing great this week, guys. How are you?
Weather in Cincinnati
00:00:51
Speaker
I'm doing great. It's been a little bit.
00:00:53
Speaker
ah I know some of us were feeling under the weather. January is just a boring time. Let's be honest. There's nothing to do if you don't live in Florida or California or Australia. And we got like a foot of snow here in Cincinnati. It's been a struggle lately. We love snow. Snow is the best. No. Yes. I hate it. Snow. No.
00:01:20
Speaker
You can take it. I don't want it here anymore. You know, one time I got a snow ride on paper trail. This is going to be my new thing of the podcast. I'm going to see if I can mention my snow ride on paper trail at every single episode. Good luck in July. It's been like four episodes deep that I've mentioned it. What better snow when we go there in March?
00:01:41
Speaker
Oh it better snow. It all gets snow rides on vapor trail. Or you just need to fully reenact your ah snow ride on vapor trail while we ride it. Oh I can. I'm going to bring like fake snow onto it and just start throwing it. Fantastic. I still have a snowflake from ah all too well from Humber, so I'll just bring that. Oh no, we'll waste that on vapor trails. No, I never would.
Introduction of Guest Alex and Coaster Trivia
00:02:06
Speaker
Well, ah we have a guest joining us today. We have our fourth chair who confirmed joining us about an hour ago because we didn't record last week and he's available this week now. Hi, Alex. Hi, how's it going, everyone? Thanks for having me on. Well, yeah I think you're like our most faithful listener. So literally two hours after the podcast records and you're sending me trivia answers or podcast posts, whatever. And you send me the trivia answers.
00:02:35
Speaker
so Yeah, I usually get notes like literally at like 605. I'm like, bro, it dropped five minutes ago. You're already you already got notes. Does knowing who I am and how I how my brain works, if I don't answer the trivia question as soon as I listen, it's never getting answered. Hence what's happened this week and why I won't be answering the trivia question this week because I forgot to do it. You tried.
00:03:05
Speaker
Well, you are traveling, to be fair enough. So here's the thing. If you do know Alex, you probably think of him as like one of the nicer guys in this community. And that is true. But and I think him and I are are similar to the fact that I try to be a nice guy. But when it comes to like trivia and competition, um don't get in our way. Alex, he doesn't like losing ah too many things, especially when it comes to roller coaster trivia. yeah Hence why he's been our ah easily our number one ah correct answer so far. It's a blessing and occurs for me. It's I'm uber competitive and just about everything I tried to do. So fortunate that I can be somewhat successful at coaster trivia and always going to give it my best. I respect it. You know, when you root for such a mediocre football team, you got to be competitive elsewhere, right? Go birds. We're not going to, not going to talk about
00:04:04
Speaker
The team in blue this episode just makes me sad. That would make you blue. That would be the Indianapolis Colts. Ten years of of nothing. Hey, we got all the banners in our stadium. What can I say? We have 2014 AFC finalists, baby. Best banner in the NFL. Hey, my favorite one is the 2006 AFC champion and Super Bowl champion. Yeah. When you beat the the eighth greatest Patriots team of all time. Oh yeah. anyway once There's a sports talk of the day. We are not a sports podcast. Go birds. Oh geez. Um, well, Alex is a particularly, particularly, I really cannot talk fitting guests to have on this episode. We are talking about culinary experiences at
Culinary Experiences in Theme Parks
00:04:55
Speaker
parks. This episode and Alex here is known as rides and bites.
00:05:00
Speaker
Do you want to kind of go into the spiel about yourself? Yeah, so funny enough, growing up going to parks, we were definitely the family that actually would pack a cooler with all of our sandwiches because we don't want to pay for park food. Because I always understood at park food as kind of this gross, greasy food that you didn't really want to eat that was overpriced. And it was always just, is we always thought of it as like a waste of money to just kind of buy food at a park. And as I got older and went to more parks that weren't just the Cedar Points and the Kings Islands and the Six Flags. It was more, oh, I'm at a Disney park. I'm not just here to ride roller coasters. The food's actually part of the experience. And it kind of opened my eyes to you the culinary experience being a part of the parks. And then they kind of going went back to Cedar Point and Kings Island as they invested more into their restaurants and
00:06:00
Speaker
had some more creative offerings and thought, wow, this is actually a lot better than I remembered it being growing up. So my idea sparked, there's a mixed bag at a lot of these parks on what food's good, what good food's not so good.
00:06:16
Speaker
um It's not really just a black and white interpretation of this food is good or bad because some people like, you know, greasy or classic theme park meal. Some people might want a healthier, lighter option, you know, with some actual vegetables and fruit and not feel blah at 2 p.m. on a 90 degree day. So my channel is basically just trying to give people an insight on What can they expect from each particular meal at a restaurant that I try? So my goal is to kind of try a bunch of the meals so you don't necessarily have to and give you all my interpretation on how I experience it. I like it. That's a great idea. Yeah. And I feel like it's unique. I feel like there isn't too many food review, you know, accounts as far as, you know, theme park community goes.
00:07:14
Speaker
And I feel like most of it's concentrated at Disney and Universal, which there's going to be a lot of that coming up. Disney and Universal, you get like 100 offshoots of like every topic known to man. So it's good to have a variety of amusement parks around the country. Absolutely. I was definitely trying to think of like experiences to talk about that are not just Disney. Yeah, I think it's also hard too, though, because I feel like outside of Disney,
00:07:44
Speaker
culinary good food is like a newer aspect to like Six Flags great or great adventure Six Flags Cedar Fair like it's just a newer concept for a lot of those parks i think like i think a lot of them were just getting by with whatever food that they served where Disney i think that they were really ahead of the ball game for that one so i think that also the market has just been around longer for that type of media. And I think, I mean, I think Epcot, which role we're going to be talking about Epcot probably quite frequently in this in this episode. I feel like they were they were really the ones that were like, hey, we have technically 11 different cuisines here where that like I feel like one of the first parts to like basically say, hey, you can come here and not go on any ride and still have a good time because we have all this amazing food.
00:08:42
Speaker
yeah And still to this day, even me included sometimes, I'm like, I don't, well, now that it's guardians, it's hard to not write guardians. But before guardians, it's like, I don't need to write anything. I just want to go to this restaurant. Yeah. To me, that's so important because if you look at rides, there's a certain parameter you have to fit to go on, even like the slow moving classic dark ride, you still have to be able to go.
00:09:07
Speaker
sit on the seat and, um, want to go experience the dark ride, but all of us have the basic need of wanting to go eat. So I think that restaurant experience, especially at Disney where they're so good at having an inclusive food offering and making sure things are allergy free, gluten, gluten free, whatever your food accommodations need to be. It's just such an inclusive experience for truly the whole family.
00:09:35
Speaker
that everyone can really participate. And I kneel together and have that experience.
00:09:42
Speaker
Before we get ah too deep into this culinary conversation, a few other items of business to take care of. Yeah, we're so businessy. Trivia. Yes, let's I know it's been a while, guys, but we did have a trivia at the end of ah last episode. That was the one with Laurel, right? I'm not going crazy.
00:10:03
Speaker
Yeah, that was Laurel. That was a long time ago. Holy crap. Well, we love Laurel. And I asked a question about her involving her beloved Magnum XL 200. And that was how many roller coasters in the history of Ohio have been taller than Magnum? And I believe I've double checked it a few times. I believe that answer is seven. At Cedar Point, we have Millennium Force top thrill to which I did only count as once.
00:10:32
Speaker
Valraven, and a Wicked Twister, the the defunct one there, was over 205. And then at Kings Island we have Diamondback, Orion, and Son of Beast, which some people may have forgotten about. Now, I did word it and and I said, which rollercoasters are taller than Magnum? Steel Vengeance is the same height as Magnum at 205. However, if you believe the rumors that Magnum is sinking Maybe still vengeance is taller now. And if you said A, give yourself a half a point. Give it a few years and then still vengeance will be good. Yeah. Technically, most of them will probably be taller than Magdom in a few years. We love that that girl's sinking. So congratulations to Tim. Lom, lom, lom. And we think Mike with the mullet. Literally came up to me at work and like gave me the answer, but I don't recall.
00:11:30
Speaker
He never actually messages it. He texts me sometimes, like a week later. Or to clarify something. He might have texted you. I feel like, yeah, he said something about that. I think he did, yeah. Well, we're good at this. Anyway, hi, Mike.
Alex's Southern California Trip
00:11:45
Speaker
Mike says hi from the background. Nah, he's two floors down and can't hear a thing. um Well, what none of us, well, none of us three have done, uh, any trips recently. That'll change soon, but, uh, Alex definitely just came back from a trip. If you want to give a quick little trip report, because right now. So I spent pretty much the past week in Southern California. So first and foremost, uh,
00:12:17
Speaker
While I was in Southern California, the fortune of the wildfires took place. If you want to extend a heartfelt wishing everyone that's down there well and hope you all are safe. And if you all lost loved ones or have loved ones that are experiencing property damage or anything else associated with wildfires, we are wishing you nothing but the best and speedy recoveries. But with the trip,
00:12:47
Speaker
It was a really good trip.
00:12:52
Speaker
I went to Knott's Berry Farm, Magic Mountain, and the two Disney parks, Sea World and Belmont Park. So had a good variety of parks.
00:13:05
Speaker
um
00:13:08
Speaker
The elephant of the room is the X2 did not operate. Unfortunately with those strong Santa Ana winds, X2 is prone to valleying and strong wind conditions. So we did not run once while we were there. So that was a huge, huge bummer. With that being said, still had a really good time at Magic Mountain. One of the most beautiful parks and act like just with natural scenery I've ever been to.
00:13:36
Speaker
tattoo and twisted colossus are both really good roller coasters. um
00:13:43
Speaker
Really just beautiful walking around that park and definitely my favorite Six Flags park out of the ones I've been to so far. I actually had a really good meal there that I'll probably talk about later. And then there's also, if you like going to restaurants just outside of parks, there's the There's a diner that makes really large breakfast food. So I know they have the Guinness world record for the world's largest omelets. That's right across the park. So if you are going to magic mountain and want some, want a heavy breakfast, go ahead and stop there. Um, so that's magic mountain. Um, we'll go ahead and talk about knots knots. I had high expectations for, and they really were exceeded.
00:14:35
Speaker
It might be my new favorite Cedar Fair Park, actually. I thought you were going to say like, Oh, let me down. Like, wow. No, it's, I think it's my new favorite Cedar Fair Park. Okay. Respectable. A little bit of a hot take there, but I kind of like it. Respectable. I really like, to me, it feels true. Like the true blend of, you know, the typical Cedar Fair Park blended with like a Disney park. That's yeah. You have the.
00:15:05
Speaker
Disney like culinary experiences, you have they know the themed areas and not just ghost town, but you walk around the boardwalk, Fiesta Village, they all feel like really well done cohesive themed areas.
00:15:21
Speaker
They have not going to spend too much time talking about Ghost Rider, but Ghost Rider is really, really, really good. um You want to know where it ranks in my roller coaster list, go check out my channel in about two weeks. um He's already started the list, by the way, so you can do the math.
00:15:46
Speaker
But yeah, Knots is really awesome. And then the Disney parks, obviously a very, very different experience from Magic Mountain and even Knots.
00:16:00
Speaker
For one thing, it blew my mind how much smaller Disneyland was compared to Magic Kingdom. It was nice actually being able to walk across the park and not have my legs feel like they're about ready to fall off my body. Was that your first time there? Yes, it was. This is my first time in the area in general. OK, what was your reaction to the castle? That's always like my favorite. It's obviously small, but I like the detail in the castle.
00:16:30
Speaker
And I feel like some of those details aren't in the Magic Kingdom one. And I like that it wraps around the fancy land area. So I feel like just how it's kind of encompassed in that area. Honestly, I kind of like it a little bit better.
00:16:46
Speaker
Yeah, I love their castle, but I'll never forget the first time I walked in, I like walk into Main Street and I'm crying. And the moment that I rounded that corner, I like i just like lost it. I laughed so hard. I was like, I can't believe I'm crying for this little itty bitty castle. And then just like how close like the Adventureland and the Frontierland are to each other. And it just feels like everything's so smushed together. But honestly, the First of all, Adventureland, so much better than the Adventureland in a Magic Kingdom. The freaking Pirates. Oh, their Pirates is unmatched. It's actually like, I feel like the Magic Kingdom one, just because it's bits and pieces of the Disneyland one. always I always like to know the story of Pirates, because I'm a big Pirates fan. But you can actually go on the Disneyland ride and actually understand the cohesive story. Or I feel like you lose that in the Magic Kingdom one a little bit.
Disneyland vs. Disney World: Atmosphere and Experience
00:17:46
Speaker
Yeah, you can tell that the Magic Kingdom one was like a very last minute rushed project as opposed to actually like thought out an original. Mm hmm.
00:18:00
Speaker
Let's see, where else? Oh, the Space Mountain at Disneyland so much better than the Magic Kingdom one. I've never been on it, but that's wrong. The lighting effect when you're going at the left, it was so trippy.
00:18:17
Speaker
And the onboard audio, of the best onboard probably my favorite onboard audio track of all time. And yes, you don't get the airtime and the crazy lateral moments, but just because you're going constantly going down the entire time and not going up and down, up, down, you just feel like you're going so fast through the layout. And I feel like I don't have to go to a chiropractor after I ride that Space Mountain.
00:18:47
Speaker
So good. I like my space mountain personally, but I digress. I still it's still so absurd that I have the Disney history that I do. Over 500 roller coasters been to Tokyo and Paris, and I still have never been to Disneyland, and I'm now the only person on this podcast right now that has not been to Disneyland. That's so bad. We're going to have to change that eventually. Yeah, someday.
00:19:17
Speaker
without this year, but hopefully so. But yeah, so long story short, Disneyland's awesome. The DCA side, I definitely understood the flaws I heard about going into it. There's some nice areas, but you can definitely tell that a lot of the areas were band-aids for mistakes that they had made in the original park designs. Radiator Springs,
00:19:47
Speaker
really awesome land. One of the best immersive areas in a Disney park ever. Radiator Springs Racers is a really good dark ride, obviously. Really good food in DCA as well. I really like the national park area around the Grizzly Peak.
00:20:10
Speaker
um
00:20:12
Speaker
Honestly, one of my least favorite parts of the park was the and it pains me because I love the IP was the Guardians of the Galaxy because I love Tower of Terror. I love Guardians. Just felt so wrong. I loved that Guardians aspect, actually. I just love the it just felt so wrong to be writing Tower of Terror, but with Guardians IP. So I think what got me about it is like the
00:20:43
Speaker
Losing the like beginning half of Tower of Terror where you get the story being told and then you go into the drop sequence like I feel like if we got that with the Guardians attraction I might like it more but I think that what gets me with that one is like the stop and go of the attraction that they have to do um and it just feels like it I don't know everything about that attraction just feels like very difficult I think no matter because I thought it was like if I had never been to Hollywood studios, I probably would have really liked the attraction, but just the fact that. I'm writing Tower of Terror and it's not Tower of Terror. It just felt so wrong to me. Yeah. But yeah.
00:21:34
Speaker
um
00:21:37
Speaker
Definitely some mixed mixed bag and DCA, a lot of really strong parts of it, obviously. but a lot of parts that hopefully when they keep investing in the park, it's going to keep getting better. Um, but yeah, overall, I really liked the Disneyland resort. I did notice it felt a lot more late back then the Disney world resort. And for that, like I felt so much less stressed out at Disney land than I did at Disney world. So I really liked that aspect, but obviously,
00:22:12
Speaker
Disney World is just so much bigger. There's so much more to do. So I guess it just depends on what kind of vibe you're looking for. That makes sense on which one I want to go to. I've heard that from a lot of people. Disneyland's a lot less stressful. I mean, we got that in Tokyo as well. I think Disney World is just its own beast. Yeah. Yeah, definitely the vibe is completely different. That's part of the reason I like Disneyland so much more than Disney World Resort.
00:22:40
Speaker
I think I lean that way too. And I like also another, I like that they actually have a downtown Disney in the middle of Disney. Other than Disney Springs just being cast over to the side and not near any of the parks really. Yeah. You can see that. Um, but yeah, lastly, um, SeaWorld San Diego. I'm not a huge SeaWorld park person in general, but, um, really liked Emperor.
00:23:10
Speaker
really really liked me into the other two. During the Atlantis was closed for maintenance while we were there. The other two rides or whatever. I did get it hit my 300th credit on Arctic Rescue. will I was wondering what what the milestone was. ah So I was going to make it simpler but it was not open until 11 in SeaWorld fashion. So I wasn't just going to sit around and Yeah, that's right. So. You know, typical sea world shenanigans.
00:23:48
Speaker
um We do want to order like this ice cream float, but they were out of whatever they had. So we ended up not even doing it. Typical sea world stuff. So we left. We ended up going to Belmont Park. We actually had a really good meal at Belmont Park Road. Giant dipper.
00:24:11
Speaker
Really fun, historic ride. We ended up just chilling out at the boardwalk and people watching for about two and a half hours and just having to chill after all the weeks worth of parks and having a good relax before we got on a plane. Very nice. Well, on the next two, it seems like everything else went off without a hitch for the most part. So that's good with the bad, I guess. Yeah, I guess I'll just have to be back.
00:24:37
Speaker
Like I know when Allison and I went, um obviously we did get X2, but then we also had like, Accelerator was closed, Goliath was closed, Riddler, Revenge was closed, Viper was closed. Yeah, I had been to a Magic Mountain before, so I had all those. Oh, that's true. You did. But Accelerator was a huge mess. Yeah. Like, I would go back to SoCal just for Accelerator. And then inevitably inevitably it'd be down when I'm there, but you know. Yeah.
00:25:07
Speaker
I ended up missing a few more Magic Mountain too. It's a hard one to get unless you're there for three days because I feel like very, ah very, very rarely everything is open. I think I missed like Apocalypse, Goliath, obviously Superman. Yeah, well, everyone might be missing Superman if rumors are true. Yeah, I think that.
00:25:35
Speaker
Honestly, I think those are the only ones I missed, though. Obviously, the Katy Carter and M.T. Large to Ride. Yeah, magic fire. That was That was a good video. I love that. All right, we should get probably into the topic of the day, the culinary arts of the theme park world.
00:25:56
Speaker
I see Allison here has one of her famous USA Today lists that we can roast, which is honestly turning into one of my favorite things about this podcast. Noted. I'll make sure to keep doing that for these. Listen, I love GP lists, because you know. I know. Like, I love these lists so much, but I'm not going to lie. this is This is making me rage a little bit. I'm raging. They got, you know, a couple of decent ones. I'm going to say, I'm looking at it right now. Not awful.
00:26:26
Speaker
I've seen worse orders a little weird, but yeah, I honestly think like 99% of the time whenever any GP ranks Disney World anything, like I'm just going to rage. no Yeah, that's great. I'm just going to rage everything that the GP has to say about the food at Disney World is just not good. Yeah. Well, going through this list real quick, so ah Bryant can roast it as we go.
00:26:52
Speaker
ah USA Today's Don't Miss the Top Notch Food at These 10 Theme Park Restaurants article that I found during a lovely Google search. and This is posted in May 2024, so take that as you will. um Number 10, they had La Saliere at Epcot. That's a Canada one? Yeah, that's the one at Canada, which my parents said I went to when I was like six. I have no memory of it. I definitely haven't been back since.
00:27:19
Speaker
I think that's one of the hardest reservations to get in the whole property. is like So it's so hyped up. It's so hyped up, which is why it ends up being so hard to get. It's a steakhouse, if you guys didn't know. Yeah, it is a steakhouse. And you're supposed to be able to get this like very good soup there and steak. but This is my raging one, guys. Honestly, the rest of it's not that bad. But this is my raging opinion. Do not go to La Saliere. Don't fight for that reservation. This is like the worst steakhouse on Disney property. Go to Yachtsman instead, but I'll talk about that one later. ah Or Flying Fish. Get a steak at the Flying Fish. That's the best steak on Disney property. Thank you. I have a steak. ah It's the restaurant at Port Orleans or Riverside. I forget which one. I forgot the name of it. It was really good, though.
00:28:10
Speaker
I want to look it up now. Ricks? No. No, that's Coronado. I'm fine with it. I've literally stayed there, and i can't I can't think of it. I want to see like- Also, I've heard good things about the new Stakehouse 71 as well.
00:28:29
Speaker
I haven't been to that one yet. Boat rights. Boat rights. Ah, that was right. We'll give it a go. Also, Boat House has a great steak. Don't go to Las Elier. You can get the soup at the festival stands. OK. All right. That's my rant. We can continue with the rest. Just Gen Aids Canada confirmed. ah Yeah, exactly.
00:28:50
Speaker
um Number nine and eight are where I am quite disagree with this list. Should not even be anywhere near this list. um Number nine, they have Trapper Smokehouse at BGW, and then number eight is Zambia Smokehouse at BGT. Trapper Smokehouse is pretty good. Zambia has gone just downhill. I've never had that one. I've had two meals at Zambia. First time I went, I wasn't impressed at all. The brisket was pretty dry.
00:29:19
Speaker
Second time I went this in November, though. I actually had pretty good brisket, but I feel like also a lot of the chain parks have a smokehouse type restaurant. and Yeah. I feel like to be on this list, you have to be one of the best and it's just not. My favorite thing about Zambia is that being under Sheikra and just getting to watch Sheikra. But I don't know how to pronounce this one, Jen. Satulli! OK, yeah. Satulli canteen in Animal Kingdom.
00:29:49
Speaker
All right, this is where I'm going to rage the other way. Santuli Cantina is the best food at any theme park ever. It's so good. That's the one in Pandora, right? Yes. It's very, very good. The theme is fantastic. The food is fantastic. Like the immersion into the theming of the everything. That is what a theme park food should be.
00:30:12
Speaker
All right, now you guys got to rage both ways. Ahsoka's getting in on it, too! Thankfully, Cantina, or Canteen. All right, let's go from that one to ah number six, Dustfesthouse at BGW. No, what are we doing here? well Who goes there for food? Who goes there for the beer? Yeah, I've only been there for alcohol. Or the show. Or just shade in general. They just have like pizza and maybe some, I don't know, bratwurst.
00:30:41
Speaker
Number five, they list a grain and grill at Kings Dominion, which I actually have been to. That's accurate. Yeah, that's really good. I do like their food. I've been to that. But I don know but i don't know if it's going to make this list worthy, Nate. I'd put it at nine or ten. Yeah. Not five. I do appreciate that. It's actually a lighter fare. Yeah. Mm hmm. Eventually, I'll go to the one that's 20 minutes from me. But and we'll see. um Number four, back to Animal Kingdom, we have Yak and Yeti.
00:31:10
Speaker
which have not been pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. I've only eaten their quick service, but I do like it a lot. Definitely flip flop that one with Satulli. Yeah, I literally had Animal Kingdom. I think I've only eaten out like pizzasaurus. So oh my gosh, Animal Kingdom has the best pizza. I have not existed. You chose pizzasaurus? This is the flame tree barbecue. That's pretty good, too.
00:31:37
Speaker
Yeah, literally anything in Animal Kingdom is fantastic. Anything. The stands that you eat at. Oh my gosh. Anything at that park. And you picked Pizzasaurus? No, the next time I go there. That's like going to a five-star restaurant ordering the chicken fingers. Yeah, literally. I literally don't remember the last time I went to Animal Kingdom, okay? Did you just say widdly? Widdly.
00:32:02
Speaker
yeah Number three, they have aunt granny's restaurant at Dollywood, which I never been. I don't think I've been there. I just eat cinnamon bread. yeah Honestly, though. nice I don't know if I've ever spent the time at Dollywood to have a full sit down meal, but I've had their quick service and if it's like their quick service food, I'm sure it's pretty good. Again, I don't know if it's number three worthy on this list, but it's probably pretty good.
00:32:31
Speaker
Uh, number two is one I absolutely agree with. Uh, chocolatier at Hershey park. Yeah. Yeah. The chocolate barbecue wings alone. Give them that spot. The mac and cheese too.
00:32:42
Speaker
I had one of the best burgers of my life there. That being said, that was after a visit to Trokes and also a chocolate martini. Jen was there. In fact, I was wearing this Batman shirt that I'm wearing currently. That was a fun. That was that was the ah Dark Knight's debut. ah was fun Yeah, that was also when I got Brian a little liquored up so he would ride a kitty coaster with me.
Comparisons of Theme Park Culinary Offerings
00:33:08
Speaker
Oh, we both needed that credit.
00:33:11
Speaker
i was all I was down for that from the beginning. Y'all need liquor for that? No, there's just a very funny picture of us on that thing. There's a very funny picture of us? You'll have to share that with me. Yeah. um All right, number one on the USA Today list is ah the Alamo at Knobels. What? I don't know. I mean, Knobels has good food. It just... I had the pierogies there.
00:33:36
Speaker
it See, it's cheap food. and Like, I mean, theme park prices anyway. and And they're all passable. They're all really good. But I do think overall, Knobel's food is like it's great, but not like awesome. Like if you want fair food. Awesome. Yeah. But I also think just looking at this list and the problem with making a list like this in general is you're comparing apples to oranges when you're comparing the Alamo to yak and yeti or Like even the way you sell air. I don't even know they had one specific spot. I thought it was just all these tiny little booths that you can get food at Canobals. So apparently I just looked up the Alamo because I'm like, I have no idea what this is. This is a full sit down restaurant at Canobals. I did not know this even existed. Where? I do not know. And they have a huge menu. Um, seafood, Italian specialties, salads.
00:34:35
Speaker
Hot sandwiches, wraps. It is a huge menu. I did not even know that this existed.
00:34:46
Speaker
There's also a bar and grill. I had no idea. i only I've only ever eaten at all of the stands exactly what you're saying. um
00:34:57
Speaker
No idea that this existed. I've been to Canobals like four times and I still am like, where is this thing? I've spent a grand total of like three hours at Canobals in my life, so. Oh my god. I think I remember seeing the Alamo, but I don't necessarily remember it being. You don't remember the Alamo? I don't remember the Pennsylvania Alamo. Apparently none of us do. Shame on us.
00:35:20
Speaker
Yeah, I don't remember ever seeing like a sit-down restaurant at Canobals, but that's what this says. It's a full dine-in restaurant. Well, yeah, we all learned something today. earth We'll have to check it out the next time we all go to Canobals. Yeah, looks like it. Just for the podcast and just come back and record just about that. Science. Yeah, we're going to put out a like a mini episode about the Alamo. We remembered.
00:35:46
Speaker
All right, well, now that we ah got through that list, that Bryant did not roast quite as much as I expected. um it's It's not the worst list. The order is weird, but like it's kind of shockingly, I've actually eaten at a lot of these places. it There ah have definitely been worse lists, for sure. Yeah. All right, well, getting into more of it. like When I think about like creativity and like culinary, it's not just about food. like The food is super important, obviously. um When you go to a park and you spend money and time to eat, you want it to be good. But there's so much more that you can do with that to make it a creative experience. And that's kind of why I wanted to do a deep dive on culinary, talking about like just that immersion and like theming and just unique things that parks can do with food to really elevate that experience.
00:36:40
Speaker
Um, so I kind of have a section for just like our personal favorites in terms of like Food and experiences. I know just to expand on that too Like I think culinary makes a huge especially with like a themed park I think that it it makes a huge difference in your immersion into it as well um, because if you're in like a full immersive Star Wars land and you just see a random Italian like pizza place, it completely destroys the experience and the immersion. So you can you have to see places get extremely creative, like the ronto wraps and um the different popcorns that they offer in that land. like you That's a perfect example of them taking um culinary and being creative with it and immersing you further into the land and the experience.
00:37:34
Speaker
like A lot of my like fondest memories, too, at theme parks are just like really cool dining experiences, especially like sharing that with a group of friends when you go to a park with a bunch of people and just like tasting everybody's food and just experiencing all with everyone. It's a lot of fun. I agree. So I put a spot on here for everyone to add notes about restaurants. And I have, what, seven lines of things right here.
00:38:01
Speaker
Well, uh, I thought of some more, so I got some more ready. and I was going to say, you have like three words in there that I will equate to a whole lot more talking. don't worry So some of my personal favorites, um, starting with Disney, just because obviously Disney is very well known for their high level of restaurant experiences.
Favorite Disney Dining Experiences
00:38:22
Speaker
And these are just a few of the ones I've done. Um, at Epcot, love tepanito, love doing the, uh, hibachi and getting their filet mignon.
00:38:30
Speaker
So good. um And I've had like the green tea cake or something like that there. I don't know. It was really good. Alex and I just did that for the first time a couple months ago. Yeah, that was absolutely incredible. The violet sake is. Did not have the sake. I know.
00:38:50
Speaker
I think other people did with us. um And then I probably don't know how to pronounce it, but ochrechuse in Norway. Perfect. Nailed it. Did I actually get it? Yes, you did. um Yeah, I went there like the day after um having a migraine where I ate nothing, and then we went and did the breakfast buffet. And whatever casserole they had there with like sour cream in it, I don't know what it was exactly, but top tier. And then princesses. I love princesses.
00:39:17
Speaker
um Yachtsman Steakhouse, first of all, I adore Yacht Club as a hotel in general. um And we did a big old splurgy splurge when we did Yachtsman and like dressed up and did um valet dining and then went and splurged on this 200 something dollar dinner that we had. um Phenomenal though, I think they're known for their room.
00:39:44
Speaker
You're about to say the garlic. Okay. Oh my god. The roasted garlic that you literally just like spread the roasted garlic onto bread. Oh my god. The roasted garlic is the best thing I've ever made in my life. The truffle mac and cheese. Okay. Was really good too. Um, so going away from Disney now. Um, I have a soft spot for Grand Pavilion at Cedar Point.
00:40:09
Speaker
Um, cause first of all, I can get steak and lobster bisque on the dining plan. And I went there one weekend and literally had steak lobster bisque for four meals because I could. And then also just being right on the water, especially like at sunset is really, really nice. Mine is all the bugs there. That was the one downside about grand pavilion outside. There was ton of bugs. Um, I put, um, Christmas desserts at silver dollar city. It was like, they had some like.
00:40:38
Speaker
warm apple dumpling ice cream thing with like caramel and it was so good i was planning to just like eat it on the way to probably go an outlaw run or something and i'm like i need to stop and enjoy this and sit down because it was so good highly recommend that um I have a lot of food experiences, I'm sorry. Um, at Fantasia land in the Chinese place, there was some noodle place and for the life of me, I cannot find it again. I looked for it when I went back, but it was like some Chinese noodle place where I had coconut chicken and I don't even like coconut, but it was absolutely incredible. Um, to some chocolate Emporium at City Walk in Orlando was probably one of my best theme park meals I've ever had.
00:41:23
Speaker
in terms of character experience and just the whole vibes there. And then I had avocado bruschetta that I would go back and order in a heartbeat. And then two really small ones. I had really good garlic fries at randomly at Six Flags Fiesta Texas when it was like 100 degrees out and it was one of the greatest things I ever ate in that moment. And that was the only good thing I will say about Six Flags food. And then hot butter beer. And those are just some of the things that I- I love it. Holy crap.
00:41:52
Speaker
I know I really like food and dining experiences at parks. I mean, who doesn't? Well, I'll get to the negative. Let's start with my positives first. And I feel like since I grew up there.
00:42:06
Speaker
Not literally, but actually. um World Showcase. I just want to kind of do a wrap around the lagoon about my favorite places there. um Despite being from New England, we do seafood very well. I love the fish and chips at Rosencrown.
00:42:23
Speaker
It's phenomenal. I don't know how, where they get it from. It's Florida, not known for seafood. They do it really well there. Speaking of New England, I also love pizza. and I'm snobby about pizza. Via Napoli, fantastic. Italian pavilion, top notch. I enjoy the, with the beer garden at Germany, like kind of the family style buffet, the schnitzel there, fantastic. Not as good as the schnitzel in actual Germany, but still really good.
00:42:53
Speaker
Um, and then for dessert, you got to go to the patisserie in France. Holy bleep. Oh, so many. ah I gained 10 pounds there every visit to Disney. It's so good. Um, outside of Epcot for brunch. I'm a very big brunch person, a Bulma at the animal kingdom lodge. I love Bulma. Oh, geez. Breakfast and dinner. Amazing.
00:43:21
Speaker
Speaking of that immersion, you know obviously it's you know well themed in there as well. Good Lord, it's so freaking good. Yeah, it was on my list as well. Yeah, oh my gosh. five g And then, I mean, I made a i don't eat um outside of like Disney Universal. I actually don't eat at parks all that much. um I am cheap. I you know i really very rarely get a meal plan. I would much rather...
00:43:50
Speaker
get a hotel with a free breakfast, kind of pig out there and then go seven, eight hours and then have a really big dinner at you know after the park closes. A large part of that is that my home park is Six Flags New England. And Six Flags in general, um they suck at food. And I don't wanna spend 15, 20, $25 on crap food that's gonna make me feel sick in about an hour.
00:44:18
Speaker
um I'm hoping one of the benefits of this merger is that they adopt some some of the Cedar Fair strategy when it comes to food, like we mentioned with like grain and grill at Kings Dominion. um But yeah, no, Six Flags is just that it it takes away from the experience a little bit, because it's like, you're starving. And it's like, okay, I guess I'll have chicken fingers and fries or or pizza. That's just, you know, one out of 10, two out of 10 on the flavor scale.
00:44:47
Speaker
And then it's just wildly expensive. Insane. So yeah, that's like my little Six Flags rant. They suck. Some of the highlights though of my life, I actually had this with Alex. I've had it multiple times. Holiday World has this awesome Thanksgiving bowl, which is really, really good. It's like gravy, mashed potatoes, turkey. It's like the whole Thanksgiving plate in one bowl. um i This actually brings up, we're going back to creative again.
00:45:16
Speaker
um and i I brought up the this proposed New Year's Day like land for Holiday World with like the drop tower ball drop I've also said they should if this land ever happens Have a restaurant called like New Year New Me and it's just all a healthy options Because you know how how that would fit perfectly with the holiday everyone's trying to get healthy and So yeah, I mean, obviously would say I mentioned Canobals. Canobals has good food. The Herschen Parks, Dollywood, Silverado City, the Cinnamon Bread, all day. um Tokyo Disney Sea had some really good buffet places to eat. I don't remember the names at all, but they were all like good portion size, you know, healthy options. I want to say that was like the best food park that we had in Japan.
00:46:08
Speaker
But yeah, there we go. disney Disney for life when it comes to food. I don't know. Now I think it's my turn to pop in here. what do What do we think, guys? Do we start with a hot take? Or are we? You're a Jen from talent at Dorney Park. Of course, you start with a hot take. OK, so my hot take, because of course, we're going to get into Epcot and the festivals. so Everyone, when you talk about Epcot, so I love eating at the festivals at Epcot. That's probably my favorite way to eat at a Disney park. um Same with the Animal Kingdom. There's a lot of little stands. You could get little snacky foods, try a lot of things. It's perfect. It's fantastic. um Food and Wine is the worst festival at Epcot. The worst festival at Epcot. And all of the good food choices happen at Flower and Garden Festival.
00:47:00
Speaker
Okay, there is my hot take. Flowering Garden Festival has some of the best food that I've ever eaten in my life. Now that I think about it, yeah, I have been to Flower and Garden, whatever um festival it is. I already forgot the name. um Yeah, there's some really good food there. Flower and Garden Festival, there I feel like they're way more creative with their food, so you're getting things that are like maybe a little different than what you would typically get. Whereas Food and Wine, I feel like they're just like, oh, we're walking through Canada. Here's a very basic Canadian meal.
00:47:32
Speaker
um and they're not getting too creative so um there's my hot take um and my favorite festival that i've got guys um so flower and garden festival is definitely one of my favorite culinary experiences at any park um I do also, because we're talking creatively, have to give a call out to um Festival of the Arts. Festival of the Arts does not have nearly as many food booths or food options, but they have some really cool options and very unique. They have things like the deconstructed palette, where they'll serve you like deconstructed meals um in a very like beautiful setting.
00:48:17
Speaker
um Very different and they do a lot of things with colors. Like I know at one stand every year they do like a three deviled egg thing and each one is a different type of deviled egg and they're all different colors. Very cool. So I like eating it at a festival because I like to see the food and see the presentation um um even though it's not like the best food.
00:48:43
Speaker
Alright, so there was my hot take one. We started with a hot take. The rest of them, um some have already gone mentioned like Santulli's, Boma. um I think Grand Pavilion was mentioned. yeah Fantastic.
00:48:58
Speaker
um Some of them were mentioned, so I'll come to a couple different ones I really love. um Storybook dining at Wilderness Lodge. um That is up there for one of my favorite dining experiences at any theme park. It's themed beautifully. The whole entire restaurant's themed. It has princesses. Well, it has um dwarfs, the evil queen, and Snow White.
00:49:27
Speaker
um But also the food is themed really well and picked out perfectly for the experience, which gives it huge points for me. um Then you have to call out like Trader Sam's, if anyone's been to Trader Sam's. Yeah, one of the best experiences. Not as much food, that one's definitely more the alcohol one. However, they do you have pretty good food as well. Hot stickers, they were really good.
00:49:55
Speaker
They do have pot stickers and they also have the last time I was there. I think I got like a maybe a like rice bowl um that was absolutely fantastic, at least at the one at Disneyland.
Unique Dining at Europa Park
00:50:09
Speaker
Disney World though, you can guys, fun fact, you can get Captain Cooks, which but brings me to my next one, Captain Cooks at Polynesian. um Fantastic food, highly recommend it. um But you can bring Captain Cooks food into Trader Sam's as well. So and always good experience there.
00:50:31
Speaker
um Flying Fish already mentioned that one as well. One of the best steaks that I think that you can get on Disney property or really any theme park at all, but also just everything on their menu is absolutely untouched. um It is fantastic. And then I have to mention two at Europa Park that I really loved. Restaurant Seahorse. I'm sure that I butchered that.
00:50:56
Speaker
um It is, it has like a lot of just classic German food. Um, you can get in there and it's huge, nice sit down. It's in a beautiful location. You can overlook Josephina's or Josephine's. Um, so you can also get giant beers to bring to Josephine's from there, but also the food is actually. We got snow ride on vapor trail, Talon and Josephine's.
00:51:26
Speaker
Josephine, we love her. We do need to make a bingo card eventually. It's going to be great. um And then my last one is, like I said, also Europa Park. um The Food Loop restaurant at Europa Park. Have either of you or any of you guys heard about that restaurant? I've heard about it. Oh my gosh. Someone told us that the food was not great, but it's worth like going into to just see how it all works. So I liked the food, however, um
00:51:58
Speaker
I can't eat gluten in the States anymore. And I was eating chicken nuggets and the chicken nuggets were fantastic. But I also haven't had like actual chicken nuggets in so long. um But I had chicken nuggets and the french fries were really good and the beer was good. So I didn't complain and I thought it was just such a fun and unique experience. I had a really fun time at that restaurant. We are less than six months away folks where I can finally talk about your open official And then he gets to have a beer on Josephine's. If I don't, man. If you don't get a beer on Josephine's, we're done. yeah I haven't eaten that yet. Yeah, I'm questioning our friendship every day. You remind me. Well, there are two days, so. and i more Megan make sure that's my girl. She'll keep you in check. Oh, yeah.
00:52:56
Speaker
Yeah, I really didn't eat much at Europa. Like the only actual like meal that I remember having was at the Italian place. I had some kind of pizza. I think it was like a Quatro Formaggio pizza, but I did not get to eat at Europa as much. I have one Europa question slash spoiler all out. There is a Portugal land, isn't there? Am I making that up? Maybe. Oh, I was going to ask if there was like a Portuguese ah eatery.
00:53:27
Speaker
I don't. It wasn't memorable. Missed opportunity for a ah Brazilian steakhouse there. what that Yeah, not the same as Portugal. All right. Well, OK. I don't think they do. What the hell?
00:53:46
Speaker
Shame. Shame. For those that don't know, I'm 100 percent Portuguese, so I'm a little biased. Is it bad that I actually did not know that? Really? Yeah. I don't think I knew that either. Yeah, no, my my dad's from there and my grandmother and my mother's side is from there. Huh. Today I learned. The Azor Islands specifically.
00:54:11
Speaker
There actually, this is a very quick tangent. Um, I saw this thing online where the, uh, there's a ah theory that the today's Azorian islands were once part of Atlantis. So I like to say that I'm from Atlantis now. Anyway, I mean ah digress. You need to take a journey there.
00:54:32
Speaker
yeah it should six straight and is very um I do also have one more thing to add to my section before I pass on to Alex. um This is coming from the gluten free.
00:54:48
Speaker
um But anyone, any of the listeners who also have gluten issues and eat gluten free I have to give a real special shout out to any Disney property because I don't know what they do and apparently they're like known for kind of gatekeeping their gluten secrets or non gluten secrets but they have hands down the best gluten free bread the best gluten free buns like all of it um Disneyland almost every morning we ate um every morning we were at DCA we ate
00:55:22
Speaker
at like smoke jumpers, I think it's called. They had this breakfast sandwich on this gluten-free bread that you would never even know was gluten-free. It was so good. um And then at Disneyland, they did a gluten-free pizza like turnover thing. That again, you would never know. It like rose like gluten-free dough, like everything about it. So um if you're gluten free, Disney World really, or Disney, any Disney property really knows how to handle no gluten and their food is just like untouched. So.
00:56:08
Speaker
Perfect. I think that passes to Alex now. Awesome. Well, I will get started by saying that part of the reason why I'm so passionate about the food side of parks is um it's the side I really get to enjoy with my wife. Um, she goes on coasters and tolerates them and enjoys a lot of them, but she's by no means an enthusiast. So I appreciate her putting up with that side of me, but the part that she really enjoys is going to parks and, uh,
00:56:41
Speaker
We both really enjoy getting to share that food experience together. So I'm going to start off by saying some of my favorite moments are, um, trying the Disney food that she always appreciate as a kid and remembers and having fond memories as a kid. So the two that come to mind for me are the pog juice you get at the various restaurants and the dole whip animal kingdom. And I guess ah other various Disney properties as well.
00:57:11
Speaker
Just the joy that I see on her face whenever we have either pog juice or dole whip, it makes me so happy. And one, it's not just the fact that like, it's a childhood memory, but the fact that it's also validated by, I get to try it as a adult and it's actually really, really good. And, um, one of my favorite parts about going to Disney properties now, it's just really fun to have that experience with her.
00:57:41
Speaker
And then secondly, some of the kind of the food experiences that we get to obsess over together. So just recently, we went, Allison and I, we were went on a mission to try to try every single different cold brew coffee on the Disneyland property. We were not successful, we forgot a few, but I think just the one Disney,
00:58:10
Speaker
I appreciate that Disney does not do the whole Starbucks. We're going to charge you double for the same Starbucks that you'd get five minutes from the park. We're going to do our own coffee. We're going to do our own spin on cold brew. We're going to theme it where we can. And it's going to be immersive. So getting that immersive coffee experience while also just getting to drink some really good coffee is one of my favorite parts about going to Disney parks.
00:58:38
Speaker
um Another one we had was Boysenberry. We made it a mission to do all things Boysenberry at Knott's. As you should. So they had a Boysenberry churro sundae. That was absolutely phenomenal. That sounds good. You get kind of that like greasy fried churro. Then you get like the sweetness and acidity of the Boysenberry. And then the creaminess of the ice cream, and it all just kind of balances out really well. and
00:59:10
Speaker
Such a really good balanced dessert. Um, perfect for while you're waiting in line for that ghost rider night ride. Um, and then ah obviously the Mrs. Knott's chicken dinner. Um, yes, you, you get the full full meal. We could probably split it with three people if he wanted to, you get the salad, which I appreciate some greens.
00:59:37
Speaker
Um, you get the chicken noodle soup, which is so good. You get the chicken, you get the boysenberry pie. Uh, it is. They have cornbread too, right? Am I making that up? The biscuits, the biscuits. Yeah. Oh, that was good. It's just great that they have so many different components so of a meal rather than your just, cause I don't think many Cedar fair parks have that true sit down meal.
01:00:07
Speaker
where you get to indulge in so many courses. And it's also cool that that's the reason why the park exists. and That got my trivia brain thinking. Is Knott's Berry Farm the only park in the world with food in its title?
01:00:25
Speaker
Go research that fact, guys. It might be. Do you consider Hershey Food? No, it's a company. It would have to be Hershey Kiss Park for me to count that.
01:00:38
Speaker
Hershey Chocolate Park. But yeah, everything. Also, the Knott's Berry Punch on our drink plan, we probably had at least I probably want to say I would be surprised if we had over 10 Knott's Berry Punches while we were there on a drink plan. I just love any park that has like some sort of signature identity that involves food. Another one.
01:01:06
Speaker
The Kings Island blue ice cream. Um, it's pretty good it's pretty good. I, we love all the quirky stuff that parks have to offer. Obviously the chocolate here has been mentioned. Um, try and think if there's any other. As far as Mike hasn't barged in with, uh, have you tried the skyline truly at Kings Island? So good.
01:01:32
Speaker
I thought I was mentioning Tom and Cheed, but that's not a unique park experience, but I do think it was good. That was the first time I had that. Most times that I'm at Kings Island. That was fire. Um, Alex, I thought actually, because you're bringing up like things that have a personality, did you have like the pickles at Disneyland or like the, the peach rings with the Chamoy and things like that? I am not a hot dog eater, but Allison didn't have a corn dog.
01:02:02
Speaker
Um, I know that I'm not a, I'm also not a huge pickle guy. So I didn't have a pickle. Um, yeah, I often did have the corn dog. She says the best corn dog of her life. yeah Um, we obviously had plenty of churros in those churros that Disneyland are obviously amazing. Um, also speaking of immersion again, um, the milk at Galaxy's Edge. Hmm. Especially if you're at Disney World and it's a 90 degree day and you get a little bit of fruitiness and the little ah ice chunks that you get. All right, real quick. Green or blue? Blue.
01:02:50
Speaker
um Can I say black calf? Because ever since black caps came out, I don't yeah I haven't had blue or green along. The answer is black calf.
01:03:02
Speaker
I would have said green. I have not i was sad and that you had't yeah i do remember that I prefer one without the alcohol and the other with the alcohol actually never had it with alcohol. Yeah, they offer they give you like
01:03:19
Speaker
They give you like two options for alcohol for each one, I think. And, um, I don't know, but I think I remember that one of them, when you add the alcohol, I ended up liking it more. So I don't remember. Then another one that I want to bring up where the food is, I don't want to say bad, but it's just like solid food. But it's the theme that matters is pizza planet and tomorrow land at Disneyland. The fact that you can go to Disneyland to eat at Pizza Planet. Childhood dream lived. We got all the aliens everywhere. Perfect. We'll say studios probably has the ah worst food of the four parks at Disney World.
01:04:11
Speaker
The grilled cheese at Woody's Lunchbox Cafe is also really good. okay Yeah, so actually Magic Kingdom. Yeah, Magic Kingdom. It's actually going to bring up the next topic as a Magic Kingdom restaurant.
01:04:25
Speaker
Oh, Magic Kingdom Hands Down has the worst food, especially now that they got rid of the original chicken and waffles from Sleepy Hollow that used to be like the only thing worth eating in that park. Yeah, that's right. it rolls And now they changed it and it's terrible. So, okay, that was my rant, sorry.
01:04:43
Speaker
I mean, it's a perfect segue into our next little segment of how much do things like location and theming impact your viewpoint about a restaurant?
Theming vs. Food Quality Debate
01:04:52
Speaker
So like, would you go back for mediocre food quality if the theming and the immersion of a place is absolutely incredible? So I was going to bring up Be Our Guest at Magic Kingdom. Exactly. my My exact thought. First time I walked in there, I'm like, oh my god, this is the best thing ever. Just like you're in the ballroom.
01:05:12
Speaker
You get the West Wing, it's phenomenal. And like my first meal there, i I don't remember hating it. I thought I think I had a steak. I did like the gray sn stuff, dessert, that was really good. But I wasn't blown away. Was it delicious? That's the dishes. That's the line, right? anyway um I think my answer to this question, would I go back for mediocre food of a theme was great. I think I'd go back a second time.
01:05:42
Speaker
especially if it was with someone that hadn't been there yet. But after that, probably not, especially usually if a restaurant is well-themed and the rest of the park is well-themed as well. So it's not like I'm gonna be missing out on theming that day. I still would probably pick what I think would be the best food, even if the theming isn't the best in the park. Well, that's just me personally. I think if I already answered that question,
01:06:10
Speaker
um I think I would depends on are there good reviews of that restaurant that maybe I just came on a bad day. um I know that there's restaurants that I've had really good experiences at that other people haven't. And I would hate for that person to miss out on a really good experience just because they had one bad one, especially if it is immersive.
01:06:39
Speaker
Yeah, my one that I put, like, I went to Mythos a couple years ago with Mikhail, um, and just the food quality was not great. I don't know what it was. I don't know if it was just what I ordered, but like the portion size also felt really small for the price, so I didn't get the value of it, but it was absolutely gorgeous in there. I would definitely go back and give it another shot and try something different on the menu.
01:07:04
Speaker
But I'm kind of, I kind of agree with Bryant. We're like, give it a second shot. See if it improves your thoughts on it. And after that, I'm like, eh, I'll just go somewhere else. That's the restaurant I was referring to. Um, the Coos Coos Bowl is the one I would recommend there. I cannot remember what I had. I might be able to go back in my phone and find a picture of it whenever I never stepped inside of there.
01:07:29
Speaker
Yeah, so for me and anyone who has heard me go on my rant or talk to me about Disney World food, like you would um probably know this is going to be my answer.
01:07:42
Speaker
An experience almost never will make it more worth it to me. um You'll hear me a million times over some of the most popular Disney restaurants um that are all about like theming and immersion and things like that. I'll suggest against them almost always because their food is mediocre where if you go somewhere less themed, um you're going to get significantly better food.
01:08:05
Speaker
um And I am like the poster child of like, don't go here, go there. Like, Chef Mickey's is a huge one. People are all like, we have to go to Chef Mickey's because the monorail and and everything, and you're in the middle of the contemporary, and it's the most amazing place ever. Like, the food is awful in the world of Disney buffets. Never go there. Like, it's so bad. Please go to like beaches, not beaches and cream. Cape May Cafe at like Beach Club. Like, there are so many better buffet options.
01:08:36
Speaker
Um, so for me and then be our guest is another one. I think of I've gone twice both times. It was good, but it wasn't good. Like it wasn't, it wasn't out go out of my way to go to again, even though the experience was absolutely unreal. So that's something I've noticed is if a park has a really well-known experience, usually the food quality takes a bit of a hit because They're known for the experience rather than the actual food. So I think when you're trying to decide to go to that restaurant, do you really care about having the experience or do you want the food is kind of the option I would weigh. It's like when your pizza place just has the generic like Italian pizza box and doesn't have their actual store name on it. That's when you know, it's going to be good.
01:09:30
Speaker
Yeah, Be Our Guest, I will give a shout out to like the guest service there. um My one experience was Be Our Guest. I got a migraine like as we were waiting for our table, and by the time we sat down, it was full blown. I was nauseous and crying at the table. um I was hoping it would go away, and I ordered food and did not eat a bite of it, and then did not charge us for it. And then um the Beast character that you get to meet during Be Our Guest came over to the table to check on me.
01:09:58
Speaker
ah um So I cannot tell you about the food experience there, but guest service was great. yeah So guest service at Disney is unlike anything else. yeah And I tell this story all of the time, and it never like isn't funny to me. um I know it's not food, it's alcohol, but on my 21st birthday, like I went to Disney for my 21st birthday. like I had not really drank at all before then, um so I was trying everything new for the first time. And I went to Edison,
01:10:29
Speaker
at Disney and the bartender recommended a mule and I was still in this mindset of like, you don't waste alcohol. So he recommended a mule and that he gives it to me and he could like tell that I don't like it. And I was like, no, no, no, like it's fine. It's fine. I'm going to drink it. Like, i I don't want to waste it. Like, whatever. I drank the whole entire thing. And then he proceeded to make me a new drink and take the mule off my bill because he's like, I literally watched you suffer through that and hate every tip of it.
01:11:01
Speaker
like And it was like, I think of that all the time, the experience. Yeah. The guest experience at some of those places are unmatched. Yeah, I agree. I feel like food also tends to taste better or worse depending on your service experience too. Oh yeah, absolutely. You're going to be a little bit meaner if the experience is bad. Cause I thought of a rainforest cafe as like the theming being over the top, but
01:11:33
Speaker
Uh, it's been, ironically, I'm going to a rainforest cafe in a couple of weeks for the first time in like decades. So I'm intrigued to see how the food is. ah
01:11:44
Speaker
yeah Listen, we're going to the one, so I'm going on the coaster cruise at the coaster studios in a few weeks. And it's out of Galveston, Texas. This rainforest cafe actually has like a rapids ride in it. Yeah. That's what I was just going to say. Yeah. Rapids ride. Yes. So I'm actually very, very intrigued. What the hell that's about.
01:12:03
Speaker
All right, well, whether it's worth it. Would you eat bad food and be happy and recommend it for a rapids ride in the restaurant? Find out in next month on the inverted creative podcast. Is it Dornie's rapids? Oh God, I hope not. But that does also bring up another good like,
01:12:29
Speaker
example of experience um oh so i don't know this one actually might be one of the few experiences that contradicts what i was going to say blue bayou at disneyland is not my favorite food um i was not a huge fan of it at all both times i went and i strictly only went because you get to watch the pirates ride go around you in that restaurant um
01:12:59
Speaker
So I guess 99% of the time I'll always recommend the food over the experience, but in that unique experience. I mean, I have that literally listed in our next little segment about creative dining experiences and like, what's the most creative dining experience you've encountered at a park. Parrot in Batavia goes through a restaurant. I did not eat at the restaurant, but I meant to. I just never did. We had too much else to do. Um,
01:13:28
Speaker
But yeah, the ending of a piranha in Batavia literally just goes through the middle of a restaurant. So you're sitting here watching all the restaurant goers while they eat. And they're all staring at you as you float by. Yeah, that's exactly what happens on Pirates 2 at Disneyland. It's such a fun experience.
01:13:44
Speaker
um The last time that I ate there, though, guys, there was like a four point something magnitude earthquake. And we had no idea. We had no clue. We sat in the restaurant. We were like, oh, pirates is down. Weird. Most of the time we were and like everything at Disneyland. Taylor was texting me like, did you feel the earthquake? And I was like, no, there was an earthquake. So.
01:14:16
Speaker
Trying to think of Restaurants are places that we haven't mentioned already. I'm thinking of what's the place in living with the land that rotates? And you can see part of a little land.
01:14:29
Speaker
ah Something garden. Garden Grill? Maybe, yeah. Garden Grill sounds right. Garden Grill. That could be wrong. Yeah, Garden Grill. Garden Grill, yeah. That's up there. That's a really good example of one Now um this isn't food and Megan and I we we just didn't have time to do it But you at Park Astorique Park Astoriques in France um you can get a drink on this like Elevator a contraption that actually takes like it's like a bar in the sky guy bar thing right Yeah, it goes up like over a hundred feet and like your feet are dangling while you're having a drink and
01:15:11
Speaker
I really want to do that. We were really bummed that we ran out of time for, but, uh, have park ass Greeks on our list for next year. And I don't think we're going to have time for that, which is really sad. you're a The one thing I hate about Europe is they're short hours. It's the worst.
01:15:29
Speaker
Have any of you all ever done space to 20 at Epcot? I've done the lounge. So I've, that was when I was thinking as well. Yeah.
01:15:42
Speaker
I think they have like a simulated like rocket ship elevator thing before you go into the restaurant. Yeah, I think the two 20 is like how many miles in the sky it's supposed to be. Yeah, and they they put you into like an elevator to go in and you get to see like a blast off to the station. um Pretty cool. It's like, yeah, it's a pretty cool experience.
01:16:13
Speaker
And then I've heard about Etrinoline at Europa. It's like right next to Chronosaur. They don't allow cameras in it or something like that. And I guess this is something we need to ask Joey about more. um But the website described it as a unique multi-sensory fine dining experience, which combines multimedia content with the finest culinary craft and sends you on a sensory culinary journey. It's some kind of like trackless dark ride mixed with a restaurant.
01:16:43
Speaker
Supposedly. I did see this. It's also. I didn't see this. I really want to do it. It seems a wild. Put that one on the list. Yeah. You need to go do that instead of Josephina's. Go do each other. Whatever is it Thank you very much. correcting you now Oh, my gosh. um Yeah, do that instead of a hero. And then.
01:17:12
Speaker
I do really want to do it I did look but though and it's like crazy expensive as I would think but oh another good one they don't do it anymore post COVID but um so I just keep going to Walt Disney World um at one point in time Walt Disney World did like a dining in the sky experience and they took one of the monorails and you could like reserve one of the like tables in the monorail and they would take you to each resort and it was like you got food from like there their signature restaurant at each resort. That's pretty cool. Yeah. I would have been all about that. I did really want to do it but then COVID happened. I feel like we mentioned all these Disney places and there's still something we forgot.
01:18:04
Speaker
Oh, always. Like there's multiple Disney experiences. that's crazy talking about I've never done the drive in thing at studios. I've always wondered how that was. Yeah, I am. Like emulates a drive in movie theater. or Yeah. I'm not either because I've heard the food is awful. There we go. I've heard not great things from health and family. I've heard the food is terrible, so.
01:18:31
Speaker
There's a restaurant at the boardwalk at Disney and I can't, Tritoria, I think? Oh, Tritoria, yeah. um I did that i did the ah the Tangled Breakfast there. And they had like pastries that were like the shape of the ah the current the corona, I think it's corona, sun.
01:18:49
Speaker
um yeah whatever i was The Kingdom of Corona, the sun there, and it was just like the best pastry I've had in my life. And I want to go back just for that, but also because I love Tangled and I cried when I met Rapunzel. Yeah, I don't think they brought that breakfast back post COVID either. um Unless they brought it back more recently, but yeah, I don't think they brought that breakfast back post COVID either. That used to be my, every time I went to Disney, I would go to that breakfast. It was my favorite.
01:19:18
Speaker
That was a good one. um
01:19:22
Speaker
I keep wanting to say tradeor joe Trader Joe's. Trader Sam's, they ruined me with the two shots of rum. And anytime I make a drink, and I say two shots of rum, and everyone looks at me really weird. so Oh, yeah. The whole entire experience at Trader Sam's, like it ruins me for any bar. I just didn't have that much fun.
01:19:45
Speaker
Yeah, just have like a second episode talking about just food at Disney specifically. like Yeah, it's so hard to not talk about Disney this in depth um on a subject like this because it they just do it unlike anyone else. They really do. Then obviously the last one is just the going around the world and being able to try various beverages and. Yeah, drinking around the world, even doing like the monorail bar crawl. Oh, yeah. fun
01:20:17
Speaker
yeah like an episode about alcohol creativity with alcohol Oh my gosh, there's so many creative things to be done with alcohol. I just opened a whole new realm for us to talk about. I know I really tried not to talk about alcohol that much all episode, but um because there are some really good alcohol experience, like themed experiences. um One that came to mind was like Abracadabar at the boardwalk at Disney. um They have like a drink that turns colors when they pour it. Just very cool experiences.
01:20:58
Speaker
Lapu-Lapu's at um Polynesian. Drinking out of a pineapple with a 151 in it. That's tasty. Yeah, they also have the back-sketchah? Back-sketchah?
01:21:11
Speaker
um Yeah, there's just so many good. I know you're not a food and wine person, but I love just pairing a drink with a Bevy and having a grand old time going around Epcot.
01:21:26
Speaker
Yeah, my my um food and wine is just give me a Riesling wine and food, and I'm happy. I don't really do any kind of wine pairings. I don't like red wines.
Creativity and Bars in Theme Parks
01:21:39
Speaker
I'm like, just give me a Riesling. Give me a Riesling. What a life. Bryant, you left and we started talking about alcohol. I'm sorry. No, that's OK. I should probably drink less alcohol alcohol anyway.
01:21:51
Speaker
we said We need like a whole episode at some point just talking about creativity with like bars. booze And in bars, booze, alcohol. We won't even need a ah guest for that one. We have Jen, so. What is that supposed to mean? All right, last comment I have on here before we get into listener comments. Bryant, you said something about an hour and a half episode. um Yeah. Well, we got to wrap up in seven minutes and that's not going to happen. So no it is not. Um, but Jen, I know with your experience with gluten-free dining, what has been like your best culinary experiences of gluten-free plus immersion and theming and all that? I worry about weird, but I think you got the gist. Yeah. So this is going to, again, it's just, it's going to come down to Disney. Um,
01:22:47
Speaker
In parks so far with my gluten-free experiences, um most parks outside Disney don't have a ton. um Maybe a gluten-free pizza, gluten-free chicken tenders, barbecue is usually pretty gluten-free, and Mexican food is usually pretty gluten-free.
01:23:07
Speaker
But um not a lot of like very good experiences. um However, Disney just does food ah allergies unlike any anywhere else. Anywhere you go on Disney property, they make either a version of what's on their menu or have things um similar that fit the theme, fit the menu, um that is gluten free or gluten friendly.
01:23:34
Speaker
um anything like churros, beignets. um
01:23:43
Speaker
It's just and unmatched. the Disney's always going to do better with those things. Grand Pavilion also does fantastic with gluten-free food and options. um They do really well with it.
01:24:00
Speaker
um But yeah, really Disney. um It's hard for, I think it's hard for places outside of Disney where it's a little bit less of a concern to really think about how to fit the menu with the um restriction where Disney still puts in that effort. So I hope that makes sense.
01:24:28
Speaker
We should have just called this episode Disney food. I mean, we've mentioned some other parks. Yeah. Hershey gets some love. We can mention Dornie Park um because I ordered a gluten free pizza there and it was a gluten free pizza. It was not very good. However, they gave me a full pizza. Like this is the size of my body on my dining plan. I could have fed like six people.
01:24:57
Speaker
I'm just going to shout out Dornie for the spread they had at the Iron Menace Media Day, which was unbelievable. I heard good things about those funnel cake shrimp. Well, yes, thank you. I was trying to think of what it was. The funnel cake shrimp was unbelievable. Is that the same funnel cake shrimp they have at Grand Pavilion? Probably. It's Cedar Fair, right? Yeah. Well, six likes, but yeah. Yeah, that funnel cake shrimp is good. Yeah, they do good spreads.
01:25:25
Speaker
Dornie had, like I was getting some random so something. I forget what I got to eat. I think it was like just a flatbread pizza and they had pierogies as a side option part as part of the meal plan. That was kind of cool.
01:25:38
Speaker
unexpected. yeah Um, I do like there I like little this is why I love Dornie Park so much because there are a little like charming Lehigh Valley esque things that they'll do like little things and that's one of them like Lehigh Valley is pretty known for their pierogies. um So offering pierogies is something that's like, yeah.
01:26:01
Speaker
We should also bring up, I like when parks to have like local delicacies. Yeah. One that I thought of was the, uh, Valley
Local Specialties and Themed Dining
01:26:10
Speaker
fair. It's that, what's it called? The juicy burger or something and that has like the cheese within the you had do juy Lucy Lucy Lucy. Yeah. yeah that was really very Yeah. Kings Island with the skyline chili. That's probably a worst example. hair shout about My home park, uh, Indiana beach has the pork tenderloins with a big old.
01:26:32
Speaker
Tenderloins, it's the Indiana staple. Really? Did you tell me to get that? I had that, right? Yeah, I didn't get it fried though, which was disappointing. It's like the tiny little bun with a big old piece of pork and it's hilarious and delicious.
01:26:52
Speaker
Oh, I'm sure there are other examples, but. We could talk for literal hours. That's a good point about culinary experiences. All right, getting on to listener questions and comments. I don't think we actually had any questions. We only had comments. Alex, do you want to read the first one on there? It might look a little familiar to you. Yeah, let me scroll up here. I think he basically already read this. Yeah, honestly though. But we need to.
01:27:20
Speaker
Since Mrs. Knott's chicken owner is so good, my favorite culinary experience I think was that. I love that it's actually a full meal with salad, soup, biscuits, chicken, and boysenberry pie. Every component is delicious and it's the reason why Knott's got started in the first place.
01:27:41
Speaker
Yes, that was Alex's comment on our ah quite all perfect responses before we got him on the podcast. I had that together, I believe, you right across from me. That's right. I remember Mike eating corn while we were there and that's like my leg only memory. I remember we waited a while for that. We had like 12 of us or something at one table.
01:28:10
Speaker
All right, we have a comment from West. um They say, Ohana, we haven't mentioned Ohana yet, um or Mythos. Ohana was probably the more special because of the Polynesian theming, ah the ukulele and singing in the background with fireworks behind Magic Kingdom. Yes, because you can walk out on the beach at the Polynesian and watch, I almost called it fantasy in the sky, geez.
01:28:37
Speaker
Oh, my God, I can't think of it. What's it called? Happy Ever After. Happy Ever After. My God. It's still wishes to me. Yeah, go outside and watch Wishes. Wishes. Wishes was great, too. I don't know. I think I'm still a Happy Ever After stan. Wrong. Yeah, if you can time it when you're at Ohana facing, like, the Magic Kingdom view on the fireworks start, it's perfection. We lucked out with that when I was there. Incredible. Yeah. I'm going to be the opposite out. I'm not an Ohana fan.
01:29:07
Speaker
See, it's my wife's favorite all time Disney restaurant, but for the breakfast and she is. She loves. She loves the Stitch Juice. That's so she loved the POG juice with a different name. Oh, I got to shout out the, uh, this is more when I was a kid, the, uh, the character meet and greet, uh,
01:29:27
Speaker
at Grand Floridian. that That was a good brunch. I don't know if they still have that. Oh, 1900 Park Fair. 1900 Park Fair. Oh, that one is a fantastic one. Really, really good brunch. I'm obsessed over the strawberry soup that they had. So good. Yeah, I forgot about that. really Characters were great. I went there um right after I'd gotten engaged and have a fabulous picture with Drozella. Just sad that she doesn't have a ring.
01:29:57
Speaker
have I have a picture of Minnie like,
01:30:03
Speaker
I gotta not get in trouble here. Let's just say she's kissing me a pretty ah vigorously when I was like eight. um okay I'll share that picture too. I'll text my mom. it's That was at the Grand Floridian. She went all in.
01:30:25
Speaker
Goodness. Nice. All right. 1996. So it's been a little bit. Oh, my goodness. Oh, wait. I'm not even the youngest on here anymore. Nope. Oh, what the heck? So now you can say worse, but I was just going to let you know that that was the year I was born. And you took that. I wasn't born yet. Well, that means Jen turns 30 next year.
01:30:55
Speaker
Yes. Sold. Yes. It's fine. Everything's fine. Okay. Next we have Keith. He said, the gimmick fries of Kenny and Lego aside, everything else to talk about is at Disney world, but Europe. Okay. The beer is cheaper and more interesting.
Food Comparisons and Special Mentions
01:31:18
Speaker
So Disney world. Hmm. What should we talk about from Disney world?
01:31:23
Speaker
I don't think we've talked about this. You kind of predicted the podcast. Everything else to talk about is that Disney world. There you go. but I thought about putting that literally just before. Except we do have to give his shout out for the Kennywood fries. They are so good. I mean, the Legoland fries are good too. They're,
01:31:51
Speaker
I forget what they what they are, like fries. Or the apple fries. Yeah. And then like, like a sauce or something yeah. I gotta get to Legoland. It's not that far away from me. It's just so expensive. Yeah. I've never been to one. I've done one. I really loved the little like mini.
01:32:14
Speaker
like the mini world or whatever they call it, where everything was like all over the Legos. Oh, I loved it. I could have just sat there all day watching things. I'm going to Legoland in the UK. That'll be fun. They have roller coasters over there, like good roller coasters though, right? You have roller coasters there? Oh, maybe not. The one in Germany has- They have like five and like five of the UK one. They just opened a racing one.
01:32:43
Speaker
Do they have good ones though? Like the one in Florida has some, but they're like little tiny kitty rides. Yeah. I don't even remember what they have, but they do have roller coasters. Otherwise we wouldn't be going, in all honesty. All right, Seapred. Not sure if it was the best one, but a memorable one would be at Hershey at the Chocolatier during Super Duper Stumble. Just being there together with the group after the park day was a great experience. They have unique things there that make it different than other places.
01:33:11
Speaker
um I was there during that dinner. We took over like three tables because there were so many of us all eating a chocolate here at the same time and just having a good time. um ah We should mention the Ferris wheel ah the of appetizers. Yes, the corn dip is God tier. So good. I wish I could put that on its own. I wish they'd actually spun.
01:33:34
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Chocolatier is special like Chocolatier and then to some just using chocolate in unique ways. And I know Chocolatier does it really, really well. Like every single entree has some kind of hints of chocolate that you wouldn't expect. Chocolatier, honestly, like bats with some of the best Disney restaurants.
01:33:56
Speaker
Yeah, we should have worked on it more honestly today. but um Also, into the looming element of it, the chocolatier having the layouts of the four coasters.
01:34:11
Speaker
in the lights from the ceiling is like my favorite. Like I do also like that they use like the old comic inspired boots um and things like that. But the the layouts of the four or five rides from the ceiling is like my favorite thing about that restaurant. There's just a lot of really cool details when you look closely. Yeah. I don't know if this this is still considered the chocolate here, but the bakery on on the first floor is Miltons, I think. What is it? I think it's called Miltons. Oh, maybe. um Um, it's like, yeah, like a bakery. I just had a cupcake from there. Yeah, they have such a wide selection. I know they had like their own little Wildcats revenge, like cake last year or two years. know yeah yeah like And they have fudge and oh, yeah, there's stuffs fantastic. The rooftop bar right there is really fun, too.
01:35:07
Speaker
Great views of Skyrush. I've actually never been up there. I had a mocktail. It was a little wildcats revenge mocktail, because I didn't feel like drinking that day. I did not say they need a rooftop bar at the American pavilion. That's like the most American thing they can do. True. That would be sick. Back to Disney. It always goes back to Disney. Always goes back to Disney. All right. We have Hawk Van Der Ley.
01:35:35
Speaker
I've heard the tale of the Grey Ham at Cedar Point. I have not. Have you guys? I have no idea what that means. No. I don't... I question everything Nathaniel says. I think this might be the brain damage. Too many magnum rhymes. This might be the brain damage. Literally. What is it? We should get him on as the fourth person for the Coaster Madness because he's all about that. I'm sure he'll answer the takes.
01:36:05
Speaker
I want Nathaniel all the time. He's so funny. Here we go. Nathaniel, you're invited for that one. Let us know what we want to do. Sometime in February.
01:36:16
Speaker
Next one's a long one. Mom, mom, mom, mom. You wrote us a little book.
01:36:28
Speaker
Well, he says the two parks that I've eaten at most recently are Six Flags Magic Mountain and Islands of Adventure. ah Magic Mountain had one decent vegetarian option, the Impossible Burger at the full throttle bar. I've actually been to the full throttle bar. That's where i we watched the Super Bowl. Oh yeah. Where the Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles. No, that's a lie. Go birds. That happened then. Service and food were unfortunately not great.
01:36:54
Speaker
um I had a good time at the full throttle bar, but then again, we didn't really get we were there for like four hours. so Hard to judge judge the surface there. I just remember Tom looking like the most miserable person ever, and then he ended up winning in the end. Watching Tom and Kelly that day was fun. i' glad i that was a great ah That was a great test, and they passed it.
01:37:28
Speaker
You want to read it? We we should each run read one paragraph from Nick. um I said, ah Universal Studios Orlando had amazing options, quality, and affordability. The highlights were Hot Dog Hall of Fame, Vegan Dog, and Three Broomsticks Vegan Shepherd's
Praise for Universal Studios Dining
01:37:44
Speaker
Pie. Both tasted amazing. Visa Velocicoaster from Three Broomsticks Outside were impeccable. I also got my food so quick during peak lunch. That's very true about the views from there. Yeah, I forget about Three Broomsticks. It's actually pretty good. I've had i've eaten there once.
01:37:57
Speaker
I ate there for the first time this year, or well, I guess last year. And yeah, it's so good. Leaky cauldron too. fish Really fish and chips at both restaurants are so good. and I know I ate at three room sticks, but I have no recollection of what I got. Zero. I think I got like two. I spilled a drink all over Steven and we had our robes on and we had to go back to the hotel and have our robes dry clean. But aside from that,
01:38:26
Speaker
is there There's no spell for that. Come on. Well, listen, I got picked at all of Anders for one choosing. I was happy. That was all I needed. Well, apparently that one didn't work for cleaning Europe. All of Anders losing it. Wow.
01:38:48
Speaker
ja irian His last one. Yeah, so this one, I don't splurge on food at parks, so I'm looking for under $20 usually. um That three broomsticks meal was maybe the best I've had for that price between taste, environment, and food service. The best overall meal I've had was probably Ohana, but that was 12 years ago. Another mention for Ohana. Ohana. Put on the list. It means family. It does indeed.
01:39:19
Speaker
ah We have all clear and out of here. Gotta say the Meatloaf Burger at Kings Island. It tastes great. Limited time menu item, only available during Winterfest. It's in the Brewhouse, which is a nice escape from the cold weather. A winning combo. That does sound delicious.
01:39:37
Speaker
That sounds very interesting. yeah I did not have that at all. um Whenever I go to Brewhouse, I'm always boring and I get a salad, but that's just because I love their KI salad that they have there. It has like feta and cranberry and onions on it and a really good balsamic vinaigrette. That sounds good. I've never had anything bad at the Brewhouse, so I'm sure that is good as well.
01:39:59
Speaker
Our most recent experience there was not great but that was only because like one of the computers messed up and our orders never actually went to the kitchen and we waited for like 45 minutes. Yikes. And there was a whole issue with that but so like half of our group ate and then they were just sitting and waiting for us. Gonna say I hope everyone's not listening to this podcast around now which is 9 40 p.m. because I am now absolutely starving after this. yeah so long though It's not good to be hungry this late.
01:40:31
Speaker
I hope this episode makes everyone wanna go eat them. You guys should have held up the recording while eating french fries. Come on. That did happen with Jenn, yeah. We her attempt to eat french fries before recording for like a solid half hour. We're doing great, guys. Jenn, you could read the last one from ah our our friend Laurel. Oh, Laurel XL 200. Laurel Klein.
01:40:59
Speaker
She said, I'm not sure if it was just because the AC blasting on a hot Orlando day or what, but Mythos at Islands of Adventure was probably the best theme park meal I've ever had. Followed closely, of course, by Backbeat Barbecue, the best place to scan a meal plan at Cedar Point in between Magnum Lamps. Just crapped on Allison. It's like, wait she doesn't know what she's talking about. I get that goosebumps. Yeah, Mythos.
01:41:29
Speaker
Listen, it was just a bad day. I would go back just to try something else. I want to try that restaurant. That's on my list. I've wanted to try that for a while. The one thing I like about Mythos is they have a lot of lighter. Obviously it's Mediterranean, so it's a lot of lighter food. That's nice to not have something super heavy. That makes sense. One of these days I'm trying out. Also really good.
01:42:00
Speaker
backbeat barbecue is so good. I do miss when they first opened these to have like different barbecue sauce options from like different barbecue regions like Nevada Carolina barbecue and much different types. really Unfortunately, that does not exist anymore. So that's sad. But I did enjoy my meal ah ah at melt when it was there at Cedar Point back in 2018.
01:42:29
Speaker
And they removed it. I remember eating at Melt. It was like a super cold and rainy day. And just the warmth of like, I think I had like a some kind of mac and cheese and just it brought me back to life that day. ah Yeah. They had, they had really good, like grilled cheeses, I think. Oh man. I miss the, the, uh, Mac bowl at Kings Dominion. Where you can like build your own mac and cheese or whatever. I I devoured my my mac and cheese there. It was so good. I don't even remember what it had, but. I'm sure we got rid of that.
01:43:08
Speaker
we could We could go on and on about just good food experiences, but we have been rambling for an hour 45 now. And I think Brian is about to fall asleep. I have been up since 4 AM, so to be fair.
01:43:26
Speaker
Actually, earlier than that, because I woke up at like, it was, so usually i my alarm goes off at 4 a.m. and this morning was one of those like, oh, I woke up at 3.30 and I'm like, well, I'm not gonna go back to bed, so. Let's just get up now. So yeah, I'm ready for the sleeps. Well, first, do you have a trivia question for us? Oh, crap. No, I don't.
01:43:54
Speaker
but actually. what but yeah I was worried about remembering if I had the answer for the last one that I forgot to think of one. Listen, I blame ah Coaster Studios. I was hosting their trivia for Patreon the last ah five days. okay guys I have a trivia question. Yeah, you guys can think of one. All right. I don't. Alex, you're a trivia guy. You have to think of a food one.
01:44:22
Speaker
Okay. I actually don't have a food one, but since we're talking about Disney, I have, I have a interesting Disney question. So which is, which is larger? The entire Disneyland California resort. So both Disneyland and indian Disney's California adventure or magic kingdom.
Trivia and Farewell
01:44:45
Speaker
Okay. So but' throw not there you got a 50 50 shot.
01:44:53
Speaker
They should have lots of participants, because you just have to guess. Also, Disney1, people come out of the woodworks for Disney. Also, people have to listen through an hour and 45 minutes of us just talking about yeah like pausing to go get a meal. I know, right? Well, I'm glad we're back, guys. Thank you for your patience. um But I think we're going to be delivering a few more consistent episodes the last the next few weeks.
01:45:20
Speaker
I don't know. We got to talk about that at some point, too. We'll make it work. We'll make it work. Because Bryant has a trip coming up. Jen has a trip coming up. I got nothing. So I'll make it work. Maybe, just maybe, instead of one two-hour episode, we just do two one-hour episodes, and we get two at the same time. We'll see. We'll see. This will be good practice for this summer, when all of us are on ridiculous trips. Yeah, that's a good one. And our schedules are not going to align in the least.
01:45:50
Speaker
No. We'll make it work, though. That's what we do. We will. We're creative. Indeed we will. It's in the name. We're creative and inverted and a podcast. Wow. well ah Well, Alex, thank you so much for coming on as our ah fourth chair tonight. I mean, your delightful insights. Do you want to shout out your social medias? And then, I mean, we'll link them in the episode description as well. but Yeah, so my food and I guess now that I'm doing a top 25 on my Instagram channel, my channel is Rides and Bites. And um yeah, I just do food reviews and I'll do some coaster stuff as well. Mostly just kind of a hobby channel, but if one person can get some information out of it, it's always a pleasure. So yeah, if you want to learn more about some food, go follow that.
01:46:48
Speaker
But yeah, thank you guys so much for having me on. It's always a pleasure. This is an amazing podcast and I can always see what you guys do in the future. Aw, thank you. You're the best, Alex. Even if I make money since then for your football tape.
01:47:07
Speaker
Good night, everybody. Good night, guys. For a day whenever you're listening to this.