Which theme parks serve the best food? It's not really fair to compare full-service, sit-down restaurants with quick-service, take-away windows, so let's restrict today's vote and discussion to the more common counter-service eateries. Which parks do the best job overall with that?
Obviously, to make comparisons between different theme parks, it helps to have visited them. Though, let's be honest: the lack of actual, first-hand experience hasn't prevented that many online arguments! So feel free to vote your favorites here, even if you haven't been to all the locations on the ballot. Or, if you're upset with the food service at your (otherwise) favorite park, feel free to vote for another park or resort to send a message. We're ultimately trying to get a conversation going here, and maybe send a message to parks about what we want to see from them when it's time to eat.
In a further effort to try to make this fair, we'll break today's vote into two parts: one for the big, multi-park resorts, and another for the single porks whose counter-service restaurants have scored the highest in our Theme Park Insider reader ratings. When considering the candidates, let's consider which parks do the best job overall for food service, rather than just voting for the park with the single-best restaurant. It's great to have an outstanding place to eat, but if you're staying for the whole day, or visiting multiple times over the year, it's better to have a wider range of high-quality options.
This week we named Sleepy Hollow Refreshments as the top quick-service location at Walt Disney World. We'll have similar Top 10 lists for Disneyland and Universal Orlando in the weeks to come, but for right now, we'll note that the top quick-service restaurants in our ratings for those resorts are Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta at the Disneyland Resort and The Leaky Cauldron at Universal Orlando Resort.
Earlier this year, we honored Dollywood's Miss Lillian's Chicken House with our first Theme Park Insider Award for best quick-service theme park restaurant. And Dollywood's restaurants score consistently well, so we've included it in our second vote, for best quick-service food at individual parks. The competitors here include Dollywood's sister park, Silver Dollar City, as well as two SeaWorld parks, Busch Gardens Williamsburg and SeaWorld Orlando, and indie Holiday World. Top restaurants at those parks include Buckshot Annie's Skillet Cookery at Silver Dollar City, Trappers Smokehouse at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Voyager's Smokehouse at SeaWorld, and Plymouth Rock Cafe at Holiday World.
Please tell us about your favorite, can't-miss theme park counter-service restaurants, as well as what you'd like to see parks do to make more restaurants that live up to that level.
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Disneyland blows everyone away, and quiet possibly one of the few parks in the country where I know where AP holders will go just to have a quick dinner. A park that can draw locals in just for a bite to eat must be doing something right.
Most disappointing food item at Disney World parks - corn dogs. I walked up to an outdoor food station in Hollywood Studios to order one. My expectation was a corn dog like the ones served at state fairs - foot long size. Well, I happen to glance inside the station and saw they were serving state fair corn dogs alright, the State Fair brand. I was paying a 1900% mark up for a store bought corn dog. Never again.
I am always impressed with the food served at Busch Gardens - Sea World parks. It is definitely a step above the other Florida parks. Sure, you pay a bit more, but man the quality and taste is so much better.
Silver Dollar City is good as well. I will vouch for their hotdog and chips combo. Well worth the price and a nice quick snack between rides. Their table service is very nice as well, but I think a lot of that stems from the older clientele that they receive.
I'm looking forward to comparing the Bangers and Mash at the Leaky Cauldron vs. Finnigan's this October at Universal Studios Florida. Once and for all we'll know which is better.
Silver Dollar City / Dollywood - as Tim said, they are nearly identically excellent, but I give the edge to SDC for Eva and Delilah's Bakery - they may not have the cinnamon bread and the big apple pie, but everything else is AMAZING!
Disney World - the options are getting better all the time, but they are not quite there yet.
BGW - been a while since my last visit (2008) but I remember the food being pretty darn good - especially in the big German dining hall - if it is still at the park.
Universal Orlando - I am sure the quick service options are better now that Potter is in town, but back when I last visited, I mostly opted for full service where I think USO excels - Mythos, NBA City, etc.
Holiday World / SeaWorld - been a while, but I don't remember the food being anything remarkable - seemed fairly standard at the time - will have to visit again, soon.
BTW, I just got back from multi day visits to both Kings Island and Cedar Point, and found the food at KI to be at least interesting (some local flavors like LaRosa's and Skyline Chili were decent), but the food at the Point (other than Pink's Hot Dogs and Elephant Ears) was a big disappointment.
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