Theme Park Fare

Theme park fare has long been notorious for being unhealthy and unappetising, commonly consisting of fast food. Most theme parks serve up the same types of theme park food, ranging from corn dogs and pizza to burgers and fries, as well as funnel cakes,waffles and ice cream. These foods are easy and efficient to prepare, as well as inexpensive to produce. They range in quality and taste by location and cost. With the aim of increasing sales and enhancing experiences, many amusement and theme parks now turn to using many different methods to enhance the dining experience of patrons, in turn increasing revenue and popularity. 

Firstly, some businesses encourage guests to purchase these foods or visit particular restaurants by increasing the nostalgia factor and theming. Some of these foods are served in restaurants that are themed to movies or shows from that particular franchise. For example, Bistrot Chez Rémy at the Disneyland Paris resort is themed to the Disney movie Ratatouille. In this restaurant, guests dine next to oversized cutleries and plates to give guests the feeling of being shrunk down to the size of a mouse, recreating a location from the movie. At the Universal Orlando resort, there is an eatery themed as the Three Broomsticks, a pub from the popular Harry Potter franchise by J.K. Rowling. In this eatery, patrons can partake in food mentioned in the Harry Potter books and movies, admire the themed architecture and decor and enjoy the unique atmosphere of the restaurant. Theme parks and attractions also serve up snacks and foods themed to different characters or foods that exist in the different worlds of different stories. In various Disney parks and resorts, many snacks are themed towards Disney characters. Disney parks serve up ice-creams and waffles in the shape of Mickey Mouse’s head, and at Tokyo Disney Resort, they offer mochis in the shape of little green aliens, characters from Disney Pixar’s popular Toy Story franchise. At various Universal Parks with Harry Potter themed areas as well as various Warner Bros. Studio Tour-The Making Of Harry Potter attractions around the globe, you can find shops selling Butterbeer-a drink from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. This encourages guests to purchase these foods as it brings joy and familiarity. These foods are often difficult to obtain from regular supermarkets and stores across the globe other than at these them parks and attractions, further spurring guests to purchase them.

On the other hand, many of these attractions and foods play on the ‘Instagrammable’ factor to increase sales. When a certain food has that factor, some guests will take photographs of it to post on social media platforms such as Instagram. This increases awareness about that particular food, increasing popularity and demand as well as challenging the stereotype that theme park fare is unremarkable and falls short of expectations at the same time. These foods either play on the food or restaurants theming and nostalgia factor, mainly dependent on the visual draw of the food or eatery. Some theme parks also serve up standard theme park fare at key locations in a park. While this may not seem to increase the draw or the food item drastically, guests may take pictures of the food with major icons of these attractions. For example, guests may take shots of food with the iconic Cinderella’s castle as the background in Disneyland style parks. This could potentially encourage social media users to visit that particular attraction and purchase that food. 

Theme Parks and attractions also commonly serve limited or seasonal foods. This pushes guests to purchase these as they might not be available again, as well as allowing companies to test out different popularity trends and different flavours. For instance, when a new land or area is opening in a theme park, limited time snacks and foods themed to that particular franchise would be sold. When new movies by that company are released, themed foods and merchandise might be sold in limited numbers as well. This encourages sales as guests would buy these to avoid missing out.

Lastly, many theme parks are creating unique and distinctive tastes and foods for guests to try as well. In Magic Kingdom at Disney World Orlando, guests can sample Cheeseburger and Pizza Spring Rolls. While these may seems eccentric to some, many guests would be encouraged to try new flavours and fusions of different cultures and tastes.

As such, theme parks and attractions use many methods to transform ordinary foods into extraordinary dishes visually as well as create different flavours. There is way more  to theme park fare than meets the eye.

Acknowledgements:

Jones, Robbie. “Is Now the Time to Improve Theme Park Food and Dining Experiences?” Katapult, Katapult, 2 May 2023, www.katapult.co.uk/is-now-the-time-to-improve-theme-park-food-and-dining-experiences. 

Mims, Paul O. “What Makes an Perfect Amusement Park Food, According to an Expert.” Food & Wine, Food & Wine, 26 Aug. 2022, www.foodandwine.com/travel/amusement-park-food-secrets. 

Zhou Yuhan

Secondary 2 Wisdom

2025