www.parkworld-online.com
Park Hoppin’ In association with Park Hoppin’with Susan Storey O
ne of my favourite theme park
trends is the increased emphasis on food. For many years, visits to amusement parks primarily involved thrill rides and live entertainment, with
food playing a secondary role. This trend has shifted, and theme park food continues to evolve. Disney set a high standard for theme park food when Epcot opened with its diverse restaurants in the World Showcase. Since then, other parks have created imaginative and innovative dining experiences. I never turn down the opportunity to eat at Mythos at Islands of Adventure and my son provides a comprehensive experience featuring an eight-course meal accompanied by multimedia meals encompass fine dining as well as snacks. With the opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Universal changed the landscape of park food forever. Butterbeer is more than a drink. Popcorn has been a beloved snack for more than
5,000 years. It is also an amusement park staple. I believe popcorn is also experiencing a renaissance, in both taste and packaging. The Magic Kingdom is known for welcoming guests with the aroma of popcorn. Disneyland Resort sells over 500,000 pounds (226 metric tons) of popcorn annually and Walt Disney World Resort sells about 385,000 pounds (175 metric tons) each year. Disney offers unique flavours across its parks, too. popcorn is simply delicious. For creative popcorn guests to its popcorn bar; guests create their own custom popcorn creation with various flavours, toppings, and mix-ins.
seems to have gotten inspiration from the classic united traditional popcorn with a seemingly unusual partner, the ICEE Company, to create a fresh Ken Whiting and his team posed that same question to ICEE, asking how and where the signature taste could be extended. After much brainstorming
MARCH 2025
Crauz Beach Boardwalk now sell delicious Cherry and Blue Raspberry ICEE Popcorn. The sweet When writing about amusement park popcorn,
flavour. Souvenir popcorn buckets have become as important as the freshly popped corn itself. Exclusive popcorn buckets are sought-after and treasured. In an incredible bucket bonanza with the launch of an mascot, Figment. Online photos drove the frenzy, and guests were willing to wait several hours in the Figment fad and introduced a new Imagination Pavilion popcorn bucket. It lit up, was filled with a bag of rainbow popcorn, and yes, included Figment himself sitting atop a rainbow. Parks around the world create unique popcorn buckets in every shape and size to celebrate mascots, characters and beloved attractions. While Disney leads the trend, launched limited-edition popcorn buckets that excite collectors, park fans and yes, popcorn enthusiasts. For the most part I had been able to resist this fad. Until Universal made it impossible to do so. My and when Universal Orlando Resort released a is made complete with Blue the Velociraptor riding on top. I remember showing a photo to Aiden when the park first announced the bucket was coming. Park land at Islands of Adventure. We opted to keep Blue and her Gyrosphere empty, so Aiden carried her through the park on his shoulder while I followed behind, nibbling on the accompanying popcorn which was served in a simple carton. (It was yummy though.) Today Blue sits on top of our bucket ambassador. As I was finishing this column, I thought it would
buckets. Amazingly, parks now announce the styles and themes of its new buckets with the same effort and promotion as new food and merchandise. I quickly found there were almost too many to list, Disneyland this month and opted to look to the house of mouse for its popcorn style. I found a ton upcoming popcorn portables. This year they
5
anniversary themed Mickey Mouse balloon-shaped bucket, a Death Star, a (Star Wars) Droid and oh loving heart. This plastic work of art even lights up When I start planning how to pack my suitcase for this trip, I will remember to leave some empty space so I can bring back a new menagerie of horses to Cherry ICEE popcorn.
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