Theme Park Restaurants and Food

[Alpha8472]

California's Great America has a Panda Express inside. The prices were outrageous. A plate of orange chicken, broccoli beef and fried rice or chow mein was $16.99. It would be about $9.90 outside the park. There is also Starbucks, Subway, and Auntie Anne's Pretzels.

A caramel apple with sprinkles was $17.99. A funnel cake was $16.

Great America had an All Day Dining package for $31.99. You get an entree and side every 90 minutes. For $18.99 you get a drink package that allows refills every 15 minutes.

Adult admission was $50. It is the food that they make money on.

[storewanderer]

I thought the Panda Express inside LAX International Terminal at 12.70 a few months ago for a Plate must be the highest priced Panda that exists. The casino Pandas on the Las Vegas Strip are around 11.40 for a Plate (the off strip ones are 9.40 in Las Vegas).

Some of these Pandas are Licensee units including that Great America one and the LAX ones which probably also explains the bad pricing. Panda seems to allow Licensee units in places with restricted entry (like airports or theme parks). The DEN Airport Panda Express units were corporate for decades but very recently became Licensee units.

The Las Vegas strip Pandas are actually all corporate operated.

[ClownLoach]

I have difficulty understanding why anyone would spend a hundred dollars or more on admission to a theme park only to eat the same chain food available elsewhere. Disney tried having McDonald's offerings and pulled the plug rather quickly for the same reason; one of the biggest failures of the initial dud California Adventure was the Gigantic McDonald's that was one of the largest restaurants in the park.

I understand that the economics of food in a theme park environment creates situations where sometimes there is good value while other times it is a huge rip off. Disneyland and Knott's both feature restaurants with a Fried Chicken Dinner. The Plaza Inn at Disneyland offers a Fried Chicken plate with half a chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and a biscuit for $19.99, and despite the oddities of what is seemingly packet-mix gravy and a biscuit from a bag it is somehow one of the most enjoyable Fried Chicken dinners you'll find anywhere at any price. If you have an annual pass this full tray of food is less than $25 including a drink and tax, and I've paid more for less portion and quality at other restaurants. Knott's Berry Farm takes it to a whole another level with Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner restaurant outside the park, good luck eating at this massive restaurant that easily seats a couple thousand people without making a reservation months in advance. They serve an even larger meal than the one I described at Disneyland, that fried chicken dinner is also half a chicken (and a larger one at that), a salad, a bowl of soup (which is too thick and salty, reminds me of the insides of a chicken pot pie), a relentlessly large plate of biscuits and boysenberry butter, mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetables, something else I'm forgetting about, AND a slice of pie for $24. Only issue is that it's a sit down restaurant and the service is inconsistent (great on slow days M-Th, disaster F-Sun).

Like anything else, you've got to do a little bit of research and you'll quickly find what are the good values versus the bad deals. But I certainly wouldn't go to a Panda Express or Subway or whatever other chain at a theme park, it just doesn't make sense.

[Super S]

Some theme parks are known for good food made onsite. Cedar Point in Ohio is a good example. (I visited there this summer) They have a similar dining/drink plan which is actually not a bad deal if you take advantage of how often it can be used, as there are actually some things that are exceptionally good. While there was a 50s diner type of place that wasn't the greatest, I had no complaints about the rest of the food offerings.

[Brian Lutz]

My wife and I regularly visit the Disney parks (but we haven't been to Disneyland since 2019 and Disney World since 2021), and even though the food is expensive compared to outside the parks, generally I've felt that the meals there are worth the price. We don't eat their food for every meal though (that would be way too much food) so what we'd generally do for a park day is to bring in our own lunches (Disney doesn't have a problem with guests bringing in their own food, other parks may vary) and then we might do a counter service meal or eat outside the park for dinner, with one or two "splurge meals" budgeted into the plan (usually this one of the themed restaurants like Blue Bayou or Carthay Circle at Disneyland, or one of the Epcot World Showcase restaurants or something like 50s Prime Time or Crystal Palace at WDW.) My wife will also order off the kids menu at counter service restaurants because a lot of the regular meals are too big.

The only chain you see currently inside the Disney parks right now is Starbucks, and from what I've seen their pricing isn't too far off from the prices you'd pay outside the parks (and they take Starbucks gift cards as well.)

[bryceleinan]

I know Lagoon in Farmington, UT (between Salt Lake and Ogden) has both an Arby’s and Subway, have heard they’re more expensive, but have found only scant details online regarding pricing.

[storewanderer]

Starbucks is a welcome addition to the Disney Parks. They even get special themed cups.

It is interesting the public acceptance of Starbucks vs. McDonalds. I can see having McDonalds in a Disney Park. There are tons of kids around. Tons of families. Kids love McDonalds. McDonalds used to be cheap so it made sense for a family. It is also quick to get people back to the rides (well, used to be quick, took 7 minutes today with 1 order ahead of me for the free fries/one drink as they are so slow).

[Brian Lutz]

I know Lagoon in Farmington, UT (between Salt Lake and Ogden) has both an Arby’s and Subway, have heard they’re more expensive, but have found only scant details online regarding pricing.

I haven't been to Lagoon since around 2017, but I do recall eating at one of the Arby's locations in the park (I believe there are two.) The prices were definitely higher than you'd find at a regular Arby's, but not out of control like the Cedar Fair Panda Express is. As is common for these locations there was a limited menu being offered.

[ClownLoach]

Starbucks is a welcome addition to the Disney Parks. They even get special themed cups.

It is interesting the public acceptance of Starbucks vs. McDonalds.

The Disney Parks Starbucks locations are all themed appropriately and have different names. Yes, they're serving up real Starbucks beverages but they are not at all like a standard Starbucks and don't have a Starbucks sign hanging outside. So I don't find that comparable.

Other theme parks have industry standard Starbucks locations, like Knott's, and they don't even necessarily have different products or special items.

McDonald's pricing model was too high in the Disney parks compared to their own foods, and that doomed them. I have to assume McDonald's wanted a massive cut of the sales which forced the unreasonable pricing. It has been a decade and a half since they were extracted from the parks and I seem to remember the Conestoga Wagon that served a medium size McDonald's fries for over $6 which was highway robbery. There were plenty of places in the park where you could get a hamburger and fries for a dollar or two more at the time. I think the California Adventure McDonald's was charging like $10 for a Big Mac. Even today you can get a surprisingly decent double cheeseburger combo at California Adventure (Smokejumper Grill, next to Soarin') which is a In-N-Out clone with really good crinkle cut fries for $15 which is less than I paid for a combo at Carl's Jr recently. I can't imagine that McDonald's wasn't taking something like a 50% cut of the gross sales, it was today's inflated prices 15 years ago.

Disney had completely divorced themselves from McDonald's. More recently however they have reconnected, in fact right now they have Disney 100th Anniversary Happy Meal toys. So there may be a chance that someday McDonald's returns to the Disney parks, although I think it will be trialed for several years at a single location. The same facility California Adventure opened with as a McDonald's is still standing and could easily be converted back; they currently use it as a seasonal dining facility and keep changing the theme drastically every month or two indicating nothing really sticks at that site (it's been Vietnamese style food including a giant fried fish, Barbecue, all Vegetarian food, several different genres of Mexican food, a California style fusion food place, and Mediterranean). With the success McDonald's is experiencing with their nostalgia campaigns and social media driven specials, I could see them potentially fitting in again.

[Brian Lutz]

The two in-park locations at Disneyland do actually have non-standard Starbucks signs. The one on Main Street in Disneyland also has the original 1970s Starbucks logo in the window (with the siren's nipples photoshopped out of course, can't be corrupting the youth with that type of thing.)