Disney, Universal, SeaWorld set the table for food events to lure crowds

Food isn’t just for filling bellies at Orlando’s theme parks these days. The attractions are expanding menus, restaurant options and eating-oriented activities that draw repeat customers and double as advertisements.

Disney, Universal and SeaWorld are using character breakfasts, themed eat-and-greets, holiday gatherings and a feast of festivals to feed and entertain visitors, especially annual passholders eager to come back for seconds or more.

On any given weekend, there’s a festival cooking at SeaWorld Orlando.

“It’s been my understanding that food drives visitations. If you have unique food and good foods – whether it’s food from our Seven Seas festival or upcoming Christmas festival – that really brings guests out,” said Ty Robinson, vice president of in-park revenue/culinary operations.

SeaWorld aims for festival lineups of 50% new items and 25% “reimagined” favorites from past years, he said.

“Passholders seem to love the unique items,” Robinson said. Occasionally offered free items lure the park’s annual passholders, too. “That really gets them activated,” he said.

Universal Orlando designs food to be visually appealing, said Robert Martinez Jr., executive chef.

“We know our guests eat with their eyes, and we know that they use social media first. And we want to use that as well,” Martinez said.

The pandemic prompted the company to rethink its annual Mardi Gras celebration, emphasizing an international menu instead of the traditional parade and concerts at Universal Studios.

It also pushed food-based entertainment at kiosks. Visitors could see how mofongo was made, for example.

“We thought it was a no-brainer for us to start in that manner,” Martinez said. “Our annual passholders responded to that immediately. They came weekly. That tasted everything that we had going on out there.”

Now Universal has expanded its themed eats during Halloween Horror Nights (“Stranger Things” Surfer Boy Pizza, “The Last of Us” (mushroom ravioli) and last month introduced Taste of Terror, an extra-ticket event that previewed the HHN foods.

The park also opened Illumination’s Minion Cafe, a sizable slice of Minion Land that debuted in August. The menu features minion-shaped tater tots and other items such as Kevin’s Chopa Chopa salad, Otto’s noodle bowl and Agnes’ honeymoon soup.

“It’s not only one or two food items like you find in other places. … The entire menu is themed all the way through,” said Jens Dahlmann, vice president and executive chef of operations.

“It’s all over social media. It’s a deeper storytelling, and Universal does a great job of that lately,” he said.

Minion Cafe took over the space previously occupied by Monsters Cafe.

“We are investing a lot of money into Epic [Universe], of course, but at the same time, we are really investing into our existing parks as well to remodel existing restaurants,” Dahlmann said. “With every remodel, we’re coming back with just better, more appealing food offerings.”

Universal’s menu expansion and special events could assist Universal beyond Epic, scheduled to open in 2025, said Dennis Speigel, CEO of International Theme Park Services. The company is planning an attraction near Dallas and a year-round horror experience in Las Vegas.

“They’re doing things to see what makes sense,” he said. “Look upon it as experimentation testing. It’s market testing.”

At Walt Disney World, Epcot’s formidable festival calendar got more populated coming out of the company’s pandemic shutdown of 2020. The Epcot International Food & Wine Festival is currently underway, and one new item is a pickle milkshake that, Disney’s story goes, is from the minds at Muppet Labs.

“Who would have ever thought that would, like, be a thing? But you know, it’s something that combines flavors that people love in a unique, fun, creative way. And now everybody has to have it,” said Brian Piasecki, culinary director of concept development.

The park will add four marketplaces to the festival lineup this month as part of the Disney100 celebration.

Food options at Disney World are growing and visitors have an increasingly sophisticated palate, Piasecki said. He pointed to the reopening of Narcoossee’s at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa this year.

“They’ve taken one of the biggest trends we’ve seen in the industry in a while – the whole charcuterie board and charcuterie plate – and they put their unique spin on it with seafood,” Piasecki said. “It’s become one of their most popular-selling appetizer dishes as people are looking for that. It’s unusual, but not so unusual where it scares me.”

Disney is leaning into more creative plant-based dishes (there’s a plant-based poutine, for instance) and kiosks devoted to plant-based fare at festivals.

But old-fashioned comfort and convenience still have spots at theme parks.

“One that seems to be popular for us is our mac and cheese, whether we put lobster in it or we put sour cream or do a nacho one,” said SeaWorld’s Robinson. “So that’s a staple. They don’t care how you do it, but you got to have that.” Look for a pico de gallo version this fall.

SeaWorld also has food and drink options – dubbed “feeding frenzy” on its website – tied to Howl-O-Scream, the fright fest that begins Friday.

“Each bar has a theme for this event. And they all have a specialty cocktail, that you can only find at that bar,” Robinson said. There also will be a new eating area dubbed CarnEvil Pier near the Pipeline roller coaster, which opened this spring.

“We’re living in a great time right now, where our guests are coming into our resort, very educated. They know food,” said Universal’s Martinez.

And it’s not just the grown-ups looking for options.

“Kids today are becoming a little bit more adventurous. They want to kind of eat what mom and dad has,” Disney’s Piasecki said. “Hopefully, we’re getting them starting young, and they’re going to be foodies by the time they walk in the park on their own.”

Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. My Threads account is @dbevil. You can subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters.