One of the most wonderful aspects of being a Theme Park Tourist is that when you spend a few days walking through a park, you burn thousands and thousands of calories. Unless you’re an extreme fitness buff, you probably exercise more while vacationing at a theme park than you would while spending several days at home. That means that you can eat anything you want without feeling guilty about your massive calorie count. Amusement park owners know this, which is why they offer some of the most deliciously decadent meals and snacks on the planet. What should you do? DEVOUR THEM!!! Eat these 12 signature theme park foods if you want to enjoy the best of the best.
1. Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs – Coney Island
Coney Island hot dogs are the subject of much confusion. There are actually several types that get mixed together. Part of the confusion stems from the fact Coney Island is so renowned for its style of hot dogs that people spread the concept to other parts of the country. Nathan’s is the original, however, and you probably know them through their annual Independence Day celebration of gluttony, the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contestant. While you’ll never beat Joey Chestnut at it, you should still visit this internationally renowned tourist attraction by the Atlantic Ocean and chow down on a hot dog.
2. Coney Skyline Chili – Kings Island
When you think of chili, the one word you would never use to describe the flavor is sweet. That will change once you sample this tasty treat that’s the pride of Cincinnati. Served like a hot dog, this bun is swimming in chili, but all you’ll notice is the cheese in top. In fact, it feels like you’re eating a taco right up until you get the first burst of delicious flavor.
3. Cheese on a Stick – Cedar Point
To my mind, nothing reflects the majesty of human endeavor more than our willingness to put consumable foods on sticks. And since I’m from the south, I’ve never been one to let horrific nutritional information stand in the way of my tummy’s happiness. Enter Cheese on a Stick, something I never ever knew was a possibility before my first visit to Cedar Point. A friend had wandered off to find something to quench his hunger. When he returned, he had the stupidest grin imaginable on his face. Seriously, he looked like he’d been doused in Joker Serum. The explanation was that he found the ultimate in carnival food absurdity. It’s the bliss of fried food presented cotton candy style.
4. Dogs N’ Taters – Dollywood
As the reigning champion in the category of Best Food at The Golden Ticket Awards, this park has a lot of wonderful options for this list. Dogs N’ Taters is the one that wins the title of the best food your eyes and your stomach, though. It’s a foot-long corndog (or hot dog, if you prefer) nestled beside some of the twistiest tater twirls you will ever see. Don’t be surprised if your entire plate of taters is nothing more than three or four single potatoes cooked golden brown and twirled up to the length of the corn dog. Virtually every theme park serves hot dogs and fries, but Dollywood reinvents the premise by making theirs with flair and style.
5. Butterbeer – The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
What’s the point of visiting a Hogsmeade restaurant if you’re not going to chug the same beverage as Harry, Ron, and Hermione? The drink from JK Rowling’s imagination is lovingly recreated at Universal Studios Orlando (and Universal Studios Hollywood next year). If you’re worried that imbibing too much will make you a bit woozy during your time spent in the realm of Harry Potter, don’t worry! Butterbeer is non-alcoholic.
6. Jumbo Turkey Leg – Disneyland
Woe betide the unfortunate soul who stumbles upon the freakishly large turkeys from whom these legs are taken. Presumably, they are the victims of some sort of gamma radiation that unwillingly evolves them into Turkeys of Unusual Size. Whatever the explanation for these genetic freaks, they taste delicious. Carrying around a Jumbo turkey Leg also brings a feeling of power as you lord your meaty triumph over jealous onlookers. You carry the spoils of war, and they are plentiful.
7. Alligator Bites – Knoebels
These are like some Americanized Yakov Smirnoff joke. In Knoebels, person bites alligator. Eating these things is glorious, especially if you hate the University of Florida, which I do. Knoebels has won the aforementioned Golden Ticket Award for Best Food most of the years in the 2000s. This snack embodies their ability to think outside the box with clever spins on conventional carnival foods. And you’ll have a lot of fun telling everyone how you ate alligator last weekend, especially if they’re Tim Tebow fans.
8. Potato Patch French Fries – Kennywood
Yes, you’ve had French fries hundreds of times over the years, but you haven’t lived until you’ve eaten the ones at Kennywood. The crown jewel of their dining options is the Potato Patch, and it’s held that title for many decades now. You can eat their plain to enjoy the clean flavors, or you can zhuzh them up with wonderful toppings such as cheddar cheese and gravy (!). Going to Kennywood and not eating their fries is like vacationing in Orlando and not visiting an amusement park.
9. Mrs. Klaus’ Cookies – Holiday World
This park was built specifically because of the name of the town, Santa Claus. It’s therefore fitting that its most famous dessert options all reside in the kitchen of one Mrs. Klaus, who kindly lets the world borrow her husband for a single day in December each year. The fat man has notorious love of cookies, and he gets that sweet tooth from eating his wife’s delicacies. Mrs. Klaus’ Kitchen features dozens of options, but I suggest a chocolate-dipped Oreo or an XXL white chocolate macadamia nut cookie.
10. Ginger Cookies – Silver Dollar City
How popular is the Ginger Cookie at Silver Dollar City? It was once named as one of the 20 greatest recipes of all-time by Midwest Living Magazine. You can search the web to find any number of recipe recreations of the flavor, but you’ll never quite match the rich taste of ginger mixed with cinnamon. Eating it is sure to draw out your inner cookie monster.
11. Hershey’s Chocolate World – Hersheypark
Technically, this is its own entity, but declaring it as separate from its neighbor on Hersheypark Drive is an argument of semantics. The point is that if you love chocolate (and I fervently refuse to believe that there are people who don’t), Hershey’s Chocolate World is the mecca for all your cocoa cravings.
12. Dole Whip – Walt Disney World
Inexorably linked with Disney’s iconic property, Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, Dole Whip is so beloved by longtime guests of the hotel and nearby theme park that it creates fevered dreams about its delicious goodness. Whenever Disney fans are not at a Disney park, they spend all their time on message boards talking about the next time they can visit in order to enjoy another Dole Whip. It’s a meticulously dispensed frosty treasure that refreshes and reinvigorates Disney fans during hot summer days in the south.
