Behind the Attraction: The Food

When Walt Disney performed the opening ceremony for Disneyland, he made an impactful declaration.

As part of Uncle Walt’s introductory remarks, he stated, “Welcome to Disneyland, where the food’s as fabulous as the fun.”

In that moment, Walt Disney defined an integral part of any theme park visit.

In Behind the Attraction’s episode entitled “The Food,” we learn how and why Disney’s menus have expanded over the years.

So, let’s discuss the story of Disney dining.

A Meat and Potatoes Man

The episode starts with a demonstration of Walt Disney’s complexity.

As a businessperson, he understood the value and importance of theme park dining.

But as a native midwesterner, Disney’s palate was much simpler to describe. He was a meat and potatoes man.

The episode quickly recaps the Disney family’s unique relationship with Fou-Fou, their chef and caretaker.

Named Thelma Howard, this woman moved into the Disney home in 1951 and immediately became a loving family member.

Fou-Fou loved to cook for Walt and Lillian as well as their children and grandchildren.

Walt Disney’s culinary style was so straightforward that he wrote a two-page note listing his dining preferences.

From this list, Fou-Fou designed full family meals sure to satisfy everyone.

Uncle Walt lovingly described her as the real Mary Poppins. The facts support this assertion.

You can read the bittersweet story of Thelma Howard here, but the gist is that Walt Disney gave her stock rather than cash gifts.

When Fou-Fou died, she held 192,755 shares of Disney and donated half her fortune to charities helping disadvantaged and homeless children.

Long before then, Fou-Fou kept Disney’s kids and grandkids fed and made sure to always have wieners in the refrigerator.

She knew that her boss loved them and always wanted two, one for himself and one his beloved puppy, Lady.

That’s the odd part of this tale. Walt Disney historians describe him as someone who sustained himself by eating chili straight from the can.

Somehow, part of his legacy involves the most decadent theme park cuisine imaginable, even though he preferred chili and hot dogs.

An Odd Start to Theme Park History

Walt Disney sacrificed a year of his life to the construction of Disneyland.

Creating the Happiest Place on Earth required his complete concentration.

As one of the historians notes, Uncle Walt lacked the “bandwidth” to work on the restaurants as well.

Instead, Disney ceded that work to various sponsors, who understandably stocked the places with their own ingredients.

A foodie of today would be shocked to walk down Main Street, U.S.A. during the 1950s.

None of the foods you would expect were available yet…except for the popcorn.

Ever the savvy strategist, Disney understood that a simple popcorn cart near the front of the park would sell itself.

For roughly 70 years now, the fragrant smell of popcorn has wafted through this themed land.

Of course, there’s another reason for that. Disney worried about trash, particularly its sight and smell.

As the episode details, Uncle Walt worked with engineers to create a new kind of trash can, the one we still have at the parks.

Disney himself popularized this trashcan whose contents you cannot see. He also performed a field test of sorts.

The businessperson identified the likeliest human behavior. So, he purchased a grab-and-go hotdog and then…went.

Disney counted the steps until he had finished his meal. Then, he demanded a trashcan placed in this range.

That one simple test in 1955 explains why you’re rarely more than 30 steps away from a trash can at a Disney theme park!

Churros and Dole Whips

The origins of Disney theme park dining are interesting, but the meat of this episode involves classic Disney treats.

For instance, we learn that the creation of Dole Whips came by happenstance.

In California, Cast Members could serve ice cream with pineapple chunks. Sadly (or thankfully?), Florida proved too humid.

The ice cream melted too quickly. Since Walt Disney World lacked outdoor refrigerated areas in the early 1980s, Disney needed a new plan.

Dole came up with a new creation, a “dry, mixed frozen treat.”

Yes, the primary reason the Dole Whip exists is because Florida is so much hotter than California.

A couple of quirks like this have unintentionally defined Disney snacking.

The other primary example is the churro, which a Disney official discovered by accident at the Long Beach Grand Prix.

As the story goes, Disney planned Videopolis, the teen club at Disneyland.

Park officials wanted affordable snacks that would appeal to teens.

Jim Lowman’s love of car racing led to his discovering 6-inch churros, a treat he found nearly perfect.

Lowman had one request, though. He needed a 14-inch churro instead. Teenagers have huge appetites, after all.

Obviously, everything worked out, and churros proved an immediate success.

Disneyland sold its entire churro supply on the first day they were available at the park.

If Lowman hadn’t gone to a car race or Disney had never introduced Videopolis, churros wouldn’t be a thing!

The Legendary Turkey Leg and the Grey Stuff

A while ago, I debunked a longstanding rumor that Disney’s Turkey Legs don’t come from turkeys.

People believe that because the sheer size of the Turkey Legs messes with our spatial recognition. Those things are huge!

They’re one of Disney fans’ favorite walking-around foods at the parks.

Then again, you’ll find plenty of those, which raises the question of how Disney produces its daily supplies.

We’re talking about enough food to satisfy tens of thousands of daily guests.

The episode suggests that a Disney park produces a million pastries a year!

Another fascinating aspect involves the process of bringing fictional ideas into reality.

Perhaps the best example is the Grey Stuff, the famous dessert referenced in Be Our Guest.

That wasn’t a real item. So, someone at Disney was tasked with inventing this food.

This team created a “white chocolate mousse flavored with crumbs” that became one of Disney’s most popular desserts ever.

Thematic Dining

The part of the Disney Food episode that resonates with me is, “thematic feeding.”

That’s when Disney immerses the diner in a setting that establishes the tone.

When you exit a ride, you want to continue the theme, which brings us to Pirates of the Caribbean.

The Blue Bayou Restaurant maintains the pirate water ride theme inside the building while serving guests with food.

As with other Behind the Attraction episodes, the conversation switches to some international experiences.

The most impressive of them is Walt’s at Disneyland Paris. It serves Walt’s favorite dishes but elevates them with French flavors.

You’ll even find chili in the can here, although you’ll pay a LOT more for it than Walt did back in the day.

Walt’s also offers a loving tribute to Fou-Fou by serving the Thelma Potato, an homage to the real Mary Poppins.

The Flavor Lab’s Mysteries Revealed

The episode starts and ends in an undisclosed location in Central Florida.

That’s where Disney’s culinary experts craft their latest dining concoctions.

Some of these meals are so mysterious that the chefs say that their co-workers don’t know what they’re doing…and vice versa.

Yes, you can work side by side with someone at The Flavor Lab and not know what their current dining assignment is.

But the episode hints that many of the mysteries involve Walt Disney’s beloved popcorn, which now comes in dozens of flavors.

Finally, The Food ends with two divergent examples of the power of Disney dining.

First, the story touches on the phenomenon we all know. Taking pictures of your food for social media has become a thing.

People do this because they know their friends will feel envious. The idea of Disney dining is synonymous with joy.

Speaking of which, the final anecdote isn’t specific, but it’s beautiful nonetheless.

A Chef de Cuisine at Disney recounts a story of someone at her restaurant eating his birthday dinner alone.

At this point, a little girl noticed the older gentleman’s sadness.

She happily walked over to him and wished him a happy birthday.

This story warmed my heart, as I’ve watched a little girl do the same thing to my wife on her birthday.

She wasn’t alone and was, in fact, having a great day, but we still talk about that little girl’s act of kindness.

The birthday boy has probably never forgotten that moment, thereby exemplifying Walt Disney’s stated belief from opening day.

At Disney theme parks, the food is fabulous. At this point, it’s one of the most iconic parts of a park visit.

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