Room charges coming this year

Last season the in-park pizza was one of the new-and-improved items. The slices were supposed to be larger portions as well.

The pizza buffet at Midway Market during HalloWeekends was considerably better in 2010 than it was in previous seasons. Still not the best pizza but definite signs of improvement.

Panda Express is a nice addition. Chik-Fil-A is a grudgingly decent option, even though I disagree with their politics. Other than that, I'm trying to figure out what other positive changes have been made in the last few years.

Montgomery inn ribs at the chuck wagon, fried cheese curds over by corkscrew. I felt both of those things were delicious additions. The one thing I would love is for the stand that sells the pizza pockets things to sell the other 2 things in the picture, apple and custard. Something-stick, I forget exactly what they're called.

I think they are called Bosco Sticks.

Ok this is going to sound bad but I really miss the chilly dogs and chilly chese fries they used to sell at Mr Potatoe, I think the last time I got them was in 2002, they were very clearly bad for ones health and O so terribly good. I guess I like amusement food and seeing all these name brand outlets in CP just doesnt feel right to me. To each their own though.

I'll second the deliciousness of Chick Fil A. I love that place!

The new pizza was a pretty awesome improvement for last season, and I thought the price was pretty fair for how big the slices were.

Neglegence said:
Ok this is going to sound bad but I really miss the chilly dogs and chilly chese fries they used to sell at Mr Potatoe...

Excuse me Mr. Quayle, but the proper spelling is "chili dogs" and "chili cheese fries". :)

I wish I didn't loathe the practices of Chick-Fil-A, because their food is rather tasty, and a decent bargain when it comes to park food. But it's probably good that I've given up on CP's food, as I rather enjoy getting out of the park for an hour or so to sit down and eat. Though I sure do miss when Fridays didn't suck.

I still love Fridays myself! When we plan to go (instead of our usual spur of the moment trips), I make sure I transfer enough money into my checking just so we can either go to Fridays or Famous Daves.

The in-park food improvements have been coming in waves. There hasn't been wholesale change, but the improvements so far (mentioned above) include:

- Pizza. It's not that cardboard crap anymore, and the portions are bigger.
- Beer. More variety, at Red Garter, at least. Good to see Great Lakes Brewing Co. in the mix.
- Montgomery Inn. Not a rib guy, but I'll defer to the above endorsements.
- Cheese curds. I think there's potential for more locations, but obviously I don't know what sales are like. They're awesome. First had these at Valleyfair.
- Burgers? I thought they changed those up too, but I don't eat red meat and wouldn't have noticed.
- Halloweekends. The selection and scope of the treats during that last month just keeps getting better every year.
- Catering. Seems to be getting better overall. I was really impressed with their ability last year at BooBuzz to help out people with dietary restrictions. That's a huge +1 to me.

New this year:
- Pinks. And they even have veggie dogs.
- Chippery cart on the Gemini midway.
- New ice cream parlor in Soak City (with shakes, malts and floats, too).
- Stella beer.

I don't care about the franchise places, so no comment there. I still think the pricing for most stuff is out of line compared to non-CF parks, and especially the Orlando theme parks, but I doubt I need to beat that dead horse.

It might not feel like much, but after years of inaction and mediocrity, I think it's a step in the right direction.

The Chippery is awesome. I love fresh made chips.

In regards to Halloweekends specialties, 2 years ago they added Chili served in bread bowls served at the energy drink stand in front of Gemini. It was excellent. I was disappointed to not see it last year. Sales must not have been that good. The cheese curd stand also sells hot mini donuts which are also good if you actually get them hot. The first year it seemed they made a lot ahead of time if they thought they were going to be busy (halloweekends) the donuts weren't good cold.

I finally remembered what the stuffed pizza roll things are called, Bosco Sicks.

There are clearly some food items for me to try this year.

The Bosco Sticks were very good, and a decent price if I remember correctly. They were a good snack in the middle of the day. As for beer choices, I discovered Summer Shandy last year at the Red Garter and fell in love with it. Such a nice beer on a warm summer day. I'll have to pick some up to bring home with me on my first trip this year. I'm not a huge fan of all of the lime beers that they've come out with the past couple of years but this lemon one reminded me of one Molson used to make years back called Dave's Spiked Lemonade. It was more of a beer based lemonade, but they stopped making it and this is the closest thing I've found to it.

While the apparent food improvements are nice to see, I'd suggest they need to make a concerted effort to telegraph those changes to the public, given the ever-falling per cap numbers in recent years. Even though I've known about some of the changes, I've still not purchased food in the park in quite some time, simply because I gave up on it.

But is it really food that is causing lower per caps? I thought I read somewhere that games were down during the recession, not food.

That could be. But the high prices of the food could be a contributor to lower spending on games.

Vince982 said:
As for beer choices, I discovered Summer Shandy last year at the Red Garter and fell in love with it. Such a nice beer on a warm summer day. I'll have to pick some up to bring home with me on my first trip this year.

It truly is a great summer brew. I'm a fan as well, but it can be hard to find any Leinenkugel's down here in Tennessee. Glad to know it can be found at Red Garter!

djDaemon said:
That could be. But the high prices of the food could be a contributor to lower spending on games.

Yep. Consumers have a very finite pool of money to draw from, and all of the spending -- food, games, merch -- comes out of the same wallet.

Tennessee_CP_Fan said:
It truly is a great summer brew. I'm a fan as well, but it can be hard to find any Leinenkugel's down here in Tennessee. Glad to know it can be found at Red Garter!

If you have a Kroger near you, try that. All the Krogers I have been to in Ohio have carried Leinekugel's, including Summer Shandy. Kroger stores typically have a large selection of beer and I know they do have stores in Tenn.

I just tries Summer Shandy a few weeks ago myself. It was pretty good. I'd have it again.