Best and worst new food during Holidays at Universal Orlando 2024: Festive eats you can’t miss (and one to skip)
The holiday season at Universal Orlando provides guests with festive food and fun. What are the best and worst food options for the Holidays at Universal Orlando 2024?
Food during Holidays at Universal Orlando
Universal Orlando Resort’s Holidays celebration officially kicked off on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. It runs daily through Dec. 31, 2024. We enjoy visiting Universal Orlando annually for the holidays to indulge in tasty goodness.
Before the event started, we heard the food offerings might be slightly reduced this season. While that appears accurate, that did not stop us from trying all the new food offerings for the Holidays at Universal Orlando.
Guests can savor a collection of holiday-themed food and beverage offerings across the resort this holiday season. Some examples include a Peppermint Cheesecake Bar, Pistachio Holiday Wreath, Roasting Chestnuts Mont Blanc, and Grinch-themed treats like Grinch Cookies. The Grinch Cookies and ice cream sandwiches each year make excellent sweet treats.
Photo by Jon Self
Over at Universal CityWalk Orlando, Toothsome Chocolate Emporium & Savory Feast Kitchen continues the trend of holiday milkshakes with the Ugly Sweater Milkshake. Other CityWalk restaurants like Vivo and Bigfire will offer unique holiday table-service entrees. Our visit focused on the new quick-service options.
Best new food options at Holidays at Universal Orlando
We found two new food offerings for 2024 to make our best list. These were selected based on overall taste, presentation, and value.
Roasted Turkey Crepe at Central Park Crepes
Since opening in 2020, Central Park Crepes at Universal Studios Florida has been popular. These theme park-style crepes offer value and flavor.
In recent years, this food and beverage stand has offered a Thanksgiving crepe for a short time near the United States Thanksgiving holiday.
In contrast, for 2024, Central Park Crepes is selling a Roasted Turkey Crepe for $13.99 for the entire holiday season. This crepe consists of roasted turkey, artisan bread stuffing, sage gravy, bourbon cranberry sauce, and brie cheese. In addition to the stuffing, we also tasted some mushroom flavor.
We found this crepe to be one of the best we’ve tasted at Central Park Crepes. Since we love the other crepes here, we were surprised to feel that way.
Gingerbread Cookie at DreamWorks Imagination Café
If guests can get over the idea of eating “Gingy” from the “Shrek” movies, these cookies — available near the new DreamWorks Land at Universal Studios Florida — make a good option. The key reasons this made our best list include the cuteness factor, price point, and reasonable flavor.
Fans of “Shrek” will be attracted to this treat. Even if they must close their eyes to eat this treat, the flavor works for a theme park gingerbread cookie.
The menu board description reads, “gingerbread cookie bringing to life one of the beloved characters from Shrek.” The menu board also indicates that the cookie costs $4.99 before discounts. However, the two times we ordered this, it cost $3.79 before any discounts. We wish you the same luck during your visit.
Honorable mentions for best new food
While these subsequent three suggestions will not rank as high as the crepe and cookie, the following new menu items for the Holidays at Universal Orlando deserve to be mentioned.
Ugly Sweater Shake at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium & Savory Feast Kitchen at Universal CityWalk Orlando
This milkshake makes a solid holiday treat if guests can get past the $18 price tag. The menu description reads, “Vanilla ice cream with spiced streusel, mini marshmallows, holiday sprinkles, and an ugly sweater sugar cookie.” The milkshake components match the above-average consistency expected at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium & Savory Feast Kitchen. The marshmallows and holiday sprinkles work well with this milkshake. As a bonus, the cookie has excellent flavor, pairing well with the ice cream and whipped cream.
Other options to consider
The Florida Snowman found at Croissant Moon Bakery in Universal Islands of Adventure and the Roasting Chestnut Monte Blanc at Today Café at Universal Studios Florida deserve consideration as holiday desserts.
The Florida Snowman looks like a melting snowman. The white shell exterior holds it together, and the chocolate decorations complete the look. A pudding filling inside the shell provides an excellent enhancement for this dessert.
The Roasting Chestnut Monte Blanc is Universal Orlando’s version of a play on this classic dessert. A Mont Blanc usually features hazelnuts and chestnuts, and the flavor works nicely for those desiring this holiday combination.
However, inconsistency is the main reason these desserts fall to the “Honorable Mention” level. In both cases, we had one good and one not-so-good version of these two holiday food offerings. Despite that, we expect these to make reasonable options for most guests.
Worst new food at Holidays at Universal Orlando Resort
The aptly named Poinsettia Cake at Croissant Moon Bakery fits the holiday theme. However, our experience trying the cake twice led to below-average results. The raspberry and chocolate flavors could not make up for the cake’s dryness. This could change as the holiday event continues. We suggest ordering one of the other tasty food options at this event.
Locating holiday food at Universal Orlando
This year, our food adventure had more issues. Unlike in past years, Universal Orlando did not release a formal list of 2024 holiday food. In fact, we struggled on the opening day of the Holidays at Universal Orlando to find some of the holiday food offerings.
The Universal Orlando mobile app lists places to find “additional holiday dining.” Nonetheless, one location with a holiday treat we wanted to try was not listed as having the Gingerbread Cookie, inspired by the movie franchise “Shrek.” We eventually found it at the DreamWorks Imagination Café. Also, many of the holiday treats did not come with menu descriptions. In most cases, the holiday items are listed online as “Holiday Exclusive Desserts – $6.99 /choose from a selection of holiday-themed desserts,” like on the Croissant Moon Bakery online menu.
Christmas in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
In addition to the food, there are several excellent reasons to visit Universal Orlando for the holiday season. For example, “Harry Potter” fans have plenty to enjoy during the holiday celebration. Guests can enjoy special holiday-themed performances from the Hogwarts Frog Choir in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade. They also can listen and watch the talent of “the wizarding world’s most popular singing sensation,” Celestina Warbeck and the Banshees, next door at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley.
As night falls, Hogwarts Castle comes alive with the nighttime projection show, “The Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts Castle.” Of course, hot butterbeer tastes a bit sweeter when night falls at Universal Orlando Resort.
Other special activities during Holidays at Universal Orlando
Besides the activities in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter areas”, Universal Orlando guests have more to explore for the holidays. They can meet the Grinch himself and talk about how he stole Christmas. In addition, guests can view larger-than-life balloons and floats traveling the streets of Universal Studios Florida during “Universal’s Holiday Parade featuring Macy’s.” The brand-new holiday-themed Tribute Store will be open to explore, too. Still, for some of us, Holidays at Universal Orlando equal holiday savory and sweet goodness.
The holiday event runs daily through Dec. 31, 2024. For more information, please consult the Universal Orlando Resort website.
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