Want an imaginative take on a classic Disney World treat? Flavored popcorn has become something of legend for Disney theme park fans thanks to Tokyo Disney Resort. For years, both Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea have been offering up a wide variety of unique flavors of popcorn, including Soy Sauce and Butter, Maple, Corn Pottage, Curry, Strawberry, and more. These popcorn flavors are even appropriately themed, with Honey Popcorn showing up next to their Winnie the Pooh attraction. Thanks to the sheer variety and exotic nature of the flavors, Tokyo Disney Resort’s popcorn has become world famous.
Flavored popcorn first made its way stateside with Cars Land at Disneyland, where the Cozy Cone Motel serves Dill Pickle and Bacon Cheddar flavored popcorns are regularly part of the rotation. Recently, Disney World got its first foray in the flavored popcorn game with a small popcorn cart located outside the Imagination Pavilion in Epcot’s Future World. Having been a big fan of the flavored popcorns at Disneyland, I had to try these flavors out on my last trip to Disney World.
The Imagination Pavilion popcorn cart offers four different flavors: Butter, Cheddar Cheese, Sour Cream and Chive, and Buffalo Bleu Cheese. I’ll focus on the last three in this review, since pretty much everyone knows what butter popcorn tastes like.
I went to the cart prepared to just try one of these flavors. It was Food & Wine at Epcot, and I didn’t want to get completely filled on three orders of popcorn. I ordered the Buffalo Bleu Cheese Popcorn, and as I was walking away, I overheard the family behind me asking if they could taste one of the flavors. The cast member gave them a tiny paper cup with a two or three pieces in it. I never knew that they would offer samples! So, first thing’s first, if you’re unsure about which flavor to get, you can get a small sample to help you decide. For the purposes of this review and for science, I went back and asked for samples of the other two flavors.
Cheddar Cheese: This was the most boring option of the three, only because I feel like Cheddar Cheese is a pretty common flavor for popcorn. This was a good rendition of it, with a sharp cheddar taste and a rich feeling in the mouth. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of Cheddar Cheese Popcorn, because it always feels too rich to me. Overall, it didn’t leave me with a strong impression.
Sour Cream and Chive: This was way better than I was expecting. It definitely is reminiscent of Sour Cream and Onion chips in terms of flavor, but a little bit milder. I’m not sure if the flavor was less pronounced because of the chive element or not, but this was the tastiest of the three flavors. For most people, this would be the flavor that I recommend, unless you absolutely hate Sour Cream and Onion chips. It’s a familiar flavor, but somewhat unique for popcorn.
Buffalo Bleu Cheese: I love buffalo sauce. On wings, wraps, burgers, and more, I can’t get enough of it. So I couldn’t resist ordering the Buffalo Bleu Cheese Popcorn when I had to choose between the three flavors. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, since I had never had a buffalo flavored popcorn before. Overall, the results were good. It definitely delivers the hot, sweet, and tangy flavor buffalo sauce is known for. I didn’t taste much of the bleu cheese in this, but it could be there to help cut down on the heat and add some tang. I mainly tasted buffalo, which was a good thing in my book. The Buffalo Bleu Cheese Popcorn is definitely the strongest flavored popcorn I’ve had at a Disney Park, in the sense that other flavors are a bit more subtle. This flavor is also most definitely the messiest. My hands were completely caked in the bright red dust afterwards. It was also much more filling than I expected. One serving could easily be split between two or three people, and it’s a bit much for one person to eat by themselves.
Even though I don’t particularly care for Cheddar Cheese Popcorn, I think these three flavors are well done. However, I have one main complaint. The flavored popcorns were not popped fresh, so they were served cold. Popcorn is fine to be served cold, but I think if these were served hot it would be a big improvement.
With that quibble aside, I’m happy that Disney is expanding the popcorn offerings in the park. I hope that they do even more imaginative flavors in the future. Why not bring over the Curry or the Strawberry from Japan for this cart? Or make up something completely out there and new. It’s located outside of the Imagination Pavilion, so get rid of those plain flavors in favor for something unexpected.
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