SATURDAY SIX – 6 Reasons We Love ISLE OF BERK: Part 2 (Food and Merchandise)

This week’s SATURDAY SIX continues our in-depth look at the ISLE OF BERK in Universal’s Epic Universe. Part One of our series kicked off with a deep dive into the overall atmosphere of this incredible world, including our favorite details such as Gothi’s hut, the incredibly themed benches carved out of logs, amazing bathroom signage, and – of course – all the dragons! You can read Part One by CLICKING HERE.

Today we are going to look at dining and merchandise in the Isle of Berk, starting with one of the most popular snacks in theme  park history…

# 6 – Mac & Cheese Cones

Spit Fyre Grill is a quick service location in Berk with the fun “story” of dragons are behind-the-scenes cooking your food via their flames.

There are some great details in the signage.

One running theme throughout this article will be the importance of fish in the diet for anyone living on the isle of Berk, both Viking and dragon. This battle over who gets the fish is represented in many hilarious ways, including this mural at Spit Fyre.

But let’s get to the reason we are at Spit Fyre, their already legendary MAC & CHEESE CONES. Let’s face it, food served in a cone is just better, it’s just plain physics (Editor’s Note: not actual physics) and the Mac & Cheese cones in Berk are the spiritual successor to one of the all time greatest theme park snacks, the Handwich at Disney’s Magic Kingdom.

Our favorite cone was the Classic mac & cheese cone, which uses actual cheddar cheese flavored Goldfish snacks on top of the cone. This directly ties in with the overall fish theme that we were discussing earlier. The Goldfish crackers compliment the mac & cheese very nice.

Next up is the PB&J cone. The PB&J is referring to Pork, Bacon, and Jam. Ingredients include BBQ harissa pulled pork, maple candy bacon, and chopped parsley mixed with the creamy mac and cheese. Tasty.

The third option is the Dragon Fire Chicken Spire and it features Nashville-style pulled chicken, hot honey, Calabrian peppers, chimichurri, and crispy onions with the mac & cheese.

For theme park collectors like me, it’s important to note that the mac & cheese cones are served in a variety of themed packaging, including the one below featuring a Deadly Nadder dragon.

I’m personally not a huge fan of mac and cheese, but I love bread, and the “cone” that the mac and cheese cones are served in tasted to me like if an Olive Garden breadstick was topped with everything bagel seasoning.

Spit Fyre Grill also has some pretty amazing bowl options, but the mac and cheese cones were such a runaway hit at Hooligan’s Grog & Gruel that they were added to the Spit Fyre menu to help keep up with the demand. Don’t sleep on these bowls though.

We’ve seen some pretty cool beer tap handles in the theme parks over the years, but usually you’ll just see one or two mixed in with normal beer taps (like what we see in Pandora: the World of Avatar or for Dragon Scale in Diagon Alley.) However, check out these beer tap handles at Spit Fyre Grill. Not only are they all themed, but they are also a deep cut for fans of the How To Train Your Dragon films!

Turns out these beer tap handles are designed after Maces and Talons game pieces. Don’t remember characters in How To Train Your Dragon playing this game in the film? Don’t feel bad, the sequence was cut from the third movie (although it was brought back for a HTTYD tv show years later.)

Just because the sequence never made it into the final film, there was still a ton of work in designing everything for it. Here’s a look at all the Maces and Talons game pieces that were designed for How To Train Your Dragon 3.

Below is a look at all the themed taps inside the Isle of Berk, including the ones at Spit Fyre Grill.

Also, before we leave Spit Fyre Grill, we have to point out the AMAZING stone carvings that are across from the restaurant. I’m not sure if the Viking below is supposed to be holding a mac and cheese cone or a goblet, but if it’s a cone that is just next level.

This Viking has a fish in his mouth…

…while this one seems to be screaming GET IN MY BELLY!! Just wonderful theming that goes above and beyond.

# 5 – How To Treat Your Dragon

Theme parks are filled with snack shops, but a store called How To Treat Your Dragon in a land based on the How To Train Your Dragon franchise is what we refer to as ::chef’s kiss::

There is a lot of fun theming inside, including an overhead mural showing dragons chasing, what else, fish.

Now, one of my all time favorite theme park souvenirs is the Chocolate Frog available in the Wizarding World. It combines a collectible with a snack, and its hard to beat that. At How To Treat Your Dragon they have Berk’s version of this great gimmick with the Dragon Mystery Boxes. Each elaborately themed Mystery Box is a miniature version of a dragon’s hut that you would see on the Isle of Berk.

Inside the box is a treat, along with a dragon training card.

The dragon training cards in each Mystery Box are random, so it adds to the “blind box” feature that is a rage in the collecting world right now.

Longtime readers of this fine blog series know how much I love the themed candy bars you can find throughout the Universal Orlando Resort proper. So you can imagine the smile I had when seeing that Epic Universe continued this time honored tradition with themed candy bars available throughout their park as well.

In Isle of Berk there are two different styles of candy bars available, both of which can be found in How To Treat Your Dragon. One style features several of the well known dragons from the film series, each with their own unique flavor.

The other style is themed to the Vikings of the land, and the art on the candy bar wrapper is just like the amazing tapestries you will see hanging in Mead Hall (which we will be seeing later in this very article.)

Like all Universal snack cases, the variety of options in How To Treat  Your Dragon is pretty spectacular.

Macarons, cake pops, fudge and more all featuring kid friendly dragons.

And don’t forget the importance of fish being incorporated into the snacks.

One great addition to the snack case were flavored dragon “eggs.”

These can be bought individually, or in a pack at a discounted price.

The packaging for the dragon eggs is fantastic.

Gotta love any snack that involves the sheep of Berk as well.

I can’t get enough of the bags you get your snacks served in at How To Treat Your Dragon. How GREAT is this design?!!!

# 4 – Viking and Dragon Merch

In part one of this series, we talked walking through the portal into Isle of Berk and the opening reveal being one of the best in Epic Universe. Your eyes are immediately drawn to two giant statues in the water. One featuring a Viking and the other featuring a dragon. The pair make for one of the most stunning photo-ops in the entire park (a park that is FILLED with incredible photo-ops!)

You can buy miniature versions of these statues in Berk! It reminded me of the time I went on a Disney Cruise and in the gift shop they had a small scale version of the statue you saw in the ship’s Grand Hall. Of course I bought it. Just a great memento to evoke fond memories back at home.

That’s not the only piece of merchandise featuring these two statues though. NAY NAY. We also have a shirt…

…water bottle…

…and even Christmas ornaments.

Some of my other favorite items in the land include Hiccup and Astrid done in Universal’s resort-wide “cute plush” style.

This Hiccup and Toothless plush set is straight up E-Ticket. Hiccup can be taken off Toothless and the kiddos have had hours of fun with this plush.

They have a similar size plush for Stormfly, but for whatever reason don’t have a small scale Astrid plush. Would have bought it immediately.

If your kiddos are like ours, they love swords and the sword and shield combo in Berk must be the 1,000th sword I have bought at Universal and Disney.

After years of covering the Disney Outlet Stores, I know how many people love their Loungefly bags and the Isle of Berk has one of the best I’ve seen with this one themed to a dragon hut.

The side of the bag has a dragon tail coming out of it, just like you’ll see in several huts in Berk. Just amazing!!

You can also get books from the How To Train Your Dragon series.

These are huge hits in our house.

# 3 – Sheep Merchandise

Dragons are great, but me personally? I love the sheep on the Isle of Berk. So let’s check out some of their merchandise, including this incredible bag featuring a sheep dressed up like a dragon.

Like The Minions, a big motto of the sheep is that you can be as weird as you’d like, and that’s a life lesson that I appreciate. So many people spend so much of their life trying to fit in and denying aspects of their life that they should embrace.

This sheep dressed as a dragon plush may be one of the handful of best plush ever made for a theme park (not far away from my Spider-Pig plush.)

Sheep headband looks solid.

You gotta love the sheep salt and pepper shaker set. What a perfect use for the rare black sheep of Berk.

For whatever reason, it seems all theme parks sell “Oscar Award” like statues in every park. Statues for World’s Greatest Husband. World’s Greatest Mom. Etc. Always wondered who bought that type of thing, but Berk finally came out with an award statue I wanted to get myself, and of course it features the sheep.

# 2 – Mead Hall

Mead Hall is the main restaurant in the Isle of Berk and is one place that you can not miss as it has two gigantic Viking statues at front.

Like all of Epic Universe, Mead Hall looks terrific during the day and night, as the use of fire really adds to the ambiance and design.

The inside of Mead Hall is filled with gorgeous tapestries featuring Vikings and dragons.

These tapestries are just fantastic and you should go out of your way to check them out, even if you don’t want to eat in the restaurant (it’s a quick service location, so it’s fine to walk around.)

The amount of stone carvings in Berk is just out of this world.

The menu at Mead Hall is definitely not what you would expect in a theme park, and instead is more along the lines of what we’ve seen at venues such as Minion Café, Thunder Falls Terrace, and The Leaky Cauldron. Just look at some of these dishes.

They do have a kid’s menu for picky eaters, and even better, the kid’s meals are served in a Viking ship!

Continuing the fish theme of Berk, one dessert you need to try in Berk is Mead Hall’s Stormfly’s Catch of the Day. A chocolate mousse is presented in the shape of a fish and it is served over cereal crumble. It’s wonderful.

The seating in Mead Hall isn’t anything fancy, it’s large benches like you would see in the Viking era…but if you look to the back wall in the photo below you’ll see one of the best modern conveniences of our era, Coke Freestyle machines.

Like all the Coke Freestyle machines in Epic Universe, the ones in Berk are themed to the land and look like they are made out of wood.

If you notice the top right of the Coke Freestyle machine, you’ll see a flavor option that is exclusive to the machines inside the Isle of Berk.

# 1 – Dragon Adoption

At Toothless Treasures, you’re going to see some great details in a gift shop themed to dragons (such as the snoozing Night Lights.)

But why you really need to go to this gift shop is to experience a dragon adoption.

Here’s how it works, guests pick out whatever dragon egg they would like.

Looks like this kiddo has found the one that is perfect for her.

At the register, the guest will be given the adoption process by a Berk Viking.

This includes raising your right hand and saying, “I swear, to love and care, and train my dragon like a true Viking.” You’ll then get a little hoopla about a new Viking being sworn in.

The dragon egg is then turned upside down “because all dragons are born upside down” and you’ll pull off the egg’s base to reveal your dragon.

When the type of dragon is revealed, you’ll get to hear some fun details about that breed. In this case, it was a Light Fury.

While you hold your dragon close to your heart, the Berk Viking puts together your carrying case (that is made out of  your dragon egg.)

At the end you have one of the most memorable experiences you can get in a gift shop and is slightly below the Wizarding World’s Ollivander’s Wand Experience in providing something that really makes you bond with a piece of theme park merchandise.

So there you have it: 6 Reasons We Love ISLE OF BERK Part 2! See you next weekend for the latest installment of the SATURDAY SIX, where we’ll look at something fun from the world of Disney and Universal. If you enjoyed yourself, be sure to check out the THEME PARK ENJOYMENT INDEX, giving a monthly recap of all the theme park news you need to know (and a lot more you don’t need to know, but we’re gonna tell you anyway). You can also follow Your Humble Author on BlueSky (@derekburgan).

If you enjoyed this article, you will surely like the following: 

6 Reasons We Love ISLE OF  BERK Part 1 – Atmosphere

6 Reasons We Love DARK UNIVERSE Part 1 – Darkmoor Village

6 Reasons We Love DARK UNIVERSE Part 2 – Dining and Characters

6 Reasons We Love DARK UNIVERSE Part 3 – Monsters Unchained

Our Favorite EASTER EGGS and Details in Universal’s Epic Universe

Our Favorite Pieces of Epic Universe MERCHANDISE

The SAT SIX Snacks Their Way Through Epic Universe

SATURDAY SIX Presents: Artist Inspired by Epic Universe

Special Thanks to The Elite Brandon Glover, Digital Maestro Scott Walker, the bio-est of all reconstructs @bioreconstruct, Captain Cruiseline Scott Sanders of the world famous Disney Cruise Line Blog, my personal protege Hunter “Elvey” Underwood, artist @SonderQuest, the mighty maven of merchandise Hedgehog’s Corner, the SAT SIX Fun Squad of Parkscope Joe and “the Dadalorian” Nick, hot shot Michael Carelli, charter member of the Universal Four @Nitro230, the permit princess Alicia Stella, master cartographer Tommy Hawkins, and Hermione Granger’s tutor Megan Stump for their invaluable assistance with this article. Absolutely no help was added by SeaWorld Influencer @SuperWeenieHtJr. The SAT SIX is inspired each week by goofballs Aengus Mackenzie and LitemAndHide and you Potterheads will enjoy Meg’s other blog work over at the Central Florida Slug Club.