This week’s SATURDAY SIX takes our first step into this year’s theme park Spooky Season, which somehow started earlier than ever this year back in August! We’re going to begin with something that has been on our To Do list for a while now, create the Halloween Horror Nights Food Hall of Fame. Over the past decade or so, food options at HHN have completely transformed and become an attraction in and of themselves, best summed up by the following tweet:

That’s right, food at HHN just hits different, and what may sound next-level-bonkers to a person outside the community many times turns out to be something worth going out of your way to try. HHN Foodies Unite, because today we are putting some well deserved entrants into the Hall of Fame, starting with…

# 6 – Twisted Taters

For the uninitiated, Twisted Taters are flash fried potatoes spiraling around a stick. As Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bar and corndog eaters know, everything tastes better on a stick, especially when you can walk around when eating it at a theme park. A staple of HHN, I personally always get the traditional version of Twisted Taters along with a beer, because Universal is generally quite liberal with the seasoned salt. Over the years other options have included Garlic Parmesan, Sour Cream & Chives, and even Ghost Pepper.

What’s better than getting a Twisted Tater? Everyone in your HHN pack getting one!

To take it up a notch, HHN even had versions for the adventurous such as the Blood ‘n’ Guts (a Twisted Tater smothered in chili and roasted pepper queso) and the absolutely insane Twisted Frank-N-Coil, a Twisted Tater wrapped around a giant hot dog.

# 5 – Pizza Fries

From their introduction, Pizza Fries have become to HHN what Butterbeer is to the Wizarding World: an item you pretty much have to get as a fan because it delivers in a major way. There are times pizza fries are offered at outdoor kitchens, and other times in venues with a full kitchen, like Louie’s Restaurant. At the full kitchens, the Team Members making the pizza fries have a huge advantage compared to pop up kitchen booths found throughout HHN. This makes the consistency of the Pizza Fries to be extremely high. The base of pizza fries is crinkle cut French fries, which in my mind is pound for pound the best version of a French fry. Maybe we’ll do a full breakdown of the SATURDAY SIX French fry ranking down the road, but know that crinkle cut, waffle fries, and tater tots are at one end of the list and all the way at the other end is stuff like curly fries, shoestring fries, and – ugh – cottage fries. Anyway, the pizza fries are mixed with mozzarella, marinara, pepperoni, and sausage. It’s THE BEST.

When the pizza fries are made in a restaurant with a full kitchen, it’s much easier to get changes made to your order, such as asking for no sausage.

For this year’s HHN, pizza fries are available at the new Imagination Café in DreamWorks Land. Along with the traditional version you can also get a vegan option which uses marinara sauce with vegan cheese, peperoni, and sausage crumbles.

At 2022’s HHN, Universal offered a twist on pizza fries with Reuben fries, taking out the pepperoni and sausage, while adding shaved corn beef, sauerkraut, thousand island dressing, and everything seasoning.

We can’t leave this section without pointing out there was also a dessert version of the pizza fries concept with the S’Mores Fries. This was made out of sweet potato fries, marshmallow, white and milk chocolate chips, graham cracker crumbs, and drizzled with Hershey’s chocolate sauce. I’m not the biggest fan of sweet potato fries, so I was automatically out on this one but many others said it tasted great.

# 4 – Leatherface Cherry Pie

How can you not love the mash-up of a psychotic chainsaw-wielding maniac and a cherry pie? This is what HHN was made for! A brilliant combination of tart and sweet flavors baked inside a tasty crust that is presented in a completely unique way. Brilliant.

The Leatherface Cherry Pie was sold at an outdoor kitchen themed to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Universe, and of course in Texas we are going to see other items on the menu be BBQ based. Not just regular BBQ, though. NAY NAY. Coca-Cola BBQ. I love Coke as much as the next person, but even with the Coca Cola Cake that used to be offered at Galaxy Bowl in Cabana Bay, Coke as an ingredient in food has never swayed me one way or the other. However, the Coca-Cola BBQ sauce at HHN did taste really good though, so I’ll give them that.

Three BBQ items were available: Severed Ribs, Roasted Lamb Spit, and a vegan option called “Grandmaw’s skeleton.” Back in 2021, the item getting the most raves at the event was the roasted lamb but we got the severed ribs to fit more into the horror theme.  Love the small touch of a piece of white bread being served with the BBQ and anyone who follows me on social media will appreciate that Universal also throws in the pickles because pickles are not a side.

# 3 – Walking Taco

Several years back we saw The Walking Taco at both SeaWorld and Walt Disney World (it was Limited Time Magic at Pecos Bills.) This is one of the greatest food items of all time and it finally came to Universal at HHN in 2023. Picture this, a bag of Fritos Scoops topped with taco beef, shredded mozzarella, black beans, queso fresco, pico de gallo, shredded lettuce, sour cream, and cilantro. All served in a branded bag (it’s the little details that matter.)

There’s even a version for vegans…

I started a petition  for Universal to keep The Walking Taco in the park 365 days a year. While I didn’t get my wish, they did do something even better. They brought back The Walking Taco for 2024 and offered it with nacho cheese Doritos as the base!

# 2 – Mini Stay-Puft Marshmallow S’more

The cutest S’more ever served in a theme park, ’nuff said.

There are certain times at both Universal and Disney when you see a piece of merchandise, food, or drink and think immediately, “whoever thought of this deserves a raise.”

PROTIP: Don’t let HHN serve you a substandard Mini Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. Yes, these S’mores taste great no matter how they look, but we are here to do a service to the readers. You, Dear Reader, are doing a service to your friends, family, and followers on social media when you post pictures of these S’mores. They deserve your best effort! For more tips, please be sure to read our  Special Investigation on Theme Park Food Photography.

# 1 – Left Behind Ravioli

Over the last few years, the outdoor kitchens at HHN have gone from an after-thought to one of my favorite parts of the event. The kitchens themselves are now themed, and the variety of options available to guests are next level. The Last of Us is one of the big IPs that came to HHN in 2023. Many of you reading this may know The Last of Us after watching the fantastic series on HBO, but HHN used the original source material: the video game. THAT SAID, for all intents and purposes its the same thing.

The outdoor kitchen for The Last of Us was themed to a FEDRA ration station, one that had been tagged with a firefly logo. Just a whole bunch of fan service done just for an outdoor kitchen.

The big seller at this outdoor kitchen was a can of Left Behind Ravioli.

What makes this one of the all time greatest HHN food items, is not only did you get the actual food, but you also got a fantastic souvenir to take back home!

HHN 32 already had an item in the theme park merchandise Hall of Fame with the Tribute to Terror comic book, but combined with the Left Behind Ravioli can was a 1-2 punch we have never seen before in HHN history and may never see again.

Even better? The actual ravioli in the can was good!

To the shock of no one, this FEDRA-themed food ration can was a HUGE hit with guests, causing it to sell out. That brought about a classic Good News/Bad News situation. The Good News was that the Left Behind Ravioli got a $1 discount and the serving size was larger. The Bad News was you didn’t get that E-Ticket can…however, you did get a ration ticket.

The ration ticket was another wonderful souvenir that came from the dystopian world of The Last of Us.

The ration ticket normally came with purchases of the FEDRA ration bar.

Honorable Mentions

It’s no secret we are big fans of the new Minion Cafe, including the star of the menu: Minion Tots. However, at HHN 33 we got the debut of EVIL MINION TOTCHOS.

How can you not love something which says the Minion Tots are “relaxing in their pimento cheese sauce hot tub?” I mean that is just incredible. Also? It tastes AMAZING.

My two favorite things ALL TIME when it comes to Halloween Horror Nights are listed in the following order: 1) Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure. My favorite show in any theme park, ever. 2) The fried peanut butter, jelly, and banana sandwich which was served at HHN many years ago.

Like Andy Dufresne in the Shawshank Redemption, I have been writing Universal letters every single week for over a decade to bring the fried PBJ&B sandwich back to HHN. My prayers were, for the most part, answered in 2022 with the introduction of the No “Chance” in Hell PB&J. Basically a fried uncrustable that is drizzled in hot honey and topped with hot pepper flakes for flavor. I like uncrustables in general, but having them fried and topped with hot honey is absolutely wonderful.

There are several items in our Hall of Fame that – I believe – should be offered 365 days a year at Universal. The Pizza Skull gives me hope that maybe, just maybe, there’s a chance one or more of these incredible foods will make it on to a menu outside of HHN (and Mardi Gras for Twisted Taters.) The Pizza Skull was actually added onto the menu at the Mess Tent outside Skull Island: Reign of Kong in Islands of Adventure as it fits in thematically with that attraction.

When you combine the world of merchandise and food, I am All In. One of the food items at HHN which did this mash-up brilliantly was the Meetz Meats line, which transformed items like raspberry flavored rice crispy treats into “100% fresh ground princess,” complete with a sticker that looks like it came straight from a grocery store.

The “Meetz Meats” lore at HHN goes way back, and even includes Universal Creative icon Michael Aiello as Mr. Meetz himself, so this line of food hits all the feels for longtime fans of the event.

While I may think it is one of the best ever pieces of HHN merchandise, I can also say that Bacini wasn’t happy this wasn’t actual meat.

The big surprise of HHN 30 food wise may have been the huge hit that was Pumpkin Guts. One of the few vegan dishes of the event, Pumpkin Guts was comprised of zucchini and butternut squash sautéed with hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, and brown butter served over roasted delicata squash. Love the whimsical name with a hint of horror to tie into the event. Always good to see vegan items at both Universal and Disney because for the longest time there were almost no options for vegans.

As far as game changing events for HHN, one of the biggest was getting the property The Walking Dead. This brought a whole new fanbase to the event, with many coming back annually. There really wasn’t all that much special made for The Walking Dead brand in terms of merchandise or food, but that changed big time for the next game changer at the event: Stranger Things.

Stranger Things brought in many casual fans to HHN, and Universal overdelivered to them with some great merchandise items and a plethora of food options, including the Triple Decker Extravaganza. This was based on an actual food item created by Hopper, a character on Stranger Things, and it included 3 Eggo waffles, a whole bunch of whipped cream, and topped with Reece’s Pieces, chocolate chips, and jelly beans. This was Universal delivering on what people want: fan service. Items “inspired” by the source material are good, but items that come directly from the source material are GREAT (see Butterbeer and the Chocolate Frog in the Wizarding World for more examples.)

If there was a Ghost of HHN Past, they would be dressed up as one of the “nurses” who offered Blood Sucker blood bags to guests waiting in line for a haunted house. Think of a jello shot, but served in a themed blood bag.

Okay, Let’s Talk About Hot Dogs…

Now, the SATURDAY SIX has long considered HHN to be the “International Food & Wine Festival for the workin’ man.” While EPCOT may offer fancy schmancy small plates and crudités along with wine pairings where you need to hold your pinkie out when drinking, Universal offers items we’ve discussed such as pizza fries, twister taters, and The Walking Taco. They also seem to have an annual contest for which culinary Team Member can created the most next level bonkers hot dog.

This year’s entrant? The Summer Camp Dog: A deep-fried all-beef Nathan’s hot dog topped with Tostitos nacho cheese, baked beans, pepper relish, and Doritos crumble. That’s right a deep-fried hot dog. Let’s see Joey Chestnut eat 80 of these in 10 minutes.

Let’s take a look back at HHN 32 and the Dr. Oddfellow Carn “Evil” Dog. A red hot dog served in a confetti hot dog bun, topped with Kool-Aid pickles, bubblegum mustard, and potato sticks.

Kool-Aid pickles. BUBBLEGUM mustard. A confetti bun. All of that stuff is crazy, but what’s even crazier is that it actually tasted good!

If you know of items that you’d like to nominate for the HHN Food Hall of Fame, post them in comments below. You can also nominate items for the Hall of Shame, which includes the following…

You’ve heard the expression “think outside the box”? Well in one particular case the box was the one Pinhead uses in the movie Hellraiser. During Halloween Horror Nights there was once a specialty food available called the Pizza Dog, which had an entire hot dog stuffed into the crust. For context, this particular slice was released (escaped?) during HHN 25. That was the same year in which Pizza Hut introduced a pizza with a crust made up of mini-hotdogs. Like the movie Jurassic Park, Universal took the inevitable next step and used a whole hot dog inside the crust. This was better than Pizza Hut’s version, but better in the way that the original Transformers ride is easier to follow than the Transformers movies. This is damning it with the faintest of all praise.

Final results: Hot dogs? Good. Pizza? Good. Hot dogs and pizza? Not good. Served with French’s mustard, this was the first pizza that ever made the SATURDAY SIX staff long for the culinary masterpieces served by the BoardWalk Pizza Window.

So there you have it: The Halloween Horror Nights Snack HALL OF FAME! 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 Twitter (@derekburgan).

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SATURDAY SIX Presents: The Disney Food Hall of Shame

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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 LitemAndHyde and you Potterheads will  enjoy Meg’s other blog work over at the Central Florida Slug Club.