Disney’s theme park resorts are known for their immersive attractions, cutting-edge rides and the technology behind them, and over-the-top magical experiences that simply aren’t offered or possible outside the park gates. But even more than these things, Disney Parks are known for their unique and magical approaches to storytelling.
Disney’s Storytelling Prowess
From the tale of a girl forced to work as a slave in her own home who later marries the prince and the story of a young, unsuspecting boy who becomes king after pulling the infamous sword from the stone and from the narrative about a young girl who is called by the ocean to set things right for her village and the tale of a wooden puppet whose wish to be a real boy is granted, Disney set the standard long ago for how storytelling should be, what it should entail, and how to be exceptionally creative in the delivery of stories.
Disney’s storytelling prowess carries over into its theme parks, and it’s visible everywhere you look: the Tangled-themed restrooms in Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom, the details at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios that have guests forgetting they’re inside a theme park in Florida, and the finite elements found in Toy Story Land that make guests believe they have shrunk down to the size of a toy.
In addition to all of these things, Disney theme parks also tell stories with the many creative and interesting food and drink offerings found throughout the parks. Call it an all-immersive, multi-sensory approach to storytelling.
The Most Magical Place on Earth
Disney World is the Most Magical Place on Earth–and it’s like no place on Earth. But more than that, Disney World has been called the “quintessential destination for edible fantasia,” complete with a “kaleidoscopic of treats.” And the creative minds at Disney World love telling stories with food and drink offerings that are blue in color. But why?
Well, according to AllRecipes.com, blue is a color that, when used in food, can “weave together a story and transport guests into fantasy.”
Blue is associated with lands at Disney World like Galaxy’s Edge in Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Pandora at Animal Kingdom, and it’s also used to add the finishing touches on menu items at the Central Florida Disney parks.
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the opening of Disney World, an exciting new menu of celebratory offerings was unveiled, and nearly 80% of those offerings featured the color blue in one way or another.
50th Anniversary Blue Menu Items
At the EPCOT Experience, guests could treat themselves to an EARidescent Croissant Doughnut, which was exactly what its name sounded like–a doughnut made of a croissant. But the real magic was in the blue icing and sprinkles that adorned the top of the doughnut.
Over at Disney Springs, at Amorette’s Patisserie, the 50th Celebration Petit Cake also showed off its blue colors in the form of celebration blue mousse and blueberry jam. It was topped off by sour but sweet lemon curd.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge had its own version of a celebratory blue menu item. At The Mara, guests could indulge in the Chocolate Mousse, which featured a cardamom financier, and at The Market at Ale & Compass at Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resorts, the offering was a Celebration Tart–a birthday cake mousse dome on top of a milk chocolate mousse-filled vanilla tart shell with mini chocolate crisp pearls, buttercream, fondant, and chocolate décor.
At various locations around the parks, guests could enjoy the non-alcoholic EARidescent Sip-a-bration–Minute Maid Premium Lemonade and fruity strawberry punch that was served in a souvenir 50th Celebration Cup with one of four beloved Disney characters.
For guests who wanted to plus up their drinks, there was the Magical Beacon Cocktail: a creative mix of gin, blue curaçao, Minute Maid Premium Lemonade, orgeat (almond) syrup, lemon, hibiscus grenadine, and a souvenir glow cube.
And at Be Our Guest Restaurant, guests could–should they have been so inclined–order a drink called the Squid’s Revenge, a michelada that was garnished with charred octopus and cucumber. Though the drink itself wasn’t blue, the salted rim was. This concoction, however, caught some guests’ eyes for its lack of . . . um . . . allure.
Ok, foolish mortals, so it’s not technically blue–but the Happy Haunts Milkshake does feature a lot of purple, so–in the same color family, anyway. The milkshake materialized during the 50th anniversary celebration of the opening of the Walt Disney World Resort in October 2021, and it’s one of the offerings that are still available today.
The spooky dessert is a blackberry milkshake topped with a purple chocolate-glazed doughnut covered in black sprinkles and can be found at Columbia Harbour House, across from the entrance to the Haunted Mansion in Liberty Square at Magic Kingdom.
Other Blue Things to Eat at Disney World
Disney World is also home to the Donald Dome Cakes and Woody’s blue-frosted Lunch Box Tarts from Woody’s Lunch Box at Toy Story Land.
At Magic Kingdom, blue adorns princess-themed treats, like the Stroke of Midnight Cupcake, which features blue Champagne buttercream, and the color-changing Make It Pink, Make It Blue Mousse, available at two different Disney World Resort hotels.
Avatar-tinted blue noodles can be found at Satu’li Canteen at Pandora in Animal Kingdom, dyed with butterfly pea powder.
At the now-defunct Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, blue food was even a centerpiece in the Star Wars universe–the most memorable blue dish being Blue Shrimp, served in dry ice fog. The blue-colored Star Wars theme was also found in the buttered Blue Grains popcorn at Kat Saka’s Kettle at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and at Oga’s Cantina, which features a blue wine called Toniray and other blue drinks.
And speaking of Galaxy’s Edge, who can forget the debut of blue milk in real life, mimicking the one in the Star Wars Saga?
“The blue milk, even before the land opened, always captivated us as film-watchers,” explains Brooke McDonald, a Disney Parks fan and travel and entertainment writer. “Luke Skywalker taking his first sip of blue milk has been something people have always wondered about and what it tasted like.”
Get it frozen at the Milk Stand or unfrozen at Oga’s Cantina topped with a Bantha cookie.
“It’s not a traditional milk, and it’s not a milkshake,” McDonald says. “There’s a fruit component to it, and it’s like a slushy. It’s been such a fun dialogue for all these years.”