02x04 - The Food

[bunniefuu]

[birds chirping]

[announcer] Remain seated, please.

[in Spanish] Please remain seated.

[♪ theme music]

-[♪ grand music]
-[narrator in English] Disney Parks…

where you can dream, believe, dare, do,

and of course, eat.

Because a dream
is a wish your heart makes.

But that hungry rumbling
is the sound your stomach makes.

Oh, yes, I'm rumbly in my tumbly.

[narrator] Disney and food
have always gone hand in hand.

From Aladdin to Zootopia,

there has always been a place at the table
for some good…

-uh, grub.
-[gulps]

And it's not just on the screen.

Food at the Disney Parks
is a huge part of the experience.

From quick confections to fancy feasting,

Disney's menu magicians

have been creating
new and delicious delights

year after year.

Food! Hurray!

[narrator] So, what's their secret?

Well, funny you should ask.

At Walt Disney World,
in an undisclosed location,

we have our secret recipe lab.

[Marcy] It's top secret.

It doesn't have an address.

[narrator] But it does have a name.

It's called the Flavor Lab.

The secrecy around the Flavor Lab
is very important

because everything that we are working on
has not yet been released.

There are some projects
that I might know about

that other chefs that are on my team…
might not know about.

Their projects that they're working on…
that I don't know about.

[narrator] Intriguing.

But our mission
is to find out about all Disney food.

Because it's not just attractions

that push the boundaries
of what you thought possible.

The science and creativity
behind the food of Disney

is a story unto itself.

But as for this story's origins,
well, there's no secret there.

It all starts with Walt Disney, of course.

An American icon.

[narrator]
A very well-traveled American icon.

In fact,
Walt Disney was a world-famous jet setter.

He absorbed the cultures
and he was a great world traveler.

He was very interested
in different cultures.

[narrator] Walt Disney, at his core,
clearly had a love for the world

and an insatiable appetite for travel.

But when it came to his actual appetite…

Walt Disney was…
kind of a meat and potatoes guy.

[Rebecca] He was a Midwesterner.
He had Midwestern tastes.

He was… a pretty simple eater.

He didn't like fancy food,
and he knew what he liked.

[narrator]
And everyone else knew what he liked too.

Especially Walt's housekeeper
and personal Disney family cook,

Thelma Howard.

So he made a list,
a two-page handwritten list

with his signature loops, you know,
and very Walt-esque,

for Thelma about the foods that he liked.

And she put those up on the refrigerator.

Things like Spam, things like tomatoes,
cucumbers, roast chicken, roast beef,

mostly simple roasted meats,
potatoes, gravy, that sort of thing.

He also said,
"Only one vegetable with meals!"

[Marcy laughs]

[narrator] And this recipe
worked very well for the Disney's.

He loved her so much,
he referred to her as his Mary Poppins.

-[narrator] She was also known as…
-Fou-Fou.

[narrator]
And Fou-Fou flew in on the breeze,

joining the Disney family in 1951,
four years before Disneyland opened.

And she did everything.

She washed the dishes,
she cooked, she cleaned the house,

but she particularly prided herself
on her meals,

and they were always from scratch.

And the grandchildren talk about,
you know, being in the kitchen with her,

and Fou-Fou would run around,
let's say, at Thanksgiving, with a turkey,

and wrap it up in a blanket and go,
"Poor turkey, poor turkey."

[narrator] Poor turkey, indeed.

But these homey images
of mid-century American life

were a far cry from the glitz, glamor,
and fine dining of Hollywood.

-[announcer] And Walt Disney himself.
-[camera shutters clicking]

[narrator] Even still,
Walt's culinary adventures

barely made it past the can opener.

[in French] During long days
at the studio, he didn't have time to eat,

so he'd have chili straight from the can.

[narrator in English]
Well, Walt was a very busy man.

And in the frantic chaos

surrounding the construction
of Disneyland,

despite his personal tastes,

Walt knew that food would be
a big part of the park.

Walt Disney in 1955,
when Disneyland opened, said,

"Welcome to Disneyland,
where the food's as fabulous as the fun."

And he emphasized

that the food at Disneyland
was gonna be an attraction too.

[static]

Since the early days
of creating Disneyland,

Walt was all about making sure

that everything our guests experience
goes together.

[narrator] But not everything
goes together at the same time.

-Because on opening day at Disneyland…
-[train honking]

…Walt's focus had been largely
about getting the park up and running

in just under a year.

So when it came to food…

In 1955, Walt did not run
one of the restaurants, or eateries,

or counter services,
what he called "feeding operations,"

because he just didn't have the bandwidth.

[narrator]
With the help of his brother, Roy,

Disneyland secured sponsors
and outside vendors

-to run these feeding operations.
-[bike bell ringing]

And so,
a lot of the restaurants' food offerings

were based around
what those sponsors offered.

You know what I'm doing?
I'm dining Disneyland style.

Enjoying tender grown
Swift's premium chicken,

fried to a rich gold crispness.

Ah, they really treat you right
in Disneyland.

Because Swift Premium Poultry
and Quality Meats

are served exclusively here.

And Swift's meats
was one of the sponsors in the early year

that had the red wagon in,
and that was, you know, meat and potatoes.

It was… it was pretty much a steakhouse,
but in fancy circumstances.

[announcer] And now, we come
to another important part of Disneyland.

We call it Good Eatingland.

In the Magnolia Park area of Frontierland,
they had the chicken restaurant,

and that had a southern theme.

So it had
southern fried chicken available.

[announcer] Walt steaks, chops, roast ham,
or bacon, sausage,

or table-ready meats at the restaurants.

[narrator] But over here in Fantasyland,
things got a little bit exotic.

A tuna burger.

[narrator] Uh, 1950s style.

And as popular as that tuna burger was,
the truth was…

The food offerings
were not that, you know, exciting.

Actually, they weren't that…
that exotic, for sure.

[narrator] Well, exotic or not,

Disneyland isn't just about
the restaurants.

In fact, as you enter the park
and arrive onto Main Street, USA,

the sights and sounds are accompanied
by the smell of Walt's very favorite.

Popcorn.

There's just nothing
like walking into Disneyland

and seeing that first popcorn wagon
at the hub of Disneyland.

It's been modified many times
over the 67 years,

but I love the smell that it creates.

I have to have it every time I go.

[narrator]
Happily wandering about with popcorn

as you marvel at the sights of Disneyland
is all well and good,

until you're stuck
with an empty popcorn container.

History has shared

that Walt made sure there was a trash can
every 30 feet throughout the parks.

[♪ dramatic music]

The story goes that he was in the park
when it first opened,

and he bought a hot dog,

and he walked along the street
and ate the hot dog.

And then once he got to where,
you know, he was…

had the wrapper in his hand
and no hot dog left,

he immediately said,
"That's where a trash can needs to be."

[narrator] And while Walt's resume

is littered with cutting-edge technology
and innovation,

one of his most underrated achievements
was popularizing this,

the swinging door trash can.

The last thing Walt wanted people to do
is to look into the can and see the trash.

He wanted it to fit
right into the environment.

[Marcy]
So Walt worked with an engineering team

to develop the garbage cans
that we see at the parks today

that have the swinging door.

In that way, no guest ever has to see
the garbage that's inside.

[narrator] But it wasn't just the swinging
trash cans that had guests impressed.

There was something else
to put a little swing in their steps.

Pedestrian food.

[narrator]
Right! That you eat while you're walking.

People were hungry and they needed to eat.
They needed to refuel.

[narrator] There was popcorn, of course,
but starting in 1976,

park goers could enjoy
a new and exciting treat.

The tuna burgers?

[narrator]
Nope. Something even more enticing.

-It's a pineapple.
-[squawks]

[narrator] That's right.

Mobile refreshment seekers flocked
to Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room.

Everybody knows
tiki birds love pineapples.

[narrator] Not just tiki birds.

So we sold Dole pineapple juice,


or Dole pineapple spear,


Really, a different product.
A good walk away item.

[narrator] In 1983,

Dole rolled out the same refreshments
at Walt Disney World in Florida,

where the pineapple treats
were a perfect tropical fit.

And with an area
of 43 square miles to cover,

pedestrian food would be essential
to powering your day, and legs.

And it wasn't long before folks at Disney

were talking about
adding a new twist on comfort fruit.

-Dole Whip.
-I love Dole Whips.

The creaminess, the texture, the taste.

Boy, are they popular.

[narrator]
Sure, everyone agrees that resistance

to these sweet, tangy treats is fruitile.

As for its origin…
well, that's a bit of a sticky story.

Because in the days before Dole Whip,

in California, Disneyland only offered
plain old ice cream

with chunks of pineapple.

But when it traveled
to hot, humid Florida…

I'll tell you
what's not working at Walt Disney World,

is the soft serve vanilla ice cream
with the pineapple chunks.

In the heat, it just was impossible.
They had very little refrigeration.

[narrator] So they looked to Dole
to whip up something entirely different.

A dry, mixed frozen treat,

which is what we now know
as the Dole Whip.

It was then the pineapple Dole Whip,
now we just call it Dole Whip.

It premieres at Walt Disney World in 1984,

and then it comes to Disneyland in 1986.

[narrator] And with that,
a soft serve star was born.

I love that this delightful experience

actually came
from pure technology and innovation.

[narrator] Well then,
you're gonna love this.

We thought it would be fun

working with
our food and beverage partners

to create new flavors of Dole Whip.

So even though you can still get

your traditional pineapple flavored
Dole Whip,

we actually offer many different flavors.

[narrator] An offer that extends
across more than just the Dole Whip.

Because in 1985,

heralded by the warm scent of cinnamon
breezing across Disneyland,

the churro made its auspicious debut.

And anyone who's had one can tell you…

I have to have it every time I go.

[narrator] No, that's the popcorn.

As for the churros…

[Dany] My thoughts on churros are…

Yes. Always yes.

[narrator] But prior to 1985,
churros were a no.

That was until this guy came along.

We were looking to take
an unused part of our land…

-[narrator] That would be Disneyland.
-…and do something with it.

[narrator] Introducing…

[animated churros] Churroland!
[echoing]

No. No. We were going to turn it
into a teen nightclub,

the best way I could describe Videopolis.

[narrator]
Videopolis, a Disney discotheque,

complete with
all the 1980's teen essentials.

-[♪ lively music]
-Music, dancing, a stack of TVs,

and of course, Yumz.

A food location that served
pizzas, and pretzels, and popcorn.

[narrator] You know, teen stuff.

But just like your favorite band…

We were looking for something else
that could be a hit.

[narrator] Left with the task of finding
some bodacious new bites,

Jim's mind was racing.

[engines revving]

When I'm away from Disneyland,
I like to go to races.

And I went to the Long Beach Grand Prix
one year.

[narrator] That's right, car racing.

The roar of the engines,
the clouds of exhaust,

-and the sweet cinnamony smells of…
-[tires screeching]

Mm, what is that?

Looked around and saw
a little 6-inch churros.

[James] I had not had a churro before.

[narrator]
And you know what they say about churros…

-Yes.
-Yeah,

-maybe this has some legs to it.
-Always yes.

-[narrator] Of course, Jim was a yes too.
-Absolutely.

[narrator] With one sizable ask.

But I wanted something
a little bit different.

I didn't want a 6-inch churro,
I wanted a 14-inch churro.

A longer one.

[narrator] Easy enough.

And when the churro arrived at Disneyland…

They sold out immediately
on the first day.

[narrator] They were an instant success.

And became a sweet symbol
of what makes the Disney Parks so special.

The wonderful thing
about churros in the park,

it signifies Hispanic embracing,

of bringing culture
that's slightly different

and making it a mainstay in the park.

[Dany] So everyone gets to eat that
no matter where you're at.

It's not like you're in Mexico
or you're in a certain land.

Churros are everywhere.

[narrator] From Paris to Asia,
churros have crossed the globe.

And today, they come in more flavors
than you could shake a churro saber at.

Just like we do in attractions,

our food and beverage partners
evolved as well.

Always recreating things.

[Steve] So the newest thing
is different flavored churros.

It literally comes
in every color of the rainbow,

dipped in something else.
We do all kinds of things with churros.

So we've taken your classic favorite snack
and we've elevated it.

We're always reinventing ourselves,
always coming up with ways

that we can still keep the favorites
around for our guests,

but put new flavors together with them.

[Dany] The fact that you can have
sprinkles and caramel is incredible.

So I always say yes.

Yes to churros.

[narrator] Now, if for some reason,
you felt like saying no to churros,

perhaps you wanted
a little more meat on the bone,

get ready to gobble.

We found these turkey legs
and they're huge.

[narrator] And this turkey snack…

People call them snacks.
They're really a meal.

[narrator]
Okay, turkey meal is hot to trot.

You can carry it around and still enjoy
the park and the attractions.

[narrator] And possibly the attention.

Not only are they delicious to eat,
an event to eat,

they're also an event for anyone
who's looking at you eating it.

Making you feel like Henry VIII
when you're walking around the park.

[narrator] Turkey legs,
the official food of kings.

Oh, that's my favorite part.

They're juicy, they're big, they're yummy.
Just have a great time with these pieces.

Excellent bird.

[narrator]
And you'll never believe how they're made.

The process in producing our turkey legs
is really a secret.

[narrator] Ooh, a juicy secret?

Juicy.

[narrator] Well, give us a hint then.

There's a lot of roasting
and special spices involved.

And of course,
a little pixie dust doesn't hurt.

[narrator] At Disneyland,
everyone has their go-to on the go.

Ice cream is my favorite walk-around food.

Sodas and pretzels.

And if it's shaped in any way
like Mickey Mouse,

that's a go-to for me.

[narrator] In fact, you could call it
the hungriest place on Earth.

Okay, who's hungry?

[narrator]
Because with millions of churros,

hundreds of thousands of turkey legs,

and over a million boxes of popcorn
per year,

as well as
the countless desserts and treats,

it's obvious
that from a purely logistical standpoint,

feeding the guests of Disneyland

is just as impressive
as a classic attraction.

Obviously, to get a park open
and ready for the day,

we're testing the attractions,
we're cycling them,

we're making sure we've got

all the product on the shelves
in the stores.

We're also bringing in
thousands of food and beverage items

for our restaurants every day.

Up to 70,000 pieces of pastry a day.

[narrator] As we know,
pastries don't make themselves… usually.

So for Disneyland,
they'd need a castle-sized kitchen.

But seeing as the castle was taken…

The Disneyland Hotel
was the main bakery for the resort.

In order to keep up with the demand…

a larger production bakery
needed to be built.

And being that we don't have a lot of room

to create a production bakery
at Disneyland,

we built it
in one of our offsite parking lots,

and that bakery now serves
as the Central Bakery

to the entire resort.

[Gary]
The Disneyland Resort Central Bakery

is a 10,000 square foot
production kitchen.

The Disneyland Hotel's bakery

would fit inside the freezer
of the Central Bakery.

[narrator]
And a huge operation it is in every way.

[Gary] A team of about 100 bakers there,

and they create over a million
pieces of deliciousness every year.

The Disneyland Central Bakery

is the next best thing
to the Willy Wonka factory.

They produce almost 24/7,

just about everything sweet
in the entire resort.

[narrator] And at the helm,
a French chef with a…

[in French] …penchant for pastry.

[in English] Nope. Not him.

Nope, not him either.

This is simple.

[narrator] It's this guy.

Uh, my name is Jean Marc Viallet.

I'm the executive pastry chef
at the Central Bakery

here in Disneyland Resort.

Our mission
is to tell the story through desserts.

And the dessert could really encapsulate
the theme of the restaurant,

or the season,
or whatever celebration is going on.

Can I interest you
in a dessert this evening?

Don't you always?

Which one would you like?

The Mickey macarons
that we do, I think, 1,500 a day.

[Karlos] The Mickey Mouse cookie.

[Gary] The cookie Num Nums in Pixar Pier.

[Karlos] Our world-famous now,
a gray stuff.

-Try the gray stuff. It's delicious.
-Mm.

Don't believe me? Ask the dishes.

Um, actually, not even the dishes
can help with this one.

Nobody knew what the gray stuff is,
so we did, you know…

Basically, the gray stuff now,

it's a white chocolate mousse
flavored with crumbs in it.

And make it gray, you know.
But we didn't stop here.

We had a cookie underneath

because when you actually see
the original animated feature,

you have a cookie under the gray stuff.

And it became
one of the most successful dessert ever

in the Disneyland resort.

[narrator]
Now, that is using your gray stuff.

But the cuisine creativity isn't limited
to the food you can hold in your hand.

Walt had envisioned
something more for his guests,

something where you could sit and dine
on an upscale meal,

something with fancy dishes,
just… not any of those talking ones.

Thematic feeding.

[narrator] And… what is that exactly?

Yes, it's kind of an odd name,
but the concept… is so powerful.

[narrator]
Okay, maybe we need a little more.

I was a kid when I came to Disneyland
for the very first time,

-and we rode Pirates of the Caribbean.
-[♪ light music]

It was real to me.

I'm in there,
and I'm dodging real cannon ba*ls,

and there's fire, and there's pirates,
and they're doing all sorts of fun stuff.

And then my mom said, "It's lunchtime."

-The story stopped.
-[♪ music disrupts]

-We had a hot dog, pirates were gone.
-[indistinct chatter]

Everything I thought I just went through
was over and done.

Now, today, it's different.
Our goal is to keep the story going.

[narrator]
And we all know where this story is going.

Thematic feeding
is really about an immersive experience.

We make sure that we're creating a concept
that fits into the story.

The tie to a ride,

the tie to the land
that you're experiencing.

So when I come out of Pirates today
with my daughters,

we come out,
and we're still in New Orleans.

Now, we can have gumbo. We can have other…

We can have a pirate parfait, in fact.

And obviously,
that was a commitment that Walt had.

He wanted it right from the beginning.

All these little streets
are going to be very intriguing.

[Walt] Little shops and things,
and people can wander around in there.

[narrator] And nestled between the pirates
and the sights and sounds of New Orleans,

Disneyland opened one of its first
and most famous thematic restaurants.

It was the Blue Bayou Restaurant.

-[♪ gentle music]
-[narrator] When it opened,

the Blue Bayou
was like nowhere else on Earth.

I never knew until I went to Disneyland,
that you could eat food in a place

that was…
like a completely different world.

Such a romantic place to dine
and watch the flat boats go by

off to their pirate adventure.

[narrator]
Carefully integrated by its creators

into the attraction from day one…

The Imagineering team came in
and gave us a… a restaurant

where it was nighttime all day long.

[Karlos] And we got fireflies,
and we even had a sh**ting star in there.

And the idea of it is this romance,
this beauty of sitting in the bayou,

seeing the twinkling lights…

-[crickets chirping]
-…and maybe hearing the crickets,

and watching the boats float by
in the bayou

as you enjoy your meal.

[narrator] And it's not just the diners
enjoying the ambiance.

For the guests on the boat…

It became part of the attraction.

So guests would float by
on the Pirates of the Caribbean,

and look over and say,
"How do I get there?"

[narrator] But guests wouldn't be able
to get there until the attraction opened.

Interestingly, the Blue Bayou Restaurant
was ready to go in 1966

when Walt opened New Orleans Square.

However, Pirates of the Caribbean
was not ready.

[people exclaim with disappointment]

And Walt basically said,
"It wouldn't be a good show

if there weren't the pirate boats
floating by."

So he did not allow the Blue Bayou to open
when New Orleans Square did.

And as a result,
he never lived to dine at it.

He died before the restaurant opened.

[narrator] And opening that,

and keeping with Walt's wishes
wouldn't come

until Pirates of the Caribbean set sail
in 1967.

He tested meals there and he sat there,

but he didn't actually enjoy
the entire experience

of the Blue Bayou Restaurant,
one of America's first themed restaurants.

[narrator] And even though he missed
the opening of the Blue Bayou,

Walt's one and only foray
into deeply immersive thematic feeding

has set the standard
for thematic restaurants to this day.

When I was a kid,
we went to your basic restaurants

that on your birthday, maybe you got
some cake at the end of it, right?

For me,
the first time I ate at the Blue Bayou

was like being transported
to another world,

and it made the food better.

[narrator] For as groundbreaking
as the Blue Bayou was, and still is,

Disney didn't stop there.

As the destinations expanded
and parks were added,

so, too, were the themed restaurants.

Like here
in Disney's first international park,

Tokyo Disneyland,

with its own thrilling theme
with food to fill the savage beast.

[in Japanese] La Taverne De Gaston

is a restaurant inspired by the tavern
in the Beauty and the Beast movie.

[narrator in English]
And with the interior design

from a page out of this guy's book,

no one quite has the decorative gifts
like Gaston.

♪ I use antlers in all of my decorating ♪

[in Japanese]
We want our guests to enjoy being immersed

in the world
which reminds them of the movie.

[narrator in English] The menu, too,
has touches from the muscly man himself,

like the savory hunter's pie,

which when you have a wild appetite,
really hits the mark.

And as for the folks in Shanghai,
well, they're making a splash too.

When the park there opened in 2016,

lots of classic attractions
were adapted into something new.

Like this all-new reimagining
of Pirates of the Caribbean.

The restaurant here is reimagined too.

[in Chinese] I want my dishes
to bring guests the feeling

of being in Pirates of the Caribbean
and eating a pirate feast.

[narrator in English] And everyone knows
that nothing makes you feel more piratey

than large chunks of meat.

[in Chinese] The first time I walked in,

I saw that the entire restaurant
was heavily pirate-themed.

So the food at Barbossa's restaurant

is basically all about whole ribs,
whole chicken legs, and whole fish.

[narrator in English]
However, at the Crystal Lotus

in Hong Kong Disneyland,

hearty feasts from the savage seas
make way for adorable dainty dumplings.

[in Chinese] They are so popular,

we have to limit
how many we sell every day.

We have both salty and sweet varieties.

The offerings are evenly divided,
four sweet and four salty.

The challenge is to constantly innovate.

For example,
in order to create our Disney Dim Sum,

we must carefully select
the ingredients to use

in order to make the dim sum
in the Disney characters' likeness.

[narrator in English]
The delectable feats of the Asian parks

seem about as far away as you can get

from where Walt and Fou-Fou started out
all those decades before.

[Rebecca] Kind of a meat and potatoes guy.

[Marcy] He didn't like fancy food.

[narrator] But when it comes
to this next international Disney Park,

fancy food is always on the table.

[presenter]
Although each of the world's countries

would like to dispute this fact,
we French know the truth.

The best food in the world
is made in France.

Of course, you're going to France.

You're going to a place
where food is elevated.

It's part of the culture.

[narrator] Exactly.

A Midwest diet of meat and potatoes

would clearly fall short
when attempting to satisfy

the sophisticated French palate.

-[Chef Skinner gasps]
-[narrator] And nowhere

is it better exemplified
than here at the classy restaurant,

Walt's.

Walt's Restaurant at Disneyland Paris.

It's on Main Street,
and it's a very elegant dining experience.

And you go upstairs,

and there are rooms
that look out over Main Street,

and each room is themed
to one of the lands in the park.

[narrator] That being
Main Street, USA, Frontierland,

Adventureland, Fantasyland,
and Discoveryland.

[in French] Here at Walt's,
we have different themes.

Here we are in Adventureland,
but if you come back for dinner tomorrow,

you might find yourself
in the Discoveryland room.

When you eat in a different room,
the experience will also be different.

[narrator in English]
Um, right. That's the theme element.

Very important, of course.

But as for that exquisite
exclusively French cuisine…

[in French] At Walt's, we serve
a lot of the meals that Walt liked to eat.

[narrator in English]
Walt's faves with a French flair.

Not exactly how Walt's housekeeper,
Thelma, slash Fou-Fou, slash…

-His Mary Poppins.
-[narrator] Used to make it.

[in French] Walt had a list of the meals
he preferred on his refrigerator,

and we've used that list as inspiration
for creating our dishes.

[narrator in English]
And one of these Walt-inspired dishes

is a new take on an old favorite.

[in French] Our chef instantly knew

he wanted to make
a deconstructed version of the chili.

[narrator in English]
Ah, yes! The old chili in a can.

[in French] That way,
our guests will be able to eat

like Walt did at the studio.

[narrator in English]
Disney chefs even went so far

as to dedicate a dish to Fou-Fou herself.

[in French]
We also serve the Thelma potato,

which is an homage to Thelma Howard,

who was the Disney family's housekeeper
for 30 years.

She used to make it for Walt,
and it was one of his favorites.

The dish is really a tribute to Thelma.

According to Walt, he considered her
to be the real Mary Poppins.

[narrator in English]
However, Mary Poppins wasn't well known

for her tolerance for rule-breaking.
And Walt's one rule…

"Only one vegetable with meals!"

[narrator] It's safe to say
Fou-Fou would not be pleased.

[in French]
A fun fact about the restaurant

is that we bend the rules a little bit

because our research shows that Walt liked
only one vegetable per dish,

but today,
we have dishes with three vegetables.

[narrator in English] Breaking
the one-vegetable rule is one thing.

-[in French] Three vegetables.
-[narrator in English] Ah, three things.

But breaking the rules of physics
is another thing altogether.

And in Paris' Pym Kitchen,
they do just that.

Based on Ant-Man and the Wasp,

here we see the ultimate convergence
of food and story.

And, wow, have we leaned hard into story.

As the story goes,

Hank Pym invented the particles
that could shrink and grow things.

And so they've applied it to food.

[narrator]
Exactly. And those Pym particles,

just like an Ant-Man suit…

can be applied to your sandwich.

[Steve]
They have various-sized sandwiches.

You can get a super, super large pretzel
that feeds a family of four,

or you can get
a very, very tiny size sandwich

that would feed an ant.

[narrator] Be it an ant or a man,

the molecularly spectacular food
of Pym Kitchen

might well have been made in a lab,
or perhaps even a…

Secret recipe lab.

[narrator] Aha!

Because as it happens,
back in the top secret location of…

[beeps]
…Florida.

We'll finally be granted a little taste
of some of the Flavor Lab's secrets.

-Okay.
-[narrator gasps] Oh, really?

-Yeah.
-[narrator] Great!

It turns out
that while the Flavor Lab does work

under a cloak of confidentiality,

there are still
plenty of secrets to spill.

So Flavor Lab is a place,
but it's also, I guess, an idea, right?

Because it's where we collaborate.

It's where all of our concepts begin

for either new things
or big refurbishments.

What we do at the Flavor Lab
is create foods based on stories.

Uh, we design restaurants,
we design spaces, we design dining rooms.

We do everything from collaborating

with all of the signature restaurants
on property,

to putting together a new spin
on pretzels, or dips, or handhelds.

[narrator] From Ant-Man's tiny sandwich
to those upgraded churros…

Yes. Yes to churros.

[narrator] To the alien world of Avatar,
to the subtle things.

[Brian] Our guests would say,
"It was the best etouffee I ever had."

"Oh, we're glad you loved it.

Because it's the recipe that Tiana used
in Princess and Frog,"

and then it expands that story.

[narrator] Indeed, the chefs
at all the Disney Parks all over the world

are working to produce new and delicious
story-infused delicacies.

But even
with all this imagination and invention,

they've made sure
that no treat is left behind.

If we go back to the original story,

we find that even Walt's favorite
has been given a tasty transformation.

Popcorn is no longer
the simple snack it was

when Disneyland's doors opened.

In Tokyo, they started putting in
really interesting flavors

like soy sauce and curry,

and, um… and then sweet things
like chocolate popcorn and strawberry.

[in Japanese]
A highly recommended menu item

is the caramel and cheese popcorn.

The mix of sweet and salty
makes for a very tasty popcorn.

[in English] The other cool thing,
of course, is the buckets

which have become
tremendous collector items.

[Karlos] They started out really simple,
fun art on it.

Something that you can take home
and keep your LEGOs in.

Now, it's like, gotten to the point

where we have
these really fanciful designs

that become more like toys
instead of just a container.

[Marcy] Some of them are seasonal,
and they apply to something,

say, the Main Street Electrical Parade.

You know, we want tangible memories
that we can take home with us.

So definitely,
the popcorn game is elevated.

[narrator] And just as all the food
has evolved over the years,

so has its relationship
with the most important people of all,

the guests.

We are becoming known for our food.

People are coming to experience it,

and they're planning their entire trip
around making sure

they have the cookie Num Num
in Pixar Pier,

or the gray stuff gateau
at Red Rose Tavern.

I really, really appreciate
sort of the progress we've made,

and how we've started to really think
about food as an attraction in our parks.

[Bob] I love to see people wait in line.

You would think
your first thing is gonna be,

"I'm gonna take that big bite," right?

But instead, it's, "I'm going to take
that Instagram picture."

First thing I'm going to do
is put it on Instagram.

Then I'm gonna take the bite.



where people would take a photo
of their ice cream cone,

or take a photo of their churro
standing in front of the castle.

And now,
it's a very, very important element.

[narrator]
It's true that Disney may be keeping

some future foods confidential,

but the root of their success
is no secret.

The level of skill that our chefs have,
it's, it's… it's really mind-blowing.

We are artisans also,
not just in animation and film.

I think it's pretty unique
that I do get the opportunity

to create different dishes
or influence those dishes.

The end product need to be perfect.
Why? Because at the end of the day,

our guests pay to be here
to have the best product they can have.

[narrator]
And going home at the end of the day

with memories that will last a lifetime.

I was doing service, watching the room.

Uh, there was this elderly gentleman.

He was having his birthday all by himself,

and there was a younger family,
sitting right next to him…

a little girl, four years old.

And the little girl
goes up to the gentleman

and wishes him a happy birthday.

And he just lit up.

[♪ soft, bright music]

And to know that, you know,
she came to my restaurant

and was being part of our guest…

I don't know
why I'm getting so emotional. Um…

Anyways, so it was like
the best Disney experience ever

because that gentleman was so alone
and this young girl just made his day.

You know, those moments are like…

we made this possible.

People are happy because of us.

People are sharing their love
for each other because of us.

So you know, that was…

That's the memory
that I'm never going to forget.

[narrator] And these
unforgettable memories are possible,

thanks to all the chefs,
bakers, hosts, and servers,

who have made Disney cuisine
what it is today.

A marriage of creativity
and culinary craft.

[Marcy] Whenever somebody is going
to Walt Disney World or Disneyland,

or any of the parks worldwide,

invariably, the question is,
what's your favorite food

and what's your favorite attraction?

The two go hand in hand.

I really do believe
that guests come to the parks

not just to ride and have the fun,
and the thrills,

but also to taste the different things
that are throughout the park.

And it's really, really
a giant, giant part of the fun.

It goes all the way back to Walt Disney

because Walt wanted that
for his guests too.

He knew that food is entertainment,

and he was kind of revolutionary
in that department in mid-century.

And now, it… it's exploded too.

Food's not only entertainment,
it's an empire.

[narrator] And with Disney's
tried-and-true, film-to-table approach,

there's one thing, for sure.

At the end of your day,
the only thing you'll be hungry for is…

more.

♪ Be our guest, be our guest ♪

♪ Be our guest ♪

♪ Please, be our guest ♪

[fireworks crackling]

[♪ closing theme music]