How Disneyland Creates New Foods To Go Viral on Social Media

You've likely noticed how certain Disneyland foods have taken the internet by storm in recent years. When new food guides for seasonal celebrations are released, photos of the most appealing treats will emerge all over social media as foodies get excited about these new offerings. The foods we see are often elaborately themed with a stunning presentation, and they are just as fun to look at as they are to eat!

During each Disneyland celebration, some viral seasonal treats emerge that capture the hearts of fans, and there is a fascinating process behind these favorite foods that begins long before fans even try them for the first time. Like many fans, we are always really excited to try the newest seasonal food offerings whenever there is a celebration or menu change at the parks. Disneyland has really gone above and beyond with its expansive food guides for celebrations like Halloween at Disneyland, Christmas at Disneyland, and more.

At D23, we had the opportunity to talk to some influential figures of Disneyland's culinary scene to ask them about the creative approach behind these viral treats. Let's dive into what they have to say about these foods and their interesting relationship to social media!

Increased Role of Social Media in Disneyland Foods

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Fans will undoubtedly be dazzled every time they peruse the newest Disneyland food guide, but they may not be fully aware of the amount of thought that goes into curating these sensational treats.

We spoke to some of the major contributors to Disneyland's culinary scene about how they have used social media platforms like Instagram in their creative approach as it pertains to the newest seasonal foods at Disneyland. The below quotes are lightly edited for clarity. The conversation was part of the promotion of “The Official Disney Parks Celebration Cookbook: 101 Festival Recipes from the Delicious Disney Vault” which is available for pre-order now.

Jimmy Weita, Executive Chef of Festivals and Park Events at Disneyland, shared that even in the beginning stages of the process for every dish, the thought is “How is this going to be on social media? So not only do we take that into account when we create the dish, we actually utilize social media as the way to gauge how the dish is doing.”

It's interesting to hear how social media allows them to keep their finger on how visitors respond to the new food items. Weita describes how social listening is a tool to track its performance after it launches even after the dish makes its way into the parks. “Every morning we're checking social media, we're reading blogs, we're following everybody(…)” to see how these new food offerings are received.

One viral food that came up later in the conversation was the Peanut Butter & Jelly Mac that debuted as part of the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival. Weita commented on how this offering “came from a very honest place of Thai noodles with a peanut sauce,” which prompted him to want to experiment with a peanut butter and jelly version.

Speaking about the influence of social media, Weita added, “It's really changed the course of how we look at food, ‘cus you always eat with your eyes first, but we really need to think about what it's going to look like, you know, this big, on somebody's phone or iPad, and it's going to look like that when they receive it as well.”

It's interesting to hear about how social media influences Disney's approach to these foods, and how they can influence social media in turn by making certain design choices. John State, the Culinary Director of Commercial Business Transformation at Disneyland, jumped in with another angle on the creative process behind these foods and how they're photographed.

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He said, “It's ironic how it's really helped all of our businesses, but what I've found to be our tactic, on top of what Chef Jimmy was describing is how it looks, my goal was always to encourage our culinary to look at it like will people know where they're at, how do we make sure there's something branded in the photo, something that is the distinguishing mark that shows them they're at a certain location, so whether you're designing the food with a certain color or texture or shape, but that way then, the person who's putting it on social media already has a hand from us to say, I'm over here at…[a particular place]…so we're actually thinking even deeper just besides the picture.”

The look of the foods helps to be a marketing piece on social media to drive overall demand for a Disneyland visit.

So often the latest new foods are going viral on social media before people even get the chance to eat them. Our recent post sharing the news about the upcoming Halloween food on Instagram reached nearly 1 million people and with nearly 30k shares. That is of course in the extreme because we specialize in posting about Disney Parks on @MickeyVisit, but it is notable how many people shared and engaged, excited about how the new foods look.

It's really interesting to hear about some of these adjustments that have been made to lean into the influence of social media. These foods go on such a detailed journey before they even reach consumers at the parks, and it's fascinating to see how Disneyland's culinary team stays connected even after their release!

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