Welcome to Squidge Eats!

Taking you on a tour of theme parks and attractions, one snack at a time.

Hey everyone, my name is Laura and I love food. Let's be fair, you probably got that much from the fact that this is a food blog, but whatever.

Finding new restaurants and sharing them people is a lot of fun for me. For the last couple of years, when I've been lucky enough to travel, I'd share "Squidge's Food Threads" - a series of posts on Twitter sharing photos and thoughts about some of the incredible restaurants I'd found on my adventures. Especially when it came to places like Universal Studios.

Toad's Cafe at Universal Studios in Hollywood was so much fun. From left to right, we have the Piranha Plant Caprese, the Luigi Burger (pesto grilled chicken) and the ? Block Tiramisu.

The Super Mario themed restaurant in Universal really showed me how far we've come when it comes to not only theme park food, but themed food. Sure, I've seen the Instagram posts of the crazy Disney park creations, and London's MANY themed afternoon teas, but I've always looked at it with a healthy dose of scepticism. It doesn't really come out that perfect, right?

Turns out, most of the time it does.

And it tastes good too. There's a reason we have the phrase "style over substance", but I'm happy to report that what I've tried so far has definitely had the taste to back up the unique presentation.

That's the magic I want to share with people. Food that not only looks great, but tastes amazing too.

But your site is all about theme parks?

Well, fun fact, I love me a theme park. And when I was brainstorming this idea, obviously Disney was at the front of my brain. But I live in the UK and even hopping across the channel is expensive, so I started looking at parks and attractions closer to home.

I was fully expecting to look at places like Thorpe Park and Legoland and be turned off the idea of going around and trying all their different foods. But apparently, they've upped their game.

I remember when going to Thorpe Park meant stuffing your face with a cheap Pizza Hut buffet and over-greased doughnuts. Sure, Burger King and KFC still have outlets, but they're now joined by a taco place, a chippy, a curry restaurant, a fancy doughnut shop and a bar partnered with London's Camden Brewery. A whole lot more effort has gone in here.

Side note: don't get me wrong, I love me a bit of Pizza Hut, but we'd hardly call it gourmet eh?

The foodie in me is incredibly curious now. Until recently, I would never have dreamed of putting Gourmet and Theme Park in the same sentence. You can mostly blame Disneyland Paris for my change in opinion, but the French do love their food, so are we really surprised? How far have these places come really in their food offerings? I mean, Legoland has a (in its own words) gourmet, a la carte restaurant now as part of their Castle Hotel.

SO what's the plan?

Squidge Eats is my excuse to combine two of my favourite things in Food and Theme Parks. But we don't need to stop there. Anywhere offering a fun day out, or a themed food offering feels like fair game to me. Heck, maybe even down the line we can look at stuff around parks and attractions - like, where's a good place to eat if you're staying in an Alton Towers hotel? Things like that. The possibilities are endless. Well, sort of.

At the moment, I'm doing this on my own dime, and I don't have many dimes. That isn't surprising as I am British, but you get the point. We'll start small and see where this goes. And if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears. Drop me a message on Instagram, or through the site, and I'll start putting together a list of places to visit.

The food will be the main focus of my posts, but I also plan to include information about the price, location and whether I think it's worth the money. Sure, you could get a small mortgage to buy this Mickey-shaped cake from Disney, but should you? I am neither a food critic, nor a photographer but I hope I can still bring you something worthwhile, beyond the "Oh my god, this popcorn is amazing, you have to try it" vibe I see on Instagram all the time.

If you're joining me for this new foodie adventure, please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle, secure any loose belongings and let's eat!