Food advice for mid-west trip

Monica and I are spending time in the following parks (with a stop or two elsewhere):

Paramount Kings Island
Holiday World
Indiana Beach
The Dells
Six Flags Great America

We are hoping to get some advice on good places to eat at any of the parks above. Extra points for shaded or air conditioned restaurants with vegeterian options.

FOR PKI eat at Copelands. Its not in the park but its so good!!!

If you like beer, check out the Moosejaw Brewery & Pizza Company in the Dells. I had heard a mixed bag of reviews on the place beforehand but we were pleasantly surprised. In fact we went twice over the weekend.:)

Moosejaw has some great pizza! Another place to eat in the Dells is Culvers. More fast food oriented. I don't know how far you live from Wisconsin, but it's mainly a restuarant you can find in Minnisota, Wisconsin and Illinois.

For SFGAm, if you're eating out of the park, try and track down a Giordano's, Pizzeria Uno's, Geno's East, or Connie's pizza. Make sure you get the deep-dish/stuffed....and prepare for a sound sleep =].

Inside the park, I can only suggest Mooseburger Lodge (indoor and air) or Aunt Martha's Chicken (indoor, not sure about air, and the chicken was good...admittedly, that was a few years ago).

Holiday World has the *only* amusement park pizza that I can stand eating. I was quite impressed!

lata, jeremu

If you've never had Cincinnati-style chili, eat at Skyline or Gold Star Chili while you're there. It's unique.

In Chicago, go to Zeno's Pizza.

I don't know if I'd recommend anything inside any park, compared to what you can get outside.

jeremu? LOL!

At IB, I really HAVE to suggest eating in the skyroom. It was recommended to me, and I've been back.....great views, great food, and surprisingly reasonable...

Agree with HW's pizza, but I've become spoiled by student places here in town (and Cesari's, LOL)....can we get garlic, oregano and red pepper shakers for the tables? :)

PKI, I'd have to recommend the Chinese place about 2 miles away from the park.

SFGAm did have that "build your own hotdog" place that was pretty cool....a regular Chicago-area tradition in the park....pretty cool!

No advice at all on Dells eateries...yet! ;)

Yeah, I'd say eat at skyline in Cincinnati. In Chicago, I'd just go to Wriggleyville and find a pizza place. The ones with the sauce on top are really good, although I was partying at Depaul and anything was going to be good when I had that.

Edit: I have trouble spelling Cinci every time I type it.

*** Edited 6/27/2005 3:06:21 PM UTC by Word***

Keep em coming. Its a shame more parks don't have good food, I would be willing to fork over the cash if they did. Especially at Six Flags parks where after we buy our season passes, and pay for parking they usually don't get any of our money.

Are there any good freshly cut fry stands?

Out of the 5 SF parks I've been to the only one that ever had good food was SFDL with Beaver Theme Dinner place. Was very good and afordable.

From PKI, exit to the South, but turn right before you get to the freeway ramp and go West on Western Row Road. There's a Culver's at the base of the WLW tower (good food, frozen custard).

Or, also from PKI, take IR-71 to the next 'real' exit South, which is Fields Ertel Road; there you can find just about any chain restaurant you could possibly want. Except that if you want Waffle House, the one at the North Kings Island exit (Mason) is better than the one at Fields Ertel. Ditto for Frisch's Big Boy. I'm not sure which of the two Skyline locations is better.

Inside PKI, Skyline Chili and Bubba Gump's Shrimp are your two best bets. Note that the fish and chips basket is a MUCH better deal than the fish sandwich: more fish for less money.

At Holiday World, I've had unpleasant experiences with Kringle's pizza. It's good, but it can also keep me up half the night. Instead, try the Alamo, for Southwest-flavored stuff (the Frito Pie is an interesting concoction) with mild taco sauce. Outside the park I'm not sure that you have much of a choice!

Indiana Beach has good food throughout, from corndogs to full meals in the Skyroom. The closest I've ever found to bad food at Indiana Beach was the root beer float, which was okay except that their root beer was served warm, and seems to be exothermic. It melted through my ice cream, I had them add ice, and it melted through that...and it wasn't a terribly hot day. So you might want to avoid the root beer, but apart from that, Indiana Beach has a good assortment of good food.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Great America.....Lou Malnati's in Chitown. As far as the park I had some great cheese fries at the same place Bill is talking about. Other than that.....;-)

PKI......Go to Chipotle. As far as the park....Skyline is ok. LaRosa's is....ok. Potato works is awesome, as is "It's Fried"....GREAT chicken strips. :-P I hear the Bubba Gump Shrimp place also rocks, but I don't eat seafood...;-) Festhaus offers quite a few things and it's air-conditioned and HUGE (and they show videos of the park). The food is.....alright.

The Fields/Ertel area DOES have about anything you want, but watch the traffic, especially during rush hour.

If you find yourself wandering past the Showcase Cinemas near PKI you will find a few places before you hit the exit for the interstate again. There are the typical fast foods.....Taco Hell, McD's, Burger King, Wendy's, Dairy Queen, etc. There is also a Gold Star and several other places.

I would hit the Fields/Ertel places for more variety.

Indiana Beach......The Skyroom is awesome! As is their taco place (can't remember the name right off).

Holiday World.......Anywhere! The tacos (and the frito pie) and burgers are especially awesome.

Dells.......I have no clue. I will find out in August. ;-)

-Tina *** Edited 6/27/2005 5:23:21 PM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***

Pizzeria Uno! There are several locations around where your travels will take you, including The Dells, Cincinnatti and Gurnee, but try and hit the original at the corner of East Ohio and Wabbash in Chicago. vegatarian asside, get a deep dish Numero Uno. Mmmmmm! You have to wait 45 minutes to an hour, but they cook your pizza while you wait for your table. They make the pizza differently at the locations outside of Chicago--only takes about 20 minutes, but it's almost as good. And they also have a much more extensive menu including non-pizza items, but I always get a numero uno deep dish pizza. :)

I always make it a point to stop an Uno's when my coaster travels allow it. Go to www.unos.com for locations and menu.

As for HW, eating in the park is about your only option. There used to be a little dinner right down the road in Santa Claus that put out a pretty good breakfast at a reasonable price, but I haven't been there in years. If you are willing to drive a little, Angelo's Pizza in Rockport, about 30 min. south of HW, has great pizza and subs.

Eating in the park in always the way I go. Best prices by far of any park. Kringle's has A/C and offers the best selection of any place in the park. The Alamo, as mentioned above, does have pretty good TexMex and has a nice outdoor setting area in the shade and away from park traffic. (If you lived in So. Indiana, the Frito Pie thing would be very common to you as it is served at almost any local social or carnival.)

The one thing you do not want to miss when eating at HW is the grilled corn on the cob served at one of the places in Splashing Safari. It is a must. Also the deep fried Oreos at the place next to the tilt-a-wherl are different, just don't eat them before riding anything that spins. You might seem them again.

Check out HW's web page. All food locations are listed with a complete menu and prices. (Let's see SF or PKI do that!)

HW and IB sound like they wont dissapoint as far as food goes, which isn't surprising at all. My pizza at Delgrosso's was good enough to order take out from, let alone eat at an amusement park.

We have an Uno in Pittsburgh, and they seem to be everywhere anyways, always a good standby.

Good stuff, glad I asked.

IB Skyroom veg. options: try the Vegetable Pasta Prima Vera in a light cream sauce or my fave Tangle of Pasta in a light tomato sauce. If available, ask for a window table.

At HW I'm going to second the frito pie and fried oreo's that is the best food in the park, although the pizza is very good too.

I had the fried Oreos at Kennywood, wasn't impressed. Are they different at Holiday World?

Not too far from PKI (maybe 10 minutes or a little more) is a great place called toots. I always eat there when I am staying near the park.

Here is a link: http://www.toots.com/cincinnati/

The fried pickles are great and everything else is well priced and very tasty.

As a vegetarian, I typically can not find too much to eat at the parks. Avoid the Panda Express restaurants at many of the parks since their "veggie" food is actually made with chicken stock. Typically I will only get a pretzel at the park, or maybe a slice of pizza.

There is an IHOP outside of SFGAm and they have several options, And Baker's Square is across from it (near Gurnee Mill mall), and they have Boca Burgers. Every Denny's also offers Boca Burgers. Also, the food courts in Gurnee Mills also many veggie sandwiches too.

I was happy to see last week that Kennywood offered a veggie burger. And I know that WoF offers a veggie focaccia sandwich. Some parks have Subways, and you can a veggie sub or veggie burger there too.

But few other places offer much except some appetizers and finger foods here and there: mozzarella sticks, pickles, pretzels, pizza, corn on the cob, various fried unhealthy carb laden items (which I too should not eat but do)...

Good luck. BTW, if you are in Chicago proper, the Chicago Diner is a totally veggie restaurant (http://veggiediner.com/)