In-Park Food Question-Panda Express at GAdv/Cedar Point

It's pretty rare for me to eat a full-fledged "meal" (for want of a better word) while in the park. I might get a pretzel to hold me over. I'll always eat a big breakfast, and maybe eat after leaving, or leave at mid-day, hit a Friendly's or something, then come back. I might also have sandwiches in a cooler in my car if I'm at GAdv.

I don't eat Chinese food, except for a couple of menu items, and rarely. I've been trying for years to find Orange Chicken as good as I used to get at a place I used to visit here in Jersey. Golden Corral came close.

A couple of weeks ago, I found out (through Jeopardy, actually) that Panda Express, the Chinese "fast-food" chain, not only sells it, but it's their most popular item.

I finally tried it today. Three words: Pretty Darn Good.

So I looked at GAdv's and Cedar Point's web sites, knowing that Panda Express has outlets at those parks, as well as others. I wanted to find out if Orange Chicken was on their menus. There were no menus for the individual restaurants on the sites.

So my question is obvious: Can anyone say whether I would be able to find Orange Chicken at those locations? And understanding that amusement park prices are higher for food than those in the "real world," how much should I expect to pay. A good-sized bowl with white rice was $4.99 today.

Thanks in advance, folks.

Mike

They only have a few options on the menu at the parks compared to their regular restaurants. To answer your question, yes, Orange Chicken is one of them. Expect to pay about 2 bucks more.

At Great Adventure I think the 2 entree plate is $9.99 and the 3 entree plate is $11.99.

The orange chicken at Great Adventure's Panda Express is FANTASTIC! And it's the only meal I will I pay for there. I've also had it at Worlds of Fun, Six Flags New England and Six Flags Over Texas, and It's been very tasty every time. Every time I'm in the mood for Chinese food, I crave that orange chicken, but the nearest Panda Express to me is about an hour away in the Philly area.

Thanks, AV. That's what I was waiting to hear. Maybe we'll meet up this summer and share a plate...OK, one for each!

Thanks to YoshiFan and Chitown as well. Ever since GAdv took away the Carnegie and their quite-good pastrami sandwich, I've been hoping for another food option at the park in a pinch!

Off-season threads are the tastiest. :)

They have orange chicken at the panda express at Kings Island as well. It's in the hillbilly show building near delerium.

If a Panda Express doesn't have Orange Chicken on its menu, I would be very surprised. It is their signature dish, after all. It would be like...McDonald's not having the Big Mac, or a BK not having the Whopper on the menu.

At Cedar Point, I think the 2 entree plate is $9, Panda Bowl is...$8, I believe. Not 100% sure on those prices. Probably the tastiest, most filling dinner in the park for the money. Also pretty much the only full meal I'll eat in the park any more.

I ate at the Panda Express at Cedar Point, and had their Seseme Chicken bowl, which was very good. That with a medium drink was around $8.00, which a lot cheaper than the $14.00 footlongs at the Subway franchise, which was insanely expensive. I heard now $20.00.

But, if I am really hungry I hit the Midway Market buffet, which also has really good food, plus it's all you can eat. I have not eaten there in a while, so I don't know if it is still there, but that's one of my favorite places to eat at Cedar Point.

But, if I am lacking cash, I hit the local burger king or Mcdonalds and double up on food for the day, and I always keep a cooler full of pop and snacks in my car for the ride home. It's a five hour drive to Cedar Point from where I live, so I sometimes stop at Denny's for breakfast on the way there, and again on the way home. I rarely stay overnight.

DKNY6363 said:
It's in the hillbilly show building near delerium.

Wow. The building you are referring to, DKNY6363, is the Festhaus, where for the last few years Kings Island has produced a country and western show mainly featuring young entertainers from college and university theatre departments. It's not the best show I've ever seen, but I always have to hand it to the kids working to catch a break, cast in a show that is likely not in their preferred genre of music.

And sorry, but as a city-dwelling country and western listener, I take umbrage when I hear people refer to us using derogatory terms like hillbilly.

As a hillbilly (That's Hill William to the rest of you) I prefer that to the term redneck.

Country music glorifies stupidity. :)

RCMAC said:

DKNY6363 said:
It's in the hillbilly show building near delerium.

Wow. The building you are referring to, DKNY6363, is the Festhaus, where for the last few years Kings Island has produced a country and western show mainly featuring young entertainers from college and university theatre departments. It's not the best show I've ever seen, but I always have to hand it to the kids working to catch a break, cast in a show that is likely not in their preferred genre of music.

And sorry, but as a city-dwelling country and western listener, I take umbrage when I hear people refer to us using derogatory terms like hillbilly.

Sorry man. No intent to offend. Truthfully, I ate there tried to wait long enough to seee the show. Ended up leaving. The building is a super good place to eat. But yeah I really don't like country music. But I'm not gonna hate on other peoples likes.

In my opinion, Panda Express is...ok. They upcharge each entree $2 if you want a shrimp dish as a choice and they don't exactly use a big fork when they are dishing it out. The best thing about the place (and I've only been to the one at Great Adventure) is that it can be very quiet in there and it's air conditioned. The backyard area is almost like a sea of tranquility when the park is crowded. I've never seen a crowd in there and they run the Six Flags Promotion Televion Sequences on their tv.

That being said, it is NOTHING like good Chinese food from your favorite local place.

The Carnegie Deli at Great Adventure is not as good as the new york city outlet, but the corned-beef was VERY good...perhaps the best thing I've ever eaten at a park. (Second is Knoebles potato triangles). Thinking about these right now is getting me very hungry.

Update . . . I just looked. I think it's now called the Main Street Deli. I don't know if it is run by the same folks so disregard my last statement. If the old deli is gone, I'm sure the New Deli isn't as good. (This is not a statement mocking Indian food, just a really bad pun.)

Lostkause - - - > I am a HUGE country fan. Even rock fans can appreciate the guitarwork of people like Chet Atkins and Roy Clark.

IMO, it IS just as good as my favorite Chinese take-out places. Actually the orange chicken is better than ANY I've had at any of the many Chinese restaurants I've been to. And they give you huge portions of food considering the rice/noodles. I leave satisfied, not wanting more food. That's money well spent for me. Chinese food in general is good for that. :)

Oh great, now I'm hungry...

I believe the panda bowl at CP (one entree with rice) was $7.99 last season. The portion was pretty large, more than enough to fill you up for a while. I always get the two entree thing because it's not that much more, but the orange chicken is always a part of it!

Richie Reflux said:
Update . . . I just looked. I think it's now called the Main Street Deli. I don't know if it is run by the same folks so disregard my last statement. If the old deli is gone, I'm sure the New Deli isn't as good. (This is not a statement mocking Indian food, just a really bad pun.)

That's right, and the corned beef and pastrami are no longer on the menu..just generic roast beef, ham, turkey type stuff. Carnegie's onion rings were also awesome (and a monstrous portion) but I think they're gone too.

I'm glad to see all this love for Panda and the orange chicken. After going to GAdv since 1974, it;ll be nice to have another option for food.

I'm curious how many people in America would actually like real authentic Chinese food? This carnivalized, American Chinese food love affair that Americans have with it makes me laugh. I've been to China and had the real thing. The only way in America to come close to authentic chinese food is to head to a Chinatown in a major city.

If you can get over the unsanitary way they prepare your food, it is delicious. Add to that the lack of dogs and cats in the area, you might be eating Orange Chicken.

When I was at Great Adventure last spring, (my one and only time) I saw that Main Street Deli and passed. Now, had it been Carnegie (are we talking THE Carnegie Deli, like, from NYC? Did they have cheesecake?) I would have eaten lunch AND dinner there.

Instead, I settled on Panda for my 'big' meal. And as Richie Reflux reports, I found the outdoor area in the back to be pretty, relaxing, and quiet. (I wonder what was housed in that building before?) And my menu item of choice is always the 2 entree plate with noodles, orange chicken and orange chicken ! Yum.

And thank you, DKNY6363. I'm calmed down now, and am sorry I got my underpants all in a bunch.

Yeah it was the same Carnegie Deli with the cheesecake. It was I think $6.99 for a huge slice of cake.

The problem I had was that the sandwiches were too much for 1 person and since I usually go to the park alone, I only ate there if I was there with someone else so we could split a sandwich. Even then we had to agree on the same kind of sandwich.

The land that Panda Express is on or at least the outdoor patio area was the overflow outdoor queue area for Skull Mountain when the ride first opened.