I never expected theme park food to be this good

You may have seen, if you follow me on Social Media, that a few weeks ago my family and I had the trip of a lifetime to Florida, USA. We had a pretty packed schedule visiting SeaWorld, Aquatica, Busch Gardens and Discovery Cove during our trip. All of which were incredible and the whole family have some great memories from all of the parks but for me, the unexpected highlight was how good the food was.

Theme park food has a bit of a reputation of being a bit... bland. Well that certainly isn't the case at the Parks we visited so I have decided to share with you my top 5 foodie treats from Florida.

5. Sultans Sweets (Busch Gardens)

If you have a sweet tooth you must pay a visit to Sultans Sweets. They have all manner of cakes, pastries, biscuits and tray bakes. The decorated cookies are amazing and the rice crispie cakes looked pretty incredible too. There is also a selection of ice creams to choose from which are great for cooling down in midday heat.

4. Dragonfire Grill and Pub (Busch Gardens)

If you're in a large group and can't all decide on what type of food to have then head over to Dragonfire Grill and Pub. They have five different food styles to choose from. You can have sandwiches and salads from The Market, something with an oriental spice from The Asian Wok. Chicken, Burgers and Ribs from The Grill, Loaded Nachos, Chips and Salsa or Cinnamon Churros from Southwest or you can get Pasta or Italian Flatbreads with various toppings from The Italian. We went to the Asian Wok, I had The Thai Pepper Steak and Sam had the Orange Chicken Tempura we both had Asian Noodles as our side and both were delicious. The Thai Pepper Steak wasn't too spicy but still had a nice little heat. The Orange Chicken Tempura was very succulent with a tangy sauce and tasted very authentic.

3. Pretzels (Discovery Cove and Busch Gardens)

I've grouped a few places together for Pretzels as they were available in a few parks and all were great. The Salted Pretzels at Discovery Cove are available at the food and drinks kiosks dotted around the park and you can help yourself to as many as you like at your leisure as food and drinks are included in the cost of entry (I also recommend the Slushes available at the kiosks as well, White Cherry Fanta was my favourite). I need to make a special mention for the Pretzels at Busch Gardens as there were so many to choose from. Of course there were regular Salted Pretzels but also Bacon Pretzels and even Cheeseburger Pretzels. We went for the Bacon Pretzel because, well, it's bacon!

2. Dine with Shamu (SeaWorld)

If you want a meal with a bit of a show then Dine with Shamu is perfect. The Buffet is all top quality with Roast Beef, Roast Pork, Chicken, Fish, Pasta, Salads as well as some amazing cakes. I've never really liked Carrot Cake but the one I tried here has converted me, it was delicious. The kids were able to pick what they wanted from the buffet and Jack went a bit OTT with Chicken Nuggets and had about 20 on his plate, he still finished them all and even had room for a brownie too. Although the food was amazing what made this extra special was that you're sat poolside and halfway through your meal you're joined by a Pod of Orcas who give a great display and their trainers are on hand to answer any questions and have a lot of interesting facts about the Orcas.

1. Sharks Underwater Grill (SeaWorld)

The reason why Sharks Underwater Grill is my Number 1 is it is a dining experience like nothing I've ever experienced before. Your table is next to a large window that looks into an aquarium full of all kinds of marine animals. We were joined by a large grouper who stayed by the window for our whole meal (probably eyeing up our food) but there were all kinds of sharks and other fish going about their business while you eat your meal. While the setting is great, the food really is the star of the show. Easily surpassing the quality you can get in a 5* restaurant. The menu has everything you could want from a seafood restaurant, Sam had the Mussels to start and then the Tempura Shrimp. I had the Godzilla Roll (which is a giant Sushi roll) to start and then had the Swordfish Steak from the Specials menu. My Swordfish was the best thing I have eaten for a long time. Jack loves fish, it's his favourite food, and he was full of praise too saying that his battered fish was the best he had ever had.