Last week, I visited Busch Gardens Williamsburg to experience Christmas Town for the first time. While there, my mom and I enjoyed Santa’s Fireside Feast! So, I thought I would do a little review on it.
Santa’s Fireside Feast
I know you’re wondering why my mom and I would book a Santa dinner. Well, it’s quite simple. Busch Gardens Williamsburg doesn’t do much in the way of special foods for the holidays. We were also concerned about long lines for food and being in the cold. So, an indoor sit down dinner sounded like a good idea to us.
We booked this meal as soon as the option was posted on the website, October 24th. We used my passholder discount, which came out to $40.50/each plus tax and fees. In total, it cost us $96.07 for the two of us to enjoy this meal since they added on a $6.49 service fee in addition to the taxes. So, what started out as a moderately expensive meal got even more expensive once we finally clicked purchase.
Sidenote: I feel like Busch Gardens/SeaWorld is the worst with pricing. They keep adding on service fees and other percentage merch fees.
The Food
With the exception of the Busch Gardens Williamsburg Food and Wine Festival Busch Gardens is not known for its food. However, this is supposed to be a holiday meal with Santa. So, the basic menu of Thanksgiving food sounded good to us. The menu consisted of carved turkey with gravy, chicken alfredo, carved ham with a brown sugar glaze, Trapper’s Smokehouse Chili, cornbread stuffing, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, green beans with garlic, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, tossed salad, dinner rolls, Coca-Cola beverages and assorted desserts. The desserts included cookies and cupcakes.
My mom and I tried several items from the buffet. I think the chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and mac and cheese were the best options. They are very basic but they tasted good. The turkey was dry. The ham was just fine and not really worth the calories/fat in my opinion. The rolls were dry/hard, like maybe they let them sit out in the open too long. For a beverage, I initially selected the “fruit punch” expecting some sort of legitimate fruit juice or perhaps a mix they had made. Unfortunately, I was surprised with an overly sweet Hawaiian Punch. So, I went back for water.
As for desserts, I tried the red velvet cupcake and chocolate cupcake. The red velvet cupcake had a cream cheese frosting that was too much cream cheese for me. I like a blend of cream cheese and buttercream when I have cream cheese frosting. The chocolate was pretty good. Not amazing but not bad either.
Overall, I’d say the food was typical of what I expect from Busch Gardens parks. It won’t blow your socks off but everyone can find something to eat.
The Entertainment
The meal is centered around Santa being the host for this meal. It was a fun and unique treat to have Santa read “Twas the Night Before Christmas” to the crowd. We also got to take a photo with him and received a 6″ x 8″ photo of it. While that wasn’t really necessary for us, I can see it being a huge perk for folks with children. You can see Santa while enjoying a meal. We also enjoyed the addition of the elves for some humor throughout the experience.
Was Santa’s Fireside Feast worth it?
I think it was totally worth it at $40/each. However, once you add in the taxes and fees, the value becomes a little more debatable. Although, my mom seemed to really enjoy this meal. The food was basic but there’s something for everyone. We got to sit down in a heated room for a meal instead of roaming around the park. Plus, it felt truly festive eating here. So, if you are debating it, I think it depends heavily on your budget. You can definitely grab something to eat for much cheaper around the park and probably be happy.
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