Tot Topia Busch Gardens Tampa Bay offers guests huge portions of covered tater tots. We reviewed the brisket version and compared it to Disney and Universal.

The Florida theme park food scene has several versions of covered tater tots. For example, Walt Disney World has some at Friar’s Nook at Magic Kingdom and Woody’s Lunch Box at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Over at Universal Orlando Resort, guests can enjoy covered tater tots at the Green Eggs and Ham Café at Universal Islands of Adventure. For the record, we recommend visiting Woody’s Lunch Box and the Green Eggs and Ham Café for their covered tater tots, even though Woody’s calls them potato barrels.

In recent weeks, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay has converted a former pizza quick service to sell covered tater tots featuring chicken, bacon, or brisket. We visited to try some of these new covered tater tots.

Pantopia Area

Tot Topia Busch Gardens Tampa Bay opened recently in the Pantopia area of the theme park. The theme park’s official website states, “In between the excitement of carnival games and the thrill of Falcon’s Fury, guests can indulge in a variety of delicious tater tots.” Tot Topia Busch Gardens is also located near the family coaster, Phoenix Rising.

The seating area is limited, with only outdoor tables with umbrellas to protect from the Florida sun. This quick service location offers four different types of covered tater tots. These include:

• Loaded Smoked Brisket Tots -Crispy tots, diced brisket, jalapeno cheese sauce, pickled onions, micro cilantro, sour cream ($17.49)
• Loaded Cheesy Tots – Crispy Tots, Jalapeno cheese sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, and green onions (16.29)
• Crazy Bacon Ranch Tots – Crispy tots, jalapeno cheese sauce, creamy ranch, crisp bacon & green onions ($16.79)
• Wild Loaded Chicken Tots – Crispy tots, pulled chicken, cheese sauce, lime tomato salsa, sour cream, cilantro. ($17.49)

Our first reaction to the menu was, as expected, that the price point sits higher than at the other two theme park resorts previously mentioned. Usually, food and beverage prices are higher at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay than at Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort.

Also, we saw no signs indicating that this restaurant was part of the All-Day Dining program. We did see some guests ask about this and then not order from Tot Topia at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. In fact, when we ordered from here at mid-afternoon on a weekday, we were the only people ordering or ordering while we ate, took notes, and filmed a video for the YouTube channel. In addition, the operating hours run from 11:00 a.m. until two hours before the theme park closes each day.

Loaded Smoked Brisket Tots at Tot Topia Busch Gardens

We decided to order the Loaded Smoked Brisket Tots. United Parks & Resorts does a decent job with smoked brisket, so we thought this was a solid choice. Guests should expect to wait for their food since, just like at Green Eggs & Ham Café, each item is made to order, with the tots being broiled when guests order.

Our first reaction was to be impressed by the portion size. Even though the price point is high, the portion size makes it less outrageous. However, our best guess is that we received about 30-35 tater tots covered in plenty of cheese.

The tater tots tasted like standard theme park tater tots, so they were better than Friar’s Nook but not as good as Green Eggs & Ham Café. Also, the cheese sauce was standard theme park cheese sauce, but you got plenty of it. Even though the menu indicates jalapeno cheese sauce, we doubt many guests will be bothered by “spicy” cheese. We detected very little spicy kick with our tater tots. We think this needs a different type of cheese, like the covered tater tots at Universal Islands of Adventure.

Brisket at Tot Topia

The brisket did not offer much flavor in our first few bites. However, we detected more flavor when it was not overwhelmed by the cheese. The brisket is mainly in the center of the dish, covered by cheese. It has a decent flavor, but cannot carry the covered tots. However, as you might imagine, the brisket bites were not covered in cheese and tasted better.

The pickled onions are a nice touch. We wonder if these will continue as the menu evolves. The standout aspect of the Loaded Smoked Brisket Tots revolves around the portion size. This dish works as a very filling entrée. In fact, it would easily be shareable if you do that type of thing.

Overall, we recommend this theme park dish. It fails to offer many unique flavors. However, the Loaded Smoked Brisket Tots present guests with an excellent portion size, reasonable flavor, and something besides pizza, burgers, and chicken tenders. Also, we expect to visit again to try the other covered tater tots at Tot Topia.

For more information about Tot Topia Busch Gardens and the theme park, visit the official Busch Gardens Tampa Bay website. For more theme park dining reviews, visit MSM News every weekday at noon Eastern Time. As always, eat like you mean it!

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