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Universal Fan Fest Food

Source: E! OnlineView Original
entertainmentApril 3, 2026

by Angelica MartinezBuzzFeedBuzzFeed StaffAngelica Martinez is the Latine Editorial Lead at BuzzFeed and covers a little bit of everything, from quizzes and true crime to celebrities and pop culture.

April is officially here, which means we've made it through enough of the year that it's finally, finally Fan Fest time at Universal Studios again!

Rich Polk / Getty Images for Universal Studios Hollywood

Whether you're someone who decided to casually watch One Piece one day and got totally and immediately sucked into it, or you watched way too much Scooby Doo as a kid and, nostalgically, have always dreamed of sitting with the gang in the Mystery Machine and unmasking a villain...this is for you! Kicking off on April 23 through May 16 on select nights only, Universal Studios has a tonnnn of exciting, immersive attractions coming to their Hollywood Studios park, highlighting beloved fandoms like D&D, Super Nintendo World, Sailor Moon, and Harry Potter.

Universal Studios

If this tickles your fancy, tickets are on sale now!

Seriously, you're not gonna wanna miss teaming up with Mystery Inc. to literally solve a crime — featuring classic monsters like Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, and Dracula — on the backlot, or to meet the adorably colorful Yoshis making their way to Super Mario World. You're especially not gonna wanna miss the food, because let me tell you...I got an early taste test of 11 of their Fan Fest food items, and they made my lil nerd heart scream with joy. Here's the tea on what I tried, what I rated it, and what you can't miss:

Scooby Doo:

1.

The Super Shaggy Sandwich:

Hanna-Barbera Productions / Angelica Martinez

The Scooby Doo cartoons deserve their flowers for several reasons, one of which being that they always made cartoon food look so, so, soooo good. Truly, who amongst us hasn't wanted to try one of Shaggy and Scooby's iconic, seemingly infinitely-layered sandwiches???

This three-layer mammoth of a club sandwich is made up of three classic combos on rye, and — (hot take!) — as all good sandwiches are, it's served with an olive. In a fun lil twist, each layer also had potato chips inside.

Angelica Martinez

In addition to the potato chips, each level also has lettuce and tomato. From what I could tell, here's what each layer was made up of:

Top: Ham and Swiss

Middle: Turkey and cheddar

Bottom: Roast beef, mayo, and (I think?) provolone

All in all, I thought this was just OK. It's a bit on the bland side as the only condiment on it is mayo, but I definitely think it'd be refreshing after a long, hot day of walking around the park. Plus, just like Mystery Inc., it seems like an ideal treat to split with your own gang of pals, monsters not included. I couldn't get a big enough bite to eat all three layers at once, but the roast beef was by far my favorite and the most flavorful of the bunch.

If you eat it right away, it might be a non-issue, but I do wanna note that by the time I sampled this, the potato chips had gone all soggy from being on top of the veggies, so I missed out on the crunch of it all. Feel like that would've added some interesting texture to an otherwise basic sandwich, TBH!

Rating: 6.5/10

2.

Scooby Snacks:

Angelica Martinez

As both a kid who sooo badly wanted to be a Hex Girl and a twenty-something with Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed in my Letterboxd top four, I am not being dramatic when I say eating a Scooby Snack is, personally, a lifelong dream of mine. They make them look so good!!!

First of all, A+ for packaging here. Obsessed. Secondly, I really enjoyed that there were two different kinds of cookies. The paw print ones were slightly sweeter, with a good chocolate-to-cookie ratio that was complementary and not overpowering. The cookie itself is subtly sweet and heavier on the spices, giving the whole thing a Mexican hot chocolate-kinda vibe.

The "SD" cookies, which are honey and cinnamon-flavored, reminded me of a cross between a shortbread and a graham cracker. They're on the drier side, but something about the flavor is soooo nostalgic.

Rating: 6/10

One Piece:

3.

Luffy's Straw Hat:

Crunchroll / Toei Animation / Angelica Martinez / Via youtube.com

If you've ever thought, "Wow, I reallllly wonder what that straw hat tastes like!" it's your lucky day, kid. This decadent One Piece-inspired dessert begs the question, What if I made an adorably tiny version of Luffy's hat that was also really yummy?

This small-but-mighty treat consists of five layers: a thin outer layer of pudding, a second layer of vanilla mousse underneath, a hazelnut confection at its core, a layer of vanilla cake, and these mini, spherical, crunchy bits in the middle, all of which are delicately placed atop an iced sugar cookie.

Angelica Martinez

In terms of sweetness, this is pretty middle-of-the-road. It isn't overly sugary and balances the sweeter and more subtle flavors nicely. Despite all the elements to it, the texture of the "hat" (minus the brim) is prett