When Universal Studios released the menu for their new Voodoo Doughnut location last week, we knew the opening had to be soon. In fact, our neighbor Doug even sent me a picture on Friday that made it look like it was going to open any second. And then on Saturday, the internets exploded…as of 3pm, VOODOO WAS SOFT OPENED!
“Soft opening” in theme park language generally means it’s operational and open to the public but may or may not be 100% of the experience, and reserves the right to open late, close early or simply shut down at any moment. Soft opening or not, Joe and I decided to go today and try it out.
As we approached the VooDoo Doughnut building, we initially saw a full storefront with no queue, but then saw the queue to the side of the building, between it and the NBC Grill & Brew. Our wait didn’t last very long; maybe about 20 minutes outside and another 5minutes or so once we got inside (this was starting around 1:10pm). We saw reports of about 30-35 minutes later on in the afternoon.
Joe (in Ravenclaw blue & gray polo shirt), about halfway through our 20-minute wait. The queue at that point had shrunk to about 15 minutes.
Once we got inside, we were on a shorter queue that led us around a rotating display of the doughnuts they offer.
While on that queue, we got a good view of the entire building.
To their credit, there was significantly more standing room in this Voodoo Doughnut than the original Portland location (I haven’t been to the other locations to be able to compare those), including space to check out merchandise and even a handful of small tables and benches/stools to sit and eat/drink.
Happily, the doughnuts they had on sale appeared to be the complete menu that Universal Studios Orlando originally advertised
They were giving out this menu, which showed about 3/5 of the doughnuts they had available for sale
So what did we eat?
When we had gone to the Portland Voodoo Doughnut location in October 2015, I got the Bacon Maple Bar. This time Joe got that one ($3.65)…he said it really good; the glaze was more of a glaze (not a frosting), so it had that crunchy uppermost layer. He also said the bacon reminded him of oven roasted bacon, not fried. He also got a glazed doughnut ($1.50); he said it was better than the Krispy Kremes they sell in the supermarket, but not as good as a fresh-out-of-the-oven “hot doughnuts now” Krispy Kreme. As for me, I got the ($2.60) O.D.B. (which is called the Old Dirty B@$+@rd” in Portland but as I mentioned in my previous post they had to have some semblance of family friendliness at their Universal locations [the same holds true at the VDD at Universal Studios Hollywood]). I tasted a lot of Oreo and chocolate glaze but wished there was more peanut butter. The doughnut itself was very fresh. We also shared a bottle of whole milk ($2.99).
So overall, it was a very positive experience! I suspect the queue will be longer once word gets out that they’re open (I asked one of the team members when the official opening was…she said “sometime in April”). And I think they’re going to need more shade and maybe some fans in that queue, especially during the summer (it was only in the low 80s today and was pretty hot in the unshaded portions of that queue), and moreso since the queue area is literally wedged into a three-sided corner between NBC, VDD and a back exit to the AMC theater, there’s NO breeze at all. But overall, yup, good times and AMAZING doughnuts! Good things DO come in pink boxes! (BTW…you don’t get a pink box with 3 doughnuts. Pity. LOL!)
Special thanks to Doug E. for the heads up that VDD was ALMOST open, and Bryan N. for telling us when it was (Bryan, sorry I didn’t use any of your pictures…I wound up taking all of the same ones you did LOL! ;-).
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