Chef Albert Youngman leaves WDW for Universal.

Gringrinngghost

Gringrinngghost

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
As Chef Youngman the now former Culinary Director of Epcot has finally made it public on his LinkedIn. In late April, Chef Youngman announced his forthcoming departure from Walt Disney World to Universal. His new title is Director of Culinary.

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Eddie Thomas the Culinary Director of Animal Kingdom has replaced Epcot’s Culinary Director Albert Youngman.
 
Disstevefan1

Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member
Gringrinngghost said:
As Chef Youngman the now former Culinary Director of Epcot has finally made it public on his LinkedIn. In late April, Chef Youngman announced his forthcoming departure from Walt Disney World to Universal. His new title is Director of Culinary.

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Eddie Thomas the Culinary Director of Animal Kingdom has replaced Epcot’s Culinary Director Albert Youngman.
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The poaching is underway........ ;)
 
Tjaden

Tjaden

Well-Known Member
Sectorkeeper71 said:
Honestly, universals in park dining leaves something to be desired, and they’ve made dining a huge feature of the hub area of the new park. Hopefully this signals a step in the right direction
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Is Mythos still considered good? I always thought their QS was abysmal even by theme park standards.
 
S

Sectorkeeper71

Well-Known Member
Tjaden said:
Is Mythos still considered good? I always thought their QS was abysmal even by theme park standards.
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I’ve never been to Mythos so I can’t speak to it. But their QS is truly awful for the most part. I believe all the sit downs I did when I went 3 years ago were at city walk
 
D

DarkMetroid567

Well-Known Member
Hopefully good news for Universal. The food was already disappointing but even the Potter QSR got a lot worse on my last visit.
hopemax said:
I expect this won't be the last we see of these types of moves as we get closer to Epic's opening.
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Shouldn’t these moves be already well underway, then? We’re not far away.
 
hopemax

hopemax

Well-Known Member
wdwmagic said:
Yeah I think this will be a big problem for WDW from the top to the bottom. The shiny new thing is going to be very tempting.
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Also, if WDW is handcuffing good people by forcing them to get by with less, while still expecting better margins it can make the job an unsatisfying grind. Universal may be able to not just offer “new”, but also “you will have the tools you need to be successful.” Cost cutting doesn’t just make customers frustrated.
 
Piebald

Piebald

Well-Known Member
Personally I think the one thing that really separates WDW and Universal is the food. The food is awful there for the most part. There are some places that do it well (Mythos) but across the board it's just pretty gross IMO. If I go to Uni, I actively figure out if I am eating before or after whereas going to Disney I have no issues eating anywhere (Although admittedly Epcot and AK are much better than MK and HS). Disney Springs vs Citywalk is a no brainer. Nothing at Citywalk is worth eating, maybe Red Oven for the value is an OK choice but with all the excellent food options a short drive away I'm gone.

I know some other culinary executive got poached by Universal who worked heavily with F&W but even with UOs recent scaling of festival type food kiosks it was still disgusting (mardi gras, HHN, etc)

Surprisingly I remember the food at Volcano Bay being OK but yeah UO is great for many things, but food is really the biggest thing holding them back. I'd be curious to see if this addition changes much.
 
Disstevefan1

Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member
Piebald said:
Personally I think the one thing that really separates WDW and Universal is the food. The food is awful there for the most part. There are some places that do it well (Mythos) but across the board it's just pretty gross IMO. If I go to Uni, I actively figure out if I am eating before or after whereas going to Disney I have no issues eating anywhere (Although admittedly Epcot and AK are much better than MK and HS). Disney Springs vs Citywalk is a no brainer. Nothing at Citywalk is worth eating, maybe Red Oven for the value is an OK choice but with all the excellent food options a short drive away I'm gone.

I know some other culinary executive got poached by Universal who worked heavily with F&W but even with UOs recent scaling of festival type food kiosks it was still disgusting (mardi gras, HHN, etc)

Surprisingly I remember the food at Volcano Bay being OK but yeah UO is great for many things, but food is really the biggest thing holding them back. I'd be curious to see if this addition changes much.
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Different folks will have different opinions, In my opinion, when we were there, the Leaky Cauldron and Three Broomsticks had excellent food for counter service.
 
UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
Piebald said:
Personally I think the one thing that really separates WDW and Universal is the food. The food is awful there for the most part. There are some places that do it well (Mythos) but across the board it's just pretty gross IMO. If I go to Uni, I actively figure out if I am eating before or after whereas going to Disney I have no issues eating anywhere (Although admittedly Epcot and AK are much better than MK and HS). Disney Springs vs Citywalk is a no brainer. Nothing at Citywalk is worth eating, maybe Red Oven for the value is an OK choice but with all the excellent food options a short drive away I'm gone.

I know some other culinary executive got poached by Universal who worked heavily with F&W but even with UOs recent scaling of festival type food kiosks it was still disgusting (mardi gras, HHN, etc)

Surprisingly I remember the food at Volcano Bay being OK but yeah UO is great for many things, but food is really the biggest thing holding them back. I'd be curious to see if this addition changes much.
Click to expand...

I don't know if it's still there, but the Italian restaurant at CityWalk 5 or 6 years ago was much better than any of the Italian meals I've had on property at Disney.

But the food inside the parks at Universal was absolutely abysmal.
 
mkt

mkt

When a paradise is lost go straight to Disney™
Premium Member
Gringrinngghost said:
As Chef Youngman the now former Culinary Director of Epcot has finally made it public on his LinkedIn. In late April, Chef Youngman announced his forthcoming departure from Walt Disney World to Universal. His new title is Director of Culinary.

View attachment 809127

Eddie Thomas the Culinary Director of Animal Kingdom has replaced Epcot’s Culinary Director Albert Youngman.
Click to expand...

Not surprised. There’s quite a few retired high level Disney CMs who took on similar roles at UOR in multiple departments.
 

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