The Disney Jumbo Turkey Leg Review
I have a confession: until recently, I had never consumed a jumbo turkey leg at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, or any other Disney park. Don’t get me wrong, I am an avid carnivore and a huge fan of eating large chunks of meat off the bone, but something about the turkey leg just looked…unappetizing.
However, since I always want to do what the cool kids are doing, and since I wanted a somewhat fitting post for Thanksgiving, I decided to give one a try. This post covers my review of the ubiquitous Disney turkey jumbo leg, plus about 900 words of filler since the review itself only needs to be like 2 sentences.
First, let’s start with a bit of unnecessary background. According to a recent New York Times article, the turkey leg made its Walt Disney World debut in Frontierland at the Magic Kingdom near the Big Al stand in the 1980s. As a Country Bear Jamboree fan, I could not be any prouder that the prolific history of this snack involves the Magic Kingdom’s most storied attraction.
I’m also not surprised that Big Al is mentioned in the same sentence as the jumbo turkey legs. He seems like a jumbo turkey leg kind of bear. Since every red-blooded American enjoys a good piece of bone-in meat from time to time, the turkey legs were an immediate sensation, and eventually became somewhat of a culinary symbol of the Disney Parks, much like the churro.
As an “eating things that are awful for you” craze swept America in the 2000s, sales of the turkey leg exploded, with an estimated two million plus turkey legs sold per year in Disneyland and Walt Disney World. With this has come coverage in mainstream media, as well as controversy from animal welfare groups that have wondered just what kind of mutant turkey is producing legs that large. I remain fearful of the day one of these artificially bred turkeys is fed after midnight and transforms into something truly terrifying.
Now, for some more necessary background. Despite urban legends to the contrary, the turkey leg Disney sells is, in fact, made of turkey. Not emu, ostrich, or any other giant bird. I know people like to jokingly(?) claim that there are no calories on vacation, and I’m a strong advocate of this approach, as it helps me justify eating cupcakes for breakfast and 6 servings of ice cream per day.
With that said, it is worth noting that the jumbo turkey leg is probably the single worst thing you can ingest at Walt Disney World or Disneyland, with the average leg containing 1,093 calories, 54 grams of fat, 15 grams of saturated fat, and 5,284 milligrams of sodium. In case you’re unfamiliar with nutritional information, bigger numbers in those categories are not better. The jumbo turkey leg is basically a real world version of the Weight Gain 4000.
The recent iconic status Disney has tried to bestow upon the turkey leg is “interesting.” Unlike the Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bar, which looks cute and is an edible representation of Mickey Mouse himself, the turkey leg looks a bit like a cross between Keith Richards and a turd.
Sorry if that description ruined the turkey leg for any of you, but you know it’s true. In an era where Disney has paid face to notions of healthy eating, going so far as distancing itself from McDonald’s and adding healthy checkmarks to menus, I’m surprised the turkey leg is so highly-touted by Disney.
The turkey leg is not something to be celebrated: it’s something to gnaw on in a quiet corner of the park near a trash can before afterwards doing the walk of shame to a restroom to wash the grease from your hands and face, and the shame from your soul.
Given all of this, I can only hope Disney’s new merchandising and marketing fascination with the turkey leg is done so with a heavy dose of irony and with tongue firmly planted in cheek. I know all of the hipsters (well, the few who aren’t vegans) love things like this, so maybe Disney is trying to build a cult following for the turkey leg in a hip, ironic, almost self-deprecating kind of way. I really hope that’s the case, as I can’t think of any other logical explanation for why things like a turkey leg air freshener or turkey leg wallpaper exist. It does seem like it’s all in good fun.
Now to cut to the chase and actually review the thing. I am slightly embarrassed to admit it, but the jumbo turkey leg I had was amazing. I’ll start with the ‘unboxing.’ My jumbo turkey leg was purchased in Frontierland at Disneyland near the Mark Twain, and came wrapped in a Hot Food Bag with a couple additional layers of wrapping underneath that, both of which were almost completely soaked through with juices/grease.
The meat had a nice, smokey flavor to it. The leg was also incredibly juicy and tender. After the first couple of bites, I was not surprised that so many people suspect that it’s actually not turkey at all, since it doesn’t really taste like turkey–it is almost like a cross between cured ham and chicken. I suspect the turkey leg is brined, but I can’t confirm this. The strong salty flavor would certainly suggest as much.
After getting the obligatory photos and taking a couple of bites, we actually moved from the seating area near the Mark Twain to a secluded area standing over a trash can to finish eating, because the leg was so messy. So messy, but so delicious. Even Sarah loved the jumbo turkey leg, although I suspect now that she knows the nutritional information, she would never eat it again.
The turkey leg itself was large enough to be a snack or light meal for two people, and splitting it among a few people is probably a good idea. Ours cost around $11 after tax. It’s definitely not a snack or meal I’d have every time I go to Walt Disney World or Disneyland, but my first experience with the jumbo turkey leg has solidified it among my list of other guilty pleasures that I will have from time to time. I expected it to taste beyond disgusting, and I was surprised to find that it was beyond delicious.
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Your Thoughts
I know the jumbo turkey leg is one of those controversial, love it or hate it type of things, so…what do you think of it? Do you have to have one every time you visit? Does the very smell of the turkey leg make you nauseated? Do you have a “favorite spot” to get the turkey leg? Let us know in the comments!
We first had giant turkey legs at the San Antonio stock show and rodeo over 40 years ago. They come from the New Braunfels, Smokehouse in…New Braunfels, Texas. We could never afford WDW back then, and Schlitterbahn was the next best thing. Hot and juicy, covered with cracked black pepper and smoked to perfection, these turkey legs are the best we’ve ever had.
whomever thinks these things are delicious, needs to have their pallets checked. it’s a atrocious mess of sodium garbage that tastes like absolute trash. I tried one once. I would rather eat fast food….
I’ve been eating these turkey legs in WDW since they first appeared and they are DELICIOUS!! Never disappoints! If they start to hand you a small one , just say NO! As Disney knows how to please, you’ll get a big leg. My son sent me this blog not even knowing I had one last night in america in Epcot. We took the skyliner from Hollywood Studios to Epcot just for the leg and then left.
I remember these came out around the same time as the Atkins diet was really taking off and was touted as a HEALTHY option. I ate them instead of the mickey ice cream bar a few times before I grew up and looked up the macros on these things. I don’t care if you’re Keto or Atkins or whatever, that much saturated fat and calories, not to mention sodium, in a single item of food is really just a bad idea. Ah the 90s.
This is the funniest blog post I have ever read on here….so far. I’m sure my husband appreciates my early Saturday morning cackling.
The first time we took the kids to WDW, THE Stitch ride used to be the Alien ride. All a version of the old ‘Gorilla gets out of the cage’ carnival act. Anyway, outside of the ride they were selling ALIEN legs (Turkey) for like 5 bucks. Had to have one. It was H.R.Giger delicious!
At the risk of sounding like the fish & wildlife biologist that I am, these delicious drumsticks are sourced from tom turkeys; male turkeys. What you eat at Thanksgiving are hens; females. In a world of streamlined production, this is a matter of logistics as you need few males for reproduction and males are a nightmare for anyone raising them. They are extremely aggressive. Disney took a different route and went with the much larger tom turkey leg for it’s staggering size despite higher costs or production headaches. As far as the caloric and sodium content…….that’s another story.
My family is freakin’ obsessed with these Turkey Legs. So obsessed, that I gave specific instructions to my wedding caterer that they are to make similar turkey legs. When my grandma found out that just my fiance, brother and I would be the only guests to actually get intact turkey legs (everyone else will receive just the meat), she was extremely disappointed to say the least.
Definitely making that picture the lock screen on my phone.
My first thought was back to the Bud Light commercials of last decade, the “Real American Heroes/Men of Genius” series. So here’s to you “jumbo turkey leg culinary reviewer.”
ZOMG TEH TURKEY LEG IS MADE FROM HIPSTERS!
I can’t wait to try my first turkey leg on one of my next trips! I have been to WDW more than 20 times but have still never had it!
How do they even get that many calories and grams of fat into a turkey leg????? Isn’t turkey supposed to be a lean meat? Do they inject it with fat?
Hi,
Love your posts!
I have eated one turkey leg last year at the Three Broomstick at Universal’s Island of Adventure and it was delicious. And now I’m thinking here if they are similar. Do you know something about it?
Maybe they’re different in DCA. Last year my partner had a turkey leg in Hollywood Land and he said it was completely disgusting.
When I mentioned how much we liked the turkey leg to a couple of Disneyland regulars, their response was, essentially, “no, they are disgusting.” Based upon that, I’m guessing that the quality varies not by location, but by luck of the draw.
It has to be luck of the draw, usually bad luck. Wife and I have never had a Turkey Leg while we have known each other. But on separate trips prior. Both we negative. I wonder what the secret to getting a good one that isn’t too dry and tasteless.
“wash… the shame from your soul” literally made me lol (at work). Interestingly, the (first and) last time we were at WDW was in 1997 and we lusted after these turkey legs all holiday, until my parents caved in and bought us each one… and they were disgusting – not one of the five of us could finish theirs. Times have changed…? Planned a visit for April next year and this post has tempted me into potentially reliving the (horror) memory.
Ours was good, but they generally seem to be a divisive food. Part of me wonders if the quality is inconsistent.
>5000 mg of sodium is impressive. IT’s hard to get that much salt into something!
The fact that Sarah liked it is heady praise, but how does it compare to the pork shank? (Even as an avowed eat-eater, I’ve never tried the turkey leg. It just looks too gross for me.)
The pork shanks I’ve had are definitely “grosser” than this turkey leg was. Fattier, just as salty, etc. I’m not saying this as a negative–I love the pork shank in all of its fatty glory.
I was glad to read yet another enjoyable post. Amongst the many highlights: “this post covers my review of the ubiquitous Disney turkey jumbo leg, plus about 900 words of filler since the review itself only needs to be like 2 sentences.” and ” I’m also not surprised that Big Al is mentioned in the same sentence as the jumbo turkey legs. He seems like a jumbo turkey leg kind of bear.” Truer words have never been spoken!
I will let you in on a secret which you can use to torture future generations of Little Brickers come Thanksgiving time. I may not be able to answer the question as to “what kind of mutant turkey is producing legs that large” but I can tell you that it is a fairly simple matter to buy an extra pair of turkey legs and split the skin on your normal turkey AND STUFF THE EXTRA LEGS UNDERNEATH so it looks like your turkey has FOUR LEGS. The looks that you get on Thanksgiving as you cart that “Franken-Turkey” to the table are priceless and for quite some time afterwards children witnessing this spectacle will carefully study every single turkey they see to check for another one with 4 legs.
With your witty imagination I’m sure you can come up with a ton of reasons as to why/how your Thanksgiving turkey was leggishly “gifted”. I’d put global warming, communism and fracking on the short list however.
Thanks again for taking the time to share your adventures and opinions with those of us who have been hoodwinked into subscribing to your blog. It makes the time pass all that much quicker in the women’s prison.
~J
That idea is awesome. High on my list of things to do when we have children (besides making up “history” about how their great-grandfather once battled dinosaurs and sailed with vikings) is to terrorize them with things like this. I’ve added it to my ever-growing list of ideas!
Hopefully these blog posts keep on the right track with good behavior in the pen. Who would have guessed that discharging a Ghostbusters Proton Pack in an airport was a federal offense?! 2033 will be here in no time, though!
I grew up on these turkey legs… Perhaps that explains why I’m a 6 foot 6 behemoth who has to wedge into the space mountain seats and pray to not be prematurely “ejected”, or catch a cross beam in the forehead…. Hmm…
No surprise there. They say it’s Shaq’s secret to success!
We had our first Jumbo Turkey Leg this past August in Disneyland. We were waiting for Fantasmic to start, so to pass the time, our family of 5 shared a leg. It was just the best.
AND YOU LIVED TO TELL ABOUT IT! 😉