If you’re disappointed with what you ordered at a famous theme park restaurant, you might want to take a moment and think hard about whether you should take your bad impressions online—especially if you’re promoting your business at the same time.
That’s the lesson Annie Leal, former Shark Tank competitor and founder of I Love Chamoy (@ilovechamoy), found out after recording her experience with a deconstructed sandwich at Disneyland.
Leal’s criticisms were met by a stitched video from a Disney World Cast Member who provided some good-natured but firm pushback on Leal’s narrative.
Disney employee Tyson Blatter posted his reply to Leal to his TikTok account (@t_blatt), which is not affiliated with Disney in any way, on Tuesday. Since then, the video has picked up over 709,300 views and counting.
Blatter’s stitch video begins with Leal’s original post (which has since been taken down by TikTok). The screen text of Leal’s original video reads, “It should be illegal for Disney to do this.”
“Disney, I need you to explain yourself,” Leal says, addressing the camera, “because why is this a peanut butter sandwich?” Leal points to the tray in front of her, filled with peanut butter, bright red jelly, and four slices of sandwich bread with red swirls.
“It’s deconstructed, ” she says. “You have to build it yourself.”
Blatter then takes over with his video, addressing Leal’s statements.
“I’ve never seen that food before,” Blatter says, adding that he works at Disney World rather than Disneyland, where Leal’s video was filmed. “I sent a text over to my friend that works [at Disneyland], and I was like, ‘Can you send me a picture of this item?’”
Blatter says his friend sent him the picture and informed him it was a “do it yourself” PB&J.
According to the Disney Food Blog, the PB&J Flavor Lab is available at the park’s Ant-Man-themed Pym Test Kitchen in the Avenger’s Campus area. “This dish comes with everything you need to assemble your very own food experiment. It features smooth peanut butter, strawberry jelly, and Pym particle bread,” the site states.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Disneyland via press email for a statement.
“I was really confused because I was like, ‘Why is she claiming that [unknowingly receiving a deconstructed sandwich] is happening?” Blatter says. He then shares his suspicion that Leal was using the situation to promote her own product.
Leal is the founder of I Love Chamoy. The company makes several sugar-free versions of the Mexican condiment sauce chamoy. In the original video, Leal can be seen using the sauce on the mandarin orange included with the meal.
“I just think it’s funny ’cause … if you’re going to lie to me about the food that you’re buying, why should I ever believe you about the food that you’re selling?” Blatter asks.
“I guess double-check what you’re ordering before you order it,” he concludes.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Blatter via email and TikTok direct message for further comment.
@t_blatt Could you imagine if cast members really did that though HAHAHA #disneyland #dcp #disneyworld #themepark #disneyhorror ♬ original sound – Tyson Blatter
Blatter’s viewers seemed to agree with his assessment of the situation, and many left comments critical of Leal.
Marie (@mariemldg) wrote, “She could’ve said that, like ‘always make sure you know what you’re ordering! But bring your snacks just in case’ or whatever.”
Another commenter wrote that she shouldn’t have been surprised, given the nature of Pym’s. “Imagine ordering literally anything from Pym Test Kitchen and expecting a regular degular PB&J,” they wrote.
“That’s actually a top-tier interactive kid food. I can see kids having so much fun with that. Hell. I’d have fun putting that together,” said another viewer.
“She already knew how it came they have pictures of what to order in the menu,” another viewer added.
The blowback from Blatter’s stitch has caused Leal to respond with a new video addressing the matter.
In it, Leal says, “We didn’t see a photo [of the sandwich.] We just ordered from the kid’s menu because we wanted a quick snack.”
“I never meant any harm with my video,” Leal states in the response, “but I do believe people’s criticism of my reaction and me posting the video are totally valid.”
“I do want to say the peanut butter was delicious,” she adds.
Leal also claims that she has appealed TikTok’s decision to take down the original video and hopes that it returns so that her viewers can comment on it directly.
“Everything you guys are saying is totally valid and I respect it. I respect the creator [Blatter] who made that video, but yeah, I just wanted to clarify that one thing.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Leal via TikTok comment and direct message for further statement.
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