An open letter to Disneyland Paris on food

Dear Disneyland:

First things first: Disneyland is great, it's fun, it's huge, people are nice, character actors are living their roles as princes and princesses... Everything is, to the detail, thought of: easy access for parents with young toddlers, security, fast access to people with reduced mobility, etc

Well everything except the food. 

I was expecting a bit more care, more healthy options and less processed. Let's face it: your target group are children! In a time when sugar is being pointed as "addictive and the most dangerous drug of the times" ; where kids are eating at least 3x the amount of sugar they should per day all (causing childhood obesity) all I could find were sugary drinks, sweets, cotton candy and processed foods like hotdogs and burgers.

And believe me I've looked for healthy food. 

I'm vegan; if you don't know what this means it is a lifestyle by which we exclude any products made from or tested on animals. This means I also follow a diet that does not include meat, fish, eggs, (cow's) milk, cheese or honey. And yes, there is plenty of food out there, tasty and varied and even the UN has come out saying that a vegan diet is not only healthy but that we should be shifting towards a more plant based diet and less of a meat based diet.

Anyway, as a vegan I had a REALLY hard time at your amusement park. However I spoke beforehand to your reservation support team and they assured that I would have enough vegetarian dishes on the menus (which could be perhaps adapted by removing the cream or cheese) or in last resort I could use your Natama menu: a menu free from all allergy causing ingredients such as milk, eggs, gluten and soy. So we booked our holidays and did not worry about bringing our own food.

Also in no restaurant whatsoever could I find openly a book with the allergen ingredients! As per new UN Labelling Laws, 2014, any foods sold loose at a supermarket or at a restaurant need to have the allergen information readily available and accessible. THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN in your park. Every time I had to ask someone working in the restaurant and they would have to find the book and consult the list themselves.

Check it here if you like
http://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/labelling_nutrition/labelling_legislation/index_en.htm

But none of these points are being carried out by Disneyland!

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So our first bad experience was dinner at the Auberge du Cendrillon. The staff was nice trying their best to accommodate my 'allergy' to dairy. Unfortunately there was nothing on the menu I could eat or adapt. The chef served me some grilled vegetables as a starter (cold!!) and then as a main course vegetables, baby potatoes and potato mash (tasted like FISH!). And for dessert we got some melon mixed with canned fruit salad. Not too bad but I was expecting a wow effect for the 66€ we paid per person.

Second day we had a terrible time to find a restaurant to have lunch at. None of your fast food restaurants have heard about the Natama menu, I wasn't told this before.

Then we found out that the veggie burger (the only vegetarian thing on most of your menus) has MILK in it. 

So we tried to get food outside the park.

Annette's, sent us away, they had never heard about the Natama menu. We had food at Planet Hollywood which had a vegan dish (penne with pesto) a la carte.

Now for dinner we went to Walt's - the famous Walt's. Fine decoration, lovely staff and wait: they had the Natama menu. What I did not believe was that Natama is just a brand of allergy free food that you can buy ready in a package. Processed food... frozen food, which at Walt's was served exactly like that.

The soup is nice but the pasta is terrible (and was frozen in the middle) and the dessert seems more like something a baby would eat rather than a vegan adult.

We paid 36 euros (!!) to eat frozen processed food out of plastic containers. It is an insult to your customers.

The next day we ate at Bella Notte where they also have one vegan dish a la carte (rigatoni with tomato sauce) - all other fast food restaurants had the some lonely veggie option, the veggie burger with milk. In the evening I cancelled our restaurant in the park and we ate in the hotel - Newport Bay Club. And guess what: the hotel did not have vegan options but the chef served fantastic tasty food: vegetables, potatoes and rice with no butter or milk. And we took salad from the salad buffet.

On our last day we tried the Restaurant des Stars (buffet) and the chef said there was no food for us, everything had milk or butter. So he wanted to serve the Natama menu. I told him how disgusting this food had been the first time and he was ok with us leaving the restaurant instead of presenting alternatives. We ended having lunch at the Rainforest Cafe which was to say the least: not tasty at all and overpriced; 19 euros for a plate of overcooked udon noodles and overcooked asparagus served with tomato sauce. If someone would serve me this anywhere else I would be ranging, but as we were is Disney-over-priced-everything-Land it was starting to be normal.

At dinner time we cancelled again the restaurant in the park and ate at the hotel, where the chef cooked again huge dairy free meal on request.

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Not to talk about the amount of fresh fruit you find in park which is almost equal to 0. I only found fresh fruit on our 3rd day, in the Walt Disney Studio Park. Au contraire of the amounts of sugar you find everywhere and in every shop (cotton candy, popcorn, coke, ice creams).

 

For a park aimed at children, that plays these kind of videos in the hotel room:

This is a joke! You definitely need to revise some food issues!

Please provide more veggie options (one is not enough, 0 is not acceptable), more fresh fruit throughout the park, vegan or simply dairy free vegetarian options that would suit both vegans and ovo-lacto-vegetarians. 

You should be aiming at making vegetables and healthy food mainstream and not the odd thing. If vegetables are not tasty, or not available as an option, how are you supposed to order them or promote them to children? 

What happened this week at your park is not correct and in some way a form of discrimination. Especially after I asked your reservation desk what I could expect in terms of food. Note that I always mentioned at restaurants that I was allergic and not vegan, not because I am ashamed of my ethical stands but because I thought you MUST have an option for allergic people anyway. Not respecting someone's ethical stands is the same discrimination as the one towards someone not eating meat for religious beliefs.  I would really like that this letter opens your eyes to the bad, over processed, sugar inflated food you serve at Disneyland. You need to change this. And I hope quickly, so the next health conscious or vegan will have a better experience than mine.

Thank you, and maybe see you next time.

PS: maybe learn from IKEA who started serving veggie balls alongside their famous meat balls. These veggie balls are vegan, cheaper than the regular meatballs and are delivered frozen to the fast food restaurant. It's THIS easy to serve vegan healthy fast food:

Disneyland Paris Newport Bay Club Restaurant (part 2)

After my excellent experience the first time we had dinner at the Newport Bay Hotel we tried it again instead of the famous Chez Remy.

We were not disappointed. I had a huge salad plate to start off (I called it my first dinner :) )

Followed by a dish made by Chef Redouane which consisted of potatoes and pilau rice with asparagus and carrots. So easy and so tasty. This isn't hard for a chef to throw together and it makes all the difference for a paying customer.

Thank you again Newport Bay Club and especially your kitchen staff for making my last 2 dinner flawless and happy!

(proudly wearing my Veganuary tshirt in the land of anti-Veganism)

Disneyland: where's the fresh fruit (part 2)?

We found fruit ! After 3 days we found at the entrance of Disneyland Walt Disney studios a fresh fruit cart.

Bananas and Apples for 1€ a piece, a bargain considering that everything is so expensive.

Still, I did not see this at the Disneyland Park for several days and it is a shame - it should be easily found; at the hotel as well (they only have fresh fruit at dinner!)

Disneyland Paris: lunch time (part 3)

Walt Disney studio park:

1) We tried going to the only fast food restaurant with several entrances.

Huge fast food restaurant with one veggie burger option at 9.99€

And a salad option 6.99€

I asked Patrizia, a waiter, about the veggie burger. She said she was going to get the allergic menu and was gone. After 10 min with no Patrizia in sight we left. I am 99% sure it is the same vegetable burger as all the other fast food restaurants here, so not vegan, so watch out for this.

2) we went to the restaurant with buffet: 

Restaurant des Stars. Looks a bit like a diner from the 50s. The lady at the desk insisted they have loads of things for me to eat... I was suspicious about the way she talked. I asked to go have a look first. So I went in and looked around. Again as I wrote yesterday buffets have chefs supervising the food. I asked a chef but she did not speak English very well. She told me to wait a second and came back with the head chef. He almost did not speak English but was very nice. As I told him no meat no fish no eggs no milk no cream no cheese he looked worried.

Then he said to someone "bring me the allergy menu"

I quickly asked "Natama ??"

Yes..

I told him no. "Natama no, it's .." And made a puking movement.

He grinned and started to apologize. Everything in the buffet has animal ingredients: even the rice and potatoes have butter.

We thanked and left.

3) We then tried the Blockbuster Cafe next to the restaurant des Stars

We didn't enter but the menu seems to have a vegan bruschetta, and that's it

4) We left the park and headed to the Rainforest Cafe restaurant: 

They have two options: a veggie burger with mozzarella and a natural pasta with vegetables and Parmesan. They called a manager and he said it would be ok for them to remove the cheese.

We were shown to our table and the manager came and let the waiter know of my "allergy". I thanked and asked for the pasta with no cheese.

The plate consisted of udon noodles which were overcooked as were the asparagus (soggy and soft)

The vegetables looked a bit mushy after starting to eat:

My boyfriend had the soya burger with mozzarella (vegetarian) with avocado, onion rings and chips. I tried the onion rings and they were tasty.

I rate this

6/10 for the quality of food*

10/10 for the decoration

9/10 for staff's friendliness 

6/10 for the price*

* the mushy vegetables and udon pasta cost 19€

In other circumstances I would be ranging at the price vs quality but at Disneyland my standards have gone down a lot :(

The decoration is pretty cool: it's like a tropical jungle and they have two huge elephants that move from time to time and make sounds.

Disneyland: where's the fresh fruit?

I've found the fruit or rather, I haven't! It's a theme park for kids; where are the apples, bananas and natural orange juices?!? :( I can find popcorn, cotton candy, burgers, chips and cokes in every corner of this park at any time of the day, but the basics like fruit and natural fruit juices are hidden off. It's unacceptable in a theme park for kids that the food is marketed so unhealthily 

Dinner at the Disneyland Paris Newport Bay Club Restaurant

So we finally decided to try the buffet at our hotel. Ana Maria had previously suggested to eat at their hotel because the food was very good. We arrived and I walked around trying to spot what I maybe could eat and found some soup, potatoes with paprika, asparagus and penne pasta.

Easy enough around the trays of food supervising are the chefs! I told them (for once did not use the allergy excuse):

"I do not eat dairy or eggs can you suggest something I could eat?"

They promptly called a guy that speaks fluent English: Redouane.

He told me that the potatoes and the vegetables had butter in the stir fry but not to worry he would make a dish for me!

I went about to try the salad bar and got a nice (full) dish of veggie goodness:

Then the chef served me my dinner: potatoes, pilau rice and stir fry vegetables!

I seasoned this with olive oil, sal and pepper and it was delicious; the rice was perfectly cooked.

Then for dessert I got some frehs fruit: melon, watermelon and apricots.

They also had a chocolate fountain but I was too stuffed to ask if it was milk chocolate (probably it was..)

This was by far the best food experience in Disneyland Paris so far! I chatted to the chef and tomorrow he will cook again for me. Thank you thank you ! I have been starving since we got here :( 

I rate this

10/10 for the quality of food

10/10 for the decoration

10/10 for staff's friendliness 

10/10 for the price

Disneyland Paris: lunch (part 2)

Lunch options at Disneyland Park:

The Cowboy cookout BBQ has a veggie burger. A very nice guy at the reception, Frank, looked straight ahead the allergy guide but found that the burger has milk. I asked if that could be perhaps the bread but he guaranteed it was the burger itself. He apologized (!! A first one) and we found out that this is the same patties that are used throughout the park's fast food restaurants. So never trust the veggie burger !!

Such as the veggie at Hyperion Cafe.

The Hakuna Matata restaurant has one vegan option a la carte - a salad for 6.99€ see below:

All other options have meat... Oh but look the side dishes of the meat options (chips and salad) these are all vegetarian... You end up with a nice little menu with many green Vs (vegetarian friendly) when in fact you have ONE option. Meh.. This is how you make a menu look veg friendly when in fact it isn't.

Vegans and Vegetarians love food too... but it seems we are not welcomed at Disneyland.

Disneyland Paris: Bella Notte pizzeria

It's a sweet little pizzeria with the perfect decoration just like out of a south Italian travel guide!

They have several vegetarian options and one vegan straight off the menu. 

I took the Rigatoni with tomato sauce. I also ordered a mixed green salad and a bottle of water.

This pasta was superb! Cooked al dente perfectly and the sauce was simple but very tasty.

The salad had a vinaigrette dressing, white*. I asked for olive oil but they said they had none, which I found strange as this is an italian restaurant and no italian kitchen goes without olive oil. They checked the ingredients of my salad dressing and assured me the vinaigrette had no dairy or eggs.

For dessert I had an apple baby food pure. Tasty and easy to have in the pocket; I've learned that baby fruit is a great way to have fruit preserved in your pocket to eat. I'm still amazed how in a theme park aimed for children I have not yet seen an apple or a pear or a banana without being processed in some way. It's easier to get high on refined sugars like cokes and cotton candy !

I rate this

10/10 for the quality of food

9/10 for the decoration

8/10 for staff's friendliness 

9/10 for the price

This has been the best place so far for vegans to eat, tasty and not too expensive 11,99€ for the rigatoni with salad and water. 

* after some research we suspect the white colour comes from the ingredient  E412 which is made out of beans and is a white powder.

Disneyland Paris: Walt's restaurant review

Next dinner at Disneyland Paris: the ever so famous Walt's restaurant on Main Street. We had a table booked and everyone was very nice and receptive. The decoration is very fancy and vintage with pictures of Walt Disney and you feel pampered as you sit.

I asked the waiter for suggestions without dairy and eggs. He had to check with their chef and returned with the Natama menu! So it exists... I wonder how many people working at the other restaurants know about this, or bother to get it.

I quickly chose the tomato soup, the veggie pasta and the caramelized pear.

After a while they asked if it was ok that these meals aren't prepared onsite but get shipped in frozen. I said that's ok as long as it's vegan I'm fine with it.

After a while I got a 'pleasant' surprise: all 3 courses got served at the same time and ... in their plastic packaging! They didn't even take them out and placed the food on proper plates!

Ok so common, when you are paying 36€ per person and you are ok with frozen food then at least take it out of the plastic and serve it on a proper plate... and each course at a time. My boyfriend got fancy food, served on (imagine the luxury) proper plates and each course at a time.

Then I asked for bread. "Your special bread is on its way" I explained I am not gluten intolerant. But they ignored this.

Then they said that my special bread was all gone. I asked again for regular bread AS I AM

NOT GLUTEN INTOLERANT. 

They said "no, because bread *might have milk in it "... 

My dinner out of 'tupperwares'

So there I was at my 30th birthday dinner, eating at a fancy restaurant in Disneyland... from a plastic pot :) veganism is not a disease people! We love food too...

However the soup was amazing, really tasty.

The pasta was dry, I had to put salt and pepper and olive oil to get some taste into it. Some parts were frozen and everything got cold again by the time my boyfriend got his main course served so I had to ask to reheat it...

The dessert: the caramelized pear pure was nice but missing some cinnamon perhaps to taste more like a dessert and less like baby food.

(Plastic Cup again)

I rate this

3/10 for the quality of food*

9/10 for the decoration

7/10 for staff's friendliness 

3/10 for the price*

* my low rating is mostly due to the plastic cups and charging the same price as a regular menu. I felt like eating take away food at a fancy place. I felt insulted that this was served in plastic cups for 36 euros and that they do not have a vegetarian meal a la carte without cheese.

! This restaurant is not vegan friendly !

Disneyland Paris at Lunch Time (part 1)

I am amazed how on one hand Disneyland Paris has timon and pumba on TV telling children to be healthy and eat their vegetables and fruit and on the other hand I have not been able to find fresh fruit since I got here. It's all about sugar and fat, and sadly meat.

We were looking for lunch today: without meat or dairy or eggs. It was nearly impossible !

1) we went into the Challet de la Marionette as on our allergy leaflet it said they should have the Natama menu and some veggie options.

They had a veggie burger with fries, but before ordering I asked the girl if it had dairy.

She took out a huge book with all allergy advice ingredients and told me that it had milk. She suggested that I take the chicken nuggets instead but I explained we don't eat meat. 
Her reply: "oh that makes things much harder !!"

Me: "Ok, so what can I eat?"

Her reply "chips?!?!?"...

So we left.

Challet de la Marionette is not vegan friendly 

2) Casey's Corner
We walked down Main Street and went into an American diner. There was a man at the door handing menus. I kindly asked him if there was anything without dairy and eggs he swiftly said "NO" so we left.

Apparently there was a salad on the menu but given his kindness of not trying to accommodate us we didn't bother staying.

Casey's Corner is not vegan friendly

3) We tried another restaurant from the allergy leaflet that should have the Natama menu (the gluten and egg and dairy free menu that Disneyland Paris advertises to have throughout the park): Annette's in the Disneyland Village area. 
We went in and there was a girl at reception. I asked her about the Natama menu showing her my Disneyland leaflet and she barely spoke english. She said there was "this" menu. I asked where, what menu options did I have, what could I eat. 
The lady got annoyed and pulled out a huge thick book: with all allergen advises and ingredients from the dishes they serve; without saying a word. I checked and the only two dairy free options were: chips and ketchup. 

So we left.

Annette's is not vegan friendly, or friendly at all. 

4) We tried out luck just in front of Annette's at Planet Hollywood. We were received by Natalia, a wonderful nice girl, who suggested the penne a la pesto with roasted vegetables for me. I also took a mango and raspberry smoothie. The service was quick, impeccable, the food delicious (there's also a portobello mushroom burger on the menu which you can order without cheese) and everyone was super nice to us. They also take your picture if you'd like a souvenir.

Planet Hollywood is vegan friendly

I rate Planet Hollywood

8/10 for the quality of food

9/10 for the decoration

10/10 for staff's friendliness 

8/10 for the price

Disneyland Vegan: Breakfast at the Newport Bay Club

We asked for information about things we could eat at the buffet breakfast.

The lady told us she would prepare soy milk (cold or warm as we'd like).

At the buffet they had mini breads, mini croissants, mini chocolate croissants, jam, all bran flakes, orange and apple juice, coffee, fruit salad (kinda looked like just out of a can) and at the end the lady came to our table with dairy and gluten free biscuits for us to choose from. Very nice!

I rate this

9/10 for the quality of food

9/10 for the decoration 

9/10 for staff's friendliness 

Vegan friendly - very much (if requested!)

Downside: I missed fresh fruit. I expected that a big hotel, part of a resort, such as this (aimed at families and children) would have fresh fruit such as mangoes and melons and bananas at breakfast. Maybe even someone making smoothies on demand with water or coconut water... ahah !

Bonus: we brought our own dairy free cheese and they have a fridge for "special needs people": such as allergy free products and medicament. So if you need to store your own food the reception will store it in a separate fridge.

The following days I found processed fruit for babies, cocoa powder with no dairy and grapefruit juice.

Disneyland Vegan: Auberge de Cendrillon vegan review

Disneyland Paris Vegan Experience review #1 - Auberge de Cendrillon 

Holidays at Disneyland ! Loads of things to do and eat... But what happens if you are vegan?

We have booked a couple of days and have breakfast, teatime and dinner included in our holiday package.

First we arrived and were incredibly well greeted by Ana Maria and Joana at the front desk. Ana Maria explained us everything about the parks and provided the meal vouchers. She exceeded expectations when she got us a leaflet about allergy meals and the best restaurants to get them.

Forseeing that it would be hard to eat around here, after looking at the restaurant menus online, I decided to simply say I am allergic. Not that I'm ashamed to say I'm vegan, I just find that unfortunately people tend to be more open to make changes for you for health reasons (even religion!!) than ethical beliefs.

So the first Disney Paris restaurant we tried was Auberge de Cendrillon 

We were however 12 minutes late to our table reservation because our bus had been late to the hotel.

[On the way in a young women and her daughter whispered "don't take the chicken", she looked quite angry. I answered "we don't eat meat". She stopped for a moment looked at us and said "that's very wise!". Not a great first impression! ]

Then we were greeted by a not-so friendly lady who, upon discovering we did not speak French, pointed nervously to her watch and groaned. Not a great second impression either!!

We were taken to our table. I pointed to the waiter that I did not want to eat anything with eggs or milk or meat, "maybe something from the allergy friendly menu?"

They do not have the Natama menu at this restaurant. (but should)

They suggested the vegetarian option which sounded very nice but upon confirming with the chef it turned out it had egg in it.

So the chef offered to cook something just for me. 

As a starter they served grilled vegetables with rocket salad. Now this wasn't great: the vegetables were cold (!!) and the rocket salad was dry (no dressing). But it was vegan and I was happy. (I believe this is part of their regular menu, which they serve with an egg on top)

Then I got served some baby potatoes with potato mash and mixed veggies. Another big rocket salad as a side with no dressing.

The potato mash tasted unfortunately a bit like fish, maybe cross contaminated (!!). The veggies were good and I got some olive oil (on request) for the salad dressing.

For dessert we got a fruit salad with melon, watermelon, apple and grapes (half was fresh fruit the other fruits seemed canned).

This is one of the Disneyland Character Dining experience restaurants. So this means while you are having dinner Cinderella, Prince Charming, Rapunzel, Sleeping beauty and many other Disney characters will come over and say hi and take pictures with you. That's the big plus at the restaurant, and that's what you're paying for here, not the food.

It's not a cheap meal, the food hasn't the wow effect you expect  for the price(even the "regular" foods off the menu are not that good; my boyfriend asked for the vegetarian option and it was very bland) but the experience is unique and the people working there try their best to accommodate your dietary requirements. 

I rate this

5/10 for food

9/10 for ambience 

8/10 for friendliness 

5/10 for price

Vegan friendly - yes (if requested!) but not great