Hi there, just booked our first DLP trip for October half term in the Hotel l'Elysee Val d'Europe. On lots of reviews for the other hotels people suggest they have bagged up cheeses, jams, fruit etc with rolls to take out of breakfast for lunch in the parks.
Is this common practice in all the hotels, do they simply accept visitors doing this, anyone have experience of the Hotel l'Elysee Val d'Europe and whether they allow this at all?
Many thanks
Gary
Dubious at best in the Disney hotels, but a definite no in other hotels.
I saw people do this at the Explorer's hotel too. To be honest, I can't imagine doing this. Okay, maybe take an apple or something, but a whole bag of food... I don't think any hotel will be happy with people doing this, but of course they don't see everything that's going on... ???
We did this a couple of times, but it was literally a croissant or a pain au chocolat and a banana or something to keep the kids going if we had an early breakfast and wouldn't be having lunch until a bit later than usual. It was done discreetly though, and I don't recall seeing anyone packing bags full. I do however remember seeing a woman filling childrens juice bottles with apple juice and waiting staff didn't seem to bother about that.
It seems to be pretty much accepted behaviour - though what you're happy doing is obviously up to you
Thanks all, I'm not sure I would have the nerve to do it but seen lots of entries on Trip Adviser so wanted to know. We shall be nipping over to Val De Europe for Breakfast and grab lunch bits as I am told its much better value..
I have seen this many many times, even at the DLH, although not the right thing to do the CM's turn a blind eye to it. I have done it many times, on a small scale. As a diabetic I take a few things to keep blood sugars level etc.
It all depends on how big your party size is and what budget you have. Using the breakfast items to make a lunch can save you a lot of money. There are 7 in our party at 12 euros per lunch each it soon adds up. We go normally for 6 nights, that is 504 Euros for lunches alone. So you can understand why its done.
Absolutely common practise in my experience (one trip), no attempts to hide and no issues with the staff who seemed to happily turn a blind eye. After observing it all round us on the first morning we adopted the attitude of 'if you can't beat them, join them!
I think in most people's eyes it is maybe considered fair practise and undoubtedly built into the prices (which again given the cost of DLP might explain why most I guess have no scruples about it) - certainly when we were at the Newport Bay the sheer mountain of croissants etc endlessly replenished means they must buy these in bulk for pennies.
I don't know how many will admit to snaffling away a bit of brekky 'for later' as above but there can't be many of us here who don't have a few Mickey eared shampoo bottles in the bathroom cabinet at home and there is really no difference... ;)
Its common practise.
I have to admit I've taken the occassional croissant along to eat in the park later, but never a whole bag of food.
I wouldn't do that, that's going a bit far.
Mind you, with the prices DLP charges for food, and considering that if your budget only allows you over the counter stuff your choices pretty much are junk food, junk food and more junk food, It's not surprising people nab breakfast foods so they can limit their junk food intake to once a day.
So I do understand where people that do it (as in take a proper lunch, rather than one thing and a piece of fruit) are coming from.
We stayed at the New York last year and we saw lots of people doing it! I wouldn't be able to do it myself, it's so cheeky x
We've done it it on our two trips staying at the santa fe.
Everybody I know who has been before said to and countless people were doing it whilst we were there .
Same again at the adagio , we did it and so were many others .
We have done it ourselves a few times, but not really bothered the last few years. Last time we went we saw a woman fill up a 2L Coke bottle with Pure Orange juice from the dispenser, it took ages and everyone was moaning.
I think once we took 2 small yogurts for my son and some warm milk in a bottle for my son. I don't think it's much of an issue to take a roll/croissant but I have seen on many occasions people taking piles and putting it into cool bags ect infact on our last stay at the Santa fe the staff were serving the cheese/ham (wich I've never seen done before and we've stayed on every on-site hotel) so I could only assume they were trying to stop some of it?
This caused a problem for people who just wanted some to eat for breakfast I only usually have a few cubes of cheese and 2 rolls, but the que was so long I didn't bother for the cheese.
The orange juice was constantly running out but what staff didn't see was the same family filling up 2ltr bottles. Personally I take my own drinks in my suitcase and few small bottles in my bag, I wouldn't want the weight of 2 ltr bottles carrying around all day long?
I really despise people taking food for later in the day. We've been over thirty times and I've never once taken any food for later. All that will happen is that breakfast will be removed from the holiday package. And in case you are wondering we certainly aren't well off ( I'm a single parent) but I know how to save the money for food on holiday, and if I couldn't afford to buy food later on in the day I wouldn't go on holiday at that time.
I'm a single parent also :D
And still afford at least 2 trips a year, its all about being careful. We take snacks and drinks for during the day and we've always done this and have been visiting since I was 13 and now 27 ::)
And we usually skip lunch due to taking bits and pieces from home, but always have a good sit down meal in the evening.
I do think your right they may remove breakfast from the package some people do "take the mickey" a little too much.
Lol ( take the Mickey!) We should write a Disney fans guide to budgeting on here!
Quote from: ewormas on February 27, 2015, 09:55:22 PM
I really despise people taking food for later in the day. We've been over thirty times and I've never once taken any food for later. All that will happen is that breakfast will be removed from the holiday package. And in case you are wondering we certainly aren't well off ( I'm a single parent) but I know how to save the money for food on holiday, and if I couldn't afford to buy food later on in the day I wouldn't go on holiday at that time.
I absolutely agree with you. I hate it when people do this. You pay for breakfast, not breakfast
and lunch. It also causes the breakfast buffet to empty up much quicker due all the people taking all the food for later. I totally agree with ewormas, if you don't have the money to pay for lunch - save up a little more money and go a few months later.
I'm not a massive breakfast person at home but the minute I get onto Disney soil I seem to be able to consume a vast amount for breakfast! I love it so much, eat as much as possible, but never take a pack up for lunch. We always take loads of drinks and muesli bars etc from home to keep us going until a proper meal later in the day.
Quote from: ewormas on February 27, 2015, 10:31:08 PM
Lol ( take the Mickey!) We should write a Disney fans guide to budgeting on here!
That's not a bad idea! ;)
I also have to dispute that Disneyland Paris is overly expensive in general, Its not different to uk theme parks. People are well aware that tourist attractions are all higher prices for drinks/food. But there are cheaper options like mcds and earl of sandwich.
But being a lone parent and visiting 2-3 times a year I always have the "how do you afford it" from various friends ect. I'm not rich, I'm careful, I plan wisely and know roughly what I'm going to spend on meals prior to going so ensure I've got enough money for meals and some of course for any extras.
I usually 9/10 times come back with money too
Quote from: Fluffymilly on February 28, 2015, 12:30:22 AM
I'm not a massive breakfast person at home but the minute I get onto Disney soil I seem to be able to consume a vast amount for breakfast! I love it so much, eat as much as possible, but never take a pack up for lunch. We always take loads of drinks and muesli bars etc from home to keep us going until a proper meal later in the day.
That's what we do :)
It doesn't just save money but time also instead of waiting in line for drinks all day and stopping for any length of time. We much prefer to have breakfast, snacks and drinks on the go and look forward to a nice table service or buffet in inventions later that evening.
Fair enough sometimes filling kids bottles up with milk or juice as a started- I often take a bottle from home and do it that way or if cold weather bring hot choc with me but I don't like taking the food. My husband did it one time and I went mad, he was being a cheap skate though. Also I thought the buns went hard. I plan my money working on roughly 8 euro a child and 13 euro an adult per meal, obviously more if you are eating in restaurants constantly or all you can eat buffets. The years we have struggled I've eaten a kids meal to reduce cost- sometimes their meals are just better or gone without for lunch, besides often waiting for the bigger rides mean we miss lunch so just buy a drink. If Disney do take away the breakfast option then I wouldn't be able to afford to go. But each to their own because I do see a lot of people do this and the cm don't seem to bother much now in some hotels however I did feel people were being closely watched in the Sequoia when we went in may 2013.
This is a hot button topic. I personally wouldn't do it because I think it's naughty. You're paying for one meal, not two. My in-laws thought nothing of proudly bringing down cooler bags to breakfast and making stacks of ham and cheese sandwiches (all the while complaining about the square bread being hard and the butter being unspreadable). They also filled the kids' juice bottles from the dispensers and refused to let them buy juice during the day once it ran out. My wife found it really embarrassing.
The CMs don't say anything about it even if you do go to extremes, but if as mentioned above they are now rationing certain items at the HSF (a lower-end hotel) it would not surprise me. Even in the HNY some items were presented in such a way as to be difficult to use for lunch, such as cheese in long narrow cuboids.
I have done this in 2012 but it was on a small scale compared to the extremes some people on here have done it. On my trip I made a couple of ham & cheese rolls & that was it. Others were doing it too & nobody batted an eye.
I did see some filling bottles with milk for children & other using the fruit juices too (with disgruntled people behind them).
We were at Cheyenne a few weeks ago. I was shocked at how blatant people were about taking food, In one morning I saw several people with what looked like a whole loaf of bread or even more,just piled up, and they sat and made sandwiches,wrapped them up then put the in their bags. Of course once a few people do it,others start to join in. We were lucky enough to have a meal plan for free as part of our booking which included the afternoon snack. We found that eating a big breakfast, having the afternoon donut and drink, sometimes adding a portion of chips or sharing a pizza, then knowing we had a decent buffet meal to end the day, was more than enough food.
I have to add that although we have done it we only take a crossiant or pain au chocolate .
I always take food for lunch as in crisps , fruit , chewy bars and always take drinks as well .
I also buy them food ( snacks etc ) whilst in the park .
It's not a full on picnic that I take from the hotel .
I'm a single parent of 4 and I get the ' how can you afford it ' . It's because I budget well so I can take my kids .
It's also not every day as some days we might get chips etc to go with our packed lunch .
I'm not going to get into an argument on here by saying any particular breakfast snaffling is wrong. However, I don't have an issue with taking an apple or banana and carrying it out - I've done that in hotels in the UK too. I know the prices of food and drink in the parks can seem a bit high (like they also are at, say, Chessington or Alton Towers) but I like to think of the eateries as part of the experience and I'm glad to read of people like Sarah who can take their kids, budget sensibly and probably have an amazing time.
It is all about planning ahead and of course being careful I really was astonished in our last trip (feb half term s/f hotel) when you had to que for cheese or ham it was ridiculous, but I suppose if people carry on this way they'll have to act somehow.
And I think it's clear the majority on here have only took a small item rather than take it to the extremes and fill up bags full of fruit/rolls ect. And I'm sure DLP wouldn't probably mind if it was just a snack rather than to feed a whole family for lunch.
What really got to me in the studio 1 we had qued for ages got our food but there was hardly anywhere to sit and many tables were families munching away on breakfast foods from the hotels ::) so we pay for a meal expect to sit and couldn't...
However I did notice the next day a cm standing with a rope stopping people going to the seating area without food wich I think they've probably had to do to try and stop this. So they are putting measures in place wich I've never seen been done on previous visits. And we've been so many times I've lost count! So this problem must be getting worse im looking forward to HNY stay and I'll be intrigued to see what happens at breakfast there compared to Santafe
People taking seats without purchasing food is a perennial problem at several of the counter service restaurants. Restaurant en Coulisse (as you've discovered), most of Frontierland, plus Toad Hall regularly suffer from this – and it's awful for the people prowling around with trays of hot food watching people camp on tables for their friends who just joined the queue, or who are picknicking. In the Studios there is always the Blockbuster Café (over by Rock n Roller Coaster avec Aerosmith) which for some reason is never quite as busy despite having fewer seats.
Mind you, not everyone "holding a seat" for people who just joined the queue at a restaurant does that out of malice or selfish reasons. People may have health issues forcing them to sit down.
A lot of people have serious health issues even though they don't look it.
That's what I like about Tokyo Disney, they'll give you a little card that you can put on your table, letting people know you're holding that table for justified reasons (a friend of mine told me about that, I wish DLP would do it too).
For people sitting down to picnic, I think that's only excusable when its total low season and there's room to spare. Otherwise they should make use of the many, many benches and quiet areas to sit down and eat.
Or even better: the actual picnic area, which is admittedly outside the parks, but it's there for a reason.
Yup we take a Croissant with ham and cheese each, and a couple of little yogurts and banana/Apple for my son as he rarely eats anything that early in the morning.
I don't think there is a problem taking a croissant and ham for your child to eat or an apple or banana for later but it is wrong to be taking whole packed lunches!
Quote from: stifle on March 02, 2015, 09:07:28 AM
People taking seats without purchasing food is a perennial problem at several of the counter service restaurants. Restaurant en Coulisse (as you've discovered), most of Frontierland, plus Toad Hall regularly suffer from this – and it's awful for the people prowling around with trays of hot food watching people camp on tables for their friends who just joined the queue, or who are picknicking. In the Studios there is always the Blockbuster Café (over by Rock n Roller Coaster avec Aerosmith) which for some reason is never quite as busy despite having fewer seats.
I guess they can't stop people its going to happen regardless but it isn't pleasant for the people wanting to eat their food hot....
Quote from: Queen Elsa on March 02, 2015, 07:02:58 PM
I don't think there is a problem taking a croissant and ham for your child to eat or an apple or banana for later but it is wrong to be taking whole packed lunches!
I agree totaly with you, some children including my son are funny in the morning so if they don't eat at breakfast taking a item for later I can't see a problem with but of course that's not the issue it's the people who as you say make packed lunches that spoil it for others
I ate in Pizzeria Bella Notte in December & they had a section reserved for customers buying food in the restaurant & unless you had a tray of food you were not allowed in the area :) Was great!
Quote from: Mathierson24 on March 02, 2015, 10:19:17 PM
I ate in Pizzeria Bella Notte in December & they had a section reserved for customers buying food in the restaurant & unless you had a tray of food you were not allowed in the area :) Was great!
Seems fair! I mean if you pay for hot food in the parks you would expect to have the sit within that reastaurant and eat it whilst still can enjoy it. Nothing wrong with picnickers we've taken our own bits before (not breakfast items lol) our own food but I wed eat on the go or find a bench somewhere I wouldn't dream of taking up tables for paying customers!