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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To sneak McD's into the cinema

793 replies

fr4zzledmum · 09/12/2023 16:03

Going to a tea time showing tonight - McD's is right next door to the cinema so was just going to buy DC a Happy Meal and pop it in my bag to eat when we get in there.

Cheaper than a hot dog at the cinema. I don't think it's particularly a bother smell wise, as people have nachos and hot dogs etc.

AIBU?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
12
Behindyouiam · 09/12/2023 18:13

Caththegreat · 09/12/2023 18:10

Uncivilised and offensive to veggies.

I've never seen a carrot or a parsnip in the cinema!!

Do they watch many films?

Megifer · 09/12/2023 18:13

Caththegreat · 09/12/2023 18:10

Uncivilised and offensive to veggies.

🤣🤣🤣

Neighbours87 · 09/12/2023 18:13

Former cinema employee here we always stopped people taking hot food in. It smells and isn’t fair on the other costumers.

sunglassesonthetable · 09/12/2023 18:13

Just me and an M&S mojito. Bliss.

I take in a few special snacks from M&S. Still costs less than the Cinema offerings .

Caththegreat · 09/12/2023 18:10

Uncivilised and offensive to veggies.

Busybodyb · 09/12/2023 18:10

I go to the cinema weekly and Odeon sell hot food!
Everyman cinema bring pizza etc to your seat.
If you don’t like people the cinema isn’t for you. I’m chill with most things but mobile phones during film. There is a special place in hell.

ArsenicInTheAppleTart · 09/12/2023 18:09

There's not much of a smell from McDonalds but I'd get irritated if it was a group of people next to me all rustling about with their paper bags. But it's the crunchy fuckers who really get on my nerves. Chomping through big bags of Doritos like it's gravel.

Maltesers and Minstrels - fine.
Individually wrapped sweets- not fine.

I have loads of cinema snacking opinions.

It's very rare I'd go to a crowded cinema though. I tend to wait until it's been out for weeks and I know the cinema will be largely empty. Just me and an M&S mojito. Bliss.

DPotter · 09/12/2023 18:08

I too don't like the modern way of eating meals in cinemas - whether bought in the cinema or brought in from outside.

It's my number 4 of the Top 3 things I would ban if I became president

Behindyouiam · 09/12/2023 18:08

@fr4zzledmum I so wan't a Big Mac, Chips 🍟 and a McFlurry now!

VanityDiesHard · 09/12/2023 18:06

YABU, McDonald's smells disgusting.

viques · 09/12/2023 18:05

Behindyouiam · 09/12/2023 17:58

Crikey who made you cinema police!

Show quote history

Self appointed. I have a badge and everything.

Pipistrellus · 09/12/2023 18:04

LiquoriceAllsorts2 · 09/12/2023 17:55

I think something like a McFlurry or maybe just chips would probably be ok but a whole meal seems too much. Maybe it’s because I see it as normal to have snacks at a cinema but not more than that.

I think maybe it depends on what your cinema sells. Ours is just popcorn and drinks and snacks so I would consider it inconsiderate to bring in hot food. My teen has an aversion to a lot of food smells so it would ruin the cinema experience for him (he is okay with popcorn).

Alargeoneplease89 · 09/12/2023 18:03

adventadvent · 09/12/2023 16:05

It's not illegal to take your own food into the cinema

Must have a policy about not allowing hot food

ZebraLyghts · 09/12/2023 18:02

Ha I went to watch tennis at the O2 once, (took in a hotdog I'd bought from one of the stalls, it had been a long train journey so was starving!). Two women sat next to me made a huge show of tutting, sighing and asking each other for chewing gum/mints to cover the smell. It hardly smelled! And I'd bought it from the venue 😆I was too surprised at the time but I wish I'd told them to piss off and get a life. If either of them happen to miraculously see this, 🖕😆🌭

Behindyouiam · 09/12/2023 18:00

dooneyousmugelf · 09/12/2023 17:48

You can the tell Cats Bum Face brigade on here haven't actually stepped foot in a cinema for at least a decade or they would know food and drink is standard. The dominant smell being popcorn, anyway. Which smells of farts.
The give away is 'I don't like all the rustling' rustling! Like you can hear anything over the noise of the sound system in the cinemas these days. It's SO loud

This is 100% true!

Odeon now Deliveroo their food to you at home.

For the whole cinema experience!

Behindyouiam · 09/12/2023 17:58

viques · 09/12/2023 17:50

My local small chain doesn’t sell hot food thank goodness, the one I used to go to sometimes did and it was awful, the moment you walked in the stink of nachos and cheap hot dogs hit the back of your throat. It closed down so am no longer tempted to go there - it did have a huge car park which was its only redeeming feature!

Feed your child properly before you go. And make sure they have a wee before the film starts too. Top tip, sit on aisle seats so if you need to you can go in and out without disturbing other people too much.

Crikey who made you cinema police!

BrimfulOfMash · 09/12/2023 17:57

I need my own personal cinema where eating anything is banned, as is talking, whispering, fidgeting excessively, drinking through a straw from a cup with ice in it, and looking at your phone.

Hastae · 09/12/2023 17:57

I wasn’t really addressing the op’s specific situation, sunglasses. Most of the posts have moved on to a more general debate about whether it’s ok or not to eat hot food at the cinema.

Panaa · 09/12/2023 17:56

I was going to say the OP shouldn't bring in hot smelly food... but if it's a cinema that sells hot dogs (Cineworld?), I'm not sure it matters.

Would you bring hot dogs to Mcdonalds though?

They might sell hot food but that doesn't mean that they allow people to bring whatever other hot food they want.

Lovemusic82 · 09/12/2023 17:56

Both my local cinemas allow you to take food in, I never pay cinema prices as they are crazy. I’m sure it will be fine.

Behindyouiam · 09/12/2023 17:56

@coldcallerbaiter

But cinemas do combine hot food and films!

www.odeon.co.uk/experiences/food-drinks/

LiquoriceAllsorts2 · 09/12/2023 17:55

I think something like a McFlurry or maybe just chips would probably be ok but a whole meal seems too much. Maybe it’s because I see it as normal to have snacks at a cinema but not more than that.

Growlybear83 · 09/12/2023 17:54

I would walk out if anyone sat near me in a cinema eating McDonalds, or anything else with a strong smell. If you eat that sort of food regularly you probably don't realise just how revolting the smell is to many people.

sunglassesonthetable · 09/12/2023 17:53

Nobody objecting to hot food in the cinema have used the above words, they are completely made up by you and others. People have complained about the 'awful' smell and the 'stink' though.

Err @TheCadoganArms you best re read.

Scorchio84 · 09/12/2023 17:52

Hastae · 09/12/2023 17:46

Such a predictable response! Well, it’s entirely true from my experience.

Not so much to do with ‘class’, though. I know people of all backgrounds who are into film and our big art house cinema is a registered charity so tickets are substantially cheaper than at an Odeon or somewhere. The difference is why you’re going. I like going to a cinema where the rest of the audience is there for the same reason I am: to see the film. I watch more popular films at home, because experience tells me I’ll get annoyed with the sizeable chunk of the audience who eat, talk, fiddle with their phones and all the rest.

Show quote history

I think this is one of the key points, if you're going to Cineworld or Vue for example, it's pretty much anything goes, especially at peak or childrens showings, whereas if you're going to a "grown up" cinema (over here like the IFI or The Lighthouse) you don't expect to see (or hear) people munching through a chinese or some fast food, it's horses for courses & as an adult you get to decide which experience you'd be happier with