To be shocked at the shite served as food in Disney???

[MadameCastafiore]

DH and I were shocked - you couldn't get anything remotely healthy (that went for most of the restaurants too) no wonder the US has such an obestiy problem if even huge commercial ventures serve bloody burgers, fries, fried chicken, chicken ceaser (sad soggy lettuce drowned in full fat dressing), pizza and hot dogs, pop corn and corn dogs.

I have come back about 7lbs heavier and with a face full of spots and I triend to steer clear of the crap as much as I could.

I got excited about having steamed broccoli when I saw it on a menu to find that it had been steamed and then flash fried with some ultra salty dressing - incredible!

food in Disney parks is the same crap as any other theme park, but first time i went i actually lost 2 pounds in weight by sticking to meat and salad and diet drinks (had a medical condition which meant i couldnt eat fatty food) it wasn't as much fun but it was doable, we ate in their buffet diners over there and there was lots of salad and steak, chicken ,veg etc on offer as well as sugar free puddings!But the parks are crap unless you book into one of their proper restaurants,

wow i can imagine, have you ever watched jamie oliver in the US? i remember coming back from the US after working there one summer, it was the first time i noticed cellulite on my body. everything has double the amount of sugar. but at a childrens theme part ? hmmm really does make you think ... somebody getting awfully rich out of all these fatties blindly getting hooked on anything advertised

Other end of the spectrum though is just as hard to live with.

I used to have to spend a week in Cannes for a conference every year, and after every day of eating rich food, being insulted by surly waiters I used to crave really bland food.

I don't know about theme parks, in us/europe or anywhere else, but NYC was great for food, DS who was 17m at the time and I ate well, healthily and treated fabulously. I will agree that the food all seems sweeter than ours, but that is the local palate, and it's not compulsory to clean the plate is it?

LOL at expecting healthy food in Disneyland

We have been to Florida many times and have always eaten well. We do not eat in Disney. Well, apart from the ice cream.

There are some fabulous steak, Italian and fish restaurants in Orlando if you know where to look. We buy fresh fruit, cereal and yoghurts to keep in the apartment but all hotels have fridges in.

We found carts selling fruit in every Disney park. Some of the outlets sold good fresh salad too.

Every restaurant we went to was happy to fix salad, grilled chicken breast and veg if you ask. They are quite used to people ordering 'off menu'.

We have always eaten well and got plenty of fruit and veg in Florida. You just need to look a bit harder!

There is a fab 'healthy' food supermarket chain in the US - Wholefoods (now have a few braches in UK I think). They do lots of take out food: salads, sandwiches, sushi etc which would make a great picnic. Theme parks both in the US and UK are renowned for crappy overpriced food, really, aren't they - goes with the territory! Best to take your own IMHO.

Whilst in America I rememeber ordering a salad. I was given a sachet of dressing which had 300 calories in it. I think I would have preferred a Mars bar. needless to say i didn't use it.

YANBU - I've led 5 x school trips for Year 9s including Eurodisney where the food is nearly as gross - and probably more limited - than in the US. I'm amazed that the French allow the 'merde' to be sold there, but it's all part of the (wonderful) Disney experience (check out the suicide stats on employees @ Eurodisney - that's another debate). As for food in the US, even my omniverous DH can't stomach it, and the one school trip I led to US, which was Year 12s to New York, featured our fruitless search for decent food, anything that wasn't fat-filled, processed, zapped/irradiated s h i t : we couldn't find it and they were ready to return to the UK after five days! Thank God for Virgin whose in-flight food at that time - 2003 - was lovely, refreshing eg melon & grapes, chopped raw veg eg carrots & lots of water & juice - exactly what we needed after all that gross cottonwool !

You went to NYC and couldn't find what you wanted to eat? Really? You have to be joking!

curry - I guess it could have been that there were 29 of us in total as a group, but even when splitting separately into smaller groups we just couldn't find anything that felt healthy and not bloating. I took one of our group - a Japanese girl - to a sushi bar in the hope that we would find something decent for her, but even the food there was horrible :( Maybe we were unlucky as it was Feb, but they were literally tree-hugging due to the pollution, noise & lack of decent food, glad to return on the evening of the fifth day. We did the main sights, but most of them brought back a lot of the spending money they'd brought with them due to disappointment at all that was on offer. The best bit was actually the Bronx, which was tame, safe and not like the movies !!! But sorry, foodwise it was awful, I will never moan about the UK's offerings again !

Sorry but you cannot be serious. I have had lots of healthy food in the US, especially in New York, the land of the stick thin women. The US does have healthy food, as well as large portion sizes and the worst rubbish imaginable (the cheap bread is exactly like cotton wool). There are also lots of hidden calories, so the yummiest bread in the world in Chicago is not exactly healthy.

However somewhere like Disney is famous for not having great food (except a few high end places). The best thing to do is to buy your own food, and or investigate the eating choices first using a guide like the Unofficial Guide.

However one other factor is that jet lag always leads to a bloating feeling. This is in relation to how many meals your body is outside its normal eating pattern. The same can be felt if you do shift work.

There were no dim sum houses in china town? Or cheap but wonderful pasta palaces in Little Italy? No delis serving wonderful salt beef sandwiches, or bagel bars with all and every filling you can imagine? No wholefood cafes in Greenwich village? Really? NYC was closed?

And as for a group of teenagers being phased by noise and pollution in NYC, sorry, you sound a bit daft! It's NYC fgs, not rural Surrey - what did they expect? What a shame their trip was ruined

I love the food in the US - on a recent trip to the North West my and ds1 ate the most delicious, healthy and varied diet. I certainly didn't come home heavier but I'm still pining for some of the glorious dinners we enjoyed. But then I've always found NY to be another great place to eat too.

This is not to say that everything to eat in the States is lovely but then a lot of food over here is dire and certainly the service in the US is wonderful. However, since the whole Disney experience leaves me cold it doesn't surprise me that the food is crap too.

PS. Second everything CurrySpice says about the eating options in NY.

Did you spend your whole trip in Times Square, perhaps albertcamus? Also, who doesn't know that NYC is a busy, vibrant city? Actually, I'll correct that because I went on a working trip to NYC once with someone who claimed to be claustrophobic, agrophobic, food phobic and, to top it off, scared of foreigners. He took taxis everywhere (refused to use the subway because it was both underground and elevated) shuddered at the sight of any building higher than 3 floors, and ate exclusively at MacDonalds in Times Square despite having to be served by "foreigners" . I suspect that he was "disappointed" with NYC too. But then we thought he was a complete pain in the arse too.

I don't think it's American-bashing either. Just Disney-bashing which is perfectly acceptable

The best foodie blogs are American IMO and the descriptions of the farmers' markets and tours you can go on make me salivate. Fresh and gorgeous produce and photos

Admittedly there are some very unhealthy attitudes everywhere. SIL once saw children like <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=startswithabang.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/8-21-07-obese-child.jpg&imgrefurl=startswithabang.com/%3Fp%3D1151&usg=__onXARi5PcYltOqd8IxikDLS7ibg=&h=297&w=420&sz=45&hl=en&start=0&sig2=v1_4ODek1ApcxlLl_cPUEg&zoom=1&tbnid=8X5erhQ2Y6DZRM:&tbnh=140&tbnw=186&ei=hiqwTfPgCsKV8QOE5dX0Cw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dobese%2Bchild%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DIiZ%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26biw%3D1728%26bih%3D772%26tbm%3Disch%26prmd%3Divnsub&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=837&vpy=119&dur=1102&hovh=189&hovw=267&tx=191&ty=129&page=1&ndsp=36&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this at Disney USA being told by doting GPs, "we got burgers, we got hot dogs, we got fries and you can have whatever you want - large!"

That's quite sad I think. My DD is inclined to over-eat when she's bored and it's winter but when we went to Chessington for two days last year she honesty couldn't give a flying fuck about all the crap on offer around the place because there was so much else to do. She was perfectly happy to eat real chicken and salad in the hotel when we had finished in the park.

I am going to Disney Land Paris in May, can anyone recommend any places that serve near decent food??

Google Disney Forums and you should get really specific info lulloo. Hope you have a lovely time

And there is also this

We have taken our own food into the parks before in Florida - never been an issue.

We always made our own sandwiches to take with us and loads of fresh fruit. We used to put a couple of bottles of water into the freezer the night before and then put these in the bottom of the bag with the sandwiches. Sandwiches kept cool till lunch and some nice cold water to drink.

We do however stay in an apartment rather than a hotel so we do have a fully functioning kitchen.

Breakfast is always toast, cereal, fresh fruit, yoghurt and we have eaten at some fantastic places for dinner.

They sell lovely veggie & shitake ciabattas in Disney California. And lots of fresh fruit.

And you must be insane to spend a week in any theme park, PLUS stay in the branded hotel. What were you thinking??