to take a slow cooker to Disneyland Paris?

[ElizaPickford]

Ok, that sounds a bit odd, but here's the thing, we're going and the whole family is veggie (and now skint.) I couldn't justify spending nearly £70 a day on meal vouchers, and it looks like Disney and France in general have different ideas about what constitutes being vegetarian. (One of the veggie options in one restaurant was fish and chips, and one of the best veggie restaurants apparently uses meat stock for veggie dishes.)

If we just pay as we go, I think we're looking at £15 each for chips and salad. It's crazy expensive, and I don't want to pay through the nose for the kids to eat crap for almost a whole week.

Soooooo... I was thinking if I took my slow cooker, we could at least have baked potatoes when we get back at night? And maybe couscous if I take the kettle? I can take some fresh stuff with me although we'll have no fridge so that will be limited, but just trying to figure out if this is a socially unacceptable thing to do, and whether I run the risk of burning down the whole hotel when the euro-adapter blows up my slow cooker.

Or any other tips for not starving to death/going bankrupt while there?

Why have you booked a holiday that you can't comfortably afford? That just sounds really stressful to me.

Tell me more about French not having kettles in hotels or HOMES! !!!! How do they make a cuppa? ?????

Did I see someone suggesting taking wine to France????

Pyjamas because Disneyland is amazing and camping sounds shit, to be frank.

You'll be knackered when you come out at night and my kids love the cattle herd I to the restaurant but afterwards (we always book tables so no bother)
I can't imagine how much stuff you would need to cater in a hotel room.
Cutlery, plates, chopping board, condiments and then there's the lack of surface and sonewhere to wash up!
We are campers and so used to rough cooking but I couldn't do that!

Good God, haven't read all thread but don't use cooking appliances in a hotel. What if they cause a fire and people die?

If you can't suck up the cost of expensive chips for a day or so, then don't go. Seriously.

Plarail123, because people who are skint still want to go on holiday and a holiday where you have to cut a few corners and eat cold sandwiches, fruit and yoghurt instead of in an overpriced restaurant is still a holiday.

As a family, we've done lots of holidays were we have just enough to get by with a little bit left over for the occasional treat. Taking the bus or walking instead of taxi, opting for cheaper accommodation instead of a 4/5 star hotel, planning an itinerary based on free things to do instead of forking out on admission prices to some tourist attractions, taking our own food and getting creative instead of eating out 3 times a day, etc.

It's much better than staying at home watching telly, believe me.

The French don't boil a kettle for a morning cup of tea. They boil milk in a pan and make a big bowl of coffee to have with fresh bread/croissants.

But eating cold food is a totally different story to taking a slow cooker to your hotel room and messing around with baked potatoes etc . I hate 'wasting' money on food in expensive restaurants but I'm not going to faff around with boiling eggs in a hotel kettle .

Just go to the supermarket and buy bread/cheese/salad/fruit etc - presumably you aren't staying for that long?

Disneyland + cooking own food in slow cooker = KILL ME NOW

This thread is winding me up and I don't know why. Why not take your family to France and find out about their culture instead of going to a theme park. I spent a summer working as an au pair in France. They don't have kettles because they use pans. They don't snack and by the time you eat you are very hungry. This is the reason they are slim and we are fat (speaking as a fat person)
OP You don't even want to accept the culture of a theme park.

We go to frabce every summer.
My brother has lived there for twenty years.
Lots of french boil water for tea!!
They don't all sit there with bowls of cafe au lait and croissnts each morning.
Thsts like saying all English people have a full fry up everyday dressed as pearly kings and queens

Huge generalisation there derxa

We're you never a child!?
Yes kids much prefer culture and fine french food to exciting rides and seeing their favourite characters and fun parades and shows!!
Ok.

I have stayed with lots of French families over the years. None of them had a kettle!

We went last year. I don't eat meat, but found plenty to eat. Annette's in Disney Village does veggie burgers, Rainforest Cafe was good and hotel buffet dinner had lots of options - I could have survived on just the dauphinoise!

I'd eat in Disney Village where possible - much nicer than inside the parks, and only five minutes away.

It sounds like the breakfast is a bunfight because the food in the theme park is overpriced and not great.

I thought that they checked bags on the gate and removed food. Have they stopped doing that?

I have never been to DLP BTW, just going by friends' experiences. It doesn't appeal too me (unfortunately for DD who feels she has missed out).

No no no. Do not take/buy a slow cooker!

Which hotel are you staying in, Eliza?

The DLP hotels often don't have a kettle in the room - you can ask for one at reception or take your own, very handy for morning cuppas.

Trip Advisor Forum highly recommended.

Eating options:

Lovely filled roll place in the gare - roll+tart+drink for 9 euro.
Small shop also in the gare.
Filling station place beside Santa Fe.

Those 2 good for cheese bread and wine, not a large selection of fruit, though.
Val d@Europe one stop away on train, or free shuttle bus (limited timetable, though), with HUGE Auchan, worth a visit one day anyhow, and a good food court.
Eating options better in Disney Village than in the parcs themselves.

Have a great time!

Tbh unless you go to vineyard french wine usually isnt good. Agree re the kettle not being a certain although i have noticed it is making more of an appearance now especially in tourist places.

Buffet breakfasts are good and not a bun fight if u go early or late.
So much choice and after seeing the waste that sine greedy twats left I certainly didn't feel bad about making a small baguette each and putting some apples in my bag.

There is a shop in the train station just outside the main park gate which sells sandwiches, drinks, salads, crisps, biscuits......anything you need for a picnic type lunch really. We would go there on the way into the parks in the morning and buy whatever we needed for the day.

The food in DLP is ludicrously expensive. Someone mentioned Annette's, but really, €20+ for a mediocre burger, a few chips and a drink?

We are vegetarian too, and you have to be SO careful. I don't think you mentioned which hotel you are staying at, but it might be worth phoning to see if you can change to Davy Crockett as you can do your own basic cooking there. We generally stay there, and cook things like filled pasta with sauce, "sausage" casseroles, vegetable bakes etc, all with groceries bought from Auchan at Val d'Europe.

As for not going if you can't afford to eat there...if you maximise the deals available, you can go to DLP fairly cheaply. Using Tesco points for the tunnel, taking advantage of the 2 nights free, kids under 12 stay free, we've done it for £30 pppn including park tickets. But when you then have to fork out upwards of €100 a night for dinner, it goes beyond our budget. If the choice is shopping at the supermarket or staying at home, then I know what I'd rather do!

er TheDiet, what you describe "planning an itinerary based on free things to do instead of forking out on admission prices to some tourist attractions" etc, is exactly the type of holiday the OP hasn't booked!

do a cheaper theme park?

Apologies for not adding 'only use a camping stove in a well-ventilated room or outdoors'. I credited the OP with enough intelligence to know this. Sorry.

Well, if you are self catering you can of course take a slow cooker.

If you are not then of course you sodding well can't take a slow cooker, camping stove, bunsen burner or any other cooking equipment because you are not self catering. If you cook in a hotel room the hotel would be perfectly entitled to a) confiscate the equipment and b) throw you out

Quite apart from the inconsideration to other guests (cooking smells) the hotel's insurance conditions would be breached.

If you are going to a hotel and are even considering this, you are barking mad.