Theme park picnic bans

[meditrina]

This was discussed on today's breakfast news link to BBC website. Bans are already in place at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Blackpool Zoo and Camelot at Chorley, and others (including Alton Towers and Thorpe Park) are considering it.

I think it's a dreadful idea - these places are expensive enough already, and queuing for (often mediocre) food would just take another chunk out of the day. But if the big players start doing this, then I suppose everyone will follow suit.

What does anyone else think?

I've taken my own food into Disney for years (Tokyo Disney resorts) and never had any trouble - the bag check is so cursory that if you just put a hat and a camera towards the top of your backpack, they never check what is underneath - is it any more thorough at the other Disney parks?

We are vegetarian, and the options are dire - basically chips and popcorn. I tried ordering things that looked like they might be veggie a few times (pizza etc) but they all seemed to come with hidden meat. Maybe the US and European ones would be better for vegetarians, though?

The only theme park we regularly go to is Paultons Park and the picnic areas are great there - plenty of space to eat your own food, even if it does mean sitting in the cold for a bit!

We did go to Legoland a few years ago and there were hardly any picnic areas there.

I just wouldn't go anywhere where I couldn't eat my own food, in fact, I'm known as the picnic queen amongst my friends and family, so adept am I at packing the nicest food to eat on days out!

Why dont they just mug people at the entrance?

..oh wait, they do

Visited a water park in Dubai recently and bag search was VERY thorough. I saw bags of sweets and crisps confiscated, and our bottles of WATER were taken off us and labelled for us to reclaim at the end of the visit! I object to paying for the greasy crap that is the fare at such places.

We went to Blackpool Pleasure Beach in February half-term this year & took a picnic. Is the ban a new thing? Luckily it wasn't raining so finding somewhere to eat it wasn't a problem. I didn't even know it wasn't allowed .

Blackpool Zoo and Camelot DO allow you to take your own food. Camelot provides lockers where you can store your stuff, then go back and get it, rather than cart it round all day.

The Pleasure Beach isn't as big as a lot of theme parks, by size, but has a huge concentration of rides. An average person could probably walk from one end to the other in 5-10 minutes, so leaving your butties at the door, eating them outside and walking back in probably wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience for most people. BUT there are places where a few picnic tables wouldn't get in the way, so I'm sure they could work something out.

I live quite close by. I used to take the kids all the time. It was great to be able to walk on, go on on a couple of rides then go home. I know for most people it was a "day out" but for locals it was great if you had an hour to kill. I was still spending the money, just not all at once.
Again I appreciate that they are trying to be "in line" with theme parks like Alton Towers and Camelot, but they are all in fairly remote locations, so you'd need to make a special trip to get there. The Pleasure Beach is located in a completely different environment.

Exexpat- doubt Uk is much better regards veggie food. I usually have chips

rather than email the cllc that opposed the ruling

Has anyone got the email address of the person that made this ruling?

Possibly several hundred email asking about nut free food and gluten free food and healthy food may get his/her wick itchy

The report says "Admission staff have begun checking visitors' bags for sandwiches and recommending restaurants on site." which suggests that they are enforcing a picnic ban.

The worry is that other tourist places will be watching to see how it is received and they then may follow suit.

I have objections to people searching bags and taking food out. What if they are diabetics and need it in a hurry for treating a hypo? I doubt these theme parks give "instant service" if you are starving. I think it's ok for cafes and restaurants to eject you if you are consuming your food on their tables, but not to take things out of your bag.

I do remember some places in Morocco doing the same thing - and I wouldn't put it past Dubai either. @ivykaty44 - let's add to those emails egg-free food, dairy-free food, egg-plus-dairy-free food (I have friends with kids with all three kinds of allergy), shellfish-free food, .... :-)

I know which places I'm not spending time and money in this year then!

Legoland has lots of picnic areas, you just have to take a blanket and sit on the grass.

A no picnic rule is a very silly idea for all the reasons already mentioned.

Quite right Soupdragon -
Overpriced junk food brings me out in a rash too!
Soup and a nice roll would do nicely though

And where's our five a day on their diet ?
My DS is allergic to sugary drinks too, he's twice had to have teeth out under general anaesthetic, and it's at least partly due to the type of drinks on offer when you go out anywhere - which we've always enjoyed doing.

I know there are ways round these things ( like taking bottles of water ) but with both obesity and tooth decay reaching epic proportions parents need more support with their children's and their own diet, not less.
I'd like to see this become illegal, also in children's soft play centres, which were possibly our greatest downfall.
Such places are not restaurants, and people should be free to eat their own food and drink whilst there.

i would not be at all suprised to see merlin parks following suit

we were going to go to blackpool in the autumn, to see the lights and go to the pleasure beach

won't bother goingot blackpool at all now

On a much more down-to-earth level, in our local (subsidised but privately run) leisure centre, where we go weekly for a preschooler soft play/activity type session, we were recently buttonholed by the receptionist/manager/cafewoman (she does all of that!) and told not to bring in our own food for our DC to eat, who were at that point under 3. We responded by saying that once they started providing decent, healthy meals (at a leisure centre!) for children and adults, we'd buy more than a coffee and carton of juice apiece. True, it's the 'cafe' area but this also serves as waiting area/reception and after the session, the DC are famished.

(Food offered is horrible greasy grilled 'panninis' with just cheese in, defrosted and bunged under grill for adults and a 'lunch box' for children containing one grated cheese sarnie on white tissue paper bread, a packet of Quavers, a Froot Shoot and a choc chip cookie. )

Reshape the gym we have family membership of does not allow consumption of your own food/drink in the cafe area (which is actually just a few tables and chairs dotted about in reception rather than a separate, dedicated cafe). Absolutely fair enough - but since Sodexho took over the contract last year, the only snacks on offer are crisps, chocolate biscuits, chocolate bars, and sugary drinks. Hot food is available but is pretty disgusting and ridiculously expensive - £4.95 for a child portion of microwaved pasta and sauce.

We take the dcs swimming there once a week and I get fed up of having to brave the counter and its prominently displayed Creme Eggs/Mars milkshakes/chocolate brownies - all conveniently placed within the reach of small children for added pester power.

We went to Chessington World of Adventures - we had a great day but felt mugged by the whole experience. We found an eatery called 'Refresh' but the kid's food was white baps with cheese or ham (sound familiar), Walkers crisps, sugary yoghurt and syrupy drink for £4.95 each whils the choice for adults was Panini (same old same old) or white-bread sandwiches with lots of Mayo. So we spent over £20 on a really unappetising meal. That summed it up for us.

euuuukkk

when I had just ds, we used to eat out wherever we went

a visit to Chessington on his fourth birthday got me onto taking picnics everywhere instead, the food was that disgusting

We always have to have picnics and carry food with us at all times as two DCs are coeliac and one is diabetic - most people when you ask have no objection to them eating our food in any establishment and if they do I kick off big time as really to eat out occasionally would be a major treat for my children and it never ever happens - that said - dietary restrictions aside I would never feed them the shite they sell as 'fast food' anyway.

The problem is giving over space to picnic area reduces the per square metre profit of any place like that and also takes away from their profits from their concessions.

Vintage, you should definitely have eaten in the restaurants! We go some weekends just to have dinner there (MAP holders) because for what you paid you could have had a family meal deal in the Undercroft which is pretty generous and nice food.

I wonder if anyone has asked about it on the Merlin FB page - knowing that group it will kick off!

Makes me wish I was still BF DD3 - perhaps I coudl have gone in to the restaurant and asked if one of the staff was available!

Totally agree with not eating picnics in the restaurants, I get hacked off if I have bought something in there only to find all the seats taken by picnics, but the solution is for the staff to tell you to move if you have a picnic.

Question is, what do you do if someone has bought coffee & cakes, but is eating them with their sandwiches?

(Just checked the Merlin FB pages, hasn't kicked off yet, presumably because most Merlin fans are not necessarily Pleasure Beach customers, or haven't seen the news)

We go to Busch Gardens most weekends and they only have picnic areas in the car park. I would never bother leaving the park to eat in one - for starters, their picnic area consists of two picnic tables in the middle of a car park! Lovely. No shade or anything. Then you have to factor in the 10 minutes walk from the main entrance... if you are anywhere further into the park I can't imagine you would bother leaving, the park is just immense and if you are there with little kids you aren't going to bother. That said, all last season we spent a grand total of $11 in the park total. We bought one refillable cup and got a few 99cent refills, not many, we usually filled with water. We always stop on the way there for food and then eat when we leave... it is perfectly possible to go without eating even for the kids when they are distracted on the rides etc. They very, very rarely complain of being hungry when we are in there.

What a total cheek.

They're barmy to be honest though.Any place that doesn't allow picnics is automatically off my list.Even if I could afford it which I can't I refuse to pay good money for foul food.This is one of the reasons I know many of my friends haven't taken their DC to Disney. Stumping up mega bucks is one thing but funding huge amounts of money on top for crap food is another.

Even if a theme park had Gordon Ramsay cooking the food I wouldn't buy lunch out for 5 as I simply don't have the money. No picnics simply means no visit.

These attractions are waaaaay overpriced anyway.London Aquarium is best part of £70 for us 5,it's a bloody aquarium for gods sake ie huge tanks of fish!!!!! Who honestly can afford extortionate sums of money for food on top????