I recently found myself back inside Disneyland Paris for the first time in more than twenty years.
Yes, two full decades have passed since I last roamed those pastel-paved walkways and heard It’s a Small World on an endless loop. And let me tell you, while the park has changed in a lot of ways, one thing has definitely improved: vegan food.
Read more below.
Now don’t get too excited. We’re not talking an all-you-can-eat vegan buffet inside Buzz Lightyear’s spaceship. But every food outlet inside the park does now have at least one vegan option. I know that doesn’t sound like anything to write home about, but let me take you back to my last visit when the only thing I could eat was a portion of French fries and I did that three times across one cold, rainy day.
So believe me when I say I was grateful for even the smallest improvements.
Toad Hall Restaurant was where I had one of the better meals of the day. Nine pieces of Beyond Meat vegan chicken, some decent chips, and a very welcome portion of tartare sauce. All of that came in at twelve euros, which honestly didn’t feel too outrageous given the location. Plus I was in Toad Hall. What’s not to love about that?
Later in the day, I found myself inside Café Hyperion, which is a bit like eating in a spaceship-themed shopping centre food court. I had a vegan burger featuring a Beyond Meat patty, served with fries, and a cup of drink for seventeen euros. The burger was quite compact and while it did the job, I couldn’t help but feel like the Toad Hall meal offered better value. There was also a quinoa-packed salad option on the menu that sounded like it might have made me feel like I had vitamins in my body.
My final sit-down meal was at Colonel Hathi’s Outpost Restaurant. I ordered the lentil dahl with basmati rice and naan, coming in at fifteen euros. Now look, I’m not going to lie to you. That is an outrageous amount of money for what was essentially the cheapest ingredients on the planet. But it was delicious and probably the most nutritious thing I ate all day.
There were also a few vegan snacks to be found around the park and I spotted a vegan cookie available at several of the kiosks. I didn’t make it into the Disney Studios park next door but I’ve heard there are plenty of vegan options available over there, too.
This trip was a once-in-a-decade (or two!) thing brought about by my husband’s desire to finally take his sister to Disneyland. It’s been their dream since they were kids and I couldn’t very well be the wet blanket that ruined the Disney fantasy. I smiled, I posed for photos, and I didn’t moan too much about the prices (out loud). I even had a little bit of fun, but you didn’t hear that from me.
Would I go back? Possibly in another twenty years. If I do, I’ll definitely be sneaking in a few of my own snacks to save money. If you’ve got the disposable income, sure, it’s a fun treat to eat vegan food inside themed restaurants while Goofy breakdances outside. But for me, that’s just too much money for one day, even if it only happens once every decade.
Have you been to Disneyland Paris recently? Did you find anything vegan that blew your socks off? Let me know in the comments.
Extra hilarious note: I don’t know how to type the symbol for Euro on my laptop. When I wrote this blog post, I wrote the word instead, thinking I’d go back and replace it with the symbol before publishing. Now I can’t be bothered!
If you appreciate these blog posts and the work I do to support vegan business, please consider making a one time small donation of a couple of quid online here. You might also be in the position to sponsor my work on an regular basis via Patreon.
You can order my book ‘Fat Gay Vegan: Eat, Drink and Live Like You Give a Sh!t’ online now. It has been out a while now but is still a good read. You can also listen to the Audiobook read by me!
You can watch/stream my weekly podcast Tell Me Where I’m Going (Wrong) on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Follow me on Instagram, Threads, TikTok, Facebook, and Blue Sky.