One Disney resort has stringent rules on food and drink, and has finally explained the logic behind this decision.
With six Disney resorts around the world, each rooted in a different culture, it’s not surprising that the rules vary from park to park. Some are more relaxed about guests over the age of 14 wearing character costumes, while others enforce strict guidelines on what you can bring onto property. (For the record, despite what you might have heard, playing cards are not banned at Shanghai Disneyland.)
Two Disney Parks Ban Outside Food and Drink
At one Disney resort, one rule dictates that guests shouldn’t bring their own food or drink into the parks. This isn’t the case at Disney World or Disneyland, where park rules state that “guests are allowed to bring outside food and nonalcoholic beverage items into the park for self-consumption, provided they are not in glass containers.”
It’s also certainly not the case at Disneyland Paris, where we’ve personally witnessed guests openly bringing entire bags of McDonald’s burgers into the park.
Tokyo Disney Resort, however, prefers that guests don’t bring their own meals, with its operator, the Oriental Land Company, recently explaining to a local news outlet why this is the case.
“It is to allow our guests to enjoy the ‘out of the ordinary’ experience at Tokyo Disney Resort,” a representative said when questioned on the policy. “We have prohibited it since the facilities first opened.” (Note that these quotes are translated from Japanese.)
To preserve the immersive themes of Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea, guests are strongly discouraged from eating outside food inside the parks. Instead, visitors who bring their own meals are directed to designated picnic areas located outside the entrances. Those who wish to use the picnic areas can temporarily exit the park and re-enter after completing a re-entry procedure.
However, Tokyo Disney Resort does make some exceptions to this rule. “Because some of our visitors are small children and elderly people, we allow them to bring in baby food and nursing care food,” the rep noted. Candy, gum, snacks for small children, water bottles, and plastic bottles are also allowed, while those with allergies are also provided with more leeway. “People with dietary restrictions, such as those with food allergies, are permitted to bring food and drinks into the restaurants in the park. In that case, your companions should order from the restaurant’s menu.”
Surprisingly, the representative confirmed that the vast majority of guests are good at sticking to these rules at both Disney parks. “Most customers follow the rule about not bringing in food and drink, so I don’t think there are many cases of people bringing in food and drink,” they noted. Personally, we’re not too sure the same would be true if Disneyland or Disney World tried to enforce the same rules.
Tokyo Disney Resort is often regarded as Disney’s best theme park resort (although some feel like Tokyo DisneySea is losing its crown as the best Disney park in the world as of late). Most recently, Tokyo DisneySea debuted Fantasy Springs, which is home to sub-areas inspired by Frozen (2013), Tangled (2010), and Peter Pan (1953).
Across both parks, guests can find food that’s notably different from that served Stateside. Tokyo Disney Resort is famously home to some of the cutest Disney food worldwide, with the likes of boiled eggs featuring Mickey-shaped yolks (genius, we know), as well as melon bread shaped like Mike Wazowski, mochi inspired by the aliens of Toy Story, and curries stacked with rice formed like Big Hero 6 (2014) icon Baymax.
With a particularly favorable exchange rate from the U.S. dollar to Japanese yen in recent years, tourism from the U.S. to Japan has soared. It also means that many have raved over the comparatively “affordable” prices at Tokyo Disney Resort compared to the likes of Walt Disney World, with everything from Minnie ears to snacks taking a lighter hit on your wallet than purchasing your merchandise and tasty treats at Magic Kingdom.
Do you prefer to bring your own food to Disney or dine at Disney restaurants?
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