Dea Birkett's Eating with Kids: Theme Park family food

by Dea Birkett

I’m against packing sandwiches for outings. That’s because my kids always eat them before they reach wherever we’re going. Then I have to buy them lunch anyway, so I haven’t ensured they’ve had a healthy meal nor saved any money. Sandwiches are the worst of both worlds.

But theme parks have been the exception. Our experience of food at almost any theme park has been so dreadful that I’ve reluctantly woken up extra early to construct five packed lunches before we leave for a day of rolling and coasting. In a survey carried out by environmental health officers across Britain this summer, not one of almost 400 meals checked at 220 popular days out met official guidelines for school meals. Four out of ten meals contained ‘nuggets’; almost seven out of ten included chips. It’s not that any soupcon of burger or fried potato should be wiped from the menu. It’s just that, at most theme parks, there simply wasn’t any choice.

But then we visited Lapland UK, a chilly white wonderland just outside Tunbridge Wells in Kent. Lapland UK, built around a central square with an ice skating rink, has snow (fake), reindeers (real), a gingerbread house (fake) and Mother Christmas (who, of course, is not fake at all.) But it also has food - real food, warm and wholesome. Seven-year-old Savanna had macaroni cheese and her best friend Lily juicy bangers and mash, followed by apple crumble. Even though it’s a theme park for families, there’s no kids menu, just four main dishes to choose from, all of which anyone, of any age, would love to eat. (I had scrumptious fish pie.)

Lapland UK’s secret is that a meal is included in the admission price. That way, they can budget for proper provision and pester power is curtailed. The kids couldn’t grind me down into getting them chips and fizzy drinks, as there weren’t any. On each table were a big jug of water and a big jug of orange squash.

It’s a heartening meal worth going all the way to the North Pole for. And the meal isn’t the only food you get while you’re wandering around in woolly hat and leg warmers. In the gingerbread house, Savanna and Lily decorated their own gingerbread babies, helped by an elf with a bell on the end of each pointy boot.

Other theme parks are trying to make a day out about having fun, not putting on fat. Legoland’s food outlets are now a cross between corner café and Starbucks, offering cappuccino and carrot cake alongside the French fries. At City Walk Pasta and Pizza, dishes are coded in traffic-light colours – the greener, the less salt, sugar and fat. And instead of fizzy drinks with kids’ meals, there’s a side salad. At Papa Moles Ice Cream and Coffee Shop, you can buy Ben and Jerry’s and hot home made mini doughnut; I know they’re not healthy but they are extremely delicious. They even have fresh orange juice – but at £2.30 – so a couple of bottles of juice in our bag saved quite a bit. Legoland, as many theme parks, is quite relaxed about mixing ‘n matching in their cafes, so we bought their food but drunk our drinks.

And at least we didn’t have to pack any sandwiches.

Next meal: Irish Stew

Dea Birkett
December 2008

Dea and family visited Lapland UK*, nr Tunbridge-Wells.
*£75-£85 per family ticket, includes 2 course hearty meal, and 4 hours of fun including working as an apprentice in Father Christmas' Toy Factory, Iceskating, visiting a tented Saami camp, meeting the huskies and reindeer, meeting Father Christmas with surprise gifts for the whole family.

Please note that Lapland UK is no relation of Lapland New Forest, but a genuine great value family Christmas experience.

See Take the Family's family destination guide to Kent.

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