Thursday 4 April 2013

Buffalo Bills Wild West Spectacular - Disneyland Paris

For a while, we've been planning to take The Child to Disneyland Paris and this Easter we got the opportunity to do so. 4 days in the most commercialised example of fake tat on the continent it may be, but I have to be honest and say that not only was I looking forward to it, I was a little excited!

As this is a food blog, I had thought to document the meals and discuss their merits, however, upon reading the many and various reviews online, it seems that in terms of merits, there would be be few to be found at all. In order to salvage something from the compromise I resolved to test and expose the culinary disasters as a lesson for us all.

First, a small caveat - Mrs P. and I decided that as the food within the park was so outrageous (€4 for a stick of candy floss and €3 for a bottle of coke for example), that we would take a pack-up lunch each day. At first glance, not a hard-core food lovers course of action I hear you shout. However, let me assure you that it is only because I am the aforementioned food lover that a pack-up should be the only acceptable course of action. Not only to save a bloody mint, but you at least have an understanding about what you are eating. With the park offered burgers and hot-dogs, it is cutting close to the wind to say otherwise.

Right, on to Buffalo Bill. This takes the form of an 'evening of entertainment and dining'. You are shepherded into rows, each seat with a plate, bowl and drink. The drinks were all free but the offerings limited:

Cheap lager
Flat coke
Water

Honestly, after a day of wandering around Eurodisney, any beer is good beer and I finished the first glass and asked for a second before the server had moved out of shouting distance (and you better believe that when beer is involved, I can shout a long way). Still, Mrs P. and I both thought that wasn't too bad considering the amount of people they were contending with.




The adults had a bowl of cowboy chili to start while the child went straight on to the main course to save time. Mrs P. is not a fan of chili at the best of times and when the first kidney bean passed her lips, she passed the bowl on to me. I had a good go, but to be honest the bean to bowl ratio was too high even for me and conscious of the farty party that was going to go down later in the hotel room, I stopped before the end. To ease the chili transition, we were also given corn bread which was very sweet but tasty. I think it would have been much better if the chili was hotter, both in terms of temperature and taste.



Following the chili, was a massive plate of protein. Two pork ribs, a sausage, a chicken leg and a load of potatoes. Clearly anything green was just not authentic. All the meat was well cooked but coated in a thin, what I assume was, BBQ sauce. I wasn't a fan but it did at least provide some much needed moisture. This was not going to help with the bum rockets later on but I was hungry and it couldn't be avoided.

Pudding was ice-cream and apple pie. Quite nice to finish off, it did it's job well but with no spectacular cinnamon twist.

The show was really good. Audience participation was constant and the plate/bowl/cutlery stood up to the really rather significant battering I put it through in an effort to make as much noise as was humanly possible. needless to say, The Child loved it, which is the point really but with all the horses, cows, buffalo, Indians and Cowboys the food was simply a fuel for all the hollerin' and awhoopin'. At €170 for two adults and a child, it sure as ship ain't cheap. And if you pay £45+ per head for dinner at home, you could perhaps expect a lot more than we got, but hell, Mickey was there and you got a free hat so stop your complaining.

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