Surviving Disney

Disney is amazing when it comes to foods that they offer, espeically all of their sweet treats! That would be the hardest part for me to avoid. I would say to maybe research the different places they have to eat in and out of the park and just be smart about what you order. Indluge a little, you'll deserve it, but remember to keep a mental note of everything you are putting in your body. I know that for me, going into a place where there is temptation all around, knowing what the healthy options are before hand helps to keep the healthy eating on track. Best of luck and have a blast!

You can take a cooler/back pack with healthy snacks and limit yourself to one meal at Disney. And even at your meal you can opt for chicken or fish.

Our last trip to Disney I actually lost 2lbs.

There really are some decent choices. Last time I was at Disneyland two years ago I had a grilled chicken sandwich with fresh avocado slices on it. YUM!

I second what Ram Runner said. Theme parks make the most money from their food sales and you end up saving a ton by just bringing in your own fruits and snacks. I usually just snack on a backpack of food for the day and get a nice big meal for lunch, then maybe something light for dinner. Having a big [but hopefully not huge and heavy] early lunch helps because you'll be doing a lot of standing and walking to help burn it off throughout , plus you can always box up some of it for later. That's my usual plan for Disneyland.

I actually write a blog about Theme Park food! I cover Disney quite a bit: www.themeparkfoodie.net.

Would you mind telling me which parks you are planning to visit? I can recommend the best restaurants and menu items based on the parks you'll be seeing.

I will have to check this out, thanks! We are not doing any parks at all. So we're limited to just hotels and Downtown Disney and the Boardwalk. We are driving down so taking a cooler of food might be worth it. We're staying the All Stars and so they don't have a fridge in the room. Thanks for the advice

There are a lot of great dining options at the resorts and in DD and the Boardwalk; most locations will offer something considered "healthy." That being said, you ARE running quite a bit - you may want to look into information more focused on nutrition than low calorie options.

For cheap resort food, I highly recommend Landscape of Flavors at Disney's Art of Animation resort. The food offerings are fresh, healthy, delicious and very affordable.

Enjoy your trip!

How fun that they offer races like that, and great way to guarantee some exercise...although the amount of walking you'll do there will certainly give you that too.

We did a week in Disneyland over Thanksgiving, and something huge that saved me was bringing food and snacks into the parks with us. I had to be very disciplined in eating what I brought and maybe planning on indulging in one thing, but not only saved me a ton of calories, also a good chunk of money while there.

I also got myself into the resort gym to get some extra workout time in.

But, it's still your vacation, and you need to just enjoy being away and have fun!

We're going to Disney World in March, have never been, will be helpful to see some other responses.

We're going to Disney soon, too! Yay~<3 We're doing a dining plan so I have to make sure I make smart choices (most of the time~) too. You can always get fresh fruit (bring it in the park if you're not on a dining plan and get it as your snack if you are), salads, boiled eggs, pitas, veggie burgers, fish, tofu, Boma at Animal Kingdom has hummus, fufu and other great high fiber/grain foods. Order sauces on the side, substitute veggies/fruit for fries, ask that your meat not be cooked in butter, and if you don't mind asking see if you can order a half-portion of an entree for less money.

Also~ I found this cute little "Eat This Not That" chart:

Instead of a Mickey Bar: 1 Bar, Calories: 330, Fat: 22g, Carbs: 31g, Protein: 3g…
Have a Dole Whip: 1/2 Cup Prepared, Calories: 80, Fat: btwn 1 and 3g (differing based on sources). Note that the usual Dole Whip serving is more than a 1/2 cup, but even with size, you’re saving on fat calories.

Instead of an ice cream cone at the Fountainview in Epcot…
Have a Kaki Gori from Japan

Instead of a Cosmic Rays cheeseburger…
Have a grilled chicken sandwich with veggies or a veggie wrap

Instead of a Margarita from Mexico…
Have a glass of wine from Germany

Instead of ordering steak at a table-service restaurant…
Have a pork or chicken dish for one or two nights

Instead of cheese fries… (I know. Painful.)
Have a soft pretzel, or even some pretzel nuggets with cheese sauce

Instead of a Turkey Leg (Nearly 1000 calories!!)…
Have a deli sandwich at a bakery or a grilled chicken sandwich at a counter service restaurant

Even at Disney there is something healthy at every stop~ I don't plan to make those choices 24/7 while I'm there, lol. But I certainly plan to be good most of the time. All that running and walking will probably have you losing weight at Disney! Have fun!

Dole Whips are SO GOOD! They arent too bad in terms of calories and so worth it! Also, most of the food places have salads, fruits, etc. There are really so many options.

If you go to allears.net they have a lot of information as well as menus for most of the restaurants (not nutritional information, but it can at least give you an idea of the food offered). You can also look at "The Disney Food Blog" (just search it, I think that is the web site name too, but not sure) where all they blog about is food at Disney . Disney has so many great places to eat and awesome food it can be hard to stick to a diet (personally, if we go to Disney again anytime in the near future, I will just let myself splurge a little but still try to make healthy decisions such as grilled instead of fried and no heavy sauces, more vegetarian dishes, etc.). If this is a one time thing and you don't go to Disney every day, you might want to think about relaxing a little and have at least one meal a day that you don't worry "how many calories is this?" (within reason, though). Also, you can check with your hotel and see if they offer fridges- I know that Pop Century had undergone some renovations (that is where we stay when we go) and the last time we went they had fridges in the rooms, so they might be upgrading all the value resorts to have fridges in the rooms now. If you are taking a car you could definitely take a trip or two to the grocery stores around town and get the things you need for breakfasts and snacks.