Healthy eating at Walt Disney World is quite possible, contrary to popular opinion.  I recently enjoyed a week-long vacation at Disney World with my husband, our 9-year-old son, and our 7-year-old daughter.  We found many healthy food options during our visit, and I’m happy to share my restaurant suggestions with you.  If you missed my recent post about guidelines for healthy eating at Disney World, you may want to start there.

The best place for great food at Disney World is Epcot.  There are wonderful options in Future World and the World Showcase.  Where else can you find restaurants focusing on food from 11 different countries all in one place?  Each restaurant in the World Showcase is staffed by native speakers of that pavilion’s country, which makes the experience feel even more immersive.  During our vacation, we got to enjoy special tasting menus throughout the World Showcase as part of the annual Flower and Garden Festival.  If you’re visiting between March 6 and May 19, 2013, don’t miss out on these specialties.  We also found great food in other parks and hotels at Walt Disney World.  If you’re planning a trip in the near future, it’s important to make reservations ahead of time.  Some restaurants require a credit card to hold the reservation and they charge a fee if you cancel with less than 24 hours’ notice.  Many of these restaurants book up months in advance, so don’t wait until the last minute to figure out where you’ll be eating.

Don’t miss The Land at Epcot to see where some restaurant meals are grown.

Epcot’s Future World

Garden Grill:  If you’re planning a vacation to Disney World, you’ve probably discovered by now that you can’t do it all.  You will have to skip certain rides or parks in order to maintain your sanity.  One thing you do not want to skip is a ride in Epcot called, “Living with the Land.”  This boat ride takes you on a multimedia tour of diverse ecosystems including rain forests and farmsteads, and you’ll see real food being grown by Disney’s horticulturalists.  After you’ve experienced this ride, go upstairs to the Garden Grill Restaurant.  This character dinner with Chip, Dale, Pluto, and Mickey includes food that’s grown right there at “Living with the Land.”  They offer family-style dining, so platters of food are brought to your table that everyone can eat.  At our dinner, the vegetables in the salad and the squash on the main platter were all grown on site.  The delicious tilapia was sustainably raised right there as well.  I loved sharing this meal with my family.  Not only was it delicious, but it connected well with the values I’m teaching my children at home.

The salad at the Garden Grill includes vegetables that were grown on-site.

Epcot’s World Showcase

Biergarten: After a long day of travel from Massachusetts to Florida, we arrived famished at Biergarten, a German restaurant in Epcot.  I don’t love German food, but my husband lived in Germany as a child and he has fond memories of those days.  I vaguely recall eating at this restaurant in my childhood and walking away unhappy, but I thought it would be a fun place for my husband to start the vacation.  They must have changed things quite a bit in the last 30 years, because I love this restaurant now.  They have carving stations with several types of meat, Brussels sprouts with bacon (one of my favorites!), green beans, beets, warm German potato salad, sauerkraut, wurst, spaztle, dumplings, and apple strudel for dessert.  I’m missing about a dozen other items from this buffet.  As the waiter told us in his charming German accent, “There’s a lot to try.”  An oompah band performed on stage while we dined, and the décor made us feel like we were dining outside in an old German town.  This was the perfect place to arrive with a big appetite, and our kids loved the meal as much as we did.

You’ll see your food being cooked at Teppan Edo in the Japan pavilion.

Teppan Edo:  Another great restaurant in Epcot’s World Showcase is Teppan Edo at the Japan pavilion.  This restaurant offers hibachi dining, where there’s a grill at your table and the chef cooks the food right there in front of you.  This was a wonderful real food meal where we could see everything we were about to eat being prepared, and the chef explained what ingredients he was using.  He put raw veggies, meat, and noodles on the grill.  We all got a kick out of the onion volcano he built.  The sauce was served on the side, which is always a nice touch when you want to control what you’re eating.  My son loved the rice, which unfortunately was white rice.  It was good news though, because he typically doesn’t like rice and I can work toward making a brown rice version of Japanese sticky rice.  This meal was a highlight for our family as well.

The Epcot Flower & Garden Festival is a beautiful and delicious event.

Epcot Garden Marketplaces:  On the last night of our visit, we had several snack credits left on our dining plan.  Fortunately, the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival was going on, and this event included special kiosks in each country with tasting menus.  Many of the items qualified as snacks for the dining plan, so we spent our last evening circling the World Showcase and sampling food from all different parts of the world.  The menu items were connected to agriculture in some way, so this was a great way to cap off our vacation.  We tried potato pancakes with homemade applesauce in Germany, spring pancakes with chicken and green apples in China, and fruit sushi (“fruishi”) in Japan.  The fruishi was my daughter’s favorite.  We capped off the evening at the pineapple cart with Dole Whips, an iconic Disney treat.  This was one of our non-real food splurges.  I appreciate that a Dole Whip is dairy-free, but it has a lengthy ingredient list including artificial food coloring.  As a nice consolation, though, they were handing out packets of basil seeds to everyone who bought a Dole Whip.  I’ll be planting them soon and remembering our great vacation as I make pesto during the summer.

Fruit sushi was one of my daughter’s favorite desserts from our vacation.

Magic Kingdom

Be Our Guest: A highlight of the Magic Kingdom’s new Fantasyland expansion is Be Our Guest, a restaurant modeled after Beast’s castle in Beauty and the Beast.  This restaurant is booked solid for the next 6 months, and with good reason.  I think this was the best dining experience of our vacation.  Each of us loved our meal, and I was very happy to see whole grain pasta with sauce on the children’s menu.  My son ordered this and he really enjoyed it.  I had the salmon, but I wasn’t sure if the dairy in the leek fondue would bother me so I substituted roasted potatoes and seasonal vegetables for my side.  My meal was perfect.  This was a rare occasion where I ordered a drink other than water, and I enjoyed the organic lemonade with berry foam.  The best part of the meal was the amazing dessert cart, full of gorgeous cupcakes and puff pastries.  If you’re going to fall off the real food wagon, this is the place to do it.  We ordered four different desserts: the strawberry cream cheese cupcake, the lemon cupcake, the chocolate cupcake, and the chocolate mousse pastry.  We all sampled each other’s desserts, and everyone was convinced that their dessert tasted the best.

Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Brown Derby: On the last day of our vacation, I was very happy to have this restaurant on our agenda for lunch.  They’re known for their Cobb salad, and I was ready for a big salad at this point.  The Cobb salad was invented at the original Brown Derby restaurant in California many years ago, and they still use the same recipe here at Hollywood Studios’ Brown Derby.  This is a fancy restaurant that requires 2 table service credits if you’re on the dining plan, but if you’re just getting the salad it’s a good place to pay out of pocket.  I told my husband ahead of time that I made reservations at this restaurant with the Cobb salad in mind because everything else on the menu was very expensive.  The poor guy agreed to a salad for lunch, but he did enjoy it.  The salad was delicious, although it was a bit parsley-heavy for my tastes.  I’ll ask for it without parsley next time.

The Cobb Salad at the Hollywood Brown Derby is a delicious lunch.

Contemporary Resort

The Wave. . .of American Flavors: This wonderful restaurant is located at the Contemporary Resort.  They focus on fresh, local ingredients and their offerings are healthier than most.  The dinner menu includes whole grain pasta, sustainable fish, and fresh salads.  The children’s menu has many good options, including baked chicken strips, grilled fish, grilled pork tenderloin, and whole grain pasta.  Unless your hotel is on the monorail, the location isn’t ideal.  We weren’t able to fit this restaurant into our agenda on our recent vacation, but it was a highlight of our previous trip two years ago.

Polynesian Resort

Ohana:  We stayed at the Polynesian two years ago, and ever since we left I’ve been thinking about the breakfast at Ohana.  It was the last meal we had on a trip that was too short, and that meal stayed with me for two years.  Imagine coming down the stairs in the morning and finding a giant skillet on your kitchen table filled with delicious scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, home fries, and biscuits.  This is how breakfast is served at Ohana, and I love that big skillet of food.  They even have a special tropical juice made just for the Polynesian.  I don’t typically like restaurant home fries, but Ohana is an exception.  I’m not sure what seasonings they use, but I could eat the whole batch of them myself.  Lilo and Stitch join Mickey Mouse and Goofy at this character breakfast.  I think I’ll be dreaming about it again for another two years.

This breakfast skillet served at Ohana is full of protein to energize you for a day at Disney World.

Am I missing any restaurants that you love at Walt Disney World?  Please tell me so I can start planning my next vacation!

To many people, “eating healthy” and “Disney World” are two phrases that just don’t go together. With tempting desserts at every turn and hefty food portions at many restaurants, how can a family expect to maintain healthy eating habits while visiting the happiest place on earth?  Little Susie will throw a fit if she can’t have that giant spiral rainbow lollipop, and poor Johnny just needs that chocolate-dipped Rice Krispie treat shaped like Mickey Mouse.  Nobody wants to fight with their kids about food while they’re on vacation.

Despite these challenges, it is possible to maintain a healthy food regimen while on a vacation like this.  I recently enjoyed a week-long trip to Disney World with my husband, our 9-year-0ld son, and our 7-year-old daughter.  Food was actually one of the highlights for us.  When deciding what to eat during our vacation, we depended on the same general guidelines we use at home.  We came up with a plan, we stuck to our principles, and we splurged a little along the way.

Come Up with a Plan

Fuel for the Workout
Disney World is a workout.  Visiting the parks requires lots and lots of walking.  After 6 days at the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios, I don’t think my legs could have done it for another day.  Muscles in my legs that I didn’t even know I had were aching by the end of each day.  My children claimed that their legs didn’t hurt, but they were definitely ready to crash when we got back to our hotel for our daily afternoon respite.

With all this walking and standing in line, your body requires fuel to navigate the parks.  There are so many decisions to make regarding food over the course of a Disney day, and the best way to deal with these choices is to come up with a plan ahead of time.  This is just like meal planning at home, only this time you don’t have to do the cooking.  The more preparations you do ahead of time, the more relaxed you will be when your vacation finally comes.

Walking on Main Street USA

Set a Restaurant Agenda
Once you decide which parks or resorts you’ll be visiting each day, figure out where you want to eat.  For table service meals, it’s important to book reservations ahead of time, and 6-month’s notice is necessary for some places.  I also recommend deciding where you’re going to be at lunchtime and choosing counter-service meal locations ahead of time.  You can find the menus to all the Disney restaurants on their website.  If you have a portable mobile device, you can download the Touring Plans app and this will allow you to look up restaurant menus on your phone or tablet.  (Side note: I highly recommend this app for planning the order of rides you’ll go on at each park, for checking the wait times at rides across the park, and for navigating the FastPass system.  It was the best $11.95 I spent for this vacation.)

Disney World is a wonderful place to visit if you have a family member with food allergies or sensitivities.  When my family traveled here two years ago, I was avoiding dairy and gluten at my doctor’s suggestion.  I noted this on my online dining reservations, and at each restaurant a chef came out to talk to me about which options on the menu would be safe for me to eat.  Even at the counter service restaurants, a manager would come out and help me select an appropriate meal.  There was always something I could eat.  Disney is incredibly conscientious and accommodating when it comes to food allergies.

Biergarten Restaurant in Epcot

Set a Food Budget
Look at the details of the Disney Dining Plan and decide if the numbers make sense for you.  We’ve gone to Disney World both with and without the dining plan, and I’m not sure that it saves you money unless you eat the most expensive things on the menu at the higher-end restaurants.  However, it’s nice to have the food budget figured out and paid for so neatly ahead of time.  On our recent trip, we did use the dining plan and I appreciated being able to order whatever I wanted on a menu without considering the price.  My brain happens to be wired to look for the least expensive item on a menu, so it was liberating to be able to look differently at the menus on this vacation.  (The dining plan includes a drink and a dessert with every meal, so I chose water for my drink and fruit for my dessert on several occasions.)

In budgeting for food at Disney World, I recommend bringing at least a few things from home.  If you bring a few packages of nuts and dried fruit, homemade snack bars, whole grain bread, peanut butter, granola, and other protein-packed snack items, you’ll save money at the parks.  You’ll also have nutritious food available for the times when you can’t find anything but junk.

Candy galore at a Disney gift shop

Stick to Your Principles

Focus on Fruit
Once you know where you’ll be eating, stick to your real food principles when you order at the restaurants and snack kiosks.  For snacks, concentrate on fresh fruit.  You’ll find apples, oranges, bananas, and grapes everywhere.  I even found packets of fruit squeezers in a gift shop in Epcot’s France pavilion.

You can get fresh fruit or ice cream at this snack stand in the Magic Kingdom. What would you choose?

Ask for Substitutions
While Disney isn’t always explicit about this, it’s very accommodating for substitutions.  If your meal comes with fries, ask for grapes instead.  Rather than ordering dessert off the menu, choose a fruit cup.  Ask for sauces and dressing on the side.  Every time I requested a substitution, the servers were happy to oblige.

Look for Short Ingredient Lists
When fruit is unavailable, look for a snack with a short ingredient list.  A bag of potato chips often contains only three ingredients: potatoes, oil, and salt.  Even though the oil isn’t the type you’d use at home, this may be your healthiest snack option.  If you’ve packed nuts, seeds, and dried fruit, this would be a great energy-boosting snack in the midst of a long walk across the park.

There’s nothing but fruit in these pouches I found at a gift shop in Epcot.

Choose Smart Drinks
Remember these two words: drink water.  There’s no reason to drink sugary drinks on a vacation like this, unless it’s a special splurge like the homemade organic lemonade with berry foam at Be Our Guest.  If you’re on the Disney Dining Plan, each meal comes with a drink.  Don’t use that as an excuse to order soda.  A bottle of water is a much better choice when you’re trying to stay hydrated and well-fueled for the marathon.  Milk is often an option for the children’s meals as well.

Avoid White Flour Carbs
Don’t eat the rolls.  I know the waiter will put them on your table.  Don’t eat them unless they look like the best rolls you’ve ever seen.  And in that case, just have half of one.  They’re all white flour and not helpful fuel.

Behave at the Buffet
At “all you care to enjoy” buffets, just fill your plate once with a normal amount of food.  Don’t eat two or three plates full in order to get your money’s worth.  If you think this will be too challenging for your family, avoid buffet meals when you plan out your schedule.

Make Healthy Menu Selections
Order a hearty salad with dressing on the side instead of a sandwich and fries.  When possible, avoid typical kids’ meals like chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese.  Some menus offer special healthier meals for children.

Some kids’ menu offerings are healthier than others.

Splurge a Little along the Way

This is still a vacation, so of course you and your family should enjoy a few treats along the way.  Choose two or three special desserts or treats to have during your visit.  Give yourself space to have one or two unexpected splurge desserts.  Be smart about it – don’t indulge in an extra dessert on a day when you’ve already splurged.  Talk to your children ahead of time about how you’ll be dealing with treats.  You can include this in a conversation about souvenirs, which you’ll find in great abundance throughout the parks and resorts.  If you’ve given your children a solid real food foundation, they’ll understand why that rainbow-colored lollipop isn’t the best choice for a special dessert.

You may be tempted to relax your real food principles completely while you’re on vacation.  From personal experience, I strongly urge you to resist this temptation.  On our first full day at Disney World, we let our kids splurge more than a little and they had several treats and unhealthy meal items.  Everything seemed fine when we went to bed, but a couple hours later, I woke up to the sound of one of my children vomiting.  There was no fever or illness; this was simply the result of a day full of bad food choices.  Trust me, this is not something you want to deal with in the middle of the night on your magical vacation to Disney World.  When our bodies are accustomed to real food, they can’t easily shift to junk food without side effects.  Maintain your principles on vacation and everyone will be happier.

Eating Healthy at Disney World: The Restaurants

Later this week, I will post my specific restaurant and meal recommendations.  I found several real food jewels on my dining journey, as well as a few non-real food treats that you won’t want to miss.  There’s one park that has an amazing selection of food, and it’s where we ate dinner almost every night.  (Here’s a link to my Eating Healthy at Disney World: The Restaurants post.)

Stay tuned to find out where I got this lovely salad.

Have you been to Walt Disney World? What food tips would you add to this list? I’d love to hear your suggestions.

Linking to Fat Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday, Healthy2Day Wednesday, Fight Back Friday.