Dear Friends,

My mother, brother-in-law, sister and I are going to Disney World for nine days in April.

As we all know, as wonderful and fabulous as Disney World is, almost everywhere you look, its cuisine can do damage to the body of an innocent person wanting to lose weight...!

Are there any tips anyone can give me about eating responsibly, staying away from temptation, ordering smaller portions, and choosing wisely while I'm there? And perhaps maybe a few pointers on some Disney restaurants that won't do so much damage, complete with healthy, good-for-your-body food?

Hi Champagne! Welcome! It's going to take a lot of willpower! I'm not sure I have any great advice, but maybe eat a big, healthy breakfast, then make sure you've got water all the time, to help stave off the temptations? I went to Disney in '94 and stayed at the Contemporary resort. We went to a breakfast buffet they had up on the top floor. Not that I'm recommending a breakfast buffet, but maybe you can eat a big bowl of fruit, some cottage cheese, or an omelet with meat in it for extra protein? You could always pack some protein bars the have on hand?

You can order a hamburger, do not eat the bun, that will save about 200 calories.

you could eat your breakfast at the hotel, pack a light and healthy lunch and snacks, and that way if you do eat somewhere you won't be as tempted to over due it for say dinner. there are tons of restaurants, diners, cafe's food stands, candy stores, ice cream shops, etc. at Disney so when you do induldge in something really good, make sure it's something you couldn't or wouldn't have an oppurtunity to get at home. my mom does weight watcher's and she isn't exactly what i'd call heavy, 5'8" 170, she is 71 years old. her sister and their friend just went back to Disney, ate out 1 meal a day for 14 days, come home and still dropped 6 pounds! i think it was from all the walking they did. so keep that in mind too, you'll be doing a lot of moving.

with that said make sure you catch all the great rides, don't miss "honey i shrunk the audience", "the haunted mansion", "pirates of the carribean boat ride", "splash mountain" ,"the peter pan ride","it's a small world", be sure to catceh the parade at the magic kingdom, and the fireworks at epcot are SUPER, epcot has lots of fun rides in the individual countries but for some reason they seem to be "hidden" just ask someone in the country if they have a ride and where, great troll ride, but i cant remember which country. also DO NOT MISS the animal safari ride at the animal kingdom!!

hope you have a blast, good luck to you!

Thank you all so much for your replies, I really appreciate them very much. I think maybe I'll have lots of healthy snacks and water on hand.

I'll also eat a good snack before meals so I won't eat so much at mealtimes, and eat mostly fish and chicken, greens and fruit, very little or no alcohol, very little dairy and cheese, lots of protein (with protein bars I'll carry) and I'll rarely invest in dessert. I'll also have lots of walking to do, which won't be much of a problem, and I'll bring my workout DVDs to do upon my return at the resort I'm staying at. Thanks again for your wonderful advice!

Eat breakfast before you go into the parks. There are inexpensive breakfast buffets up and down US 92 if you can handle the temptations.

As soon as you go into the parks, make lunch and dinner reservations. You will only be able to make them for the major full-service restaurants, but those are the ones that will be able to work with you. Or, you can eat in the park for lunch, try to get a healthy snack, and eat dinner outside the park.

Animal Kingdom has Rainforest Cafe just outside the entrance. They have salads and some other good choices. This is a restaurant you don't want to miss, especially if you have kids.

In Magic Kingdom, the restaurant back in Frontierland has some of the best choices, can't remember its name.

The restaurants in EPCOT are awesome. It's hardest to eat healthy in Mexico or Great Britain. Canada, Japan and Morocco have some good choices. Norway used to have an absolutely awesome buffet, but they've turned it into a Disney character restaurant. You'll want to stay in EPCOT at least one night long enough to see the fireworks program.

In Hollywood Studios (formerly known as MGM) the Brown Derby is the place to eat.

You should be able to find menus online. They definitely will have them at the Disney hotels and when you are making your reservations. The hotels will also have the park maps and opening/closing schedules and peformance schedules. You'll get to do a lot more if you review these ahead of time and put together a general plan for the day.

There are more healthy snacks available in the kiosks than there used to be. And make sure you drink a LOT of water. You can buy it bottled and there are water fountains throughout the parks.
HTH

I'm so glad I ran across this!! I'm not going to Disneyworld, but my 3 kids, my parents (extra hands!!), and myself are all going to Disneyland in about 10 weeks. I just joined WW yesterday and sometime last night I thought "Uhoh, what am I going to do on vacation?". Thanks to this, I'm going to do some investigating and really plan out my food options while out of town. One thing I know I'm going to splurge on though because I can't get it anywhere local.......pineapple Dole whip yum yum. I'll have to figure out how many points it is. I can already see myself holding up the line asking for nutritional info lol

Hi earthgrl, LOL I can picture myself annoying the maitre d' at every restaurant, asking them to saute my fish instead of frying it and whatnot.

Hi webrover, thank you once again for your advice, it was really good, and I'll follow it to the best of my abilities!