The Health Nut's Guide to Saving Money and Your Waistline at Walt Disney World: A Walt Disney World Dining Review

It is also challenging, though possible, to find healthy food at Walt Disney World. When you want to maintain your healthy lifestyle while on vacation and minimize your food expenditures, there are several strategies you can use:

Pack a “food” suitcase. When you fly with Southwest or another airline that doesn’t charge baggage fees, you can pack a suitcase full of food. Include cereal, wraps, natural peanut butter, and non-GMO organic packaged snacks from home, such as granola bars, fig bars, dried fruit, and nuts. Remove from boxed packaging and place in Ziploc bags to save on space. For domestic flights, you can include fruit and veggies that don’t require refrigeration and don’t easily spoil.

Remember to pack some basic supplies in your “food” suitcase. This includes cutlery, plastic dishes, one small knife, Ziploc bags, and a small insulated cooler bag. If you are on a Disney dining plan, you can use the insulated refillable mugs for water. There’s really no healthy beverage to get with those refillable mugs anyway!

Come prepared for your flight. Pack snacks and a lunch for the plane so you won’t have to buy expensive airport food or compromise on food choices. You will need to buy water bottles once you are through security. You can even pack your own homemade healthy baked goods. These should keep for at least a few days, especially if you refrigerate them when you get checked into your room.

Have groceries delivered. Pre-order groceries from a reliable service such as www.gardengrocer.com. Order large jugs of bottled water, rather than paying $2.50 per small water bottle on Disney property. You can order healthy items for breakfast and lunch like hummus, bananas and other fruit, bagged salad, wraps, soy milk, orange juice, and baby carrots.

The mini fridges in Disney resort rooms are small and don’t have a freezer component, so be careful how many items you order that must be refrigerated. I like to order soy milk in cartons, which don’t require refrigeration until you open them. Also select fruit that can be left out, such as apples, bananas, and oranges.

Scope out your resort gift shop. If you prefer not to do a grocery order, you can still buy orange juice, milk, and other beverages in larger quantities in the gift shop at most Disney resorts. These are much better priced than individual containers of the same thing in the food courts. Deluxe resorts with villas tend to have a greater selection of grocery items available.

Have breakfast in your room. Save time (and get the most mileage out of the Disney dining plan if you have one) by having breakfast in your room every morning. Resort food courts are generally very busy every morning, filled with temptation, and result in much wasted park touring time.

Bring lunch with you to the park. Use your soft-sided cooler bag to bring in water bottles, snacks, fruit, and other food to the park. A small jar of natural peanut butter and some whole grain wraps can go a long ways for kids’ (and parents’) lunches in the parks. This is both economical and a healthier choice than most of the counter service options on the kids’ menus. Get fancy by adding some sliced banana. Why pay for those questionable pre-packaged Uncrustables PB&J sandwiches when you can make your own? Parents can make hummus and salad mix wraps from their mini fridge supplies or opt to supplement lunch with a counter service salad.

Purchase most meals from counter service locations. Skipping table service restaurants on your next trip will not only save you money, it will also help you maintain your healthy eating goals. After you’ve paid between $100 and $200 for a character dinner, most people feel they need to eat as much as they can to get their money’s worth.

Study the menus at www.allears.net for a good idea of current prices and meal selections. Also see, “The Health Nut’s Guide to Quick Service Dining at Walt Disney World: A Walt Disney world Dining Review.”

Do enjoy some (healthier) treats. Most of the frozen treat vendors have delicious frozen fruit bars. I find the strawberry ones especially refreshing and a great choice at only about 100 calories each. Also look for the fruit stands.

Splurge on at least one character breakfast. So you don’t miss out on all the dining fun, plan on enjoying at least one character dining experience. Certain character breakfasts are priced more reasonably at around $100 with tip for a family of 4. Lower priced character breakfast locations include 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian, Cape May Café at the Beach Club, and Hollywood & Vine at Hollywood Studios. Book the latest possible breakfast slot to turn this into more of a brunch that will see you through the afternoon. And since you’re only doing one, forget about healthy choices just this once.