Healthier Food Options - coming soon to DL!

I have mixed feelings after reading the article. While I think its good to offer healthy choices, it sounds like they might be taking it a bit too far. As an adult I'm capable of deciding if I want to eat healthy on vacation or not. I dont want it forced on me. I'm also not sure that they need to make the kids portions smaller. Smaller might be fine for a 3, 4 or even 5 year old. But what about an 8 or 9 year old? Naturally they will require a bit more. If they make it smaller, does that mean they will charge less? Probalby not.

Like I said, mixed feelings. I'll be curious to see how it all plays out.
 
hlbtimes2 said:
I have mixed feelings after reading the article. While I think its good to offer healthy choices, it sounds like they might be taking it a bit too far. As an adult I'm capable of deciding if I want to eat healthy on vacation or not. I dont want it forced on me. I'm also not sure that they need to make the kids portions smaller. Smaller might be fine for a 3, 4 or even 5 year old. But what about an 8 or 9 year old? Naturally they will require a bit more. If they make it smaller, does that mean they will charge less? Probalby not.

Like I said, mixed feelings. I'll be curious to see how it all plays out.


yeah I hear you...but at least they are still offering the usual sides like fries and soda so you do have a choice...if they were taking it away then I would feel it was forced on me...like you said..we will just have to wait and see how it plays out :confused3
 
My boys already complain if kids meals being too small..........I guess this just means goodbye to kids meals.
 
There are plenty of ways of making food healthier without compromising taste. A little less salt and a good quality oil does wonders. My husband and I eat organic at home so theme park food is a little hard on us, but there are a few selections at WDW and DL that do serve organics and free-range products. I'm sure Disney won't be losing their usual fried foods and sugar-covered treats, but there will be more healthy options. Even putting sauce/dressing on the side and putting in on yourself will often save people numerous calories. They might not be making the meals themselves smaller, just changing a few ingredients to lower the fat and calories. I'm sure they'll be adding options, not taking away the old tried and true. Disney usually does things 'right' so I'm sure this will be no different. I'm already happy with how Iger is doing things. So long Eisner!
 
If they shrink the kids meals, they should lower the price as well. My neice & nephew can split a kids meal now, so it makes it about $3 a piece which is a lot more reasonable.
 
I may be in the minority, but I was actually excited to hear that they will be offering some more healthy stuff at the parks. I love splurging on my fav's like churros and other treats, but after 4 days in the park I would love to have a dinner with a few more options than just my usual sad little side salad with ranch :teeth: . It would have come in handy last week, we just got back last night and I was on the scale this morning singing the "I gained 8 pounds" blues and squeezing into my after-vacation pants :rotfl:
 
When ordering meals for both boys, I usually get fries for one and fruit for the other, then split both. So they get a little treat with the fries, and healthy also with the fruit. :thumbsup2

At DL, I had to resort (hah, no pun intended) to bringing my own fruit, which is a hassle, not to mention making me feel guilty when I brought it out at meals. ;)
 
LOL - we went to Food and Wine last year in WDW and I gained 12 lbs! I'm quite small (100lbs) so it's quite a change. My face looks different in the photos from the first day to the last day!
 
MadfordaMouse said:
I may be in the minority, but I was actually excited to hear that they will be offering some more healthy stuff at the parks.

MadfordaMouse - I'll join you in the minority.

I don't even think you could call it healthy as such - just normal!!! The guidelines for fat etc in the articles are good. I don't want to change our food intake too much when we go away, so the new menus will help. 30% fat is part of a normal eating guideline. for someone on a 2000 calorie day diet thats about 67 grams of fat.

I can't see it being a problem for us - DD (4) thinks water is as delicious as Coke and and a carrot stick as good for her as fries!!!!!

Kylie H.
 
YIPPEE!!!!!
I agree that it isn't healthy food but more NORMAL. We just got back on Saturday and had a wonderful time but it is hard to feed your family there. Everyone needs some veggies and fruit to have energy for the day. I have a huge sweet tooth but I also know you can't survive on junk food for every meal.
 
memmom said:
YIPPEE!!!!!
I agree that it isn't healthy food but more NORMAL. We just got back on Saturday and had a wonderful time but it is hard to feed your family there. Everyone needs some veggies and fruit to have energy for the day. I have a huge sweet tooth but I also know you can't survive on junk food for every meal.

I've never had a hard time finding normal, healthy food in the park. There are fruit carts all over the place. Pretzels are natually a pretty low fat snack. There is water, ice tea and diet soda. Most places have chicken or turkey sandwichs. We have found some awsome salads. Many of the dinner type meals come with veggies. The choices are there, people just need to think about what they are eating.

I know a few people on this thread have reported wait gain after a trip. I'm overweight. I like food. I never gain wait while I'm at the park. We dont eat three big meals a day. We usually eat a light breakfast, then a couple mid sized meals and a snack or two. Typically we are on the go for about 15 hours a day. It takes a lot calories to put in that many hours!
 
For an adult you can find a few healthy choices, salads and some sandwiches. I do think they need to offer a wider variety for the children's meals. There are only so many hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken nuggets a child can eat. My kids would eat healthier meals if it were packaged as a child's meal. I hope they don't think making portions smaller is going to cut it. I'm hoping that more of a selection will be provided for adults too, not just a boring salad or fruit off a cart. I've noticed that after eating park food for several days we all start to feel a bit sluggish. I think this is a positive move on Disney's part.
 
I personally love the idea about the healthier kids' meals! I always bring extra fruit and veggies to the park; will be nice for it to be 'standard' for the kids. My kids don't drink soda, I split the fries between two kids and buy the four-piece instead of the six-piece meal! I limit my kids to one purchased treat a day in the park--churro, cotton candy, Tigger Tale so they still feel like being at DL is special. Also, we only get one sit-down meal a day. I find that the huge portions served at most places are enough to make into two meals! What I also do is bring ziploc bags with me so when we have extra fruit or raw veggies, I place them in the bag for munching later!

And, yes, I have never had a difficult time finding healthly food at DLR. I always buy healthy food for the kids to eat--will be nice to have healthy food packaged in kids' meal. Just makes sense to me that DLR targets adults to eat healthy but not kids!
 
Dis Ohana said:
For an adult you can find a few healthy choices, salads and some sandwiches. I do think they need to offer a wider variety for the children's meals. There are only so many hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken nuggets a child can eat. My kids would eat healthier meals if it were packaged as a child's meal. I hope they don't think making portions smaller is going to cut it. I'm hoping that more of a selection will be provided for adults too, not just a boring salad or fruit off a cart. I've noticed that after eating park food for several days we all start to feel a bit sluggish. I think this is a positive move on Disney's part.
I totally agree! I was pretty appalled at the kids menu choices when we were there. They loved eating burgers, hotdogs, mac & cheese, and fries with every meal! I would love to see more fruits and veggies included in the meals, and more non-fried entree options.
 
When we were there....2 weeks ago I think....I was shocked that the kids meals came with carrots and juice/milk instead of fries and soda. We don't normally do the kids meals, so I thought this was just the way it always was.

Either way. More power to um! As long as they still sell junk food they can make the 'meal' choices as healthy as they want :lmao:
 
I think it's great to have options. I would love to see a few healthier options for the kids, but I do think they try hard now. There are vendors that sell bananas, apples, water etc...so the choice is available.

I woulld hate to see the yummy things gone (like ice cream), but I don't think they are considering that...just trying to give options!

DisneyloverinWA
 
Options are good! One of the reasons I look forward to DLR is the yummy treats available--Tigger Tale, pumpkin fudge, and the list goes on! I appreciate the opportunity to try and balance out the treats with healthy meals for the kids!
 
Well, I have mixed feelings. I've expressed for a very long time how frustrating it is that fruit and veggies are not part of the kids meals, or options to have with the kids meals. Particularly for longer stays. One day or two days, not that big of a deal, my kids can eat garbage, but you go to multiple days and yikes! Now I know that there are places to purchase fruit and more healthy options, but often they aren't the kinds of things kids will eat. And, when they are, it's an additional expense, not part of the $6 I've already spent on a children's meal. Even many of the sit down meals offer basically the same foods you get at the CS. What I've started doing is bringing in apple sauce packs, dried fruits, and fruit cups (I find they stay better than fresh fruit) into the parks with me each day. At least one of the meals, or for one of the snacks, they'll get fruit. When they were babies/toddlers I was able to bring canned veggies for them, but now that they're older they won't eat cold canned veggies. I do try to bring carrots and brocolli and ranch dip. Once again, either lunch or snacks. But, it will be nice for the future to have those options.
I'm not keen on any smaller portions, though.
Edited to add, I've been pleasantly surprised at the healthy options available for adults, though.
 

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