Healthy Choices for Children?

[ronandannette]

We've got the dining plan for our upcoming trip August 23 - 27. I've been reviewing menus in order to do our planning and frankly I'm appalled at the TERRIBLE children's menus. It's my understanding that a child must order from the children's menu on the dining credits. How many days in a row can a child eat corndogs, maccaroni, pizza and chicken fingers without turning into a sluggish tub of goo? Even the table service restaurants that have very nice selections on the regular menu lists mostly this junk for kids. I'm not some kind of super-health-freak, but we don't eat like that at home and really wouldn't even consider it a treat in such large quantities.

Does anyone have any recommendations for places that might have lighter, fresher choices for kids? I'd especially appreciate any tips for the counter service places.

Thanks in advance,

Annette

 

[mmmears]

As a mother who strives to teach her child about good nutrition, I completely agree with you. We went to WDW over Spring Break (9 days) and were fortunate enough to find some healty choices -- that is too long a trip for cheeseburgers and mac & cheese.

We were not on the dining plan, but did eat in about 1 sit-down per day. I checked the menus online and picked the places that had grilled fish (FFish, I think) and grilled chicken breast (BDerby?) on the kids menu. For lunches, we ordered a couple of adult meals and maybe a fruit cup or something and shared with our daughter. Also, I did notice that some of the sit-downs have good appetizer choices for kids, like a fruit plate or carrots and celery.

The buffets also offer an opportunity for salads, fruit and yogurt. We thought we might have to order from the adult menu at times for our DD9 because of nutrition, but we managed to find something for her at every meal. The amount of food you get on the Dining Plan may be enough to share with her -- we could never have eaten that much food per day, and we consider ourselves to be pretty big eaters.

My daughter's one cheeseburger & fries (at the SciFi for lunch) was planned in advance. Otherwise we did pretty well. We shared a turkey wrap at Blizzard Beach, shared a lunch plate at Tangierine cafe, etc. Pieces of fruit and fruit salads are easier to find at snack stands now.

Good luck -- it is hard to watch these things at WDW but I think it is getting easier than it use to be. More and more people are concerned about nutrition and Disney seems to be noticing. I know this was long... I hope it was helpful to you. Have a great trip!

 

[LAWalz23]

Absolutely agree with you! In fact we tailored our choices not so much because of what was on the kids menus but because my niece and nephew (twins, age 8) don't really like what is on the kid's menus anymore. They prefer more adult foods so we are eating at two buffets, Chef Mickey and Boma (nephew's choice) and CRT lunch (niece's choice) and Alfredo's and Coral Reef for dinner. My sister figures they will have enough hamburgers, chicken nuggets and pizza at lunch.