Healthy eating on the QSDP?

[eeyoresmom]

Can you share your experience with trying to eat healthy on the QSDP? Any specific meals to try or avoid in all 4 parks? Also, I love Caesar salad, and know they are on the menus of several QS places, but does anyone know if you can order one with dressing on the side? THanks!

 

[free2div]

Columbia Harbor House has good healthy and different choices..also Cosmic Rays has some grilled chicken. Sunshine Seasons at Epcot also have some good healthy choices. and I do beleive you can get the dressing on the side. Just ask. Even Pop Century food court has a wonderful salad selection.

 

[Vicksterp33]

bumping this up as I have some of the same questions!

 

[NEV2OLD4DIS]

We were able to eat healthy on the QSDP without any problem. I can't answer your question about Ceasar salad, except for at POR where we could get dressing on the side. Since we stayed at POR, we were able to get some great meals. Loved the make you own salads for which you could choose chicken or steak and romaine or European lettuce blend, the carving station and make your own pasta with a choice of sauces and shrimp or chicken. I consider pizza to be healthy in moderation, and all of us enjoyed our pizza.

In MK Cosmic Rays had some good wraps, and a topping bar or 1/2 rotisserie chicken. They might have had salad, but I'm not sure. Columbia Harbour house had a very good tuna sandwich. You could also take the monorail over to another resort for a CS meal. We did this at Poly, and I had a wonderful flatbread pizza and Dolewhip for dessert-yum!

Epcot has Sunshine Seasons with excellent choices. There might have been some healthier dessert choices too. I like to think that I chose healthy with an awesome fruit tart, but only the fruit probably fit! I'm sure there are other healthy meals in Epcot, but I can't think where at the moment. Loved going unhealthy here though with fish and chips at CS in England.

AK would say the salads at Pizzafari or sandwich, although I don't consider cold meats healthy unless they don't contain additives like sodium nitrate. Restaurantasauras has a Mandarin Orange Chicken Salad that I wanted to try, but it wasn't open when we were there recently-too early. Another poster just mentioned on a thread that the sandwich at Tamu Tamu Refreshements was good.

HS had sushi, I think many call them California Rolls, at Starring Rolls. I did go with the unhealthy cold meat, but at least lean sandwich here. It was very, very good. Other than that, I don't remember where healthy is found here. We've always gone to Toy Story Pizza Planet for the kids and had the pizza and salad. Not bad-has to be better than a greasy cheeseburger.

DTD has Wolfgang Puck Express. Great choices here and awesome food for CS meal. Can't say enough for this eatery. I would think Earl of Sandwich would have good choices also.

Take a look at the menus on allears.net. That would be the best way to see what suits your taste. I tried to eat healthy most of the time, but definitely caved at times. Just had to have those desserts and sweet snacks, not to mention the fudge and candies we brought home with our leftover snack credits. But, after all, it was vacation. The last piece of fudge left our refrig. Monday, so it's back to eating better again!

 

[Hootch]

a salad at Pinocchio Haus. They have different dressing packets available outside the counter area so you can choose from. It's probably the same thing at Pecos Bills and Backlot Express.They have a Ceasar Salad and a Mediterranean Salad. The chicken in both is kind of bland but the greens are usually fresh and good.

Columbia Harbor House has the Anchors Aweigh sandwich which is tuna and the Lighthouse Sandwich which is hummus and slaw.

Cosmic Ray's has a grilled chicken sandwich and Pecos Bills also has a Caesar Salad.

In Epcot Sunshine Seasons has a grilled veggie sandwich, a stir fry station and a salad station. The grilled veggie sandwich is very good. I haven't tried the stri fry or salad station. In the World Showcase Lotus Blossom Cafe has vegetarian stir fry and a sesame chicken salad. Tangierine Cafe has a chicken wrap and chicken shawarma along with a vegetarian platter.

At DHS Backlot Express has a grilled veggie sandwich and a grilled turkey and cheese sandwich.

At Animal Kingdom Flame Tree has a smoked turkey sandwich, smoked chicken (healthy if the skin is pulled off), and fruit plate with yogurt. Pizzafari has a Caesar Salad.

Avoid the ribs. Sommerfest is probably not the best idea since they serve only frankfurters and brats. To me the burgers would seem okay if you want a little something different as long as fries weren't the side item.

I think there are a lot of choices out there.

 

[Mr_G3]

We have used QSDP on both of our WDW trips and find it hard to beat for value. When I estimate OOP vs. QSDP, I really do think we come out ahead by buying the plan. We use many of our snack credits on water in the parks, which would add up quickly. We also believe, with some careful choices, the food at WDW is healthy. Of course, you will have lots of desserts to choose from, which isn't the way we normally eat.

At MK, we like Columbia Harbor House, Cosmic Rays, or Pinocchio Haus. All of them have some variety and include healthier choices. Healthy or not, you should also try a Dole whip .

DHS is a more difficult proposition; we ate at the Toy Story pizza place this year. It was pretty good, but I'm not sure you'd call it "healthy". Starring Rolls probably offers better choices than pizza. In 2009 we tried Studio Catering and were not impressed, even though the menu does have a variety of choices.

Animal Kingdom's Pizzafari was good when we ate there in 2009. It's probably the same pizza as the other WDW CS restaurants, but it seemed to be tastier to us, and the salads were good. This year we ate at Flame Tree; the turkey sandwich was very good.

Epcot is the best park for CS/QSDP. Sunshine Seasons has a very good menu - try the salmon and salad. In World Showcase, we enjoy Tangerine Cafe in Morocco and the Kringla Og Cafe in Norway (great sandwiches!).

Alas, the pastries in France probably negate our attempts to eat responsibly. At least you can walk most of the calories off in the parks.

Don't forget Earl of Sandwich and Wolfgang Puck Express in Downtown Disney. These are the best CS restaurants in WDW in my opinion, and you have healthy choices at both places.

 

[Buckalew11]

Flame Tree also has a salad with BBQ chicken in it. Yum!!

I eat that caeser salad at many different places in the park nowadays. First time I saw it was at Cosmic Rays. Not sure about the dressing..maybe, if you ask when you order. I am looking forward to it this coming week!

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Echoing what many have previously posted. In MK, we always eat at Columbia Harbor House. Love the tuna sandwich, love the hummus sandwich. I appreciate the cold sandwich options, especially on warm humid days. Nice to be able to get a light yoplait yogurt for dessert and a bottle of water to drink.

Epcot, another vote for Sunshine Seasons and Tangierine Cafe. Sunshine Seasons is nice because there's a larger variety of entrees and desserts. Tangierine plate meals can EASILY be split between 2 people. It's a lot of food.

Animal Kingdom, Picnic in the Park is probably your best bet. I REALLY miss Tusker House being a counter service restaurant. They had the best grilled salmon/rice plate. I would love to see this converted back!

DHS, Ugh. Ugh again. When will this park have better dining choices? A better idea would be to head to DTD and have lunch with the Earl. I love the tuna melt there!

 

[720L]

Flame Tree also has a salad with BBQ chicken in it. Yum!!

This was a very good salad! Backlot Express also had a good Southwestern Salad.

 

[Mamu]

Disney has come a long way in offering healthy meals. All the QS restaurants now offer healthy choices.

I do think most of the salads come with the dressing on the side. If not I'm sure they will accommodate your request.