Calorie Counting at WDW

[Michael Shiels]

Hello everyone! I am extremely new to the boards so please forgive my "noob-ness" as I learn how to navigate and communicate properly. I am an avid Disney Head according to the most recent Disney Nerd for Life survey. I am currently in the planning phase of our next WDW trip in just a quick 338 days!!

My wife and I have been dieting with a lot of help from MyFitnessPal. Calorie counting and nutritional information have really improved our diet and our lifestyle. Has anyone been able to find any dietary information related to any restaurants or quick service areas? I can hodgepodge the recipes a bit, but I wanted to see if there is anything currently available.

I look forward to chatting with everyone in the future about all things Disney!

 

[NYwdwfan]

First off - welcome to wdwmagic!

Now about the nutrition information - I couldn't find a website where everything is listed. I did find something that stated that all the counter service restaurants have a binder that lists all the foods and ingredients - mainly for those with food allergies - but it said the nutrition information is in there as well. I have never seen or asked for this book but it may be worth a shot! I could not find anything on the table service restaurants.

 

[Weather_Lady]

WDW is great about working around dietary restrictions, but not so great about giving nutritional information like calorie counts. (The menus change so often, it's probably tough to keep track of.)

There is some WDW info. on MyFitnessPal itself, but there is no resource (online) that gives nutritional information.

I have read that there are ingredient/nutrition "books" that you can look at, on request, at counter service locations, although CMs are not always well-informed about their existence or where they are kept. Of course, at the table service restaurants, you can always ask to speak to the chef if you want to ask about avoiding particularly fatty ingredients, or if you'd like your meal prepared a certain way (e.g., "don't drizzle my steak with butter").

The easiest thing to do is probably to exercise wise portion control, and rely on the 10 miles or more that a typical Disney guest walks each day to burn some extra calories.

 

[wdwmagic]

Be Our Guest lunch has all the of the nutritional info for each item available on the ordering screens at the restaurant. That is the only one I know of.

 

[wdwmagic]

PS. Welcome to WDWMAGIC!

 

[NYwdwfan]

You can also "ballpark" it by using a similar item off myfitnesspal - just to get somewhat of an idea of what you're at for the day. That's what I did on a recent vacation - just to keep my streak going on the app. Of course, I may have forgotten to log a few things.

 

[Michael Shiels]

Well thank you all for the welcome and that is a start! I have never heard of "binders" but that is a great help. I will also investigate MyFitnessPal to see if they have some dishes. My wife and I do like to walk alot so I plan to get early morning walks around PORS before we head off to the parks.

 

[nutsaboutdisneybelfast]

I am doing slimming world , my plan at WDW is to make healthy choices at each meal with a treat everyday. Hopefully all the walking will balance out the extra calories.

 

[wdwmagic]

I think the best strategy in the face of having no hard numbers at each location is to just try and use common sense and make good choices from the menu. There are some healthy dishes around, particularly at Epcot.

 

[zurgandfriend]

I don’t believe calories count at WDW. Seriously figure in all the walking and possibly swimming, eat sensibly and you will do fine.

 

[Michael Shiels]

Thanks again everyone. I do agree with the common sense aspect. My major concern is the fat and sodium amounts I intake daily. Gotta keep the heart healthy!

 

[wdwmagic]

I don’t believe calories count at WDW. Seriously figure in all the walking and possibly swimming, eat sensibly and you will do fine.

People always say that, but you can still do some serious calorie damage at WDW even with walking.

Lets assume a 10 mile walk in a day - which I think is probably on the high side for most. That would be about 1000 calories spent on the optimistic side.

Now look at the food. Something like a Turkey Leg - 1000 calories, Mickey bar around 500 calories, throw in some sodas, a breakfast, lunch, dinner, and you are easily in the 3000 - 4000 calories a day range and heck knows how much excess sugar and fat.

So even with the walk, it is still very easy to be in an excess calorie situation.

 

[Michael Shiels]

Agreed. When my wife and I were last there together in April 2012, we spend the entire day at EPCOT. We must have walked around World Showcase 3-4 times while staying on our feet for the majority of the time. We ate at the German buffet for lunch and then Fish-n-Chips for dinner. With a few beers and snacks...we still both came up with something like 1000 calories burned just in walking and I estimated 2000 calories intake. Needless to say, on our return home...I has lost 2 lbs total! We did walk alot, especially around the resort.

 

[Michael Shiels]

FYI, you guys rock! Thanks again!!

 

[wdwmagic]

Agreed. When my wife and I were last there together in April 2012, we spend the entire day at EPCOT. We must have walked around World Showcase 3-4 times while staying on our feet for the majority of the time. We ate at the German buffet for lunch and then Fish-n-Chips for dinner. With a few beers and snacks...we still both came up with something like 1000 calories burned just in walking and I estimated 2000 calories intake. Needless to say, on our return home...I has lost 2 lbs total! We did walk alot, especially around the resort.

You only managed 2000 calories intake with the buffet and fish and chips?!?! What went wrong?! LOL

I bet most people would do 2000 to 3000 at the buffet alone, and the fish and chips has to be in the 600 mark.

 

[Gomer]

People always say that, but you can still do some serious calorie damage at WDW even with walking.

Lets assume a 10 mile walk in a day - which I think is probably on the high side for most. That would be about 1000 calories spent on the optimistic side.

Now look at the food. Something like a Turkey Leg - 1000 calories, Mickey bar around 500 calories, throw in some sodas, a breakfast, lunch, dinner, and you are easily in the 3000 - 4000 calories a day range and heck knows how much excess sugar and fat.

So even with the walk, it is still very easy to be in an excess calorie situation.

Just chiming in here because I have some actual data on the calorie counting form my last trip. I happened to get a pedometer as a Christmas present this past year and brought it with me to WDW in the first week of January. It’s not a perfect assessment, but my results were as follows:

Avg day:
In parks from 9 am-12:30pm.
Rest in hotel until usually 3:30.
In parks until closing or 9pm at latest if open later.
2-3 trips to food court for refillable soda per day
I was wrangling 1 10 year old, and pushing a 3 year old in a stroller.

All that said, the pedometer had me at 1200-1600 calories per day. DHS days leaned on the lower side. Epcot days obviously skewed higher.
Being that it was pretty cold, I don’t think there were any extra calories burned off due to heat, so I think it’s a somewhat reliable read.
For the OP, this doesn’t help with sodium or cholesterol intake, but I did find that by eating within reasonable but still fun expectations (I very clearly wasn’t dieting, but I did keep myself to 3 meals and 2-3 small snacks per day with somewhat abundant soda intake), I neither lost nor gained any weight during my 8 day stay.

 

[Texas84]

I exercise and do weightwatchers, but at Disney World it all stops and I eat anything I want. Unless it's a runDisney trip then I'll go nuts after the run. It's vacation!

 

[Michael Shiels]

You only managed 2000 calories intake with the buffet and fish and chips?!?! What went wrong?! LOL

I bet most people would do 2000 to 3000 at the buffet alone, and the fish and chips has to be in the 600 mark.

Sadly, I didn't finish my plate when it came to the Fish-n-Chips and the buffet...I had to hold myself back and give each item a very small amount of real estate on the plate.

 

[Michael Shiels]

I exercise and do weightwatchers, but at Disney World it all stops and I eat anything I want. Unless it's a runDisney trip then I'll go nuts after the run. It's vacation!

I totally agree...it IS Vacation! I need to remind myself of that from time to time...

 

[cw1982]

My philosophy: it's one week out of my life. I plan to behave between now and then and get right back on track when I get home and let the scale say what it will. A lot of the weight increase right after most trips (from my experience) tends to be water weight from all the sodium anyway so it usually fixes itself in a week or two after getting home.