1. Pack lunches to bring with you to the park. You won’t have to wait on line for food, can eat exactly what you want and you’ll save big bucks.
2. Bring reusable water bottles and forgo sugar-laden drinks. Pat yourselves on the back for traveling greener and avoiding plastic water bottles. The kids can turn their bottles into instant souvenirs by slapping stickers on them.
3. Skip kids’ meals entirely and share an adult portion with your child or divide an adult portion between two kids.
4. Make reservations for dinner at a “sit down” restaurant in the park where you have more healthy options to choose from. Order a half portion from an adult menu for the kids. Use vacation to encourage them to try new foods!
5. Opt to stay someplace where you have a kitchen or at least a fridge so you can prepare a healthy breakfast-cereal and milk, yoghurt, fruit, etc, rather than calorie-laden pastries or doughnuts.
6. Pack your own snacks so when the kids-and you-get the munchies you can satisfy your cravings without cotton candy, giant lollipops or caramel apples.
Let’s hear it for Mickey Mouse.
Order a kid’s meal at a Disney park and you get apples instead of fries, (unless you ask for fries), and low-fat milk rather than sugary soda. Of the more than 12 million kids meals served last year at Disney Parks and Resorts in the U.S., parents stuck with the healthier options six out of 10 times. Now Disney will enhance these efforts by further reducing sodium in kids’ meals and introducing new well-balanced kids’ breakfast meals.
This is all part of a broader initiative just announced that makes Disney the first major media company to introduce new standards for food advertising on programming targeting kids and families.
We all know the dismal childhood obesity statistics: 1 in 3 children are overweight or obese. But whether a child is overweight or not, it’s certainly not healthy to eat a steady diet of fried and fat-laden foods on vacation.
As we all head to theme parks this summer, let’s consider how we might eat healthier while we’re there. Sure you can still get churros, burgers, chicken fingers and fries and all the ice cream you want at theme parks, but you can also get fresh salmon and rotisserie chicken at LEGOLAND Florida, where there is an entire new exhibit, complete with LEGO characters about farming and where our food comes. At Sea World Orlando’s Sharks Underwater Grill, there’s a steak kabob on the kid’s menu.
Nearby at Downtown Disney, Kids chowing down at Wolfgang Puck Cafe can choose California rolls made from ham and cheese while the Italian restaurant Portobello offers whole-wheat cheese pizza and the kids’ menu at Fulton’s Crab House includes crab legs and fresh fish. 
There is no doubt that when it comes to an ideal location to rent a vacation condo within the U.S., or just enjoy perfect sunny weather and out-of-this-world attractions, Florida is near the top of the list. It rarely ever experiences winter frost, with average temperatures ranging in the upper 80’s in the summer, and the 60’s in the fall and winter.
Few places come close to the breadth and diversity of attraction in the Orlando, Florida area. Whether traveling with children, parents, a spouse, or on spring break, central Florida offers premiere entertainment for all, exceptional choices for the vacation condo and enough to satisfy the pickiest of personalities. No longer is the area synonymous with pixie dust alone, as golfing, award winning dining, shows, sports, theme parks, and food, wine, garden and Mardi Gras festivals promise unmatched excitement and lifelong memories.
Are you planning a vacation including a visit Disney Word and the surrounding theme parks and attractions in Central Florida, particularly those in the Orlando area? Are you hoping to play at one of the championship golf courses or partake in the numerous sailing and water sport offerings of nearby Tampa and the Gulf Coast cities?
Nostalgia is big today. Notice how many ’50s diners have sprung up along the highways and byways, how many trolleys have been turned into roadside diners, and how many inns are built to resemble Tara. When people plan a vacation to get away from the stress of life today, they often go back in time to their childhoods. What says childhood better than Disney? Perhaps people do need to time travel a little to a time when the only stress in life was keeping their little brother away from their Mouseketeer ears. Planning a Disney vacation in or near Orlando, Florida would be the perfect escape.
