If you have been keeping up with my latest series, you know that we are talking all things health and fitness at Walt Disney World! If you haven’t go ahead and go read my post with tips for eating healthy at Walt Disney World. Today I will be providing you with an exhaustive list of my favorite places to grab a healthy bite to eat! This list is personal to me. These restaurants are by no means the only places to eat healthy, they are just my go to restaurants. It’s actually pretty easy to find something healthy to eat at almost any restaurant!
Breakfast
Honestly, your best bet for breakfast (if you are staying at a Walt Disney World Resort) is to eat breakfast at the quick service location at your resort. (This will also save you time in the morning allowing you to maximize your day in the park!) Options at resort quick service locations vary based on where you are staying, but most will have something healthy for you to choose from whether that’s oatmeal, eggs, fruit, or yogurt. Many locations offer a make your own omelet bar! My favorite thing about eating at the quick service location at the resort is that it’s easy to mix and match your order. If you want to order the plate that comes with eggs, bacon and potatoes, but you’re not into bacon or potatoes you can easily ask for oatmeal, fruit, (or whatever you want) instead and the cast members will be happy to accommodate you!
Lunch and Dinner
Everyone’s preferences for when, where, and how to eat lunch and dinner are different, so I am going to share my top healthy restaurant choices for both quick service and table service locations in each theme park as well as several options for visiting a resort.
Magic Kingdom
Columbia Harbour House is by far my favorite place to eat in Disney’s Magic Kingdom Park. This quick service restaurant is located in Liberty Square and has a fun colonial theme! They have great options including a grilled shrimp skewer or a salmon plate that come with veggie rice, green beans, and carrots. (I know from experience that you can ask for double veggies and no rice and they will happily accommodate you!) Columbia Harbour House also has a fantastic Harbour Salad just know that it’s a little on the small side, so you may need something else to help fill you up or save room for a snack later!
Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe is another good quick service option in Magic Kingdom. Here you have healthy eats including a southwest chicken salad, chicken, pork, or veggie rice bowls, and fajitas which are always easy to make as healthy (or not) as you’d like!
Cinderella’s Royal Table is my top choice for table service dining in Magic Kingdom. I should note however that there are several drawbacks to this restaurant. First, it is incredibly hard to book a reservation. (I mean you better be online trying to book a table as soon as you hit the 180-day mark, or you probably aren’t going to get in.) Second, this restaurant is about experience. Your lunch or dinner will take you at least 90 minutes if not more. Lastly, Cinderella’s Royal Table is absurdly expensive. None of these aspects are necessarily bad, just something you should know! This restaurant is located at the top of Cinderella’s Castle and is a magical experience for Princess fans of all ages, but especially little ones. Cinderella’s Royal Table has a seasonal menu, so it’s always changing. However, they always have a fish of the day and typically have a chicken dish and some vegetables.
Epcot
Epcot has so many great dining options it was hard to narrow it down, but after much time spent debating and remembering all of the restaurants I have visited I finally narrowed it down to my 5 favorite healthy eateries!
Sunshine Seasons (quick service) located in The Land in Epcot is basically a large food court with a wide variety of options. Side note: This is actually one of the few restaurants within the parks that I would consider eating breakfast in. For breakfast they offer healthy options including overnight oats with chia seeds as well as a broccoli and egg white soufflé. Now on to our real topic: lunch and dinner! Sunshine Seasons offers a Rotisserie Chicken with black beans and yellow rice, Oak grilled salmon, and an awesome power salad which includes chicken, quinoa, almonds, feta, and greens. (It is SO good that when my dad ordered it for his meal I ended up eating half of it!)
Tangierine Café is my next favorite quick service spot in the Moroccan Pavilion of the Epcot World Showcase. This restaurant offers Mediterranean eats such as a Mediterranean chicken wrap, shawarma chicken or lamb platter, lentil salad, couscous salad, and hummus. This is a great place to get a hearty portion of healthy food!
If you look across the street from Tangierine Café, you will find Spice Road Table a table service restaurant also located in the Moroccan Pavilion. This restaurant can be treated as a tapas style eatery if you’d like (great for sharing so you can try as many options as possible!) Some of my favorites are: the spicy garlic shrimp, mixed skewers, greens beans with toasted almonds, rosemary potatoes, yellowfin tuna, and a nice salad with eggplant, zucchini, and capers.
Right next door to the Moroccan Pavilion is the Japan Pavilion in Epcot’s World Showcase. Within Japan lies a table service restaurant called Tepan Edo which has an abundance of healthy options. These include: sushi, Salmon filet with a garden salad, udon noodles, vegetables, and steamed rice. (you can sub noodles or rice for more veggies!) You can also order grilled shrimp (comes with 10!!), scallops, julienne steak, NY steak, and chicken also with the same sides. A great vegetarian option includes seasonal vegetables with mushrooms, tofu, salad, veggies and steamed rice.
My final pick for Epcot takes us back to the land for a table service restaurant called Garden Grill. This is an awesome restaurant that slowly spins allowing you to see the gardens in The Land from which some of your food is sourced. This is also a family style character meal. Not all of the options brought to your table will be healthy (say Mac and Cheese!), but the garden salad, seasonal veggies, grilled turkey and beef are great! (the veggies and salad are as fresh as you can get coming straight from those Land gardens I mentioned earlier!)
Hollywood Studios
ABC Commissary is a great quick service option in Hollywood Studios with options such as a Mediterranean Salad, burgers or chicken burgers (can always be made bunless) with green beans or apples.
Backlot Express is another quick service location featuring the same chicken or beef burger option, but with carrot sticks as your healthy side. They also have a tasty southwest salad available.
Anaheim Produce is actually a snack stand (you won’t be able to get a full meal here), but if you are looking for a healthy snack this is the place to go. I highly recommend the oranges especially if you are traveling in the spring/summer seasons!
Animal Kingdom
By far my favorite quick service (possibly my favorite restaurant in general) in all of Walt Disney World is located in the land of Pandora. Satuu’li Canteen has a very fun theme that makes you feel like you truly are visiting the land of Pandora and has delicious food. At Satuu’li Canteen you get to create your own meal. You can choose from 4 bases, 4 protein sources, and 3 sauces. Your choice of bases includes: red beans and rice, potato/sweet potato hash, greens, or noodles (not particularly healthy, but I thought I’d tell you about this option anyways.) Next, you choose from either thinly sliced beef, chicken, shrimp, or tofu. (You can also ask for a chicken/beef combo). Lastly, you have a choice of the following sauces: charred green onion vinaigrette (my personal favorite! Also, the only vegan choice if that suits you), black bean vinaigrette, or a creamy herb dressing. Included with you dish no matter which options you choose are veggie slaw and Boba balls. If you know what Boba balls are (usually made from tapioca starch) it may sound like a weird combo, but they are actually a really fun and fruity addition to the meal!
Disney Springs
Disney Springs is the “downtown” area of Walt Disney World well known for a vast array of shops and dining experiences. My favorite table service restaurant in Disney Springs is House of Blues. This is a southern themed restaurant with a New Orleans twist. They have some great offerings including Blackened Salmon, brussels sprouts, shrimp tacos, and a wide selection of salads.
Resorts
If you are at Animal Kingdom Theme Park, you are just a short bus ride from Animal Kingdom Lodge home to two incredible dining options: Boma Flavors of Africa and Sanna’. The experience you will have at these two restaurants are completely different, but both will offer healthful and delicious eats.
Boma Flavors of Africa is a table service buffet in Animal Kingdom Lodge-Jambo House. Now I normally would NEVER include a buffet on a list about the healthiest places to eat (due to the large quantity of food I tend to eat at buffets!), but this buffet is different. Boma Flavors of Africa offers fresh meats, fresh fruit, healthy soups, many varieties of salads, veggie sides, and a variety of hummus options. This is a really fun place to try out healthy eats authentic to Africa! The salads you will be offered are not just the standard lettuce, tomato, dressing situation. You may try a lentil and hearts of palm salad, maybe a watermelon rind salad. Boma Flavors of Africa also does include your typical buffet eats for any party traveling with picky eaters!
Sanna’ is a table service restaurant located in Animal Kingdom Lodge-Kidani Village. This restaurant is really fun for everyone because you can dine while looking out at the giraffes, zebras, and other animals of the Savannah. You can choose from some healthy eats including: tandoori shrimp with a harvest salad, a beef kebab with braised greens, and Kenyan Mukimo (mashed potatoes mixed with green veggies!)
Kona Café is another one of my favorite table service restaurants found in the Polynesian Village Resort. Kona Café is very conveniently located along the monorail route so if you are in Magic Kingdom, Epcot, or staying in another monorail hotel you can travel here quite easily. Kona Café has a great steak salad, Polynesian Tuna Nicoise, poke, Verlasso salmon steak, New York Strip, sashimi, and nigiri. My favorite part about eating here though is that they DO NOT skimp on the veggies!! If you need a good veggie fix this is your restaurant! You can choose from grilled broccolini or grilled asparagus and you better be ready to eat. You will be shocked to see that when the cast member brings out your meal you will have two plates. One for your main meal and another plate entirely dedicated just to your vegetable of choice! It’s honestly incredible; I’ve never been so excited about vegetables as I am when I visit Kona Café!
If you stuck with me for the entire healthy eating tour, thank you! I hope you were able to find a few places that sound good to you and fit your tastes! Remember Disney has diverse menus, so even if you visit one of my go-to restaurants for a healthy meal they will have options that anyone would like! Trust me, I travel with some seriously picky eaters! If you try out some of my top picks or find a great healthy option of your own leave it in a comment, I would love to know!
Love all of these suggestions!