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For parents and children alike, becoming "hangry," especially on vacation, is never a good idea. Hangry happens when a people become so hungry it effects their moods and they get angry, hence, hangry. Sometimes families easily lose track of time with all the fun of a Disney Parks vacation, but snacking along the way helps make sure no one becomes too hungry and turns a happy moment sour. This week we asked our Parenting Panel: What do you to to keep your family fueled in the parks? What are some of your favorite snacking tips and tricks?
Chris, also known as GusMan, is always planning his next family trip to the Walt Disney World Resort and loves to help others plan their trips, as well sharing his experiences. Chris writes:
There is a commercial going around for a popular candy bar that describes me very well when I start getting hungry. I tend to get a little jumpy, tired, and very un-magical. Keep in mind, when you are walking around the parks for hours on end, you are using a lot of energy and sometimes you simply need something to eat without taking up a lot of time or extra money. Because, let's face it, there is no shortage of food choices around the parks, but some might be better than others.
Like many guests, we tend to bring certain snacks from home or buy some during our drive down. We do, however, have certain criteria for our snacks to make sure that we don't simply carry around items that will just go bad or go uneaten. Here is how we plan for wise snacking:
- Snacks need to be compact. Generally speaking, a day's worth of snacks need to fit nicely into my wife's backpack or the outer pocket of my camera bag. We keep snacks in single-serving zipper bags for ease of distribution. (Just remember to dispose of the bags when done or reuse them if possible.)
- Durability is something to consider. Snacks like trail mix, nuts, and sunflower seeds travel real well. They pack a lot of energy in small amounts and you can eat them pretty much anywhere. Items such as granola bars are also good as long as you don't put them in a place where they are going to get crushed. Considering the temperature at Walt Disney World, items subject to melting are pretty much on the excluded list.
- Bring what you think you will eat on one day. There is no need to bring much more than what is necessary if you bring your own snacks. If you are planning an extended day, consider a bit more. Maybe consider leaving them in the room if you are only going to be at the parks for a few hours.
- Treat yourself to something in the parks. While I know up to this point I talk about bringing your own snacks from the room, there is nothing like the selection of tasty items in the parks. For our family we may split several different items throughout the day in order to not all fill up and to keep costs low. Items such as Dole Whips are great to share as well as popcorn and even my family favorite: the Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bar! (We have to fight over the ears at times.)
- Snack before someone gets crabby. We take advantage of downtime, such as waiting in lines, to break open a bag of snacks. This sort of multitasking helps keep the hunger away while making the time go by faster as well.
- Keep hydrated. While this may not seem like a snack tip, if you stay hydrated, it will help you digest any snacks you do consume. Keeping a bottle of water handy is always a good idea even if you are not snacking.
Personally, I think snacking while at the parks is a great pre-trip conversation to have with your family. Get some input from everyone and stock up before you go. At the same time, make time for the special treats around the parks as well. After all, eating around Disney can really be an event in of itself, even if it is a hand held treat.
MousePlanet columnist Chris Barry, his wife, Diane, Samantha (15), and twins Casey and Alex (12), live on Long Island and are all major Disney and Walt Disney World fans. Chris writes:
I have to say, we have rarely, if ever, packed our own snacks when heading to the Walt Disney World Resort. I am a backpack kind of guy. I’ve had my trusty yellow North Face backpack on every family Disney trip we’ve ever taken. I always carry things like Mickey ponchos, hats, autograph books, etc. But honestly, I’ve never carried snacks. There’s always a bottle of water sitting in the little net bottle holder of the backpack, and there’s usually a box of Tic-Tacs in one of the front zippered pockets, but that’s it. I’ve always left the snacking up to the parks. Now, on the surface, that may seem like an unhealthy disaster, but that would be up to us as parents to maintain, wouldn’t it.
I’ve always said in this column that child behavior in the Disney Parks needs to simply be an extension of what you would allow at home. There are certain stretches allowed on vacation, of course, but nothing too drastic. Ice cream on a hot Orlando day is practically a necessity and you probably wouldn’t let your kids go in the pool at home at 10:30 p.m. You do tend to look the other way for certain things when you’re wrapped up in the magic. That doesn’t mean they should be eating Mickey bars at midnight though.
Our children don’t snack on too much junk when they’re home, so logic dictates that we don’t allow it when we’re on vacation. They’re not used to walking into a candy store and getting whatever they want or whatever looks shiny, colorful and disgustingly sweet. The same goes for walking into the Main Street Confectionary at the Magic Kingdom.
We’ve made it a habit instead to walk into a place like the Liberty Square Market. Here, you can find plenty of apples, grapes, bananas, carrots, watermelon, trail mix, chips, baked potatoes and my favorite… the cold pickles. I’d rather give in to them on a bag of chips here because I can tack on a package of grapes or apple slices. They’re used to eating that way at home, and therefore eat that way when we’re down there.
Disney has done a great job of providing healthy snacks in their parks. You don’t have to buy cotton candy, when you can just as easily buy a bag of grapes or a tub of watermelon. Because of places like Liberty Square Market or the Harambe Fruit Market in Animal Kingdom, I’ve never had the need to cart our own snacks around. Yes, we’ll give in to the occasional popcorn and ice cream, but considering that we’re in four different theme parks in the course of a Disney vacation that’s not too bad. The kids have never complained and have never cried out for anything else, so it must be working.
It's your turn—keep the discussion flowing!
Visit the Parenting in the Parks forum on our MousePad discussion board, and share your opinions about this topic or many others, or send your suggestions via e-mail. Reader-submitted tips might be used in a future article, and you might be selected to participate in an upcoming panel discussion!
 
Comments
There is one thing that I think that Chris and I both somewhat alluded to through what we wrote... We dont pack or choose a lot of "junk food" snacks. My big reason for that is the sugar crash that comes along afterward. Its just better to choose snacks that will help curb your appetite than worsen it.
What are some of your fave snack for your family, regardless if you buy it or bring it?
We avoid over-indulging on sweets because we find that one of our children in particular sugar-crashes badly. When we do have sweets, we try to balance them with protein or choose a dessert after a meal to stay in balance. When we buy a snack at Disneyland, we usually pick popcorn or pretzels and we get one cheese sauce for the kids. When the kids were younger, I carried zip-top bags in my backpack to help distribute the popcorn to help curb the bickering (He had MORE than I did! "I haven't had a TURN yet!") I found that at some places, you can also ask for extra, empty containers to help divide the popcorn among the kids.
We carry what I call "Good Mood Food." I have family members who get REALLY CRANKY (one in particular, no it's not me,) when they're hungry. We have found that just three bites of protein can turn this person from Mr. Hyde back to his happy place. Good Mood Food is essentially trail mix. I keep it as simple as a few almonds, a few honey roasted peanuts and a few dried cranberries. I've made little packets of these (seriously, little,) with our vacuum sealer. Trader Joe's sells a package of individually packed trail mix similar to this, too.
Other times we make our own trail mix and carry it in snack size zip-top bags. We go to our local grocery store with bulk nuts and fruits (Sprouts) and make our own mix with nuts (I always include almonds, sometimes sunflower seeds, too,) and fruits like dried pineapple, dates, yogurt covered raisins, cranberries, etc. A few of these in the backpack rescue us when we're no where near a food cart, in line, stuck somewhere, or only one person is hungry and we're not ready to stop.
The munchies happen shortly in the afternoon after lunch at around 2 to 3 pm, and again after dinner. When I was on the Disney Dining Plan, they offered one snack per person per day. This is the best opportunity to indulge with ice cream, which you cannot pack in your bag. We also enjoy fresh popcorn. It isn't so easy to pack snacks since the humid air and hot weather can make foods taste terrible when left too long, but I often bring bottled water and some bagged loose grapes for the kids. Unopened oranges hold up pretty well and I bring those. They help to quench the thirst.
We keep snacks in the backpack. Like Adrienne, I have one who needs protein snacks all day or Mr Hyde appears. We typically pack lunches to help with the budget, so we have a cold bag available with ice packs (frozen waterbottles) so there is usually string cheese and yogurt packed. We keep granola bars, nuts, and usually some kind of non-melting sweet snack in small quantities in the backpack as well.
We also will purchase our favorites to share. Churros, Dole Whip, skewers from Bengal BBQ, mickey pretzels.
i don't go as often with family - but when I do we really try to control what we buy due to costs. All of my kids are older (youngest is 14). We will bring Craisins and almonds to snack on - and we'll allow for one sweet treat and one other snack in the park. If we're in the park a long time - then one of our meals is really snack-based and the other is sit down (yes, budgeting). We don't focus so much on whether its protein or not but I know we try not to overdo it on carbs. If its just me? all bets are off...
As far as snack purchases from Walt Disney World these are what we usually enjoy from the healthy stands I mentioned above - grapes, carrot sticks, watermelon, apples, bananas. I LOVE the pickles from Liberty Square. My family and traveling buddies laugh at me - but that's OK, they're crunchy, salty and cold and yummy!
Away from the healthy stands, one of the twins and my daughter like the popcorn, but not too frequently. I've been known to enjoy a pretzel. I always had a soft spot for the Disney chocolate bars. BOY, were they good, especially the Krispy ones. I'm very bummed out that they discontinued these. Mickey Premium ice cream bars are always a hit except they melt real fast in the summer. I also like to have a bag of Chip and Dale Mickey-shaped pretzels in the room.
It's always water as far as a beverage goes for all of us, unless I'm near Morocco in World Showcase, then I'll always get an Iced Mint Green Tea. My refillable mug is always about 99% unsweetened ice tea, the last drop is usually the Citrus flavor.
I love the idea of bringing baggies to split up the popcorn. Duh- what a genius idea!
So far our trips have been with babies and toddlers. My kids love raisins (we call them chewy rocks, which was a trick to get my son to try them). I will have to look into the yogurt covered ones. Do they melt easily? I know there is a fruit stand by Indy in DL. Where are the other ones? I seem to remember a smallish one near Splash?
Sometimes yogurt covered raisins can fare well... I think it just depends on the brand. Just dont get them wet... then its game over. Try toting them around home beforehand to test out the theory.
There is a fruit stand in HS as you go down towards HM and RnRC. Epcot at Sunshine Seasons as well as other places. Oh, Im drawing a blank at other places at the moment.
But now you all have me wanting a chilled pickle.
Fruit stands/carts at DL...
By Market House on Main street.
Across from Star Traders there is a small one, under the People Mover Track.
I think there is one in Toon Town.
The one by Splash is at the edge of the ROA above the canoes.
The bigger one in front of Jungle Cruise.
At DCA:
Filmore's is a fruit stand.
Across from Animation Academy where the break in the wall is to enter the small stage area.
I can't think of a stand back by Goofy's but you can get fruit at Boardwalk pasta and pizza.
We take lunch size paper bags to the movies to divide popcorn
Tell me the chilled pickles aren't the best?!?!
I'm not the only one!
The yogurt covered raisins have held up ok for us - but I keep them in a bag with nuts so they're in there with something to help separate them and keep them from melting into each other.
For adults particularly - sharing a childs meal can be a good snack on the hearty side of things, but still a snack.
And there are the three 'small plate' locations in Epcot - La Cava in Mexico, Spice Road in Morocco and the wine cellar place in Italy (between the two big restaurants).
Some of the varioius locals on both coasts also carry hummus with pretzel chips, which we've enjoyed as well.
And don't forget sometimes when you're hungry, you're just thirsty, so pay attention to hydration levels as well!
ETA: Oops, this is in a parenting column - The hummus and hydration points apply to all ages!
I have a Mr. Hyde. We just make sure we have protein available.
As far as snacks, we rarely carry many. If we are bringing nieces and nephews, my mom used to pack a suitcase of snacks for them. We'd usually bring 90% back. I finally asked her "Do they eat all this normally??" No. So why am I expecting to carry this through Disneyland? We only take them once or twice a year, so for them, we buy an ice cream or churro for a snack once a day. Now, if we were going weekly/monthly, we would probably bring more snacks. (Beef jerkey, Goldfish, protein bars.)
Fish!! Gold and swedish!
I keep forgetting to buy stock in Goldfish....