Toddler Food

DisneyDiva1998

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jul 11, 2019
Hi all! Traveling for the first time with a toddler to Walt Disney World! We are veteran WDW goers who have been enjoying the parks for years, but being the parents of littles in Disney is brand new. So, help me with food options for toddlers! Are there any tips and tricks you have? Any lesser known options available? I’ll take whatever you’ve got! °o°
 
I don't think it's that different than what they eat at home?

I went with a 20 month old and stocked the stroller with goldfish/teddy grahams/apple sauce pouches. She devoured the fruit plates at breakfast, we did Ohana and Garden Grill breakfast because they aren't buffets.

My kid's a weirdo and didn't like chicken tenders for the longest time....she also won't eat hot dogs. So she just ate off our plates at most restaurants.

If you do any table service, include the kiddo in the head count.
 
Our son went on his first trip at 18 months. We stayed club level, so we got snacks for him from the club. We got him kids meals at the restaurants. It wasn’t any different than at home...he’s 3.5 now and has always eaten whatever we’re eating, and gets kids meals at restaurants.
 
We first took our son when he had just turned 2. I used garden grocer to order breakfast foods, whole milk and snacks for him. The restaurants only served 2% milk and he was still drinking whole organic so I wanted to make sure he still got that in at breakfast time. I also didn't order him any kids meals at restaurants, still don't really and he is 3.5. I let him share with me or order a side item of something (in Mexico they had an excellent fruit side) We did his regular snacks of crackers, yogurts, apple sauce pouches, cereal bars etc. Depending on the age, take a cup they can drink out of. In April they weren't serving cups with lids or straws in quick service or snack carts which is a disaster for a toddler. This baffled me beyond belief but it was consistent between parks, food locations etc.
 
When we took our almost 2 year old, he mostly shared meals with us. A couple of times he shared a kids meal with our 7 year old if it was too much for her to eat. At CRT and the Bon Voyage breakfast, the servers offered him his own free kids meal. He eats anything, so it was never an issue, but there's still loads of kid-friendly options all throughout the parks. Kids meals at most places generally offer things like Mac and cheese (not typically standard Kraft though so just a heads up if that matters. My oldest will only eat Kraft), chicken nuggets, hot dogs, etc. You can get fresh fruit at many quick service places. Bring some non-perishable snacks to keep in the stroller like goldfish, pretzels, and applesauce pouches so you don't have to pay the markup in the shops. Also, I'd recommend bringing a sippy cup as lids and straws aren't provided at quick service locations for the most part. If you're going when it's hot, consider keeping his milk intake at a minimum. Take advantage of the free ice water at quick service locations. You can also get juice or Powerade at many locations.
 
If you see something your toddler might like on the menu, but maybe prepared slightly different, ask. At two different restaurants, we were able to get "uncooked" quesadillas. My kids liked tortillas and shredded cheese, just not melted cheese. So they happily brought us tortillas and cold shredded cheese. Thankfully they are a tiny bit more adventurous now, but that was great when they were little.
 
We took our daughter for the first time last Nov (she was 2/5yo). We were on the dining plan so we did a lot of buffets and family style meals so we could share with her.
 


Our three generation trip strategy with 2 yo twins and a 5 yo (grandkids) was: character breakfasts (tupperware for leftover fruit/bacon, etc.) ; a refillable popcorn bucket; rental stroller came with a soft cooler so juice and fruit and pepperoni; familiar snacks as at home. Big early breakfast kept us going (with drinks and snacks) til later QS lunch time and then naps in strollers with adults doing rider switch FP+ rides. TS meals counted the twins for seats, but didn't charge for them though we did trigger the group @ 18% tip policy. We did no buffets til Day 5 (Chef Mickey). Grazing on healthy snacks was the pattern.
 
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We did TONS of buffets when they were under 3 since they were free, and then we could make up plates for them of whatever they liked to eat. We tried to load them up at lunch and do more grazing/snacking rest of day. Breakfast was usually something we could bring with for him to snack in the stroller. That way, we woke him up right when we were ready to head out for the day. He could slowly wake up and then snack on his breakfast on way to park, through security, through turnstiles, etc. That is a lot of dead time, so it was nice to multi purpose it.

Even now, my youngest just turned 7 and I hardly every buy him a meal. He is more of a snacker or I bring food in for him. I refuse to pay $8 for an uncrustable, so I just bring my own.
 
At many of the quick serve restaurants you can get just the sides by themselves. For example, if you are at a place that has rice as part of their meal, you can usually get just a side of rice. If you see a sandwich option that they might like, but there is something on it that they don't like, just ask them to leave that part off.

Also, check out the "allergy menu" if your little one likes "plain" food. There are often times things available on that menu that aren't listed on the regular menu.

Have a great trip!
 
I found that my 2 year old didn’t eat much while we were at Disney. Between the excitement and the heat, his appetite was way lower than normal. So that really stressed me out at first, trying to find something he would eat. But then I decided just to keep offering things and not push it. I think his favorite meal was at the Plaza restaurant. Their kids Mac and cheese was tasty and a huge portion. And included a dessert tray of cookies and milk. I also packed a loaf of raisin bread (one of his favorite foods) in my suitcase for pre-breakfast snacks. My husband thought I was weird for packing a loaf of bread, but sometimes it’s a long time between waking up and getting to your breakfast location!
 
Our three generation trip strategy with 2 yo twins and a 5 yo (grandkids) was: character breakfasts (tupperware for leftover fruit/bacon, etc.) ; a refillable popcorn bucket; rental stroller came with a soft cooler so juice and fruit and pepperoni; familiar snacks as at home. Big early breakfast kept us going (with drinks and snacks) til later QS lunch time and then naps in strollers with adults doing rider switch FP+ rides. TS meals counted the twins for seats, but didn't charge for them though we did trigger the group @ 18% tip policy. We did no buffets til Day 5 (Chef Mickey). Grazing on healthy snacks was the pattern.

They let you take extra food out of a buffet? I've never seen that happen - usually you are stopped from tupperwaring more food.
 

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