The part of the vacation we look forward to the most is also the part that I dread the most when it comes to eating: The Theme Park!
Let's face it, they really don't cater towards healthy eating at theme parks. To make matters worse, they often won't let you bring your own food in. I know this was the case with the water park (Hurricane Harbor, Arlington, Texas) my daughter and I went to a couple of weekends ago.
So let's start at the gate:
I knew they didn't allow food, but I was gonna try, anyhow. My daughter and I packed protein bars and jerky and water bottles in a bag we were bringing in the park. When they went to check our bag I explained to the guy that when both my daughter and I don't eat regularly I have blood sugar issues, and that protein best keeps my sugar steady. This is true, and you have the same condition: It's called hunger.
At any rate, I told the poor boy at the gate checking bags that if the park sold lean jerky and my brand of protein bars I'd be happy to take mine back to the truck and purchase theirs, regardless of price. This was true- I would have. But I knew I had him over a barrel and they wouldn't. He called ahead to his supervisor and got permission to put a medical sticker on our bag with the food in it. Problem #1 solved. For some reason he let us keep the water bottles. (I think he was so confused with all of my big words that he just wanted me out of his hair.) This was find with me!
We paid $14 for locker rental for the day (high, but not as high as snacks in the park), and put all of our stuff in there. Throughout the day we went back to grab a bite to eat and guzzle some water. We kept refilling the bottles from the water fountain.
Lunch I was a little worried about. I resigned myself to thoroughly examining the menu and making the best choice possible, even though it probably wouldn't be wonderful. We found a Papa Johns Pizza place. I'm not kidding you- I read over ever single item on the menu. Not that it was a huge menu, but I didn't want to leave any stone unturned.
I saw that they had a side salad for $3.99. Right above it was a "family salad" for $6.99. It was meant to go with an order of pizza and bread sticks to feed a family of 3 or 4. Suddenly it hit me that the Family Salad was probably the size of one of my regular meal salads. And seven bucks for lunch in a tourist trap isn't a bad price! So I ordered the family salad.
Much to may amazement, they assembled the salad right there out of a limited selection of fresh veggies, banana peppers, and mozzarella cheese. Not too bad! And, to make matters better, they had fat-free Italian dressing. Yay! I figured if I felt I was still hungry and felt I needed more protein I could run back to the locker and scarf down some jerky after lunch. But the salad was a very nice size and filled me up. Combined with a diet coke (I'll have one on occasion as a treat), the whole thing was perhaps 250 calories.
My daughter had pizza, so she was happy. We enjoyed our lunch, then went off to play in the water again when we were done.
Had they not let me bring my bag in and had there not been a salad at lunch I would have tried to have hunt down some peanuts at the gift shop to help get me through the hungry times between meals, then probably would have purchased a sandwich for lunch with the leanest meat I could find (often this is a burger), and taken the bottom bun off. And drank a LOT of water. No fries! Fries hold almost no nutritional value and do all kinds of crummy things to your body. Forget ordering fries!.......... Forever!
I will say that I have seen in some amusement parks that some of the vendors offer fresh fruit. This, of course, would make a great snack or side dish for the sandwich. You just gotta keep your eyes peeled!
So my biggest tip in tourist traps, in addition to bringing snacks and drinking water, is to examine your choices thoroughly and think outside the box. If there are no healthy options, just do the best you can and don't kick yourself, because you know you made the best choice possible.
And have fun! The reason you're there is for the fun, not the food.... Right?
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