Calories Don’t Count at Disney, But If They Did. . . .

It’s a known fact that part of the Disney magic is that calories consumed at a Disney theme park don’t actually count. (At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!) And with most people doing a lot more walking at the parks — sometimes up to 10 or more miles a day! — some of those calories would be burned off with the physical activity anyhow. But we got to thinking . . . if those calories actually did count, how much walking would you need to do to burn off some of Disney’s popular treats?

(Note: Because Disney doesn’t readily give out calorie information on their products, the calorie counts are approximations. Also, amount of calories burned while walking varies based on factors like weight and fitness level. The information here is included for fun only and not as medical or dietary advice.)

Disney Churro

According to MyFitnessPal’s database, a Disney churro contains 240 calories. At an average 100 calories burned per mile of walking, you’d need to walk a couple short laps around Magic Kingdom (minus Frontierland and Storybook Circus) to burn off that churro. (Very doable in a typical day, of course.)

 

Dole Whip

For a Dole Whip, a 1/2 cup serving size is 110 calories. Most servings of Dole Whip at Disney are closer to the 2 cup range (or more for some specialty preparations — we’re looking at you Lapu Hula!). If you can keep yourself to the 1/2 cup serving, you’ll only need to walk from the back of the Magic Kingdom parking lot to the Transportation and Ticket Center and then into Adventureland to have burned off that sweet treat.

 

Caramel Square

Looking for a sweet treat that feels like a splurge but isn’t too bad? Swing by Karamell-Küche for one of their caramel squares. A 50-gram serving comes in at around 190 calories, and so if you walked from the EPCOT parking lot to Germany and back, you’d actually be coming out ahead!

Popcorn

By far, the least calorie-laden treat at Disney is the iconic Disney popcorn. Oil-popped popcorn comes in at around 55 calories for 1 cup.  For fun, shadow boxing burns about 6 calories per minute, and if you’re anything like me, that’s the kind of workout you get on Toy Story Midway Mania pulling that cord! At a 6-minute ride, and since you’re only using one arm at a time, you’d just need three ride-throughs to burn off that one cup of popcorn! (With a good touring plan, you can make time for those three rides in a day!)

 

Mickey Premium Bar

This fan favorite comes in at 330 calories. To burn this off by walking, start by walking from the EPCOT parking lot, around World Showcase starting in Mexico, exit the International Gateway, walk over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and then head back to Galaxy’s Edge. By the time you get to Droid Depot, you’ll have burned off those calories!

Pretzel

Don’t tell Len, but we prefer the pretzels at Germany over the Mickey pretzels elsewhere. At around 10.7 oz. for a serving, or around 900 grams, according to nutritional information from Fitbit, that’s around 1,000 calories. That’s pretty close calorie-wise to another favorite. . .

Disney Cupcake

When we sent the Disney Cupcake to the lab, and the cupcake we sent came in at 1,072 calories. For easy math, let’s just go with the average cupcake calorie count of 1,000 calories.  At around 1 mile for a lap of World Showcase lagoon, it works out to around 10 laps for that cupcake or that pretzel. (But it’s a really wonderful place to do laps with so much to see!)

 

If you are trying to be cautious about the calorie count while on vacation, many of these treats are great to share with other people in your party. My family has found that treats like popcorn, cupcakes, churros, and pretzels can easily be split three or four ways. For a Dole Whip, you can ask for an extra cup and spoon to share with a friend. Another tip to watch calories is to plan your treat of the day in advance. Read reviews to see what treats are worth trying and what isn’t worth the calories. But above all, remember that you are on vacation — and so let yourself the freedom to break the rules a little bit here and there. You can always get back in the swing of things when you get home.

Do you have treats that you think are worth the calories every time, or ones that you think just aren’t worth it? Let us know in the comments.