Gluten And Dairy Free At Disney World (photos Of The Food)

[sleepingbean]

It was GREAT! We just recently got back last night, but already put up photos for you guys. Really,. we had a fabulous time! I felt like I was a princess the whole while with all the special attention from the Chefs and the WONDERFUL food! Neither of us got sick at ALL!

I can't say enough about the great chefs! For Gluten and dairy free vacation, Disney world is great ! Here are the photos:

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[jayhawkmom]

Ohh, I'm so glad to read this! I'm going to go look at your pics in a minute. We are heading to WDW in December....and all 5 of us are now gluten free. It's going to be an adventure, that's for SURE!!!!

Got any tips for me??? If it would be easier, I can provide you with me email address if you have a ginormous list!! LOL!

[jayhawkmom]

Ok, I have to add..... after looking through the pics, I'm cracking up! I also refer to my daughter as "Bean."

She stood her looking at the pics with me,.... "ohhhhing and ahhhhhing" at all the yummy food.

How long were you at Disney? We'll be there for 6d/5n - with 4 days in the parks, one at Kennedy Space Center.

[Guhlia]

Disney is the best place in the US for food allergies/intolerances. They are so sensitive and understanding. All of the chefs seemed to be VERY well versed in allergies and they were super careful. I didn't get sick once when we went there last year, either time.

[dlp252]

I was just there in December and indeed it was WONDERFUL. I was so excited just to have pancakes again and one day had a burger and fries, but WOW, those pictures, lol. I'll have to go back now and try some different things, lol.

[sleepingbean]

Tips: Email this woman Brenda.Bennett@disney.com She works with the Chefs and she has a listing of information that you find incredibly valuable! She is also very prompt and kind (as everyone was!)

Just let her know what your allergies are and ask if she can send you some info on what / where you can eat in the parks and lodges.

Other tips? If you want something in particular, let them know ahead of time (call a week ahead). Otherwise, it seemed the establishments we went to were all well prepared. But to be certain, I requested a special dessert for my daughter's birthday.

Be prepared to wait a bit longer: So for breakfast, if you do counter service like we did at Mara (which was great and affordable) maybe you go down and order the specialty items 10 minutes before the kids and husband? That way you can all eat together. Everyone brought our food out promptly and it was not an issue with the exception of Boma. There was PLENTY to eat there, but my daughter would have preferred some options that would have taken longer to make (pasta and such in the kitchen). I didn't think to ask for that ahead of time, but we had plenty to eat, all the same!

Also, although they say no food in the park, it was never an issue for us to bring in Lara Bars and Envirokidz, both of which came in useful in a pinch! And there was whole fruit, gluten-free turkey legs, baked poatoes and other quick/cheap/easy items found throughout all the parks.

One tip that helped us: I ordered the free maps from Disneyworld.com and I put stickers on the different places we could eat in each park and wrote what we could eat there (for counterservice) that was gluten free. That way, if everyone was starving, we wouldn't have to trek all over, we could just check the map and find the closest place to order safely.

That came in very handy!

And another tip: We ate at Crystal Palace before the park opened, which was just GREAT for so many reasons. We got on rides without lines after breakfast, we got fabulous pictures in the park before there was ANY crowd (my girls in front of teh castle with NO ONE else in the photo at all!)

AND it's nice to be there early for ordering at the restaurants.

The Chefs are great and you'll have such a wonderful time. As someone else said, Disney is just the perfect place to go when allergies are a concern!

Oh, one more tip...if you want desserts, ask at the beginning of your meal when the Chef comes out. The Chefs didn't bring it up to me, so if I wouldn't have thought of it we may have had to wait longer or something, but asking at the beginning of the meals (many of the restaurants in Disney are buffet style) allowed us to eat at the same pace as our gluten eating family members.

Have fun!!!

[MySuicidalTurtle]

That all looks delicious, SleepingBean.

[Cheri A]

Oh, I am so glad to see this post and the great pictures of food!! We are anticipating a trip to Disney next Christmas. How far ahead did you start contacting and making reservations at the restaurants? I briefly recall seeing someone mention buying a "food plan". Does that work gluten-free/CF?

[dlp252]

Oh, I am so glad to see this post and the great pictures of food!! We are anticipating a trip to Disney next Christmas. How far ahead did you start contacting and making reservations at the restaurants? I briefly recall seeing someone mention buying a "food plan". Does that work gluten-free/CF?

We did the meal pass thing. It worked just fine for gluten-free/CF. My friend doesn't have celiac, it was only me, and I had no problem. Advance planning is probably the best way to go, but I actually just walked up to the counter and asked if someone could help me with a special diet (at a counter service food court). They brought the chef out who went over what she could make for me. It was a great experience. And this was at a counter service only food court (in a Disney property hotel). I also ate at some of the park vendors, who were also very helpful. They didn't have a chef, but the people I spoke too seemed somewhat knowledgeable about what I needed and why. Now that I think about it, we actually never did eat at a restaurant, lol.

I agree with the above poster...my food did take longer to prepare though--I didn't mind that, but my friend was generally almost finished with her meal before I started on mine. Not a big deal for us as we're often on our own schedules anyway.

[tiffjake]

I know this might sound stupid, but when I looked at your pictures, my eyes welled up with tears! I think it is so great to see gluten-free food like that so you can enjoy disney!!!

[sleepingbean]

I made reservations a month in advance (which was good for us at the time...but I almost didn't get into the birthday meal...we got the last 4 person table!) I called the chefs the week before, but that seemed a bit silly. We went over it all once we were in the restaurants. Still, I called because that is the way they recommend it!

And as for the welling up with tears, I don't think it's silly at all! I kept telling the chefs "you have no idea how much this means to me" And it is so true. To be able to include my daughter in EVERYTHING we do and to have so much fun and to have her feel totally normal and not left out of anything. Well that is magical to me!