Wdw Was A Great Experience

[srall]

Hi ladies. I'm assuming everyone who responded to the eating safely in WDW was a mom, so I do apologize if any dads responded. We just got back last night and we had a really positive experience. Disney has a policy that if there are allergies the chef or manager must come to the table and go over the menu. I should say, if you're in a restaurant. Anyhow, I printed out everyone's responses and it was so helpful. We never were able to make it to Babycakes. It turns out my daughter is not a Disney girl at age 7 (she was at 4) and she just wanted to frolic most days at the pool. I made her go to Epcot and Hollywood Studios because we could walk there from our resort. She refused to get on a bus. I felt like some bad food must have snuck in because some of her anxieties started showing up. But I admit we were eating a lot of food on the road we never would eat at home. So...anyhow, we didn't go to the MK so no Babycakes. I really had wanted to try their desserts but ah well.

The ONLY negative food experience was in Hollywood Studios. My daughter and I had found some "safe" frozen drinks in Epcot. (She is very allergic to corn...as well as intolerant). So in HS I waited in line to ask the guy if their frozen drinks had corn syrup. He said, "I don't know...just a sec." And he asked the young woman he was working with and she distractedly said, "yeah...sure" So he turned to me and said "Yeah...it's fine." So I said, "Do you promise?" And he said, "Yes." while he shrugged. At this point the other woman said, "Wait wait...what was the question?" And I repeated it and she said, "Does she have an allergy?" to which I said, "Yes...she's VERY allergic." So they got out their ingredient sheet and sure enough it had corn syrup. My daughter happily got out of line and we bought a water instead, but it just drove home that if you have ANY doubt just walk away. Better to stick with water. The good news is an hour later we found a place with some Edy's fruit bars and they were so dang good...worth the wait.

This thank you is becoming long and rambling...but I really did want to say the responses were so helpful. I encourage anyone who is going in the next few weeks to print out the posts as a little restaurant guide.

[CeliacMom2008]

I was one who responded. I'm so glad you had a great time!! We absolutely LOVE Disney. We just returned from Disney's Vero Beach resort. OH. MY. GOSH. They spoiled our son beyond belief. I mean totally and thoroughly spoiled him! Chef Kevin was amazing and Chef Mike did his best to keep up what Kevin started! I couldn't believe how they took care of him. We've been to the resorts and parks at WDW many times since diagnosis, so we knew we were in for a good eating time; but they blew us away! There were no French Meadow prepackaged brownies at Vero - desserts were freshly made. Things like gluten-free cheesecake covered in chocolate and white chocolate, brownies, cookies, and sorbets. Spinach artichoke dip wasn't gluten-free - no worries, they whipped him up a fresh serving and made it special - no gluten. They were making him things not on the menu and truly catering to him.

As for Babycakes, it's in Downtown Disney, not Magic Kingdom. We did get to try this. Kiddo was truly like a kid in a candy store staring into the bakery cases saying, "I can eay ANY of this??" We weren't overly thrilled with the cupcakes, but we all loved the donuts and cookies - especially the cookie sandwiches. I'm not sure what it was about the cupcakes, but for whatever reason we liked the other items better. They weren't bad, just not to our taste that night I guess.

We also went on the new Safari Trek at Animal Kingdom. It's 3.5 hours of small group hiking, rope bridges, and snack out on the safari. The whole thing was terrific, but let me tell you about the "snack"! When I made the reservations, the agent asked if we had any allergies. I hadn't known there would be food. She said it was a "snack" so I told her about the need for gluten-free and forgot about it. I had planned our tour for 9:00 so we could be finished in time for lunch. As it turned out our "snack" was this amazingly cute mini-meal packed in a stainless steel Tiffen box (very cool for our Safari). It had 6 separate containers inside the two tiers of the Tiffen box. They held:

Almost frozen strawberry yogurt (so cold there were ice crystals, but not frozen frozen) with fresh berries - non gluten-free versions had granola on top

Melon balls

smoked salmon and cream cheese rolled together over a jicama cucumber salad

Proscuito (spelled??)

Brie cheese and dried apricots

Cheese filled dates - non gluten-free version had this little triagles of some sort of dried fruit and nut bar

With breads around the edges

Tiffen box was lined with edible (although not appetizing) banana leaves and garnished with a beautiful orchid (also edible, and very tasty! who knew??)

Needless to say, we didn't eat lunch when we were done! We were all too full!

Kiddo's Tiffen box had two big colorful tags on them - one said ALLERGY and the other GLUTEN FREE. So there was no questioning whether it was gluten-free or not.

OK, now who's the one rambling?? I just can't say enough good about DISNEY and GLUTEN FREE!!!

[anna34]

I'm so glad to hear that you had a good gluten-free time in WDW. We've been a couple of times (pre-diagnosis) and it's a relief to hear such positive stories!

Have either of you been on a Disney cruise? I assume their standards will be the same, but I haven't heard a first hand account yet.

[srall]

I'm so glad to hear that you had a good gluten-free time in WDW. We've been a couple of times (pre-diagnosis) and it's a relief to hear such positive stories!

Have either of you been on a Disney cruise? I assume their standards will be the same, but I haven't heard a first hand account yet.

No to the cruise,but I would feel comfortable with the food on the ship. With my daughter's sort of blah response to Disney this time, I'm not sure it's in our future. But I think it looks like fun.

[anna34]

I just phoned the cruise line and they were totally aware of celiac disease. Right away she said "that means gluten-free right?" and she put it into their computer system. She said that the head server will visit our table each time we sit down to eat and if we choose to eat from the buffet, the chef will answer any questions we have about the items. It was so easy! They also put an "alert" on my daughter's file so that the kids' club will be aware that she can't eat anything with gluten. I'll still be packing snack foods for the shore excursions, but I'm glad to know the food on the ship will be safe.