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Gluten Free Disney

Duhlina

By Duhlina
in Traveling with Celiac Disease

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Duhlina Apprentice
Duhlina
Posted

We are going to Disney (Florida) next month! YEAH!!! CANNOT wait! I must admit I'm a little nervous though. I don't like going to new restaurants anymore knowing we will have to grill the waitress or the manager to find out what I can/can't eat. I don't like knowing my usual options are a bun-less burger or a salad. I have done some research (thanks to what I read on these lists) and contacted our hotel and made sure we have a room with a microwave and fridge. I will be bringing some of my own snacks for the trip down so I don't get desperate in an airport. The hotel has sent me the menu for the breakfast items so I know what I can/can't have there and I've printed out the gluten free menus for restaurants in close proximity to our hotel (we are not staying on Disney property, we're staying near the Maingate East).

So, for anyone who has done Disney gluten free - do you have any tips? Any places we should avoid at all costs? Any places we should definitely go to?

Thanks so much in advance!!!

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samie Contributor
samie
Posted

I have not been to Disney but have heard they are good about keeping the food gluten-free and no cc. Hope you have a great time.

Aly1 Contributor
Aly1
Posted

We went to Disney a couple of months ago and in my experience they were great and very attentive regarding gluten free diets. Whenever you arrive at a food place, start off right away saying you need gluten-free - at one place that resulted in me having my own personal server who liased with the chef. They appeared to be very knowledgeable and attentive. One caveat - I was early on in my gluten-free diet so I am not sure how strong my reactions would have been had they glutened me (I never had noticeable reactions till being gluten-free; but my first case of being officially glutened was about 2 weeks after my Disney trip. But I reacted after being glutened for several days).

I guess this post can't really assuage your fears, just to let you know that by all appearances, Disney seemed great in this regard. Good luck!

mamaw Community Regular
mamaw
Posted

We have been to Disney several times with great experiences. You need to do the leg-work before hand...By not knowing where to eat or which places you will be wasting time searching & looking for places where as if it was already completed you can be spending more time enjoying the park...

I suggest the meal plan as it saves big bucks...

Disney also has a speciality diet plan so call them & ask for them to e-mail it to you or by now it may already be on the disney site...

For lunch we ate cave man style with the smoked turkey legs, gfpizza, burgers, fries.....

Dinners we loved the Boma,The Floridan, well just so many to choosefrom that offer gluten-free...Mickey & Minnie breakfastwas fun for the kids...

Hoop De Do show was fun with a gluten-free menu. But again we booked gluten-free in advance & each morning we called the restaurant to remind them 6 gluten-free people would be there at the confirmation time we made in advance..

When you go for a quick lunch go before or after the lunch crowd. And don't wait in the regular line for gluten-free... go up to an empty slot & ask to speak to the manager. He/she will take your gluten-free order & prepare it elsewhere from the reg.food.. The ones in your party who aren't gluten-free need to get int the reg.line & order. This way your food will come out at about the same time as the reg. food.. If not your gluten folks will have finished their meal & want to go & you will be waitng on the gluten-free...

We were never hungry with the meal plan &had four course for dinners....1daily quick meal ( lunch) & 2 snacks daily. We carried no extra food with us... The kids were stuffed & so were the adults..

We didn't even use all the quick lunch or snacks so we bought gfsnacks to bring home so we wasted no money with the meal plan...

hth

CHARBEEGOOD Newbie
CHARBEEGOOD
Posted

We are going to Disney (Florida) next month! YEAH!!! CANNOT wait! I must admit I'm a little nervous though. I don't like going to new restaurants anymore knowing we will have to grill the waitress or the manager to find out what I can/can't eat. I don't like knowing my usual options are a bun-less burger or a salad. I have done some research (thanks to what I read on these lists) and contacted our hotel and made sure we have a room with a microwave and fridge. I will be bringing some of my own snacks for the trip down so I don't get desperate in an airport. The hotel has sent me the menu for the breakfast items so I know what I can/can't have there and I've printed out the gluten free menus for restaurants in close proximity to our hotel (we are not staying on Disney property, we're staying near the Maingate East).

So, for anyone who has done Disney gluten free - do you have any tips? Any places we should avoid at all costs? Any places we should definitely go to?

Thanks so much in advance!!!

If you have made reservations for dining on Disney property you can make a note on your reservation(s) regarding your allergy...Disney has gluten-free breads, pasta, desserts, snacks! I find it easier to eat at the "sit down" locations but I have additional allergies besides gluten.

Go to Disney's web site Open Original Shared Link

It should help put your mind at easy. At Disney you can start making dining reservations about 180 days in advance. You can make them over the phone or via the internet.

Hope it helps!

Char

Duhlina Apprentice
Duhlina
Posted
  • Author

I forgot one of my clients works for Disney and the last time I was at her house I noticed several gluten free cookbooks in the kitchen, so I emailed her and asked if she had any suggestions.

She sent me this website and OMG, it is FANTASTIC. I'm printing everything out as we speak! I feel like I hit the jackpot!!!

Open Original Shared Link

CeliacAndCfsCrusader Apprentice
CeliacAndCfsCrusader
Posted

Hi- I'm happy to say that my one and only Disney experience (Hawaii, Aulani Resort) was a smashing success.

I made an online reservation for the Character Breakfast (buffet) and then mentioned to my server that I was gluten-free. An actual Chef came out and totally put my mind at ease. He basically asked "what would your dream list be for breakfast this morning?" and I kept it simple (omelette, bacon, potatoes, pancakes and a dessert).

All was delicious and they couldn't have handled it better.

One note: I always make sure that no matter how prepared they are, I always remind them about c/c and shared utensils (especially in a buffet). I specifically asked for "fresh" items be made so that I wouldn't have any chance of c/c (even if the item itself was naturally gluten-free).

Communicate, be polite and be at ease!

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