Anyone eat GF while at Disney?

[mermaidwannabe]

Or should I have titled it, "Is it possible to eat GF while at Disney?"
I've been trying to change over to GF in my house. No one is Celiac, but two of my daughter's seem to do better on GF, and one of them in particular tested negative but has so many of the symptoms!
So, how hard will this be to do mostly GF while at DW? We are booked at POR right now, but I'm wondering if I should switch to off-site in order to have a kitchen.
Any thoughts?

 

[MolonLabe]

Good question. I was worried about that on our May trip. It's one of the reasons we avoided CS.

My family and I feel sick after a few days on vacation from constantly eating out. Gluten is the main culprit.

We did deluxe dining while at WDW for 6 days. We didn't feel crappy after eating ourselves stuffed every day.

Even our DD's mostly ate the "restaurant' specific foods, like fish or kabobs at marrakesh ect. They did great too.

I doubt it's GF food, but it's definitely not high gluten.

In contrast we went to Wis dells last year for 4 days and by day 3 we were run down and getting headaches. I told my wife "I can't wait till we get home and get some real food".

At home 99.9% of what we eat is HFCS free, we eat 100% grass fed beef and free range pork.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

All of the TS places can provide gluten free meals with advance notice, have it noted on your ADR's and a chef will come out and consult with you at the start of your meal and provide you with a meal taylored for your specific dietary needs. WDW is one of the best places for those with dietary restrictions to vacation as they do thier best to accomidate your needs.


I'm not too sure about QS locations but there are so many options in the park that looking at menus beforehand you may be able to find something to suit your diet. Allearsnet.com is a great rescourse for menus.

 

[mermaidwannabe]

Good to know with dining plan! Basically I'll just have us make obvious low gluten choices. My poor DD12 always feels awful after eating Disney food - of course we didn't know what was going on until this year with her blood sugar, etc., so this year we need to take better care of her (and my other DDs). I'm new to this GF thing so need to look into the foods there (including Dole Whip and Mickey Bar, which I think we will be sharing or only having a few bites of)

Allears.net looks like a great starting point, thank you!!!

 

[SMorgan711]

contact specialdiets@disneyworld.com. They can give you a bunch of info.

also check out the disABILITIES board as there is a ton of allergy info over there. Disney is by far one of the best places to eat with an allergy!

 

[MolonLabe]

Good to know with dining plan! Basically I'll just have us make obvious low gluten choices. My poor DD12 always feels awful after eating Disney food - of course we didn't know what was going on until this year with her blood sugar, etc., so this year we need to take better care of her (and my other DDs). I'm new to this GF thing so need to look into the foods there (including Dole Whip and Mickey Bar, which I think we will be sharing or only having a few bites of)

Allears.net looks like a great starting point, thank you!!!

Glad to hear you are managing it well and caught it in time. Most people who would have developed type II adult onset diabetes have a very good chance of never needing medication if caught in time and a healthier diet is established.

I'm sure you know this already but HFCS needs to be completely eliminated from her diet and white(processed) sugar limited as much as possible.

At WDW we splurge and eat deserts. We even had a frozen raspberry lemonade which had to be loaded with HFCS but my wife and I split it, we figured it was better than the sushies, lol.

Anyway, they have unsweet iced tea at all the TS as well as some specialty drinks which aren't sweetened such as mint tea at Marakesh.

 

[ekatiel]

contact specialdiets@disneyworld.com. They can give you a bunch of info.

also check out the disABILITIES board as there is a ton of allergy info over there. Disney is by far one of the best places to eat with an allergy!

^^^This!!! Disney has an EXCELLENT reputation for providing for special dietary needs. My son used to have allergies to wheat, barley and rye, so on our first trip to Disney, he was GF. He ate like a KING. Special diets will give you a ton of info, inlcuding a list of counter service places that carry special allergy-friendly items (the have allergen free chicken tenders, GF mac n cheese, GF pizza, enjoy life cookies, etc, at many of the counter service places). They will also send you a form to fill out your dietary needs and all your ADRS. They will then fax this form to all the chefs at each of the tables service restaurants where you have ADRS. Be sure to note the dietary need when you make the ADRS, also.

When you get to the parks/restaurants:
When you get to a counter service place, ask for the manager-- he or she has a big book of all the ingredients of all the food they serve as we as a list of the ingredients of the "special" off-menu allergen friendly foods that they have. The manager will place your order. This will take a few more minutes than a regular counter service experience, so plan for a little extra time. We deal with life-threatening allergies, so the extra few minutes are worth it to us!!!
When you arrive at a table service restaurant, let the hostess know you have special dietary needs, and that you'll need to talk to the chef. The chef will come out and let you know what they can do for you (in some cases they can even make GF mickey waffles at breakfast )!.

BTW-- Dole Whips AND Mickey Bars were both GF the last time I checked. Once again, when you contact special diets, they'll send you this info!!! Have a great trip. You should be able to do 100% GF with no problems! --Katie

 

[JetsetJAK]

My whole family went at the end of 2010 and my brother-in-law has celiacs, and he didn't seem to have much trouble at all eating in Disney. We were on the dining plan, and I don't seem to recall him having any problems. All the places we had ADR's knew about his situation before we even got there, and everybody was very accommodating. I specifically remember going to a character breakfast at Animal Kingdom where there was a buffet, and as soon as we were seated, the chef actually came out of the kitchen and walked my bro-in-law down the whole buffet pointing out what he could and couldn't eat, and they even told him if there was something he wanted that wasn't there, to let them know and they'd see what they could do.

The only time I remember it being slightly inconvenient was when we were at Hollywood Studios and ate at that pizza place, and they had to make him his own special pizza, which took some extra time. But ultimately I figured that was a pretty small price to pay.

 

[MeLaNie9]

My son has a dairy allergy and we go to WDW yearly - because they do such a great job with food allergies and otherwise a vacation means we have to stay in a place with a kitchen and I have to cook!

When you make ADRs for TS places, make sure to mention your need to avoid gluten. A bit before your trip you should contact WDW directly at special.diets@disneyworld.com. The contact we have always gotten info from is Brenda Bennett, she would send us a bunch of info via email. Some is lists of where you can find particular foods in the park that are GF, dairy free, egg free, etc. etc. This info is super helpful for finding snacks and particular foods at CS places. There is also a form to fill out with all of your TS ADRs, date and time, who is in your party, and what foods you need to avoid. You send this back and she forwards that info to all of your TS chefs. In the TS places, as a pp said, you let the hostess know and she will get the chef who will come to your table and discuss options for food. From our experiences, the chef will bring the "special" food out to you himself/herself. The only time that we had an issue was at a TS place when the waitress brought DS his hotdog in what looked like the usual WDW bun. Since we were aware that he cannot eat the WDW buns, we asked to see the chef and she came flying out of the kitchen and whisked that thing away!

The CS are very accomodating as well - you need to speak to the manager and they will bring you a book with all of their foods listed and all of the ingredients. I have even picked "pieces-parts" of meals - like the grilled chicken off of a salad. The manager will then go through the line with you and order the food at the register, then they typicaly go to the kitchen and either make your food themselves or supervise the making of your food. The burger places all have GF buns - I know because the regular buns are not dairy free so DS has eaten the GF buns while at WDW.

One time we were at the ABC Commissary in DHS and there was a young couple at the table next to us. I was talking to DH about ordering our DS's dairy free meal and the young man leaned over and he said "I don't mean to eavesdrop, but were you talking about GF food for your son?" I explained that our son's allergy is to dairy. They began to tell us that the young woman (his wife) has celiac disease and they had no idea that WDW was such wonderful place for food allergies - she was just thrilled with her experience there. Apparently they were from a very rural place and for her to eat GF at home was quite difficult.

 

[Dan Murphy]

http://allears.net/din/guestceliac.htm

 

[Robo]

Did anyone else at first think that this question was about dining at the
Grand Floridian?

 

[Lynn57]

Did anyone else at first think that this question was about dining at the
Grand Floridian?

YEP! Glad I'm not the only one!

 

[pmaurer74]

I thought it meant grand Floridian too. Do a search on gluten free there are a lot of helpful threads on this forum about it. My mom will be with us for 3 days so I can tell you how WC, Boma, 1900 PK and Akershus are and wherever we eat CS.

 

[mermaidwannabe]

Wow, thank you all so much! I am so relieved!! I feel so lucky to have found this board years ago - you all are so helpful and giving with your time to post all of your info. SO appreciated!

We do watch HFCS and try so hard with sugar. Will do better on vacation this year and split things and limit treats, but thank goodness she doesn't have to watch other people have a Dole Whip or Mickey Bar!

I will definitely use the emails and sites you all posted. I am shocked that DW is so good about this - I always feel like we're on our own with taking buns off, etc. I have to say I am looking forward to our vacation so much more now. Now I'm going to go back through your posts and write everything down!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

 

[university]

My 4 year old is gluten free and he ate like a king at Disney for both table service and quick service. All you have to do is mention the word allergy and people start jumping through hoops. It's so unlike the "real world." The only place unable to accommodate him was Earl of Sandwich (not a surprise there). They said he could eat salad. Good luck getting a 4 year old to eat just salad for dinner. LOL. ABC Com-misery was also a nightmare as far as eating gluten free. They were just dumbfounded. I would avoid them as well.

 

[ScottOKW2K]

YEP! Glad I'm not the only one!

You think you were confused - my first thought was Girl Friend.

 

[JoshuaShaw]

You think you were confused - my first thought was Girl Friend.

Me too. My range of emotions, from reading thread title to discovering it wasn't what I thought it would be, in emoticon theater:

 

[Ciorsdah]

This is a huge weight off my mind. I'm gluten free and also I cannot eat dairy products and was starting to plan how I would eat while on holiday!! Thanks for all the info!!!

 

[CrabbyPatty]

Eating GF at Disney is very easy! I've had wonderful meals at just about every table-service place we ate. The first time we went, I contacted the Special Diets folks and they provided all sorts of information and food lists. After I made my ADRs, I had a few of the restaurants either call or email me for more information.

Many of the CS places and shops have GF snacks as well, FYI. Have a great GF trip!

 

[grunt0331]

contact specialdiets@disneyworld.com. They can give you a bunch of info.

also check out the disABILITIES board as there is a ton of allergy info over there. Disney is by far one of the best places to eat with an allergy!

My daughter has celiac and Type 1 diabetes. I contacted them on Friday and got a reply on Saturday morning. One of the main reasons we are headed back to Disney in May is that GF dining is so easy at WDW.