Gluten Free at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea

[DahliaRW]

Are they as good about gluten free food options as Disneyland is here in the states? We're looking at going in September when we're in Japan, wondering if I need to pack food for my gluten free child.

Thanks!

 

[SaliAli]

Because it is Japan, much of the food is explained in Japanese and light English. There is a very short description of what it contains but not the detailed one that would tell you of gluten. Your best bet to be safe, and save a bit of money, is simply to come prepared and pack.


Japan doesn't really know how to handle special diets. I have a few vegetarian friends and they have to take extra care in knowing what goes in their food, especially asking the servers of the ingredients. Some vegetarian dishes may take away the meat itself, but that doesn't mean there isn't protein extract or protein in the sauce. It is plus to know Japanese to get around this issue.

 

[nytimez]

Japan doesn't really know how to handle special diets.

Definitely -- and not just in Tokyo Disneyland. If gluten-free is important, you will really need to be careful wherever you go.

If you Google "gluten free Japan" you'll find a lot of info from other people that may help -- not Disney specific, but it will still help you to understand what you'll be facing.

 

[DahliaRW]

I'm quite aware of having to be cautious wherever we dine. I have to do that here too! I plan to bring these: http://www.celiactravel.com/cards/japanese/ plus dh knows some Japanese. I'm not sure how on earth I'll figure out what is gf at the grocery stores either! But we'll figure it out.

My main question is that at DL in CA, you can get a list from City Hall of all the GF options. They have a gf pizza crust, options for gf buns for sandwiches some places, and list what menu options are gf at specific restaurants. I was wondering if anything like that exists for TDL and TDS?

 

[nytimez]

The problem is they're simply not as conscious of the ingredients there as they are here. Food allergies and special diets are practically an alien concept.

Even worse, they might look at your card and, in the desire to please you, tell you the food is safe -- and they might mean it, too, because they won't recognize the specific ingredients on the list as being in the food. But they may not realize that those ingredients are in the ingredients, if you get what I mean.

I've had friends with special dietary needs who've been through all that in Japan. Maybe it's gotten better in recent years, but I wouldn't count on it.

And hopefully, someone else here can give you more specific information.

Good luck. I hope it works out for you.

 

[SaliAli]

From what I have seen, the restaurants don't have GF foods, much less advertise it on their menu. In fact, I have yet to see the park cater to special dietary cases. The only thing you can really trust are your eyes -- what you see is what you get. You won't be getting much more information than that.

Japan food-wise hasn't really changed much simply because the general population hasn't felt the need to.

Good luck on your preparation!

 

[DahliaRW]

Look what I found! http://www.tokyodisneyresort.co.jp/en/tds/rest/allergies/index.html