Where To Eat At Walt Disney World

[suepooh4]

Hi,

We have made our reservations and are going to Walt Disney World in June and are now looking for places that we can eat at, my husband, Jeff has celiac and I want to make sure wherever we go he can eat there too. I was wondering if anyone has been there and if they have, where did you eat and was it good ?

Thank you

Sue

[Laura--G]

Hi,

We have made our reservations and are going to Walt Disney World in June and are now looking for places that we can eat at, my husband, Jeff has celiac and I want to make sure wherever we go he can eat there too. I was wondering if anyone has been there and if they have, where did you eat and was it good ?

Thank you

Sue

Hi!! We love Disney World! Call ahead and talk to guest relations. You can make reservations in advance for gluten free food at a lot of their restaurants. They will give you a list of restaurants that have gluten free food. They are very gluten-free friendly. When we were there last May they had gluten free rice crispy treats and brownies at the bakeries. The Disney hotels will make gluten-free pancakes and other things.

[ChickensDon'tClap]

Hi Sue!

Disney really treats their guests with allergy well. I went in November, and I'm going again this October. Like Laura_g said, if you call them, they'll e-mail you a bunch of Word documents that list the restaurants that serve gluten-free items, and even a list of the brands they use.

I didn't feel all that well after eating a hamburger at the Magic Kingdom and a hamburger the next day at Epcot, but both times it went away quickly so I'm not sure what the problem was. I was fine everywhere else. We had sit-down meals at Jiko and California Grill. I really, really recommend California Grill. The pork tenderloin with goat cheese polenta was fantastic. The only time I was sad was when everyone in my family was eating funnel cake at Epcot, and I couldn't have any.

Also echoing what Laura_g said, the bakeries serve gluten-free treats. I bought 5 brownies at the Magic Kingdom bakery on Main Street to take home! I also ended up ordering some from the company (French Meadow Bakery) when I got home! Do you know where you're staying yet? I stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and had no problems getting gluten free meals there each morning for breakfast and 1 time for dinner. It may take a little longer, but it's worth the time. Each time I ordered a meal in the food court at Port Orleans or at a counter service restaurant in the parks, a manager came out and talked to me about my order. The manager at Cosmic Ray's even waited with me and talked to me while my meal was being prepared.

If you have any specific questions just let me know, and I'll be happy to answer them!

[Sweetfudge]

I just got back from a totally awesome gluten-free/df trip to Disney World! I ate like royalty! I seriously felt so spoiled! There was only one place in the whole park that didn't impress me (the San Angel Inn, which was too bad, b/c I remember loving that restaurant when I went as a kid. That was pre-gluten-free/df days though). Didn't get glutened. May have gotten some dairy/IBS upset tummies, or it could have just been from eating so much! I am working on a post on my blog right now of all the places I ate at, and all the food I ate. I will probably copy and paste it here. But gotta get all the pics uploaded for friends and family first.

Seriously though, it will be great. Are you guys on the dining plan? It saved us so much money! Although most of the days, I ate my own breakfasts in our hotel room (toast w/ peanut butter).

I told my husband that I am forever going to be voting a Disney vacation as my top pick for the rest of my life

[CMG]

I'm with everyone else in praise of Disney. I went last year with my 2 children - one gluten-free and dairy-free, the other dairy-free and soy-free. We notified guest relations of the restrictions and it was noted on every reservation we made. Whenever we checked in for a reservation, they immediately brought out a chef or a manager to walk us through the menus. When there was nothing available that would work for my girls, they prepared special meals. Also, most if not all restaurants at Disney cook with soy oil. Every restaurant we went to cleaned grills and pans to start from scratch with olive oil for my soy allergic 2 year old. Disney is the one place I feel we can travel without worry!

[jkmunchkin]

I just got back from a totally awesome gluten-free/df trip to Disney World! I ate like royalty! I seriously felt so spoiled! There was only one place in the whole park that didn't impress me (the San Angel Inn, which was too bad, b/c I remember loving that restaurant when I went as a kid. That was pre-gluten-free/df days though). Didn't get glutened. May have gotten some dairy/IBS upset tummies, or it could have just been from eating so much! I am working on a post on my blog right now of all the places I ate at, and all the food I ate. I will probably copy and paste it here. But gotta get all the pics uploaded for friends and family first.

Seriously though, it will be great. Are you guys on the dining plan? It saved us so much money! Although most of the days, I ate my own breakfasts in our hotel room (toast w/ peanut butter).

I told my husband that I am forever going to be voting a Disney vacation as my top pick for the rest of my life

I can't wait to see your reviews. I am going to WDD in August. On my list of places I want to go to are: Chef Mickey, Mama Melrose, Tony's Town Square, Kona Cafe, 50's Prime Time and Boma. I hope you have some info on those! I've already contacted Disney and found out the procedure I need to follow when making reservations. I can't wait!!!

[suepooh4]

Hi Sue!

Disney really treats their guests with allergy well. I went in November, and I'm going again this October. Like Laura_g said, if you call them, they'll e-mail you a bunch of Word documents that list the restaurants that serve gluten-free items, and even a list of the brands they use.

I didn't feel all that well after eating a hamburger at the Magic Kingdom and a hamburger the next day at Epcot, but both times it went away quickly so I'm not sure what the problem was. I was fine everywhere else. We had sit-down meals at Jiko and California Grill. I really, really recommend California Grill. The pork tenderloin with goat cheese polenta was fantastic. The only time I was sad was when everyone in my family was eating funnel cake at Epcot, and I couldn't have any.

Also echoing what Laura_g said, the bakeries serve gluten-free treats. I bought 5 brownies at the Magic Kingdom bakery on Main Street to take home! I also ended up ordering some from the company (French Meadow Bakery) when I got home! Do you know where you're staying yet? I stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and had no problems getting gluten free meals there each morning for breakfast and 1 time for dinner. It may take a little longer, but it's worth the time. Each time I ordered a meal in the food court at Port Orleans or at a counter service restaurant in the parks, a manager came out and talked to me about my order. The manager at Cosmic Ray's even waited with me and talked to me while my meal was being prepared.

If you have any specific questions just let me know, and I'll be happy to answer them!

Hi Valerie,

Thank you and everyone else who gave me such great advise on what to do and where to eat. We will be staying at the Disney all sports resort, our 2 and 5 year old LOVED the huge basketball hoops they saw on their website so we booked it for there. I have seen some other sites where someone was talking about the Crystal Palace and she mentioned the tapioca rolls so my husband is looking foward to that. Have you found any place that has a good burger on a bun or a good sandwich on decent bread. I can make very good desserts (brownies, cakes, cookies, peanut butter rice crispie treats) what he would love to have is a good dinner or lunch out and not get sick. We live in a small town in Ohio and the only place we have to go out to eat in our town is Outback and after awhile that gets old. I am looking foward to having places he can eat at (that is a vacation for me not cooking every night).

Do you or anyone else have a number or email address of where I need to call to request gluten free meals ?

Thanks again,

Sue

[suepooh4]

Hi Sue!

Disney really treats their guests with allergy well. I went in November, and I'm going again this October. Like Laura_g said, if you call them, they'll e-mail you a bunch of Word documents that list the restaurants that serve gluten-free items, and even a list of the brands they use.

I didn't feel all that well after eating a hamburger at the Magic Kingdom and a hamburger the next day at Epcot, but both times it went away quickly so I'm not sure what the problem was. I was fine everywhere else. We had sit-down meals at Jiko and California Grill. I really, really recommend California Grill. The pork tenderloin with goat cheese polenta was fantastic. The only time I was sad was when everyone in my family was eating funnel cake at Epcot, and I couldn't have any.

Also echoing what Laura_g said, the bakeries serve gluten-free treats. I bought 5 brownies at the Magic Kingdom bakery on Main Street to take home! I also ended up ordering some from the company (French Meadow Bakery) when I got home! Do you know where you're staying yet? I stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and had no problems getting gluten free meals there each morning for breakfast and 1 time for dinner. It may take a little longer, but it's worth the time. Each time I ordered a meal in the food court at Port Orleans or at a counter service restaurant in the parks, a manager came out and talked to me about my order. The manager at Cosmic Ray's even waited with me and talked to me while my meal was being prepared.

If you have any specific questions just let me know, and I'll be happy to answer them!

Hi again,

I just looked up the French Meadow Bakery, and you are right those are good brownies, our grocery store in our town has those and the choc. chip cookies. I see on their site that they have italian dinner rolls have you tried those ?

If so are they any good ? I thougt about asking our grocery store to get those in.

Thanks again,

Sue

[Sweetfudge]

here y'all go: https://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/index.php?showtopic=55570

(it's the post i made about my trip. you could also check out my blog. i posted pics ...click on my profile)

Jillian, sounds like the only place I went to that's on your list was the mama melrose's. it was awesome! i had the best gluten-free/DF pizza! from my experience, most of the restaurants would probably do a phenomenal job, even if it weren't one of the recommended ones. i'm jealous that you get to go i told my husband we might just have to move to florida. especially after eating out on valentine's day, and being frustrated by the lack of understanding/menu selection at a place that told my husband they had a great gluten-free menu...yeah, i'm buying stock in disney

[jkmunchkin]

here y'all go: https://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/index.php?showtopic=55570

(it's the post i made about my trip. you could also check out my blog. i posted pics ...click on my profile)

Jillian, sounds like the only place I went to that's on your list was the mama melrose's. it was awesome! i had the best gluten-free/DF pizza! from my experience, most of the restaurants would probably do a phenomenal job, even if it weren't one of the recommended ones. i'm jealous that you get to go i told my husband we might just have to move to florida. especially after eating out on valentine's day, and being frustrated by the lack of understanding/menu selection at a place that told my husband they had a great gluten-free menu...yeah, i'm buying stock in disney

Great review!!!! I may be adding some more restaurants to my list

The info about Port Orleans was particularly helpful because that is where we are staying as well (although I think we're on the French side, but from what I can tell they're connected).

We're going with a huge group of people but I've basically already told people that this is all about the food for me and I have no problem going to eat by myself just to get the full experience. LOL!!!

[gf4lyfe]

Hi,

We have made our reservations and are going to Walt Disney World in June and are now looking for places that we can eat at, my husband, Jeff has celiac and I want to make sure wherever we go he can eat there too. I was wondering if anyone has been there and if they have, where did you eat and was it good ?

Thank you

Sue

OMG!!!! I loveeeee Disney so much!!! Tell your husband he is in for a great gluten free food experience! I have been gluten-free since '07 (not too long) and I have gone on a disney cruise and a disney trip with my extreme gluten intolerance. Disney is the best way to vacation with an allergy. they take of you so well. he can eat at almost evey restaurant in Epcots World tour.....definetly go to italy. they offer Gluten free pasta with out the grainy taste (sorry I can't remember the name...my mom makes all the reservations for my family). If he wants a normal bun for his hamburger that doesn't dry out his mouth.....eat at the liberty inn in America (at Epcot). Liberty Tree Tavern in Magic Kingdom has wonderful chefs that come out a talk directly to you. the first time i went the 1st thing they said was "what would you like? I can make it!" I recommend the pilgrams feast! YUMMM

any sit down place you want to eat at can offer him something also on the boardwalk there is a place (maybe spoodles is the name.....although thats mostly breakfast) and it offers amy's gluten free pizza. If he wants pizze it will probably be Amy's, which is always delicious!

Where are you staying???

Good luck

~Laura

[ChickensDon'tClap]

Sue, I ate my burgers at the Liberty Inn and at Cosmic Ray's. The bun at the Liberty Inn tasted better than the one at Cosmic Ray's although I don't know why since I think both places use Ener-G buns. Maybe it tasted better to me at the Liberty Inn because I was so excited to be eating a hamburger! It's even weirder because I bought Ener-G bread once I got home and absolutely hated it. Maybe I just didn't buy the right kind. I haven't tried the French Meadow Bakery buns yet, since I have a bunch of other bread that I am sampling. Please let me know what you think if you try them! I don't know if you're a Disboards member or not, but there are some gluten-free reviews on that site as well.

The person to talk to at Disney is Brenda Bennett in the Special Dietary Requests department. Her number is (407) 824-5967. She sent me info with lightning speed! I went to Disney during the Food and Wine Festival. Brenda suggested that I not eat at any of the booths during the festival because of the way they prepared the food. I still gave it a try though and ate grilled shrimp with cilantro sauce at the Chile booth. That was the only risk I took though.

Sweetfudge, what an awesome review! I bookmarked your blog as well.

I need to find out exactly which pasta they use in the Port Orleans Riverside pasta bar. That pasta was great. It had a normal texture and taste.

I can't wait for Animal Kingdom Lodge this fall! And California Grill again! This time, I need to eat more desserts!

[suepooh4]

Sue, I ate my burgers at the Liberty Inn and at Cosmic Ray's. The bun at the Liberty Inn tasted better than the one at Cosmic Ray's although I don't know why since I think both places use Ener-G buns. Maybe it tasted better to me at the Liberty Inn because I was so excited to be eating a hamburger! It's even weirder because I bought Ener-G bread once I got home and absolutely hated it. Maybe I just didn't buy the right kind. I haven't tried the French Meadow Bakery buns yet, since I have a bunch of other bread that I am sampling. Please let me know what you think if you try them! I don't know if you're a Disboards member or not, but there are some gluten-free reviews on that site as well.

The person to talk to at Disney is Brenda Bennett in the Special Dietary Requests department. Her number is (407) 824-5967. She sent me info with lightning speed! I went to Disney during the Food and Wine Festival. Brenda suggested that I not eat at any of the booths during the festival because of the way they prepared the food. I still gave it a try though and ate grilled shrimp with cilantro sauce at the Chile booth. That was the only risk I took though.

Sweetfudge, what an awesome review! I bookmarked your blog as well.

I need to find out exactly which pasta they use in the Port Orleans Riverside pasta bar. That pasta was great. It had a normal texture and taste.

I can't wait for Animal Kingdom Lodge this fall! And California Grill again! This time, I need to eat more desserts!

Hi Valerie,

Thank you for the phone number to Brenda in the special dietary requests department I will give her a call once it gets a little closer to June. My husband, Jeff will be excited to have a hamburger on a bun.

I too book marked Sweetfudge's review I will also put on the info on my memo pad on my cellphone so I can take that with me.

Is California Grill at Walt Disney World or at Disneyland in California ?

Once I get ahold of those Italian rolls I will let you know how they are.

Thanks again,

Sue

[ChickensDon'tClap]

Sue,

California Grill is in Disneyworld. It's in the Contemporary, and it's a great place to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks!

[CeliacMom2008]

Your husband is in for a treat! We too LOVE Disney! He won't have to worry about eating and he will eat great food! I'd just pick your restaurants based on what foods or restaurants interest him. And start there. I don't think he'd have any trouble at any of the restaurants. They are so amazingly accomodating! Just as a further testimonial - we're going again over spring break and we are NOT going to the parks. We are just vacationing at a Disney resort! People outside of the Celiac world probably think we're nuts, but it's the one place we all go out to eat and feel safe, have a relaxed time (no explaining to the chef or worrying), and everyone gets to eat yummy food!!

Oh, I was worried about buffets the first time we went after diagnosis. No need. The chef walks the buffet line with you and tells you what is safe and what isn't. Then you tell the chef what you want and they get fresh from the kitchen so you don't have to worry about CC.

Lastly, we've been twice in the last year and only had 2 meals in both trips where the chef wasn't the one to deliver the food. They still came to the table for the order, but those two meals the waiter brought the food. All the rest of the meals the chef brought our son's meals out him/herself and separately from our meals.

Go! Eat! Smile!!