I’ve also heard that at a CS place, you should go right up and ask for the manager, and he/she will take care of you. It might take longer to prepare your GF food, and this helps prevent the problem of your family finishing their meal before you even get yours. It’s often only the manager who really understands the GF.
I would definitely agree with this. I wouldn't expect that it would let you get your GF food before your family finishes their meal - but its the way to go. You can order it all at once though, and they'll usually send it all out at once. We send someone off to order meals at CS the same way we'd send a fastpass runner.
I asked Special Diets if I could eat at some of the Epcot countries’ CS places (for example, Morocco’s Tangierine). Her reply was that it is difficult and risky because of cross-contamination, so I will stay away from those.
Again, I would agree. Epcot WS is a terrible, terrible place to try to get gluten free counter service. American Adventure is a bad deal for gluten free, and most of the rest don't really understand or accommodate special diets. The TS options in World Showcase are pretty good, though.
Each CS has a large fat book that has all their products and what ingredients in them. So you can ask for this and look through it yourself if you want to. Although it sounds time-consuming.
It's far less time consuming than it sounds, actually. I usually ask a cashier for the chef/manager, and if I can look through the book while I wait for them. Then I use the book for anything specific I had a question about. For example - I know that the chicken at Flame Tree is gluten free, but the listings don't usually mention the sides, so I like to double-check them every time. You flip through the book until you find the sides you want and scan the ingredients. MOST gluten is pretty obvious at CS. There's no point in reading the ingredients for chicken nuggets or hamburger buns, but they're in there for whomever it might be useful for.
I have really gotten the impression that doing the ADR TS places will be a lot easier to handle than the CS places. But I have NEVER read of anyone getting sick at Disney because of their GF status.
Oh, well - I hate to be the bearer of bad news - but you have now. Everyone does their best. But mistakes and misunderstandings happen, and I'm very sensitive to gluten. I don't eat at buffets anymore because it's too easy for someone to cross-contaminate things on the buffet. And on prior trips we've visted the same restaurant twice - and the same things weren't gluten free. Not due to a recipe change, but just because someone forgot something or had a different opinion about what was "safe". We usually visit for 10 days at a time, and I'm pretty much guaranteed to have a minor reaction in there somewhere. Sometimes it's my fault (It never occurred to me that ranch dip would have wheat in it, and I somehow missed it buried in the fine print the first three times I read the little packet) and sometimes we catch it before we eat it (I once had a Chef bring me breaded tilapia, with wheat breading. And then not understand why I needed a completely new plate.) and sometimes you don't know what happened -you just have those characteristic symptoms for a few days.
I -will- say that for eating out every meal for 10 days - I feel far safer and get far less sick than I would doing it anywhere else. Disney does an excellent, excellent job and everyone is very vigilant - but accidents and mistakes happen and we do our best to take them in stride.
There is no extra charge for GF food at Disney; all the prices are the same.
Sometimes. Sometimes not. If you just need a gluten free bun or gluten free pasta - they should be the same. Gluten free specialty foods - the chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese, gluten free pasta, gluten free brownies - are not usually the same price as the regular time. Sometimes more expensive, sometimes less. I think averaging on the side of more. Your hotel's food court is the place they're most likely to be the same. Gluten free pizza is the item least likely to be priced the same.
I hope this helps; I’ve been frustrated trying to figure out logistics. Brenda at the special diets email is very helpful, but sometimes I get incomprehensible replies when Lee answers an email. It is hard to get a straight plain answer! I’m currently trying to find a list of GF foods available at our resort: POP Century.
Special diets doesn't have a list for Pop Century - you just need to talk to the chefs there. However; I've stayed at Pop Century... maybe a half a dozen times gluten free. What they have varies. Even within a week. They're out of something, they got something cool in, whatever. Usually they can replicate 95% of the menu in a gluten free version if you want. Looking at the AllEars menu, the things I've had made gluten free include:
Waffle platter (Regular and mickey shaped)
french toast platter
pancakes (regular or chocolate chip)
omelettes
Sometimes they have a breakfast bread (like a gluten free bagel or muffin - these tend to vary)
Olive tapanade/hummus
greek salad
cheeseburgers (on gluten free buns or bunless)
chicken fingers
fries (cheese fries were ok, but the chili had wheat)
chicken penne alfredo (with and without chicken, but with spaghetti instead of penne)
pizza (cheese only - it's the frozen amy's pizza)
macaroni and cheese (again, the frozen amy's)
gluten free cake in chocolate or vanilla (this is a 6" cake and around $20 as I recall)
nachos
beef and broccoli
asian chicken salad
shrimp lo-mein
chicken lo-mein
plain noodles with butter and parmasean
Turkey dinner
Mojo pork dinner
fish of the day dinner (I think this was usually salmon)
brownie fudge sundaes (with gluten free brownie)
fruit and cheese
veggie sticks (last time the ranch dressing that came with them had gluten - they just had me pull a Ken's dressing from the fridge case)
puddings, brownies, ice cream bars, popsicles, etc.
And then we had a bunch of off-menu stuff. Fresh strawberries and pineapple instead of meat with the breakfast platters? No problem. A stir-fry with chicken and mixed veggies instead of meat and broccoli? No problem. Pasta primavera, chicken sandwiches, a million and one variations on asian meat and veg (my perennial favorite). They took -really- good care of us.
Always, always, always ask for the chef, as soon as you get there. The best places to ask are either at the little gap between the pizza counter and the mom's night out counter or the gap between the burger counter and the flatbread counter.
The key that I've found (everywhere, not just Disney restaurants) is to make yourself a recognizable person and to treat every chef like an individual. Introduce yourself, tell them how long you'll be staying, what kind of food needs you have and generally what you like. When we make it clear that we appreciate the extra effort and find their time as valuable as ours - we get better, more interesting food. Likewise if we give some feedback after the meal.
I found that it was very helpful to ask when the best times to come in were, because they weren't always what I expected. I found that within a couple of days I knew the chefs and I knew who's off-the-cuff things we really liked, and who liked to stick to replicating what was on the menu and who liked to be given relatively free reign to come up with something that met our dietary needs.
My dad probably put it best on our last Disney trip. "Now I know why you keep coming back all the time. It's like you have a team of personal chefs following you around all day and giving you whatever you want."
. Will there be a difference in added wait times between CS and ADRs? Would the extra charges be that significant? I guess I've assumed that we'd be ok with some CS.
