Allergies -gluten and dairy

[kikismom]

Hello all! We are going to DL with a family during the Christmas season. One of the parents has allergies, two of which are gluten and dairy. One of the parents has a gluten intolerance but not an allergy or Celiac.

We know we want to go to Cocina Cucamonga, Black Tap, and Naples. I've looked at the app and I am not seeing an allergy menu for Black Tap or Naples. Does anyone have experience at either of these two restaurants? Also does any one know where to find actual allergy menus for the parks? I feel like last time I asked this you have to email for them. Has this improved?

We also will do a Character meal. Either Minnie's breakfast or Goofy's Kitchen for dinner. For allergy sakes which would be better? Does anyone know if the bananas foster sauce at Minnie's is GF? I'm sure it's not dairy free but was curious about gluten. We aren't interested in Storytellers. We've given it two chances and it was disappointing both times.

Any other great suggestions for us? We have a large group so I don't know how much we'll do for table service which will be a huge adjustment for me. It's their first trip and we go so often I'm making sure they get to have the trip that fits their family best.

 

[DisneylandFan22]

Naples has gluten free pasta. My girlfriend loves it.

Goofy’s Kitchen can do gluten free pizza, pancakes, waffles, cookies, and brownies. When you tell them you are gluten free the chef will come out and talk to you. They will give you a tour of what you can eat and tell you what they can make in the kitchen.

Most places have their allergy menu in the app. It is very extensive. There are burgers with gluten free buns, gluten free pizza, etc. There is a gluten free grilled cheese with tomato soup at Jolly Holiday. Bengal BBQ has skewers and Docking Bay 7 has good options. There is really quite a lot at the QS. My girlfriend is gluten free and vegetarian and we rarely do table service in the parks.

 

[Corpsebride]

I'm not sure that Bengal BBQ will be safe. They don't have a dedicated gf grill. Some of the sauces have gluten. So, just be careful there.

 

[kikismom]

Thank you!

 

[cmph]

I highly recommend using the DL app to get an idea of where to safely eat quick service that will also fit with general preferences. If available, they will have allergen menus at the bottom. You can do this on the website too, but I think the app is faster/easier for this, personally.

DH was diagnosed with celiac forever ago, and now DS has been too, and Disney trips are really our easiest. In our experience, Disney table service is able to accommodate safely, wherever you choose in the hotels or parks. Even if they don't list something gf on the menu, the chef will come out and figure something out with the guest. However, we have really struggled to find something consistently safe in Downtown Disney and honestly skip eating there. We use the site/app findmeglutenfree, which is really helpful to determine safety and potential issues. Their site is a little annoying for searching, so usually I just google the restaurant name plus findmeglutenfree.

I'd avoid Black Tap for the celiac, pretty bad safety rating. https://www.findmeglutenfree.com/biz/black-tap/5110360812158976. Naples is better, but we don't take chances on trips, and there are a couple of bad reviews on there for safety. Your intolerant person is likely totally fine, but for the one with celiac - kind of depends on their risk tolerance. We are pretty conservative b/c DH is very reactive to cross contamination, and we get even more conservative on trips b/c of the potential ramifications to a ruined trip and (to be blunt) the fact that we're in a hotel room with one bathroom and not at home with 3. IYKYK

 

[kikismom]

I highly recommend using the DL app to get an idea of where to safely eat quick service that will also fit with general preferences. If available, they will have allergen menus at the bottom. You can do this on the website too, but I think the app is faster/easier for this, personally.

DH was diagnosed with celiac forever ago, and now DS has been too, and Disney trips are really our easiest. In our experience, Disney table service is able to accommodate safely, wherever you choose in the hotels or parks. Even if they don't list something gf on the menu, the chef will come out and figure something out with the guest. However, we have really struggled to find something consistently safe in Downtown Disney and honestly skip eating there. We use the site/app findmeglutenfree, which is really helpful to determine safety and potential issues. Their site is a little annoying for searching, so usually I just google the restaurant name plus findmeglutenfree.

I'd avoid Black Tap for the celiac, pretty bad safety rating. https://www.findmeglutenfree.com/biz/black-tap/5110360812158976. Naples is better, but we don't take chances on trips, and there are a couple of bad reviews on there for safety. Your intolerant person is likely totally fine, but for the one with celiac - kind of depends on their risk tolerance. We are pretty conservative b/c DH is very reactive to cross contamination, and we get even more conservative on trips b/c of the potential ramifications to a ruined trip and (to be blunt) the fact that we're in a hotel room with one bathroom and not at home with 3. IYKYK

Thank you! I went on one gluten free trip myself years ago but I'm not celiac so I never worried about cross contamination. I'm trying to get everything squared away in advance so that he doesn't spend his trip in the hotel room feeling sick.

Do you know if it's possible to find table service menus on the app? I can't seem to find them.

 

[cmph]

Thank you! I went on one gluten free trip myself years ago but I'm not celiac so I never worried about cross contamination. I'm trying to get everything squared away in advance so that he doesn't spend his trip in the hotel room feeling sick.

Do you know if it's possible to find table service menus on the app? I can't seem to find them.

I'm not sure why, but the table service menus always have something like "allergy friendly available on request" at the bottom. It's kind of annoying, b/c you basically have to research on your own, elsewhere, to see what kinds of things people have gotten. Where are you thinking you might end up, in the parks? We disboarders can help a bit. This is also a good resource (hopefully doesn't get blocked): https://www.glutenfreeandthemouse.com/2021/04/Disneyland-Gluten-Free-Menu.html

We have had no issues at any of the buffets, btw. They have always brought out plates of food, no problem. (Often too much!) But I don't know about the bananas foster sauce - it would be weird for that to have wheat, but smart to ask just in case it's in a thickener or something.

 

[YYCPoohFan]

Hi kikismom!

I have celiac disease and I'm intolerant to dairy. DH has a tree nut allergy so we are always very mindful of our options. The lack of allergy friendly menus online for all restaurants is frustrating for sure. For those that don't have them posted, I look at the regular menu items and can usually find at least one that I know could easily be adapted by the kitchen. I have always had excellent service with regards to our food needs whether at DL, DCA, or WDW. Disney is so good with this which is why we don't worry when going there. Neither of us has ever had any issues.

We are going in September to DL/DCA this year and just finished booking our last dining reservation this morning. Here are the places we have booked for the week (table service):

- Cafe Orleans
- Tortilla Jo's
- Lamplight Lounge
- WOC Dessert Party (apparently there is an allergy friendly plate option here but you need to state that you need it when making your reservation)
- Oga's Cantina
- GCH Craftsman Bar
- Carthay Circle Lounge (Alfresco Dining)
- Trader Sam's
- Wine Country Trattoria

We've eaten at some of these places before but that was six years ago so we are hoping nothing much has changed. We will also do QS at a few places too. Cocina Cucamonga, Ronto Roasters, Docking Bay 7, Hungry Bear, and a few others. We like to try different things and we find that's usually possible.

I also saw somewhere on the disboards that you can go to the City Hall at DL and get a list of all the allergy-friendly options in the parks when you arrive. I plan to do that this time to see if that helps with QS options.

It can definitely be tricky to navigate but it is doable so best of luck and have a great trip!

 

[cmph]

Hi kikismom!

I have celiac disease and I'm intolerant to dairy. DH has a tree nut allergy so we are always very mindful of our options. The lack of allergy friendly menus online for all restaurants is frustrating for sure. For those that don't have them posted, I look at the regular menu items and can usually find at least one that I know could easily be adapted by the kitchen. I have always had excellent service with regards to our food needs whether at DL, DCA, or WDW. Disney is so good with this which is why we don't worry when going there. Neither of us has ever had any issues.

We are going in September to DL/DCA this year and just finished booking our last dining reservation this morning. Here are the places we have booked for the week (table service):

- Cafe Orleans
- Tortilla Jo's
- Lamplight Lounge
- WOC Dessert Party (apparently there is an allergy friendly plate option here but you need to state that you need it when making your reservation)
- Oga's Cantina
- GCH Craftsman Bar
- Carthay Circle Lounge (Alfresco Dining)
- Trader Sam's
- Wine Country Trattoria

We've eaten at some of these places before but that was six years ago so we are hoping nothing much has changed. We will also do QS at a few places too. Cocina Cucamonga, Ronto Roasters, Docking Bay 7, Hungry Bear, and a few others. We like to try different things and we find that's usually possible.

I also saw somewhere on the disboards that you can go to the City Hall at DL and get a list of all the allergy-friendly options in the parks when you arrive. I plan to do that this time to see if that helps with QS options.

It can definitely be tricky to navigate but it is doable so best of luck and have a great trip!

We have done WOC dessert party twice. The first time, they proactively called me to confirm that we had someone gluten-free. The last time (December) - I emailed Special.Diets@disneyland.com a few days before our reservation to confirm myself, and to explicitly state that the special dietary needs did not apply to all members of our party. The issue with online bookings is that there is no way to indicate who/how many in your party have dietary restrictions. When they updated the reservation on the back end, it did something funky to our reservation to make it look like we had extra people in our party, but they swore they only had 4 people under that ADR number. Day of - it went smoothly, no issues.

Be careful with Craftsman. That was our one bad experience on that December trip. Everyone was starving, and DH didn't ask to speak with a chef b/c he thought ordering one of the salad without croutons would be simple enough after chatting at length with our server. The food took a while, and his salad took even longer; we thought it was just due to special preparations for an allergy meal. Guess what showed up on the salad - yup, big ol' regular croutons. Lesson learned! Even when starving, just ask to speak to the chef!

 

[kikismom]

Thanks! I tried chatting yesterday to see if I could have the menus sent out to me. My issue with City Hall is that the line is always so insane!

I've been scouring the menus. I just fell in love with Naples on our last trip and was hoping to eat there again. Up in the thread pasta was mentioned but does anyone know if they have GF pizza crust?

I appreciate all the answers. I know Disney is one of the best places to go with food allergies so we'll be covered. I'm just such a planner that not having the menus is making me a bit anxious.

 

[cmph]

Thanks! I tried chatting yesterday to see if I could have the menus sent out to me. My issue with City Hall is that the line is always so insane!

I've been scouring the menus. I just fell in love with Naples on our last trip and was hoping to eat there again. Up in the thread pasta was mentioned but does anyone know if they have GF pizza crust?

I appreciate all the answers. I know Disney is one of the best places to go with food allergies so we'll be covered. I'm just such a planner that not having the menus is making me a bit anxious.

A review from 3mo ago here says no on the GF crust: https://www.findmeglutenfree.com/biz/naples-ristorante-e-pizzeria/5650512733011968

I'm sure that TS chefs are able to customize in ways the QS cooks can't. I also wonder if they worry that people with allergies will avoid some TS locations, if they saw how little on the menu was naturally absent of their allergen. River Belle Terrace, for example, had practically nothing gf/gfo, but the chef came out, chatted and crafted a special order in Dec. I suppose no one who is gf would go there if they posted an allergy menu that showed nothing safe to eat!

 

[StormyCA]

https://www.disboards.com/threads/gluten-free-dining-at-the-disneyland-resort-a-superthread.3003289/

Recommend you read this thread from newest to oldest to be sure you're getting the latest info. Please post any reviews or tips if you can. As you can see it's not super current, but it does have some good info. Obvs it deals mainly with gluten free, but there are also reference to dairy free as well.

City Hall hasn't given out the food lists for AGES, citing 'supplier changes'. Each place (supposedly) has a binder with ingredients. A lot (but not all) of the Disney owned eatery allergy menus can be found on the DLR dining page or it will say 'allergy menu on request' which means that at least they have one you can look at. Just pull up the eatery menu and scroll down to the bottom and see what's there. The 3rd party eateries in DTD don't have allergy menus posted.

I second what someone upthread said about TS being 'best' for allergies. The chefs have a lot more fresh ingredients to choose from in trying to tailor a dish to someone's allergies. I had the best 'off menu' club sammie at the Grand (ages ago, before they ruined it by going 'character meal) because the chef had the ingredients to work with. CS and QS are pretty much 'stuck' with the menu items and as a rule can only substitute or 'delete' ingredients on what they already serve (ie no cheese, allergy bun, etc). So when it comes to CS and QS if there's no allergy menu shown, take a look at the regular menu and see if there's something there that can be adapted for you.

Also always double check about shared fryers and surfaces. I've gotten the 'go ahead' from the register CM only to double check on XC to find that those fries that sounded so good aren't fried in a separate fryer.

If all else fails contact Special.Diets@Disneyland.com. They won't go line by line and give you the ingredients for every dish offered, but they can give you good guidance on the places that will suit your needs.

 

[YYCPoohFan]

We have done WOC dessert party twice. The first time, they proactively called me to confirm that we had someone gluten-free. The last time (December) - I emailed Special.Diets@disneyland.com a few days before our reservation to confirm myself, and to explicitly state that the special dietary needs did not apply to all members of our party. The issue with online bookings is that there is no way to indicate who/how many in your party have dietary restrictions. When they updated the reservation on the back end, it did something funky to our reservation to make it look like we had extra people in our party, but they swore they only had 4 people under that ADR number. Day of - it went smoothly, no issues.

Be careful with Craftsman. That was our one bad experience on that December trip. Everyone was starving, and DH didn't ask to speak with a chef b/c he thought ordering one of the salad without croutons would be simple enough after chatting at length with our server. The food took a while, and his salad took even longer; we thought it was just due to special preparations for an allergy meal. Guess what showed up on the salad - yup, big ol' regular croutons. Lesson learned! Even when starving, just ask to speak to the chef!

Thanks for the info, cmph. I have already spoken with customer service regarding the dessert party and they told me that they can't see our special requests on their end at all because they never can. My question to them had been why my email said my special requests had been noted but my reservation in both the app and on the website showed I had no special requests for that reservation. They told me if the email said the requests were noted then they had that info. Since we are still 1.5 months from our trip, I'll wait and see if they contact me directly at this point before emailing Special Diets. Good to know about that though so thank you!

 

[cmph]

Thanks for the info, cmph. I have already spoken with customer service regarding the dessert party and they told me that they can't see our special requests on their end at all because they never can. My question to them had been why my email said my special requests had been noted but my reservation in both the app and on the website showed I had no special requests for that reservation. They told me if the email said the requests were noted then they had that info. Since we are still 1.5 months from our trip, I'll wait and see if they contact me directly at this point before emailing Special Diets. Good to know about that though so thank you!

We had that exact same thing - special requests showed on every other ADR but not the dessert party. However, whatever the special diets people did in the background most definitely updated something on the ADR. I'd send a quick email about 3-4 days out, like I did, if you haven't heard from them. Better safe than sorry! FWIW, the FAQ says "We request that you don’t contact us any sooner than 14 days prior to your arrival", so I definitely wouldn't expect anything from them earlier than that... I just got nervous when I realized they had no idea if it was 1 or 4 people with dietary restrictions and no one reached out to ask. Maybe I jumped the gun and they would have called the day before, but we were already in the parks by then, so not exactly convenient timing.

 

[GatorChris]

DH was diagnosed with celiac forever ago, and now DS has been too, and Disney trips are really our easiest. In our experience, Disney table service is able to accommodate safely, wherever you choose in the hotels or parks. Even if they don't list something gf on the menu, the chef will come out and figure something out with the guest. However, we have really struggled to find something consistently safe in Downtown Disney and honestly skip eating there. We use the site/app findmeglutenfree, which is really helpful to determine safety and potential issues. Their site is a little annoying for searching, so usually I just google the restaurant name plus findmeglutenfree.

Same here. My wife has Celiac (which really sucks, BTW). We go on lots of trips and Disney is the place we're safest. She has this little device that checks for Gluten and Disney is pretty consistent with the exception of River Belle Terrace (that place is a mess). Hawaii, Pismo, even normally GF places like Dickey's BBQ are hit and miss, a lot of misses. And that's why we do Disneyland so much - it's safe for her. Universal Orlando was just as good, too.

I'm with you on DD. Used to, Jazz Kitchen was a slam dunk. They were always gluten free with the BBQ Shrimp&Grits. The last two times, gluten registered on her device (and quite a bit). Even plain old grilled fish got messed up. It's a bummer because it used to be our favorite Disney property diner - no longer. Ever since dumb Covid hit, restaurants that were good closed, and restaurants that were trying and succeeding now try and fail to make GF foods. At this point in time, travel is not in the best interest for Celiacs. At least, that's what we've discovered in the last year.

 

[cmph]

I'm with you on DD. Used to, Jazz Kitchen was a slam dunk. They were always gluten free with the BBQ Shrimp&Grits. The last two times, gluten registered on her device (and quite a bit). Even plain old grilled fish got messed up. It's a bummer because it used to be our favorite Disney property diner - no longer. Ever since dumb Covid hit, restaurants that were good closed, and restaurants that were trying and succeeding now try and fail to make GF foods. At this point in time, travel is not in the best interest for Celiacs. At least, that's what we've discovered in the last year.

Yeah, I realized just how easy Disney trips are when I planned out our DL Christmas trip at the same time I was planning a June/July trip to Europe (Baltic cruise). Exhaustive research just for lunches in ports! FYI - It turns out that Sweden and Finland have high rates of celiac so are relatively easy. But on the other end of the spectrum, Germany, ugh, nearly impossible in the north where our ports were, even though the grocery stores have decent gf things. It's like they expected celiacs to only eat at home. No joke, I was just googling "best cities in the US for gluten free dining" earlier this week, thinking that would feed into the decision-making for our next vacation!

 

[kikismom]

I heard back from Disney and they confirmed they no longer offer the allergy menus at City Hall or sent out prior. They said you have to ask at each restaurant. I know there had been conversation about it earlier in the thread but wanted to let everyone know.

I'm pretty sure we'll do Minnes breakfast for the kids and get the GF waffles. We do need to book a dinner for our first night. We won't be in the parks but are staying by Garden Walk. We were thinking about DTD so we could shop too but after reading about the hit or miss on restaurants there I'll rethink it.

 

[StormyCA]

@GatorChris

At this point in time, travel is not in the best interest for Celiacs. At least, that's what we've discovered in the last year.

That's one of the reasons we love RVing and especially Ft Wilderness. Obvs if you're an 'urban traveler' (ie love staying in cities) RVing may not be the best and if you love foreign travel it's a 'no go'. But there are plenty of cities in the US and Canada with RV parks in and nearby. But if you love the 'country' and National/State Parks, RVing is perfect. You take your own kitchen with you so you're always assured of safe meals. And sleeping in your own bed, lol.

BTW the Natl Parks we've visited that have (usually concessionaire-run) restaurants in them usually have a few GF dishes. Choice is pretty basic, but I've never been glutened.

I was diagnosed a few years after we bought our first travel trailer and, frankly, it saved my (GF) bacon as far as our vacations went. Back in the early '00s' food options were very very limited (and restaurants were pretty much limited to Outback Steakhouse) and we would have probably cancelled our first trip to Yellowstone if it hadn't been for the fact that I could stock up on my own foods and prepare them safely.

 

[kikismom]

If anyone is around the parks, eating at Plaza Inn and can snap a pic of the allergy menu, (lunch/dinner), for me I would very much appreciate it! I want to eat there but need to make sure our friends can as well. TIA!

 

[StormyCA]

An FYI, as of yesterday Sep 17, it appears that DLR has removed a LOT of the allergy menus from their dining pages. They now say "Guests must speak to a Cast Member about their allergy-friendly request". This is a real bummer as it makes it very hard for people with dietary needs to make ADRs, simply because we won't know whether or not there will be anything we like on the menu or whether we can be accommodated in the first place.

I'm hoping this is just temporary.

EDIT: just checked the WDW dining pages. Allergy menus are still there so not sure what's going on with DLR