snorris49
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2009
- Messages
- 533
Hi all! I thought I would post a little dining report from my recent 4 day trip to WDW with my Mom. We are Disney vets (go every year! 
) but this is the first time that I have gone with dietary restrictions and autoimmune disease issues. I was recently diagnosed with Crohn's disease in May and found out I'm gluten sensitive and lactose intolerant as well. The boards were so helpful in giving advice on places to eat (plus I had info from Brenda Bennett as well) and I thought it would be great to post my experience as well!
Overall thoughts:
Overall, it was a great experience. If any place can honor and handle dietary issues, it's DISNEY! I was so psyched to be able to look ahead of time through Brenda Bennett's lists of dietary safe places and options, as well as the menus here and on Allearsnet. I was confident that Disney could accomodate the gluten and dairy issues, but I was most concerned that my Crohn's would flare. I have issues digesting nuts, red meat, and anything pickled (uggg...more on that later...) and nothing super deep fried (rats!) so that makes things a little trickier. I have to say, the chefs were even more amazing than I anticipated. I only had one experience where the chef was less than accomodating, but for the most part...wow! great service like I always expect! AND I got to eat things I haven't been able to eat in a while! Here's a list of where we ate:
AKL-MARA Counter service breakfast and lunch:
We stayed at AKL and ate at the Mara on the first day for lunch. The chef came out and I explained that I had gluten and dairy. He kept offering me gluten free things that contained dairy. 1st it was pizza (um, dude unless there is soy cheese on that, there's dairy) next he tried mac and cheese (um, what part of no dairy did I not mention?!) and finally we were able to get to a consensus of grilled chicken and vegtables (which don't actually go down the greatest for Crohn's if they aren't cooked very long, which they were) Overall, the chicken was good, if not a bit greasy, and the veggies were pretty good too.
AKL-Jiko:
Oh my most favorite meal of the trip! My brother had raved about this restaurant, and I'm so glad we decided to try it. Fantastic! Not only were they extremely accomodating of my dietary restrictions, but they were well prepared with special menus for different types of dietary restrictions. They brought me a lactose free menu that the chef explained that everthing except 1 item was gluten free as well. My mom and I shared the dip sampler and they brough out 2 baskets of breads, pampadams for me and then she got the naan, lavosh, and pampadams. They also made a chermoula dip for me as the marsala dip had dairy in it. (they brought that out separately to my mom) It was soooooooo good. I'm hoping to make them at home because they were so tasty and the texture was very smooth and great for the Crohn's digestion. (high end baby food as my mom referred to it!)
Then I got the Swahili Shrimp Curry for my main dish. The only thing that I didn't like about the dish was the peas (which is bad for my Crohn's) but I picked them out and ate everything else. This was delish!
I also got a pressed pot of Rooibos tea (which is naturally anti-inflammatory, so very good for the Crohn's), which was lovely. I skipped dessert because I was so full and the fruit and sorbet didn't quite appeal to me.
AKL-Boma, Breakfast:
The chef came out and I immediately got worried, as it was the same chef from the Mara who couldn't figure out I also couldn't have dairy. But, the expereince was better this time. I had to tell him multiple times before he finally got that I was gluten and dairy free, but once that clicked, we were ok. I must say, Boma makes everything LADEN in dairy. What a bummer. If I was only gluten free, there would have been more options, but alas there was not. I could eat the turkey and ham at the carving station, fruit, quinoa, and other breakfast meats, but everything else was no go (oh how I missed the bobotie!
) But, the chef asked me what I wanted to eat, and made me an omelet and french toast...yeah french toast...I was psyched. It was also very good. I was very happy!
Epcot-Japan Yakitori House:
Nothing fancy here, I got the terriyaki chicken with rice. I don't have problems with soy sauce (although I use gluten free soy sauce a lot) so this was a perfect lunch. Went really well.
Polynesian-Kona, breakfast:
Another favorite! Chef Kim (awesome dude!) came out and asked what I wanted. What I really wanted was macadamia nut pancakes, but he would have to grind the nuts and that might not have been so tasty. I told him basically I wanted to the Big Kahuna plate and boy oh boy did he bring one out. I got double the meat, potatoes, and eggs than the regular portion (pics to prove it...my mom got the same thing!) and gluten free, dairy free mickey waffles which were pretty good. Chef even brought out food out. Yummy...could eat this every day!
Crystal Palace, Lunch:
To begin with, we had to wait forever (ok, an hour but it felt like forever) to get in. It was packed! Once we got in though, the chef came out and took me around. The options were so-so, but he offered to bring out tapioca rolls and then said he had a gluten free, dairy free brownie and rice dream ice cream for dessert. I said it sounded good to me. So, on the buffet, I tried salad with a Zinfindel dressing (mistake #1) and then a quinoa and shrimp salad with hearts of palm (mistake #2) and standard fare...pork loin, chicken, rice, etc. The vinegar in the dressing did not go down well and I got pretty sick later....
Lesson learned, don't eat vinegar. The tapioca rolls were OK. At least they were warmed which was nice.
Then came the dessert. OMG...best gluten free brownie (more like decadent chocolate cake) EVER! I am an expert too. It was so moist and decadent...I was in heaven....
According to the waiter, they (special diet desserts) are the only ones made in house, everything else is brought in. Totally worth it for the buffet. I'm still drooling just thinking about it.
DAK-Tusker House:
This buffet had a lot of options. Chef Ricardo showed me around the buffet and I was pleasantly surprised with all the options. I skipped the salad bar because I was feeling somewhat icky after the vinegar incident, but found curry chicken, seafood stew, salmon, and pork loin.
Lastly, the dessert was a pre-packaged brownie (not anything like the crystal palace treat!) but was moist and actually fairly tasty. At least he tried to decorate the plate. He also gave me a package of enjoy life cookies for the road (which I thought was nice)
Overall, Disney did a great job accomodating me. This was my first vacation after my flare up and I wasn't sure how I would do. With only one minor flare, I'd say pretty good. I can't wait to start planning my next trip so that I can start preparing for the tasty meals! I will say that eating counter service was harder and that I preferred table service to that, but it wasn't impossible. Hope this helps someone else in their trip planning. If you are contemplating a disney vacation with dietary restrictions, I say do it! They had the best service and were very attentive. I actually felt "normal" in my eating experience, as opposed to my normal restaurant experiences were people make me feel like I'm being "picky." I'm so glad we went!
On a side note, My next trip is at the end of Jan. for my 30th birthday and my mom's 50th. I'm hoping for an equally great dining experience and will try loads of new places on my dietary restritions (going to O'hana, I've heard chef T.J. is awesome!) and hopefully, my Crohn's will continue to move towards remission (I think we are on our way) so that I will be able to branch out into eating other items. (I've had salad 3 weekends in a row...that is practically a miracle these days. In June I was on a liquid diet so this is remarkable!) I'm crossing my fingers and thinking happy thoughts!
If you'd like to see my food pictures, check out my flickr photo album from the trip. http://www.flickr.com/photos/42083764@N04/sets/72157622467800914/
Enjoy! I know I did!
) but this is the first time that I have gone with dietary restrictions and autoimmune disease issues. I was recently diagnosed with Crohn's disease in May and found out I'm gluten sensitive and lactose intolerant as well. The boards were so helpful in giving advice on places to eat (plus I had info from Brenda Bennett as well) and I thought it would be great to post my experience as well! Overall thoughts:
Overall, it was a great experience. If any place can honor and handle dietary issues, it's DISNEY! I was so psyched to be able to look ahead of time through Brenda Bennett's lists of dietary safe places and options, as well as the menus here and on Allearsnet. I was confident that Disney could accomodate the gluten and dairy issues, but I was most concerned that my Crohn's would flare. I have issues digesting nuts, red meat, and anything pickled (uggg...more on that later...) and nothing super deep fried (rats!) so that makes things a little trickier. I have to say, the chefs were even more amazing than I anticipated. I only had one experience where the chef was less than accomodating, but for the most part...wow! great service like I always expect! AND I got to eat things I haven't been able to eat in a while! Here's a list of where we ate:
AKL-MARA Counter service breakfast and lunch:
We stayed at AKL and ate at the Mara on the first day for lunch. The chef came out and I explained that I had gluten and dairy. He kept offering me gluten free things that contained dairy. 1st it was pizza (um, dude unless there is soy cheese on that, there's dairy) next he tried mac and cheese (um, what part of no dairy did I not mention?!) and finally we were able to get to a consensus of grilled chicken and vegtables (which don't actually go down the greatest for Crohn's if they aren't cooked very long, which they were) Overall, the chicken was good, if not a bit greasy, and the veggies were pretty good too.
AKL-Jiko:
Oh my most favorite meal of the trip! My brother had raved about this restaurant, and I'm so glad we decided to try it. Fantastic! Not only were they extremely accomodating of my dietary restrictions, but they were well prepared with special menus for different types of dietary restrictions. They brought me a lactose free menu that the chef explained that everthing except 1 item was gluten free as well. My mom and I shared the dip sampler and they brough out 2 baskets of breads, pampadams for me and then she got the naan, lavosh, and pampadams. They also made a chermoula dip for me as the marsala dip had dairy in it. (they brought that out separately to my mom) It was soooooooo good. I'm hoping to make them at home because they were so tasty and the texture was very smooth and great for the Crohn's digestion. (high end baby food as my mom referred to it!)
Then I got the Swahili Shrimp Curry for my main dish. The only thing that I didn't like about the dish was the peas (which is bad for my Crohn's) but I picked them out and ate everything else. This was delish!
I also got a pressed pot of Rooibos tea (which is naturally anti-inflammatory, so very good for the Crohn's), which was lovely. I skipped dessert because I was so full and the fruit and sorbet didn't quite appeal to me.
AKL-Boma, Breakfast:
The chef came out and I immediately got worried, as it was the same chef from the Mara who couldn't figure out I also couldn't have dairy. But, the expereince was better this time. I had to tell him multiple times before he finally got that I was gluten and dairy free, but once that clicked, we were ok. I must say, Boma makes everything LADEN in dairy. What a bummer. If I was only gluten free, there would have been more options, but alas there was not. I could eat the turkey and ham at the carving station, fruit, quinoa, and other breakfast meats, but everything else was no go (oh how I missed the bobotie!
) But, the chef asked me what I wanted to eat, and made me an omelet and french toast...yeah french toast...I was psyched. It was also very good. I was very happy! Epcot-Japan Yakitori House:
Nothing fancy here, I got the terriyaki chicken with rice. I don't have problems with soy sauce (although I use gluten free soy sauce a lot) so this was a perfect lunch. Went really well.
Polynesian-Kona, breakfast:
Another favorite! Chef Kim (awesome dude!) came out and asked what I wanted. What I really wanted was macadamia nut pancakes, but he would have to grind the nuts and that might not have been so tasty. I told him basically I wanted to the Big Kahuna plate and boy oh boy did he bring one out. I got double the meat, potatoes, and eggs than the regular portion (pics to prove it...my mom got the same thing!) and gluten free, dairy free mickey waffles which were pretty good. Chef even brought out food out. Yummy...could eat this every day!
Crystal Palace, Lunch:
To begin with, we had to wait forever (ok, an hour but it felt like forever) to get in. It was packed! Once we got in though, the chef came out and took me around. The options were so-so, but he offered to bring out tapioca rolls and then said he had a gluten free, dairy free brownie and rice dream ice cream for dessert. I said it sounded good to me. So, on the buffet, I tried salad with a Zinfindel dressing (mistake #1) and then a quinoa and shrimp salad with hearts of palm (mistake #2) and standard fare...pork loin, chicken, rice, etc. The vinegar in the dressing did not go down well and I got pretty sick later....
Lesson learned, don't eat vinegar. The tapioca rolls were OK. At least they were warmed which was nice.Then came the dessert. OMG...best gluten free brownie (more like decadent chocolate cake) EVER! I am an expert too. It was so moist and decadent...I was in heaven....
According to the waiter, they (special diet desserts) are the only ones made in house, everything else is brought in. Totally worth it for the buffet. I'm still drooling just thinking about it.DAK-Tusker House:
This buffet had a lot of options. Chef Ricardo showed me around the buffet and I was pleasantly surprised with all the options. I skipped the salad bar because I was feeling somewhat icky after the vinegar incident, but found curry chicken, seafood stew, salmon, and pork loin.
Lastly, the dessert was a pre-packaged brownie (not anything like the crystal palace treat!) but was moist and actually fairly tasty. At least he tried to decorate the plate. He also gave me a package of enjoy life cookies for the road (which I thought was nice)
Overall, Disney did a great job accomodating me. This was my first vacation after my flare up and I wasn't sure how I would do. With only one minor flare, I'd say pretty good. I can't wait to start planning my next trip so that I can start preparing for the tasty meals! I will say that eating counter service was harder and that I preferred table service to that, but it wasn't impossible. Hope this helps someone else in their trip planning. If you are contemplating a disney vacation with dietary restrictions, I say do it! They had the best service and were very attentive. I actually felt "normal" in my eating experience, as opposed to my normal restaurant experiences were people make me feel like I'm being "picky." I'm so glad we went!
On a side note, My next trip is at the end of Jan. for my 30th birthday and my mom's 50th. I'm hoping for an equally great dining experience and will try loads of new places on my dietary restritions (going to O'hana, I've heard chef T.J. is awesome!) and hopefully, my Crohn's will continue to move towards remission (I think we are on our way) so that I will be able to branch out into eating other items. (I've had salad 3 weekends in a row...that is practically a miracle these days. In June I was on a liquid diet so this is remarkable!) I'm crossing my fingers and thinking happy thoughts!
If you'd like to see my food pictures, check out my flickr photo album from the trip. http://www.flickr.com/photos/42083764@N04/sets/72157622467800914/
Enjoy! I know I did!
