snorris49
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2009
- Messages
- 533
Hi everyone, I thought I would share what I learned from the "dress rehearsal" at the new Fantasyland expansion this weekend! I was lucky enough to be at WDW when a "dress rehearsal" i.e. pre-preview period opening occurred. We took a chance on visiting thinking it might be really busy (it wasn't as bad as expected) and wanted to see if any of the restaurant choices were open. Be Our Guest Restaurant was not, but luckily the new Gaston's Tavern was. A quick service with mostly snack items, we wanted to specifically check out the new LeFou's Brew the signature drink which many have been comparing to the Butterbeer from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal. I was intrigued, especially since the Butterbeer is gluten free but not dairy free. So we decided to pop in.
First up, I asked for a manager who came over while we were in line. He explained to me that because we were in the "dress rehearsal" phase, they were still refining some of the food and not officially giving out ingredients and did not have an ingredient binder on hand either. But, he said he's tried to help if he could. I explained I was most interested in the roast pork shank and the LeFou's Brew. He said that the roasted pork shank was made with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and then roasted but he again didn't have that ingredient sheet with him. He said it was possible they had changed the "recipe" without telling him too. Seemed like it was probably going to be a turkey leg scenario of ingredients.
My mom and step-dad decided to try the pork shank out, and I tried a bite. It was definitely nothing major in terms of ingredients, it tasted like just pork, salt and pepper. I don't think this one was heavily processed in terms of the ingredients. I will say, it was puny! For $7.99 it was not worth the price in my family's opinion. In fact, we all said you could spend the extra $1 or $2 for a turkey leg. Much more substantial and flavorful.
The other item that the manager and I discussed was the LeFou's Brew. He said he knew for sure that it was dairy free (still not 100% comfortable with that since he gave no binder listing with ingredients) but he didn't know about the gluten free part. He actually offered to bring out the ingredient bottles for me to look at! This was great, as I knew this would help me determine its safety or not. First up was an ingredient for the topping called Fomz. It was pretty weird looking. It's like whipped topping but not. My major concern came in the area of "natural flavors" on the ingredients list. I'm still not 100% certain after a web search, but it looks like it is dairy free according to the Fomz site and gluten free according to some others. Still, I would check the binders and do some additional research before I felt confident in this one. Next up was the toasted marshmallow syrup. This is what is mixed in with the 100% pure apple juice which according to the manager was Mott's brand. According to the website for the syrup, this is gluten free & dairy free.
I posted the ingredients list and the photos from Gaston's Tavern on my blog.
So, based on the ingredients, I made the decision to try it. It was really tasty. A slushy frozen apple juice concoction. Though the foam was weird, it was good. Oddly marshmallowy in texture. I did find that I got wicked brain freeze from drinking it too fast. I will note that I only drank part of it and not the whole thing. And I think I had some latent stomach discomfort. Still not sure if it was the ingredients (felt very overprocessed for me; I don't do that well with highly processed stuff) or the temperature because it was almost instantaneous brain freeze every time, so I imagine my stomach didn't feel so hot. I did eat lunch after this and I felt much better after I ate. I also didn't feel sick later in the evening, so I'm wondering if it was a combination of things more so than the gluten free/dairy free issue. Still, I would check the binders once they get them out to confirm GF/DF status. I might try it a second time if it's deemed 100% safe just to see if the tummy troubles were a fluke or related to something else. (highly possible with Crohn's!) Also, I don't feel sick at all today after eating it, and when usually when I'm glutenized I feel sick for a couple of days.
In terms of the other options, mixed fruit cup might be ok, though I didn't ask about it or see it. The mixed vegetable cup with dip might also be ok for just GF folks, though I'd ask. I did notice that all of the other items except the croissant and cinnamon roll were prepackaged items, so I would definitely double-check.
Overall, it seems like there might be a few options at Gaston's Tavern and that the LeFou's Brew looks highly likely to be gluten free/dairy free. It's definitely dairy free which is a leg up from Butterbeer, which as I mentioned earlier is not. This will make a highly desirable item for those of us who can't imbibe in the Harry Potter favorite! You can also get the brew in collector cups for guys and gals, though at a steep $9.99 a pop!
I'll just to update it with confirmed ingredients when I go back again and if anyone knows something I don't, I'd love to hear it!
First up, I asked for a manager who came over while we were in line. He explained to me that because we were in the "dress rehearsal" phase, they were still refining some of the food and not officially giving out ingredients and did not have an ingredient binder on hand either. But, he said he's tried to help if he could. I explained I was most interested in the roast pork shank and the LeFou's Brew. He said that the roasted pork shank was made with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and then roasted but he again didn't have that ingredient sheet with him. He said it was possible they had changed the "recipe" without telling him too. Seemed like it was probably going to be a turkey leg scenario of ingredients.
My mom and step-dad decided to try the pork shank out, and I tried a bite. It was definitely nothing major in terms of ingredients, it tasted like just pork, salt and pepper. I don't think this one was heavily processed in terms of the ingredients. I will say, it was puny! For $7.99 it was not worth the price in my family's opinion. In fact, we all said you could spend the extra $1 or $2 for a turkey leg. Much more substantial and flavorful.
The other item that the manager and I discussed was the LeFou's Brew. He said he knew for sure that it was dairy free (still not 100% comfortable with that since he gave no binder listing with ingredients) but he didn't know about the gluten free part. He actually offered to bring out the ingredient bottles for me to look at! This was great, as I knew this would help me determine its safety or not. First up was an ingredient for the topping called Fomz. It was pretty weird looking. It's like whipped topping but not. My major concern came in the area of "natural flavors" on the ingredients list. I'm still not 100% certain after a web search, but it looks like it is dairy free according to the Fomz site and gluten free according to some others. Still, I would check the binders and do some additional research before I felt confident in this one. Next up was the toasted marshmallow syrup. This is what is mixed in with the 100% pure apple juice which according to the manager was Mott's brand. According to the website for the syrup, this is gluten free & dairy free.
I posted the ingredients list and the photos from Gaston's Tavern on my blog.
So, based on the ingredients, I made the decision to try it. It was really tasty. A slushy frozen apple juice concoction. Though the foam was weird, it was good. Oddly marshmallowy in texture. I did find that I got wicked brain freeze from drinking it too fast. I will note that I only drank part of it and not the whole thing. And I think I had some latent stomach discomfort. Still not sure if it was the ingredients (felt very overprocessed for me; I don't do that well with highly processed stuff) or the temperature because it was almost instantaneous brain freeze every time, so I imagine my stomach didn't feel so hot. I did eat lunch after this and I felt much better after I ate. I also didn't feel sick later in the evening, so I'm wondering if it was a combination of things more so than the gluten free/dairy free issue. Still, I would check the binders once they get them out to confirm GF/DF status. I might try it a second time if it's deemed 100% safe just to see if the tummy troubles were a fluke or related to something else. (highly possible with Crohn's!) Also, I don't feel sick at all today after eating it, and when usually when I'm glutenized I feel sick for a couple of days.
In terms of the other options, mixed fruit cup might be ok, though I didn't ask about it or see it. The mixed vegetable cup with dip might also be ok for just GF folks, though I'd ask. I did notice that all of the other items except the croissant and cinnamon roll were prepackaged items, so I would definitely double-check.
Overall, it seems like there might be a few options at Gaston's Tavern and that the LeFou's Brew looks highly likely to be gluten free/dairy free. It's definitely dairy free which is a leg up from Butterbeer, which as I mentioned earlier is not. This will make a highly desirable item for those of us who can't imbibe in the Harry Potter favorite! You can also get the brew in collector cups for guys and gals, though at a steep $9.99 a pop!
I'll just to update it with confirmed ingredients when I go back again and if anyone knows something I don't, I'd love to hear it!
You crack me up! I don't think you're stalking me...yet 
