Gluten/casein free diet????

[sarahlovesmickey]

My daughter is on a GFCF diet and I am wondering if anyone has a list of foods that will be appropriate for her to eat while we are at Disney in May. I am just beside myself with this diet! It is very difficult to go anywhere outside of the house to eat. Are you going to have to bring her meals with us each day or is there hope of eating at the restaurants for her??? HELP!!

 

[crashbb]

WDW is great for special diets. I was there in November and I am also GFCF (well, actually dairy-free) and had my time at WDW was the best I'd had eating out since going GFDF.

If you do a search on this board, you should get lots of info.

Also, email Brenda (brenda.bennett@disney.com)who is in charge of special diets at WDW. She was able to send me an up to date list of what foods would be safe (and where to get them).

I also made sure that the status was noted on all my ADRs. The chef at Kona Cafe actually called me a few days before my reservation to discuss my menu options. When I arrived at all table service and counter service restaurants, I let a CM know of the diet, and a chef came out to speak to me. All my meals were prepared seperately.

I actually had such a great experience that I emailed when I returned. My email is below:

To whom it may concern,

We all know that WDW is a great place for rides and characters. What I didn't know,
until my recent visit, was how great you are for people with food intolerances. I just
wanted to take a moment to commend you and the entire WDW
dining staff for making my recent visit (from 17-November to 20-November) extremely
enjoyable and tasty despite my food intolerances (gluten and dairy) and still allowed me
to take advantage of the Disney Dining Plan and allowed my travel mate to enjoy the
restaurants she loved.

My first pleasant surprise was a phone call I received from the chef at the Kona Café (I
am not sure how to spell his name, but it sounded like Dilan) about three days before my
arrival. He took the time to discuss the menu with me and determined my best food
choices. He also arranged to make a special dessert (a special apple brown betty) since
none of the available desserts fit within my dietary needs. I was attending a conference
at the time (in Tampa - which is why I was in Florida in the first place and able to
visit WDW) and let everyone know about the phone call and how great I thought it was.

My first meal was dinner at the Seasons in EPCOT where the chef was able to combine items
from a number of different stations into a plate that was both tasty and fit within my
needs.

The next morning (18-Nov) at the Crystal Palace, the chef prepared special items
(waffles, eggs, and a roll), which I could combine with safe food from the buffet (bacon
and fruit) for a complete brunch though, sadly, I couldn't get Mickey waffles (they used
to be my favourite, along with the Mickey shaped pasta, which is also now a no-no).

We had an early dinner reservation at Le Cellier, so planned to go from a late breakfast
at the Crystal Palace until dinner. Luckily, I was able to find "Mecca" at the Main
Street Bakery and have my fill of snacks (the brownies were particularly yummy). Dinner
at Le Cellier was excellent as the chef was able to adapt the menu items slightly for me.

Breakfast the next morning at the ABC Commissary again involved the chef preparing me a
special plate of bacon, eggs, and potatoes, which was much appreciated.

My traveling partner wanted to eat lunch at Mama Melrose, which I was somewhat nervous
about, since Italian food does not generally go well for someone who can eat neither
gluten nor dairy. However, my worries proved to be unfounded. The chef was able to
prepare the tomato stacks without cheese, cheese-free pizza on a gluten-free crust, and
rice ice-cream with fresh fruit. I definitely left the restaurant very full!

Dinner that night was the much anticipated Kona dinner. I was on my own for the Kona
dinner since my travel companion left that afternoon. Matt, the chef on that night
(19-November) came out to my table to discuss my order, and he had obviously been
prepared by Dilan. With his advice, I ordered the Kona Salad (minus the cheese), the
Asian noodle dish (with wheat-free soy sauce) and my pre-arranged apple brown betty. He
also provided me with tapioca rolls so that I could enjoy the olive oil and balsamic
vinegar that other tables were enjoying. While waiting for my appetizer, Matt came out
to apologetically tell me that my apple brown-betty had accidentally been served to
someone else and could he prepare something else for my dessert. He offered to make me
grilled
pineapple with toffuti and a caramel sauce. Both my appetizer and entrée were very good.
The dessert was truly excellent; I'd suggest adapting it (maybe using fresh pineapple)
and adding it as a regular option.

My morning at the Animal Kingdom (20-Nov) was my only disappointment of the trip as I was
unable to find any breakfast that I could eat and the chef at Tusker's was unable (or
unwilling) to prepare lunch food early (it was about 10:15am when I tried). When lunch
food was available, I did get food at the Tusker House, and the chicken, vegetables, and
French fries were very good - though the kitchen seemed less organized and able to deal
with special requests than the other places I ate at. Perhaps I caught them at a bad
time (it was very busy).
Having said that, WDW set a very high standard and Tusker House would still be better
than 95% of restaurants I've eaten at outside of WDW.

My final meal was from Hurricane Hanna?s at the YC which was a perfect pre-departure meal.

All in all, my trip to WDW was amongst the best eating days that I have had since being
taken off of gluten and dairy. I have told many people about the joys of eating at WDW
and if you should need any comments/advice from a visitor who took advantage of the
special diet considerations offered by WDW, please do not hesitate to ask.

Yours sincerely,


PS - I have focussed soley on my dining experience, since it was so unexpectly great (and
I know that not many of your guests do deal with special dining). Please be assured that
the rest of my trip was equally great (including the kind person who mailed me my
driver's liscence without my even calling lost and found about it).

 

[flynnmnstr]

Depending on the variety of food your daughter eats you may need to bring some food for her to the parks every day.

As noted above email Brenda and get the list of foods and ingredients at the counter service restaurants. We find counter service restaurants tough for finding food he can eat and will eat (a little picky). Our DS likes soy yogurt and peanut butter so a lot of days will will just order him some french fries (fav food) and bring him soy yogurt and peanut butter crackers.

You will have no trouble at sit down restaurants. When you make your ADRs let them know about food issues, they will give you the phone numbers of chefs at restaurants and they will tell you to call them 24hrs before ressie to talk to them. We've never had a chef call us but we have called them and they have always been able to find something that he can eat and will eat. Breakfasts are particularly good because they can make them eggs and waffles that are dairy free.

IF this makes you feel better, one trip all my son ate was oatmeal (at the hotel in the morning), french fries, soy yogurt and bananas. I am not joking. He was being a particularly picky eater one year and I just didn't have the energy to fight it.

 

[tink2dw]

I just started watching THE VIEW this year in their tenth season. Elisabeth one of the co-hosts, has GFCF diet, and she really seems to have a great handle on how to eat. She has an email address on THE VIEW website, Why not email her for advice and tips!! I know she just found an ice cream that is guetin free that she can eat.

Here is the website
http://abc.go.com/daytime/theview/index.html

PS
They talk about answering their email, so give it a shot, Advice from her may really help you!!