Gluten free and nervous about upcoming trip

[Flyerfan]

This will be my first trip since going gluten free and I'm a rookie when it comes to eating out. I've only eaten out once (since being GF) and I was a bit nervous so I'm not sure how I'll do for one whole week. Add to that we may be driving (from PA) and I need to find GF options on the road. I'm gluten intolerant and my reaction is less severe than many but I still would like to avoid it, if possible. I do plan on eating at TS restaurants which is better than CS, I hear.
One plus is we are DVC so we have a full kitchen but I don't want to be cooking on vacation.

I have 6 months to obsess about this....and believe me, I will. Please tell me it's not as bad as I'm thinking it will be.

 

[3prettyprincesses]

Oh, I completely understand how you feel! I really do. I felt the same way on my first trip to Disney. Let me reassure you, they do an amazing job with food allergies. I was so incredibly nervous about eating out since going gluten free. Pretty much the only place I do eat out at is PF Chang's. But Disney just blew me away with their ability to keep me from getting sick. I've never encountered such meticulous service.

We drove down to Disney as well (13 hours). For me, I brought all of my own food in a cooler for the road. I know lots of celiacs have had good luck with Chick-Fil-A and Wendy's while driving though. Do what you feel comfortable with. BTW, both have online menus listing gluten free items too.

Be sure to contact Special Diets too when you get closer to your travel dates. Here's the email for that:

WDW.Special.Diets@disney.com

Good luck!

 

[LoveKermit]

My MIL is celiac and "intolerant" as well. Let me tell you, in the 10 years I've known her, things have gotten better with it all around.

At WDW--every place has a GF menu. Just keep in mind that it's new for you, so things will not taste the same. A rice bun is different than a wheat bun. For a kid who has never known the difference, it's probably fine. But my point is EVERY place--CS included--has GF menus. The chef may even pop out to speak to you if you need. No worries--really.

As for your drive--McDonald's has gotten much better at the "no bun" order. Red Robin is coming out with a GF menu soon and has a binder at this point. They make their sandwiches into lettuce wraps. Chinese is easy if you are not picky. Just avoid soy sauce. Mexican is the easiest, since almost everything is corn (or flour is easily avoidable). Even Jimmy John's does lettuce wraps. You'll be surprised now that you're tuned into it.

If you have a sweet tooth, there are all the mixes now by Betty Crocker. Make yourself cookies and take them with. That avoids the cooking, but is a nice option.

I'll continue to consider "on the road" food. She does fine and they drive all over the country these days. Ooh--breakfast food is always easy/safe too. Wendy's has some better salads these days. Can you tell we eat out a lot?!?

 

[honugirl]

When I'm out on the road I pretty much do Taco Time because I know the crisp tacos are safe for me. I've heard Chik-Fil-A is awesome, but we don't have any around here. Udi's white sandwich bread is FANTASTIC! It's in the freezer at Whole Foods, but you can take the loaf out of the freezer and it's OK for a few days, long enough for your drive so you can make sandwiches and stuff.

Don't worry at all about being able to eat at WDW! The paces to avoid are Yak-n-Yeti, I haven't done TS there, but when looking at the menu, I'm not super confident that I could find something to eat there. I know the CS is a complete bust! Nothing to eat there at all. 9 Dragons isn't one I'd go back to, both TS and CS. It's boring and bland. They don't have wheat free soy sauce as I was told by special diets which means I got plain stir fry and I literally mean plain! They told me at 9 dragons that I was getting chicken stir fry with Moo Goo Gai Pan sauce... I had to hunt to find the sauce...

Most places will have something for you to eat. I'm with Chef Jose at Pop. He makes the most fantastic food! Including GF corn dogs! I ate a billion of those on my last trip. He made them specifically for me! They were so good!

 

[livndisney]

My MIL is celiac and "intolerant" as well. Let me tell you, in the 10 years I've known her, things have gotten better with it all around.

At WDW--every place has a GF menu. Just keep in mind that it's new for you, so things will not taste the same. A rice bun is different than a wheat bun. For a kid who has never known the difference, it's probably fine. But my point is EVERY place--CS included--has GF menus. The chef may even pop out to speak to you if you need. No worries--really.

I'm sorry but this is not correct. Most table services will have more choices for gluten free, but there is no guarantee every place will have GF. Counter service can be more challenging. At some places your choices may be fruit or salad. Hamburger places can do bunless (or tapioca rolls) burgers, some can do fries, some can't. Atleast one CS in each park offers "allergy free" chicken tenders. But there is no GF menu.

 

[AllergyFreeMouse]

I agree with 3prettyprincesses. Email Special Diets as you get closer, say 6 weeks out, to make specific arrangements. But, to ease your fear, go ahead and email them now and they will send you a list of places to eat gluten free. You can also get a current list on our website.

One place you should try is BabyCakes NYC, located in Downtown Disney. It's a gluten free bakery, with a lot of choices for people with food allergies, especially gluten. We were there last week, and end up there three times!

You will have lots of GF options, and shouldn't have to use that kitchen!

 

[Flyerfan]

Thank you everyone. I really appreciate all the help. Like I said, this is new to me (only since January) and it is a little stressful just thinking about what I can and can't eat. At home, it's fairly easy but eating out is a challenge as you all know.

 

[mfirst]

This will be my first trip since going gluten free and I'm a rookie when it comes to eating out. I've only eaten out once (since being GF) and I was a bit nervous so I'm not sure how I'll do for one whole week. Add to that we may be driving (from PA) and I need to find GF options on the road. I'm gluten intolerant and my reaction is less severe than many but I still would like to avoid it, if possible. I do plan on eating at TS restaurants which is better than CS, I hear.
One plus is we are DVC so we have a full kitchen but I don't want to be cooking on vacation.

I have 6 months to obsess about this....and believe me, I will. Please tell me it's not as bad as I'm thinking it will be.

Congratulations on your upcoming trip, and relax. If you have food allergies, Disney is the place to be! Our son has a life-threatening milk protein allergy (the kind that requires an eppy pen and immediate medical attention). He breaks out in hives from even incidental contact (think - eating ice cream, then touching him). Disney went above and beyond my wildest expectations! I was really impressed when he spilled his mug of Rice Milk as we walked into the MK and a cast member, seeing the accident and hearing/seeing his meltdown, walked us to Tony's restaraunt where she refilled his mug, wiped his tears and sent us to enjoy our day...and she didn't charge us for the refill! The smile on his face let us know right then and there we'd chosen the best place for our first ever family vacation.

We do not eat out at home because of his food needs. That said, I followed some advice and printed out business cards that listed his food allergies (all cows milk, cinnamon, soy milk...) as well as his favorite foods. When we went to eat - wether it was a quick serve location or sit down, I would hand the first CM the business card, and explain his needs. The chef would come out and speak to me personally and we were never dissapointed! Several times - specifically at QS and at the Sci-Fi, the chef made special "off the menu" items for our son.

I did speak with the special services about his dietary needs, and had it noted on our TS resies. The whole week we were there went so smoothly, we cannot wait to go back. Since our trip, we have started going out occasionally here at home - always packing his food because our restaraunts cannot accomodate or guarantee safe food.

He did not like the breakfast choices because unless the restaraunt had a "allergy" grill/pan, they couldn't make special foods (eggs that were made without milk or butter). HOwever, there were usually a few choices (even Mickey Waffles that were DF/GF) that were safe. He loved the Divies Choc chip cookies so much that we've ordered them off the web for him. We've even got our local Kroger to stock Toffuti ice cream

When we checked in at the Contemporary, we mentioned to the CM that we'd requested a microwave because he can't use public ones because of possible contamination. After a short phone call, not only was he able to grant us that request, but he also printed out their allergy friendly restaraunt list (we were on the QS plan). This list can also be found on their website.

 

[honugirl]

I agree with 3prettyprincesses. Email Special Diets as you get closer, say 6 weeks out, to make specific arrangements. But, to ease your fear, go ahead and email them now and they will send you a list of places to eat gluten free. You can also get a current list on our website.

One place you should try is BabyCakes NYC, located in Downtown Disney. It's a gluten free bakery, with a lot of choices for people with food allergies, especially gluten. We were there last week, and end up there three times!

You will have lots of GF options, and shouldn't have to use that kitchen!

Special diets can be hit or miss lately. I was there at the end of March, beginning of April and emailed special diets way ahead of time and was not given a list of places to eat. It seems like this may be the case now that they've gone to a generic email address and Brenda Bennett is no longer there. I can see why with menu changes and things, the best thing to do is always ask at every place you go what is safe.

I added my allergies to the ADR's when I made them and did not count on special diets to follow up or do anything with the paperwork I sent back.

Babycakes wasn't bad. I LOVED their donuts, but wasn't keen on anything else. But I don't like cream cheese flavored frosting, so that made me not like any of their stuff with frosting. The stuff really isn't that good the next day either. Also be aware that Babycakes is not a free standing store on it's own. It's in Pollo Campaero building by T-Rex. I wasn't aware of this and was told it didn't even exist the last time I was there by a manager type person at concierge.

WDW is amazing in the fact that it is one of the only places where at times I can think in terms of what I want, not what I can eat, which is pretty dang cool.

 

[Flyerfan]

I'm not diagnosed celiac, just gluten intolerant and not as sensitive to cross contamination. However, I would like to avoid gluten as much as possible when eating out. So I guess I'm wondering how I would go about explaining this to the chef/manager. I don't have to do anything special at home as far as preparation goes....I don't react to anything unless I'm eating it specifically....and even then it's not severe, just enough for me to not want to eat it. So do I tell them it's an allergy and have them treat me as if I was celiac or explain to them exactly my tolerance issue? Any suggestions?

 

[LoveKermit]

My MIL usually just tells the wait staff that she is celiac (she is) or gluten intolerant. I usually translate that to no flour, since not everyone knows (but not at WDW). Anyway, she'll go on to explain, sometimes, no bread, etc. If there's something she's interested in and isn't sure, she gets the person to find out. Again, this is any restaurant, not just WDW. She is in the same boat as you....A (not so) quick trip to the bathroom and she's okay. Maybe it makes her feel yucky afterward, I don't know, but the reaction is short and more a nuisance than anything.

You will get the hang of what's safe-baked potatoes, tonight she had ribs (generally safe), no-bread sandwiches, etc. But she's been known to scoop the pumpkin out of pumpkin pie and will eat the topping off of pizzas.

She is sensitive to cross-contamination, they had trouble at the local hibachi place. But at WDW, I'm sure if you told the Japanese/Hibachi you were GF, they would be cognizant of it.

 

[livndisney]

My MIL usually just tells the wait staff that she is celiac (she is) or gluten intolerant. I usually translate that to no flour, since not everyone knows (but not at WDW). Anyway, she'll go on to explain, sometimes, no bread, etc. If there's something she's interested in and isn't sure, she gets the person to find out. Again, this is any restaurant, not just WDW. She is in the same boat as you....A (not so) quick trip to the bathroom and she's okay. Maybe it makes her feel yucky afterward, I don't know, but the reaction is short and more a nuisance than anything.

You will get the hang of what's safe-baked potatoes, tonight she had ribs (generally safe), no-bread sandwiches, etc. But she's been known to scoop the pumpkin out of pumpkin pie and will eat the topping off of pizzas.

She is sensitive to cross-contamination, they had trouble at the local hibachi place. But at WDW, I'm sure if you told the Japanese/Hibachi you were GF, they would be cognizant of it.

A word of caution, a lot of food places in World Showcase are not run by WDW and do not have the same allergy policies in place as WDW. (The food places in Japan/China are not run by WDW).

 

[LoveKermit]

A word of caution, a lot of food places in World Showcase are not run by WDW and do not have the same allergy policies in place as WDW. (The food places in Japan/China are not run by WDW).

True. But, generally, overall the restaurants at WDW are accommodating. They really cannot afford NOT to be, especially when there is so much choice like at WS.

However, I cannot say they eat there much. I do know they did Tutto Italia in March. Don't know if they had GF pasta or what, but she ate there and I doubt she went hungry.

She has eaten at Big River Grill (at the BW, not WDW run) and has done fine. I only know that because they've eaten there more than once.

And I'm saying like OP, MIL is not quite as sensitive as some people. There definitely is a difference.

 

[livndisney]

True. But, generally, overall the restaurants at WDW are accommodating. They really cannot afford NOT to be, especially when there is so much choice like at WS.

However, I cannot say they eat there much. I do know they did Tutto Italia in March. Don't know if they had GF pasta or what, but she ate there and I doubt she went hungry.

She has eaten at Big River Grill (at the BW, not WDW run) and has done fine. I only know that because they've eaten there more than once.

And I'm saying like OP, MIL is not quite as sensitive as some people. There definitely is a difference.

Perhaps this is why our experience is so different. We spend a lot of time at WDW and deal with several allergies (some life threatening).

Generally the table service places are better able to provide "safe" food. We have had problems were even the WDW run places were not "accommodating".

To the OP if you are concerned, please contact Special Diets. They should be able to give you an idea of "safe" places to eat.

 

[itradehilton]

Last summer we did 14 nights of GF dinning and only met one problem. Disney is now one of our Favorite places to vacation due to Disney's awareness of special diets. I wrote a review and have a link in my signature.