Gluten Free Dining .... a Piece of Cake (well, GF cake)!

[CrabbyPatty]

8/31/09 was our last full day at Disney, and we slept late, the girls ate the last of our POR pizza for breakfast and we headed out to MK around 11:00 a.m.

We decided to eat lunch at Cosmic Ray's around 12:30, and it was pretty packed, but we found a good corner booth. The girls had chicken nugget and chicken salad meals, and my friend got the double bacon cheeseburger with fries.

I sat at the booth to hold it until they got back, and that cheeseburger looked pretty good, so I ordered the same item. Since I was eating GF, I needed to talk with the manager and he substituted a GF bun for me on the burger. He needed to wait around with me until the meal was delivered, so we chatted for a few minutes. Nice guy.

The burger was REALLY good - I added a bunch of toppings from the condiment area - tomatoes, loads of pickles, catsup, onions, etc. Although the bun has that familiar GF dryness to me, it was still a pretty good burger. I had ordered the chocolate CAKE for a dessert, but somehow got handed a COKE instead. Oh, well.

Despite being very satisfied with our lunch, we "managed" to stop by the Aloha Isle around 4:00 and got some snacks - the girls had gotten Dibs ice cream and a Itzakadoozie at the snack cart near the Pirates of the Caribbean, and my friend and I got floats - she got a coke float and mine was the wonderfully refreshing Dole Whip pineapple float. Ahhhhh .... yummy.

We then took a bus over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for our 5:45 ADR at Boma. We checked in on the first floor, admired the lobby for a few minutes, and then got called for our table downstairs. We got a nice little table set in a glassed "bump out" not too far from the buffet, so it was a pleasant spot - although the tables were pretty crowded together.

The chef stopped by to talk with me, and walked with me through the buffet line, showing me what I could and couldn't have. All the soups, except for the mushroom soup (I HATE mushrooms) were made with flour, so she offered to get me some butternut squash soup from Mara, which was GF.

The butternut squash soup was oddly sweet, and my friend tried the other soups (I believe there was a potato soup and a seafood soup) and said they were also VERY sweet tasting. I really didn't enjoy the soup.

The carving station meat was very good, but maybe it was just me, I didn't find too many great ideas on this buffet. And that's not including items that I couldn't eat because of GF - the choices didn't really appeal me, and I don't consider myself a particularly picky eater.

The desserts were nice, and they had these cute mocha cups that were solid chocolate cups with a dollop of chocolate mousse - very tasty. The chef brought me some GF zebra domes - made without the cookie at the bottom, plus some GF cheesecake. They were ..... okay.

Without being too melodramatic, I would say that Boma was my least favorite meal of the trip.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

thanks for the updates. We went to Boma breakfast and dinner last trip and we enjoyed the breakfast better...dinner was ok, we were glad we tried it and can check it off our list. Thanks for sharing

 

[PixieDustandEeyore]

loving your reviews

 

[CrabbyPatty]

thanks for the updates. We went to Boma breakfast and dinner last trip and we enjoyed the breakfast better...dinner was ok, we were glad we tried it and can check it off our list. Thanks for sharing

Yeah, the dinner was ..... okay. I mean, we weren't sitting at the table complaining that the food tasted awful or anything, it was just not as good as other buffets we had eaten at that week. The kid's selections was also okay - more of the same items that the girls had been eating all week - chicken, noodles, sauce, etc.

And at risk of being drawn and quartered with a butter knife, I really wasn't that fond of the much-beloved zebra domes, either. The chef mentioned that she had made them special for GF diets, however I think they were also sugar-free (made using some sugar substitute) so they could double for sugar-restricted diets or something. Espeically with the cheesecake, you could taste that the sugar taste was "off", IMHO

 

[CrabbyPatty]

We had a 5:00 p.m. flight out, with the ME picking us up at the hotel at 2:00 p.m. We had a late breakfast - 10:40 p.m. - at WCC at the Wilderness Lodge which worked out really well.

We had time to get all our packing done and the CBR Bell Desk folks came to get our luggage and carry-ons at 9:00 a.m. Then we spent a few minutes making sure we had gotten everything, and took a bus from CBR over to MK.

Then we went to the boat dock and caught a nice little boat over to the Wilderness Lodge. I'm constantly amazed how well Disney does with making the WL seem like it's a world apart. You set off on the boat, round the corner, pass this little island and it's like you are in a totally different world (although you can see the CR just a bit).

Wilderness Lodge is just BEAUTIFUL and I long to stay there someday. We had enough time for some pictures and wandering around the area. We checked into WCC and there were only a handful of tables filled. We were seated right away (not even enough time for the girls to play with the lincoln logs out front).

The chef came out to talk with me and explained about the GF options. My friend, who wasn't feeling well that morning, had the western omelet and toast. The girls had pancakes (two great big SLABs of pancake goodness) and the other had the Kid's Skillet meal.

I got the bottomless milkshake - started with the strawberry, which my DD basically devoured. We then had the chocolate, which was okay, but not as good as the strawberry, IMHO. Next time I'd ask for them to leave off the whipped cream.

The kid's pancake meal was big, and the kid's Skillet Sampler was HUGE. I think there was 2 big sausages, bacon, biscuit and gravy, scrambled eggs - and it seems there was something else. It was a HUGE meal and we all ended up eating something from the skillet.

I got the WCC's version of eggs benedict, which the Chef put on a GF bun instead of an english muffin. There was beef instead of canadian bacon, plus the poached egg, and some LOVELY hollandaise sauce which had a bit of a spicy western "kick" to it. Ask for an extra serving of that hollandaise sauce - you'll thank me later!

By the time we got done, we were the ONLY people in the dining room. The wait staff was standing around talking and joking, so we didn't get any of the craziness, which was perfectly fine. Everyone was pretty tired that morning, my friend didn't feel well, and I think having a bunch of anctics going on would have been too much for us all!

We would definitely eat at the WCC again - the setting is gorgeous, the food was very good, the portions were way too big, getting the milkshake is a nice option. And as far as GF options, other than the usual suspects (bread), there is little that you can't have on the menu.

 

[valree]

I had to laugh when you said the buns at the Studio Catering Co were dry. I remember my bun at Cosmic Ray's being Sahara-dry! I think I'd rather have a bunless burger than have to eat another one of thoese Ener-G buns. Kinnikinnick is so much better!

How was Teppan Edo without the sauce? I want to try eating there, but I'd like know how it is without sauce.

 

[CrabbyPatty]

Yup, those GF buns are Sahara-like! The hamburger bun at Cosmic Ray's was also dry, dry, dry, but with plenty of ketchup and other stuff, enough "juice" managed to sink into them that it wasn't so bad.

I thought Teppon Edo was good food - loved the steak and chicken portion, but I think it was lacking a bit because I only had the GF-soy sauce to season my food. I think the other diners - with the three sauces - probably had a much better "taste profile" (I've been watching Top Chef again lately .....) than mine, but still it was pretty good.

But we will definitely go to Teppan Edo again because my DD just LOVED her food, talks about it all the time, and can't wait to go back again! Maybe next time I'll try to find a really tasty GF sauce that I can bring along as a dipping sauce!

 

[CrabbyPatty]

I thought eating GF at Disney was very simple. Once I contacted the Special Diets folks, I got an extensive list of what restaurant had what GF substitutions, as well as details on packaged goods available at CS and snack locations.

Once I made my ADRs (while noting GF on each ADR), I got calls from a few of the restaurants to clarify things. And once we got to WDW, for each TS reservation, the chef came out to talk with me about my options.

I really enjoyed the food we ate at WDW - all the chicken meals (rosemary 1/2 chicken, etc.) were excellent and with potatoes and veggies, I felt like I was eating fairly healthy! The buffet food was pretty good tasting, with a very good selection of GF items. My big snack indulgence was the Dole Whip Pineapple Floats (also dairy free, FYI).

Now, it's only 11 months and counting until our next free dining trip to Disney - can't wait!