Gluten Free Dining at the Disneyland Resort: A Superthread

[StormyCA]

Thank you. My biggest hang up is exactly how to ask. "I have a gluten allergy....."then what. If there's a special noted menu to see, that's easy. I watched some walk throughs on YouTube and often there is no one to talk to until you're at the counter. I've looked at ALL of the menus online, so I have an idea of what "should" be doable. Would just be nice if it were noted. And I'm not picky. I'd just like to have something other than baked chicken and salad all week. I'm so excited for this teriyaki bowl I keep hearing about!!

I hear you about the baked chicken and salad!

They were piloting allergy menus at some of the places, unfortunately I don't remember where or if they're still doing it. But they aren't posted, they're just available at the cashier's.

Most of the time at CS you place your order with a cashier before you get to the counter. Just tell them that you have either gluten allergy or just say "I need to eat gluten free". They'll have you step off to the side and a chef will come to you and go over your options & take your order. You won't hold up the line or have people in line behind you glaring at you (I hate that). Once you've ordered the chef prepares your meal separately.

The only 'pain' is that it does take longer to get your food (they'll tell you where to wait) and some of the time the rest of your party has their food almost eaten before you get yours, although they're getting much, much better at coordinating prep and serving.

 

[hanna-nana]

My kids will take all of four minutes to eat, so maybe I need to ask for to-go food. Or they can just wait a bit. I'll keep that in mind.

I've seen a few of the allergy menus floating around. I've started a list of places people recommend so hopefully I can just stick to those.

I hate fads, and I hate the term gluten-free because it makes me feel like I'm just being a pain in the butt following a fad. I will be miserable for weeks if I eat gluten though.

It was rancho del zocalo, and river belle terrace I believe, that I saw the walk through videos. I need to just relax though, and accept that I'll be fine. I'm stressing too much about it.

I appreciate your help!

 

[ashley0139]

Thank you. My biggest hang up is exactly how to ask. "I have a gluten allergy....."then what. If there's a special noted menu to see, that's easy. I watched some walk throughs on YouTube and often there is no one to talk to until you're at the counter. I've looked at ALL of the menus online, so I have an idea of what "should" be doable. Would just be nice if it were noted. And I'm not picky. I'd just like to have something other than baked chicken and salad all week. I'm so excited for this teriyaki bowl I keep hearing about!!

When you get to a counter service place, walk up to the greeter (not the cashier) and say you have an allergy and would like to speak to a chef. A chef will come out and talk you through all the options. Then they will either take your order there or direct you to the cashier to place the order. Easy peasy. It will take longer this way, though.

You're overthinking. They deal with gluten allergies every single day and have it down to a science.

 

[Dinohood]

my plan is to pick two or three places to eat for the week i'm there the only thing my mom is not happy about is the waiting how long does it take from the time you tell them to the time you get your food at cs places? Nice list StormyCA might use some places you have eaten for my own list to take with me.

 

[DahliaRW]

My kids will take all of four minutes to eat, so maybe I need to ask for to-go food. Or they can just wait a bit. I'll keep that in mind.

I've seen a few of the allergy menus floating around. I've started a list of places people recommend so hopefully I can just stick to those.

I hate fads, and I hate the term gluten-free because it makes me feel like I'm just being a pain in the butt following a fad. I will be miserable for weeks if I eat gluten though.

It was rancho del zocalo, and river belle terrace I believe, that I saw the walk through videos. I need to just relax though, and accept that I'll be fine. I'm stressing too much about it.

I appreciate your help!

I recommend getting everyone's order. You go to the restaurant and order everyone's food (including your own) while the other adult takes the kids and does something else nearby. Then text when food is ready or have then come 10 minutes later, etc.

 

[Sagginit]

If you can, I'd be interested in the places you guys ate safely. I'm getting nervous about our upcoming trip. We're likely looking at counter service places, I'm worried since things aren't labeled, I'll get up to the counter with my crew and not know what to get myself.

Things aren't labelled but its not like those old allergy binders that take a while to sort out, they have actual paper menus for each allergy group. To save time do pick out from the main menu what you guess they can make GF so you are not stumped when your family gets to the register and you need to decide on the spot. If anything I had more choices than I thought. Personally I liked the two QS places we ate at as I felt it was good food and a good value (Flos and the Mexican place in DCA). Also the parks are smaller than in WDW so it wasn't a big deal to go to another area to eat if we didn't like the menu at one place that was nearby. And maybe its because there are a lot of locals but we found if we ate slightly off peak we hardly had any wait in line and our food came out real quick.

 

[StormyCA]

My kids will take all of four minutes to eat, so maybe I need to ask for to-go food. Or they can just wait a bit. I'll keep that in mind.

I've seen a few of the allergy menus floating around. I've started a list of places people recommend so hopefully I can just stick to those.

I hate fads, and I hate the term gluten-free because it makes me feel like I'm just being a pain in the butt following a fad. I will be miserable for weeks if I eat gluten though.

It was rancho del zocalo, and river belle terrace I believe, that I saw the walk through videos. I need to just relax though, and accept that I'll be fine. I'm stressing too much about it.

I appreciate your help!

If there's just one order then you should be OK with the food being served at the same time. I usually go with BFF & we pay separately. When DH & I are on the same order we get our food at the same time.

my plan is to pick two or three places to eat for the week i'm there the only thing my mom is not happy about is the waiting how long does it take from the time you tell them to the time you get your food at cs places? Nice list StormyCA might use some places you have eaten for my own list to take with me.

It can vary from 10 minutes to 20 minutes extra since the GF is cooked fresh.

Here's a snippy aside but meant in the kindest way; Mom needs to 'cool it'. She'll be more upset at the time she'll spend waiting outside the bathroom door while you're dealing with a 'Celiac Attack'!

 

[Dinohood]

That is good to know my food along with my mom's is going to be hot and fresh. My mom and I are not very patient people we both can not have gluten right now she is more on edge and i'm more chill about the whole we have to wait it is no big deal who knows by the end of the trip I will be the one say i hated waiting.

 

[StormyCA]

Oops then, I owe Mom an apology. I thought she got impatient waiting because you were GF, didn't realize she was, too.

I'm putting myself in 'time out', OK Mom?

 

[Dinohood]

no need. I have half of my food list done does anyone know any other places in DCA that can be gluten free? I was going to be happy that there was a greek place but like last year it has been changed to a mexican one again.

 

[GatorChris]

I've seen the thread pass by every now and then and never paid much mind. Never thought we'd be that GF family that eats the weird tasting Mac'N'Cheese. But that changed last week. My wife was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Now we're going to get the kids check, too. It's hard enough trying to figure out what we're going to eat at home. But my mind went to our vacations. Good to know Disney has a vast GF menu. It might help me get my wife talked into returning to Disney instead of the unknown menus of Maui...... yeah right.

 

[Vincent405]

I've seen the thread pass by every now and then and never paid much mind. Never thought we'd be that GF family that eats the weird tasting Mac'N'Cheese. But that changed last week. My wife was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Now we're going to get the kids check, too. It's hard enough trying to figure out what we're going to eat at home. But my mind went to our vacations. Good to know Disney has a vast GF menu. It might help me get my wife talked into returning to Disney instead of the unknown menus of Maui...... yeah right.

Slightly off topic, but I have been keeping an eye on this thread since we have a DL trip planned.

GatorChris - you may already know all this, but whenever I hear of someone being newly diagnosed, I just throw them a little info. Make sure you buy food that is marked "certified Gluten Free", set up a dedicated area of your kitchen that will be 100% GF and cross contamination can always be an issue. Read every food label twice and realize that many items that you might not realize, contain gluten. Soy sauce, envelop glue, most beer, and on and on. If you go to a restaurant and they seem clueless or unsure, they probably are and personally, I suggest you leave.

We had good service at most places in WDW and are hoping for the same at DL.

 

[PoohBearFriends]

Is there any GF bread at Pacific Wharf Cafe or GF Soup?

 

[SMD]

Is there any GF bread at Pacific Wharf Cafe or GF Soup?

I've never asked about GF there but with the way they slice the bread bowls near the food prep areas and the common pots for the soup I probably wouldn't chance it. You can get the soup on the side, but that place is a bread factory, I don't see how they can honestly offer a safe cooking surface. But Cucina Cucamonga and Lucky Fortune both have GF options right there, so they make good options.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I don't regularly check in on this thread, but is @ArchOwl still maintaining it? If not, do we want to establish a new thread, or would you like to add new info here and I will add it to the first post? Let me know what you guys think.

 

[disneychrista]

I say keep this thread, there is a lot of good information on it.

Unfortunately Disney no longer gives out printed sheets but they are still a great starting point for people looking for information. As always, make sure to confirm that the items you are ordering are still GF.

 

[StormyCA]

I second keeping it. It's a great resource.

 

[DahliaRW]

It's a great resource, but rather long. I'd love it if someone would summarize the info in one post and start a new thread. This one is really long to wade through.

 

[SMD]

18 pages isn't that long for a superthread. The best thing to do it work backwards for the most recent info. Maybe there could be a second reference post that is still updated and can be linked to.

 

[ArchOwl]

I am still around, but unsure how best to maintain it. There are no longer sheets offered by Disney, but they do give people a sense of what is available.

Maybe I could comb through the reviews and posts and try to give a condensed version in the first post? I could work on that if people think it would be helpful.