Gluten Free Dining at the Disneyland Resort: A Superthread

[GatorChris]

At Downtown Disney, there's a place called Sprinkle's Cupcakes. They have a few flavors that are Gluten Free, one of which is Red Velvet.

 

[StormyCA]

The Red Velvet GF cupcake at Sprinkles is Scrumptious. I didn't see any other GF options there, though.

 

[jina]

that's all they have that's GF. Up in the bay area, we have Kara's Cupcakes who makes an amazing GF chocolate cupcake w/ a super rich and creamy chocolate icing. They have 2-3 GF options (chocolate w/ vanilla icing, chocolate w/ chocolate icing and a chocolate flourless cake kind of thing) although I always ask for one from the back as sometimes I worry about CC with the ones on the counter (even though they are in their own covered glass area). I like all of those Karas ones better than the red velvet cupcake at sprinkles but having said that, it's still quite yummy. Those Kara's ones are a level higher though.

 

[DahliaRW]

I'ts not a cake, but the Jolly Holiday Bakery and Cafe right on Main Street has (or at least did) gluten free brownies and chocolate chip cookies.

 

[StormyCA]

For those interested, I just got off the phone with Special Diets regarding the Lobster Nachos. I'd received conflicting information on the GF status.

She confirmed that the ONLY gluten item in the dish is the chips (common fryer), the rest of the ingredients are GF. She said we are perfectly welcome to bring in our own chips and they will 'build' a plate of the rest of the ingredients for us to dip our chips in. They cannot take the chips into the kitchen and use them to construct the dish. And that they aren't contemplating a dedicated fryer any time soon for logistical/cost reasons.

I suggested that since the only ingredient that's a no-no is the 'house made chips' that perhaps they might consider stocking some 'bagged chips' to use for those of us who are GF. She will pass the suggestion up the line.

 

[StormyCA]

Just a 'head's up'. It appears that GF/allergy dining IS available on the new mobile ordering. Someone on another forum has reported seeing the allergy options at Hungry Bear and Smokejumpers. I peeked and saw that the allergy offerings are also on the app for Jolly Holiday. You have to scroll down to the bottom of the menus past the regular offerings.

Caveat: The poster mentioned above didn't actually order GF and I saw the JH offerings on the app from home, not at the park. But I can't see why they'd put the offerings on the app if you couldn't actually order.

If someone tries and is successful, please post an update. This could be a great thing for us as far as not having to wait for meals whilst our non-GF friends/family are already eating.

 

[TheZue]

Just a 'head's up'. It appears that GF/allergy dining IS available on the new mobile ordering. Someone on another forum has reported seeing the allergy options at Hungry Bear and Smokejumpers. I peeked and saw that the allergy offerings are also on the app for Jolly Holiday. You have to scroll down to the bottom of the menus past the regular offerings.

Caveat: The poster mentioned above didn't actually order GF and I saw the JH offerings on the app from home, not at the park. But I can't see why they'd put the offerings on the app if you couldn't actually order.

If someone tries and is successful, please post an update. This could be a great thing for us as far as not having to wait for meals whilst our non-GF friends/family are already eating.

Just a heads up: I saw somebody had a really bad experience with allergy ordering and the app. They couldn't eat milk and were given a children's cheeseburger instead of the adult allergy friendly meal they ordered. It also took forever. Hopefully it will get better. Here is the link. https://micechat.com/194945-disneyland-update-solo-yolo-lets-go/

 

[StormyCA]

Just a heads up: I saw somebody had a really bad experience with allergy ordering and the app. They couldn't eat milk and were given a children's cheeseburger instead of the adult allergy friendly meal they ordered. It also took forever. Hopefully it will get better. Here is the link. https://micechat.com/194945-disneyland-update-solo-yolo-lets-go/

Thanks for the info! Hopefully the bugs will get worked out. As we know, we all have to be vigilant to be sure we get the right (and safe) food.

 

[avalon451]

Just wanted to report that I emailed special diets a couple of weeks ago, and requested a gf Monte Cristo at Cafe Orleans for lunch today. When we got there my daughter thought she’d like one, too, but they only had the one prepped, that I’d requested. So she had it, and I had shrimp and grits, instead, and I’m glad I did because it was delicious! She really liked the Monte Cristo, although it was HUGE and she could only manage half. Here’s a pic:

 

[StormyCA]

Next time I go I am soooo doing this! I've thought about it before but now since seeing the picture......YUM!!!!!

How did you work this? Did you make a reservation then contact special diets?

 

[avalon451]

Next time I go I am soooo doing this! I've thought about it before but now since seeing the picture......YUM!!!!!

How did you work this? Did you make a reservation then contact special diets?

Yes, made a reservation 60 days out for lunch at 1 pm. Then about two weeks ago, I emailed special diets. Also, I requested it for our lunch at Blue Bayou on Saturday, so we’ll see if there’s any difference.
Just a side note about Cafe Orleans today- my girls were super hungry because we hadn’t eaten much since our early morning flight. So we wandered over and checked in 20 minutes early. However, they were swamped, and we didn’t get seated until 1:30, 50 minutes after we’d checked in! DDs 17 and 21 were pretty starving and crabby by then. We got the pomme frites to start (shared fryer, but we are not super sensitive) and they devoured them. DD 17 had the Bourbon chicken and said it was not very impressive, kind of bland.

 

[gpjacobs]

Aside from the Monte Cristo (never sits well with me), does anyone have any recent recommendations for great gluten-free options in the parks? I was reviewing menus last night and am struggling to find GF options I'm genuinely excited about.

In Galaxy's Edge, it looks like I'm going to have the Endorian Tip-Yip Salad from Docking Bay 7, as they removed the vegetarian/GF mealoaf from the menu. I emailed Special Diets and they said they can't accommodate a request for a GF Ronto Wrap, which is understandable ... but was worth a try.

We've heard good things about the GF dessert plate at the WOC Dessert Party, so I do think I'm going to give that a try. And other suggestions?

 

[StormyCA]

I've always liked the teriyaki chicken bowl at Lucky Fortune Cookery in DCA. I guess it's now a 'plate' rather than a 'bowl'. Hopefully it's still the same sauce.

The BBQ sandwich at River Belle Terrace is also good.

I like the burgers and fries at both Smokejumpers and Hungry Bear. They're cooked to order so they don't sit under the lights. They've always been nice and juicy.

It's been awhile, but they used to have GF enchiladas at Rancho Zocalo. Not sure about now, though.

Jazz Kitchen does excellent Shrimp n Grits if you want to eat in DTD.

 

[berryinDC]

The burger at carthay circle is one of my wife's favorite's, but they often have GF seasonal specials that we like just as much. I remember they had enchiladas once that were to die for. I'm bummed about the new menu of Lucky Fortune, it's much less GF friendly and that was a must-eat.

Most of our favorite options are outside of the parks (Storytellers, Steakhouse 55, Catal etc) We will have to check out the BBQ sandwich at River Belle now!

 

[avalon451]

We just did the WOC dessert party last night. Of the 6 of us, 5 of us are gluten free, and DSIL is nut free. They called us last week from the bakery that supplies WOC to talk about our “allergies.” (As I’m sure you know, celiac is not an allergy but an autoimmune disease, but for simplicity’s sake we just say allergy.)
So I will say they get an A for effort, and a B for presentation, but I’m gonna say a D for the actual food quality and taste. The dessert plate looked very pretty. But most of it was just not good. They used some kind of compote, maybe an apple cranberry cinnamon combo? Something like that, like a pie or tart filling. It tasted fine, but one of the desserts was a little plastic tart pan with just a dollop of that filling in it, no tart or anything, just the filling. They used it again in a little shot glass layered with whipped cream like a mini parfait. And then again on something that maybe was supposed to be like a mini cheesecake? But it was just a rather rubbery, bland, slightly chunky crustless thing that tasted like flan barely sweetened, then with that same compote on top. Just not good. Then there was a rather pretty Mickey shaped raspberry macaron. It was layered with jam and was too soft, almost falling apart. The macaron itself tasted mostly like food coloring- sweet but with a really bitter aftertaste, it was awful. With the jam filling it was sickeningly sweet.
Hope you can see this image ok. Mickey macaron at bottom, “crustless tart” dish of compote, shot glass of the same compote with whipped cream and a piece of candied pineapple on top, and weird flan/horchata / chunky cheesecake thing with more compote. Then about six thin slices of cheese, I think it was cheddar and manchego, and a little wedge of rather grainy Brie. Then a bunch of tasty fresh green grapes. They had gluten free bread in baskets for us. It was very clearly buns or dinner rolls thinly sliced, and it was NOT good. Very dry and crumbly, tasteless. I’ve had much better gf bread. No butter for it, either. So the best thing about this whole thing was the grapes, and the cheese was just okay. The blue cocktail was fine, nothing fabulous, and the sparkling wine was fine, too. We had a very nice waiter who kept us supplied with water, tea and hot chocolate for my 2 younger DDs.
So here’s the thing, though. I’d still pay for this dessert party anyway, even with the poor dessert offerings. It was just so nice to sit comfortably, sip drinks, and relax for 45 minutes before the show, and have a great view. Very worth it to us. But I will be emailing Disney dining about this. They should know it’s not up to their usual standards.

 

[pharmama]

We just did the WOC dessert party last night. Of the 6 of us, 5 of us are gluten free, and DSIL is nut free. They called us last week from the bakery that supplies WOC to talk about our “allergies.” (As I’m sure you know, celiac is not an allergy but an autoimmune disease, but for simplicity’s sake we just say allergy.)
So I will say they get an A for effort, and a B for presentation, but I’m gonna say a D for the actual food quality and taste. The dessert plate looked very pretty. But most of it was just not good.

Oh no! That all sounds awful and is not at all what we experienced for a GF dessert party plate in June. Definitely complain! The GF bread was the same rolls/buns the offer elsewhere in the park but it wasn’t sliced or dry either. Weird.

I will say that the macaron situation does sound familiar though. It’s because they store the dessert plates in a cooler box/refrigerator and there’s too much moisture so the macarons get weird and soggy. The same ones are on the non GF plate and suffer the same fate there. Though I don’t remember them tasting bad, just that the texture was off from the moisture.

 

[MkaMouse]

We just did the WOC dessert party last night. Of the 6 of us, 5 of us are gluten free, and DSIL is nut free. They called us last week from the bakery that supplies WOC to talk about our “allergies.” (As I’m sure you know, celiac is not an allergy but an autoimmune disease, but for simplicity’s sake we just say allergy.)
So I will say they get an A for effort, and a B for presentation, but I’m gonna say a D for the actual food quality and taste. The dessert plate looked very pretty. But most of it was just not good. They used some kind of compote, maybe an apple cranberry cinnamon combo? Something like that, like a pie or tart filling. It tasted fine, but one of the desserts was a little plastic tart pan with just a dollop of that filling in it, no tart or anything, just the filling. They used it again in a little shot glass layered with whipped cream like a mini parfait. And then again on something that maybe was supposed to be like a mini cheesecake? But it was just a rather rubbery, bland, slightly chunky crustless thing that tasted like flan barely sweetened, then with that same compote on top. Just not good. Then there was a rather pretty Mickey shaped raspberry macaron. It was layered with jam and was too soft, almost falling apart. The macaron itself tasted mostly like food coloring- sweet but with a really bitter aftertaste, it was awful. With the jam filling it was sickeningly sweet. View attachment 435720
Hope you can see this image ok. Mickey macaron at bottom, “crustless tart” dish of compote, shot glass of the same compote with whipped cream and a piece of candied pineapple on top, and weird flan/horchata / chunky cheesecake thing with more compote. Then about six thin slices of cheese, I think it was cheddar and manchego, and a little wedge of rather grainy Brie. Then a bunch of tasty fresh green grapes. They had gluten free bread in baskets for us. It was very clearly buns or dinner rolls thinly sliced, and it was NOT good. Very dry and crumbly, tasteless. I’ve had much better gf bread. No butter for it, either. So the best thing about this whole thing was the grapes, and the cheese was just okay. The blue cocktail was fine, nothing fabulous, and the sparkling wine was fine, too. We had a very nice waiter who kept us supplied with water, tea and hot chocolate for my 2 younger DDs.
So here’s the thing, though. I’d still pay for this dessert party anyway, even with the poor dessert offerings. It was just so nice to sit comfortably, sip drinks, and relax for 45 minutes before the show, and have a great view. Very worth it to us. But I will be emailing Disney dining about this. They should know it’s not up to their usual standards.

Oh No! I was so hoping they would have gotten their gluten free act together by now.

When I emailed Guest Services to express my extreme disappointment in the sub-standard GF dessert plate I received last March, the response I received can be paraphrased thus: "Your comments have been reviewed with our Food and Beverage Leadership teams. Please accept our sincerest apology and I hope your next visit is magical in all aspects."

I've accepted the fact that Disneyland almost always give the GF diners a little bit less, both in terms of quality and quantity.

But that GF Monte Cristo??? That is one insanely huge sandwich!

 

[5forMickey]

We just returned from DL 2 weeks ago. Basically my food allergies (IGE) have gotten so out of control lately that if I don’t eat completely “clean” food I have issues. Obviously when eating out that’s not possible so I try and stay away from the big ones, (Gluten, tree nut, and shell fish) and just medicate before and after. Soy is a #5 for me and it’s pretty much impossible to stay away from that.

Can I just tell you I have never eaten so well any other time in my life. The first couple of days my sweet daughter in law would go in before me and make sure to tell the waiter my needs (it’s usually easier to just order a piece of meat which I hate) and I felt like I had never had so many options. Everyone went out of their way to take good care of me. The only place I had a problem was BB they accidentally put pecans on my salad which I I couldn’t see and ate 3 before I realized, it was over for the rest of the night for me after thst

As I tell everyone, it’s me that has the issue so I’m grateful when they try to accommodate me, I’m the odd one ......I was in Heaven and think I gained 10 lbs.

At WOC they substitute some of the sweets for extra fruit (melons are also out for me but I didn’t tell them and received some of each my son loved that). They brought me my own basket of gf bread and there were some sweets that tasted delicious. I still had to use lots of Benedryl but like I said they went above and beyond to help me. I did have to use an epi the night of BB but feel like that was my fault for not looking at what I was eating.

So the short of my long winded post-let them know your needs and they will do all they can to help you.

 

[MkaMouse]

We just did the WOC dessert party last night. Of the 6 of us, 5 of us are gluten free, and DSIL is nut free. They called us last week from the bakery that supplies WOC to talk about our “allergies.” (As I’m sure you know, celiac is not an allergy but an autoimmune disease, but for simplicity’s sake we just say allergy.)
So I will say they get an A for effort, and a B for presentation, but I’m gonna say a D for the actual food quality and taste. The dessert plate looked very pretty. But most of it was just not good. They used some kind of compote, maybe an apple cranberry cinnamon combo? Something like that, like a pie or tart filling. It tasted fine, but one of the desserts was a little plastic tart pan with just a dollop of that filling in it, no tart or anything, just the filling. They used it again in a little shot glass layered with whipped cream like a mini parfait. And then again on something that maybe was supposed to be like a mini cheesecake? But it was just a rather rubbery, bland, slightly chunky crustless thing that tasted like flan barely sweetened, then with that same compote on top. Just not good. Then there was a rather pretty Mickey shaped raspberry macaron. It was layered with jam and was too soft, almost falling apart. The macaron itself tasted mostly like food coloring- sweet but with a really bitter aftertaste, it was awful. With the jam filling it was sickeningly sweet. View attachment 435720
Hope you can see this image ok. Mickey macaron at bottom, “crustless tart” dish of compote, shot glass of the same compote with whipped cream and a piece of candied pineapple on top, and weird flan/horchata / chunky cheesecake thing with more compote. Then about six thin slices of cheese, I think it was cheddar and manchego, and a little wedge of rather grainy Brie. Then a bunch of tasty fresh green grapes. They had gluten free bread in baskets for us. It was very clearly buns or dinner rolls thinly sliced, and it was NOT good. Very dry and crumbly, tasteless. I’ve had much better gf bread. No butter for it, either. So the best thing about this whole thing was the grapes, and the cheese was just okay. The blue cocktail was fine, nothing fabulous, and the sparkling wine was fine, too. We had a very nice waiter who kept us supplied with water, tea and hot chocolate for my 2 younger DDs.
So here’s the thing, though. I’d still pay for this dessert party anyway, even with the poor dessert offerings. It was just so nice to sit comfortably, sip drinks, and relax for 45 minutes before the show, and have a great view. Very worth it to us. But I will be emailing Disney dining about this. They should know it’s not up to their usual standards.

Compote must be the new sorbet!

 

[jina]

glad to see they are trying though. sorry they tasted so bad. We did the star wars dessert party at WDW in 2018 and I was given a bag with packaged GF treats and they showed me the cheese and fruit I could have from the regular buffet. So this is a step up, even if the execution needs work. At wdw I ended up just taking my enzymes (I am lucky that I found a brand which works or me - I take them very rarely and decided this was a gluten worthy reason) and ate some gluten, and saved the bag of packaged stuff for later in our trip. I will tell you, I was still thrilled they gave me the bag of treats. Getting anything GF feels like I still won the lottery. The fact that DCA is actually trying to make nice desserts for allergy folks is amazing. My guess is they want to cover multiple allergies per dish which is why it is so challenging to make them taste good.