Gluten Free Dining Plan Reviews

[ambertides]

Another bonus photo:

Those are the Empanadas from La Cantina de San Angel. I got the green sauce on the side for dipping. They were very good, if just a little on the greasy side. If you know how to make corn tortillas they'd be very easy to make at home.

Aaand, the last review: Whispering Canyon Cafe

I did not catch the chef's name, unfortunately. I was feeling a little frazzled (I came down with a cold the next morning).

I admit, I mainly came here for the shakes and gluten free cornbread. Like I said, I'm not much for meat, and the pasta was not given as an option on the menu.

Salads came out first. Vinegars tend to make my belly go kafloofery, so I only ate a tiny bit. What I had was fine. DH liked it lots, so he ate some for me.

The shakes were excellent.

And the cornbread was to die for.

The reason y'all are getting a picture of a half eaten piece is because this was the last piece. I had planned to ask for a second and take a picture of that - and I did ask for a second, but apparently the staff the night before had forgotten to bake a loaf for today. I got the previous night's last piece (since our reservation was for opening time). Sorry to anyone else who went that night and got none.

But it was very, very good. Perfectly moist and just perfectly sweet (IMO).

DH and I were able to share a skillet without coleslaw - I don't know if the coleslaw was left off for my sake or if they just forgot it or what?

I took a bite of the chicken and didn't like it. The mashed potatoes were good (I think the ones at 50's are better, though). The rest of the meat was not anything I wanted, and I don't eat beans. DH thought the brisket was very, very dry, but that the ribs were excellent.

My desert was a fruit plate. I was embarrassed by folks singing happy birthday to me, and completely forgot to snap a picture. It was supposed to be ice cream and fruit, but it looked like yogurt, granola, and fruit? Like I said earlier, I just ate a couple pieces of the fruit (out of season strawberries and a piece of pineapple) and avoided the yogurt/granola bit. I was fairly stuffed anyway - those pieces of cornbread are huge.

The cornbread and shakes were awesome. I don't know if we'd go back, though, at least not for dinner.

Anyway, those were my meals this trip.

I was planning on grabbing a Toblerone in Germany but didn't see any there now that the Werther's shop has moved in. I did see some in the Festival Center but wasn't going to walk all the way back there for a candy bar.

 

[davebon23]

Another bonus photo:

Those are the Empanadas from La Cantina de San Angel. I got the green sauce on the side for dipping. They were very good, if just a little on the greasy side. If you know how to make corn tortillas they'd be very easy to make at home.

Aaand, the last review: Whispering Canyon Cafe

I did not catch the chef's name, unfortunately. I was feeling a little frazzled (I came down with a cold the next morning).

I admit, I mainly came here for the shakes and gluten free cornbread. Like I said, I'm not much for meat, and the pasta was not given as an option on the menu.

Salads came out first. Vinegars tend to make my belly go kafloofery, so I only ate a tiny bit. What I had was fine. DH liked it lots, so he ate some for me.

The shakes were excellent.

And the cornbread was to die for.

The reason y'all are getting a picture of a half eaten piece is because this was the last piece. I had planned to ask for a second and take a picture of that - and I did ask for a second, but apparently the staff the night before had forgotten to bake a loaf for today. I got the previous night's last piece (since our reservation was for opening time). Sorry to anyone else who went that night and got none.

But it was very, very good. Perfectly moist and just perfectly sweet (IMO).

DH and I were able to share a skillet without coleslaw - I don't know if the coleslaw was left off for my sake or if they just forgot it or what?

I took a bite of the chicken and didn't like it. The mashed potatoes were good (I think the ones at 50's are better, though). The rest of the meat was not anything I wanted, and I don't eat beans. DH thought the brisket was very, very dry, but that the ribs were excellent.

My desert was a fruit plate. I was embarrassed by folks singing happy birthday to me, and completely forgot to snap a picture. It was supposed to be ice cream and fruit, but it looked like yogurt, granola, and fruit? Like I said earlier, I just ate a couple pieces of the fruit (out of season strawberries and a piece of pineapple) and avoided the yogurt/granola bit. I was fairly stuffed anyway - those pieces of cornbread are huge.

The cornbread and shakes were awesome. I don't know if we'd go back, though, at least not for dinner.

Anyway, those were my meals this trip.

I was planning on grabbing a Toblerone in Germany but didn't see any there now that the Werther's shop has moved in. I did see some in the Festival Center but wasn't going to walk all the way back there for a candy bar.

Ambertides,

Thanks for your recent review. Can I ask what were in those empanadas and can you tell me what else was coming with them. Thanks in advance

 

[ambertides]

Ambertides,

Thanks for your recent review. Can I ask what were in those empanadas and can you tell me what else was coming with them. Thanks in advance

Just cheese inside them (it tasted like mozzarella to me?), cheese and sour cream on top. I think the green sauce is usually on top as well, but I ordered it on the side. It came with chips. I think it was just under $12 with tax? Between $11 and $12 anyway.

ETA: I found the receipt. It was $11.19 with tax. ($10.50+.69).

 

[davebon23]

Just cheese inside them (it tasted like mozzarella to me?), cheese and sour cream on top. I think the green sauce is usually on top as well, but I ordered it on the side. It came with chips. I think it was just under $12 with tax? Between $11 and $12 anyway.

ETA: I found the receipt. It was $11.19 with tax. ($10.50+.69).[/QU

Thanks for the reply. They look really good!!

 

[chb]

I'm just back from a quick trip last week. Dh went to a convention in Orlando and the convention package booked us at the Grand Floridian for 3 nights. Since work paid for the room we were not on the dining plan.

I cannot eat gluten or milk and this was my first trip to Disney knowing I had these food issues. I'm the kind of person who hates to draw attention to myself, so I hate having to eat out and request special stuff. I could not have been happier with the way I was treated at Disney! Every place we ate at was so ready to help me. All I had to do was say "food allergies' and they knew exactly what to do. It was so wonderful and refreshing to be able to eat somewhere and feel "normal" and I did not get sick at all.

I don't have any pictures, but here's a quick run down of where I went.

We didn't eat out any breakfasts. To save time and money dd and I just had a quick Larabar in the room while we were getting ready for the day.

We arrived at lunch time. DD and I went to Gasparilla's Grill at GF and I had the chicken tenders and fruit. (Yum!)

The night we arrived we had dinner at the Kona. They had received the info about me from Special Diets and were ready for me. The chef (I'm sorry I forgot his name) came out and asked me what sounded good. I had the Kona salad without blue cheese and a modification of the pan asian noodle dish. He made it more of a stir fry with rice and it was delicious!

We went to MK the next day and had lunch at Cosmic Ray's. It wasn't too crowded and the cashier immediately had the manager over to assist with my order. I just got a burger in a GF bun. It only took a few minutes to fix and was great.

For dinner that night, we met DH back at the hotel and had dinner at the Grand Floridan Cafe. Again, they were expecting me and chef Tim came out to talk to me. I ordered the Spice Dusted Tuna. It was so yummy tasting. Even my 11 year old daughter kept sneaking bites of it.

For our second park day we went to Epcot. I had samples from 2 of the booths that had been reported to be gluten free. It was a little riskier, but nice to be able to try some of the goodies and I felt fine afterwards.

We ended up going back to the Grand Floridian for a late dinner at the Gasparilla Grill. Chef Tim who had cooked for me the night before at the cafe was there and remembered me. I ordered the chicken tenders again and this time he cooked me up some safe fries to eat with it instead of just fruit.

I felt so spoiled there it was hard to come home!

 

[tripplanner2]

My 6 year old daughter was just diagnosed with a wheat allergy. She has always had issues and on our last trip we were eliminating eggs, so I get the whole allergy process at the restaurants. My question is, on several occasions she was served fruit for dessert when her sisters would have amazing things. Then we went to Ohana and the chef really went above and beyond to make her feel special, instead of left out, because of her allergy. So my question is, out of all the restaurants, which are the best at still making the person with the allergy feel they are special instead of making them feel left out. Does that make sense? Our kids don't know we are planning this trip and we did not go last summer. DD6 asked if we can go for her birthday this year instead of a party with her friends. We said that if she does her homework all year without complaining, we would think about it. Also said we would not be there for her exact birthday but when we are off for the summer. She was okay with that, but I really want to make sure it is special for her.

 

[clanmcculloch]

My 6 year old daughter was just diagnosed with a wheat allergy. She has always had issues and on our last trip we were eliminating eggs, so I get the whole allergy process at the restaurants. My question is, on several occasions she was served fruit for dessert when her sisters would have amazing things. Then we went to Ohana and the chef really went above and beyond to make her feel special, instead of left out, because of her allergy. So my question is, out of all the restaurants, which are the best at still making the person with the allergy feel they are special instead of making them feel left out. Does that make sense? Our kids don't know we are planning this trip and we did not go last summer. DD6 asked if we can go for her birthday this year instead of a party with her friends. We said that if she does her homework all year without complaining, we would think about it. Also said we would not be there for her exact birthday but when we are off for the summer. She was okay with that, but I really want to make sure it is special for her.

Eliminating both wheat and egg is difficult regarding desserts because the majority of the gluten free baked goods around WDW do have eggs (my 12yo is gluten, milk and egg free among other things so I've BTDT). There are some places that carry the Enjoy Life cookies. I think we were offered these at Tusker House and Coral Reef. Most restaurants had ice cream (Tofutti soy ice cream) that she could eat. My experience has been that chefs will try to make the ice cream look pretty with fruit or Mickey sprinkles or chocolate sauce though some just serve the ice cream plain. At our resorts we've had chef custom make batches of desserts just for DD12. At POFQ they made up a batch of brownies which they individually wrapped and froze so they could pull them out as we requested them. At Pop they made up a batch of chocolate chocolate chip cookies and a batch of snickerdoodle cookies. At Poly, the room service dessert they came up with was a make your own sundae that included mickey sprinkles and chocolate sauce and marachino cherries.

That chef (chef TJ; his reputation is well known in allergy circles for exactly what you just described) is no longer at 'Ohana. He's now at the Grand Floridian. In one of the threads there was a chef TJ sighting at 1900PF recently. I'm hoping we get to meet him when we're there in February.

 

[tripplanner2]

Eliminating both wheat and egg is difficult regarding desserts because the majority of the gluten free baked goods around WDW do have eggs (my 12yo is gluten, milk and egg free among other things so I've BTDT). There are some places that carry the Enjoy Life cookies. I think we were offered these at Tusker House and Coral Reef. Most restaurants had ice cream (Tofutti soy ice cream) that she could eat. My experience has been that chefs will try to make the ice cream look pretty with fruit or Mickey sprinkles or chocolate sauce though some just serve the ice cream plain. At our resorts we've had chef custom make batches of desserts just for DD12. At POFQ they made up a batch of brownies which they individually wrapped and froze so they could pull them out as we requested them. At Pop they made up a batch of chocolate chocolate chip cookies and a batch of snickerdoodle cookies. At Poly, the room service dessert they came up with was a make your own sundae that included mickey sprinkles and chocolate sauce and marachino cherries.

That chef (chef TJ; his reputation is well known in allergy circles for exactly what you just described) is no longer at 'Ohana. He's now at the Grand Floridian. In one of the threads there was a chef TJ sighting at 1900PF recently. I'm hoping we get to meet him when we're there in February.

Funny..because I read about Chef TJ but didn't realize that is the same chef. But you are right. He even came to the table to serve it himself. It was our best night, I cryed through half of dinner. Luckily she is no longer allergic to eggs so we are just dealing with the wheat, but that is rough in itself. I really could not imagine a combined allergy. Her other problem is she is very sensitive so things that are not showing on the tests still bother her. It has been a nightmare to diagnose but after 6 years we are finally making progress. Luckily, nothing is life threatening but she does have asthma and a constant runny nose. Gets worse based on what she eats, along with terrible gastro problems.

I guess I need to seek out Chef TJ on our next trip!

 

[clanmcculloch]

Funny..because I read about Chef TJ but didn't realize that is the same chef. But you are right. He even came to the table to serve it himself. It was our best night, I cryed through half of dinner. Luckily she is no longer allergic to eggs so we are just dealing with the wheat, but that is rough in itself. I really could not imagine a combined allergy. Her other problem is she is very sensitive so things that are not showing on the tests still bother her. It has been a nightmare to diagnose but after 6 years we are finally making progress. Luckily, nothing is life threatening but she does have asthma and a constant runny nose. Gets worse based on what she eats, along with terrible gastro problems.

I guess I need to seek out Chef TJ on our next trip!

Lots of people stalk, uh, choose to eat where Chef TJ works. LOL!! He's quite famous and for good reason. I sadly have yet to meet him.

Neither of my kids have ever had dangerous reactions to foods, thank G-d. Some things show up on tests and others don't. I know where you're coming from. Those pesky GI issues...... and in our case autistic issues (foods can intensify DD12's autistic tendencies).

If she can eat eggs now then you'll be pleasantly surprised by the types of sundaes that she'll be served. Generally they'll include brownies or cookies. There isn't a lot of variety but at least there are a few options. Most chefs seem to put their own personal spin on the desserts. Here's a few of the sundaes that we've gotten over the years. These are all gluten and milk free, but there are eggs in the brownies (the cupcake with the icing half licked off is actually egg free; this was at Chef Mickey).

 

[tripplanner2]

Thanks so much for posting pictures. It is really hard to find people that understand what you are going through. She always had terrible behavior and temper tantrums and all of the tests we did would come out negative. Very frustrating. Finally she tested level 1 for eggs but without them she was able to come off Zantac which she needed for a year. She also started sleeping and her behavior was MUCH better. But we were seeing symptoms again so we retested and now it is wheat. Things are better but she is definately feeling sorry for herself. Does not help that both of her sisters have birthdays this week. That is why I want to make sure we can do special things for her on vacation.

 

[davebon23]

Thanks so much for posting pictures. It is really hard to find people that understand what you are going through. She always had terrible behavior and temper tantrums and all of the tests we did would come out negative. Very frustrating. Finally she tested level 1 for eggs but without them she was able to come off Zantac which she needed for a year. She also started sleeping and her behavior was MUCH better. But we were seeing symptoms again so we retested and now it is wheat. Things are better but she is definately feeling sorry for herself. Does not help that both of her sisters have birthdays this week. That is why I want to make sure we can do special things for her on vacation.

Is is just wheat your daughter allergic to or does she have Celiac disease? With Celiac it is more than just wheat and definitely more involved. If it is Celiac than she need gluten free, not just wheat free.You would need to tell Disney and the chef's that she needs a gluten free diet, which they can accomadate. Just wanted you to know so your dd doesn't have any issues with getting sick. If you are not sure you may want to discuss further with her MD to make sure. Hope this helps. If you have any other ?'s, feel free to ask.

P.S. Even though I have Celiac, sometimes it is MUCH MUCH easier to say food allergy or wheat allergy. I lot of people don't know what gluten is when you go out to eat.

 

[tripplanner2]

Is is just wheat your daughter allergic to or does she have Celiac disease? With Celiac it is more than just wheat and definitely more involved. If it is Celiac than she need gluten free, not just wheat free.You would need to tell Disney and the chef's that she needs a gluten free diet, which they can accomadate. Just wanted you to know so your dd doesn't have any issues with getting sick. If you are not sure you may want to discuss further with her MD to make sure. Hope this helps. If you have any other ?'s, feel free to ask.

P.S. Even though I have Celiac, sometimes it is MUCH MUCH easier to say food allergy or wheat allergy. I lot of people don't know what gluten is when you go out to eat.

Luckily for us it is just a wheat allergy, right now. I say right now because she went from being totally undiagnosed to having her diagnosis change on a regular basis. For now we are dealing with asthma, wheat allergy, dust and dust mite allergy (which makes the asthma worse). But when she was very young I thought she had celiac and started the gluten free diet even though she was undiagnosed. Things started to get better and then she was diagnosed with an egg allergy. She was better but still not 100%. Since we started to avoid wheat, we finally see color in her face and her behavior is 100% better. Amazing what food can do.

 

[davebon23]

Luckily for us it is just a wheat allergy, right now. I say right now because she went from being totally undiagnosed to having her diagnosis change on a regular basis. For now we are dealing with asthma, wheat allergy, dust and dust mite allergy (which makes the asthma worse). But when she was very young I thought she had celiac and started the gluten free diet even though she was undiagnosed. Things started to get better and then she was diagnosed with an egg allergy. She was better but still not 100%. Since we started to avoid wheat, we finally see color in her face and her behavior is 100% better. Amazing what food can do.

I know right. The difference in some food is just amazing. I am glad she is feeling better. Have they tested her specifically for celiac? Just curious. I have some allergies to dust also, so I know how that can be. I also have asthma. If I dust my house, forget it. I am miserable for days. I hope they find out more so she can be 100% better soon. Good luck. And if they don't give you all the answers or are vague, like some doctors can be, try to find someone else that can be more specific for you. Take care.

 

[ambertides]

We did a night at CSR on 12/20 with DxDP for our anniversary. DH is not great at planning ahead, so I had to find last minute ressies after he told me what he planned about 3 days before that night. I lucked out grabbing Le Cellier for lunch, and 'Ohana for breakfast, but the best I could come up with for dinner (if I wanted to catch the fireworks at MK) was The Plaza.

Le Cellier ended up being somewhat of a disappointment. It was my first time getting sick at a table service at WDW, and the first time a chef did not come out. The waiter said I could get the chef out there or he could relay things to the chef. Not wanting to make a spectacle if it could be helped, I declined having the chef come out. I'll never do that again. I'm not really sure where in the process I got glutened, but it sucked.

They wouldn't do the cream cheese mashed potatoes as an appetizer on the meal plan, so I paid out of pocket for those and let DH choose two appetizers for himself. The mashed potatoes were awesome!

The hamburger was okay. I liked the bacon. They set it on one of the tapicoa rolls, split in half.

The maple creme brulee was lovely.

Overall I enjoyed the experience despite getting sick from it.

Dinner at The Plaza was meh. Salad for appetizer (wilted lettuce with way too much dressing), turkey sandwich (the bun did not seem to be heated at all?), and banana split for dessert (yum!). Plus it was freeeeezing in there. We were by the windows, which was a lovely view, but omg, I thought I would turn into a popcicle! And that's with wearing 3 layers of clothes.

I ate maybe a third of the food since my tummy was really hurting from Le Cellier and only the ice cream was really appetizing at all.

'Ohana was again my favorite of the trip. Breakfast was awesome!

So 'Ohana is on the top of my list for dinner AND breakfast, even though I missed it during Chef TJ's time.

 

[snorris49]

Thanks for the reviews! Sorry to hear you got glutenized at Le Cellier. I had a less than stellar experience there myself, so I haven't been too keen on going there anytime soon. This makes me not want to go there even more!

Ohana is a great choice! Even without TJ it's still a great restaurant!

 

[clanmcculloch]

Thanks for sharing!!!

I absolutely agree about 'Ohana being wonderful and I also found LeCellier to be just so-so for allergies, though I do have an ADR there for my upcoming trip. My kids are steak lovers (well, my whole family really) so I know they'll find something to eat (last time DD10 wasn't into steaks yet and the only other safe food was a dish of pasta with sauce that was too spicy for her so she hardly ate). They just didn't have many options for our kids last time for desserts or sides. This time we're not using a dining plan so I'm not worried about the lack of dessert options.

I NEVER accept a server speaking to the chef on my behalf. I'm shocked they would even suggest that. That's NOT the Disney way of handling food allergies.

 

[kpk89]

So excited to see this thread! I am hoping to entice my friend to join us for a trip but she's been nervous about her daughter, who can't have gluten.

 

[ambertides]

Ohana is a great choice! Even without TJ it's still a great restaurant!

Definitely!

I NEVER accept a server speaking to the chef on my behalf. I'm shocked they would even suggest that. That's NOT the Disney way of handling food allergies.

I won't again, for sure. Funny, though, as we were leaving, the lady at the table next to us was talking to the chef about her gluten free order, so, it really was just strange.

The experience was nice - the restaurant is beautiful and they were the one of the three to acknowledge our anniversary, and they did it in such a nice way. And we were there for opening so we got to watch them sing the Canadian anthem. But I think it may be one of those things we only do once, or once every very great once in a while. We're planning to try the Yachtsman for steak for DH next time we get the DxDP.

So excited to see this thread! I am hoping to entice my friend to join us for a trip but she's been nervous about her daughter, who can't have gluten.

WDW is great for gluten issues! We are local and go fairly often, and I've only gotten sick on WDW property 3 times, and two were my own carelessness.

 

[tiggeriffic44]

So excited to see this thread! I am hoping to entice my friend to join us for a trip but she's been nervous about her daughter, who can't have gluten.

In my experience just add ten min to any counter service meal. They need the time to prepare the special meal. Totaly worth it. My wife is a fan on the pizza at Pizza Planet. There are also Packaged Gluten free brownies you can buy at MK. We took a bunch home.

 

[chell]

The last week of April I'll be heading down. I'm so excited to try BabyCakes! I was so thrilled to learn they opened a DTD location. I'm looking forward to my GF, egg-free pumpkin cupcake! I told my husband I'm buying one of everything to bring home.