Gluten free options

[mla2177]

I have recently been diagnosed with Celiac disease. Are the restaurants pretty accommodating in that regard? Anyone with experience?

 

[dewingedpixie]

I am entering my 10th year gluten free, and was diagnosed 9 years ago with celiac. Disney is one of the easiest places in the world as a celiac. You can have your reservations tagged with a gluten allergy. This will mean you will either be told your menu options or a chef will come out to guide you through the menu/buffet. At buffets you can always ask to have food pulled from the back if you're afraid of contamination. The fact that Disney does GF so well was one of the reasons we chose to do our wedding there.

As a side note please let your family know they too should be tested celiac is genetic. Also make sure you have a dexa scan done osteoporosis is rampant in celiacs, I was diagnosed at 25 with irreversible bone density problems.

 

[mla2177]

Wow! I didn't know about the risk of osteoporosis! I was diagnosed about nine months ago, so getting the hang of it, finally. I did have my children tested. Both positive for the gene but negative for Celiac as of now.

Do they offer just one meal or several? Is there a certain restaurant that offers more options?

 

[TeresaNJ]

Almost all of the table service restaurants will modify a dish for your needs, if they are able. The chef at Ohana made me the most beautiful, delicious dish that I've ever seen. You will be pleasantly surprised at what they can do for you. The only real pain in the neck are the counter service restaurants, but there is quite a bit of info here and Allearsnet.com regarding what you can choose from at select counter service restaurants.

My gluten free chef created dish at Ohana!​

 

[mla2177]

Wow, that is amazing!

 

[AJKMOM]

If you go down the list of forums here, you will find one called "disAbilities" and there is a ton of GF information there.

 

[mla2177]

Thank you!

 

[tdizzle]

Disney is very, very good at accommodating GF diets. My father was bowled over at the care and attention he received every time we ate at WDW. The chef came out to the table at each of the TS restaurants to go over his options and prepared special desserts for him and he always got his own basket of some fabulous tapioca rolls.

If you are staying on site stop by the CS restaurant at the resort during a slow period and let the chef know you're GF and when you'd probably be eating there. The chef at PORS offered to have waffles for Dad's breakfast for the length of our stay. Dad was tickled pink at the service.

And Dad highly recommends Earl of Sandwich they also took good care of him.

 

[AuroraMeansDawn]

At Teppan Edo they sent the manager over to talk to me, brought me gluten free soy sauce, cooked my meal before the others so it wasn't contaminated by the other foods and the manager stayed almost at my elbow all night just to make sure I was ok and my needs were met. I had passed on Dessert too but as it was my bday they brought out a small dish of soft serve ice cream with a candle in lieu of the usual cupcake and of course I got a chef's hat to wear

(and I was able to flip my blown out bday candle and catch it on top of chef's hat just like the chef did with the shrimp tail - awesomeness!)

 

[Wood Nymph]

I have recently been diagnosed with Celiac disease. Are the restaurants pretty accommodating in that regard? Anyone with experience?

At 'Ohana they brought me gluten free bread. The salad, steak, chicken and shrimp were fine, but he brought gluten free chicken wings, fantastic by the way, and gluten free pork. I couldn't have the vegetables, so he brought gluten free ones along with a side of rice. I had my own dipping sauce, too. All of the food was really good. I especially liked the ice cream sundae with gluten free cookies.

At Cape May Cafe dinner buffet the chef walked me around the buffet, telling me what I couldn't have. About 90% of the food was gluten free. He offered to bring a gluten free dinner roll.

At the Coral Reef the chef told me what items on the menu were not gluten free and brought a gluten free dinner roll. They didn't offer to make anything special, but once again, most of the food was gluten free already.

At Whispering Canyon Cafe for breakfast I got gluten free Mickey waffles, very yummy, and a special gluten free maple syrup. I'm not sure what was wrong with the regular syrup.

 

[disfan07]

Gluten free at Disney is extremely easy. The chefs will come it and talk to you at TS meals and at CS meals the chef/manager will have an ingredient book for all the foods.

I am gluten free but I am also allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, shellfish, soy, sesame, coconut, oats, sunflower seeds, ginger, raw fruits and raw vegetables and I was stuffed after every meal in Disney in December. It was so good that we are going back again in June for my birthday and graduation present. It is the only place I can really eat out anymore.

 

[OldsDr]

At Whispering Canyon Cafe for breakfast I got gluten free Mickey waffles, very yummy, and a special gluten free maple syrup. I'm not sure what was wrong with the regular syrup.

That is scary, I have never paid syrup much mind

The only thing I can think of is if they are sharing the syrup around the restaurant they may be trying to avoid cross contamination.

 

[OldsDr]

when I was at Kona in sept 2011 they has 2 GF desserts. A flourerless choclate lava cake and Banna choclate creme brulee' I am so used to not being to have any dessert i got both.

The rotating restauarnt in the land almost everything (including the gravy) was GF.

 

[SpectroMagic*o*]

They are AMAZING with people with gluten allergies. My husband has that too and at Disney, we can walk into any restaurant / counter service and they will bend over backwards for him to accomadate him. Its SUCH a great experience that now Disney is the only place he wants to vacation! FINE BY ME!! LOL!

 

[clanmcculloch]

I'm not sure what was wrong with the regular syrup.

The regular syrup is maple flavoured table syrup, not maple syrup. Many table syrups have gluten. My family only uses real maple syrup for this reason (it also tastes better IMO but that's a different discussion).

 

[jcano]

We have 2 DD's with Celiac. We do not worry about a thing when at Disney. It is pretty much what you want and they take care of the issue. Remember when staying on site the restaurants at the resorts will meet Gluten Free requirements also. They have made special dishes for my daughters. We just explained they were Gluten Free and they gave us all sort of food options they would get ready in the back. It was Awesome!! One of my favorite reasons for going Disney, No Worries. Best Gluten Free buns for burgers we have had.

Hope you have a great time.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Best Gluten Free buns for burgers we have had.

I see from your signature that your last trip was December 2011. They were using Udi's buns at that time. Not many places have those any longer. Now they're using GNI buns at most places. They're not nearly as good. They're edible if you're used to GF products but they're not anything like the Udi's. They made the change because Udi's aren't egg free but GNI are so they cover more people.

 

[OldsDr]

I see from your signature that your last trip was December 2011. They were using Udi's buns at that time. Not many places have those any longer. Now they're using GNI buns at most places. They're not nearly as good. They're edible if you're used to GF products but they're not anything like the Udi's. They made the change because Udi's aren't egg free but GNI are so they cover more people.

At that time I thought they were using the Energy or Energz I can not remember the exact name, but they were awesome. My wife ordered some when we got home and they were the same as in the parks.

 

[Tinkarella]

We were at WDW this past December, my grown DD was recently diagnosed with Celiac's and the experience could not have been better! Even the servers were great, upon noticing the gluten free dinner roll on my bread plate as they were placing my dinner plate in front of me they pulled the plate back and said so sorry, this is not gluten free! I assured them that I was ok to eat it and just sampling the GF rolls. It was reassuring to know they were paying that much attention.

 

[clanmcculloch]

At that time I thought they were using the Energy or Energz I can not remember the exact name, but they were awesome. My wife ordered some when we got home and they were the same as in the parks.

I must have my timing on the changes wrong then. They did use Ener-G for years. They switched to Udi's I thought between our August 2011 and February 2012 trips but I could be wrong. I could have sworn it was when planning a February trip where Special Diets had me considering whether or not to cancel that one and the next August trip because they were so full of misinformation when they would actually bother to communicate. Maybe that was during the transition when many places had both or hadn't run out of their supply of Ener-G. I guess it doesn't matter what happened to my swiss cheese memory at this point since regardless of when they went away, the Ener-G brand is gone.

These days, the only place I know of to get the Ener-G buns is at Biergarten. Most places have GNI for hot dog and hamburger buns while a few still have Udi's. Bagels and toast I think are mainly Udi's though the chef at the Plaza did manage to get an Udi's hamburger bun for DD12 since she can't eat GNI (she's allergic to a different ingredient) so they must have them somewhere in MK.