My gluten free/dairy free experience last week

[yodadaisystorm]

Hi!

I've been going to Disney my whole life (being a native Floridian) and have always loved the food. In fact, it might just be my favorite part of Disney vacations.

However, a couple months ago I was diagnosed with Celiac and dairy intolerance so I was nervous about my trip last week to Bay Lake Tower for 5 days on the deluxe dining plan.

I have to say, I am dairy intolerant to cheese and milk but I can handle minute amounts of dairy, usually only if there's butter involved so you might see a little of that.

So overall, I was disappointed and I never thought I would say that about anything Disney. There were some good meals, but just in an overall sense, it was nothing remarkable and in fact, I left some meals upset because I can't believe I paid that much for the food I received.

As a side note, we have decided that from this point on when we go (one week in May and one week in December) that we will strive to get a one bedroom on our DVC and cook meals for ourself mostly. I think I would be happier this way.

On to the reviews!

 

[yodadaisystorm]

Day 1:

We arrived at Bay Lake Tower in the morning and were pleasantly surprised that our room was ready! We headed straight for the pool.

After a while, we got hungry and had no ADR's for lunch so we hit The Wave to see if they had availability and they did.

I had looked at their lunch menu ahead of time to see what they had, but I didn't realize that since it was Mother's Day, they had a brunch instead of their regular menu.

I talked to the chef who told me that almost nothing on the buffet I could eat except fruit, eggs and bacon. They also had prime rib, which I had a slice of and it was okay.

Again, for the price of the meal, it wasn't exactly gourmet and there was no variety. I was disappointed, but didn't want to start out vacation on a bad note, so I chalked it up to bad planning.

Later that day, we took our four year old daughter to the Neverland Club at the Polynesian (which she loved) and headed to Narcoose's for a nice, grown up meal.

This was my favorite meal of the entire trip.

I had the whole Maine lobster and he subbed the usual mac and cheese side dish for crushed fingerling potatoes and asparagus. This was DIVINE. Seriously, I wish every meal was as good as this one. Combined with the Fess Parker Riesling, I was a very happy camper.

Oops - forgot the appetizer. I had a salad that's not on any menus online. It was bitter greens with goat cheese (my allergy is to cow's milk cheese) and citrus with candied pecans and roasted beets with a light vinagrette. It was so good.

For dessert, they brought me a beautiful platter with the GF/DF French Meadow brownies and tofutti ice cream, drizzled with chocolate syrup and raspberries. Again, SO GOOD.

Best meal of the trip and totally worth two dining credits.

Day two up next!

 

[AllergyFreeMouse]

I'm really surprised that the chef didn't offer to make you something. We were also at the Contemporary that day, but had an ADR at Cinderella's Royal Table, where the chef did make my daughter a dairy free meal. But back to the Contemporary, we also ate at Chef Mickey's and California Grill, where the chefs in each prepared a special meal, including Chef Mickey's where there was a buffet. However, we did have ADRs at each and had submitted a Special Diets request form.

But, I'm really surprised the chef didn't offer something. Was it a busy time for them?

 

[3prettyprincesses]

Oh, I'm sorry to hear you were disappointed. May I ask, in what way you were? Was it the taste of the food or a lack of variety?

I'm wondering too if part of the reason you felt disappointed was that you were comparing pre GF/DF meals to now GF/DF meals? For me, at home, it was an adjustment. Granted, I'm only GF but it does have a different taste than regular meals.

We ate at Chef Mickey's and California Grill in February. The chefs went out of their way to prepare GF safe food which was delicious. Did the chef at The Wave offer to make you anything other than the buffet food? I was under the impression that it has an actual menu in addition to the buffet.

Thanks for sharing, looking forward to your reviews!

 

[clanmcculloch]

At the Wave, which chef did you see? Was it the heavier set white guy with dark hair (at least that's what he looked like 1.5 years ago) or the short I think either asian or hawaiian guy (at least that's how he was described to me; I didn't meet him myself)? Our worst dining experience ever was as the Wave with the heavy set white guy with dark hair. After talking with another chef elsewhere I found out she's generally not happy with that guy but that the short asian guy I'm told is amazing.

I'm interested to see the rest of your review to find out what happened.

I wanted to comment on the cheese thing (nothing to do with Disney). If you're intollerant to the type of casein found in cow's milk then you need to be aware that there is a bit of this type of casein in goat's and sheep's milk. The amount in goat's and sheep's milk is significantly less but it is there. You may find over time that you have more trouble with these other animal cheeses though I'd love for that to not happen to you. If you ever get to the point where you can't tollerate any cow's milk products at all then at that point you'll likely also need to cut out the other animal milk products as well. As long as you can tollerate a bit of butter you should also be find with the goat and sheep products. Just something to be aware of.

Just an FYI for future trips: At most buffets I've found that I have to specifically ask chefs if they can bring food from the kitchen or if they can prepare something else for me. Some chefs will offer but most I find I have to come out and ask. They will prepare wonderful foods when asked, but for some reason most don't volunteer. Knowing this makes a big difference in the experience. Unfortunately, unless you frequent boards like this, you wouldn't have any way of knowing this which is frustrating for many.

 

[yodadaisystorm]

Day 2

We started out our day with breakfast at the Grand Floridian - 1900 Park Fare. The very nice chef came out and notified me that I couldn't have anything at all on the buffet. He brought me out GF/DF mickey waffles (good) and eggs, bacon and fruit. I was starting to sense a pattern here. Again, for the money, it wasn't really worth it but the experience was great for my daughter.

Lunch was followed by a massage at the Grand Floridian (which I HIGHLY recommend!) at Gasparilla Grill, their counter service. They have such interesting options here - I actually could have had several things but they offered to make me a hamburger and fries and that just sounded good. It was a nice treat, but the nothing unusual.

For dinner, we went to Coral Reef at Epcot. I had thought that this would be a good option because of the seafood, but it wasn't.

The chef didn't seem interested and made no suggestions. I couldn't have anything on the appetizer menu so he brought me a plate of lettuce. Yes, seriously. And there was no dressing available for me, so he brought me very acidic plain vinegar.

For my entree, I had Grilled Mahi Mahi - with laughing bird shrimp, heats of palm, jasmine rice and a coconut lime sauce and it was SO SO SO bland. I usually finish all of my food, but I left half of this on the plate. The fish was dry and it just didn't taste like anything at all.

At least dessert was a little better, but again, the chef made no suggestion. I had to suggest to him what they might have. I felt like I was playing 20 questions. They brought out 3 scoops of chocolate tofutti, 3 scoops of vanilla tofutti and some crushed GF/DF cookies on top. It was okay, but I don't know how many people they thought they were feeding, LOL. I ate maybe 1/4 of it and gave up.

Definitely won't be back, that's for sure.

 

[yodadaisystorm]

To answer a previous question - I think I was disappointed because of the lack of variety and taste. Every day was the same thing for breakfast and actually, I found the counter service places to have more available and ready than the table service places.

We did have reservations for most of our dining and submitted the allergy form before going. Still, many of them didn't seem prepared.

I would have been happier if they at least made suggestions of what they could do for me. I didn't really get that except for the mickey waffles at breakfast. Even if they had offered to make me an omelet, just for something different, it would have been nice.

I'm not saying they were all bad. Not at all. I guess I just expected something else.

I personally LOVE to cook and there aren't many foods that I don't like - I tend to be adventurous. So I guess I was hoping for something more along those lines. Maybe I just picked the wrong places.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Honestly, breakfasts do seem to be pretty much the same everywhere we go. That's why we don't bother with breakfasts. We just eat quick and easy breakfasts in our room. There are only so many Mickey waffles a person can eat and for the price it does feel like not much food for a lot of money. We'll sometimes throw one or two character breakfasts into the mix but that's for the characters more than the food. Because we haven't bought breakfasts for most of the week, the food seems more special at those rare breakfasts that we do partake of.

I also agree that Special Diets seems to be NOT informing restaurants the way they used to. I'm not sure what's going on over there, but most chefs no longer seem to know ahead of time that we're coming. Thank goodness we've found most chefs to be wonderfully accomodating and they seem to try.

Next time ASK for what you want. If you want an omelett, ask for it. Speak up. You're paying for your food so you should have an opportunity to get what you want just like every other patron in the restaurant. I can understand if they don't have the ingredients but I know you mentioned 1900PF and they DO have the ingredients and heck, omelettes are offered to everybody else and they can easily grab you a clean pan and make you one. Again, next time get vocal and tell the chef what you like and what you want. Let them know you'd love for them to get creative and bold with what they prepare. This seems to make it more fun for them and they do seem to like rising to this kind of challenge. We've gotten some wonderful meals this way. Obviously not all chefs will be equal but many seem to take jobs at WDW because they have a passion for allergy cooking and enjoy the opportunity to really create artistic and tasty meals.

 

[yodadaisystorm]

Day 3

We started our third day out with breakfast at Ohana. It took quite a while past our reservation time to get in but we didn't mind waiting.

We took the picture and it actually came out pretty nice so we bought that.

One thing that was a bit frustrating here was that they would not tend to us at all until the chef talked to me. I understand that it's their policy because of food allergies, but I'm an adult and know what I can have. They wouldn't give us coffee, water, juice, etc. until the chef came and it took quite a long time.

She brought me my own platter here and it was (guess!) mickey waffles, eggs, fruit and bacon. It was exactly like all the others so no comments there. At least DD enjoyed the characters and parade they have in the restaurant so that's good.

 

[yodadaisystorm]

Day 3 continued

We decided to spend the afternoon at the pool at the Contemporary so we went to Contempo Cafe for lunch. They made me allergy free chicken tenders and fries which was quite a treat. It's rare to be able to get fried food of any kind that's GF/DF unless you make it yourself at home. It was good, fresh and hot and they gave me a ton of food. My daughter actually shared mine and loved it.

For dinner, we did the Hoop De Doo Revue. Ok. Here's the thing. The chef came out right away and talked to me and that was great. He offered to make me some additional sides and I could have the baked beans on the table as well as the ribs. I must say, the baked beans were really good, but the ribs were tough and dry. I really wanted my own salad and sides but they weren't brought to me until well after everyone else was served and even then it was plain rice and plain green beans. So bland. The salad was good.

I enjoyed the show to some degree, but I just don't think it's for me. None of us thought the food was good overall and the show was just okay. I wouldn't do it again for the money you pay. I basically paid about $70 to eat some salad and baked beans.

 

[yodadaisystorm]

Day 4

We woke up and headed to Chef Mickey's which was so nice while staying at Bay Lake Tower. I liked having so many food options close and the monorail right there.

The chef came out to talk to me and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I could go up to the buffet because he doesn't cook with butter at all and told me which foods to avoid, mostly because of cheese.

He did make me GF/DF mickey waffles and they were as good as the other days. I was able to have the turkey sausage hash that was on the buffet, which was a nice change from the standard eggs, bacon and fruit I'd been getting. I liked the hash because it had a nice kick to it and mixed with eggs it was really good. Other than that, I couldn't really have much on the buffet, but I was sick of food at this point, LOL, so it didn't really matter.

For lunch on this day, we went to Liberty Tree Tavern. I didn't have ADR's here because we hadn't planned on being at the MK today, but they fit us in and the chef came out to talk to me with no problem. I had their seasonal salad to start and it was decent. Actually, I really just wanted vegetables at this point in the trip, so I was happy with it no matter what it had.

Then I had the Tri-Corner Sandwich - roast beef and swiss cheese with Liberty Slaw, horseradish cream sauce and arugula served on herbed focaccia with fresh fruit or tavern fries. I obviously had to modify this - no cheese and such on a GF bun, but it came out SO DRY. I gave up after two bites and just picked the roast beef off and dipped it in ketchup. But the fries were so good. I don't know why all of the fries at Disney can't be like this. They are like thick cut steak fries - really crispy on the outside but soft on the inside.

I skipped dessert here because nothing appealled to me and I didn't want another French Meadow brownie.

For dinner, we originally had ADR's for Cape May but DD wanted to go back to the Neverland Club. So we dropped her off and went to The Wave again instead.

It was definitely better than the lunch we had on the first day of the trip. I started with wine and got a salad that I don't see on any menus online but it had roasted duck with goat cheese on bitter greens and a citrus vinagrette. This was good and a nice change of pace.

For dinner, they didn't have to modify my meal. I also don't see it on any online menus, so I think they must have recently changed things up.

It was a flank steak with chimichurri sauce, roasted potatoes and broccolini. It was decent. I will say that my steak was a little tough, but it had good flavor. I'm just not much of a "steak and potatoes" person, but it was the only thing I could see that wouldn't have to be drastically modified or that I couldn't have at all.

I also skipped dessert here because there was nothing they could offer me, except another French Meadow brownie. They did let DH bring back two desserts to the room for himself to make up for mine so that was fine. He ate them the next morning.

 

[fireworks fan]

Thanks for posting your reviews. I have celiac and I get sick of those FM brownies too. I find that they are almost always dried out. I also enjoyed the allergy free chicken tenders on my trip in February.

 

[frank430316]

Thanks for the reviews. We're going in about a month, so they are quite relevant! BTW lactose intolerance is often a symptom of Celiac Disease, since the villa in the small intestine are damaged. If that is the case, then usually a gluten free diet will help or even eliminate the lactose intolerance - eventually (the intestines may take 12 months or longer to completely heal). My wife was able to drink milk again, after 10 months of being gluten free, although she actually started with ice cream.