Need help with wait times for gluten free

[Stubbzilla]

I have read a ton of reviews and recommendations for where to get gluten free food in WDW, but I am not sure what kind of wait times to expect.

So far, I gather that if I wanted to order something to be specially prepared, like gluten free chicken strips or gluten free pizza, then it will take about 20 minutes extra.

I have tried to structure our dining so that we'll be at places where I can do things like just substitute a gluten free bun on a burger, or have them leave off a side that is something I can't eat. I'm hoping that won't take extra time. Is that generally true? It seems like it from the reviews I've read, but it's hard to tell.

I am not extremely sensitive to gluten and I can handle some cross contamination without it ruining vacation, so I'm not worried about the table service meals.

 

[mistysue]

One of the catches is if you tell them you need it gluten free, they are going to prepare your food separate. It really is up to the chef, but as a general rule they don't care if you don't mind cross contamination, they make your things in the special orders area for liability reasons. They aren't going to make everything on the regular line and then toss a bun on there, it becomes a special order which can add time, depending on whether they have many special orders right then. In theory if they were super busy and you were the only special order it might not even make a difference. If you ask them to leave something off they will just send it out minus the item.

With my son his items are all made completely off to the side, but there are times when it doesn't take more than a moment extra. When it's something that is more "on hand" items, 10 minutes might be a good average guess. Our record for time was the time backlot express took 45 minutes. They were having a lot of problems that day so it's not a reasonable example. (we were one of two groups in the place, there were more workers than customers and they kept sending everybody the wrong stuff)

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . So far, I gather that if I wanted to order something to be specially prepared, like gluten free chicken strips or gluten free pizza, then it will take about 20 minutes extra . . .

1) Could be quicker-same-longer than 20-minutes.
2) In *most* cases, figure 20-30 minutes.
3) After all
. . . it is a special order
. . . they make it in a separate part of the kitchen
. . . there might be other special orders ahead of you
. . . the manpower might not be readily available for the special order

 

[Stubbzilla]

I read one person's review where they ate somewhere and they told the chef that they didn't worry about cross contamination, and they said the chef told them that it would take less time as he wouldn't have to move to a new preparation area. That could have been from a couple of years ago, I'm not sure, things change and people are a lot more educated about these issues now. Maybe if I just tell them "no wheat" then that will be faster...

I basically just want to get the gluten free part done with the minimum fuss. I don't care all that much about what I eat on the trip, I just don't want to be hungry and I don't want to make everyone else in my party wait an extra half hour or more. I have already eliminated any possibilities of chicken strips or pizza because of the time involved for those.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

the "no wheat" will most likely not change anything as that will tell them the same thing. where I work we have gluten free chicken tenders take bout 20 minutes as we do not have them premade and they have to be done in a warmer not fryer. would have to tell guest that the fries are not safe for gluten free. have to check the notebook to see what is safe as gluten is in some odd things

 

[Tempfire]

I've never noticed a long wait when ordering GF at the different restaurants. The longest wait I can remember is around 10 minutes or so. Even then the manager gave me a pager so I didn't have to wait at the counter.

 

[DCDisney]

I wait usually 20 mins past when my family gets their food. If it's not busy and we try to go at off times I go pre-order my food. Even things that they just have to plate safely in the back frequently take that long. Like I am allergic to beans so when I go to Cosmic Rays for Rotiss Chic and mashed potatoes they don't have to do anything specially cooked they just have to grab food that hasn't been in the serving line. Yep, 20 mins. Lots of times they have other allergy orders ahead of you and they just do one at a time. If you feel safe just asking for a burger with no bun and not telling the reason that will generally be quicker but when I've done that in the past it comes out on a bun and they take it off and toss it before giving me the burger

 

[maddiebee]

If you aren't sensitive to cross contamination, I would think about trying to get things that are just naturally gluten free, if you're worried about time. If you even mention that you are gluten free, they are going to get a manager/chef to make sure that they are being as safe as possible (which is great, and to me has always been worth the extra time).

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

I only waited longer than the rest of my family once while they prepared my Mickey bananas foster waffles at the WL roaring forks. The rest of the family got muffins and pastries so obviously mine took longer. They key is to find a CM before you get to the counter so you have a head start on the family. Go to the counter with no wait or see if a manager is walking around. Just mention you have an allergy and wanted to know who you should notify. Since you technically get to skip the line, you get a head start on prep.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Our food at CS locations always come out together. We place the order together and the manager who is preparing our allergy food makes sure that the non-allergy food comes out at the same time.

I'm surprised by the comment about going to the counter with no wait. At park CS locations we have to wait in the regular line to place our order and then have further wait for the manager which is one of the many reasons we like to go before meal rushes start. At resort CS we try to do the same regarding timing and while yes we just go up to a counter and ask for a chef, it can take some time before the chef comes out and DH would have been able to get through the line in the time it can sometimes take for a chef to come out. Yes sometimes the chef comes out quickly but it's not like he's standing around waiting to be called on so sometimes it takes a bit of time for him to come out. Again, we're there when there's no crowd so there aren't lines for anybody (maybe 5 people in the longest line).

 

[eliz603]

When we went last year in late Feb-early March, I learned very quickly to order separate from the rest of my family. For one thing, our DS was only 16 months at the time, so he wasn't on DDP with the rest of us. It can take longer as you have to wait for a mgr/chef (depending on where you are) to take care of you. DS isn't really good with waiting when everyone else has their food, so I usually just went off on my own to do this.

Most of the time, his food came within a few minutes, if not before, everyone else's food. Just depended on how DH's line moved, etc. The two longest CS waits were at Backlot Express and at the QS restaurant at the Grand Floridian. I have no idea why the latter took so long considering that we were almost the only people in there. Maybe it was more that they weren't even partially prepared for an allergy meal the way a park QS would be.

The longest TS wait was at Crystal Palace. Thankfully, we had the buffet to keep DS busy. But we didn't get his chicken fingers until we had all eaten and seen all the characters. It was about 25 minutes after we saw the chef. Our server got very concerned about the time it was taking, and he kept stopping by to check on us. This gave me the feeling it was out of the ordinary to have to wait that long. We ended up having to get the chicken fingers to go.

 

[Karabee]

I'm glad I found this thread. I have a feeling for the most part I will be ordering what I can and just removing certain items (just get the burger but no bun).

While I'm only gluten sensitive and don't have celiacs, I try to be good - but it's hard in Disney! One thing I absolutely love and could eat every single morning are the croissants. Anyone see any of the bakery items that are gluten free? I know it's probably just a wish.

 

[clanmcculloch]

I'm glad I found this thread. I have a feeling for the most part I will be ordering what I can and just removing certain items (just get the burger but no bun).

While I'm only gluten sensitive and don't have celiacs, I try to be good - but it's hard in Disney! One thing I absolutely love and could eat every single morning are the croissants. Anyone see any of the bakery items that are gluten free? I know it's probably just a wish.

Other than the occasional Babycakes pack of 4 "cupcakes" (actually brownie bites with icing), you won't find gluten free baked goods sitting out with the other baked goods. Some places have the gluten free brownies and cookies out where you can grab them but CS places in the parks with the exception of Sunshine Seasons in Epcot you'll have to ask for them when you order. These will typically be cookies or brownies. For things like buns or bagels you have to ask for them. In Animal Kingdom there's an allergy kiosk where you can buy a few Babycakes baked goods as well. There are no croissants but at POFQ you can get GF beignets and I believe that most resort CS they have bagels in the kitchen and they'll even heat them up for you if you ask. If you go to DTD then you can get cinnamon rolls and a variety of baked loaves at Babycakes.

IMO you're depriving yourself if you just ask for things to be left off instead of requesting the allergy alternatives for products. It's so wonderful being able to pick up and dig into a burger when normally this is something you can only do at home.

 

[declansdad]

1) Could be quicker-same-longer than 20-minutes.
2) In *most* cases, figure 20-30 minutes.
3) After all
. . . it is a special order
. . . they make it in a separate part of the kitchen
. . . there might be other special orders ahead of you
. . . the manpower might not be readily available for the special order

So you are really saying you don't have an answer.

OP, it is hard to predict the wait at a restaurant on a given night.

 

[mistysue]

The longest TS wait was at Crystal Palace. Thankfully, we had the buffet to keep DS busy. But we didn't get his chicken fingers until we had all eaten and seen all the characters. It was about 25 minutes after we saw the chef. Our server got very concerned about the time it was taking, and he kept stopping by to check on us. This gave me the feeling it was out of the ordinary to have to wait that long. We ended up having to get the chicken fingers to go.

That's interesting- we had the same issue there with chicken tenders last year. We had all eaten and waited long enough we were considering leaving to search for food for DS. (He had no options on the buffet line) We ended up with a napkin full of his food smuggled out because we couldn't get the other kids to sit any longer. Past years have not been an issue, I figured it was just unfortunate timing.

 

[Leota]

The fastest CS I have had for all my allergies are:

-Columbia Harbor House, MK - they even have special diets menus you can ask to look at ahead of time
&
-Sunshine Seasons, Epcot - Grill Station is their allergy place & they can take care of you quickly. IIRC, the whole station is GF. And they have a range of snacks
&
- Flame Tree BBQ in AK - the pork sandwich is awesome - just don't use the house BBQ, if you want to risk it, the packets are a better choice. And they have the whole special diets kiosk with binders of all the CS offerings in the park and lots of snacks Wish they had it in every Park!

I've had to wait a bit at Pecos Bill, but only when I went during a busy time (MVMCP) And also, like a previous poster, had ridiculously long wait at Gasparilla Grill in GF for no apparent reason & then they forgot something, went back to get it & they never came back with it?!?

The real key is to go at OFF times. The busier it is, the more chances you have that the special diets food area is busy with other guests.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

I'm surprised by the comment about going to the counter with no wait. At park CS locations we have to wait in the regular line to place our order and then have further wait for the manager which is one of the many reasons we like to go before meal rushes start. At resort CS we try to do the same regarding timing and while yes we just go up to a counter and ask for a chef, it can take some time before the chef comes out and DH would have been able to get through the line in the time it can sometimes take for a chef to come out. Yes sometimes the chef comes out quickly but it's not like he's standing around waiting to be called on so sometimes it takes a bit of time for him to come out. Again, we're there when there's no crowd so there aren't lines for anybody (maybe 5 people in the longest line).

I also wanted to clarify that I wasn't recommending anyone skip a line. I just learned really quick that the manager walks out and talks to you separately then goes back to prepare your meal. We tend to end up at counter service locations where your go up to a food station, select what you want and then go to the register. For example at our resort, there were 5 people in line for waffles while no one was in line by the eggs. I walked over to eggs, said I had an allergy and they grabbed the manager who walked me through my choices. Then I wait for my food, go to the register and pay. It's a little trickier at places where you order/pay then wait for food. In those cases I waited in line but if I spotted a manager passing by I simply asked who I should notify about an allergy and then they took my order and had someone prepare it so everyone's came out at the same time.