Vegan dining options in and around Disneyland

[nancy drew]

Hi all,

I've done a search and found a few old discussions on this, but I know that menus change so I thought I'd ask for current recommendations on vegan dining options in and around Disneyland.

What restaurants/counter service/food stands have vegan options on the menu? Which ones will prepare dairy/egg/meat free food options without acting like it is a big issue?

The kids (who are not vegan) want to do the Minnie and Friends breakfast, aside from bread and fruit, do they have vegan food or should I mention it when I make our reservations?

I plan on bringing snacks with me so I'll have *some* food options, but I was looking for advice and tips from those who have worked around diet needs before. Thanks!

Oh, and we are most likely staying at the Park Vue, anyone know about the food options there?

 

[blackjackdelta]

I am going to bump this, a number of threads in the past have had the info you are asking for.

Jack

 

[Abbeys_mom]

Dh is a veggie. He loved the Fried Green Tomato sandwich at Hungry Bear and the Tofu bowl and side of edamame at Lucky Fortune Cookery. He also did the gumbo bread bowl at Royal Street Veranda. We did not try the skewers Bengal BBQ, but I would think those would be totally vegan.

There are veggie burgers just about everywhere you can get a regular burger, and pasta with marinara at Plaza and Pizza Port. For breakfast, it was hard to get protein. Check the menus at All Ears, and plan from there. That is how we plan our days, around a land that is veggie friendly near meal times.

 

[sonnyjane]

Dh is a veggie. He loved the Fried Green Tomato sandwich at Hungry Bear and the Tofu bowl and side of edamame at Lucky Fortune Cookery. He also did the gumbo bread bowl at Royal Street Veranda. We did not try the skewers Bengal BBQ, but I would think those would be totally vegan.

There are veggie burgers just about everywhere you can get a regular burger, and pasta with marinara at Plaza and Pizza Port. For breakfast, it was hard to get protein. Check the menus at All Ears, and plan from there. That is how we plan our days, around a land that is veggie friendly near meal times.

The fried green tomato sandwich is REALLY yummy (I've actually been craving one all day) but it does have cheese and a mayo-based sauce on the slaw, so you'd have to skip both of those things, and unfortunately those are the two of the big things that make the sandwich good.

 

[nancy drew]

Thanks for the info so far!

I'm hoping to try the tomato sandwich. I was worried it was fried using egg, but I'm guessing no?

 

[sonnyjane]

Thanks for the info so far!

I'm hoping to try the tomato sandwich. I was worried it was fried using egg, but I'm guessing no?

I honestly couldn't tell you if they use an egg wash or not to apply the breading. You can get a list of ingredients for everything at City Hall (and you can ask at the restaurant as well), so if you have doubts, you should check in to confirm. I do recall reading that the restaurants fry their fried foods in vegetable oil so as to accommodate veggie/vegan's needs.

The truth is, as MUCH as I loveeeee Disneyland, I think they are a little behind the curve with vegetarian and vegan options, especially being located in Southern California where so many people are veggies/vegans! I am not, but I have enough friends that are to know that it's a challenge. There are options at almost every location that can be made to be veggie/vegan, but you really have to ask about it and be vigilant.

 

[l’amore bella]

I stopped eating meat and dairy products last year and have not been to Disneyland since then. However, I have been doing research on what vegan items Disney offers.
Lucky Fortune Cookery - tofu rice bowl with vegetables
Counter service restaurants - veggie burgers
Harbour Gallery and Pacific Wharf Cafe - vegetarian chili
Tomorrowland Terrace - portobello sandwich (just remove the cheese)
Bengal Barbecue - vegetable skewers

To stay current with menu changes, you can continue to check this website: http://allears.net/dlr/din/menu/menus.htm. Hope that helps.

 

[BELLEDOZER]

Another one to add is the Penne Pasta with marinara sauce at the Plaza Inn. If you skip the cheese on it and the breadstick it's excellent. I'll second the veggie chilli. You can find it at Pacific Wharf cafe in CA, and Royal Street Veranda in NOS. It's excellent, and served in a bread bowl. You'd never know that it's meatless. Hearty, filling and so GOOD! I know that the 4 cheese gratin is also very good, at the French Market square, but it contains dairy, and not suitable for Vegans.

 

[jimreuter]

At Blue Bayou, the Portobello Mushroom menu item is vegan.

 

[Saskiwi]

Was just doing a bit of research on Yelp.com for good eats near DL and found a vegan/veg Vietnamese place just south of DL that rated well: Thuyen Vien on S Euclid

Probably if you do a search on Yelp you'll find lots of other vegan options

 

[nancy drew]

Thanks a lot, everyone. This gives me some good leads on places/items to try. After a ridiculous experience at a restaurant here where I had to send my food back twice, I'm quite nervous about eating on vacation. I'll have to call and ask about the food at the Minnie's character breakfast, and see if they have anything I can eat.

 

[teach1abc]

My daughter has severe food allergies to all dairy, eggs, and nuts - we carry an epipen. We didn't eat out much because we didn't want to risk her having an allergic reaction and ending up in the er during our trip so we bought food at the grocery store, put it in our hotel mini-fridge, and made most of our own meals (we brought a microwave too).

We did eat at Goofy's Kitchen. When we sat down, we told the waiter about her food allergies and he went to get the chef. The chef came to our table, told us what her food options were, made the food, and hand delivered it to our table. He said that if we went to any sit down restaurant with a chef onsite, they could accomodate her and make something for her to eat. We just didn't want to spend the time sitting in restaurants, so we packed sandwiches and snacks to eat while on the run from ride to ride.

 

[nancy drew]

Thank you, teach, for that info. I was hoping to hear that they will accommodate special diets, and was starting to worry that I'd be eating Lara Bars all week. I guess I'll book a few dining reservations and see how it goes! We won't be doing too many sit-down meals, but the kids did want to do at least one character meal.

Any other input from anyone who has navigated the dining options at DLR while following a vegan diet?

 

[tinkermomma]

Churros!!!

 

[furb & dez]

The truth is, as MUCH as I loveeeee Disneyland, I think they are a little behind the curve with vegetarian and vegan options, especially being located in Southern California where so many people are veggies/vegans! I am not, but I have enough friends that are to know that it's a challenge. There are options at almost every location that can be made to be veggie/vegan, but you really have to ask about it and be vigilant.

Let's pretend you are a business. 97% of your customers want regular food. 3% of your customers are PPP's and request special dishes that require you to have a special stock of foods (which most guests will eschew) on hand and provide extra training for employees.

Now, these 3% make up 1% of your volume and 0.5% of your profits. Is it worth it, as a business, to "go after" these 3% of customers?

 

[tinkermomma]

Let's pretend you are a business. 97% of your customers want regular food. 3% of your customers are PPP's and request special dishes that require you to have a special stock of foods (which most guests will eschew) on hand and provide extra training for employees.

Now, these 3% make up 1% of your volume and 0.5% of your profits. Is it worth it, as a business, to "go after" these 3% of customers?

I think sonnyjane's point is that locally there really is a demand. So it does make sense for So Cal restaurant owners to "go after" that market.

In the way that a business owner is smart to make a good profit, tasty vegetarian options are a no brainer. For example, meat is expensive but you can charge as much for a vegetarian sandwich as you would for a meaty one.

Speaking of which Nancy Drew, I have heard multiple posters say really good things about the veggie sandwhich at plaza cafe. Again it probably has cheese but it looks like it could be good without. Good luck!

 

[tinkermomma]

I was checking out dining reviews and happened to come across this for Blue Bayou:

"I ordered the vegetarian Portobello Mushroom and Couscous Maque Choux. This is described on the menu as: marinated in a balsamic vinaigrette, then broiled and served with roasted corn and bell-pepper couscous and sauteed spinach.

I ordered it "Vegan" and crossed my fingers. It was wonderful. In fact, I have to say it was one of the best "vegan" meals I have had at a sit-down restaurant. My mother in I actually ended up splitting the meal."

HTH!

 

[nancy drew]

Really??? Churros!!! I will double check that one but if it is vegan I will be SO excited!

I may have to try that mushroom sandwich. I'm not a fan of mushrooms on their own (I don't mind a mushroom sauce) but perhaps this will be good.

The thing I am finding as I navigate learning how to dine on a vegan diet is that it isn't as hard or weird as people think it is. So many foods have unnecessary animal product ingredients, and switching those for vegan foods wouldn't really be noticeable by most people. You don't need milk in bread, for example, but it is a common ingredient. If restaurants switched to dairy-free bread that would be a great move for vegans and folks with allergies, and most other people wouldn't feel deprived. Most people likely wouldn't notice. Same goes for egg in pasta. We just went to an Italian restaurant and all i could eat was a house salad and steamed vegetables because the pasta had egg, the bread had milk, and all the other salads were premixed. Restaurants could have a vegan veggie burger available (which DLR may still have), that way the vegetarian option is also vegan. Vegetarians can have it with cheese if they wish, but at least vegans have the option for a vegan burger. Another issue I have encountered is the premixed salad. You would think salad would be a great choice for vegans, because we can say "no meat, no cheese, and whichever of your dressings have no dairy or egg." But often they have premixed it all together, with the cheese and the dressing, so it can't be ordered a la carte. I'm sure it is a time-saving move, but I would gladly wait 2 extra minutes for a salad if it meant I could actually eat it.

It sounds like there are some options available, though, which is great.

 

[Cagirl767]

Wow, vegan churros???? I'd like that recipe if they don't have eggs!!

Here's a few ideas:
( I was vegan for 11 years)

Dixieland Salad sans the chicken at French Market.

I wonder if the Dreyer's fruit bars are milk free?
There's the apples with caramel sauce too. - check the caramel ingredients though.

Red Rockets has a salad with carmelized walnuts, just ask for the chicken to be taken off. I think that has a vinaigrette with it. There area a few interesting salads around the park. I carry packets of dressing.

Check with Rancho del Zocalo and see if their tortillas and refried beans are vegan. They make a vegetable wrap enchilada thing there. They have chips and salsa too. They may be able to make up a plate with chips, salsa, avocado, olives, grilled veggies.

 

[GhostlyHitchhiker]

Check with Rancho del Zocalo and see if their tortillas and refried beans are vegan. They make a vegetable wrap enchilada thing there. They have chips and salsa too. They may be able to make up a plate with chips, salsa, avocado, olives, grilled veggies.

I'm not sure about the tortillas being vegan, but half of our family are veggies. They still eat cheese, which honestly makes it a lot easier than full vegans. The refried beans are veggie/vegan (no lard) I believe.

We eat at:

Rancho - Cheese enchiladas for veggies, the veggie tacos and veggie burrito for vegans

Pizza Port - Chicken fusilli with cream sauce (no chicken) is a favorite, but for no dairy the Penne with Pesto is also a fantastic

Cafe Orleans - Three Cheese Monte Cristo is veggie, the vegetable ragout can be vegan if you ask for no cheese - it's just put on top anyway

Hungry Bear - Fried Green Tomato Sandwich (no mayo for vegans), Our veggies *hate* tomatoes so they get the veggie burger with sweet potato fries

Taste Pilot's Grill - all burgers can be replaced with a veggie burger (no cheese, no slaw for vegans)

Harbour Galley/Pacific Wharf Cafe - veggie chili, the broccoli & cheese soup MIGHT be veggie (not vegan), but I doubt it since the broccoli cheese soup at PWC says it has chicken broth - always be careful with broths!

Royal Street Verandah has a veggie gumbo we've not tried (not chili as a previous poster said)

Wine Country Trattoria - Different veggie pasta choices (no cheese for vegan)

Lucky Fortune Cookie - Tofu bowl with a choice of sauce and edamame

That doesn't even count any of the massive variety of salad choices around the park that can also become veggie/vegan by asking for no meat or cheese on them. And I may have missed a couple, but I think that's a pretty good list of the veggie/vegan options at the parks.

There are two new places we haven't tried yet, but will on our next visit in October: Paradise Garden Grill now has veggie and tofu skewers with different sauce choices (some vegan, some not) and Tangaroa Terrace at the Disneyland Hotel which has a crispy tofu salad.

Personally, I think Disneyland is doing a pretty good job of expanding the menus and almost all the restaurants have at least *one* veggie option, many of which can be made vegan by asking for no cheese, etc. Most "amusement park/entertainment" food is not as varied and I can tell you it's sometimes just as difficult or moreso at HOME to find places our family will all find something they like, being half veggie-half not. And we are food snobs.