Eating Gluten Free at Disney World Magic Kingdom and Resorts

We had an epic time in Disney the first week of February!  We made great memories and had so much fun.  Disney World blew me away when it came to providing safe Gluten Free options and being aware of Celiac Disease.

Everywhere we went I was able to find safe food for me and the twins.  And I’m talking more than a salad folks!  Traveling as a Gluten Free person is stressful to say the least, but Disney took the stress out of it for me.

Some basic tips about eating Gluten Free at Disney World

1. Take in snacks and water.  Disney lets you bring in food!  This will save you a ton of money.  When a bottle of water costs $3.00 in the park, it is worth carrying in a few.  You can also bring in a cooler so you can bring in sandwiches, milk, cheese, etc.  Hubby and I both wore backpacks full of safe snacks for the kids to keep them occupied while waiting for rides, parades or whatever was next.

2. Do your research.  While you are safe to walk into any Quick Service and Table Dining restaurants to order off the Gluten Free menu, there are some epic dishes you don’t want to miss.  Here are two sites that I used and references while in the park: GF in Orlando and Gluten Free Dairy Free Disney.  I went down to Florida with a list of restaurants I wanted to visit and we hit almost all of them.

3. Talk to the Chef.  You can ask to talk to any chef at any restaurant.  Within a few minutes a Chef will come out and answer any questions you have.  This will relieve any concerns you may have.  Many of the Chefs even asked if it was an allergy, intolerance or Celiac Disease – mind blown that they knew the difference.

4. Use your phone.  The internet is a wealth of knowledge when looking for tasty Gluten Free food.  The apps I use the most are Find Me Gluten Free and YoDish.  Both use your current location to find Gluten Free places to eat nearby and provide reviews.

Magic Kingdom

Columbia Harbour House – this is a Quick Service restaurant.  That means you place your order, pick it up at the counter and then sit down.  As soon as I got to the desk to place my order I asked for the Gluten Free menu.  The cashier handed me a GF menu and told me that she was going to call a manager.  Within a minute a pleasant lady arrived and discussed the menu with us.

We ordered two chicken tender and fries plates, the Amy’s GF Mac n cheese plate and extra fries to share.  The manager took our order, put it into the register and told me where to stand and notified me it would take an additional 10 minutes to prepare our dishes.  The same manager returned from the kitchen with our food.  Everything was great!  The chicken tenders were very good and made everyone happy.  The fries were super tasty and got devoured.  The Anna’s Mac n cheese was the same dish you get from the freezer section at your local grocery store.  However it does the job when your toddler wants mac n cheese.

Be Our Guest – this is a Quick Service restaurant with a twist.  You place your order, find a table and the food is brought out to you in a super fun way!  This restaurant has some of the best food and it is really hard to get into.  We lined up at 10am for lunch when they opened at 10:30am and there were loads of people in front of us.   At dinner time you need reservations and it is table service instead of quick service.  For the kiddos we ordered a grilled cheese sandwich with fries and a turkey sandwich with fries.  The fries were the same as Columbia Harbour House and the bread tasted like Udi’s.  I ordered the braised pork with mashed potatoes and green beans.  This dish was amazing!  The pork was so tender and flavorful, not to be outdone by the potatoes and veggies.  I would totally order this meal again.

 Disney World Resorts

The parks are not the only places to find amazing Gluten Free food.  The resorts are filled with great options.

Port Orleans Resort’s Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory – Gluten Free Beignets.  These will change your life and make you want to move to Florida.  You can order them in amounts of 3 or 6.  The first time we went we ordered two 6 packs for the 6 of us!  I will not disclose how many I ate, but it was a lot.

We also had lunch at Sassagoula.  After talking to the chef and telling him how many beignets we wanted we ordered our regular food. The kiddos ate grilled cheese and fries on Gluten Free bread and I had the Chicken Salad Po Boy with fries.  To be honest the chicken salad was just ok.

Nothing fancy or special, I would try a different dish next time.  The kids ate their grilled cheese and fries happily.  I actually went back one night by myself to meet Alexis from GFinOrlando.  After enjoying a hard cider in the bar we ordered some beignets.  I ate a few hot then heated up the rest for breakfast the next morning – still awesome.

 Kona Cafe in the Polynesian Resort – We went for Mickey waffles!

They have a great menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner but I knew the twins would love the Gluten Free Mickey waffles.  The restaurant is on the second floor of the lobby along with a larger restaurant that does a character breakfast.  We did make a reservation for breakfast to make sure we could get in early and then hit the parks.  We requested to talk with the chef.  He did a great job of walking us through the menu and reassuring us that everything was going to be safe.  The chef also sent out some mango/ pineapple topping for the waffles which was awesome.  We ordered the twins Gluten Free Mickey Waffles with scrambled eggs and I ordered the adult Gluten Free Mickey Waffles with bacon.  This was a great meal and totally worth the trip.

The Chef also told us about the tasty sounding Gluten Free dishes they make for dinner and the homemade Gluten Free desserts available.  Dinner at Kona will happen on our next trip.

If you run out of snacks in your backpack or just want to try something, there are a number of safe snacks available at Magic Kingdom.  While we waited for the parade to start we hooked the kiddos up with some ice cream!  Everyone loves some Mickey ears ice cream.

We also spent time at Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Downtown Disney.  I will get posts up about those soon!

Disney was a totally safe place for our Gluten Free family and I look forward to our next trip!

One resource that helped us a ton was the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2015.  I read it at least twice!  It has some awesome tips about where to eat, what rides work for each age group and even plans for each park so you can hit the highlights!

 

Pam