dining in disney

One thing I wanted to talk about last week was how awesome it was to have food restrictions and eat in Disney World. However, I figured you all had enough of the Disney talk for one week, so I thought I would save it for this Wednesday.

Dining in Disney was without a doubt one of the best experiences I have ever had with having dietary restrictions. If you remember, back when I went to a Gluten Free Expo last April, I actually had the honor a former Disney chef who was one of the people responsible for starting allergen free dining in Disney many years ago. And boy oh boy, have they perfected this for their visitors throughout the past few years.

Breakfasts

On the first day when we traveled, my mom and I both made sure to bring along something to eat for breakfast. Neither one of us could stomach a breakfast down at 3:30 in the morning, which is the time we left her house to go to the airport. And I have learned the hard way when traveling not to bring overnight oats (although I know others have gotten away with it before). I toasted two pieces of Rudi’s cinnamon raisin toast, smeared some peanut butter on both of the pieces, and topped it with chia seeds and banana slices. Add a venti Starbuck’s to the mix and you’ve got a happy Chelsey!

While we were in Disney, we stayed at Saratoga Springs where all of the rooms are equipped with full sized kitchens. My mom and I took it upon ourselves to bring food to make for breakfast, so every morning was easy (and cheap!). My mom brought the peanut butter, I brought the oats and the chia seeds (although I didn’t understand I was bringing the oats for both of us, so we had to improvise a few days), and we had bananas and almond milk delivered to us from Garden Grocer. It was just like eating breakfast at home!

Lunches

We only ate lunch at one of the “faster food” places in the parks one of the days. However, it was one of the most painless and seamless experiences ever. On the day my mom and I were in Magic Kingdom, it was already 2:00 in the afternoon when we finally could peel ourselves away from the rides to get some lunch. And at that point, we were STARVING!

We made our way over into Tomorrowland where there is a huge food court. One of the sections had sandwiches and salads, so that is where we ended up. When we got up to the front of the line, we told the cashier we were gluten free and immediately she got on her intercom and a manager type person came over with a special order slip so he could bring it to their “allergy kitchen” for the chefs to work on. I had no doubt in my mind that they took allergies with great care, so my entire experience was very worry free.

My mom and I ordered two meals to share, and everything was beyond exceptional! We ordered a Greek salad with the cheese and dressing on the side.

We also ordered a grilled vegetable sandwich, which was served on an Ener-G hot dog bun and served with gluten free French fries (heck yeah!). Typically, French fries are gluten free, but undergo cross contamination when put in the fryers. They had an allergy fryer, which meant I was able to enjoy some of them! Believe you me, I was very French fried out by the end of the week.

On our first day when we were at Universal Studios, we found a Moe’s Southwest Grill right outside the park, so we made a point of stopping and filling up on some rice bowls before we went into the park. It certainly is not Chipotle, but it did the trick!

Restaurants surrounding the Parks

We hit up a lot of restaurants throughout the week while we were in Disney — all of them more than accommodating for us!

On the night before my half marathon, I wrote about how Wolfgang Puck Cafe was awesome at making sure I was able to eat my meal. You can read more about that here. I’m still salivating over this sushi! From now on, sushi is my pre-race meal. It worked out fabulously!

On our first night in Florida, my mom and I were at Universal Studios (which I know isn’t a part of Disney), and they had so many gluten free options — we both ended up ordering a grilled vegetable sandwich on an awesome gluten free bun served with gluten free fries (see what I mean about being all “French fried out”?).

On the days that we didn’t go out for dinner, my mom and I made some quick and easy meals at our hotel room before heading back out to a different park once the sun went down. Using Garden Grocer was an awesome experience — we had fresh produce and potatoes to roast, which made for one of my favorite dinners of all time (a salad and baked potato — although I can’t do this too often, I need more protein and fats!). We also brought other snacks, such as raisins and almonds, granola, and food bars to keep the hunger beast from making its appearance.

Desserts

Do I even have to remind you about how much I love BabyCakes? Probably not.

Regardless of where we ate in Disney, there was always an option for the two of us to eat, which makes me feel so comforted knowing I don’t have to plan ahead or live off of carrot sticks when I travel to any Disney location. It was by far the best dining experience I could have asked for while on vacation!

Question: Do you ever have a difficult time dining on vacations because of your lifestyle?

Tagged as: allergen free dining in disney, gluten free dining in disney, series, what I ate Wednesday, WIAW