Hello everyone!
Now that finals are winding down I am back to chat about one of my favorite gluten-free subjects – gluten-free dining at Disney World of course! July 1st – 2nd the Gluten Intolerance Group of America (check out their gorgeous new website!) is going to host their annual conference in Orlando, Florida. This would be a great time to attend the conference and take in some of the fantastic gluten-free food at Walt Disney World with your family.
The next few days I will be posting reviews of my favorite restaurants from WDW, but tonight I am going to start with the basics. WDW is well known for being an allergen free vacation destination, but before you get to try your gluten-free meals, a lot of planning can take place to help ensure a safe, delicious meal. The first step if you are new to the Disney system, is to check out their Special Dietary Requests webpage. Before visiting WDW, you can email them through this page to receive information on quick service dining options (locations that do not need reservations). This is a fantastic resource for when you’re going through the parks, mainly because you can locate where the gluten-free deep fried chicken tenders are….
Another useful tip for dining at WDW is to make online reservations at restaurants with “Allergen Friendly” options. When we first decided to go to WDW, I did lots of online research to determine which sit down restaurants had the best reviews for gluten-free options. Through the online reservation system, you can tell the restaurant at WDW that you will have a gluten-free or allergen-free diner in your party and be able to specify the allergen. When you arrive at the restaurant they even go as far to print that you have an allergen-free diner on your ticket so the servers can help remember to ask the chef to come out and speak to you. This can help make your stay and dining experience much less stressful and help ensure that the restaurant has the needed amount of gluten-free items (breads, brownies, etc…) on hand to feed you.
That is all for tonight! Tomorrow I will be review a few of my favorite restaurants and quick service locations from WDW!
Comments
2 responses to “Disney World Dining 101”
Do you know how I can find out more about sit-down restaurants at Disney world for GF options?
What type of information are you looking for? As I mentioned above on WDW’s website for each restaurant that has the reservation system they will state if they are one of the allergy friendly restaurants, if they are you can go through and make your reservations as an allergy free diner and specify your allergen (gluten and wheat are considered to be the same “allergen” at Disney to help make the training easier and to encourage employees to take it as seriously as something like peanuts or nuts) before hand (this is extremely helpful so they now approximately how much to order each day).
Sometimes some restaurants will have online menus, however these will not state the allergen-free options and they will rotate based on each season. When you arrive at the restaurant, the chef will come and personally talk to you. You can also call the phone number on the Specialty Diets website and read reviews online of other people’s dining experiences at restaurants at Disney, because trust me some places are far better than others! Does this answer your question?