Disneyland Eating GFCF September 2010

Our family loves disneyland, not just for the fun and entertainment, but for the food too! Here is my review on our latest trip to Disneyland and California Adventure parks as well as the Disney Paradise Pier Hotel. My last review on the food was almost 18 months ago and not too much had changed since then.

We decided to bring cereal and muffins from home to skip paying for breakfast. Our hotel had a refrigerator where we stored our muffins,milk, OJ and fruit. I also brought safe pretzels and "granola" type bars with us for snacks too. Both parks had no problems with me bringing in snacks and water into the parks.

Day 1, we were tired after traveling and decided to just eat dinner at the PCH Grill which is located inside the DIsney Paradise Pier Hotel. I had remembered the year before that in the park the gfcf pizza was yummy so I ordered a hawaiian (no cheese) for myself and a kids pepperoni (no cheese) for my son. When it came out I knew right away it was not the same crust from the time before. And I was right it wasn't and it tasted awful! It was hard as a rock, literally you could probably chip a tooth eating it. I had a hard time eating it and ended up just eating the toppings. Somehow my son's had some softer spots and he was able to eat some of it. It came with a side of fresh fruit which was nice. Overall I am very disappointed with this meal and I mentioned it to our server as well. The server said they did change the crust recently but she wasn't sure of the brand. Also her head chef was not available for me to speak with. Also on the price mine was $2 more than my sons but the pizza size was the same.




Day 2, for lunch my son had a hot dog on a gfcf bun at Award Wieners in CA Adventure park. He enjoyed it and ate every bite. I had lunch at Taste Pilots, my favorite grilled chicken sandwich and fries. Very good! For dinner we split gfcf pasta with marinera sauce from Red Rocket Pizza Port in Disneyland Park, yummy as well and a very large serving. It was so much I think I got full before my plate was empty and I even shared it with my 7 yr old.




Day 3, for lunch we had grilled chicken sandwiches from Tomorrowland Terrace in Disneyland (no complaints very yummy and I think the chicken breast was bigger than the day before). For dinner we had turkey sandwiches with fresh fruit from River Belle Terrace. I can not conform if the turkey meat was cooked dairy free but we were fine after eating it. I ordered a kid plate and adult plate and I was surprised on my adult plate I had 2 sandwiches, too much for me to eat and had I known that I would have just shared it with my son and skipped the kid meal.



Day 4,lunch in Downtown Disney, while I can not for sure say there was no cross contamination on either of these places I had heard good things about Tortilla Jo's and I got 2 steak corn tacos and it was yummy. My husband ordered my son a plain hotdog bunless from the Jazz Kitchen and he seemed to do fine.

Overall I think we had a decent dining experience and we look forward to eating at Disney again! Also I am not for sure if all my eating was soy free but we did good so my guess is that it was. (I know for sure the chicken, buns and pasta was soy free)

Gluten and Casein Free at Disneyland- April 2009

Well my family took a trip to Disneyland from April 5 through the 9, 2009.  Prior to going I had heard that Disney was very accomidating for food allergies, especially the ones we have which are gluten (AKA wheat) and casein (AKA dairy).  A few months before our trip I started to investigate via search the web and I somehow came across the contact info for Chef Chris.  Chef Chris is the main guy to call to get the 411 on food allergies.  First I emailed him and he told me that once I arrived to get the celiac list and that will tell me all the gluten free options they have.  Unfortunately they do not hand out this list prior to arrivial at the park since the menu selections are often changing.  I did manage to get this celiac list when a friend of mine went to Disney she got it for me.  The choices looked promising.    About 2 weeks before my arrivial to the magical kingdom I called Chef Chris.  He is fast to respond and was much more helpful on the phone than our email a few months earlier.  He told me specific brands of the buns, hotdogs and baking mixes they use which gave me a clear mind that I knew this would be a great trip.  Due to our food allergies we mainly ate all our meals in the park or the hotel restraunts run by Disney, I did take a gamble eatting at the Rainforest Cafe,eventhough the manager assured me items that were safe.  I played it safe with a chicken salad and for my 5 yr old son hamberger with no bun and fresh fruit.   Now onto my park dining reviews:  I was pleasantly suprised with the choices of allergy friendly food and the quality of it. Each time I ordered the chef personally came out to talk with me and go over our allergies. We had pizza, pasta, hamburgers on buns, hot dogs on buns, chicken sandwhiches, fries, sorbet and salads. The first hamburger my son got he was certain we gave him someone else's food. He was pleasently suprised when he was allowed to eat the bun.  I have to say my 2 favorite spots to eat were The Red Rocket Pizza Port in Disneyland (this is where I ate pizza and pasta) and The Tastey Pilots (I had chicken sandwhich) in CA Adventure.   I did have 1 not so tastey experience on our character breakfast at the Disney Grand Californian Hotel's Storytellers Cafe.  My son and I ordered the kids breakfast which came with pancakes,eggs and bacon.  The chef was great he came to our table to take our order but when the food came out there were potatoes and yogurt on the plate.  I quickly informed the server to take back the yogurt but I kept the potatoes on the plate and just didn't eat them.  The pancakes were horrible tasting and the appearance was very flat, not at all looked like our normal pancakes we make at home.  But the eggs and bacon and entertainment made up for any disapointments I had.   When I got home I gathered my thoughts and about a week later gave Chef Chris a call to share my experience.  He was happy to hear overall it was a positive experience and he said I was the first to make comments about the pancakes.  I gave him suggestions on maybe switching the pancake mix to another brand and he seemed willing to see about adjustments that he can make in the future.  Overall it was a safe and positive experience and I deffinately look forward to being able to eat at Disney again.