Allergy free eating at Disneyland

Well Disney never disappoints those of us with food allergies. My last trip was 2 years ago and the food got better this time. I typically bring my own breakfast so this entry will just be the lunches & dinners I ate over the 4 days. All of my meals the chef came out to go over the menu and my allergies to gluten, milk and soy.

Day 1- for lunch I ate at Paradise Cafe in California Aventure. I had the chicken skewer plate with rice and a cucumber salad. It was delisicious; the chicken had a really nice flavor and was moist. For dinner we ate at the Tangaroa Cafe at the Disneyland Hotel. I was still full from lunch so I ate light and had a kids meal which had a bun less meat patty with fruit.

Day 2- lunch I ate at the Jolly Holiday at Disneyland. I had a turkey sandwich on a roll with chips. It was super yummy and the roll was large. For dinner we headed back over to DCA to Taste Pilots. Again still being full from lunch I ate a kids meal burger but this time we got fries. It took a little longer to get the fries but that is because they made them fresh in a separate fryer.

Day 3- lunch was the same place and same meal as day 2 but this time the bun was much smaller. The chef told me they ran out of the bigger bun and they got new ones in, it was still good though just smaller. For dinner we ate in downtown Disney at the ESPN zone. While they don't yet have a special gluten free or food allergy menu the chef came to our table to assure they could make me a great meal. I ordered a burger protein style with some fruit. It was yummy too!

Day 4- lunch and dinner at the same place because I liked it so much. I ate at Flo's v-8 cafe in DCA. I had the turkey dinner with peas & carrots, cranberry sauce, coleslaw and a roll. Omg it was so yummy. I loved the slaw, it was made much different than any slaw I've ever had. And the cranberry sauce was so yummy with a citrus twist. The turkey was cooked perfectly and the food was such a huge serving both times I couldn't finish it all. And the roll was a familiar brand Udi's and it was the multi grain one it was ok.

Overall I am pleased with the food. I am happy to report I did not get sick at all. My son also ate similar food as me too. He did get hot dogs instead of turkey sandwich and loved them. They also had huge chocolate chip cookies prepackaged by a brand called OMG gluten free but it is not casein free so I did not chance it i did allow my son to eat one and he liked it! I also got a celiac list from guest services which told me which places to go to and what to order for gluten free. It is easy to accommodate the food to be soy and casein free as well.

Atlanta, GA eating GFCFSF

Well I started my journey in Peach Tree City at the Dolce Hotel for a conference.  I had been in contact with my conference director and she assured me that the hotel could accommodate my needs.  As the weeks got closer I was put in touch with the head chef at the dolce.  We communicated via email and he assured me he knew quite a bit about gluten,dairy and soy allergies.  I went ahead and gave him some suggestions of foods we like and brands.  To my surprise he bought pretty much everything on my list.  When I arrived I met him in the kitchen and he took me around to show me how the food was stored and prepped and then we went over the menu.

On the first night I selected chicken,rice and veggies for dinner and sorbet for desert.  The chicken was so yummy as well as the veggies and rice.  Peach sorbet was quite the treat I have never had that flavor.  The staff was also very helpful.  They came out to make sure we liked our food several times, at one point it was kinda overkill of checking on us but I do appreciate it.

Day two for breakfast we had waffles and fruit.  The waffles were not that great but I think it just happened to be the brand (Vans), the staff apologized and offered to bring us something else but we were ok with fruit and udi's muffins. Lunch we ordered grilled cheese (with daiya uncheese),fruit and rice.  OMG it was so yummy my grilled cheese never taste this good! Dinner we had steak, chicken,potatoes and carrots.  The steak was a tad rare for my taste but that was my fault for not requesting well done.  We opted not to have desert that time.  During the day we snacked on food we brought from home and enjoy life cookies they bought for us.

Day three for breakfast we had eggs,fruit, bacon and Udi's toasted bagel. Lunch we opted for the grilled cheese again but this time with fries and fruit. Dinner I had pasta and garlic toast and my son had a cheeseburger and fries.  All the food was great and so was the service.  There was supposed to be one more meal the next day but we overslept and missed breakfast time before it was time for us to check out.

The remander of our trip we were in the downtown Atlanta area and we chose to eat at familiar chains like chick fil a and wendys.  Wendy's kept messing up when we would request no bun but they would fix it for us.  Overall we had a great trip and the food was great!

Vacation- Santa Cruz,CA

Well Santa cruz has just left me in awe of it's beauty and hospitality. Here are some places we ate some are new to us while others are our favorite chains that we are familiar with.

We stopped in San Jose for In N Out, great food and very accommodating as always. Next was dinner and we ate at Woodstock's pizza besides the sauce being a tad spicy the pizza was good. I ordered a gluten free no cheese with ham and pineapple. They offered me soy cheese but I declined, hum maybe I should have taken the opportunity to tell them about Daiya vegan cheese, maybe I will write them on facebook. For breakfast we brought cereal from home because the hotel breakfast was not safe besides the fruit and juice. Next day we ate at Burger King and ate our familiar bunless burgers and fries. For dinner we tried something new a place called Charlie Hong Kong. I ordered the pad tai and boy it was way too spicy for me. They did have a large selection of other dishes and if I go back I will definitely give them a try again. Next day for lunch we ate another familiar place chipolte which was awesome as always! Now our final meal was dinner and we ate the lobster special at the Ideal bar and grill. I requested no butter or seasonings on my veggies and rice and steak and it all came out delicious.

Overall I am happy with my dining experiences and besides being in the sun for too long I did not get sick at all!

Disney Wonder Cruise- Allergy Free Foods

Well the Disney Wonder Cruise ship made it's way to it's new home California. Being that they had some time between cruises Disney offered a special 2 day cruise called "The Cruise to Nowhere". It did not require any passports because it did not make any international stops. This was a perfect opportunity at a great price for my family to give cruising a try. Being that it is Disney I knew our dietary needs would be well cared for. About 2 months before the cruise I made sure our dietary needs were known and recorded.

Day 1 we arrived aboard at lunch time. At that time there was Parrot Cay on deck 3, on deck 9 some quick service stands and Beach Blanket buffet. I first went to the quick service hoping to get something as we were starving but they suggested I not eat there and for me to eat only in the sit down restrantes (this is what I was told on the phone too before our trip). My family that is non dietary needs had already began at the Beach Blanket Buffet so I went in and told our waiter whom then brought out a chef to me. The chef took me around the buffet and told me he could pretty much make anything on the buffet for me but he would make it separate in the galley. To save on time since we were hungry I ordered turkey and ham sandwiches with some roasted potatoes. Lunch was tastey and exactally as I ordered.

Now onto dinner, Day 1. We were assigned to Parrot Cay for dinner 1st seating. Our server was great he had read about the dietary needs without me even saying anything and called us all by our first names. They brought us safe rolls to snack on before our meal too. I ordered my son hamburger, french fries and fresh fruit. When the burger came out to our table it had cheese so I immediately questioned it and the server took it back and yes they made a mistake and they brought out a fresh one. For myself I ordered a pear salad and steak. OMG the salad was so yummy who would have ever thought pears in salad would be so good. For my dinner I had steak, baked potato and asparagus. It was all yummy. We did not stay for desert as we were feeling a little dizzy from the boat and had to go back to the room to get ready for the live show.





Day 2 - for breakfast it is open seating so we decided to try out Triton's. It was very fancy looking in there. The server was great she too knew our names and food allergies before she came to the table. I ordered for my son pancakes, eggs and bacon. It took a tad longer to come out but was worth the wait. The pancakes were fluffy, the bacon was very thin (kinda weird but tasted ok) and the eggs were great. I had eggs, bacon and fresh fruit. For lunch on Day 2 since the sandwich thing worked out nicely we just ordered the same thing and hung out by the pool.




Da 2 dinner- I had tried to see if we could switch to the only other restrantes that we had not gone too but they could not fill my request so we had to eat where we were assigned Parrot Cay. We were fine with this as all our servers were great. This time my son got pasta, rolls and fresh fruit. For some reason his pasta came out plain with no sauce but he was ok with that and ate it. I ordered spinach salad, chicken with baked potato and steamed veggies. Everything tasted great, I didn't care for this salad as much as I liked the one the night before. For dessert they brought my son rice dream ice cream and strawberries. He was so excited, I had no idea they had rice dream onboard. They did a wonderful dinner show for us and we had a great time.




Day 3 since we had to disembark they assigned where to go and what time. We had the 7:30am breakfast at Parrot Cay, way early for some of us. I ordered the night before the same breakfast we had on day 2 and it was ready at the same time the rest of our families meal.

Overall Disney Cruiseline did a fantastic job meeting our dietary needs and it was great that the servers were aware of the needs without me telling them. I highly recommend those with gluten,soy and casein allergies use disney for cruising and know that they will take care of you.

Tucson, AZ Hilton El Conquistador & PF Changs reviews

I recently stayed at the Hilton El Conquistador Resort in Tucson, AZ for a conference which included all meals- breakfast, lunch and dinner. I had sent my food allergies along with some food/brand suggestions to the organizer of our group conference. I have to say I was a bit nervous going there but mapped out a whole foods incase I needed to get anything. I was pleasantly surprised with our meals. They were great and similar as to what everyone else was eating. I did not take pictures because it wasn't that different but the desserts were great. Day 1- dinner was baked chicken and pasta with red sauce and desert was strawberry sorbet with big chocolate chip cookies. Day 2- breakfast: coconut yogurt,eggs,hashbrowns and cereal; lunch: grilled chicken, grilled peppers, big tortillas,beans and brownies for dessert; dinner: grilled chicken, steamed veggies and desert was red velvet cake. Day 3- we skipped breakfast; lunch: pizza with veggies & cookies, dinner: ribs, hamburgers with bread, chips and cupcakes for dessert. Day 4- breakfast: eggs, French toast, yogurt and cereal.

They were also great at labeling the buffet tables with signs saying if it was dairy and gluten free and also telling me which items to avoid from the buffet. I decided to play it safe and only get fruit from the buffet. I did get sick after eatting one day both at lunch and dinner but after seeing the ingredient list from the chef it was not the food so it is possible I caught something while traveling. Overall the Hotel did great at our food allergy needs.


PF Chang's (sorry for picture quality, I only had my cell phone with me)




Our conference ended and so we still had to find food for the rest of the day. We saw a PF Chang's and heard great reviews and had been wanting to try it so we decided to go there for dinner. I told the server our food limitations and he gave me some suggestions on dishes to try off of the gluten free menu. He also went to check with the chef to verify those dishes can be made soy and dairy free as well and they can. So we ordered the lettuce wraps. I assumed they were gonna come out already wrapped but they aren't it is make your own. They were great and a huge amount this could have satisfied me as my meal. My main dish with the Singapore street noodles dish. It was so yummy, it was hard to believe that it was safe to eat. For my son I ordered a side of just rice noodles and he ate some of the chicken out of my dish. The servings were huge, I could not even eat 1/3 of my food. Overall I was very happy with my meal,service and experience there at PF Chang's. It was kinda pricey but I do look forward to trying it again someday.