Eating Gluten Free while Traveling (Disney Emphasis)
When one first gets diagnosed with celiac or another autoimmune condition that requires eating gluten free, the task can seem overwhelming, especially in certain situations: parties, dining out, dating, and vacations. The first step is figuring out how to manage it ourselves. The second step is figuring out how to manage it AND have a life. I have learned a few tricks of the trade: pre eat before going to parties and even if they say don't bring anything, if food is being served, by all means, either bring something or have a stash of something in your purse, bag, or car. When going out to eat, I have found that utilizing Find Me Gluten Free app is fantastic and a free download. Dating can be a bit touchy, as a female trying not to come across as demanding and also allowing him the ability to plan. Often I will ask him to come up with a few places he would like to go and I'll let him know where it's safe or I'll provide a few options. In the best case scenario, I don't have to take anything away from his planning and he calls the restaurant to confirm that they can in fact accommodate gluten free. This is extra points for taking this much incentive and completely makes my day.
Then there's the big outing, going on vacation. I was diagnosed almost nine years ago, so there have been good and not so good experiences. I have even traveled internationally since the diagnosis. Since my daughter and I just returned from our fourth trip to Disney World, I will be posting some specifics about that on another post. In this post, I'm going to give a few basic tips I implement in general, some resources that I use, and some restaurants where we have eaten in our first three trips. I tried to remember to take pics of my food this time or your benefit, but it's always possible I might be able to go back and find some previous pics.
First, my basic travel tips for the gluten free. Any time that I know I am leaving my house for more than three hours, there is a 99% chance, I have food somewhere with me (in my purse, a cooler, or in the car). This is the result of a few times early on not being prepared. When I make a long trip somewhere, I try to eat similarly to how I eat at home for a couple of meals and snacks. This helps if I ingest gluten somewhere to quickly narrow down the source. It also saves money. This means there's a high likelihood that my breakfast and either a snack or my lunch will be one of my awesome meal replacement shakes or bars. For more information on those options, you can find them on my website here, https://tracygaskins.isagenix.com They're incredibly portable, have the right balance of macros, and they fill me up. My daughter also loves them. I will also either bring some portable pre-bought healthy snacks with me, plan on making a trip once we arrive (and have already scouted out the nearest grocery store armed with a list), or I will often bake some of my healthy protein snack alternatives, like cheese crackers or one of several varieties of cookies I usually have made in the freezer.
I will also do multiple web searches to find bloggers local to the area or blog posts the are referenced by a few sources. That's what usually comes up when I search gluten free in any town. For Disney, I tend to cross reference a few options and these are my go to:
There are several other websites with information and if you find another one that's credible, please use it and share it. The challenge is that restaurants anywhere can change menus when they feel it's time, so if the post is a few years old, consider either another source or calling the restaurant first to verify the information is updated.
I will list a few of the places we have eaten while at Disney World over the years, hopefully naming them all, separated out by park/area. There are definitely more restaurants with gluten free safe options. This is merely a list of where we have eaten so far so that I can share my experiences. Now that we are annual pass holders, we will be trying out even more places to enjoy.
Magic Kingdom:
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade - gf cookies
Pecos Bill's Cafe
Dole Whip - Aloha Isle
Be Our Guest - Beast's Castle (character dinner)
Epcot:
Akershus Royal Banquet Hall (princess character dinner)
Le Cellier
Boulangerie Patisserie
Animal Kingdom:
*Somehow I have zero documentation of us actually eating at on site restaurants so far.
Hollywood Studios:
Hollywood & Vine (character dinner)
Hollywood Brown Derby
Disney Springs:
Blaze Pizza
Rainforest Cafe
Raglan Road
Ghirardelli Ice Cream & Chocolate Shop
Erin McKenna's Bakery
Resort properties:
World Premier Food Court - All Star Movies Resort
Garden Grove at Swan Dolphin (character breakfast)
'Ohana at Polynesian Resort (character breakfast)
Chef Mickey's at Contemporary Resort (character dinner)
In general, the protocol is to have a chef come to the table and either walk you through the buffet or walk you through the menu. If it's a buffet and there are concerns with cross contamination, I have always had chefs offer to make something in the back so that we would be safe. This is just the beginning as I said since we went with the annual pass holders option (if you go more than once in a year, it's worth it and we now have our vacations for the year planned). Dear Disney, I would love to blog for you guys and let more people in the know on all of the fabulous options you have for people who eat gluten free.
What it really looks like to both travel with food allergies and to pack last minute with basically 24 hour turn around decision to go to Disney World. The orange & white bag, as well as both pink & green bags contain food. (The smaller one had our cooler while travel items.)
