Re: Disney update

[Guest guest]

Ah I wish I had known you were there. We were al down there for the

week and it was awesome. That would have been great to meet up with

some other celiacs to torture a few waiters... ;-)

We did Disneyland last year and I had the same impression about

Carnation Cafe - thanks for the effort, but that could have been a bit

better. Outside of that - everything at Disneyland pretty much rocked,

and we returned again this year for more of the same. It's great - you

feel like a human (and the kids can go nuts all they want...) Here's

some of my takeaways from Disneyland's dining options:

* Storyteller's Cafe, Goofy's Kitchen, and PCH Grill have GF waffles,

pancakes, pizza, hamburger buns, hot dog buns, and pasta. The chef

will fry your french fries in separate oil. Most other dishes can be

modified, and the chef will take care of you - just ask to speak with

them.

* Pizza Port rocks for providing on-demand GF pizza. They have GF

pasta too. Get your FastPass for Space Mountain and then go have

something to eat while you wait.

* Tortilla Jo's has GF items indicated *directly on the menu*. (And

they can do custom margaritas.)

* Avoid ESPN Zone and Rainforest Cafe. Both could only offer me a

ceasar salad, and they weren't that good.

* Vineyard Room took good care of me and sent out appetizers with

endive spears instead of crostini.

* Steakhouse 55 - waitperson gave me a full run-down of what I could

have on the menu and the chef was very knowledgeable.

* Blue Bayou - speak with the chef when you get seated and they will

have everything under control.

* The turkey leg and popcorn carts are all GF

* I hear Ariel's Grotto has a dedicated GF menu. Could not get

reservations, even two months in advance. And besides, I doubt my two

boys would be interested in going to an all-princess venue (yet...)

* Both parks have GF info sheets that list menus, options, and

otherwise have instructions for us. Go to the information booth just

inside the gate to the left of either park and ask for the gluten-free

information sheet. The place is loaded.

In general, the hotel restaurants all are totally awesome for

gluten-free. The head chefs for the parks and the hotels have taken

the issue on and made sure that there are wide options for us. I hear

DisneyWorld in Florida and the cruise lines are the same way. I wonder

about the resorts in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Paris...

Cheers,

Joe

On Jan 4, 2008 3:09 PM, skershaw_sanjose <skershaw_sanjose@...> wrote:

> So we went to Disneyland over Christmas, and I had some awesome and not so

> inspiring

> experiences. First off, we went to the Pizza Port in Tomorrowland and their

> gluten-free pizza

> was wonderful. Also, in DCA I had great tacos in the Cannery Row area,

> although the staff

> didn't really understand what gluten free meant until they asked the chef.

> The Carnation Cafe, however, was so disappointing. Their idea of gluten

> free (and they

> actually had a separate menu for this) was to make the standard sandwiches

> wrapped in

> lettuce instead of on bread. It was probably healthy, but left me pretty

> crabby - I need my

> starches! I did tell them that even just offering the fillings as a baked

> potato topping would

> have been delicious. but as usual, non-celiacs found it very hard to think

> outside the box.

> Breakfast was a challenge, but I had thankfully brought a box of Mariposa's

> biscotti with me

> so I just had those with a latte and was happy. Of course, now I'm out of

> biscotti and craving

> more lol.

> Oh, I also thought I'd share a find I made over Christmas. I made a

> cheesecake using Trader

> Joe's new gf gingersnaps crumbled and mixed with butter as the base. It was

> wonderful and

> no one realized it was gf. Hooray for TJ's!

>

> Steph

>

>

--

Joe

http://sanbeiji.com/