Best Gluten Free Resort

[cherieb]

We are travelling to WDW in August and this will be our first time since our 10 yr old son was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. I've been reading and reading and trying to figure out which resort would be best to stay at since we will be eating breakfast there each day and some lunches. It would be nice to have a resort with a good quick service option. I was originally thinking of the Beach Club then started to second guess myself. We've stayed at Coronado Springs before but I haven't read anything good about the Pepper Market in regards to Gluten Free. My son loves breakfast when we are away, he loves waffles, pancakes and bacon and eggs. Any suggestions on a good resort or one to definately avoid sure would be appreciated.

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

Just my opinion but the two resorts you are listing would be on my list to avoid. My daughter has several food allergies (peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, bananas and soy protein). Although gluten is not an issue for her, we do have some experience with food allergies at WDW resorts. We are also a family that likes to eat several CS meals at our resort so it is important to us.

Beach/Yacht Club and Boardwalk are difficult because they do not have a traditional CS for breakfast. BC/YC has the Marketplace but the menu is extremely limited and when we were there, the food was made in another kitchen and basically ready-to-go under hotlamps. Unless this has changed, it would be difficult to get something special prepared. Boardwalk has the BW Bakery but items there are very gluten heavy, IMO.

CSR was a different issue for us. We found a lack of understanding/urgency/language barrier .....not sure how to categorize....with our daughter's food allergies. It is important to know that the food service at CSR is not owned by Disney. This resort food service is run by a different company(I believe they also run the restaurants in the Mexican pavilion at Epcot as well) Even after emailing the chef contact at the company AND a face-to-face with the chef on our first night at the Pepper Market, my daughter was served food that she was allergic. They basically lied or didn't care?. I was told there were no egg noodles in their kitchen so the pasta station would always have egg free noodles. On our last night, she was served pasta that looked like wide egg noodles. After asking the station server several times about the noodles, I was assured they were not egg noodles. Upon reaching our table, I could not get past the look and tried them, they were indeed egg noodles. I took the plate back and asked to speak to the manager/chef on duty. I was then told, yes, they were egg noodles, sorry. Yep. That was it. Just sorry. Thank goodness I did not let her eat them. Their indifference was appalling. Didn't help that I ended up with food poisoning that night from something I had eaten at the PM.

I would suggest staying at a resort in the MK area. Each resort has traditional CS in the hotel with trained CMs who do a great job with food allergies. We have personal experience at Poly but will be staying at GF this summer. It is great that they are connected by monorail/boat for easy access as well to increase your resort CS options without a lot of hassle.

 

[cherieb]

Thank you so much for all the information you have provided, CS is very important to us from a time perspective and money. We now have to take gluten into consideration making it that much more difficult. It's great to hear other's experiences. It really sounds like the food at Pepper Market isn't a wise choice for people with food allergies. I'm going to research the resorts you have recommended. Thank you for taking the time to reply!!

 

[nfceagles]

We have stayed 3 times at BLT with my dairy, egg, and nut allergic DS. It works very well for us. We keep talking about staying at the Beach Club, but the limited CS always leaves us unwilling to try it. The Contempo Café at BLT is great and they can make GF Mickey Waffles for breakfast, along with fruit, meat and eggs I'm sure. We also like that it's not too hard to hop on the monorail and go to the Poly or GF CS if we want a change. We always get breakfast at Chef Mickey's once during our stay and that's a very good meal for our DS (including GF Mickey waffles). The Wave is also an option for breakfast and they are known for being pretty good with special diets.

 

[tjbjrjaj]

We have stayed many times at POP And their food court is awesome with allergies. A chef will come out & talk to you and make everything fresh in a special part of the kitchen. If staying several days they can anticipate your arrival & have item ready for you. Love them!

 

[frank430316]

We have stayed many times at POP And their food court is awesome with allergies. A chef will come out & talk to you and make everything fresh in a special part of the kitchen. If staying several days they can anticipate your arrival & have item ready for you. Love them!

I'll second this! My wife has Celiac and just loves POP - the chefs there are really helpful and personable.

 

[Coloradomom]

Our DD also cannot have gluten. We stay at SSR (DVCmembers) and have had the best treatment there many times. At Artist Palette the chef comes out and over our stay there has even gotten to know her and will share ideas. Once he even had her preview a new GF item he was working on, to get her opinion.Turf Club is also incredibly accomodating. We won't stay anywhere else....she is treated that well.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Like the others, I won't stay at CSR because of Pepper Market. I did stay at YC one trip but I had breakfast foods in my room because I knew there wouldn't be any breakfast options for us. I also made sure that I had ADRs for TS meals for times we would be around our resort because there just aren't good CS options around Crescent Lake. Fort Wilderness also has very limited CS and I don't think they have any CS breakfast. If CS is important to you then I would stick with one of the following.

Deluxe: anything on the monorail, WL/VWL, AKL/AKV, SSR, OKW (I'd look up reviews here since I believe their CS is more limited than others).

Moderate: POR, POFQ, or CBR

Value: any value resort will have lots of options

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

I stayed at the wilderness lodge and loved their selection. They had waffles several different ways, eggs, bacon etc. I will say if you need a "snack" for breakfast it isn't going to happen. There aren't any bakery items available that are gluten free other than brownies and cookies. We were on the dining plan so this was a big deal when the rest of the family just used a snack credit for breakfast and I couldn't. I think you will run into the bakery issue at all the resort hotels.

 

[mrsdrake625]

Art of Animation! Chef Dan will take very good care of you. The first day we got there he came out and personally greeted all of us. We have five gluten free - severely sensitive- and one allergic to carrots. He explained everything and reassured us, made our food, and even came back to check on us. No reason except thats just what he does. Really nice guy - just did that just because. The rest of the staff was equally quality. Gluten free beer an babycakes cupcakes rounded out the list for me probably not the beer for your daughter, I understand, but just good to know. It's Estrella Damm Daura for those who care

Pop was pretty good, had slightly fewer options but since we stayed at Pop we just walked across the bridge. Super convenient. It's been a great experience so if you're looking to stay value either of those locations would serve you well.

Good luck!

 

[suffieldhockeymom]

I think the value and moderates have more of a selection of allergy free products. The buffets have GF bread and waffles if you ask to see the chef.
Special diets can send you a file that you can see what each restaurant has to offer that is GF. My son loves the rice pasta, especially the Amy's Mac n cheese. This is the list from Nov 2013- http://wdw.wdpromedia.com/media/kana/sd/WDW-glutenFree.pdf

Try these sites:
http://www.allergyfreemouse.com/dining/allergen-free-foods-by-location/

http://allears.net/din/guestceliac.htm

 

[JannasMamma]

Following this thread.

Our first trip is next week and I have dairy, egg, and gluten allergies. I have noted this on all our ADRs but am nervous nonetheless, especially about breakfast. Somehow that is the most difficult meal to find alternatives for with my combo.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Following this thread. Our first trip is next week and I have dairy, egg, and gluten allergies. I have noted this on all our ADRs but am nervous nonetheless, especially about breakfast. Somehow that is the most difficult meal to find alternatives for with my combo.

You will be in good hands! If you eat at any counter service locations make sure to tell a cast member before you order that you have an allergy. Try to tell the first person you see, not the person at the counter after you wait in line. They will then let the manager know who will come out and walk through thee menu with you. It does take a little longer with allergies so plan accordingly. As a heads up my only bad experience was at sunshine seasons. They told me only one station was gluten free and only two desserts. Most places will custom cook your order but that place did not.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Following this thread.

Our first trip is next week and I have dairy, egg, and gluten allergies. I have noted this on all our ADRs but am nervous nonetheless, especially about breakfast. Somehow that is the most difficult meal to find alternatives for with my combo.

I absolutely agree that breakfast is the hardest with this combo. My DD16 has those as well as a bunch of others she can't eat but those are the ones that make breakfast more difficult. We've had some great breakfasts. The allergy waffles are made safe for this list and all the Babycakes goodies are safe as well. There's always breakfast meats, fruit, and potatoes as well. Some places will have other things too. I believe the GNI bread is egg free so if a restaurant has that brand then you can also get some kind of a breakfast sandwich or even just served toasted with Earth Balance margarine (they'll cook it in the oven, not the toaster, so no cross contamination risk).

 

[Leota]

Following this thread.

Our first trip is next week and I have dairy, egg, and gluten allergies. I have noted this on all our ADRs but am nervous nonetheless, especially about breakfast. Somehow that is the most difficult meal to find alternatives for with my combo.

Like ClanMcCullough's DD, I have these & several others (peanut, kiwi & FODMAPs) It is a bit harder to do, esp. at CS. I have better luck with those at TS places. Before we became part-time locals, I would stop at DTD on the way in & stock up on Babycakes. TOTALLY worth it in the mornings!

I agree that as much as I love the Epcot area, CS is severely lacking. MK CS options are plentiful & easy to access from any other MK resort. If you don't want to shell out the deluxe bucks, AoA has a wonderful food court & very helpful Chefs. I don't stay on property anymore, but I drive over for a meal somewhere on property a couple times a week when we're in town.

Oh & I really like the Grill Station at Sunshine Seasons. I think it's great that they have a semi-dedicated allergy friendly station like that. I like the safe & tasty options that are essentially ready to go without a long wait. Sure beats being sick from X contam......