Coeliac - onsite or offsite?

[DadToThree]

How easy or difficult is it for a coeliac to eat on site at WDW?

Are there lots of options/alterations that onsite restaurants can offer or is it just easier to stay offsite and do self catering?

[Katy021]

It's so easy to eat on-site and there are so many different options! The chefs come out to speak to you and will make you something custom if there is (on the rare chance) nothing on the menu that can be adapted.

It really was a stress-free holiday for me and my sister as we both have coeliac!

[Guest]

Hi - good question. I dont know the answer but expect there will be someone along soon who has a perspective. In the interim, you may find this thread helpful.

[coggie]

My neighbours went a few years back and one of their boys has a milk allergy and the other coeliac. They stayed on site and said Disney were absolutely superb and as mentioned previously the chefs would cone out and chat to them and prepare food especially for them...

[sparklegem]

Hi! Hopefully I can help you with this? My son is not coeliac but he has a dairy and soya intolerance and when we visited last year we were very impressed with disneys approach to allergies. I'll tell you about our experience.

We stayed off site in kissimme and planned to eat lunch in the parks with dinner along the 192 on the way home. But it didn't work out like that.

The off site restraunts were a bit of a nightmare and were not very good at all. My son was eating a lot of eggs and bacon with fries as there weren't much else on offer that they could be sure didn't contain dairy or soya. In the end we stopped him eating fries as one place said they contained soya. Soya in chips?

Disney on the other hand were fantastic! They prepared the food in a completely separate area, always by a manager and they even served it up on a different coloured tray to avoid confusion in QS restraunts. Most places had allergy menu's which weren't just one or 2 options and we're specific to your allergy. For example there was a coeliac allergy menu, dairy free, soya free etc.

Buffets were great too. We ate at Tusker House and Hollywood & Vine and in both places the chef came out to speak to us and took us around the buffet to inform us which food was safe to eat. H&V there was not much and so they made some fresh based on what my son fancied from the main menu. Savory and sweet options were available. What made this extra special was that because my son was under 3 (just) we didn't even pay for him in buffet restraunts and they still went to enormous effort.

Finally, table service was also great. They made food from fresh again and were just excellent!

My only negative was that at QS places we had to wait maybe 10 mins for them to prepare the food but I can deal with that.

So we ended up spending a fortune on food as we ate about 80% of lunches and dinners in Disney and we all know it's not cheap. So for this year we booked when free dining was on the cards and although we are paying a premium to be staying in Disney, we spent that on food last time anyway. So will work out about the same all in all.

So in a nutshell, I would recommend staying at disney and eating the majority of your meals there if you have allergies.

Apparently Main St Bakery and Beaches & Cream do lovely allergy free ice cream too but we didn't know that at the time.

Sorry it's long, but I hope it helps xx

[DadToThree]

Wow that's really good to hear. I know at DLP it is a bit of a nightmare for my daughter as there's so little for her at the restaurants but obviously we're planning a trip to WDW and hearing how stress free it sounds is great.

Can I just check, does this apply to the counter service places too or just the more formal sit down restaurants?

[DadToThree]

Originally Posted by sparklegem

Hi! Hopefully I can help you with this? My son is not coeliac but he has a dairy and soya intolerance and when we visited last year we were very impressed with disneys approach to allergies. I'll tell you about our experience.

We stayed off site in kissimme and planned to eat lunch in the parks with dinner along the 192 on the way home. But it didn't work out like that.

The off site restraunts were a bit of a nightmare and were not very good at all. My son was eating a lot of eggs and bacon with fries as there weren't much else on offer that they could be sure didn't contain dairy or soya. In the end we stopped him eating fries as one place said they contained soya. Soya in chips?

Disney on the other hand were fantastic! They prepared the food in a completely separate area, always by a manager and they even served it up on a different coloured tray to avoid confusion in QS restraunts. Most places had allergy menu's which weren't just one or 2 options and we're specific to your allergy. For example there was a coeliac allergy menu, dairy free, soya free etc.

Buffets were great too. We ate at Tusker House and Hollywood & Vine and in both places the chef came out to speak to us and took us around the buffet to inform us which food was safe to eat. H&V there was not much and so they made some fresh based on what my son fancied from the main menu. Savory and sweet options were available. What made this extra special was that because my son was under 3 (just) we didn't even pay for him in buffet restraunts and they still went to enormous effort.

Finally, table service was also great. They made food from fresh again and were just excellent!

My only negative was that at QS places we had to wait maybe 10 mins for them to prepare the food but I can deal with that.

So we ended up spending a fortune on food as we ate about 80% of lunches and dinners in Disney and we all know it's not cheap. So for this year we booked when free dining was on the cards and although we are paying a premium to be staying in Disney, we spent that on food last time anyway. So will work out about the same all in all.

So in a nutshell, I would recommend staying at disney and eating the majority of your meals there if you have allergies.

Apparently Main St Bakery and Beaches & Cream do lovely allergy free ice cream too but we didn't know that at the time.

Sorry it's long, but I hope it helps xx

See more...

No thanks for posting it you've basically answered the question I just asked!

This may swing it for us to stay onsite, that's fantastic that they go to that effort to provide for people with allergies.

[sparklegem]

QS were great too. As I said above, only slight downside was waiting for them to prepare it. But it wasn't so bad.

[DadToThree]

Originally Posted by FamilyGWales

Hi - good question. I dont know the answer but expect there will be someone along soon who has a perspective. In the interim, you may find this thread helpful.

See more...

Thanks this looks very useful indeed 👍🏼

[sparklegem]

Originally Posted by DadToThree

No thanks for posting it you've basically answered the question I just asked!

This may swing it for us to stay onsite, that's fantastic that they go to that effort to provide for people with allergies.

See more...

Honestly it's so worth it. The amount of money we spent on food was ridiculous and although it's costing us more to stay in Disney this time, the difference is approximately what we spent on food anyway. We are staying at AKL so have the DDP and not the QS plan.