Universal and Orlando Vegan food report - April 2022

[tonyspurs81]

Universal and Orlando Vegan food report (or how I stopped worrying and became a Voodoo Doughnut addict).

Since we last visited Disney World in 2019, DW and I chose to become vegan for ethical reasons. DD (nearly aged 9) is also mainly vegan. She will occasionally have dairy as she doesn’t like missing out on certain things, we let her do this as we want Veganism to be her own choice and not forced on her. I think it’s fair to say that food was always a massive part of our US holidays with meals booked and planned in advance, including a long list of signature snacks to tick off my list over 14 days. If I didn’t gain at least a stone in weight over a fortnight then the holiday would have been a disappointment!

I have written this thread to give advice and share ideas for any other Vegans on theDibb or those who may have family members who are Vegan. It has not been written to preach or convince anyone of the benefits of a vegan lifestyle or create debate, although if anyone wants any tips or advice I would be more than happy to answer any questions. I also hope it will create some good discussion and give me more ideas for when we next travel to Florida.

After looking at US menus before our trip we all had accepted that food probably wouldn’t be as big a thing for us now. Our relationship with food has changed, but also there just didn’t appear to be the options. In the UK many of our chain restaurants such as Pizza Express and Wagamama now have a full vegan menu. Most other restaurants have 2 or 3 decent vegan options so eating out since we became vegan hasn't been a problem at home. Your typical chains in the US (Denny’s, TGI’s, Bahama breeze etc..) do not seem to have many options for Vegans beyond Plant based burgers (and some of these come with non-vegan mayo and cheese). Vegan desserts just don’t seem to be a thing in the US (or at least Florida) with options few and far between. Sadly many of those theme park snacks I loved contain dairy (bar the pretzels and popcorn).

When we first became Vegan we regularly consumed meat substitutes such as Beyond Burgers, plant based chicken etc. We do like these products but now only have them for treats now as ideally we want to eat wholefoods. Due to limited options and the fact we were on holiday we probably ate more of these products than we would usually like to, but did find some good wholefood options along the way (Fried vegan dough with plant based frosting is wholefood right?).

Our food journey started on the way to the airport the night before, where we got a drive-thru Burger King where we had the Vegan chicken Royale and some vegan nuggets, both of which were very tasty and did the job of filling us up as many of the pre-security restaurants at Gatwick were still closed due to the pandemic.

The next morning after check-in and security we went for our traditional pre-flight cooked breakfast, of which there were many choices at Gatwick. We chose Wagamama (which has become a favourite over the past year due to its huge Vegan menu). DD had the crunchy granola bowl which was plant-based coconut ‘yoghurt’, raspberry compote, buckwheat, berry + chia seed granola. DW and I went for the Full Vegan which contained two rashers of maple seitan ‘bacon’, beetroot + seitan ‘sausage’, scrambled turmeric tofu, grilled tomato, wilted spinach, sautéed sweet potato, shiitake mushrooms, wholemeal toast (I am definitely not copying and pasting this information from the menu ;-)). DD enjoyed the granola, however DW and I thought the full vegan was just ok. It wasn’t terrible, but we’ve had better Vegan breakfasts in the past.

One of our big anxieties was the food on our flight. Over the years it has not been uncommon for the food service to be messed up on a flight. We have had it where DD did not get a regular kids meal on the flight in the past, and we’ve witnessed countless times where others on board have gone without the non-regular meal as it had not been loaded onto the plane. As such we packed our hand luggage with Trek protein bars and also purchased some Vegan Wraps at Pure at Gatwick, so we knew that even if we didn’t get a decent meal on the flight (or if the Vegan meal wasn’t actually Vegan, which apparently happens more regularly than you would think) we wouldn’t go hungry. The other concern was the fact that you couldn’t change DD’s kids meal on the booking to a Vegan meal, so we had to call the airline separately to request this. It turns out we should not have been worried as Tui not only provided us all with Vegan meals, but also it was actually pretty decent as aeroplane food goes. Our main meal consisted of country veg bake with lentils as an alternative to mince, the classic airline bread roll and a Mango Yo bear as dessert. For tea, we received a roast veg and beetroot hummus sandwich and a cacao and cherry bar. The sandwich wasn’t brilliant. It was a bit sloppy and the gluten free bread wasn’t to our taste, but it did the job. I’ve never particularly been impressed with the food on flights anyway, so we really couldn’t complain. It’s a big thumbs up for Tui for providing DD with a vegan meal. As I said above we were surprised they made this happen and even the flight attendants were surprised too!

On our first morning we “rope dropped” Islands of Adventure (Hagrid First ride of the holiday!) as we were awake by 4am. We had a Trek protein bar for breakfast in the room, as we’d yet to get any shopping. After we did a few attractions we were peckish, so got the standard Universal savoury pretzel which is vegan without the cheese sauce. It was pretty decent, and it was our go-to snack in the parks when we just needed something to keep us going till dinner.

After a fun packed morning we headed to our lunch reservation at ‘Toothsomes chocolate emporium’ (Spoiler: None of their chocolate is Vegan). We had heard that there were some good options for Vegans, but after we perused the menu, none of the main courses were labelled vegan. There was also nothing resembling vegetarian or vegan on the kids menu. To be able to have a satisfying meal, we picked two vegan starters, the truffle fries (no parmesan) and flatbread with Hummus. Then for the main course we ordered two Super Foods Salad’s (removing cheese & swapping dressing) and shared them between the 3 of us. It was actually very tasty, if a little surreal eating a super food salad in Florida! For dessert we went with a more traditional Florida holiday food item. The Right Side Up Shake (vegan pineapple upside down cake, brown sugar, caramel, pineapples with oatmilk whipped topping). This was amazing, the best no-milk shake I’ve ever had. However, we probably didn't need to order 3 as I was stuffed after finishing mine, and DD couldn’t finish hers. Overall we had a great meal, but did think it was expensive when essentially we had ordered two large salads for the main course. We would probably go back again, but just for the milkshakes. After dinner, we were flagging so we headed back to the resort for a pool afternoon.

Despite being full and high on sugar, we couldn’t resist popping into Voodoo doughnuts in City Walk to pick up a snack for later in the afternoon. They do no less than 12 different vegan doughnuts (which pretty much became my new snack list for the holiday). DW had the PB & J, DD had the dirt and I went for the vegan voodoo doll. Needless to say they were delicious. This won’t be the last you hear about Voodoo Doughnuts…

I’ve not mentioned it yet, but we stayed in a 2 bedroom suite at Endless Summer Resort - Dockside. This was an intentional choice as it meant we had a kitchen area with a large fridge and microwave. This meant we could make sandwiches (usually peanut butter but we did find some hickory smoked tofurkey in a Target, which was nice). It also meant we would have our daily porridge with flax and chia seed (oatmeal in the states) each morning which not only filled us up but helped in preventing the ole Florida holiday constipation. If you know you know!

We tended to eat out once a day, and have homemade sandwiches the other meal of the day. I won’t detail our homemade food, but if you do the same i’d advise on checking carefully what bread you buy. We noticed that they put milk and honey into a lot of their bread.

On day 2 we went to Volcano Bay for the morning. We decided against getting a meal there, so got the Pretzel and some Lays potato chips for a large snack. That evening we headed to our reservation at Antojitos in City Walk before watching the Mardi Gras parade in Universal Studios. Once we were seated we were given a huge bowl complimentary chips and salsa (both vegan). We then ordered two Vegetal Fajitas (no cheese or sour cream) with a side of black beans and Cilantro Rice. With the tortilla chips this was more than enough for the three of us. The meal was tasty and filling. DW and I also had a Margarita which was also very good.

Day 3 was predominantly spent in Universal Studio, as we had express passes (we booked at night Royal Pacific, but didn’t actually use the room as we were comfortable at Endless Summer). For lunch we purchased two plant based chicken crepes from Central Park crepes. The crepe is filled with plant-based chick’n, arugula, corn, roasted red bell peppers/tomatoes, crunchy onions, lemon vinaigrette, and plant-based avocado cilantro aioli. This was very tasty and highly recommended.
After watching the Bourne Stuntacular (also highly recommended), we nipped across the road to Schwab's pharmacy for some refreshment. Our daughter chose the pineapple dole whip cone (a Florida classic, this time vegan without the vanilla swirl). This was the only vegan ‘ice cream’ we could get in the parks.

Late afternoon we decided to eat at Richter Burger where we opted for the plant based burger. The burger was pretty abysmal and probably the worst meal we ate all holiday. Despite waiting longer for the food (a common theme when ordering the Vegan option from a counter service establishment, probably due to the fact they don’t have them ready and waiting like the more popular menu items), they managed to serve it cold with just a lifeless bit of lettuce. We normally actually quite like beyond burgers, but this was awful. We were too tired to complain.

A tasty crepe

A ‘crepe’ burger

Day 4 we spent the day in Island of Adventure using our express passes. We had another pretzel as a snack around lunch time and got a Coca Cola freestyle refillable cup for the day. Later in the afternoon we went to the Hogshead where DD had the Lemonade and DW and I had a pint of the Hogshead Ale (more on the Vegan beer at Universal later).

By late afternoon we had experienced every attraction we wanted to, so we decided to head back to the resort to relax and then order some dinner via Uber eats. However, before we caught the bus we nipped into good ole Voodoo doughnuts and ended up coming away with a box of 6. This was going to be our dessert and breakfast the next morning. We brought the apple fritter, a sprinkle cake (they accidentally put two in the box), two ODB’s and two voodoo dolls. The apple fritter was nearly the size of my head and it was perhaps the best snack of the holiday. Imagine a deep fried sticky cinnamon roll but with an apple inside.

Once back at the resort we ordered our dinner from Dharma at Market on the South via Uber eats. Market on the South is based in the Milk District, not far from Downtown Orlando. It is a group of 3 local vegan businesses who share the same premises (Dharma, Valhalla Bakery and a hot dog stand) marketonsouth/menu . We ordered from Dharma, who specialise in vegan versions of Southern favourites.

DW and I ordered Dharma fried chicken bowl with Mac n cheese, and DD had the kid hotdog with a side of cheesie homies (potato wedges with a cashew cheese sauce). The food was delicious and really hit the spot. It was like real Florida holiday food, but all plant based. The only disappointing thing was that the food wasn’t very warm by the time it reached us. We planned to visit Market on the South later in the holiday when we had a rental car.

Dharma fried chicken bowel - We started eating before we took the photo.

Day 5 was our designated Harry Potter day (without all the attractions) as we wanted to spend time looking at the wand spots and exploring the details in both Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. After spending time in both Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, we head back to Diagon Alley for a meal at the Leaky Cauldron. We shared two Shepherd's Pasty Pie meals (Meatless beef crumbles and vegetable stew hand pie; served with creamy stone ground mustard dipping sauce, apple beet salad, and wedge fries). The portions were massive and the pasty was very tasty. DW was not keen on the mustard, but I liked it. To drink I had the Wizard’s Brew (a porter like ale) and DW had the Dragon Scales. DD got Otter’s Fizzy Orange which she wasn’t too keen on, but I quite liked it. We also purchased some Puking Pastilles for Weasley’s Wizards Wheeze which are accidentally vegan.

That afternoon there was a huge thunderstorm that lasted the whole rest of the day so we spent time back at the room, then had sandwiches and leftover Voodoo doughnuts for tea.

The next day (Day 6) we spent some time on I-Drive. We went to Wonderworks, Dave and Busters to play some arcade games (no Vegan food sadly) and play the Pirate Adventure Golf (a really nice course if you like crazy golf). Prior to our trip, we really struggled to find vegan food on I-Drive. We looked at the menu of the Yard House at Icon Park which had quite a few options, but it seemed very pricey for what it was. Not far from Icon Park was Uno Pizzeria and grill, which has 3 vegan options on the menu (unos/menus/glutenfree-vegan-pizza.php). DW and I ordered a large Vegan cheeseburger deep dish to share which was really good, but the cheeseburger crumbles were incredibly realistic. I spent an age looking at the texture, as it really did taste and feel like beef, but concluded that it was plant based. It's a weird contradiction, that I want plant based alternatives to be realistic, but when they are really realistic I struggle with it.
DD had the kids pizza with Vegan cheese, but when it arrived it was clearly not Vegan cheese, so we had to send it back. They resolved the issue quickly, so it didn’t really spoil the meal, although if DD had a dairy allergy we would have perhaps been more frustrated. To drink I had the Reef Donkey IPA which was vegan. Overall a decent meal.

After Pirate golf, we headed back to the pool for a few hours. Then ordered food from The Mexican Camel via uber eats. The Mexican Camel (themexicancamel/) is not a vegan establishment, however it has a number of great customisable options. DD had a falafel pitta, and DW and I had a customised fusion bowl. This was a really decent meal and it was nice to have a wholefood meal full of veggies and legumes. Any vegan in Orlando should pay a visit to the Mexican camel.

On Day 7, I left DD and DW in bed and headed to IOA and managed to ride Hagrids, Velocicoaster, Hulk and Spiderman before 8.15am. On the way back I nipped into Voodoo donuts (it would have been rude not to) to pick something up for breakfast and a snack later in the day. I ordered 3 Vegan portland creams, 2 PB & J and a Coconut. Once again they were delicious. We spent most of the morning around the pool and then had a sandwich in our room.

Mid afternoon we headed out to Universal Studios, however it was windy and actually pretty chilly (a first for us in Orlando!). So we didn’t stick around but decided to try a Vegan hotdog at The Hotdog Hall of Fame on the way back through City Walk. This was a Field Roast dog with roasted corn, jalapeño veganaise, vegan cheese, ancho chile, micro cilantro, fresh lime on a hoagie roll. It was pretty decent, but I wouldn’t go out my way to have it again.

Day 8 - We had a pool morning then ordered another Mexican Camel via Uber Eats. This time we all went for a customised fusion pitta. Again the food was fresh and very tasty. That afternoon we went to Universal Studios to watch a couple shows and do some character hunting.
We decided to grab some items from the Floral Planet, the plant based Mardi Gras booth. Between us we shared the potato, pea and carrot samosas, the chana masala which consisted of spiced chickpea curry served with tomato and onion salad, basmati rice and naan bread and the vegan golden chai chocolate blondies. All items were fresh and tasty. If only the portions were a little bigger.

We also had an Ocean Attack Cocktail (removing the non-vegan shark gummy) which was also very refreshing. It’s worth ordering this drink as you get a little surprise when they are making it.

One very key holiday food item we’d not had yet, something I’ve probably eaten on UK holidays, beach holidays in Europe and indeed Florida was ice cream. Whilst in the UK most places have a Vegan option, three Vegan Magnum flavours, Vegan Cornetto and of course good old Ben and Jerry’s, we had not seen any Vegan Ice Cream in the parks. However, Coldstone Creamery at City Walk did have a Vegan chocolate almond Ice Cream called Silk. So we decided to give it a try. DD and I have it mixed with Golden Oreos and DW mixed with original oreos. The ice cream was very nice and it really hit the spot. Sadly whilst eating it a man approached us and said the ice cream looked good and asked what it was. When DW said it was almond milk he walked away without saying anything else. I am not sure if our almond milk offended him, but that seemed a little rude to us.

Day 9 was spent at Volcano Bay. For dinner we all had the Chick'n & Avocado Sandwich Platter at Bambu which was average at best, but it filled a whole. Universal seem to have an issue with how warm they serve their burgers. On a positive note, the exclusive Volcano Blossom beer was very tasty (with notes of peach). That evening we rested at the resort and had a few drinks at the bar. I had a Blue Moon and New Belgium Voodoo ranger IPA (both vegan and both very very nice).

Day 10 was spent at Kennedy Space Center. We knew they didn’t have any vegan options so we took sandwiches and snacks with us. We had a great time there. If you’ve never been I’d highly recommend it.

We drove home Via Market on the South where we had one of the best meals of the holiday. I had the Nashville Hawk Chick’n which was Spicy Nashville dipped fried chick’n with bread-n-butter pickles & Alabama white BBQ slaw on a toasted bun with a side of roasted brussel sprouts, DW had The Orange Bird which was Florida citrus BBQ chick’n topped with southern slaw, served open-faced on a toasted bun spread with roasted garlic sauce. DD had the kids Mac N Cheese. We also each chose a baked item from the fully vegan Valhalla Bakery (which shares the same building and seating area). Honestly they must have had 15 to 20 options- all plant based. I had the YOLO cookie sandwich with bourbon cream, DW had the death bar and DD had the smores bar. We all enjoyed our choices and can’t wait to visit Dharma again. Honestly it’s well worth driving out there to visit and we plan to go several times next year.

Day 11 was spent at Legoland Florida. I emailed ahead to see what Vegan options they might have, but they didn’t have any other than a bean burger. Having sampled Merlins food in the UK, I didn’t want to fork out £35 for a limp bean burger, so we opted to bring our own food. We did try the famous Granny Apple Fries without the caramel sauce or whipped cream, which were a fairly nice snack.

On the way back we nipped into Disney Springs to sample a little bit of Disney Magic (however it was too busy to be enjoyable). We chose to eat at Blaze Pizza. They have Vegan cheese, plenty of vegetable options and Vegan chorizo crumbles. The server asked whether we wanted her to change her gloves. As we have no allergies we said she didn’t have to, but we appreciated that she had asked. We all really enjoyed our Pizza and would visit again.

Day 12 - We took an Uber to Icon Park and went on the wheel and visited the Museum of Illusions. We had lunch in our room then ventured out to Island of Adventure to have a wander round and see what we could do. It was insanely busy so we didn’t go on many rides, but we did meet Captain America.. We had dinner at the Comic Strip Cafe in Toon Lagoon. DW and I had Tofu Ramen Combo with a vegan egg roll and DD had some fries and breadsticks with marinara sauce (not the greatest meal she had all holiday but it was fine). The tofu ramen was nice enough (again it could have been warmer given that we waited quite a long time for them to prepare it). It was good to have tofu which is one of our regular protein sources when eating at home. I washed my Tofu down with a Goose Island IPA which was very nice. On the way back we once again bowed down at the altar that is Voodoo doughnuts. This time I had the vegan maple bar, DW the ODB and DD the portland cream.

Day 13 and our last non-travel day, conscious that the parks were rammed due to the Easter weekend we decided to have a long chilled day at the pool. We ordered Vegan paninis from Hot Krust via Uber Eats which we ate around the pool. Hot Krust does pannies and burgers and they have an extensive vegan menu. DD had the Beyond Burger and DW and I ordered the T.T.L.A which we customised. This was Smokey Tempeh Vegan "Bacon" Strips, Fresh Avocado, Tomatoes, Lettuce, Vegan Garlic Mayo, Sea Salt. Honestly this was one of the best things I ate all holiday and the size of the panini was huge. It was full of flavour. We will almost certainly pay Hot Krust a visit when we return.

For our final evening we went to Universal Studios to experience the park lit up at night. We managed to do a few rides and enjoy the atmosphere. We visited the Plant Based Mardi Gras stall and ordered pretty much what we had before with the addition of the vegetable vindaloo which consisted of romanesco cauliflower florets and sweet potatoes braised in a hot and sour broth served with basmati rice. Once again the food was fresh and tasty.

Day 14 - Feeling sad that our holiday was over, we finished packing and then vacated our room at 11am. We had the best part of 3 hours to kill before our airport transfer, so we visited our hotel’s quick service restaurant Pier 8 for the first time all holiday and had the Beyond Burger and fries. Honestly this was the best burger we had all holiday. It was fresh, tasty and actually nice and hot. We wanted to fill up as we were unsure what we would get on the plane, as we’ve found US aeroplane food lacking in the past.

After our 90 minute transfer to Melbourne Orlando, we checked in our bags and were given food vouchers to buy food at the airport. After security we noticed that there was a food stand specifically for you to use these vouchers and they were providing a range of full cooked meals as well as cold snacks (sandwiches and salads), but sadly there were no suitable vegan options for us. This set alarm bells ringing. Were we not getting food on the flight because we were travelling from a small airport? As it turns out this was just a little bonus they were offering, which was a pleasant bonus. The staff were very understanding and accommodating given the lack of vegan options, giving us a bag full of crisps, pretzels and apples instead.

On the flight home the main meal was reasonably decent. We had saag aloo and rice, a roll, some fruit and a tiny little wafer. The breakfast before landing was literally the same roll with some jam and the same fruit again. They gave us regular milk for tea / coffee which was a bit of a fail but you can’t win them all (and obviously we didn’t use it).

We landed safely and had the quickest journey back home from Gatwick ever as it was 8am on Easter Sunday and the roads were empty.

Before I conclude this food report, I wanted to add a few general comments.

If you enjoy a good beer there are plenty of options at Universal in the hotels and in the parks. Universal has a range of exclusive beers (Wizards Brew, Dragon Scale, Hogshead Ale, Duff, Duff Lite, Volcano Blossom etc..) and they are all made by the Florida Beer Company who confirm that all their beers are vegan.

The biggest disappointment overall was the lack of vegan options on kids menus. This meant we often shared meals which was fine, but DD does enjoy picking something from the kids menu and it was a shame they couldn’t veganise things like burgers, pizza etc (other than the few exceptions mentioned in my main report).

I want to give a shout out to the Universal Orlando Vegans who maintain a number of pages on the Vegan wiki outlining what food is vegan at the Parks and the surrounding area. veganwiki.info/en/Universal_Orlando_Vegans. This was an invaluable resource when planning our holiday.

Overall I think we ate pretty well over the two weeks, but no meals really stood out in the same way that they used to. Florida has a long way to even get close to the options we currently have in the UK, but I am hopeful they will eventually and that more independent Vegan places open in the Orlando area. I think one of the biggest things I missed was American breakfasts. I really hope someone has the foresight to start including Vegan pancakes and waffles on menus. We make them easily enough at home, so it can’t be too hard for IHop or some of the other chains to offer these options. I do wonder whether the land of the hamburger and the motor car are ready for the plant based lifestyle, however I imagine this would be a different story in somewhere like Calrifornia or New York. Having said that, there were plenty of options in the supermarkets, so perhaps there will be more choices soon.

We have already started planning a trip for August 2023, and we have decided that we will most likely get a villa so we can cook some meals for ourselves. There’s only so many times you can spend a fortune on a cold plant based burger! We will definitely visit Dharma, The Mexican Camel and Hot Krust when we return, oh and of course…Voodoo Doughnuts!

We’ve not decided whether or not to do Disney World next year (still not happy with the price increase, whilst taking away perks), but I am happy to see them add plant based options to all their table service and counter service restaurants.

I hope you enjoyed reading this food report, and if you are vegan travelling to Orlando I hope it gives you some ideas of what is available and where to eat. As above I hope we can have some meaningful discussions in this thread and share ideas and experiences we have had.
Thank you.

[loves2plan]

Thank you for taking the time to write this up. Since our last trip in 2019, both DH and I have become vegetarian, and like to eat plant based when possible too, so it was great to read about some of your finds. We're at Disney for 2 weeks, then universal for 1, so I'm going to investigate if you can do Uber Eats to Disney resorts too.
Even before becoming veggie, I was still a big fan of finding the healthier options that actually include one of your 5 a day. In 2019, Disney had quite a good plant based offering, but it got cut back during covid and hasn't recovered yet (going by the current menus). I do love my veggies and find they can be really lacking over there. Even most of the salads seems to contain meat, but I'm sure we can ask for one without - at least I hope we can! I will be doing another food report during our September trip where I'll share all my veggie finds too

[tonyspurs81]

Originally Posted by loves2plan

Thank you for taking the time to write this up. Since our last trip in 2019, both DH and I have become vegetarian, and like to eat plant based when possible too, so it was great to read about some of your finds. We're at Disney for 2 weeks, then universal for 1, so I'm going to investigate if you can do Uber Eats to Disney resorts too.
Even before becoming veggie, I was still a big fan of finding the healthier options that actually include one of your 5 a day. In 2019, Disney had quite a good plant based offering, but it got cut back during covid and hasn't recovered yet (going by the current menus). I do love my veggies and find they can be really lacking over there. Even most of the salads seems to contain meat, but I'm sure we can ask for one without - at least I hope we can! I will be doing another food report during our September trip where I'll share all my veggie finds too

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Yes we found it hard to find Veggies too. There is a ton of choice on Uber eats and you can view the menus here if you put your resort address in. I recommend The Mexican camel if you want to have a nice bowl of vegetables and pulses. I will look out for your report. We are likely going to go back in August 2023 but no hard in starting the planning now!

[DisneyDante]

I’m making my first trip as a vegan this year and this report is incredibly useful! I’ve done lots of research into Disney and assumed everywhere else would have a similar number of vegan options available, it’s a bit disappointing to hear otherwise, especially at Kennedy! Can’t wait to give voodoo donuts a visit or two though!

[tonyspurs81]

Originally Posted by DisneyDante

I’m making my first trip as a vegan this year and this report is incredibly useful! I’ve done lots of research into Disney and assumed everywhere else would have a similar number of vegan options available, it’s a bit disappointing to hear otherwise, especially at Kennedy! Can’t wait to give voodoo donuts a visit or two though!

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It's replies like yours that wanted me to put the effort in to write this report. This was our first trip as Vegans too. I'd be interested to hear how you get on at Disney as we will likely go next year all being well.

[KarenG]

This report has been incredibly useful in its detail and how you’ve covered everything. I really thank you, because our DD is vegan and I felt her options would be very limited - but you’ve helped me see much more clearly. Thank you!

[Rescuer]

Thanks for a great report.

Not vegan but I am low carb and find food a wee bit tricky at times in Florida. I’d never heard of the Mexican camel but if it’s got create your own bowls it will be right up my street and we could order from there in the summer when at Endless Summer.

[Goldia]

I enjoyed reading your report, even though I'm not vegan or veggie, it's still interesting to read how others have holidayed. Good news for you that voodoo donuts had such a great selection. Thanks for sharing.

[CharOx]

Thanks for a great report of your trip food. Totally agree with how amazing that apple fritter is from Voodoo Donuts 😋

Florida has still got a way to go for vegan options, but is so much better than it was. I used to go as a vegetarian in the 80s and 90s and it was a nightmare getting any food. I've done 2 trips as a vegan now (2018 and 2019), always travelling with omnis and I've had great food. Lots of research is needed though and admittedly mainly on Disney property.

If not doing Disney next trip I'd suggest maybe a couple of the hotel restaurants there still. Ale & Compass is good for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sebastian's Bistro at Caribbean Beach is meant to be good too and I'm hoping to go in September. Also Sanaa at AKL for breads and curry. Melissa at Vegan Walt Disney world does food vlogs on YouTube and has a young child so you can get good suggestions from here. Princess and the Bear do vegan food vlogs too.

Off property I also like YardHouse (but you're right a bit pricey) and Confisco Grill at IOA. A couple of other places I'm going to try next trip in the IDrive area are Kobe Steakhouse (does a vegan Teppanyaki) and The Melting Pot has vegan fondue (cheese to start, bouillon with veg, gyoza for main and chocolate dessert).

Your report has made me hungry now. Can't wait for 5 months until I get a Voodoo Donut!

[MamatoFelix]

Amazing! So much delicious plant based food. We had the Orange Bird from Dharma Southern Kitchen too, it was so yummy 🤤

Thanks for posting.