It’s smack dab in the middle of spring break and summer vacation time so I figured it’s about dang time that I shared all my favorites from my Disney vacation with you guys! Not surprisingly at all, Disney gluten free options are wonderful and plentiful! Sure, do you have to look for them, but they’re not hard to find. It is the most magical place on earth, after all! And the folks at Disney are not slacking on the allergen-free experience, making it as magical as possible for you no matter what dietary restrictions you have! I went with my friend Daniela, who is a vegetarian, so I’m going to let you guys know about both GF and Veg options in this post!

I used to go to Disney a lot growing up with my family. My mom had conferences work pretty frequently in Orlando, so we would turn it into a vacation and go down every few years. We also went on the Disney Cruise for my grandparents’ 50th anniversary in 2000, so I definitely grew up a Disney kid. Watching all the movies (where do you think all my incessant movie quoting started??) over and over again, singing all the songs, dressing up as Simba and Nala and Peter Pan for halloween (I was never a Disney princess girl. I liked the animals and non-princess characters, ha!), and collecting disney pins and autographs like it was my job.

Let me tell you – Disney is nowhere less magical when you become an adult. It has the nostalgia aspect, taking you right back to your childhood as soon as you step in the parks, plus, now you get to enjoy all the adult things (like appreciating real food, getting to plan your own trip, and fun drinks) too!

Let’s start with some general advice for all the parks. NO MATTER which park you are going to, you definitely want to get there before it opens. The lines are going to be insane no matter what time of year you go, so you might as well get there early and beat who you can to the lines!

Download the Disney app. It has an interactive map with waiting times, directions on how to get through all the parks, you can even make reservations for restaurants and check out menus on there too.

Also, FASTPASS. Once you have your tickets, with the Disney app you can reserve fastpasses 30 days in advance. HIGHLY recommend you do this for the most popular rides/ones you really want to do so you don’t have to stand in (as many) lines for hours and hours and hours.

In this post I’m going to be sharing all the favorite food and attraction finds from our trip, and I’ll list all of the food options I went to PLUS other recommendations I got from other friends too at the bottom!

MAGIC KINGDOM.

The first place anyone thinks of when they think Disney, right? We did our first day here. Made reservations in advance for brunch at the Be our Guest restaurant, so we beelined it there as soon as we got to the park.

Be Our Guest Restaurant

You get to eat in the Beast’s ballroom. It’s AMAZING and insane and so good. Tons of gluten-free options too. It’s not cheap, but it definitely keeps you full for most of the day. You can also walk around the restaurant and see the rose in the glass bell jar from the movie, and the decorations around the whole place are amazing!!  

• For gluten-free, order the Feast a la Gaston, which is Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, Sausage, and Roasted Potatoes served with Fresh Fruit. If you tell the waiter, they’ll also bring around an assortment of GF pastries for you too so you don’t feel left out when everyone else is getting theirs!

 

• Vegetarian option: grab the Vegetable quiche –  Mushroom, Zucchini, Bell Pepper, Onion and Chive Quiche served with Fresh Fruit and a selection of pastries.

Favorite rides (that you definitely want to get fast past for!!):

• Splash Mountain
• Thunder mountain railroad (the first rollercoaster I ever did as a kid)
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger (in Tomorrowland)
• It’s a Small World

Pinocchio Village Haus

In between those rides, we grabbed a late lunch at Pinocchio Village Haus. It’s a quick, grab your food at the counter and sit down type of place. They had a pretty good allergen-friendly menu too. I had a GF pizza and Daniela had the regular, gluten-filled pizza. Pretty good!

Don’t forget the Mickey Ice Cream…

Would it be a trip to Disney if you didn’t get a Mickey-shaped ice cream at some point?? You can get them throughout the parks, but we of course wanted to get them the first day! I don’t normally do great with a ton of dairy, so I always bring Digestive Enzymes on trips, so I just popped one of those before eating the ice cream – because let’s be honest, I don’t want to be feeling crappy on vacation!

Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen

A good spot for dinner! Asian-inspired fare, one of the newest restaurants in the park, and only a short walk from there to Cinderella’s Castle if you want to see the light show at night too, which is what we did.

• GF option: Steak Salad with “Grilled Steak, Romaine Lettuce, Spring Mix, Pickled Jalapeños, Red Onion, Queso Fresco, and Pumpkin Seeds tossed in a Chimichurri Vinaigrette.” Beware – SPICY!!
• Veg option: Fall’s Family Falafel – “A secret recipe of Chickpeas, Garlic, Onions, Lemon Juice, and Herbs served with House-made Edamame Hummus and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds”

If you have the chance to go to the parks around the holidays, DO IT.

There are so many parades, holiday foods, celebrations, and light shows all over the place. If you didn’t think Disney could get any more magical, combine it with the holidays. It’s heaven. But also very crowded.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Day 2! Got to the park early and booked it over to Toy Story Land. This is immediately what you want to do if you want to ride the new Slinky Rollercoaster. We got there first thing and waited in line for TWO HOURS. Yeah, it was fun – but I’d definitely do fastpass next time.

Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater

For lunch we stopped in to the Sci-Fi Diner. One of the coolest restaurants at the parks IMO – it’s like sitting in a dark, drive-in movie, where each ‘table’ is like sitting in an old convertible, and you’re watching old black-and-white movies (sci-fi ones, you guessed it) the whole time!

• GF option: Oven-roasted turkey sandwich on a GF wrap
• Veg option: Vegetarian Falafel Burger

Hollywood Studios Rides

The star wars ride was really fun (and we actually got a fastpass for this one too so we didn’t have to wait in line forever, YAY)! Then got in line for Rock ’n’ Rollercoaster (for another two hours, ugh – but totally worth it for the hilarious pictures you get at the end). Yes, I skipped the Tower of Terror because as a child I was terrified of heights and i’m still scared to go on that ride. It’s fiiine. Plus there was and hour and a half wait so I was like NOPE.

Honestly, there aren’t too many good food options at Hollywood Studios. I asked around to a bunch of friends who also love Disney and they said the same thing. You want great food? You won’t find a ton of it at Hollywood…besides the frozen margaritas we got while walking around by Tower of Terror. Totally delicious.

Epcot

Headed here for dinner and came back the next day after Animal Kingdom in the morning too. If you go around the holidays, the World Showcase turns into a HOLIDAY feast of food and drinks from each country. They also give you a passport card that shows you all the food and drink options at each country, and you can go around collecting stamps (and gifts!) from each country to show where you’ve been.

La Hacienda de San Angel

Loved this waterfront, authentic mexican restaurant with great margaritas and food!

• GF options: plenty! I had the salmon special (delicious) and there were plenty of other taco/rice-based dishes that were GF. We also split the guacamole which was delicious!
• Veg options: Tacos de Vegetales, Enchiladas de Vegetales

The World Showcase is a foodie PARADISE.

Imagine all your food favorites from a bunch of countries around the world…all within walking distance of eachother. You can get tagine in Morocco, pizza and pasta in Italy, tacos in Mexico, and sushi in Japan, and the world is your oyster (literally). I didn’t like Epcot much as a kid because I thought it was boring (boy, was I wrong!)

The rides at Epcot are great too! Our favorites:

• Mission: Space (AMAZING. The G-forces were REAL. There were two options – we did the more ‘intense’ version of the space training and travel. Do not recommend if you get any kind of motion sickness!)
• Fast Track
• Soarin’ Around the World
• Living with the Land (a boat ride inside) was interesting, but isn’t a thrill ride
• The coral reefs were great too!

La Cantina de San Angel

This was our second night dinner at Epcot. We came for the world showcase for a late lunch, explored around the whole lagoon, trying out different snacks and drinks from a couple different countries, and then weren’t really hungry for a big dinner after. We hit up La Cantina de San Angel, which is a fast casual, grab-and-go place with things like tacos, empanadas and guacamole, and they also have beers, and margaritas if you’re into it! Plenty of GF and vegetarian options.

Animal Kingdom

I LOVED Animal Kingdom. I didn’t remember too much about it from coming as a kid, and it’s a nice break from the craziness of the rest of the parks. It seems a lot more peaceful there (maybe it’s all the trees and animals?) and it was SO COOL to see the new Pandora Land, modeled after Avatar. Lots of great food options here too! I’d heard from multiple people that Animal Kingdom has the best food options, and it did not disappoint!

Nomad Lounge

Possibly the food highlight of the entire trip. Hold onto your horses, because Nomad Lounge has GLUTEN FREE CHURROS. Yes. You read that right. My tastebuds quite literally died of happiness. I also had some great chicken satay before the churros but let’s be honest you can get chicken satay pretty much anywhere but not gluten-free churros!! (insert one million exclamation points). They also give you two dipping sauces – one vanilla cream, and one strawberry chili. UMM can I learn how to make this at home please and thank you?!

As for the rides – we didn’t get to do the Avatar: Flight of Passage ride. We really wanted to, but the line was over a two hour wait and we were not about to do that after waiting lines for over four hours the day before. Guess I’ll just have to go back! The Dinosaur Ride was cool, and Expedition Everest was great! Definitely want to go back to do the Safari at some point too.

But, long story short, will be coming back for the churros. And the pandora ride. Next time I’ll probably spend more time at Animal Kingdom and less at Hollywood.

Disney Gluten Free & Vegetarian-friendly Restaurant Recommendations:

PS. BIG shoutout to my friend Neva who has been to Disney countless times and hooked me up with the gluten-free/best restaurant recommendations before we went for any dietary preferences!!

Magic Kingdom:

• Be Our Guest (make reservations!!)
• Pinnochio’s Village Haus
• Aloha Isle the Dole Whip (sorry Neva, we didn’t get it! I’ll have to go back for this one too. Apparently it’s a dairy-free frozen dessert and an all-time favorite snack at Disney!
• Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen
• Pecos Bill (tex mex, quick service. good stuff)
• Mainstreet Bakery for coffee

Epcot:

• The World Showcase (these are Neva’s favorites!)
  • La Hacienda de San Angel (upscale Mexican favorites)
  • La Cantina de San Angel (super casual Mexican favorites!)
  • Tangeriene Cafe (in Morocco pavilion. Mediterranean inspired)
  • Spice Road Table (in Moroccco pavilion. Mediterranean tapas)
  • Choza De Margarita (frozen marg stand in Mexico Pavilion. need i say more.)
  • Cava del Tequila (in Mexico pavilion, tequila bar. Inside the pyramid and in the air conditioning. Great snacks too)
  • Via Napolli (in Italy. Amazing pizza, and I believe there’s a gluten free option)
• Garden Grill (the restaurants is on a turn table and makes one full rotation. GREAT breakfast, and character meal with Chip and Dale and Pluto – Neva)
• Sunshine Seasons (quick service, great food! Same building as Garden Grill.)
• Coral Reef

Animal Kingdom: (best food park!!)

• Nomad Lounge (cocktail bar with GLUTEN FREE CHURROS in case you didn’t hear me the first time.)
• Tiffins. (Connected to Nomad Lounge. More on the expensive side, but according to Neva, some of the best and most unique food she’s ever had!)
• Satu’li Canteen (in the new Pandora section. REALLY great and some of the healthier fare in the park. Mix and match rice bowls)
• Tusker House (amazing buffet)
• Flame Tree BBQ (so good just so good. quick service)
• Yak and Yeti Local Foods Cafe (again so so so good, also quick service)
• Sanaa – Kidani Village (great place to  relax and see a bunch of wild animals like giraffes, zebras, kudu while you’re eating!)
• Creature Comforts (Starbucks – coffee)

Hollywood Studios

• Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater
• Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano (GF options!)

PS. A little insight on how I found all these places. I did my own research, Neva helped out a lot, and while we were in the parks I also searched the hashtag on instagram #disneyglutenfree a lot to see what other people were enjoying!

THIS is also a great resource for gluten & dairy-free options that lists all the menus at WDW!

Did I miss anything? What are your favorite Disney Gluten Free or Vegetarian spots? Let me know in the comments! 

You’ll love these other gluten-free travel guides too!

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