GF/CF in Disney

[DunkLion]

We are travelling to Disney April 9-16. Our 4.5 yo daughter is ASD. We have her on a strict GF/CF/SF diet. We will be staying off site to have our own kitchen to prepare BF. What can be done in the Park for her dining? We will take some food with us, but are there any other options?

Also, any natural food stores in Kissimmee?

 

[Cheshire Figment]

When you call to make dining reservations let them know there are dietary restrictions. It helps to remind the greeter. Normally the chef will come out and discuss the situation and will either let you know what can be eaten from the menu and/or will offer to make up a special meal to meet the restrictions.

If you are at a counter service restaurant ask for the manager who should be able to provide assistance.

As far as natural food stores in KIssimmee, I have looked under Foods, Natural in the local yellow pages. I found three stores, none anywhere near Kissimmee. One is in Altamonte Springs which is in Seminole County, another is about 12 miles North of the Airport, and the third is way to the Northeast near the University of Central Florida.

 

[MBW]

My son was gf/cf when we went 3.5 years ago (now he's stricty gf, mostly cf), and we had no problem dining out. If you call the main Disney reservation line, they will provide you with the head of food services, who will gladly talk to you about what they offer. If you make reservations, they ask that you call the restaurant a day ahead - you'll usually speak with the head chef, who'll ask what kind of foods your daughter likes so that s/he will have the proper ingredients on hand.

As mentioned above, when you arrive at the restaurant, the head chef will generally come out to your table to help with the order. They are very meticulous and kind.

There is a Whole Foods in Winter Park.

Winter Park
Whole Foods Market
Winter Park Corners
1989 Aloma Avenue
Winter Park, FL 32792
407.673.8788
407.677.7640 fax
Store hours: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.

I'll see if I can find any others and report back.

 

[MBW]

On my first pass, I found this:

The Organic Place
1246 S John Young Pkwy
Kissimmee, Florida
407-944-9095

Vitamins and groceries, organic produce and meats, bulk foods, fresh breads, juice bar, organic salad bar, sandwiches, hours 9-7 mon-fri and sat 9-6pm.


The I dug a bit deeper into Google, and struck gold on a ASD GF/CF website (http://www.geocities.com/arnfl/vitdiethealth.html)

Chamberlin's Health Food Stores Winter Park Mall, (407)647-6661; Lake Howell Square Casselberry, (407)678-3100; Oviedo Marketplace Mall (407)359-7028; Altamonte (407) 774-8866; East Colonial, Orlando (407)894-8452 Chamberlin's produces a fresh baked specialty line of gluten and casein free foods such as cookies, cakes, brownies, and specialty birthday cakes. A must for a cute parties! They also carry a number of the supplements that can benefit autistic children.

Deland Bakery 128 N. Woodland Blvd. Deland, FL 32720 (386)734-7553 AS OF JULY 2004 - This bakery's products are no longer GFCF and should not be considered safe for the GFCF diet.
http://www.planetdeland.com/delandbakery.htm

Economy Health Food Store 1039 Acamedy Drive, Altamonte Springs, (407)869-0000

Health Food USA 1807 E. Broadway St. Oviedo (407)359-2121

Whole Foods 1989 Aloma Avenue, Winter Park, FL 32792 407.673.8788

Tom's HFS407-321-7512 Lake Mary

Taylor's HFS 407-323-6760 Lake Mary

Life & Health Food 5125 W. Colonial Dr., Orlando, FL 32808

Natural Way Food1114 N. John Young Pkwy, Kissimmee, FL 34741

The Organic Place 1246 S. John Young Pkwy, Kissimmee, FL 34741 (407)944-9095

Paradise Health Foods 1150 Malabar Road S.E., Palm Bay, FL 32907 (407)729-8311

 

[DunkLion]

You Folks are great!!

 

[wide awake]

We will be going later this year and DS is gf/cf. I've already spoken to the chefs at the parks to get an idea what DS can eat at counter service, and since they're willing to prepare special dishes at sit down restaurants I'm feeling pretty confident about things. One thing I'm doing is ordering some of DS's staples from Gluten Free Pantry...I'll have my order shipped to the resort.

 

[Twende]

We don't have these special needs but just reading the helpfullness here puts a huge smile on my face!

You are all wonderful!

 

[torianne31]

Hi DrunkLion, if you are flying down as opposed to driving down you could order some g/f, c/f foods and snacks online and have them delivered to your hotel for your stay. I love www.glutenfreepantry.com for myself and DS's 14 & 11. My family and I are driving to FL for our first WDW trip so we have the luxury of being able to take our g/f snacks and stuff with us....

Of the stores the other posters have found the only one I've ever heard of is Whole Foods. We have two of those relatively close to us here in NC and frequent them each once a week. The closer one we go to for staples (g/f flour, g/f chicken nuggets, etc), and the one that is farther away has a line of fresh baked g/f products that come out on Wednesday mornings. I go there and stock up. I'm not sure if their fresh baked goods are c/f though.......

I hope y'all have a wonderful trip!!!!

 

[kandeebunny]

OOOOO I have the SAME issue and we are headed down April 14-19! I have a word doc they sent me on all the CS and Snacks that are GF!!!!!

you can pm me and I can send them your way!

BTW if you want a ROCKIN meal go to WCC at WL! I talked to the chef and he will make whatever I want!!!

 

[Ambassador]

In addition to noting your requirements on your Priority Seatings, contact Brenda Bennett [Brenda.Bennett@disney.com] requesting an allergy form, which she forwards to each respective Chef. She will also send pertinient info for counter- and table-service foods for each of the Parks.

We found it most expedient to request speaking with the Chef when first checking-in at the restaurant, allowing maximum time for defrosting and preparation.

In general, all the Chefs were very helpful and friendly, except at San Angel Inn at Mexico in World Showcase. Maybe it was a language problem, but he seemed disinterested and bothered, and the staff repeatedly brought inappropriate dishes to our wheat-allergy little delegate. It was his third birthday, and after singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the candle, it was hard to remove the bread pudding they served. By contrast, Chef Gray at Citricos gave us the celebrity tour of his outstanding kitchen, introducing all his chefs, and provided a delicious and healthy meal for our little one.

 

[Figment1964]

We were incredibly pleased with the service we got from everyone about my son's need for gf/cf food. The chef at The Garden Grille spent a long time talking with us not only about my son's food issues but also about the diet in general so that she'd know more about the next time it came up. My son has some issues with being picky and I gave her some suggestions on how to cut the meat (steak cut into strips to resemble "ribs"--his absolute favorite, etc.).

Every time we visit I'm more and more convinced that this is one place my son can participate just like everyone else and they are happy to go out of their way to provide that for him!