Florida-Orlando

[Silly Yak]

Disney World, Orlando Visit
Posted by Coeliac Mum, Daughter & Me on 12/6/2012

GF board

Just back from a fantastic family to Walt Disney World in Florida and thought it would be useful to share my gluten free experience. Both me and my 9yr old daughter are diagnosed.

Flight with Monarch
I phoned the special number to book two gluten free meals before flying and although they were no overly polite. We both successfully received gluten free meals both outbound and inbound! Quality wise they were ok - evening meals were quite good (as far as airline food goes) but breakfast was pretty basic - I like fruit, but melon, a satsuma and drink of orange juice!

Disney World
We were staying at a Disney Hotel (Port Orleans, Riverside) and were using the dining plan which allowed us to eat at any of the hotels and theme parks throughout our stay. I have to say it was excellent!! I quickly learnt that you just said "we have an allergy issue" to the server as soon as you arrived and then every single place we went stopped taking your order immediately and called the chef.

They went through the adult and children meals with me either telling me what I could have or adapting something else if I fancied it. Pancakes, waffles, pasta, pizza, flatbread sandwiches we ate almost everything and the chefs always handled our orders personally using separate equpment, opening new packets etc. My daughter is pretty sensitive and wasnt unwell once!!

I had read some dodgy stuff about Disney before we went so was a bit concerned and some places said they had just had training in allergy foods(one only the day before) so maybe it is much improved. However for us, if you want really easy and safe gluten free food eating at Disney World was amazing.

Shame to be home really!

Deb





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Florida

From Mark

Just had a couple of weeks in Florida and was glad that I took a fair amount of bread and other things with me. I found a complete lack of awareness about the gluten free diet both in restaurants and the large supermarkets. Very few, if any, foods seem to be labelled gluten free. It's ok if you can stick to steak or chicken, jacket potatoes and salad but I found that often the chips had wheat flour coatings and were cooked in contaminated fat. A lot of the ice cream is out of bounds, even the vanilla, and so are many of the sweets. Go prepared!




From Cassie

I found kissimee was good particularly 152
they have a health shop up by the 15th marker on the right going East and it has all kinds of GF stuff in there and open until quite late at night too
In the other direction on the same road at marker 4 there is a restaurant inside the Travel lodge Inn and they do great GF food, the chef is VERY knowledgeable about Celiac Sprue (as they call it) and seemed to enjoy inventing new dishes for me to try...top notch A la carte.
Shoneys buffet were also good for breakfast although i missed my stack of blueberry pancakes and maple syrup...
the scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns (yes they were gf)tomatoes, and loadsa fruit and an unlimited supply too once you've payed ye £4.99
Did you contact celiac.com before ye went? I did and they meet up in Orlando on the first Sunday of every month. Loads of help from them.



From Reyanna

Orlando, Florida.
I just returned from a vacation (holiday) from there,
and I found that I also stuck to steak and potatoes
while I was there. However... at the Magic Kingdom in
Disney World, I was fortunate to have chosen a nice
restaurant, The Liberty Bell Tavern. At least that's
what I think it was called *laugh*. Anyway... they
serve gluten-free rice rolls on request. They also
have a few other meals that we can eat, and the chef
will come out to your table to talk it over with you.


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Florida
Posted by Tracey S on 7/3/2005,
GF board


Going to Florida for the first time in a few weeks and found an email address for a guy involved with the local celiac society. This is what he sent me in reply:
"Many celiacs come to Orlando for repeat visits so it can be done. The
diet is not as well know here as many Europen countries.

Disney is excellent for handling the diet if you stay at one of their
hotels or eat a sit down dinner.

In Orlando, we have two health food stores that carry GF items:

WWW.chamberlins.com They are close to Disney. Their fresh chocolate
brownie is out of this world.

WWW.Wholefoods.com They are about 30 miles north.

Here is a Web site that has GF product list of items that you can find
in the US.

homepage.mac.com/sholland/celiac/GFfoodlist.pdf

Here is a Web site with some more GF notes:
forums.delphiforums.com/celiac/start


At Disney the best thing to do is to contact the Executive Chef at each
park and tell them where you are planning to eat and would they
coordinate a meal for you.

Bread is hard, Chamberlin's and a few Publix's ( a local grocery store)
carry some pre-made (frozen) bread. You have to toast it for a sandwich.

If you see any reference to a Florida bread with millet from Deland Bakery,
do not eat it. We have evidence that it has 10 percent gluten it. It
has taken years to find the proof after reports of problems from many celiacs.

Currently MCDonalds french fries are GF.

Some restaurants that have GF items on their Web site menu.

wwww.Outback.com
www.BoneFishGrill.com
www.Carabas.com
www.P.F.Chang.com
If you go to the east coast of Florida, this is well worth your time.
WWW.CafeMargaux.com

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USA (florida)
Posted by Mark on 30/7/2005

Just spent a fortnight in Florida (Orlando and the Keys). The supermarket chain Publix will send a list of their gf products to your hotel on request. Their website: www.publix.com/ has a very good gf section and my e-mails were quickly responded to. Publix also label their food with allergy info. Another supermarket chain - Winn Dixie -

www.winndixie.com/
were also helpful.
Went to one of the Outback steakhouses in the Keys on a couple of occasions and had really good meals. They had a gf menu but didn't know much about coeliac. However, I didn't have any reaction. The puddings were excellent. One of the waitresses told me that I was only the third person in two years who had asked for the gf menu and so I suppose you can excuse them for not being very aware.
Overall knowledge of gf in Florida is still very lacking but at least some food manufacturers are now labelling their products properly. I visted Key West and found a food shop that sold gf biscuits - staff there knew nothing about them but they tasted ok

...If you haven't been to Florida at this time of year before you need to be prepared for the heat and humidity. It's important to drink a lot of water.I tend to eat less when I'm out there. The temperature last week was 95f but the 'heat index' (what it really feels like) was 110f. It just means you'll need to take your time when doing things. Fortunately most places ahave air conditioning which really helps. If you are doing Disney etc I'd suggest a day at the parks followed by a day at the pool. Disney's Typhoon Lagoon water Park is super.
The restaurant chains, Ponderosa, Sizzler and Golden Corrall all do good buffets which give a coeliac a good choice of meats, salads etc. They are also quite cheap, Golden Corrall especially so. Staff there won't know much about gf, I tend to say 'wheat allergy' and more people understand that. Edy's ice cream is super and most of the ordinary ices vanilla, strawberry and the wonderful chop chip are gf!
I take plenty of food with me: bread, cornflakes, crackers, biscuits etc and have never had any problems with US Customs. However, I do carry a letter with me from my doctor which just says I've got coeliac and need to take special foods with me. The good news is that if you take lots of food there will be plenty of space in your case for bargains when you return home!
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Re: Gluten Free eating in Florida
Posted by Mark on 21/2/2006 GF board

Golden Corrall and Ponderosa steakhouse are also good. I can confirm that the Outback Steakhouse do offer a gf menu. Went there a couple of times last summer. The steaks and puds are great. The larger supermarkets all have sections where you can get british food such as Heinz Baked Beans.


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Re: Gluten Free eating in Florida
Posted by Apricot on 21/2/2006

GF board



...I have been Florida too...Naples area...and the Keys.
Publix supermarkets are great, lots of choice in the G/F.
They have some Farmers markets, wonderful fresh items. Still seems strange good "summer" fruits all year.



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Re: Gluten Free eating in Florida
Posted by Mark on 21/2/2006

.....The brit sections in the American super markets - Winn Dixie and Publix are good - have a resonable section of foodstuffs but on my last visit in the summer I noticed that quite a number of american manufacturers are now starting to print allergy info on their packaging. The clearest was on some bread rolls,in large letters 'CONTAINS WHEAT AND GLUTEN'. Still our cousins accross the pond are moving in the right direction!


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Re: Gluten Free eating in Florida
Posted by Karen (Essex) on 21/2/2006


Chamberlins Health Food shop has loads of great GF stuff including GF chocolate brownies, breakfast cereal, bread, chewy bars, etc.
Outback Steakhouse should have a GF menu list.
Carrabas have a GF list on their website.
Sizzler do a great buffet with loads of naturally GF stuff plus steak, jacket potatoe from the main menu.
Dennys are great for breakfasts - bacon, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns etc.


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Re: Gluten Free eating in Florida
Posted by Christa on 22/2/2006

GF board
Disney World Theme Parks and ALL there Hotel restaurants will accommodate the Gluten Free diet. They take such good care of you that you will never want to leave. I wish the real world took care of the gluten free diet as well as they do. We just went to Orlando for 2 weeks in December and my daughter has celiac disease and we could not believe how well she was taken care of and how good the food was.
.... if you need to eat a good meal just go to one of Disney's hotel restaurants and they will take REALLY good care of you. I promise that you will be amazed how well they will take care of you.


.....You do not need advance reservations at any of Disney's restaurants to eat gluten free but if they know in advance you may be able to get a little more choices if you want something spacific to eat. We had advance reservations for everywhere we ate but that was so that we were assured a seat. At every restaurant the Chef came to the table after we were seated and spoke with me and my daughter so everything was done once we arrived. Chef Mickey's at the Contempary we ate for breakfast and after taking my daughters order they baked her a cake for desert during the time that we were eating our breakfast. So they didnt do any preparation ahead of time. The great thing about Disney is they have a seperate area that they cook just for gluten free foods in each restaurant to assure there is no cross-contamination and they have pretty good GF products.

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From Suse on GF board

Many celiacs come to Orlando for repeat visits so it can be done. The diet is not as well known here as many Europen countries.

Disney is excellent for handling the diet if you stay at one of their hotels or eat a sit down dinner. They can provide details on special diets by calling 407 939-3463.

In Orlando, we have two health food stores that carry GF items:

WWW.chamberlins.com They are close to Disney. Their fresh chocolate brownie is out of this world.

WWW.Wholefoods.com They are about 30 miles north.

Here is a Web site that has GF product list of items that you can find
in the US.

homepage.mac.com/sholland/celiac/GFfoodlist.pdf

Here is a Web site with some more GF notes:
forums.delphiforums.com/celiac/start

At Disney the best thing to do is to contact the Executive Chef at each park and tell them where you are planning to eat and would they
coordinate a meal for you.

Bread is hard, Chamberlin's and a few Publix's ( a local grocery store)carry some pre-made (frozen) bread. You have to toast it for a sandwich.

If you see any reference to a Florida bread with millet from Deland Bakery, do not eat it. We have evidence that it has 10 percent gluten it. It has taken years to find the proof after reports of problems from many celiacs.

Currently MCDonalds french fries are GF. Here is a link to their current GF List:
www.mcdonalds.com/app_controller ... index.html

Some restaurants that have GF items on their Web site menu.

wwww.Outback.com
www.BoneFishGrill.com
www.Carabas.com
www.P.F.Chang.com
www.donpablos.com
www.peiwei.com/

If you go to the east coast of Florida, this is well worth your time.
WWW.CafeMargaux.com

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[Silly Yak]

Florida

From Jackie (ed by Lyn G)

Orlando Florida
I spent three weeks in Florida last year and found that I stuck to steak and salads/chips most of the time. The good thing is the way Americans serve their food i.e. buffet style so you can choose but yes most of the puddings are out! Disney itslef was difficult if you just wanted a snack - I ended up making my own sandwiches to bring in as I didn't want two big meals a day and I brought a fresh fruit salad which was good and available at most of their sites.

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Disney World in Orlando, Florida

September 2002
A Gluten Free Vacation at Disney World
By Janet Lowery, Nashville


www.wdwig.com/guestceliac.htm


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From Mark

I'm off to Florida as well in 5 weeks. The US celiac soc , www.csaceliacs.org will send you their gf list for about £14 together with a lot of other info. It's worth it because no food in the usa seems to be labelled gf and they put wheat in all sorts of things that you wouldn't expect. I found it easy to phone them, the number is on the website and quote my credit card. You could always ask them to send it to your Florida address, it will be cheaper that way. I'll let everyone know how I get on. From my previous visits, however, I reckon it's best to go well prepared as very few people in restaurants have heard about coeliac. People are interested but have little knowledge.


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From Jackie (mum of twins), GF board 02/06/03

Recently one of the nurses in Sasha's diabetes clinic told me that she was taking a child of 8 who has coelicand diabetes to Florida. I said that I would ask some contacts who live in the US.

I wrote to an email to a US based support list for children with coeliac/diabetes and someone from the US send me this reply. I hope it will be helpful. I did have another letter from someone else saying that they found it hard to get GF stuff, but as the person who wrote this message actually lives in Florida she probably knows where to get the GF food from. Just make a note of the Supermarket chain that she spoke about as well.

Message she sent me below about from about 3 weeks ago.

>

We live in Florida, and the stores carry quite a bit of GF foods now. There is a grocery food chain here called Publix that has an assortment of Pamelas cookies, different flours, and an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables. Eating out at Disney World in Florida is easy as long as you go to one of the restaurants and do not eat from the vendors throughout the park.. Calling ahead of time and planning your days with at least one good meal, usually lunch, you can instruct the people at reservations that you have a dietary restricion. Every time we have been it has been great. In all cases the actual chef came and met our daughter and asked her what she wanted, and he made it. At one character breakfast he had already prepared the batter for GF opancakes just for her. A little planning makes a big difference,., We always stay off Disney at a rented Villa in Kissimmee, 2 minutes out the gate. The private home ends up being cheaper than Disney, gives us a private pool, and a place to cook great healthy meals....no other way to go...

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eating in florida
Posted by caro on 13/11/2004 GF board


any advice on eating for 2 coeliac children in the Florida theme parks? my daughter is also vegetarian
thanx



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Posted by Lucy on 13/11/2004, GF board


Caro,
We came back from Florida last weekend, having taken our 3 (8, 7 and 5 - only 1 coeliac) to Disney - we had a great time, and I'm sure you will too.
There is quite a lot of comment about Florida on the Supp board, so do check this. We did buy the american GF food bible, but didn't use it at all .............. .....................its an A4 file.
I think the GF/Vegetarian thing will be difficult - I'm veggie, and my daughter is GF, but combining them may be tricky. A few places don't cater for veggies at all ...
We took Juvela rolls and Tesco pitta breads, and had no problem taking them through customs.
We took snacks into the parks in a back-pack coolbag, as snacks in the parks are almost exclusively gluten-based. Watch out for the ice-cream - some contains flour - and the Pringles, which are not GF.
I believe it is possible to take picnics in coolbags into the parks and there are lockers for hire to put them in. We only did this at Kennedy Space Centre. We had a lunchtime break most days and went home to eat, cool off in the pool and have a quiet time, before going back into the parks for the late afternoon/evening. If you are self-catering and close to the parks, you might find this a good idea as the parks are very tiring.
We found that the restaurants were capable of handling GF at no notice - the chef would come out and talk to us about what she could/couldn't eat, and would modify the dishes if needed. We ate at the Rainforest Cafe in Animal Kingdom (jungle ambiance and noises), Sci Fi Drive-in in MGM (50s B movies playing, your table is in a car), Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom (character lunch) and one of the hotels for a character breakfast. Epcot were having a food fair, so we ate from stalls with food from around the world - fantastic, and lots of veggie/gf choice. Nobody was stroppy about our dietary restrictions ...

[Silly Yak]

Florida
from Mark on 1/8/2003 GF board


Have just been to Florida for a couple of weeks and had no problem eating out. I gave up on saying I was on a gf diet because no one seemed to have a clue. However, I had more success when I said 'wheat allergy'. Restaurant chains such as Sizzler, Golden Coral and Ponda Rosa which operate on a buffet basis provide plenty of choice for coeliacs. Golden Coral are worth a special mention because of the particularly large choice of meats - chicken portions, a carvery involving beef and ham etc - all for under £5 at lunch time. Excellent fruit selection as well.
Before I went I contacted the US coeliac soc and purchased their food list. It was £14 inc postage but well worth it because virtually no supermarket foods are labelled gf in the US. We used a large supermarket chain called 'Publix' Very high standards and lots of choice - brilliant ice creams- lots of gf flavours. Publix also have 'ethnic sections' where you will find good old British food such as Heinz baked beans etc. Most of the stuff is double the price compared to the UK but if you are desparate for some home grown gf foods it's a useful source.

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From St John's

I had an overwhelming response to my question about safe eating at
Disneyworld in Orlando. Without a doubt, everyone said that I will have
absolutely no problem. All sit-down restaurants in the parks have gf
items. The only thing you have to do is contact the chef 24-48 hours in
advance and let him/her know you are coming. The fast food areas have a
list of every ingredient in what they offer. They will also work with
you to insure things are handled properly. You can call the various
parks ahead of time and talk to the executive chef of each park about
the different restaurants. The following numbers will help you do this:

Magic Kingdom - [phone]
Epcot - [phone]
MGM - [phone]
Animal Kingdom - [phone]

It was also suggested that you take a small side cooler for snacks
during the day.

It sounds like everyone had an excellent time while they were there and
found eating at Disneyworld to be the easiest of anywhere they've ever
been.

Thanks so much to all of you who helped make me feel comfortable with
the thought of traveling to Disney.

Christie in TX

maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe ... ac&P=R2043
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Florida

From Tracey GF board


Just got back from Florida and thought I would post a note of my experience. It was not easy. In America it seems that the principal ingredient in anything at all is flour. Breakfasts were just out of the question. While my family could enjoy the gorgeous looking pancakes etc I had to sit and watch. The best sort of place for breakfasts is somewhere like a chain called Sizzlers or Ponderosa, which are places that you order what you want and then its self serve. There was lots of fruit and salad available at these places. One of the main problems I had was getting the serving staff to understand my requirements. An awful lot of them seemed to be from South America, and therefore had difficulty understanding what I was saying. If they did understand they were very helpful. There is a chain called Outback Steak House which has a gluten free menu - and there is a delicious dessert that you can get. It's called Sydney's Sinful Sundae - yum. Believe it or not, the best meal I had was at the Magic Kingdom where we had a "character dinner". As soon as I said I needed a special diet they had the chef come to our table to discuss it with me. They had Gluten free bread rolls to go with the salad and made me my own gravy to go with the main course. Then the piece de resistance was the chocolate cake and ice cream to finish!! (Not that I've got a sweet tooth or anything. It's just that the opportunity to get a decent dessert is so rare!). Even Goofy tried to pinch it!! I suppose it's not too much of a problem to be living on steak and salad for two weeks, but I did enjoy my roast dinner today!!


...I would say just take bread. I took two loaves, and was glad I did. There's a health food chain called Chamberlins, and they sell various other items......the Publix chain of supermarkets have pasta and breakfast cereals, and there are hundreds of Publix around. I was told to be careful of the ice cream, but all the ones I tried were fine.


Re: Florida
From Lucy

....we went to Florida last autumn with our 3 children, the eldest (then 8, now 9) being the coeliac. ... we had a wonderful time, and we didn't find the coeliac thing to be a problem. But we went self-catering, and took bread and rolls. We found GF pasta in Publix supermarket. Like Tracey, we found the Disney staff in restaurants to be extremely helpful.

[Silly Yak]

Back from Florida
Posted by Lucy (Cheshire) on 7/11/2004
GFboard

We're just back from two weeks in Florida doing Disney (yes, thanks for asking, it was fantastic).
Amazingly, BA had organised two gluten-free meals for my daughter for each of the long flights to/from Florida. They had warned us that there wouldn't be anything on the short flights Manchester/London, so we were prepared for that.

We took 20 Juvela rolls and 10 Tesco pitta breads, and tried to declare them at Customs, but they weren't remotely interested, so no problems there.

Apart from two nights in hotels at either end of the holiday (I'd booked rooms with kitchenettes, so we could self-cater) we stayed in a villa in Kissimmee, and found Publix to have GF quinoa pasta (which my daughter loved, so we brought 3 boxes home). It had other GF foodstuffs too, which weren't appropriate or she didn't like.

In Disney itself, we found that at restaurants the chef would come out to discuss the menu with us to find out what was OK, and were prepared e.g. to cook rice for her instead of the mashed potato. Mashed potato! We'd never have thought that would have had wheatflour in. Also, watch out for the soft-serve ice-cream, which can contain flour, and the Pringles, which are not GF. But even at the vendors in Disney, they were happy to dig out the ingredients list so we could check the icecream. At one character breakfast we went to, they had GF chocolate brownies available, but not on display. We didn't call ahead anywhere, and noone was confused or stroppy with us about her requirements. It was great.

Lucy

[Silly Yak]

Re: Florida tips

Posted by Karen (England) on 13/10/2005

GF board

We're flying to Orlando tomorrow.
My husband is coeliac.
I have been posting questions about restaurants in Orlando to www.glutenfreeforum.com/index.php?showforum=28
Try searching for topics started by Karen (England) and read the replies.
Or post a question yourself.
Off the top of my head I have had these recommendations:
Restaurants: Outback, PF Chang, Carrabas, Golden Corall, Sizzler buffets, most Disney restaurants if you as to talk to the chef.
Supermarkets: Publix (some stores do some GF stuff)
Health Food Shops - www.chamberlins.com (especially the GF brownies)

The nearest Chamberlins health food shop is probably at
Albertsons/Town Corral Center
1114 N. John Young Parkway
Kissimmee, FL 34741
Phone: [phone]
(SW Corner of John Young Parkway & Vine St.)
9:00 am - 8:30 pm : Mon - Sat
11 am - 5:30 pm: Sun

[Silly Yak]

GF in the USA - in detail
Posted by Karen (Ess ex) on 8/11/2005

Gf board

In October 2005 we went to Orlando, Florida, USA.
We did some homework before the trip.

We visited www.clanthompson.com to buy the
"Clan Thompson Celiac Pocket Guide to Foods 2005". This is like our Coeliac UK Food "Bible" but is quite a bit smaller. It also contains details of the GF menu items at a few restaurant chains.

We also visited www.goodhealthpublishing.com (or go via http://www.celiac.com) to order "The Gluten Wheat Free Guide to Eating Out". This is a guide to the menu items at quite a few restaurant chains.

We also contacted Disney via www.disney.com
and visited www.mcdonalds.com for a list of GF items.

We declared Gluten free bread and cakes on the customs declaration but were not challenged about it. (We had a photocopy of my husband's first letter from the consultant saying that he had coeliac disease but didn't ever need to show it).

We bought some food at Publix supermarkets, some at Walmart (called ASDA here) and lots at Chamberlins HealthFood Shop (see http://www.chamberlins.com). Chambelins had loads of GF stuff - cakes, waffles, breakfast cereal, etc.

There is not much specialised GF stuff in the normal supermarkets.
In fact, there is not much normal food in the normal supermarkets because Americans eat out so much. You can buy fruit, veg, meat etc but there is not much choice. There is far more choice of snacks than ingredients for meals.

On entry to the theme parks all our bags were checked each time (for security reasons). Although you are not meant to take coolers into the parks, my husband always had a small cooler (containing his GF packed lunch) inside a rucksack. When his rucksack was being checked he always pointed to the cooler and said "I have a wheat allergy". That did the trick every time.
(Note "wheat allergy" is better understood than coeliac or celiac or gluten).

Sit down Disney restaurants seemed to be the most helpful for food intolerances. You could get hot dogs (without the bun), fries, and turkey legs in most Disney parks.

Virgin Atlantic will take orders for GF meals but forgot to load the GF meals going out.
So take emergency rations, just in case!
The air hostesses found some plain chicken, jacket potato and fruit but couldn't guarantee lack of contamination. Fortunately, my husband isn't ultra sensitive.

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gluten-free bread in orlando
Posted by Suzanne on 2/8/2006

GF board

I have visited Orlando a few times sice having CD, I always take a letter with me from my GP stating about my condition and the foods i need.
This is allows me to take gluten food into the country. I always take some Juvela gluten free bread, I dont normally eat this bread at home for I normally make my own bread. But it makes life easier whilst away on holiday. I am aware that you can buy gluten free items in many of the supermarkets but I have never seen bread in the shops.


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Re: gluten-free bread in orlando
Posted by Mark IOW on 2/8/2006

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Re: gluten-free bread in orlando
Posted by Eileen on 2/8/2006
When I lived in Phoenix, Arizona, until 11 years ago, I found the best place to find GF food was the drug store. A long time ago I know, but supply and demand has to be even better now?


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[Silly Yak]

hayley » Tue Sep 26, 2006 6:10 pm

Just thought i'd add my latest experience of GF florida holiday,

we flew with My travel in their premium economy section, generally quite good all round, i had Chicken with peas and potatoes for the meal on the way out, with a lifestyle brown bread roll and best of all a chocolate flake cake. unfortunatly i was only offered an apple and orange as the snack but by then i'd already eaten the mars bar ice cream & a tub of pringles so i wasn't too fussed.

coming back i had beef casserole thing with mash and green beans which was ok and a lifestyle roll again. no chocolate cake this time but i think the roll was meant to got with the spread cheese supplied. breckfast was an omlette and a lifestyle roll.

food in florida is a bit hit and miss- last year we stayed at Port Orleans, a disney resort and i was spoiled with pancakes for breckfast and knowlegable staff who helped me choose a dinner meal but this year we stayed in a timeshare resport instead.

Breckfast:
i took cereal, biscuits and snackbars with me just in case and had these a couple of days for breakfast, i also discoverd Bobs Bill GF pancake, brownie and cookie mixes in Publix supermarket so made pancakes a couple of times. also brought packets home to try the brownies etc.

Lunch:
We generally didn't eat lunch but instead had some crisp or similar in the afternoon as a snack.

Dinner:
Dinner was a bit hit and mis- we managed to get reservations at the California Grille in the disney comtempory resort hotel, where you get a great view of the magic kingdom fireworks. as with all disney food places you can always get something and the food was good here- pork fillet with goats cheese polenta, different but me & my gulten eating other half enjoyed it.

other places which we we ate were:
Red Lobster- had the platter of shrimp, lobster and crab claws with rice.
Planet Hollywood- went here twice and had steak and rice and chicken fajitas minus the fajitas.
Pinchers crab shack in Fort Myers on the gulf coast- lobster again with veggies.
Chloes in the Diamondhead Beach Respot Hotel in Fort Myers- tomatoe and mozzerella salad and chicken stuffed with spinach and ricotta with baked pot.
Ralagans irish pub in downtown disney- had chicken kebab type starter and chicken, potatoes and onions in cider sauce, again disney food so ok.
Outback - went here twice, got a GF menu and the chocolate thunder down under desert is great!

i can't think of anywhere else but generally safe food is availble but usually not very adventureous- usually steak or plain chicken with rice or baked potatoe, also shrimp, lobster and crab are in every place and generally ok.

[Silly Yak]

Florida Debrief
Posted by Ric on 17/10/2006


Back from Orlando, Florida. It is a gf paradise:
Restaurants:

Bonefish Grill - GF menu - bonefishgrill.com

Outback Steak House - GF Menu -www.outbacksteakhouse.com

PF Chang Chinese Bistro - GF Menu - www.pfchangs.com

We also ate very well at Moonfish - www.fishfusion.com

Hotel

We stayed at the Ritz Carlton. We supplied the chef with GF flour and he made pancakes and maple syrup most mornings. The hotel also ordered in gf bread and porridge. We also returned to the room one day to find the hotel had provided a hamper full of gf biscuits, pretzels, brownies etc free of charge.

Disney

Disney were something else. Book a sit down meal 48 hours in advance by visiting the website and calling the reservation line. It is Disney practice that a chef will come and see you at your table. It is also possible to eat over the counter fast food, just go to Guest Relations at the particular park and they will point you in the right direction. Here is a summary of what we elected to eat at Disney:


Popcorn - all salted and buttered popcorn from the carts is gf

Giant smoked turkey legs - sold by cart vendors around the parks

Ice Cream (Palours)- go into an ice cream parlour and simply ask for the ingredients list

ice Cream (Cart Vendors) - Frozen Banana Stick (a frozen banana covered in chocolate and nuts), Itzakadole (a giant ice pop on a stick)

Magic Kingdom sit down dining - Tony's Townhouse (gf pasta and gf bread)

Epcot sit down dining - Canadian steakhouse

Epcot fast food - Liberty Inn (the fast food outlet in the American part of the world show case). Provided gf cheeseburger in gf bun and fries in a dedicated "Celiac" fryer

Disney MGM - Toystory Pizza Planet - GF pizza (cooked next door to avoid contamination)

Animal Kingdom fast food - Slab of Ribs

Downtown Disney - Fultons Crab House - gf seafood.

In short...

We ate out for breakfast, dinner and lunch for 14 days. Not one hint of a problem with a super sensitive Coeliac.

It can be done - it was all enjoyable and stress free. Highly recommended.





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

USA
American Holiday

Posted by anniewal on 11/1/2010
GF board

I find it a great place to eat -Florida wise hope these help

Gluten free supermarkets in kissimmee/orlando
www.wholefoods.com/

www.chamberlins.com/


Restaurants - each has their own gluten free menus just search or go to menus

www.olivegarden.com/locator/loca ... rchalt.asp

www.olivegarden.com/menus/garden ... atives.asp

www.bonefishgrill.com/

www.carabas.com/

www.p.f.chang.com/

www.outback.com/menu/glutenfreemenu.pdf

www.peiwei.com/#/menu/

www.bonefishgrill.com/

www.pizzafusion.com/menu/what-se ... -free.aspx

Hope these help. Have a lovely holiday

Also Disney Info
allears.net/din/guestceliac.htm

[Silly Yak]

Florida

Posted by jacqui wellbrook on 18/1/2008
GF board

We holidayed in Florida last August. All main supermarkets useless - we found a few caramel rice cakes. However Wholefoods supermarket FANTASTIC. WE stopped on the way from orlando airport and stocked up.They are building a new one next to the parks. If you are doing theme parks you can take in your own food and store in lockers - I emailed Disney beforehand to confirm.
Disney restaurants terrible as my twins don't eat meat. hard Rock good also Universal Studio sit down restaurant.

[Silly Yak]

Toddy » Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:13 pm


We have just returned from Florida - although we have been before, this was our first trip since both of our daughters (aged 11 and 9) were diagnosed with coeliac in December and February respectively. Our eldest is also diabetic. Although I was fairly confident with the diabetes, it is fair to say that I was quite worried about eating, and whilst everyone else was busy packing shorts, t-shirts and sun-cream, I was getting lists together of what food I should take! But I have to say, everything was fine. Firstly, for those who are travelling with coeliac children, I would say that staying in a condo (we stayed at the Bahama Bay Resort which was fantastic) is essential. We made sure that our resort was located near a Publix supermarket, and I contacted them via e-mail prior to visiting. They sent me a list of all their GF products which was so useful. They also have a Greenwise section which stocks stuff like GF pasta, cereal, flour etc. But many of their products are naturally GF anyway and they tend to be cheaper. We did stop by a Walmart but we found the staff there to be unhelpful; they didn't have a clue what we were talking about. As we did Disney the last time we visited, we visited Universal, Busch Gardens (superb!) and Sea World. I contacted all these parks prior to visiting to say that I wanted to bring in a cool bag with my own food. All said this was no problem. When entering the parks there was a brief bag inspection but we weren't asked once about the food. I took a packed lunch for the girls on most visits out. I used Glutafin select white mix and bread mix to make my own bread.
Eating out was a bit more difficult. When you mention coeliac the waitresses look blank. In the end we said "wheat allergy" and they seemed to understand that more - I think they heard the word allergy and thought that the girls would have some sort of dramatic reaction if wheat was consumed! The one place that really stood out was Disney's Typoon Lagoon. We were there on our last full day and I had run out of bread. I took loads of fruit, yoghurts and snacks but the girls wanted something a bit more substantial so we decided to be brave and venture the fast food cafe. When we got to the front of the line to make our order, I had just begun the normal speech, "my daughers require a gluten free/wheat free diet.....etc" and the waitress said, hold on. The next thing we were ushered forward and a man came out dressed in a white coat, holding a big folder. We thought he was a doctor! He asked what we needed, what we wanted, and he sorted it! We were very impressed!
We are lucky that they girls are no too sensitive - if they do eat something they normally just have bad wind and a tummy ache, but nothing that stops them for too long (and at least the wind clears the queues for the rides - only joking!!)
Generally we had no problems and went with our instinct. We are relatively new to all this and made judgements on what they could eat and what they could not. The girls also had very definate views on what they wanted to eat, and if the waiters could not confirm it was GF then they chose another option.
All in all, it was a really successful trip. It did make me realise just how much more is known about the condition over here, and just how much our supermarkets cater for GF diets.
I am glad that I did my research before hand as it made me feel better when I was there. And I am glad that I filled a holdall with bread mixes, biscuits, crackers etc.
Oh, the food on the plane wasn't bad either - I requested GF childrens meals and they were chicken and potatoe and lifestyle bread which was quite good. We were quite impressed!
So if you are planning a trip to Florida, don't hesitate. Go self catering, take lots of food with you (the US Embassy website tells you what you can take into the US with you), pack your sun cream and have lots of fun!!

[kickingfrog]

Orlando Report

GF board

Posted by Karen (Essex) on 1/3/2011

Virgin Atlantic supplied GF food OK but veg risotto not to my daughter's taste (plain chicken and rice coming back). Also, fruit salad for breakfast
does not really compare with a hot ham and cheese roll! So, take GF sandwiches and snacks just in case.

US customs were OK about bakery products being imported (bags were Xrayed in Orlando and OKed).
You can take cereal, bread, cakes, cheese, marmite, chocolate, crips, chocolate spread etc. No meat, nuts, fruit, seeds, etc. (Check on US customs website for up to date info).

Lots of Freefrom stuff at Chamberlins. Some Freefrom stuff at Wholefoods.
No Freefrom stuff at Walmart, Publix or Winn Dixie (Marketplace)that I could see but most sausages, ham, yogurts, icecream, crips etc. seemed OK. Some chex breakfast cereals have Gluten Free in big letters on front of packet (e.g. corn chex, honey nut chex) and are found in all supermarkets.

Managed to take food into all parks except Discovery Cove (who have some GF food and all food is included in price anyway). At SeaWorld and Aquatica we had to say that the food was for a "medical diet".

Most parks have turkey legs, Lays Crisps (potato chips!). Icecreams have ingredients marked.

You are better off asking for wheat, rye and barley free than gluten free - gluten isn't a recognised allergen in America.

Many Disney restaurants and counter service have something GF. You have to see the manager and wait a while (maybe 10 minutes) but the GF rolls for the hotdogs and burgers are great. GF brownies and cookies are good. The GF macaroni cheese was OK but a bit small. Fries have contamination risk unless you give notice and ask for baked fries. We didn't bother and fries were OK for us but we aren't very sensitive. You need to book well in advance for Disney restaurants. They start filling up 180 days beforehand. You can do this on the internet. No charge if you don't turn up - unless it's a special character meal.

I would recommend Dennys for breakfast (bacon, eggs, omelettes, etc.) See website for allergen list. The list looked OK for dinner too.

Sizzler have a great dinner buffet it you don't mind the contamination risk. I managed to find an allergen list somewhere on the internet. There was quite a lot that was GF. Don't take chances though because some things aren't that you would think would be (and vice versa).

Golden Corral (dinner buffer) gave me a list but not everthing on the buffet was in the list and there was less choice in general.

Carrabas (italian) and Outback Steak house have great GF menus. They have really interesting food with lots of sauces. They are very popular so get there early (5PM) or pop in and book for another day.

Wendys is probably the best burger place for GF. Burger (without bun), fries, jacket potatoes, etc.

All in all, Orlando is one of the easiest places for GF, especially as the waiters are used to assertive American people asking for all sorts of weird changes to the menu and expecting good service

[kickingfrog]

Re: Thinking of going to Florida

Posted by Karen on 28/2/2013

GF board

...
There are some lovely GF products in the large healthfood stores in Orlando.

You can take food into America in hand luggage and suitcases as long as it does not contain anything on their restricted list. Basically bread, cake, cornflakes, pasta, crisps, chocolate, toffee, etc is fine. Anything with meat, nuts, dried fruit, cheese, etc is NOT OK. So stick to chocolate cake rather than fruit cake, cornflakes rather than honey nut cornflakes, etc.

Some airlines will let you take extra weight if you have a diagnosed coeliac. You have to arrange this in advance.

You can get GF burgers, pizzas, macaroni cheese, etc in Disney parks. You need to request them especially.

You can also take GF food into the parks.


....

Orlando is one of the easiest places to go GF.

If you do your research and plan then it should be reasonably straight sailing. Enjoy!

There are lots of GF options available and the waiters in America are very keen on their tips and so give good service. Also, Americans are very particular in what they order and what they expect and so your requests will seem quite mild in comparison.

There are quite a few restaurant chains that are good for GF. I can particularly recommend Outback Steakhouse (steaks, ribs, etc). You will find lists of GF places in Orlando on this supplementary board and the U.S. Celiac websites. Also on some U.S. celiac sites you can order booklets listing U.S. chains that do GF food and what exactly is GF on the menu (or you can often look at the menus on the chain websites which often have a page for allergy information).

You should be able to order a GF meal for the flights but always have a backup because they quite often forget to load the meal or it turns out to be something practically inedible, especially for a child (we were given a mushroom risotto once - it wasn't even touched!)


*********

[Silly Yak]

Posted by Karen on 11/8/2016, 8:40:19, in reply to "Re: Do I need to take bread to New York/Orlando?"


The following health food supermarket in Orlando (imagine a huge Holland and Barratt) has loads of GF stuff and is well worth the trip.

Whole Foods Market  

Address: Philips Crossing, 8003 Turkey Lake Rd, Orlando, FL 32819, United States
Phone:[phone]
Hours: Open today · 8am–10pm