June eighth was our sixth wedding anniversary, and we celebrated all six of those years (eight, really) in grand style by hopping into our car and driving across California all the way to Disneyland. Who would have thought, eight years ago, that the cute blond boy sitting across from me in that fateful Japanese language class, would turn out to be THE ONE, and take me around the world and back again. Oh, the places we’ve been. Mexico, Jamaica, the Grand Cayman, France, Italy, Belgium, India (twice together!), Japan (our second home), Singapore, Austria, Germany… My honey has the travel bug and he delights in nothing more than sharing it with his friends and loved ones. He also handily has a knack of finding great airline fares online or using frequent flier miles in creative ways, so happily, all our travels haven’t been near as expensive as it all sounds. But, then, as DH says, while some people buy big vehicles or houses- we travel, instead. And the magic of travel is, once you get a passport and get past the idea of everything being far, far away- you can go ANYWHERE. And while being gluten-free still makes me nervous about certain countries, you can get by brilliantly in most places with a little creative thinking and some handy language cards like those provided by Triumph Dining.
For this anniversary we didn’t have the time or budget necessary for one of our ’round the world jaunts, though, so we started thinking about trips closer to home. The two main contenders were Portland, Oregon or Disneyland, in great part because both places make gluten-free travel blissfully easy. Gluten-Free Living just did an article on travel to Disneyland. It was fluffy and didn’t have much of the nitty gritty detail I prefer, but it did indicate that Disneyland staff make serious efforts on the behalf of their gluten-free diners, and that was reassuring. DH loves his roller coasters and I was intrigued by the gluten-free friendly rumors, so finally we decided to celebrate at Disneyland.
*I would like to say Thank you to everyone at the SillyYaks Message Board for their helpful suggestions and tips. You made my visit so much easier!*
Here’s the breakdown of our experiences at various places:
We arrived and went through security. I had a few GF granola bars in my bag and no one commented or seemed to care. I think if you are trying to bring more substantial food into the park you might want to mention a medical dietary restriction. First stop was City Hall. We stood in the (short) line and asked for a gluten-free listing of foods at the park. They handed me a four page, double-sided printout with lists of gluten-free foods available at Disneyland Park and California Adventures. Sites were organized by place- Tomorrowland, Adventureland, etc. Also, vending cart offerings were listed. Guess what? We can eat the cotton candy, popcorn, and Mickey faced ice cream bars (not the ice cream sandwiches, of course.) Them as what eat meat can also have the turkey legs, but those of us of veggie dispositions won’t want that. One thing that I found somewhat aggravating was that I really wanted a breakfast, but both days, by the time we got to the park the breakfast menu was over or finishing. We tried several times to go to the Plaza Inn, where you can get GF waffles and other traditional breakfast fare, but the first day it was closed until Dinner, and the second day they had a special character meal for $23 per person. Much as I love Minnie, I didn’t think she would add that much to my meal, so we passed on that one.
Luckily, Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port, a “futuristic” (think 1970s Jetsons) cafeteria, had quite a few gluten free AND vegetarian options, so we ended up having “breakfast” there both days.
*Please verify information with the latest Celiac Offerings Reference Sheet available at Disneyland as offerings may change!*
When you walk into the Pizza Port, a cast member greets you and shows you to the cafeteria line. I told her right away I needed a gluten-free meal, and so she ushered me to a spot where the line was open to the kitchen and had me ask for the chef. The ladies working there called him, and he came out. I told him I needed a gluten-free meal, and he said “no problem.” Magic to my ears. I could have had rice noodles with pasta, a salad, or a Cheese Pizza with a gluten-free shell. *If you are dairy intolerant, the pasta is fine, but at least one of the salads has cheese and both pizzas (one meat) have cheese. You can ask the chef and he could probably modify it for you but it will require a special order.* I chose the cheese pizza, out of novelty. I’d heard that they only carried Amy’s pizzas, so I was surprised when it came out- if I’m not mistaken, it was a glutino or similar personal pizza crust that was nothing like Amy’s, so they must have changed distributors. We did have to wait about 20 minutes for them to fix it. Do yourself a favor and lean against the wall or find yourself a table with a view of the pick up counter. It came out, suitably cheesy and pizza-like. And, happily, I noted that they seemed to do the prep work out of view in some safe, sequestered area, and DIDN’T cut it with a contaminated knife. I actually felt safe eating pizza in a “pizza joint”- thanks to the segregation of work spaces. We were both pleasantly surprised when our two GF pizzas (DH ordered a GF pizza too, because he’s sweet that way) only came to about $12.00, costing a little under $6 each. It wasn’t even more expensive than the regular pizza, how cool is that?!! We carried our pizzas outside and enjoyed a little Disney pizza magic. How was the pizza? Well, I’m not that crazy about the crust they use- it’s not gourmet. But it is recognizably (reassuringly) gluten-free, the pasta sauce they use is good, and the cheese is suitably cheesy. Altogether a pleasant, if not mind-blowing meal. And the best part? I felt fine after I ate it, and all day. Yay for good gluten-free meal preparation training!
The second day after we passed up our chance to eat with Minnie and Friends, DH pulled me back to Redd Rockett’s. I get grumpy when I don’t eat, so he was determined that I eat, and fast. haha.. This time I wanted to be more adventurous, so I ordered the rice noodles with marinara sauce (on the chef’s recommendation), the Planetary Pizza Salad, and one personal cheese pizza. Keep in mind the pizzas are around 4-6 inches across. Regardless, it was a lot of food, especially with the mountain of rice pasta that came with it. I was a little startled because the planetary pizza salad did come with meat- pepperoni- that I wasn’t expecting. Doh. Had I known I would have asked for it without meat, but as it was I stole some of the olives and peppers that came with the salad and added it to the rather bland pasta. Additional salt also helped the pasta taste better- salt packets were available with the plastic utensils inside the cafeteria. The pasta was clearly rice pasta, and as DH said, looked very different than the regular pasta they served. Funny the things that are comforting when eating out. We ate our GF feast (DH shared everything) while Darth Vader and other Star Wars heroes performed on a nearby stage and kids played with a sphere fountain. Altogether, I was thoroughly happy with the experience. It wasn’t fancy food, or even especially flavorful (although the olives on the salad were higher quality than one might expect), but it was gluten-free and reasonably vegetarian friendly. The salad and pasta were a bit pricier than the mini pizza, so our second bill was about double the first one, but I was glad to get the chance to try everything.
Later we went to the Tiki Juice Bar (and saw the show with the chorus birds-don’t ask) in Adventureland. I was a little confused by the gluten-free list as the names didn’t exactly match up, so I asked the servers if it was gluten-free. They didn’t know, but gave me a great ingredient list- not only did it list all the ingredients but had a “special notes” section with a nice, brightly highlighted “Gluten-free” tag. Yay! To be honest, I took one bite and left the rest to DH- it was too sweet and artificial-tasting for me, but it was gluten-free! There are also many fruit stands all over the park where you can get fresh fruit like pineapple, oranges, and apples. I’m a little embarrassed to say that we didn’t get any- but we could have!
*a few pescatarian references, but all visible photos are vegetarian*
For our special Anniversary Meal, we decided to go to the
Blue Bayou, the restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The Pirates of the Caribbean has always been my favorite ride and I’d always longed to join the fancy people watching over the swamp and enjoying their meal, so it was a fitting place to go. By the way, if you want to eat there, a reservation is recommended, especially if you want a traditional dinner time. We tried to make a reservation by calling their priority seating number 714-781-DINE the first day and they were full that night, but we were able to make an early afternoon reservation for the next day. When we made the reservation, DH mentioned that I was gluten-free, and I noticed that it appeared on our table note sheet when we were seated. By the way, if you want a waterside seat, you should probably ask for that when you make the reservation or make friends with the hostess, as she determines seating. You might have to wait longer for a waterside seat. We ended up one table away from the edge- not bad, and I could make out the faint outlines of boats and riders, so I was happy. One funny note- celebrity
Bob Saget was actually sitting one table away from us. I saw him and heard his voice, and half thought, “oh, he kinda looks like that guy that was on Full House,” and it turned out… it WAS that guy that was on Full House. His next table-mates asked for an autograph and photo with him, which he very graciously granted. Seemed like a nice guy. Anyway. So about the food. They had about eight dishes that could be made gluten-free. Two were pescatarian (mahi mahi or salmon) and one was actually vegetarian- a Broiled Portobello Mushroom. I was nervous about the latter becuase the Celiac Offerings list said “Portobello Mushroom with couscous.” Didn’t they KNOW couscous was made from wheat? Luckily when they brought out the chef, a very nice woman with a cool accent, she knew all about the couscous and offered rice instead. BTW, only come here if you are celebrating and up for the stiff prices- we were on the lunch menu and each main course entree was around $30, including the vegetarian dish. They first brought out a salad- it was buttery lettuce with a rather acidic sherry dressing, with a side of avocado and some blue cheese. Thankfully the blue cheese was on the side, because I can’t stand the stuff, irrespective of its gluten-free or gluten-containing status. It wasn’t bad, but I thought there was too much dressing. Apparently the salad usually comes with some kind of gluten-based sausage- I was quick to tell her I didn’t need it anyway. Our main dishes were quite good. I had a pescatarian offering (sorry guys, you may or may not know I occasionally indulge when dining out- don’t think worse of me but for $30 I thought better go with the recommendation of the chef) and was quite satisfied. The cajun rice was pleasant, and I liked the side vegetables- simply prepared and seasoned white asparagus and broccolini. DH had jambalaya that he quite enjoyed, despite the fact that he’s not usually a jambalaya kind of guy. We had told our server that it was our anniversary, so, to our surprise, at the end of the meal she brought us “free” ice cream with candles and mint doubloons, along with two mickey and minnie “Happy Anniversary” pins. Altogether it was a pleasant meal that felt very satisfying, celebrating our anniversary and fulfilling a childhood fantasy all in one swoop.
So, that was our experience at Disneyland proper. Next time, I think I’d go to the
Rancho Del Zocalo in Frontierland and try their corn vegetable tacos and cheese quesadillas and/or cheese enchiladas. Pizza is good, but a girl can’t live on gluten-free pizza alone.
But what about not quite Disneyland proper? When I asked people on my favorite gluten-free message board, Yahoo’s SillyYaks group, they highly recommended the
Storytellers Cafe in downtown Disneyland in the Grand Californian Hotel. (
Menu). We went there for an early dinner the first night. I did notice that there wasn’t a lot of variety as far as vegetarian options- in fact, they were fairly non-existent. Honestly our server seemed quite clueless about the whole vegetarian preference thing- she said, Oh, we can make almost anything gluten-free, so what would you like… and then when I asked about gluten-free and vegetarian she sort of blinked and said, er, well, there’s the prime rib. Riiiight. We ordered the gluten-free pizza, because I was looking forward to a gourmet version, and I selected artichoke hearts, red onions, and mushrooms. We also ordered the Gluten Free (pescatarian) Linguini.
Photo of Pescatarian Pasta. (Remember, DH and I were sharing, so the pesc. thing was mostly for him.) When the pizza came I was pretty disappointed as it was barely warm and clearly hadn’t been cooked long enough. I would have sent it back but I was concerned about it becoming cross contaminated on the way to the oven, so I just ate it as is, but sadly enough the Redd Rockett pizza was 100 times better. Amazing what being cooked properly will do for a food. Also, the toppings were just thrown on there with little, if any seasoning- the artichoke hearts were not even cut up so it was a bit hard to eat. The pasta was better, although there was so much of it and it was so calor-ific there was no way we could eat it all. (Not that that is a bad thing- after all, the last thing you want to be after a big GF meal is hungry!) DH thought the pescatarian bits were very tasty, and I thought the sauce was nice. Actually, I got rather nervous because it was so thick and I kept wondering if it had some thickening sauce in it, so I asked for the ingredients. I was surprised at how helpful our server was with this. She actually went to the kitchen and wrote out the ingredients: cream, shallots, black peppercorn, bay leaves, lemon juice, salt, and tomato relish (tomato, onion, shallots, cajun seasoning). My mind at ease, I could enjoy the dish. Overall we had mixed feelings about our meal there. The pasta was good but extremely rich, and it felt like they put very little effort into the pizza. However, the fact that you can order a gluten-free meal there and feel confident in it means a great deal. I would ask to speak to the chef for a real gluten-free vegetarian meal next time, and maybe go for breakfast or lunch instead of dinner. Their non-vegetarian meals are probably where their real expertise lies, and I heard so many positive reviews that I feel pretty confident recommending it for that- or even for a vegetarian meal, with better communication. If you liked the tasty salsa at the Storyteller’s Cafe, here’s the
recipe.
So- that was our gluten-free, vegetarian (with excursions into pescatarianism) experience at Disneyland. You will notice many of the dishes I had included cheese- if you eat meat, it’s easier to avoid the cheese, and it is probably possible to get the pizza without cheese, although I don’t necessarily recommend it. There are salads, possibly taco options, and pasta that could be made dairy free, though- and the fancier restaurants do seem to offer at least one vegetarian main dish. We had a great time and it was so nice not to worry about food the entire time. Not having to lug around food made it easier to enjoy the real point of Disneyland- the rides, and spending time with my honey celebrating our Anniversary!
I hope this will encourage you to give Disneyland a try, post-diagnosis. It really is one of the “happiest,” or at least the easiest places, to eat Gluten-free on vacation, and I highly recommend it. Happy trails, and may all your gluten-free dreams come true! (I can’t help it- the mickey ears get to you after a while…)
Looking for more tips on Disney travel? Try Disboards or wdwmagic.
Here’s a very thorough photo essay about eating gluten-free and dairy free at Disney WORLD
and various reviews of GF Disney - somewhat dated.
And now… I’d love to hear about your gluten-free adventures at Disneyland, so please share in the comments!
Natural Food Works
But how was the food? I love the basil pistou sauce- it melts in the mouth and has just the right balance of flavors. I also love that everything in it is organic. Granted, some of the veggies involved are not my favorite, but still, it was a very tasty soup. I also enjoyed the green garlic ravioli with marinara sauce. The ravioli pasta was tasty (although slightly watery) and I thought the chunky marinara sauce was excellent and well flavored. If I were to buy the ravioli myself, I’d probably serve it in a flavorful garlic olive oil sauce or even better, a strong green pesto with nuts and carefully steamed broccoli because somehow its “green” flavor cries out for a green accompaniment. DH thought the garlic was a little strong, but it was fine for me. I think I would order something different next time, but you know, I think I might have to take some of that tasty marinara home for some plain, non-ravioli pasta. And the DH? Well, let’s just say he was not inclined to share that crabcake sandwich! Apparently it was made with their new panko breadcrumbs and it was a HUGE hit. I tried just one bite, and just about swooned over the delicious, creamy, basil infused sauce- it was the perfect accompaniment, and their gluten-free sourdough bread worked well. I can see that the DH has a new favorite on the menu- he said he’d give it a 9/10, and I have to agree. Rose Anne’s chef has created a flavorful masterpiece with that sandwich, and I hope they’re able to keep it on the menu full time. YUM! 
DH and I tried a few of the gluten-free samples on a table between the restaurant and the shop, paid our bill, and waddled off into the sunset secure in the knowledge that we’d celebrated the joys of organic, local dining. Not only that, but we got to prowl around the adorable college town of Davis, visit a few open houses, and did a little clothes shopping for the perpetually shopping-reluctant DH. Sometimes it’s just good to get away from our own sphere and enjoy a new place, along with some new and delicious food. So, the next time your gluten-free life in the Bay area (or Sacramento… or anywhere for that matter) is getting you down, why not try a holiday to Davis and sit down for a meal at Rose Anne’s organic bistro? Times are tight right now for everyone, including our favorite gluten-free entrepreneurs, and if we don’t show our support now, we may all lose out in the end..
