If you have a wanderlust but also have food allergies, then you know how difficult it can be to travel and still feel your best. Thankfully, many destinations are offering more and more allergy-friendly foods, and Disney World is no exception! Here I’ll share the best gluten free Disney World food so you can be prepared for your next trip.
If you’ve been to Disney World, you know that it really is a magical place. Disney runs a tight ship, and they leave no detail undone. The parks are clean and well-run.
Thankfully, the attention to detail extends to their dining options, because getting sick on vacation is not magical.
Can you eat gluten free at Disney World?
Heck yes you can. Almost every restaurant at every park has a gluten-free option. You’ll find that staff members are very helpful and accommodating and the chef will even come out to chat with you about your meal before preparing it so he or she can ensure it’s safe for you.
And it’s not just gluten. Disney is also accommodating of other food allergies, including dairy, corn, and soy (though if you want to enjoy gluten free Disney World foods like dinner rolls, brownies, and waffles, it’s hard to avoid corn and soy).
Disney even has some fun food dye-free offerings, like white cotton candy, which you can find at Magical Kingdom. (Yes- it’s totally free of food dye, my 12 year old asked for the ingredients and they were given to him quickly!)
Gluten Free Disney World Restaurants
When you choose to eat at Disney World, you have a variety of options. First, there are two different types of restaurants: quick service and table service.
Quick service meals are just like they sound- you quickly grab your food in a line, then pray for a place to sit where you can enjoy it. These can be a little stressful when ordering for special diets, because sometimes you have to speak personally with a chef. The chef will specially prepare your food and bring it out to you.
Thankfully, you can also pre-order quick service meals from the Disney Parks app, which cuts down on stress and confusion. I’ll share more about how to navigate that below.
Table service meals must be reserved and allow you to sit down and have your order taken and brought to you (although many table service meals are buffets). These are generally the meals that will allow your children to interact with characters like Mickey, Minnie, and the gang.
Disney offers meal plans to include a variety of options. Our family chose one quick service and one table service meal per day, along with two snacks per person a day.
Below, we’ll share some recommended restaurants, but first, you may be wondering about some specific food items at the parks, so let’s cover those first.
Gluten Free Disney World Food: What can I have?
Are Disney fries gluten free? Because of Disney’s dedication to accommodating food allergies, you’ll find gluten free French fries in many locations throughout the parks. Every restaurant has a dedicated gluten free fryer, and you’ll find offerings such as gluten free chicken strips or burgers with a side of fries at every quick service restaurant.
Are Disney churros gluten free? While my husband indulged in the real deal, I hear there are actually gluten-free churros at one location in the parks! Nomad Lounge in the Animal Kingdom park is where it’s at for gluten-free churros, folks.
Is Disney Popcorn gluten free? Yep. It’s gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan, but always double check when purchasing to ensure ingredients haven’t changed.
Are Mickey bars gluten free? The ice cream bars are gluten free, however, they contain corn syrup, dairy, and soy, so they may not work for everyone.
Does Disney have gluten free waffles? They sure do! You will have to request the waffles to be specially made for your allergies, but you can definitely get gluten free waffles at Disney.
Is Dole Whip gluten free? The Dole Whip is gluten- and dairy-free and vegan.
The above answers are subject to change, so always ask about your allergens before ordering!
Best Gluten Free Disney World Food: Our family’s favorite gluten free dining experiences
I will start off by saying that many of the quick service options are not that convenient when it comes to gluten free options.
After arriving around dinner time, the easiest option was to grab a quick dinner at the resort restaurant, Landscape of Flavors. Unfortunately, you cannot order allergy-friendly food from the app at this quick service restaurant.
Landscape of Flavors (Art of Animation Resort)
It was a bit of a madhouse, as I’m sure we were not the only family arriving ravenous after a day of travel.
I learned that to get food to our specifications, I would need to speak with the chef, then wait for our food to be specially prepared. I appreciated the attention to detail and Disney’s commitment to avoiding contamination, but it was disappointing to have to jump through so many hoops for dinner.
The chef, however, was very kind and accommodating. My boys wanted pizza, so we went for it (when on vacation…!), but we were disappointed to learn that it took two adult meal credits per gluten-free pizza meal. The four small pizzas we ended up with were not enough food for my husband and four boys. We did not end up eating there again, though they did offer to make us gluten free breakfast sandwiches on our way out to catch our plane.
Our meal plan had only two meals per day, so we packed lots of snacks like jerky and fruit snacks. We also got coffee and fruit daily at Starbucks, which has a location in every park. While a couple times I wished we had gotten three square meals, we really didn’t want to slow down to eat that often (there was much too much to see and do!). Besides, we weren’t generally hungry enough for that many meals. The one day it was tough was when our lunch at Be Our Guest wasn’t scheduled until about 2 in the afternoon. (Intermittent fasting for the win, eh?)
Gluten free Disney World food in Magic Kingdom
Be Our Guest
Eating at the Beast’s castle was by far one of my favorite dining experiences. Maybe it was the dairy-free creme brulee; maybe it was the atmosphere, but it was a great meal!
Our travel agent was wise enough to place an order ahead of time for us. This allowed us to skip the longer line for those who had not yet ordered. Then we were able to modify the order to meet our dietary needs once we got to the front of the line. (See the menu here. Once you get to the front of the line, a staff member will help you choose meals based on your needs.)
We enjoyed roasted chicken and veggies, and, of course, a coconut-based creme brulee, which I can’t recommend enough! We ate a quick service lunch, which still felt more like a nice sit down meal. You can also do a dinner table service meal, but be sure you get reservations far in advance. You do also have to get reservations ahead of time for the quick service lunch.
Skipper Canteen
Jungle Navigation Co. LTD Skipper Canteen had some unique offerings, described by the menu as African, Asian, and Latin Cuisine. We were able to easily order gluten free and dairy free food here, including desserts. It wasn’t the best food we had at the park, but it was a welcome place to kick up our feet and eat allergy-friendly food after 12 hours on our feet exploring Magic Kingdom.
You can see the menu here, which features several of the allergen-friendly meals, though you’ll have to ask for a special menu to see all the gluten free offerings when you arrive.
Gluten free Disney World food in EPCOT
Garden Grill
At EPCOT, we ate lunch at the Garden Grill. Food at this restaurant is served family-style, meaning it comes out on a big platter and everyone helps themselves. We were able to order gluten free turkey and steak, as well as french fries, rice, green beans, and dinner rolls. Chip and Dale and some of the other characters also come around for photo ops at this table service restaurant.
Les Halles Boulangerie Patisserie
This bakery was a delightful place to stop for a snack after exploring the World Showcase at EPCOT. Unfortunately, the only item that is both gluten- and dairy-free was a tuna salad, so we indulged and had creme brulee and macarons. My children who do not have food allergies got eclairs and cream puffs, and they were not disappointed either! There is also a nearby ice cream stand where my oldest son found a dairy-free sorbet.
See the menu here (and learn a little French while you’re at it!).
Chefs de France
We scheduled a Disney-provided sitter and hit up this restaurant for a date night.
This was hands-down the best food we had at Disney World, but I’m always partial to French food. We enjoyed a charcutterie platter which included thinly sliced meats and pate. Dinner included fish and duck dishes, paired perfectly with a glass of wine. We got TWO desserts (when on vacation…!) of creme brulee (they did NOT have a dairy-free option here) and meringue. Chefs de France we truly delightful. Check out the menu here.
Side note: Disney hires employees from all over the world to work in their various restaurants in World Showcase, for an authentic experience. Our French waitress was the best.
Gluten free Disney World food in Hollywood Studios
We woke up very early this day, as we wanted a spot on the new Star Wars Rise of the Resistance attraction. You have to wait in line before the park opens in order to secure a spot, but it was worth it!
By the time we ate lunch in Galaxy’s Edge, we were ready! And the food was surprisingly good.
Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo
We found delicious and very clean food at this quick-service restaurant, which I was able to order ahead of time in the Disney Experience app. By ordering ahead of time, you can pick up your food more quickly, plus avoid standing in line with kids who can’t make up their mind about what they want to eat.
The fresh-tasting salads consisted of chicken with mounds of fresh greens, as well as kid-friendly shrimp noodle bowls. We all ate to our fill and enjoyed the offerings. You can see by the menu here how easy some of the quick-service restaurants make it to avoid your allergens.
Hollywood & Vine
This was our first buffet-style meal, and to be honest, I was less than impressed with a buffet for a table service meal. However, they did have an allergen menu that made it easy to choose which foods off the buffet were safe.
This was a fun character restaurant, which had Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy all dressed up and ready for photo ops. We were also able to get a plate of gluten-free rolls brought straight to our table. We got gluten-free brownies for dessert and they even had a Magical Star cocktail made with organic liqueur that I was happy to indulge in. 😉 Check out the menu here.
Gluten free Disney World food in Animal Kingdom
Satu’li Canteen
Another quick service restaurant that made it easy to order ahead of time, this meal in Pandora (the world of Avatar) was delicious and healthy. We were able to get a simple rice bowl topped with thinly sliced steak or shrimp and a side of slaw. It was yummy and satisfying. See the menu here.
Snacks in Animal Kingdom
We were able to find gluten free chocolate-covered frozen bananas, and gluten- and dairy-free frozen fruit bars.
Because I was so unsure of food choices leading up to our stay, we chose to eat dinner outside of Animal Kingdom at a resort away from our own. I would probably not make that choice again, as we were tired and would’ve preferred to sit down after walking all day, have a nice meal, then get back to our room. Next time, I plan to reserve dinner at Yak & Yeti, which is said to have tasty and allergy-friendly food.
Final dinner out: Ale & Compass
For our last night, we chose to have a nice dinner at Ale & Compass, a table service dinner at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort. The chef came out and spoke with us personally to ensure our food was prepared free from allergens. The food was good and more upper-scale than the other restaurants we’d eaten at (aside from Chefs de France).
The chef even whipped up a special gluten- and dairy-free dessert for us off menu.
Gluten free Disney World Snacks
All of the parks have snack and ice cream kiosks in every area. We were able to find dye-free cotton candy, gluten- and dairy-free popcorn, frozen fruit bars and chocolate covered bananas, sorbet, and even dairy-free ice cream (though the stand that we bought it from served soy-based ice cream, so we had a few bites then tossed it).
One snack highlight was the gluten free cupcakes from Erin McKenna’s, a gluten-free, vegan bakery at Disney Springs. We were able to get a little six pack of mini cupcakes to share on several occasions, as Landscape of Flavors (the restaurant at our resort) kept them stocked in the refrigerated section. My one regret is that I did not make it over to the bakery itself to sample the doughnuts. (Next time!)
Have you eaten gluten free Disney World food? Share with us in the comments your favorite finds!
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