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  1. stephanie says

    Heading to DL between Christmas and New Year and I am hoping beyond hope that my husband and I will be able to find food readily available so that we may avoid becoming HANGRY :):):) and I will call ahead as you suggested to facilitate a great visit. I’m just a little concerned that your results are not what the “average joe” should.

    Other than calling ahead do you have any tips that may make our visit yummy.

    We are a party of 7 and 2 of us eat gluten free.

    Thanks for your feedback.

    Steph

    • Chandice says

      Hi Steph, I hope you have a blast and a tasty time too! I definitely think calling ahead and ordering specifically what I wanted to be ready when we got there was super helpful. I asked them to have specific dishes for me so it wasn’t the kitchen scramble when I got there. Can’t wait to hear how it goes for you! 🙂

  2. Rebecca says

    Ahh!! Thank you so much for this post! we are planning our second trip to Disneyland and this has given me sooo many more tasty GF things to try. Can’t wait!!

    • Chandice says

      I am so excited for you guys Rebecca, you will love it! Just make sure to call more than 72 hrs. ahead… 🙂

  3. Justine says

    Thank you for this wonderful post! My family is going to Disneyland in November and it’s been a while since I went and I was curious what they offered now for gluten-free (especially now that it’s become much more mainstream)! I’m so excited and will definitely be planning ahead at some restaurants. My soon to be 1 year old is gluten free as well so I especially wanted to make sure he had options!

    I couldn’t help but notice you mentioned they removed the gluten free crab cakes! If you’re ever in the Los Angeles region, I own a casual fine dining restaurant named Aroha and our entire dinner menu is gluten-free, including our crab cakes. One of the perks of marrying a chef… He had to learn how to accommodate my list of allergies, and therefore, everyone else’s!!

    • Chandice says

      Oh my goodness Justine, I love this! I am coming to Expo West at the Anaheim convention center in March and would LOVE to come visit you and share my experience! How far are you from the Anaheim convention center?

      I just know you will love Disney dining as much as we did! The biggest thing to remember is PLAN and call ahead. We got all that we wanted because I called more than 72 hours in advance and requested it. They really are very accommodating when people ask in enough time for them to make it happen. Can’t wait to hear all about your trip! Please email me anytime, glutenfreefrenzy@gmail.com.

      • Justine says

        Hi Chandice! Our restaurant is about an hour and forty minutes north-west of Anaheim. A bit of a treck but it would be wonderful if you were able to come in! If you do, please let me know in advance. At this point, my husband is the one there and I’m normally at home with our son. My husband is from New Zealand and was very shocked that flour was added to so many sauces, soups, and recipes out here! He was never taught to add fillers like that, so making a fully gluten free menu for everyone was very easy for him! He even picks up gluten-free bread every week to make homemade croutons for our gluten free guests salads! Our entire Sunday brunch menu is gluten free as well. We’re probably the one restaurant that when I guest lists an allergy on a reservation, we get excited because we know they’ll have a great time!

        I will definitely make sure to make reservations at the restaurants in advance and call a few days to a week before about our orders!

    • Emma says

      Hi Justine – I just had to look up your restaurant website because the name caught my eye… I’m from Auckland 🙂
      Your menu looks amazing, I wish it was here! We need more gluten free friendly restaurants 🙂

      We are travelling to Disneyland on Saturday but unfortunately it looks like your restaurant is just a bit too far away from where we’re staying (right near Disneyland).

      Hope you have a great trip to Disneyland in Nov 🙂 All the best, Emma.

      • Justine says

        My husband was born and raised in Auckland…he was a chef at the Stamford Plaza (Kabuki restaurant) when I vacationed there 7 years ago and the rest is history!!

        It’s definitely a treck from Anaheim but if you’re ever in California again, definitely stop by! We’ve had people drive from San Diego and fly from New York just to dine at the restaurant! Saturday is actually our restaurant’s two year anniversary so we’ve got some special things going on!!

        Have a wonderful time in Disneyland on Saturday!!! And thank you! We are very excited for our trip. We’re going for my 1 year old’s birthday. Everyone says at this age they enjoy the zoo more but he LOVES being stimulated with tons of exciting things and crowds of people! He gets so bored at the zoo. Lol He may never remember this trip but I’m so excited for the cute photos! 😉

  4. Emma says

    I just wanted to say a big thanks for your GF blogs! This one and the 5 years previous one I’ve enjoyed reading. I’m off to Disneyland in a few weeks and now got a big list of GF places to eat whilst there so my thanks go to you 🙂

    • Chandice says

      Aw, thank you so much for your kind words. I can’t wait to hear all about your Disneyland trip!! I hope it is as magical as ours was. 🙂

  5. Cassi says

    Thanks for a great preview as I prepare to go to Disneyland. I live by Walt Disney World, so I’m hoping I have similar great experiences in Cali soon. You mentioned the Cozy Cones. Any idea if the flavored popcorn is gluten free? An email to Disneyland special diets was answered with a generic reply. Thanks! Great post!

    • Chandice says

      Hey Cassi, I hope it is as wonderful for you as it was for us. The key is to call more than 72 hours in advance to each restaurant with your requests. As far as the flavored popcorn, I was told it was but we sticked to basic just in case.

  6. Mishelle says

    Thank you SO much for doing this Gluten Free adventure! I too went for my 30th birthday (before I was diagnosed GF), and just booked my 35th birthday trip there in October. I had heard on multiple message boards they were very accommodating with GF folks and were committed to making your trip wonderful, but didn’t realize how big the possibilities were. I was unsure about rocking up there and just asking each restaurant – so thank you for providing contact information for folks I can contact ahead of time. I’m even more excited now than I was before 🙂

    • Chandice says

      Hi Mishelle,

      I am SO happy to hear this! I loved celebrating 30 there and the food was fantastic! The key truly is plan, ask, plan and ask some more. 🙂 Happy early birthday and please tag me on social media with pictures. I am dying to see how everything turns out for you!

      • Mishelle says

        Hey Chandice!

        I just got back from my Disneyland birthday celebration and wanted to provide this update for your readers, because I hadn’t seen any blogger post this yet! I contacted Disney in July prior to my visit, and was told to go to City Hall and get a list of all the allergy-free items offered in the parks, and that all restaurants would have an allergy-friendly menu to look at. (Note: I have found at least one place online where somebody posted an old copy of this list) Luckily, I did a lot of internet research to know pre-plan where we wanted to go. When I showed up at the park, I was told at Disneyland and DCA that that list no longer exists – I don’t know when it went away but between July and now – and guests have to go to each restaurant in person to request their allergy-friendly menu. While the allergy menus are great and I”m so glad they have so many options, guests have to go to each restaurant individually, which is so inconvenient to have to do on vacation. As of right now, Disney doesn’t make these available online, but all their regular menus are……..unfair for those with allergies. if I hadn’t done lots of planning from home (Googling the menus that other people posted online), it would have really frustrated me and wasted a lot of time just checking out menus. I realize not everybody cares that much about food, but it was special celebration and I wanted to make sure to pick the places I liked the best! I’m going to contact Disney and ask that they make their menus more accessible and bring back the allergy list so guests can see all items in one comprehensive document.

  7. jmr says

    I’m getting ready to go to Disney tomorrow and found your blog by googling. It is very helpful. I think Florida’s Walt Disney World is gluten free nirvana where I can eat easily just about anywhere in the park with tons of info both online and at the parks to tell me where and what to eat

    I live near Disneyland and usually pack my own food when I go there because I hate the humiliation of having to always make special requests/beg them to heat me up a frozen gf pizza/delay my whole group while I talk to a manager to find out if there’s anything at all I can possibly eat. I can’t understand why Disney World is the most gluten free friendly place on planet earth and Disneyland makes no effort to accommodate gluten free guests.

    From reading your blog, it sounds like they’re finally going to at least get some special menus. I’d really love it if they just marked “gf available” on some of their regular menu boards so I’d make everyone less irritated with me when it’s time to eat. I have a season pass, but I get so upset at the thought of trying to eat at the park, I’ve only used it twice this year.

    • Chandice says

      I am so sorry to hear this. I will say that my positive experiences have definitely been because I planned/called ahead and specifically asked for certain things to be ready on days/times. I do know that they are doing much better now though to accommodate even walk-up guests. I agree with you, Walt Disney World is AMAZING!! I too hope Disneyland will catch up soon. 🙂

  8. Alexis Williams says

    How were you able to email Cafe Orleans ahead?

    • Chandice says

      I spoke with the resort special diets chef and the marketing department both of whom helped me tremendously with the individual restaurants we wanted to dine at.

  9. Grandmother says

    I am glad to hear you had a great experience with meals at Disney. I think it would be good for your readers to know that your experience with gluten-free options are not typical, however. Yes, the chef will come out and talk to you about what you can eat on a buffet but the rest of us don’t get specially made peanut butter pizzas at breakfast or gluten-free pancakes or any of the other things you had made for you.

    • Chandice says

      I definitely think you could have these things made for you if you asked the chef to make them. Also, did you call ahead (more then 72 hrs.) and speak to the special diets department? They are very willing to help make your experience just as great as this was for us with a bit of planning and preparation. Most didn’t care that I was a blogger. They just wanted to make the experience great.

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