Last weekend was our first time at Disney World. We've been to Disney Land several times, so we knew basically what to expect, but as everyone warned, DW is huge!
The Parks
We ended up with one day for each of the DW parks, and for the most part, that was enough. A lot of the rides are similar (if not the same) as rides at DL, so we knew right off which ones we weren't going to do (the teacups, for one). We did some of the shows- some were good, some were beyond cheesy. We could have spent more time watching shows and riding rides that we've ridden at DL and standing in line to meet characters, but since we didn't have time to spare we skipped over those.
We took LMS on several roller coaster type rides, and she loved them all! We always kept a tight grip on her, but every time we looked over to make sure she was ok, she had a great big grin on her face.
The Hotels
Our days were pretty long, which is a pity, since we didn't get to enjoy our hotels. We weren't able to make our reservations as early as I would have liked because we had to resolve some schedule issues, so a lot of rooms were already filled. We wanted to stay at a resort hotel for at least Friday night so we could catch the shuttle directly to the start line. Other hotels also ran shuttles, but they weren't as close to the resort.
We ended up staying the last three nights of our stay at Shades of Green, which is for military personnel, and our first two nights at the Yacht Club, because SoG didn't have any openings the first two nights.
Both hotels were very nice, but our room at SoG was bigger than the one at the YC and was half the price. Oh well. If we do this again we'll make sure we make our reservations further in advance. We did get to try out the pool at SofG, which LMS loved, but missed the pools at the YC.
The Food
I was a bit nervous about eating without getting glutened, but we didn't have any problems. I had several pages saved on my iphone and I referred to them at mealtimes- which restaurants had gluten free offerings, as well as which specific gluten free foods could be found in which restaurants.
We ate breakfast in our hotel room (gluten free cereal and coconut milk), then had lunch and dinner at the park (or Chili's restaurant outside the park). We only worried about staying gluten free and didn't focus on all the food sensitivities. While we reacted to the foods we ate, it wasn't horrible.
We only ate at counter service restaurants. Apparently you have to make reservations for all the sit down places, but I wasn't willing to mess with that since I didn't know where we were going to be at any given day/time. We also skipped the buffets because I don't trust them. People use tongs to get food and then touch the tongs to the bun or whatever on their plate, then put the tongs back in the container of food. That's more than enough to cause me massive amounts of discomfort and pain.
We ended up eating hamburgers on gluten free buns (no lettuce because it was in a buffet line), french fries, chicken strips, a salad with chicken, and gluten free cheese pizza. Not a ton of variety, but our meals were prepared by the manager each time, and dedicated fryers were used for the fried items. We got enough to eat, and we didn't get glutened. Definitely a success!
We also stopped in Downtown Disney so we could go to the Babycakes NYC bakery. I was curious to see if their products were any good. We got a pumpkin cupcake, a lemon cupcake, a chocolate frosted donut, and a slice of pumpkin chocolate chip loaf. It was ridiculously expensive (seriously, even for gluten free baked goods, it was expensive), but tasted very good and had great texture. Like hard-to-believe-it's-gluten-free-and-vegan-good.
Unfortunately, while the products are vegan, they do use potato starch, corn starch, tapioca starch, and sorghum flour. I can handle the first three within reason, but sorghum flour does not agree with my body at all. Even so, it's a good thing we don't have one of these nearby, or I would be tempted to spend way more than I should getting gluten free treats :)
We had a lot of fun on our vacation!
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