we saw lots of princesses and other characters, but LMS only got a pic with Ariel- she had a really short line because it was the end of her shift
We finished the 6 phases of the GAPS Intro Diet back before Christmas (I still need to finish that post), but since we went to my sister’s house for
Christmas, I took advantage of that time to do some judicious cheating. I knew
our Disney trip was coming up and I wanted to gauge how we would react to
eating non-GAPS approved foods. We still reacted, but it wasn’t as bad as it
used to be, which shows that we have made progress- YAY!
Since we wouldn't have access to a kitchen, we couldn't just cook all our meals. I thought about our options and made a plan. GAPS foods for
breakfast, gluten free park food for lunch, miscellaneous gluten free restaurants for
dinner.
Breakfast
Breakfast
I cooked down and dehydrated 10 quarts of chicken broth
(following directions I found here) to make homemade chicken bouillon that we could take with us. I prepared butternut squash, divided it into baggies, and
froze it. I blanched some broccoli, lightly sautéed some zucchini and summer
squash, then froze baggies of them and some green peas. I also chopped up and divided
some roast chicken.
For breakfast, I walked up two flights of stairs to the
nearest microwave, where I heated up some squash, some chicken, and some veg,
and made some broth using the bouillon. Not ideal, and I could have sworn there
was an in-room microwave, but it all worked out.
The last two nights we were in a different hotel (more on
that in another post), and there was no microwave available. We ended up using a one cup coffee maker to
make cups of broth, and ate fruit for breakfast. The coffee maker worked
surprisingly well, especially compared to microwaving it.
The dried broth turned out great, though I didn't double check the instructions before starting to cook it down. I should have scooped all the fat off, but only remembered after the fact. I kept the bouillon in the fridge just to make sure it didn't go rancid, and it was fine.
The zucchini and summer squash ended up kind of soggy when reheated, so I think I'll stick with broccoli and peas in the future.
We didn't end up eating all the food we brought, but I'd rather have too much than too little.
Lunch
For lunches we ate at counter service restaurants in the
parks. I tracked down the updated gluten free lists beforehand, which was
helpful. Unfortunately, they made some changes in the last year, and they don’t
have dedicated fryers for gluten free fries anymore L They’ll bake them for you,
but they take forever, and everyone else’s food is getting cold and the little
one is getting impatient….
Monday we ate at Pizzafari in the Animal Kingdom. LMS and I ordered the gluten free pizza. I don't remember the brand, maybe OMG It's Gluten Free? Whatever brand, it was disgusting. The pizzas were very small and tasted like pasty cardboard. Gross! They came with caesar salads minus the croutons and dressing, but we didn't eat them- I found multiple bread crumbs in the salads. I don't think they picked croutons off, I think the cheese or lettuce bin was contaminated with bread crumbs. Not worth the hassle to get them replaced, so we gave them to the guys. Our meals cost the same as the guys' pizzas and salads, despite the drastic difference in amount of food, and were grossly overpriced.
Tuesday we ate at Liberty Inn in Epcot. LMS and I ordered gluten free hamburgers and grapes for her and an OMG It's Gluten Free brownie for me. The wait was long, but the food tasted pretty good, though I had to save my brownie for later since it was still frozen. It tasted pretty good once it defrosted.
Wednesday we ate at Fairfax Fare in Hollywood Studios. LMS got a kids meal turkey sandwich, applesauce, and Enjoy Life gluten free chocolate chip cookies. They used a gluten free bun for the sandwich, but it was still frozen and very stale. Yuck. I ordered a half rack of ribs with slaw and baked beans. They weren't on the gluten free list because of the potential for cross-contamination, but I decided to risk it. The flavor of the sauce was good, but the cut of meat was substandard- very gristly and not at all fall-off-the-bone tender. I didn't get glutened, so I was happy.
Thursday morning we picked up our race packets, and weren’t
actually in one of the parks yet, so we went to 5 Guys for burgers and fries.
Friday we went to Islands of Adventure at Universal Studios,
but I hadn’t been able to find any gluten free info ahead of time, and nothing
looked promising while we were there. So we made do with some snacks
(Butterbeer is quite tasty!) and ate a late lunch/early dinner at PF Changs. I’ve
heard good things about PF Changs in general, as well as their gluten free
options. I’ve never eaten there because we don’t have one nearby, so when I
found one in the Orlando area, we decided to give it a try. It was quite yummy, and a nice change from our other dinner
choices.
Dinner
We ate at Outback one night- we’ve always had good luck with
their gluten free menu, though it does get pricey. We also ate at Chili’s
several times, but that started getting old. We ate at 5 Guys a couple times, and we did
Chipotle for lunch Saturday after the races.
End result
13 meals not prepared by me, but no gluten! Unlike last year, when I got glutened two days in a row. Whether this was because there was truly no contamination or because my intestines have made progress, I don’t know, but I’m not complaining. While LMS and I did react a bit to what we ate (dairy, rice, and potatoes were the major offenders we ate), it was a lot less pronounced than I was afraid it was going to be.
Overall, our experience eating gluten free at Disney World was quite a let down after last year, when we had a much better experience. I know suppliers and options available are always changing, but having a wider variety of options that taste good would be nice.
13 meals not prepared by me, but no gluten! Unlike last year, when I got glutened two days in a row. Whether this was because there was truly no contamination or because my intestines have made progress, I don’t know, but I’m not complaining. While LMS and I did react a bit to what we ate (dairy, rice, and potatoes were the major offenders we ate), it was a lot less pronounced than I was afraid it was going to be.
Overall, our experience eating gluten free at Disney World was quite a let down after last year, when we had a much better experience. I know suppliers and options available are always changing, but having a wider variety of options that taste good would be nice.
I’m really glad I brought the broth. Before we left, we were
getting sick, so I did some research and found a suggestion here to add
kudzu root starch to our broth to help us get over our colds quicker. I
actually had a bag of kudzu root starch in the cupboard, so I added it to our
broth all week. I really think it helped LMS recover quickly and shortened my
symptoms. Though running a half marathon and fighting a cold was a bit too much for my body to handle at the same time, so I did relapse a bit.
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