Cinderella's Royal Table

The epitome of Disney. The apex of the trip. The highlight of my Christmas vacation.

Breakfast in Cinderella's castle.

With princesses.

Magical.

Ever since I was young, I've wanted to eat in Cinderella's castle, and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to have breakfast with Walt's leading ladies themselves on my last morning in Disney.

Me, excited to have been cordially invited by Cinderella. Expensively invited, but invited.

A chef came to speak with me as soon as we were seated, letting me know about their gluten free breakfast options. There really wasn't much of a choice, and he seemed a little tired and annoyed to be discussing it, but at least he was polite, and assured me that I would have a great breakfast. I did.

Morning Florida light streaming in from all directions, Disney began to make its magic.

A beautiful fruit cup replaced the pastry tray to start the breakfast, as well as fresh squeezed orange juice and plentifully flowing coffee.

Soon after, I was face to pale face with Snow White.

My breakfast was a small vegetable quiche, spicy potatoes, and a pile of sausage and bacon.

I really liked the quiche. It was light and fluffy, and nice for breakfast. The rest of the meal was standard breakfast fare, although it was good. The food being tasty was just a perk, though. If you're going to Cinderella's Castle for a 5 star breakfast, you're doing it wrong.

I met Jasmine....

Aurora...

And Belle.

In all honesty, I'm not delusional. This was a breakfast for children, as evidenced by the entire rest of the room.

But this wasn't about acting like an adult, this was about spending a few hours in a different reality. This was about wish fulfillment. And what better place for wish fulfillment than Disney World, where all of your dreams can come true?

"They will remember that special moment for the rest of their lives." How right you are, Cindy.

This concludes both my Disney trip, and my series on eating gluten free in Orlando. Thanks for tagging along on my days in the House of Mouse.

Happy travels!

Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville

Wasting away again in Margaritaville.

Actually, it was my first time eating at the tropical themed restaurant, complete with servers on stilts handing out leis and a big stuffed parrot next to the hostess stand. I had heard great things about Jimmy's, a chain with several high-volume tourist locations, and was not disappointed in my experience.

Our waitress knew right away to get us a gluten free menu, one of the most kitschy that I've ever seen. Their effort to amuse me with theme incorporation did not go unappreciated.

I also noticed that their regular menu had this notation:

Very cool.

Let me start by saying that their gluten free menu is HUGE. Very extensive. It's also awesome that such a "get in-get out", high-volume chain would take the time to have a dedicated GF fryer.

They also serve Redbridge! One of the few restaurants to actually have this GF inclusionary staple on their roster.

For dinner, I went with the Caribbean jerk chicken, recommended by the server. The sauce was delicious. The chicken itself wasn't anything special; ditto for the rice.

My mom's dinner, however, was tremendous. She chose the guava barbecue ribs, a full slab of perfectly cooked baby back ribs slathered in that nommy sauce. Her dinner came with fries, an unexpected treat in a restaurant where you'd expect cross contamination to run deep.

This place was a fun last night's dinner in Orlando! Cute for kids and appreciable by adults. The same soundtrack played about 10 times throughout our meal, but because the namesake song is just so darn catchy, you won't go crazy. The servers, on the other hand...

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm searching for my lost shaker of salt.

Universal Studio's Fast Dining

The next day, we went to the usual Universal Studios, featuring (slightly outdated) film-based attractions like ET, Revenge of the Mummy, and Men in Black. The Back to the Future ride used to be here, but was replaced by the Simpson's Ride, a shoddy substitute if you ask me.

They still had Doc's car for photos! Here's me with the flying Delorean:

1.21 gigawatts!

The "Blues Brothers" performing a Christmas show. Gettin the band back together.

We only had a short time for lunch, so I had to get something quick. We ate at the "World Expo Restaurant", a food court style eatery. I didn't expect to find much, but the manager was extremely helpful and interested in giving me a great experience. She went and checked labels, asked the cooks, and made sure that my meal was gluten free.

I had roast chicken, fries cooked in a dedicated fryer, and corn on the cob. Quick, sufficient, and seriously GF.

Good to know that Universal has options that range from sit-down to on the go. We ate quickly, as we had to catch a scenic boat tour around a quaint little shorefront called Amity Island.

JAWS!

Universal Studio's Mythos Restaurant

We took a break from Disney madness to catch up on the Universal Studios' madness a few miles away. We chose Islands of Adventure for our first day, the park filled more with roller coasters and excitement rides, as well as the (then-future) Harry Potter World, Marvel Comic World, and Jurassic Park World.

Instead of trying to find something fast to eat, my family chose to dine at Mythos, the full-service restaurant in "The Lost Continent". It's actually rated the World's #1 Theme Park restaurant, a surprising fact considering that Disney is usually thought to be the white glove.

The restaurant is actually located inside that big rock. I guess that's Zeus' face carved outside? We sat in that little gazebo-esque structure on the left. There were great views of park from that height, and a lovely sunset on the man-made lake in the center of the attractions. The inside of the restaurant is also beautiful, seemingly carved out of the stone, with intricate rock and water formations and light patterns made by all of the hidden windows.

When we were seated, we informed our server of the gluten situation, and were immediately greeted by the chef, who went through the entire menu with us and detailed our choices.

To start, we had cream of mushroom soup, made with a gluten free full-cream base. Honestly, it was a little thin, and the chunks of mushroom left something to be desired, but it was warm and filling.

For a main course, guess what is actually gluten free? Pad thai! It was a big portion of sticky rice noodles in peanut sauce, with my favorite Asian vegetable, bean sprouts, and thick shrimp.

It was surprising to find this dish as gluten free, because usually rice noodles served in restaurants aren't completely rice based.

Other GF options included salmon, chicken, and risotto. There weren't a ton of choices, but certainly enough to satisfy.

Enjoy Mythos at Universal. Stop over here after you inevitably spend the day at Hogwarts, then go grab a butterbeer in Hogsmeade for dessert.

my brother and I on the Hulk coaster. our 6th trip!

Orlando's Carrabba's Italian Grill

In lieu of glamorous New Year's Eve plans, my family went out to dinner at Carrabba's Italian Grill. The descriptor "Italian Grill", combined with the fact that Carrabba's is in fact a chain restaurant would seem to portend bad gluten free circumstances, but they actually have a thorough GF menu and the staff is well educated.

A link to their gluten free menu (PDF): http://www.carrabbas.com/menu/pdf/GFmenu.pdf

To start, we ordered the Insalata Johnny Rocco, a salad filled with grilled shrimp and scallops. As a recent seafood convert and diehard salad-ophile, this was revolutionary.

The only change that had to be made was to request the seafood be grilled without baste, but the quality was so high, the food was so fresh, and there were so many other flavors in the salad that it didn't matter at all that there wasn't a marinade.

For dinner, I ordered the Pollo Rosa Maria with mashed potatoes. A huge double portion!

The sauce was creamy, along with the garlic-y potatoes. Salty prosciutto and pungent fontina cheese was melted throughout the chicken breast. It's unusual to find stuffed poultry that is gluten free, so this was a nice surprise and a definitely delicious dinner.

Overall, Carrabba's is a good choice for a nice dinner out. It's pricy, but you are getting big portions and great quality for your money, as well as wide gluten free selection. As well, Carrabba's is a national chain, so there's probably one near to you.

Ciao bella!

my cousin AJ and I

A Celiac in The Magic Kingdom

Happy new year to everyone!
It's been some time since I was able to update this site, but my gluten-free 'adventures' definitely didn't stop.
I apologize for the long hiatus, but one of my resolutions is to become more faithful to you, dear readers.

I thought I'd start the new decade out with a bang, and discuss the fantastic experience I had while eating in Orlando, Florida.
I was able to find tremendous places to eat in the Disney World parks, as well as Universal Studios and the greater Orlando/Kissimmee area thanks to online friends and resources, including @GFLifeIreland and @gfregistry.
Every meal was perfect from start to finish, beginning with well-informed wait staff, visits from the chef, and feeling completely reassured about my choices thanks to specially marked gluten free menus.

I began my family trip with a day in the Magic Kingdom. I hadn't been there for over 10 years, which was way before the word "gluten" even entered my vocabulary. I had been doing some research online about the Celiac Disney experience, and had only heard positive things. My day definitely did not disappoint!
Instead of making a reservation, my family had chosen a more "spontaneous" approach to lunch that day, so I made a call to the Disney Dining hotline for a recommendation. The woman who answered the phone could not have been more helpful in locating information about quick-dining restaurants, and directed me to the Pinocchio Village Haus, located in Fantasyland, directly across from the Peter Pan ride and Dumbo's flying elephants.

The restaurant didn't seem promising as we approached, because it seemed to feature pizza and sandwiches. I approached the young woman at the front entrance and asked her about the gluten free menu. To my surprise, she knew immediately what I was talking about, and informed me that the restaurant served both gluten free mac and cheese and pizza.
We ordered both!
When our order was taken (during a very busy afternoon) the manager came out and personally took it to the kitchen, where she supervised the entire preparation and separation of ingredients, then hand-delivered it to our table. Talk about service!
The macaroni and cheese was hot and melty, just the way it's supposed to be, and the pasta wasn't mushy at all.

The pizza crust was a little bit undercooked, and the cheese wasn't totally melted, but that didn't really interfere with the taste at all.

I felt totally confident about lunch!
Talk about the happiest place on earth.