This series of guest reviews comes from blog reader Jaime. Her enthusiasm, excitement and love for Disney just shine through in her trip report, and I think you'll agree when you read them. Speaking with her before her vacation, I was just so excited to hear her recap when she returned. Jaime provided a thorough trip report, so I have broken it up by days. You'll want to make sure to read them all (I'll link to them in each post)! Thank you again, Jaime, for your awesome reviews!
BackgroundHi, I’m Jaime. I’m 45 and live just outside of Chicago. Thanksgiving, 2013, found my new husband, Ethan, and I driving to Walt Disney World for our first Gluten-Free trip. I was diagnosed with a wheat allergy in June and, in a huge show of support, Ethan went GF with me. While I’m extremely lucky that my allergy is minor (it was only discovered because I was having a contact allergy to something else), the other benefits of being GF were a surprise to us both: my migraines are gone, my PMS symptoms have almost completely vanished, and both our ragweed allergies have diminished significantly! Plus we both felt this odd sense of being ‘clear’, physically and mentally… it’s a strange sensation to describe.I’m a WDW Vet – this was trip #39. Ethan has spent a total of ONE DAY in a Disney park in his life (I took him to EPCOT over a quick Super Bowl Weekend trip earlier this year), and he had never been to the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, or Hollywood Studios. I have a lot to show him!After being diagnosed with the wheat allergy, I scoured the internet for advice. I made ADRs and changed ADRs and read more dining reviews and made more changes. We packed GF snacks and food for the car ride (I made tuna salad sandwiches for dinner – you have to love how GF bread doesn’t get soggy!) I also made one of my (not so) Famous Peanut Butter and Swedish Fish Sandwiches! Don’t judge – it’s like a portable peanut butter & jelly!Day 1: Tuesday, November 26, 2013We arrived in Orlando and headed to Animal Kingdom Lodge. I wanted to show Ethan around (this is where we’re staying on our next trip) and grab lunch at The Mara Food Court.
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| Photo copyright Jaime J. |
Ethan and I perused the menu for a few minutes while in line (and came up with a couple of possibilities) and when it was our turn to place our order, I just said “We have a food allergy.” The cast member immediately asked us to hold on one second, she was going to call for a chef. It took a few minutes for him to come out, but he was full of apologies (it wasn’t that long!). He asked what the allergy was and said there was a lot we could do. He mentioned the fries were GF. He asked what we were thinking about and mentioned that they keep Udi’s pizza crusts in back for the flatbreads. We had both decided we didn’t want to go too basic by ordering a burger or chicken nuggets this early in the trip (and we had dinner scheduled in 3.5 hours, so we were going to split this meal).I decided to push it a little and asked if he could do the chicken pita sandwich: chicken breast served on a warm pita with sun-dried tomato hummus, cucumber, tomato, and mixed greens with mint yogurt sauce with choice of Couscous or French Fries.
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| Photo copyright Jaime J. |
The chef looked up at the menu, tipped his head back and forth while he thought, and announced “Yes, I can do that!”We were given a pager, got our drinks, and headed outside to a table. It took 7 minutes total for the pager to go off! I really thought it would have been longer. I went back for our tray and it was on a separate surface than someone else’s – I shouldn’t have been shocked by the care they took, but I was!The sandwich was delicious (the sauce was a little spicy) and, with the fries, plenty to share!
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| Photo copyright Jaime J. |
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| Photo copyright Jaime J. |
Dinner tonight is at The Wave in the Contemporary Resort.
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| Photo copyright Jaime J. |
There were many things on the menu that looked good to me: Herb-salt Seasoned Beef Tenderloin - with tomato-green bean salad with Cypress Grover Creamery Lamb Chopper Cheese and citrus-herb butter, Thompson Farms Pork Tenderloin - soy-pineapple honey marinade, pineapple salsa, bonito and cauliflower mash, and the Dry-rubbed Flat Iron Steak - au gratin potato and winter vegetables.The waitress (Diane) took our drink order and said a chef would be right out. About 5 minutes later, she came back and asked if anyone had come out. Um, no.
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| Photo copyright Jaime J. |
I didn’t think the restaurant was all that busy, but when Chef Tom came out, he appeared rushed and stressed. He apologized for the wait, but was looking around the restaurant as we talked, so the sincerity of it fell kind of flat. He checked what the allergy was and asked if we had anything in mind. I said I had heard good things about the pork and the flat Iron Steak. He said the pork was out because of the sauce, but he could do it plain. So I chose the flat iron steak. Ethan chose the beef tenderloin.Chef Tom called Diane over and gave her our orders within earshot. After he left, she went over them one more time to make sure. I appreciated her care with the order. She left to go get GF rolls for our bread service. I have to admit to being surprised, and I can only attribute that to the fact that neither of us has had more than 2 hours of sleep in the last day and a half. Of course, when the bread service comes, they were out of rolls and we got GF bread.
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| Photo copyright Jaime J. |
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| Photo copyright Jaime J. |
Is that Udi’s? It doesn’t look like it to me, but I’m not good at telling the different breads yet. And the butter was yummy!We were exhausted and famished and finished the bread and butter off very quickly. The entrees took about 10-15 minutes.Ethan’s beef tenderloin:
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| Photo copyright Jaime J. |
And my flat iron steak:
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| Photo copyright Jaime J. |
Both were cooked perfectly and this would have been an amazing dinner if we weren’t so tired. The au gratin potatoes were fantastic. It turns out I’m not a fan of winter vegetables. We will go back, just not anytime soon.Stay tuned for Day 2 of Jaime's review!!
