Blaze Pizza -- Dinner -- Quick Service -- Disney Springs

*This dining experience took place in November 2016.Blaze Pizza, located at Disney Springs, has quickly become a favorite stop for me to get gluten free pizza at Disney. Blaze Pizza is a national chain pizza restaurant that offers fast-casual pizza that cooks fast.When they opened in 2016 at Disney Springs, I knew I wanted to check it out, as they have gluten free pizza crust. As you can tell my by previous reviews, I've been blown away by the quality of ingredients and their gluten free crust. They also carry vegan options, including Daiya Cheese, which makes it a great option for many special dietary needs.I've heard a lot of negative feedback from readers who feel Blaze Pizza isn't a very safe place to dine. This can definitely be true. It's not a dedicated gluten free restaurant (neither is any restaurant at Disney, except Erin McKenna's Bakery NYC), and cross contamination is always a risk. It's even more of a risk if the team doesn't change gloves or use fresh toppings for you pizza. They do also use a shared pizza oven, so that can add risk too (they use dedicated gluten free mats to cook the gluten free pizza to help protect it from cross-contamination).As I've learned from reader comments, guests have received mixed experiences. I've noticed that unless I speak up, the default gluten free handling is a glove change and dedicated pizza cutting utensils (this is the same with vegan options). However, I've had great experiences speaking to the team and managers about getting fresh ingredients from off the line -- another layer in protecting myself from cross-contamination.I love their gluten free pizza, so I really try to speak as much as possible to the team to ensure they know that I need to pizza to be prepared as safe as possible. So far, in my experiences at this particular Blaze Pizza location, this has served me well.As an aside, I've tried another Orlando area Blaze Pizza and the experience was woefully underwhelming and not great, so do note that not all Blaze Pizza locations handling of gluten free and special dietary needs pizza are created equal.On this particular visit, I chose to get the same gluten free pizza I've had on every visit (what can I say, I found a pizza I love) -- the gluten free BBQ Chicken Pizza, minus banana peppers and with bacon added.I took the pizza home and that also gave me an opportunity to try out the Nima Sensor that I was sent for gluten detection. Nima is a portable device that detects gluten in food. It's not currently out on the market; it ships in Spring 2017, but the folks at Nima, whom I met at a food allergy conference event, sent me a device to test out.Here are some quick facts about Nima Sensor.

• Used to detect gluten (at low levels, including 5 ppm which is under the FDA legally acceptable amount of 20 ppm)
• Not 100% guarantee that a product is gluten free
• May require multiple test vials to test each parts and/or ingredients of a dish
• Not scientifically validated in a peer-reviewed way (I'm a university librarian, so this one is pretty important to me)
• Has some limitations on food tested
• Could be pricey depending on how much you eat out and how many test vials you use

Because folks have been really concerned about Blaze Pizza's safety for those with celiac disease (and I echo this concern, as a celiac), I decided to test out my pizza with the Nima Sensor, just to see what it would test as.I used 3 vials. 2 vials were used to test two different sections of the gluten free crust and 1 vial was used to test the toppings. That being said, I could have used more vials, which definitely presents a major cost issue in my opinion.I've not had any noticeable reactions to the Blaze Pizza I've had in the past, but I know full well that doesn't mean that there wasn't gluten exposure or that the pizza would be safe on every visit (as cross-contamination can occur).After three vials, I received all gluten free smiley faces, which was pretty exciting to see. Again, while we can't say to 100% that the pizza was gluten free, this was good enough for me. I enjoyed the pizza and felt no ill effects afterwards -- a positive sign that my Blaze Pizza was indeed safe.Overall, though I'm still ever a skeptic of devices and those that are not peer-reviewed, I'm at least a bit relieved to see that the product itself did test OK according to the Nima Sensor. That to me gives me confidence to continue to dine at Blaze Pizza at Disney Springs.If you're curious about Nima Sensor and how it works, I recommend checking out the Beyond Celiac post about it, as well as Erica from Celiac and the Beast's experiences with it. I'm not sure it's a device I would personally buy, but it's been fun testing it out on various Disney products (all of so far have passed the tests positively).What do you think of Blaze Pizza's special dietary needs options. Do you feel safe dining here? *Note: I was provided a blogger review Nima Sensor for temporary use, but was not compensated for using it; nor was I was I asked and/or required to write any reviews about it.

Blaze Pizza -- Lunch -- Quick Service -- Disney Springs

*This dining experience took place in October 2016. Blaze Pizza, a quick service restaurant located in Disney Springs, has quickly gone up the ranks as one of my favorite spots at Disney Springs for lunch or dinner. I've managed to get several meals here successfully without getting sick, which is great!Blaze Pizza is not owned & operated by the Disney Company and does not necessarily have to adhere to Disney's rigorous standards for special dietary needs, and I recommend anyone dining here remain vigilant.I've heard mixed reports from other guests who have felt it was not celiac safe (as the only accommodation was to simply change gloves but use shared ingredients). Every visit I've been there, I have spoken to them and asked them to not only change gloves but also prepare my pizza in a separate area with fresh ingredients, and they have been happy to do this every time.Remember, we are our own advocates, and it's always good to speak up! If you don't feel safe eating here, as they do share a common pizza oven, know there are tons of other amazing options at Disney Springs!On this particular visit, I got a BBQ Chicken Gluten Free Pizza to go. The cast members there were awesome. They initially only offered a glove change, and upon my request, they prepared my pizza in a separate area from the regular line and used fresh ingredients. I was there to watch it every step of the way, and was very impressed with how easily they accommodate this every time I've been.Gluten Free pizza is placed on a plastic/silicon/mesh mat (I still haven't figured out what exactly it is) and the placed in the pizza oven. They do try to keep gluten free pizza on the side to avoid cross-contamination, but there is always a risk.I always check with the cast members at the pizza oven to ensure they cut my pizza in a safe area and with clean utensils.If you're vegan, vegetarian, or dairy free, Blaze Pizza offers Daiya Vegan Cheese as a dairy alternative, so gluten free & dairy free pizza is easy to get.Overall, I really enjoy the gluten free Blaze Pizza. I've had great experiences here, but I've also been really vocal and vigilant at every visit to ensure I get as safe of a meal as possible. It's the best gluten free pizza I've ever had, and I'm glad this location is able to take measures to make me a safe meal.Have you been to Blaze Pizza at Disney Springs? What has your experience been?

Blaze Pizza -- Lunch -- Quick Service -- Disney Springs

*This dining experience took place in August 2016.Blaze Pizza, a well-known pizza chain, opened its latest location at Disney Springs on August 5, 2016. As a quick service restaurant, Blaze Pizza offers "blazing" fast pizza that cooks in 180 seconds.Recently, I stopped by Blaze Pizza at their Disney Springs location to check out their gluten free and special dietary needs options. I've never been to any Blaze Pizza locations, though I had heard the chain restaurant carries gluten free pizza dough and vegan cheese.Blaze Pizza is located in the Town Center at Disney Springs. They open at 10 a.m. every day, which is pretty darn early for pizza. But, who am I to argue with pizza cravings, no matter what time of day it is!When I arrived in Blaze Pizza, I noticed that there were two "stations" where Blaze Kitchen employees helped customers build their custom pizzas. As a celiac, this seemed like a major cross contamination nightmare, so I wasn't sure if this would be a place I could dine at or not.After arriving, I notified a Blaze Pizza employee of my special dietary needs and asked to speak with a manager. I was greeted by Minnie (what a perfect name!) who assisted me from start to finish during my visit to Blaze Pizza and was a total rockstar.You can see Minnie in the photo above, where she is preparing gluten free pizza dough on the dedicated gluten free pizza dough press.Minnie explained to me that Blaze Pizza offers gluten free pizza dough, which is also vegan. She mentioned that it was tapioca flour based, but I did not get the full ingredients list. She let me know that they try to reduce cross contamination as much as possible by using a dedicated gluten free pizza dough press, plastic sheets* for each pizza (that stay with the pizza while it goes in the oven), and even dedicated pizza cutters. NOTE: I will be double-checking this when I dine here next time to confirm what they are using for the sheets (silicon, etc.) She also told me that for those with allergies or celiac disease that they will change gloves and use fresh ingredients that are not on the main line. This means that you can get fresh sauce that has not touched any gluten on your pizza (this is important, as I noticed that the sauce and spoons for the sauce were touching gluten filled pizza dough immediately upon entering Blaze Pizza).I watched Minnie prepare my pizza and all of my pizza toppings were pulled from separate areas.After my pizza was prepared, it went into the pizza oven. This is a shared oven, but they did try to keep my pizza away from the gluten filled ones. If you have any concerns about a shared oven, you may want to speak with an employee to discuss.I ordered what was essentially the BBQ Chicken Pizza. I removed the banana peppers and omitted the Gorgonzola cheese and added bacon. You can really create and customize your pizza however you want to, which is pretty great.Check out my full video dining review of this visit to Blaze Pizza on YouTube:Blaze Pizza does have a list of allergens/ingredients on their website so you can double-check which items are gluten free or cover your special dietary need. For gluten free, the meatballs were the only pizza topping that contained gluten (the meatballs also contain dairy).If you are vegan or have a milk allergy, you can request vegan cheese. Blaze Pizza uses Daiya Cheese. I'm not sure if they have an upcharge on the vegan cheese, but do note that they charge $2.00 extra for the gluten free dough. For those vegans or milk allergy guests, the gluten free pizza dough is also vegan too.If you have a nut allergy, Blaze Pizza currently only has one dish that contains tree nuts (almonds) which is the beet and goat cheese salad. Otherwise, the facility does not carry any other nut related products, which is pretty awesome. For more information about allergens at Blaze Pizza, check their website FAQ.I really loved the pizza that I got at Blaze Pizza. The dough has to be the best gluten free and dairy free pizza dough I've ever had. Though I enjoy Udi's Gluten Free pizza crust, I have to say that this version from Blaze Pizza was a huge step up. It was also a bit bigger than the Udi's pizza crust, making it a good value for the price (around $12).I loved the toppings and found everything to be of high quality and very fresh. I also love that I have a ton of choices of toppings and sauces.Add to it the fact that Blaze Pizza went above and beyond to ensure that I had a safe meal, this was definitely an impressive experience. I really appreciated the time that Minnie and the team took to answer all of my questions and to prepare my pizza safely. It's a rare treat to get gluten free pizza out that's not super expensive and also really tasty.Blaze Pizza is definitely going to be a new quick service favorite for me when I visit Disney Springs. When I visited there were three of us right in a row that have special dietary needs, so it's pretty amazing to see Blaze Pizza step up to the plate and offer safe options for everyone!Are you looking forward to visiting Blaze Pizza? What kind of pizza toppings would you like on your custom pizza?