Maybe you need to be careful about allergens. Maybe you follow a vegan diet. Or maybe, you are currently cutting crusts off a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (“strawberry jelly NO apricot and only CREAMY peanut butter”) for your rather particular little one. No matter the reason, Disneyland Resort tries to be welcoming to guests with all kids of diets. Here are our tips for dining our way through Disneyland Resort with dietary restrictions:
Preview menus before your visit.
Disney makes it easy to preview your options before visiting the Disneyland Resort and provides menus for quick service and table service restaurants online and through the Disneyland app. You can take a look at descriptions of available dishes, and young ones might find the photos particularly helpful. Some menus even divide the food into categories by dietary restrictions. The mobile order menus in particular make it easy to filter dishes by common allergens. Remember, you can preview and click through the mobile order menus even if you are not in the parks or ready to make an order: just do not complete that order until you are ready! Of course, menu options can change, but this is a good start.
Use mobile ordering.
The option to order food from the Disneyland app is great for a number of reasons, but it particularly makes dining with dietary restrictions or ordering for a group with varied requirements much easier. First, it allows you to comb through the food options, and potentially discuss them with little ones, without feeling the pressure of a line building behind you. Second, mobile ordering makes it relatively easy to order food from multiple locations without multiple waits in line, and this is helpful if your group cannot find a single dining location that meets everyone’s needs. We have ordered fries and milkshakes at Flo’s V8 Cafe in Cars Land, Yaki Udon at Lucky Fortune Cookery in San Fransokyo Square and then met on the patio overlooking Radiator Springs Racers. You can check out our guide to mobile ordering here.
Speak to a cast member.
Disney prides itself on being a welcoming and happy place for all guests, and you will likely find that cast members at the various eateries are eager to provide you with information and assistance in working with various dietary restrictions.
Bring your own food.
Within reasonable limits (no large hard coolers, no alcohol, etc), you can bring your own food into the Disneyland parks. Caregivers bringing certain types of baby food or formula into the parks can even warm those items in a Baby Care Center. Please do note that guests cannot bring loose ice into the parks. If you need to keep something cool during your visit, consider bringing reusable ice packs instead. (If you have a medication that needs to be kept cold, visit a First Aid center and ask for it to be stored there.) We bring easy snacks and water bottles to the parks every time we visit.
Remember, you have options!
The cliche that the only food in amusement parks is rubbery hots dogs and plastic nachos just does not apply to Disneyland Resort. There are so many food and drink options available around the parks and Downtown Disney, and there are more being debuted all the time. There are even special items that are sold only during particular seasons or celebrations. Take a look around!