Discover gluten-free dining options at EPCOT in Florida! Enjoy a day of delicious international cuisine without worrying about gluten. Find out how you can eat gluten-free in every country at EPCOT and make the most of your visit. Don’t miss this helpful guide for celiac travelers!
Exploring the World of Gluten-Free Cuisine at EPCOT: My Journey
I recently spent a day eating and drinking “around the world” at EPCOT in Florida and had a great time! I was able to find gluten-free options in just about every country there, and everything I did eat was fantastic. If you’re unsure if you can eat gluten-free at EPCOT, this video is for you!
Note: I used the term “gluten allergy” instead of celiac disease when I was at EPCOT because restaurants get more training on allergies and tend to understand that term better in order to make the proper accommodations. Definitely make sure you are using whichever terminology you are more comfortable with to make sure your needs are met!
Thanks for watching!
About Me:
I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in 2021 at the age of 23. The lifestyle change was really hard for me – especially feeling like I couldn’t do the things I loved like traveling. Thankfully, I’ve learned a lot over the past couple of years about my autoimmune disease and how to travel with Celiac Disease. I can’t wait to share more tips and inspire you to take your next gluten-free adventure!
Transcription: Discovering Gluten-Free Options at EPCOT: My Experience
Welcome back I was just in Orlando for a friend’s wedding and we decided to extend the weekend and go to Epcot for a day to do the famous drinking and eating around the world at Epcot I was a bit nervous and didn’t really know what to expect for the gluten-free options especially because a lot of the mixed messaging online was really confusing.
But let’s get into it hi I’m Sarah in 2021 I was diagnosed with celiac disease at 23 years old I had a really hard time processing this major life change and I thought I couldn’t do the things I really loved anymore more like traveling but I’ve been determined to continue to live life to the fullest and since my diagnosis I’ve been able to travel to.
Over 20 countries and Counting now I plan on traveling all around the world and finding the best gluten-free food along the way so overall I had a wonderful experience eating and drinking around Epcot since Disney attracts so many visitors they kind of have to be accommodating just because there’s so many people in this world that have.
Dietary restrictions just like us however I learned that all restaurants and food stands are not built alike or the same especially at Epcot sometimes these are different vendors which can mean different protocols and different things even though it’s all under the same Disney umbrella I know pretty confusing also your experience could.
Vary a lot depending on the worker that is speaking with you and their knowledge about the situation in general everyone at Disney that I experienced and encountered was very knowledgeable or knew that they weren’t knowledgeable enough and needed to go get a manager so overall my number one tip for dining at Disney especially at Epcot where I.
Personally have gone is to speak with the chef or manager at each location there should be someone that can guide you through the menu to show you what can be made gluten-free or what is naturally gluten-free and especially tell them if you can’t handle cross contact if you have celiac disease so I really emphasized that I couldn’t handle.
Any cross contact or cross contamination and they were super helpful with that anyways those are the big tips let’s dive into everything I ate which was a lot it was really fun and here we go starting counterclockwise in Mexico I had delicious chips and guac they had a dedicated fryer for the chips and I found all this out by asking the people.
That were working there so dedicated fryer and I still asked them to change their gloves and wipe down the counter just because they also had beer at this location up next is Norway which I had some rice cream it was a delicious little treat especially in the Florida heat where it was really hot that day in Norway they had a marked gluten-free.
Menu which was awesome and the server was able to change her gloves and wash her hands when she was serving the rice cream to me up next was China where I didn’t find anything to eat I didn’t look that hard but I just had water and then as we were walking to the next country there’s a bunch of little countries in epot that have their own.
Little stands so the India stand had this delicious mango drink that I got it was so perfect I got the non-alcoholic version and basically this is how the situation went because it wasn’t a full restaurant and it didn’t have a full kitchen the staff that were there were few they were just there to serve the food that they were actually serving so.
When I told the cast member that I had celiac disease and I was asking about the specific mango drink and if it was gluten-free to make sure there’s no cross contact or cross contamination she immediately called like headquarters I don’t exactly know where they were calling but she basically talked to someone on the phone they were able to.
Read the ingredients and ensure that it was gluten-free which was awesome so once that was confirmed my order went in and I had a delicious mango drink that I’m just dreaming about right now that would be so refreshing in Germany I also had nothing just water again I tried to find some gluten-free popcorn but I know for a fact that the worther popcorn is.
Not gluten-free and that was like the big building there so I played it safe and didn’t get anything so when we were passing Spain being one of the smaller countries that had more of like a food truck situation I saw some sangria and it looked pretty good so I got a sangria flight there unfortunately it wasn’t that good but I still was able to order.
C like safe sangria and that is the most important thing they were selling shuie boards here so that’s a red flag just to know that in their little I wouldn’t even say it it’s a kitchen but in their prep area there is gluten there so I let the person know even though sangria doesn’t have any gluten containing ingredients it’s usually just wine a.
Sweetener and some fruit juice I let them know that I had Celiac and very sensitive to cross contact so that they could change their gloves and serve it to me immediately instead of like preparing a shakery board and then passing me the sangria it’ probably be fine either way but I just like to play it very safe and always say that you.
Have an allergy even if you think the situation doesn’t really call for it and then Italy was up next I also had nothing because I was snagging on my pretty average sangria and the next stop that I was going to had really good options so I didn’t want to waste my appetites however I didn’t search for gluten-free restaurants there and I do.
Feel in my gut that if they are true Italian restaurants they would have good gluten-free options because if you’ve seen my other videos you know that gluten-free Italian food is some of the easiest and the best to find around the world so anyways that brings us to the US which had the best gluten-free options which is kind of ironic and.
Hilarious I ate at the Regal Eagle Smokehouse that had the best delicious barbecue food and it had really safe protocols for any allergens so when I was ordering I immediately let them know about my allergy and if I could have the burgers specifically as well as the fries turns out they had a dedicated fryer which is just fantastic and I.
Could get their barbecue burger which was so delicious my order rang in as a separate like gluten-free High allergy alert order so it did take them a longer time to prep but it was because it was done in a separate area they had all their procedures in place I felt so safe there I even had to go to counter one which is the allerg counter so I had a.
Very friendly conversation with the worker there who ensured me that the food is really safe and they do this all the time so after that lovely experience we went right to Japan and I actually found a restaurant with a gluten-free marked menu but I was so stuffed from the meal that I just had so I didn’t try any of it if you’re one Epcot and you.
Eat there let me know how it is up next we had Brazil which was another small country so it was a little vendor it wasn’t a big kitchen at all but they had the best gluten-free cheese bread it was absolutely delicious when I went up to order I knew that these were gluten-free but as I was doing my due diligence I still asked her and let her know about.
My severe allergy and that I can’t handle cross contact she then called headquarters I’m going to call it and they confirmed that everything was gluten-free there and I should be super safe let me tell you I wish I got three orders of these it was it was so good I’ll just leave you at that like you need to go and experience it for.
Yourself because it was so cheesy the only way I’ve come close is maybe getting the bronzy bites that are also really good but yeah what an experience you need to go and up next we had France I got this like orange drink let her know that I had a gluten allergy same thing I’ve been telling them all day it was gluten-free that was good then we.
Went to the UK I had some more sangria was very very solid very average I asked the same things that I’ve asked all day long it was very safe then at the last country we visited Canada I got some popcorn and it was absolutely delicious because it was maple flavored I was really hungry from the whole day we did so much walking and lots of.
Talking and adventuring it was oh such a great day and the maple popcorn was just a cherry on top that whole day everything that I ate and drank was over the course of 10 hours which was awesome because there were really a lot of good options and it was H just such a great day such a long day we also did a few rides too but that’s not the point of.
This video definitely make sure you go and when you do ask all the right questions even if the gluten-free menu is marked don’t assume that it’s Celiac safe ask all your questions just to make sure that it’s really safe for you and at your comfort level so please let me know if you have any questions you can leave them in the comments below I’ll be.
Sure to answer like this video if you found it helpful and subscribe if you don’t want to miss any of the other travel videos that actually go to other countries thank you so much for watching and I’ll see you in the next one
