Thursday, February 13, 2014

Gardens Kiosk at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Yesterday, my friend Angie and I met at Disney's Animal Kingdom to walk before heading to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to have lunch at The Mara.  Yep, that's one of the perks of living in Orlando and having an annual pass to Disney World - I can get in a good workout by walking around Disney, then go have a fabulous gluten free meal at a Disney restaurant.


Before heading to lunch, we stopped at the Gardens Kiosk, which offers allergy-friendly snacks and information on special dietary options throughout the Animal Kingdom.  How awesome is that?!?  


At the kiosk, which is located right outside of DinoLand, you can purchase hummus with vegetables, flavored rice chips, caramel popcorn, gluten free vegan granola bars, cookies, & blondies, gluten free cookies & cupcakes, and gluten free beer & hard cider.  

Here's a close up of their display of allergy-friendly snacks.  


The Gardens Kiosk offers chocolate chip cookies, mini cupcakes, and blondies from BabyCakes NYC at Downtown Disney.  All of these vegan and kosher products are free of gluten, dairy, egg, and soy.


The kiosk also offers Go Raw Organic Live Energy Bars.  They are non-GMO, gluten free, wheat free, and nut free.  


Also available are Enjoy Life Soft Baked Double Chocolate Brownie Cookies, Surf Sweets Fruity Bears, and Rocky Mountain Caramel Popcorn.  


You can purchase Lundberg Sea Salt, Fiesta Lime, or Honey Dijon Rice Chips.  


All varieties of Lundberg Rice Chips are wheat free and gluten free.  


They are also non-GMO.  


The Gardens Kiosk also offers fruit and beverages.  


Alcoholic beverages include Omission and Redbridge beers, and Angry Orchard Hard Cider.  Before consuming Omission Beer you might want to read Is Barley-Based Omission Beer Really Risk-Free for Celiacs?  Redbridge Beer is made with sorghum.  


Make sure you pick up one of these Allergy-Friendly Dining Tips pamphlets at the Gardens Kiosk.  


It provides information on food items at Pizzafari, Flame Tree Barbeque, and Restaurantosaurus that are free of gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soy, corn, peanut, tree nut, shellfish, and fish.

Menu items at Pizzafari that can be made gluten-free upon request:  pepperoni pizza, hot Italian-style sandwich, caesar salad, and the chicken, vegetable & pasta salad.  Gluten-free macaroni & cheese is also available.

Menu items at Flame Tree Barbeque that can be made gluten-free upon request:  1/2 slab of St. Louis ribs, smoked chicken salad, ribs & chicken combo, pork sandwich, and the smoked turkey breast sandwich.

Menu items at Restaurantosaurus that can be made gluten-free upon request:  angus bacon cheeseburger, macaroni & cheese hotdog, chicken breast nuggets (you will receive my favorite chicken tenders), and the grilled chicken sandwich.  Gluten-free macaroni & cheese is also available.

Each location offers gluten free brownies and chocolate chip cookies.

I have eaten at all three of these quick service locations.  I especially love the chicken tenders and French fries at Restaurantosaurus, and the ribs at Flame Tree Barbeque.  You can read my review of Flame Tree Barbeque here, and my review of Restaurantosaurus here.

Allergy binders with detailed information on ingredients in menu items are available at the Gardens Kiosk.

Disney's Animal Kingdom is also home to Tusker House Restaurant, one of my favorite restaurants at Disney World.  We love to eat there for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  You can read my review of Tusker House here.  I have also had good meals at Rainforest Cafe, and Yak & Yeti Restaurant.

Currently, the Animal Kingdom is the only Disney Park to have an allergy-friendly kiosk.  Hopefully, Disney will be adding them to the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios in the near future. 


March 29, 2014 Update - We stopped by the Gardens Kiosk today because I heard they were now selling BabyCakes Doughnuts.  


The cast member working at the kiosk let me take some pictures.  


I was hoping for my favorite cinnamon sugar doughnuts, but they only had chocolate glazed and cookie crumble.  I had already eaten breakfast, so I didn't sample anything today.  


Another new addition to the menu is Tofutti chocolate & vanilla ice cream.  


Here's a picture of the fruit cup and hummus with vegetables.  


When I asked about gluten free soft serve at the Animal Kingdom, I was shown this page in their allergy binder for the Thai Bus.  Both the chocolate & vanilla soft serve are free of gluten.  You can read my review of the Thai Bus here.  

June 21, 2014 Update  


The Gardens Kiosk is now selling BabyCakes cinnamon sugar doughnuts instead of the cookie crumble.  They still have BabyCakes chocolate chip cookies and mini cupcakes, but I thought the cookies looked a little different than what I am used to.  Maybe BabyCakes has changed their recipe, because in the past, the cookies were very flat, but today, they looked a little puffy.  


Here's an updated picture of their signage.

January 15, 2015

Flame Tree Barbecue will be closed for the next three months for refurbishment.  Dishes from Flame Tree will still be available at the Beastly and Gardens Kiosks, Trilo-Bites, and a temporary cart near Trilo-Bites.  Because the Gardens Kiosk is now serving food from Flame Tree, the allergy kiosk has been relocated to the Discovery Island Kiosk, near the gates to Africa.  You can read more about where you can find your favorite dishes from Flame Tree Barbecue on The Disney Food Blog.

You can read my new post on the allergy kiosk here.




4 comments:

  1. Was there last night and was told that baby cakes is closed permanently!

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    1. Here's my blog post on BabyCakes. Still no word on their future, but they are still making baked goods for Disney. http://www.gfinorlando.com/2014/03/babycakes-at-downtown-disney.html

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  2. Durn! They're going to stop after 1 week? We're doing the Safari Trek next weekend and I was planning on picking up some donuts... DURN!

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    1. Were you able to get the donuts? They tweeted me that they would still be available.

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