Roaring Fork - Disney's Wilderness Lodge

This post was last updated February 17, 2019

On our trip to Disney World in July, we spent seven nights at Copper Creek, our new Disney Vacation Club home resort at Disney's Wilderness Lodge. Every time we visit Disney World, I try to eat Mickey or Disney-themed waffles at least two or three times, because they are my favorite breakfast option along with the gluten free beignets at Port Orleans - French Quarter.

On this trip, I had gluten free waffles at Sanaa, Kona Cafe, and Roaring Fork, a quick service restaurant at Disney's Wilderness Lodge.

The Mickey waffles at Roaring Fork are made with Namaste Waffle & Pancake Mix, which is free from the top 8 allergens. Disney restaurants either use Namaste, Bob's Red Mill, a combination of Namaste and Bob's, or Carbon's Golden Malted gluten free waffle & pancake mix, which I do not recommend. Even though it is certified gluten free, it is made on undeclared shared lines with wheat, eggs and milk, and in my experience, the waffles made with it at Disney restaurants are dry and heavy. You will need to ask a manager or chef at each location what mix they are using before ordering. If a restaurant is using the Golden Malted mix, which contains soy, you can ask if they have another mix in the restaurant. I emailed Special Diets about the Golden Malted mix earlier this year, and received a very generic non-response to my concerns.

At Roaring Fork, I dipped my Mickey waffles and bacon in syrup, because all breakfast meats are better with syrup! Overall, I enjoyed my breakfast. My waffles bordered on being undercooked in the middle, so I did what I usually do, which is eat the ears, and eat around the edges, which have always been my favorite part. We had lunch plans at Skipper Canteen in the Magic Kingdom, so I did not want to eat too big of a breakfast anyway.

When dining at Roaring Fork, ask a cast member at the registers for an allergy-friendly menu, and they will place your order for you. My gluten-eating family's food arrived at our table about five minutes before mine, but overall, the wait was pretty short.

One of my blog readers enjoyed the pulled pork cheese grits with a poached egg that I really wanted to try, but we did not dine at Roaring Fork a second time on this trip.

Chicken and waffles are on Roaring Fork's regular menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but they do not appear as a gluten/wheat allergy-friendly option on their allergy-friendly menus. One of my blog readers told me that they will make a gluten free version with allergy-friendly waffles and chicken tenders if you ask.

Gluten-friendly breakfast options include the 10-hour pulled pork cheese grits, Mickey waffles, allergy-friendly muffins and bagels, and the Roaring Fork breakfast platter with scrambled eggs, choice or bacon or sausage, and an allergy-friendly waffle.

Gluten free kids' meals include Mickey waffles or the kids' breakfast platter (scrambled eggs and choice or bacon or sausage) with Dannon Danimals yogurt.

Gluten friendly lunch/dinner options (entrees served with fresh fruit):

• Hamburger or cheeseburger
• Chicken focaccia sandwich with roasted peppers, fresh mozzarella, and tomato pesto
• Turkey sandwich with tomato, bibb lettuce, and chipotle mayonnaise
• Wilderness chicken salad with mixed greens, apples, cheddar, walnuts, and apple vinaigrette
• Caesar salad with chicken
• Pizza - cheese, pepperoni, or sausage
• Dessert options - allergy-friendly cookies and brownies

Gluten/wheat friendly kids' meals for lunch/dinner (served with choice of carrots, grapes, apple slices, or GoGo Squeez Applesauce):

• Chicken strips
• Hamburger or cheeseburger on an allergy-friendly bun
• Pizza - choice of cheese, pepperoni, or sausage

Roaring Fork has a nice selection of gluten free snack options, including several Snacks with Character, which you can read about here. The sweet chili tortilla chips are my personal favorite.

I also saw Glutino yogurt covered pretzels, Smartfood white cheddar popcorn, and Rocky Mountain caramel popcorn, which are all gluten free.

February 17, 2019 Update

Over Thanksgiving Break, we had breakfast at Roaring Fork the first morning of our stay at Copper Creek. I was excited to see that they are now offering loaded Mickey waffles with strawberry sauce, chocolate chips, banana foster sauce, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream.

The cast member I spoke to told me that all of the toppings are gluten free. I ordered my waffles with sausage, syrup, strawberry sauce, and bananas foster. I requested all my toppings on the side, and decided to leave off a few of the options I was not interested in, but now I am wondering why I did not get whipped cream. Thankfully, Roaring Fork was still using Namaste in November. I really enjoyed my waffles with toppings, and look forward to having them again later this year. The sausage was also good dipped in some syrup.



You can read more about Roaring Fork, and view their menu and hours on Disney's website.

What are your favorite gluten free options at Roaring Fork at Disney's Wilderness Lodge?