This past weekend was my last before the Fall semester begins at my university. I will be taking 5 courses, totaling 13 units, while working full time, so I doubt my weekends will be free for the next four months. Eric and I decided to take advantage of our last free weekend and go to Disneyland. His cousin (who usually works at Space Mountain) graciously offered to sign us in for the day. Eric was nervous about our dining options because this would be my first vegan day at Disneyland, so we planned ahead. We packed a lot of vegan snacks (grapes, kettle corn, kettle chips, nuts) and a lunch for each of us (I brought a vegan focaccia pizza thing that I found at Sprouts). My mom kindly pointed me toward some websites that she found when Googling “vegan Disneyland”. There are actually quite a few options for vegan diners.
We decided to try the gumbo at Royal Street Veranda in New Orleans Square (above Pirates of the Caribbean, right next to the stairs that go up to the Dream Suite). They offer vegetarian gumbo (it is in fact, vegan), steak gumbo, and clam chowder. The gumbo is hearty, spicy, and comes in a yummy sourdough bread bowl. I remarked that it is possibly the best meal I have ever had at Disneyland, vegan or omnivore. The bowls were $9.29, which is not horrible when you consider that it’s Disneyland food.
Much tastier than it looks!
In recent years, Disneyland has improved their healthy options in the park. There are many snack stands that offer fruit, water, apple chips, and hummus and pretzel packs.
The new look of California Adventure is just adorable. Look at this little snack market!
However, the prices for these items are pretty steep, so I recommend bringing your own. I have never had a problem bringing food into the park even though they check all bags. They are just checking for glass and other dangerous items. We always bring a few big water bottles from Trader Joes instead of paying something like $6 for each bottle of water.
Throughout the hot day, Eric was eyeing the many food stands that offer ice cream. The power of suggestion combined with the heat made me really crave something cold, so I decided to get a frozen lemonade from a cart and suggested that Eric get his ice cream at another cart. He, instead, opted for a lemonade as well and we enjoyed our tarty treats at the Bengal Barbeque seating area across from the Indiana Jones ride while we waited for our fast passes to kick in. The barbeque smelled delicious and I caught a glance of a passing veggie skewer that looked really good. I may try that on a future visit to the Happiest Place on Earth.
In case you are interested in other options, below are links to a few websites where I found lists of places to find vegan food at both parks.
A Vegan in Progress 
The gumbo is hands down the best vegan option at Disneyland. Good vegetarian (haven’t checked the ingredients to verify if it’s vegan) options at DCA are the tofu bowls at Lucky Fortune Cookery (you pick between 3 sauces) and veggie tacos/burritos at Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill. I could barely finish my veggie taco plate bc they pack it with so much rice, beans, and veggies! 🙂
I read about the tofu option after our visit. Sounds pretty good. That gumbo was awesome, though!
They use a roux with butter to make the gumbo. I asked them when I was there in August. I was very disappointed because I was looking forward to trying it thinking it was vegan.
Last I checked, it was vegan. I can’t imagine why they would change a recipe to use an ingredient that isn’t very cost-effective (like butter). I will ask them to look at the ingredients list next time I’m there and report back. Thanks for the heads up! That would be a real bummer.
I went to Disneyland a few days ago and checked if the gumbo was vegan, the girl told me its not because they lather the bread with butter before they cook it. So I’m not sure if they have an option to cook without butter…. thought I would share 😉. But the Mexican restaurant there is vegan. You can get the soft tacos with beans, rice and veggies. Very delicious!!!
Yeah, unfortunately, I’ve heard similar things. Last time I was there, I asked to see the ingredients list and the cashier said they didn’t have one. He offered to have a chef come talk to me but I had a group waiting for me and a huge line behind me, so I chickened out. I’m pretty bummed because it’s the best dish at Disneyland.