Plenty of Walt Disney World guests are looking for vegetarian eats in the theme parks, so we did a little scouting to find the best. These are our choices – what are yours?
In Magic Kingdom Park, quick-service picks include the Greek salad, veggie wrap or veggie burger at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe in Tomorrowland. Across the park in Frontierland, we like the veggie flatbread at Golden Oak Outpost. And the Lighthouse Sandwich at Columbia Harbour House in Liberty Square, a delicious stack of hummus and broccoli slaw on whole-grain bread.
For table service, our top pick is Tony’s Town Square Restaurant: at lunch, the eggplant stack with caramelized onions, fresh mozzarella, Parmesan, red sauce and penne pasta; at dinner, the gnocchi with goat cheese and leek cream sauce and spinach.
At Disney’s Hollywood Studios we go for the grilled vegetable sandwich at Backlot Express when we’re on the run. For a meal to savor, hands down it’s the substantial Cobb Salad or the noodle bowl with wok-fried coconut tofu, soybeans, sugar snap peas, bok choy and shiitake mushrooms in a red curry broth (pair it with a Riesling for a delicious memory) at the Hollywood Brown Derby Restaurant.
We found lots of great vegetarian tastes at Epcot. For a quick bite, Tangierine Café in the Morocco Pavilion has a vegetarian platter with hummus, tabouleh, lentils, falafel and marinated olives with fresh Moroccan bread. Or grab a cheese plate and fresh baguette at Boulangerie Patisserie in the France Pavilion. In the Japan Pavilion’s Teppan Edo, we go for yasai, fresh seasonal vegetables with udon noodles and steamed rice.
Among favorite table-service spots are La Hacienda in the Mexico Pavilion for the black bean soup with cactus leaves, queso franco and Mexican cream, the roasted sweet peppers with lime and sea salt and the spinach house salad with queso fresco, tomatoes, pomegranate, pine nuts and avocado drizzled with mustard vinaigrette. Add a lime-raspberry margarita! At Le Cellier Steakhouse in the Canada Pavilion, we make a meal of the sides: wild mushroom risotto, creamed spinach, baked mac and cheese and amazing grilled asparagus. Let them eat steak! And we have to give a shout out for our favorite wood-burning oven margherita pizza at Via Napoli.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom favorites include the veggie eggroll from the Bradley Falls kiosk, and the bounteous buffet at Tusker House – one of the best Walt Disney World places for a vegetarian to graze. Chutneys, salad, curried basmati rice, spiced tandoori tofu, saffron-infused vegetables, couscous with roasted vegetables, vegetable samosas, pearl couscous with sweet basil, basmati rice with toasted almonds…the list goes on.
Do your own exploring and let us know what you like best.
Comments
We were at the Brown Derby last month and they made a vegetarian version of the Cobb Salad for us. We always discussed the vegetarian options with our server and there were always more than what was on the menu. For instance, lots of the menu items at Yak & Yeti can be made with tofu.
These suggestions sound great!
Some of the favorite vegetarian food I’ve had at WDW includes:
The fantastic Vegetarian Shepard’s Pie at the Rose & Crown in Epcot (seriously one of the best thing’s I’ve eaten).
The Vegetarian combination platter on the special vegetarian menu at Tokyo Dining (veggie tempura, a vegetable roll, rice, & a seaweed salad). You have to ask special for the vegetarian menu.
I completely agree that the Tangerine Cafe is wonderful!
Kouzzina by Cat Cora has some delicious vegetarian items.
There is so much wonderful vegetarian food to choose from!
Love the lighthouse and the Greek salad! And I agree with Tony’s for lunch, the eggplant is amazing! They have some good options at Chef De France in Epcot too!
As a Disneyland CA regular, I have some suggestions: the veggie gumbo in NO square is amazing, and the salads and pasta at pizza port are a good quick option as well. My favorite dinner item is the veggie ragout at cafe Orleans, and the Mac and Cheese (off menu item) at Blue Bayou. As far as DCA goes, I can’t wait to see what new offerings they are bringing in, because aside from the veggie chili at the bakery, there isn’t anything else that is super tasty. I’d also love to see more options in the hotels.
The Greek Salad is fabulous! I would almost go back to WDW on a monthly basis just to have it. Yum!
As others have said, vegan suggestions for the Disneyland resort would be very helpful. It’s so hard to find vegan food there – I often leave the parks to eat. If there are any good vegan options at Disneyland or California Adventure, I’d love to know! Also, a suggestion: at the Tokyo Disney Resort on the park maps they had a chart with various special diets, and icons indicating which restaurants offered food for each special diet. When we went to the restaurant that offered a vegan meal, they had a special vegan menu that listed what we could have. It was a very easy to use and helpful system, and I feel it could work well at all of the other Disney resorts.
I have had the Lighthouse sandwich before from Columbia Harbor House in Magic Kingdom and loved it! It was filling, yet light and perfect for a summer day to give you energy to keep having fun!
The grilled vegetable sandwich is an absolute favorite of mine and I actually (until I found it at EPCOT) went to Stuidos park every single day to get it. It came with the best side of a black bean type salsa that was so good I wished it was a bigger side. I could eat a trough of it! And its nice to see the restaurants getting more veggies and better options for kids. My kids eat like I do, while occasionally eating mac and cheese they never pic food off kids menus even when I tried once to force them to eat McDonalds….it is a blessing but sometimes in disguise when you’re in a hurry. So I’m super excited to visit both parks in 2013!!! I’m waiting till the majority and new exciting park ventures are opened!!
A day in each park!
Animal Kingdom:completely agree!
Tusker House Buffet has many delicious flavorful options from hummus,tabbouleh, tandoori tofu, multiple couscous’ and rice dishes. Also it has some of the best sample sized desserts!
That pretty much fills me up for the day, but a good snack is the vegetable egg roles in Asia.
EPCOT:
lunch quick service Sunshine Seasons tofu and vegetable noodle bowl, flatbread or salads!
dinner: Chefs de France baked macaroni and cheese
although there are so many other things I like to eat around the world showcase, like the hummus plate in Morroco, a pretzel in Germany, crepe in France, nachos without the meat in Mexico are amazing, and you cannot forget all of the desserts everywhere! I haven’t tried Pizza Napoli yet but I would like too!
Magic Kingdom:
lunch: I agree, Lighthouse sandwich in Columbia harbor House or veggie burger in peco bills!
dinner: head over to the Polynesian and get the vegetarian special order at ‘Ohana!
Disney Studios:
lunch:Starring Rolls Bakery – vegetable sushi
dinner: veggie burger anywhere!
The Artichoke and Ricotta Agnolotti from 50’s Prime Time is beyond amazing!
Pam, thanks for posting on vegetarian meals at WDW!
Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge always has a terrific set of vegetarian options. My wife insists on getting rooms there, so that we can always get a good vegetarian meal in the hotel.
The best meal we’ve ever had was when Chef TJ was at Ohana in February 2010. We had 4 vegetarians and one omnivore. He made a huge platter for the vegetarians. I think he is now at 1900 Park Faire, so I am hoping for another great dinner there later this month.
I know that all of the WDW restaurants are now supposed to have vegetarian options, it would be great if they would update the menus on the dining site to include the vegetarian options, or label which meals can be prepared vegan / vegetarian.
!! Elizabeth from OH – you have the *recipe* for veggie chili??? Can you direct me to it, pretty please? I love that stuff!
I adore the noodle bowl at the Hollywood Brown Derby, it’s fantastic! The pan-fried tofu with crispy coconut on the outside is so creamy and delicious. Also love the Columbia Harbor House. The hummus sandwich is great but my favorite from that particular spot is the veggie chili. I was able to snag the recipe and now make it at home when it’s cold outside. However when I visited the parks in January, the chili wasn’t on the menu. I really hope that was temporary.
Every time I visit I must eat at Tusker House and Boma, two of my very favorites. Everything they serve is perfection. Yum!!
The baked mac and cheese at Le Cellier has bacon in it. At least that is what the waitress told me when I tried to order it last month!
I ate at California Grill and they made me an abosolutely outstanding vegetarian plate. Each chef put something different on my plate. One of the best meals of my life!
I’m a vegan and was surprised and incredibly pleased by how accomodating the chefs were at every restaurant I ate at during my stay. Most of the restaurants even had soy ice cream in the back! Now that is awesome service. Keep it up Disney 😀
I second the requests for vegetarian/vegan menu options at Disneyland and DCA! I usually try to figure it out when I’m at the various eateries, but a Disney-approved list of options would be awesome!!
Could you possibly do a vegan one for Disneyland?
Please don’t forget Baby Cakes, a DELICIOUS all-vegan bakery located inside Pollo Campero in the Marketplace at Downtown Disney. They offer amazing baked goods including cookies, cupcakes and (most deliciously) homemade doughnuts! My favorite is the cinnamon sugar variety. In addition to being vegan, they’re gluten free and sugar free, made with agave nectar rather than refined sugar. Sure wish I had one right now.
For other amazing vegan food, try Sanaa Restaurant in Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas–Kidani Village. It offers unique and delicious African cuisine including an all vegan menu!
Enjoy and happy veggie eating at Walt Disney World!!!
The Lighthouse Sandwich at Columbia Harbour House in Liberty Square (hummus and broccoli slaw on whole-grain bread) is one of my favorites at Disney and I do my best to create it at home! Unfortunately at home it lacks the Disney magic 🙂 It’s so refreshing and delicious! Every time I make it I close my eyes and try to imagine I’m back at Disney. Mama Melrose’s restaurant in Hollywood Studios was also an unbelievable experience. Aside from being vegetarian, I have serious issues with dairy. My family was in the mood for pizza and I didn’t want to spoil their time. We walked into Mama Melrose’s and they immediately asked about dietary concerns, stamped our reservation slip with an “allergy” stamp and the chef came out and asked me what I was in the mood for! He personally oversaw my meal (which was of course amazing!). Yet another reason Disney is never surpassed when it comes to service and caring for their guests!
The noodle bowl at Brown Derby, stir-fried noodles at Kona Cafe, the veggie selections at Boma and Tusker House buffets, the Lighthouse Sandwich and veggie chili at Columbia Harbour House (order both only if you have a big appetite), the veggie platter at Tangierine Cafe (make sure to ask that your falafel isn’t cooked in the same oil as the meat), goat-cheese ravioli at California Grill…
Oh, and I used to like the vegetable curry at Rose & Crown, but they no longer serve it. Pam, could you mention that it’s missed? Hint, hint.
The Vegetable Pot Pie at the Liberty Tree Tavern is outstanding!
The cobb salad does in fact have meat in it, but I believe they also have a spinach and strawberry salad at the Brown Derby that’s pretty good.
The Noodle Bowl at Sunshine Seasons is my top favorite vegetarian dish. This past Christmas our server at Citrico’s went out of his way to have the chef make me a special vegetarian appetizer and a dinner of all their amazing sides! There is always something at almost ever restaurant that I can eat, and those options are amazing!
Excellent post. More like these, please. Is there a vegetarian entree at the La Hacienda, aside from the soup?
I agree I love the goats cheese and beet salad at Sunshine Seasons.
Um, the Cobb salad at the Brown Derby had meat in it last I checked…? Just FYI.
My fav in the Magic Kingdom is the Vegetarian Chili at Columbia Harbor House! That Lighthouse sandwich is excellent, but the chili is a meal in itself, cheap and so, so good!!
Thanks for the great blog today! When I was at the World in March 2010, I loved the Roasted Beets and Goat Cheese Salad at Sunshine Seasons, and the veggie sandwich selections at the Afternoon Tea at the Garden View Lounge.
Also, the chefs at the table service restaurants are so, so accommodating. When my mom and I ate at the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Review, the chef came to our table personally to check and make sure he was altering the menu for my vegetarian needs. Disney is the best!
This is great 🙂 My all time favorite is the tofu and vegetable noodle bowl from Sunshine Season in The Land at Epcot. Tofu, veggies and noodles in miso broth. Really filling (got me through basically all of a 13-hour day at the park) and so good!
I love it! Can’t wait to visit Florida. As a Californian, could you do a similar post on vegetarian eats at Disneyland and DCA?
Thank You, thank you, thank you!It is so nice to know that on my next trip to Florida I won’t have to spend half of my time looking for something good that I can eat.It all looks wonderful
That grilled vegetable sandwich looks great. Now I’m hungary, thanks.
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