A Vegan’s Guide to Orlando

Hey guys,

I know I just introduced the blog as being about whole foods, plant-based, unprocessed vegan lifestyle, but this one will be different. I got back last week from Orlando, Fl for vacation. My first trip to Disney and Universal Studios and I loved it. Months and weeks leading up to the trip I started my research on places to eat and what I should bring. By this point I have been 110% committed to the healthy way I’ve been eating described in my last post. BUT, this was my first vacation in 2 years and I wanted to allow myself to enjoy it without guilt. So I knew if I went in with a plan that I would not “fail” myself.

 

The first 3 days of our vacation was actually spent at The Star Wars Celebration in the Orange County Convention Center. I don’t trust convention food to be either vegan or oil free. Instead we made a trip to WalMart and bought some microwavable bags of steamed brown rice with and without veggies, I would cook them in our hotel microwave along with about 4 potatoes and put them in some Tupperware in my bag.

At one moment, I was sitting on the floor eating a baked potato and John Boyega randomly walked by and I didn’t even notice.

So this was my lunch for the first 3 days, breakfast was always my usual oatmeal I made int he hotel. For snacks I grabbed a couple of granola bars from the hotel breakfast station. Dinners we went out and tried some new places we don’t have access to back at home. The first night we ate at a place called Toasted, they specialize in grilled cheese type sandwiches, but they also made their own vegan cheese in-house. Sounded amazing so I had to try it. I got the vegan banh mi sandwich with cheese fries. The sandwich was delicious, a veggie patty with pickled vegetables on top, and the fries had their vegan cheese on it with truffle oil and rosemary. In hindsight I should have asked for no truffle oil, I couldn’t finish them because I just wasn’t used to eating oily meals anymore, but that isn’t to say it wasn’t a delicious meal.

The next night we went out to eat before mini golf at this cute little place called Freshii which was pretty vegan/vegetarian friendly restaurant. They made bowls, burritos, smoothies and more. I got their green curry bowl which had a rice base, coconut milk green curry, then loaded with veg on top. Michael got their tex mex chicken burrito and said it was the best burrito he has ever had. Not only was the food fresh and tasty, the decorations was my aesthetic.

The next night we found ourselves at Disney Springs, I quickly searched for vegan friendly options here and found Blaze Pizza and Erin McKenna’s Bakery NYC. Blaze is a build-your-own pizza restaurant that does gluten-free crust and vegan cheese, I believe it was Daiya. They had lots of toppings to choose from and they were nice enough to change gloves when I asked for the vegan cheese. Not only that, they had the vegan cheese covered to keep the flying mozzarella out. Michael also said this was the best pizza he has ever had and kind of hasn’t stopped talking about it.

 

Erin McKenna’s Bakery was a real treat. Everything in the shop was dairy, egg, and gluten-free and absolutely beautiful. I could have spent all day in there and been happy.

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Michael got the chocolate cupcake and I got the Blondie cupcake which tasted like a chocolate covered cherry, though I was really tempted by the Samoa and cinnamon bun doughnuts. The cashier told me they do ship within the US so this may have to happen on my birthday.

 

The following night after our day at Universal we ate left over pizza from Blaze, but not before we got ice cream. The Ben and Jerry’s shop had one of their non dairy flavors. Thanks to the vegan who worked at Ollivander’s wand shop for letting me know.

 

The next day was Disney day! There are actually loads of vegan treats available I found during my research. We tried what we could in our short 1 day visit. Lunch was at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe and I got the falafel burger and green beans instead of French fries, they said they only steam the beans so no butter. Then we stopped at the Aloha stand and got the famous pineapple Dole Whip.

 

After a few hours we stopped for another snack, the Mickey Mouse pretzels are vegan just no cheese dipping sauce.

I already knew what I wanted for dinner, Curried Vegetable Crew Stew at Ltd Skippers. I am obsessed with all things curry and it did not disappoint. The waitress suggested tofu which came at no additional cost. In hindsight me and Michael should have shared it because it was plenty and filling. Thought, it worked out I took the left overs with me as we walked around the mall on our last day for lunch.

 

The restaurant I was most excited about trying was where we had dinner on our last night. Market on South housed two amazing eateries , Dixie Dharma & Valhalla Bakery. That’s right! I found two completely vegan bakeries on this journey. Me and Michael got one of each of their tacos, a tempeh based and a BBQ jackfruit based. For dessert, Michael got the double chocolate cupcake (of course), and I got one glazed doughnut and one Chocolate Chip YOLO cookie. The doughnut I ate with my coffee for breakfast the next morning. Now the cookie was extremely indulgent. Two chocolate chunk cookies that sandwich a bourbon cream frosting. It was hard the finish, not from richness, but from sheer size.

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That was what we had while in Orlando for a week. I did a lot more research based on yelp reviews and restaurant descriptions of other vegan options, we just couldn’t make it to all of them.

I will list those other restaurants down below.

The list for Disney World pertains more to  Magic Kingdom. I read there were even more choices in Epcot!

Aloha Ise:

• Dole Whip $4

Auntie Gravity’s Galactic Goodies:

• Fruit: $1.69
• Orange or Raspberry or Strawberry-banana smoothie: $4

Be Our Guest Rest:

 

• Quinoa salad $13
• Layered Ratatoulli $21

 

 

Cinderella’s Royal Table

• Gnocchi or rice with roasted Veg (V) no cheese and butter $n/a

Columbia Harbour House

• Lighthouse Sandwich $10 no slaw, vegan chili

 

Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe

• Veg Burger $11
• French Fries $3
• Green Beans $3
• ( I read they have a cookie available)

Jungle Navigation Co Ltd Skipper Canteen

• Baladi Salad $9
• Falls Family Falafel $9
• Curried Veg Crew Stew $17

 

Liberty Tree Tavern

• The Veg Proclamation $14 (vegan mayo!) lunch only

Lunching Pad

• Chocolate Soy Milk $3
• Orange juice $4
• Soy Milk $3

Mainstreet Plaza Ice Cream Parlor

• has Toffuti and Rice Dream…dont get cone

Sleepy Hollow

• Baked Potato $3.39
• Chocolate and reg Soy Milk $2.59

 

 

The Diamond Horseshoe (buffet)

• Frontier Salad

Friar’s Nook

• Chocolate Soy Milk $3.29
• Apple Juice $3.29

Plaza Rest.

• Veg Burger $16

Tomorrowland Terrace

• Banh Mi sandwich without meat and aioli $11

Tony’s Town Square

• Zucchini Fries $11
• Pasta Fagioli Soup $8
• Veg pizza maybe without cheese $20

Tortuga Tavern

• Roasted Corn and Veg salad $10
• Veg Burrito

Apparently can ask about vegan waffles when staying in a Disney resort.

• all popcorn (not including caramel)
• Pretzels

 

Here is a list of restaurants around Orlando area that were vegan friendly.

 

Market on South

2603 E South St
Orlando, FL 32803

Sample Menu:

BBQ Jackfruit, Not-Dogs, sandwiches

Doughnuts, cakes, cookies, pies, muffins

Dandelion Communitea Cafe

618 N Thornton Ave
Orlando, FL 32803

Sample Menu:

Lettuce wraps, humus, sandwiches, chickpeas salad, burrito

The Sanctum

715 N Fern Creek Ave, Unit D.

Orlando, FL 32803

Sample Menu:

“local food” feel (cage free eggs), Bibimbap, sandwiches, muesli, acai bowls, salads, tofu scrambles, tempeh meatballs, pasta, bowls

Veggie Garden

1216 E Colonial Dr
Ste 11
Orlando, FL 32803

Colonialtown South, Mills50

Sample Menu:

Vietnamese, rice plates, noodles, pho

Drunken Money

444 N Bumby Ave
Orlando, FL 32803

Colonialtown South

Sample Menu:

muffins, vegan, veggie, oatmeal (no real menu)

Toasted

10783 Narcoossee Rd
Orlando, FL 32832

Lake Nona

Sample:

regular burgers, vegan burgers, fries, fries, bahnmi!

Infusion Tea

1600 Edgewater Drive

Orlando, FL 32804
Sample Menu:

pizza, wraps, breakfast wraps, sweet potato tacos, sandwiches, paninis, vegan cupcakes and cookies?

Gnarly Barley

7431 S Orange Ave
Orlando, FL 32809

Bell Isle, Pine Castle

Sample Menu:

mainly sandwiches, build your own salad or sandwiches, subs

Freshii

7600 Dr Phillips Blvd #10

Orlando, Florida

Sample Menu:

soups, salad, sandwiches, build your own, has cheese and eggs but plenty of veg, also some meat and tofu

Oblivion Taproom

5101 E Colonial Dr

Orlando, Florida 32803

Sample Menu:

burgers (Gardien available) onion rings, fries, tots, veggie sandwiches (including jack fruit)

Lazy Moon

University
11551 University Boulevard
Orlando, FL. 32817
Mills/50
1011 E. Colonial Dr.
Orlando, FL. 32803
Sample menu:

PIZZA, lots of daiya, even calzone

 

Hope this list is able to help any vegans traveling to Orlando! I wish I had heard this tip before we went, but whenever traveling, reach out on Facebook to the local vegan society page for natives’ favorite places to eat. So long, Orlando, and thanks for all the eats.