As I had warned before in my previous posts, the parks at Disneyland do NOT have tasty vegan meal options. With that being said yet again, I’ll give you a roundup of what was available in Animal Kingdom.
First off, I stopped at Mr. Kamal’s for a falafel, since the map had noted it was a restaurant with vegetarian offerings. I didn’t have high expectations going in, but I didn’t expect that it would be totally unrecognizable since it didn’t even have a sign.
The only way I could tell that it was actually the place I thought it was was because it was right across from the bathroom like it showed on the map. Disney FAIL!
This is nothing like the freshly made falafel sandwiches I’m used to back in NYC— in fact, it’s the furthest thing from it possible.
Before you lock down your order, you need to make sure that the tzatziki sauce is not added to your sandwich, since it contains yogurt. The pita bread should also be checked for milk ingredients, since it’s common in packaged commercial pita breads. I did check the label after asking to, and the brand they were using did not have any un-vegan ingredients.
The “falafel” balls (quotes entirely intended) tasted like reheated lumps of chickpea clay– dense, mushy and oily all at the same time. Eugh. Combined with reheated pita bread (everything is frozen and reheated), the final result was an unappetizing and sorely overpriced disgrace of a sandwich. The only redeeming feature was what seemed to be freshly chopped lettuce and tomato, the only thing fresh about the whole meal.
At least I had some cute birds to keep me company– and a sick view of the Tree of Life from the sit-down area to the left of the stall!
Pizzafari –
For lunch, I decided to stop by Pizzafari, where I was actually pleasantly surprised. Why? Because they had DAIYA! My prayers were answered! Or so I thought…
By substituting Daiya with regular cheese, this pizza can be made 100% vegan. It’s pretty much the only vegan thing on their menu, aside from the “Chicken, Vegetable and Pasta Salad” that can probably be made vegan.
It also comes topped with teeny tiny onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, and red and green peppers… that I could barely taste. Even though I was happy they did have Daiya, there was, believe it or not, TOO much of it.
When I folded the pizza in half, the Daiya oozed off the “crust” (it was really just a paper-like reheated bread disc that added nothing to the meal) along with gobfuls of canned tomato sauce. Definitely not the healthiest thing I could’ve eaten, but I really had no other choice. Overall, the pizza tasted like melted Daiya-and-tomato-paste-mush-on-a-tasteless-paper-crust.
The good thing was that I was allowed to switch the typical house salad with a pack of grapes– and they gave me two of them after I requested another one, since none of the dressings were really vegan (they were out of the balsamic/regular italian dressings). The grapes themselves are actually pretty tasty and fresh, as they keep them refrigerated at all times.
You can also opt to sub the dessert with some more grapes, since both the chocolate mousse and cheesecake in a cup (sounds gross, right?) are not vegan.