We’ve had several people ask us about other Disney owned properties and what they offer for vegans. One of our friends recently went to Disney’s Vero Beach Resort and was able to get the scoop on vegan options to share with our readers. Thanks for sharing with us, Kim! This experience is from late 2018.
Back in October, my daughter celebrated her 2nd birthday. Since we are Walt Disney World locals, we wanted to do something different. So we drove an hour and 45 minutes away to Disney’s Vero Beach Resort for a 2 night stay of fun in the sun. Trying to prepare ahead of time for this, food-wise, was not easy. There is not a lot of information about vegan options at this resort, and I had a hard time finding any local option information either. We planned on staying just at the resort for our time there anyway, so I asked around and just kept being told “they handle dietary restrictions all the time, you will be fine!” Thank goodness they were right!
Disney’s Vero Beach Resort has two dining options, the Wind and Waves Grill Restaurant, and the Wind and Waves Market for quick service. On weekends they open a character buffet with Goofy and Donald. We were there during the week, so we did not get to experience this. When we arrived at the resort, it was lunch time, so I scoped out the Wind and Waves Market to check out the options. I was pleasantly surprised to see a decent amount of prepackaged vegan items.
Since this is a Disney Vacation Club Resort, they do have a small shop with grocery items. They carried Gardien Chik’n, Tofutti Cuties, Silk Soy Milk, and Vans Waffles. They also had some standard items like Quaker Oatmeal, boxed cereals, Oreos, and assorted chips. There is also a huge section of prepackaged nuts and trail mixes. You could also fix yourself a nice meal with the produce selection and fruit they offered.
Now on the quick service side of things, they had a few options. You could get a Beyond Burger and fries, or a pressed roasted vegetable sandwich if you wanted something hot. They also offer a 1/2 veggie wrap with a side of soup, or salad. Unfortunately I cannot confirm if any of the soups were vegan, since I did not order it. They did not have vegan cheese for the Beyond Burger at the time, but I am hoping by now they do. I had to ask for the burger, it was not featured on the menu.
One of my favorite things about going to Wind and Waves Market was the Mickey Pretzel. This was no ordinary Mickey Pretzel. This was baked to order, with as much or as little salt as you would like. It was the hottest, freshest and tastiest Mickey Pretzel I have ever had! They also offer Pineapple Dole Whip, if you are looking for another Disney Parks favorite. All in all, it was a great place for a quick bite, and I was never disappointed with anything I ate there. My only complaint is they did not have anything on the hot breakfast menu that was readily vegan, so we ended up eating breakfast at the restaurant.
The Wind and Waves Grill is a small sit down restaurant inside the main building of the resort. They encourage you to book ahead of time, but we were able to make reservations at check in for the next morning and evening. The chef at breakfast was very helpful and pretty much told me she could attempt to make anything I wanted vegan. They have pina colada pancakes on the menu that sounded awesome, so she not only made me that, but she threw in a bonus vegan mickey waffle! The pancakes were also gluten free since it’s the same mix. They came with the pina colada topping on the side of pineapple rum syrup with toasted coconut and small pineapple chunks. They also offered a side of fruit and had soy milk to drink.
Dinner was a little more complicated. The chef came and spoke to me, and they were more asking me for suggestions than offering them. I asked if they had tofu and they made me a grilled tofu dish with vegetables and a side of pineapple rice. The tofu was okay but the pineapple rice was delicious! Unfortunately they forgot to bring it to me in the beginning, so it just looked like a bowl of white rice on the side. They did have a bread basket and unfortunately none of the bread was vegan. I would definitely recommend the breakfast over the dinner. It did leave me feeling hungry for a snack afterwards. Thankfully the Market had plenty of options to help out with that!
Thanks for sharing your experience at Disney’s Vero Beach with us and our readers, Kim! You can find Kim on Instagram for other great vegan finds at central Florida theme parks. Have you stayed at Disney’s Vero Beach Resort? Leave a comment to share what you ate while there!
