ABD with food allergies?

spacecanada

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 25, 2011
Has anyone done ABD with highly sensitive and life-threatening food allergies? If so, what was your experience?

I've asked ABD customer service (three times) and they said they will try to make accommodations but cannot guarantee safe food will be available. That's not exactly reassuring when they are planning the meals. This is the only reason holding us back from booking an ABD trip in the future. We really want to go, but not guaranteeing safe food (for allergies) is a major problem.

If they cannot provide allergy-free food somewhere, is there an option to visit a supermarket to pick up fresh produce along the way?

I'd love to hear any experiences with allergies or special diets whilst on an ABD trip.
 
Hi Spacecanada,

Our son has a tree nut allergy although not of a high sensitivity (he is ok being in the same area as someone with tree nuts, he just can't eat them) and not life threatening. During the 3 ABD's we have taken, all of our guides have been great about calling ahead to restaurants to ensure his meal is tree nut free and arranging alternatives when needed. The guides even thought of it when we didn't. So, our experiences have been very positive especially in Europe (Switzerland and Italy) where hazelnuts tend to be used quite a bit.

What I couldn't comment on is if there is a sensitivity to food prepared in the same kitchen/equipment. Our son is OK with that. His sensitivity is if he ingests a tree nut.

Hope this helps at least a little.
 
Thank you for the reply! I am happy to hear they were able to accommodate your son's allergies so well. This give us hope. I'm hoping a few others will chime in with similar experiences and that should put me a bit more at ease.
 
I have a ver bad allergy to mushrooms. I have never had a problem. The guides were always checking to make sure what I could it. In china my place card hard allergic to mushrooms in Chinese so no problems. There have been times when I might not be able to eat 1 dish at a meal.
 


We have done 3 trips with ABD and on 2 of those trips kids did have some allergies and never heard nor seen any bad reactions. At one dinner an adult couple with kids had a complaint about the selection offered but not about the allergic components of the meal. ABD does use 3rd party vendors to supply the meals. ABD is restrained in the fact that they cannot guarantee perfection but I would suspect the vendors that ABD employs are top notch and custom to most food requests. One thing about those ABD trips is you never go hungry, that's for sure.:rotfl2:
 
I don't know for sure, but I imagine it would also depend on where you are looking to go. Some areas might be more remote or have less access to allergy free food than others. The research and control of special food needs, I believe, is pretty much up to the Adventure Guides, as they are the ones on the ground, making all of the arrangements. That's probably one reason the ABD Vacationistas can't make any guarantees. The Adventure Guides would be the ones controlling that.

I've never been on an ABD with anyone with life-threatening allergies, but there have been celiacs who had to have gluten free, one person who was allergic to wine, and me (I cannot eat tomatoes, green peppers or citrus fruit) and the Adventure Guides have been magnificent about making sure that all the meals contained dishes that conformed to our dietary needs. When we made pizza, the counters had been thoroughly scrubbed prior to our arrival, and the gluten-free pizzas were made first. Things like that. But, again, that's for non-life-threatening allergies. If you're eating in a small farmhouse in the middle of nowhere on a Greek Island, the options to prevent cross-contamination might be smaller.

As carpenta said, ABD uses a lot of 3rd party vendors to provide your meals. While they are highly scrutinized and vetted, it's possible not every place is going to have the facilities to accommodate your dietary needs. And there may not be a grocery store anywhere nearby *to* stop at. Again, it really depends on the trip and the locale.

I know ABD would do their absolute best to make sure you had safe food to eat. But since not everything is under their control like at the Parks or on DCL, that's probably part of why ABD won't give you a guarantee. Unfortunately, since the Adventure Guides aren't assigned this far out, you can't discuss it with them, either.

Maybe if you asked to talk to a supervisor, they could work with you to determine which trips would be a better choice for you.

Sayhello
 
On our trip to London and Paris one of the guests had severe allergies. She even had to be careful of the type of bottled water she drank. The guides were amazing. Every meal they had the chef or manager come out to speak with the guest and they always were able to prepare something she could eat. She was so impressed with the service. She had brought dimple snack foods with her on case she had trouble with the meals, but it all worked out.

"SingingMom" ....Sent from my iPad using DISBoards
 


Not sure if too late to be useful... I think how it works out depends greatly on the specific food allergy and where you are traveling. We were told similar things at the time of booking about not guaranteeing safety and making accommodations. We traveled to London & Paris with ABD in June 2009. Our son (10 yo at the time) has serious peanut and tree nut allergies. While concerned, we felt that we could keep him safe between using the guides and Select Wisely translation cards.

The guides always made sure that he had something to eat - although it wasn't always to his liking and he did feel excluded at times. When we would be offered pain au chocolat and other regional treats, he was given a piece of fruit. At each group meal, the guides had notified the restaurant in advance and made arrangements, sometimes in consultation with us. At times he could eat the same meal, others were specially made for him. At Harrods, they prepared him a lovely meal of steak, salad and sorbet while the rest of us ate scones and were jealous of him! This was the exception, however, and he was often given something less than appealing. For the final meal celebration, they wanted to give him a plate of vegetables - not too appealing to a 10 year old boy. We were a little upset with that decision as the restaurant had a nut free area in the kitchen and had provided him with a nice boxed lunch when we were at the Eiffel Tower (picked up by the guides in advance). Knowing they could do better, and that some of the other kids were eating plain pasta, we had to push a lot with the guides to get them to give him the pasta - even offering to cook it ourselves. Years later, my husband and I still remember our frustration with the "grilled vegetable" dinner, resulting from a week of watching our kid always be offered a fruit or vegetable as a meal/snack solution. While happy to have healthy meal choices, it always felt like an easy out rather than just giving the kid a different meal. We were frustrated and disappointed in his meal selections because we know how wonderfully Disney deals with food allergies in their parks.

Our hotels were within walking distance of small markets. Most families with food allergies do a lot of prep work for vacations and ABD trips are no different. You can Google restaurants and stores near your hotels. I packed some small snack items and picked up other treats nearby when we arrived at each location. By the end of the trip, the guides had figured out that there were some things he could eat other than an orange. Our guides were great and willing to help - they just needed some education about food allergies. Many restaurants had menus online to browse. Select Wisely translation cards help in non-English speaking countries.

Overall, we had a wonderful trip and are planning another European ABD for this summer. The food issue was really the only negative aspect and it was about selection - never safety. I think that the guides always erred on the side of safety which was greatly appreciated. We've traveled out of the US with our son multiple times and we make it work. I wouldn't let it stop you from going.
 
Took 2 ABD river cruises with milk allergy child. On first child and others were sickened by inexperienced staff not using separate scoops for frozen treats and remained sick for rest of trip which impacted excursions. On second child was served wrong yogurt and fortunately noted it looked wrong before consuming which caused anxiety for rest of meals. Disney admitted we did everything right in notifying them. AMA swore they were not informed. Cannot recommend them without serious reservations. No food issues at WDW or DCL but ABD is expensive and Disney was not responsive so be warned it may not be a magical trip and you will be out a lot of money.
 
I wasn't worried about the safety of the food exactly, on our river cruise, but we usually took a safe snack/lunch with us when we were eating off the boat (they would wrap up some sandwiches and fruit for him). But at one place in particular (Schloss Hof, if I recall) we asked guides 3 times to confirm whether the children's meal, which was basically chicken tenders, was safe for him. We didn't get an answer until after the third request and everyone else had their meals for over 20 minutes. 10 minutes after that he finally had a meal. That was an aberration, but he was frequently served long after everyone else, which was a shame for a child who was already excluded from other activities like the marzipan making.

Our chef on the river cruise came and spoke with us the first day, and we ordered his dinner every morning. It generally worked quite well, as he was fine with pasta with butter and Parmesan on it, but there was one time some wires got crossed and he went to have dinner with the kids in the lounge and he was never served. It eventually got worked out.
 
I have life-threatening food allergies to squash, melons, and gourds. I did the Danube river cruise with ABD. At the start of our trip the allergy folks met in the library with the chef. I printed out a page in 3 languages (German, Hungarian, and Russian) with pictures of the foods I couldn't eat. The chef took a copy, explained the common places my foods might appear (squash as a side dish, melon the breakfast bar, etc) and took notes. Meals with menus I got a specialized to me menu, buffets I got an escort to move me through the buffet pointing out what was and wasn't okay. I'd assure you that you'll get the same great Disney service you're used to, even better than my experiences on regular Disney cruise ships.
 
I have life-threatening food allergies to squash, melons, and gourds. I did the Danube river cruise with ABD. At the start of our trip the allergy folks met in the library with the chef. I printed out a page in 3 languages (German, Hungarian, and Russian) with pictures of the foods I couldn't eat. The chef took a copy, explained the common places my foods might appear (squash as a side dish, melon the breakfast bar, etc) and took notes. Meals with menus I got a specialized to me menu, buffets I got an escort to move me through the buffet pointing out what was and wasn't okay. I'd assure you that you'll get the same great Disney service you're used to, even better than my experiences on regular Disney cruise ships.

Had the same experience. Me and the "allergy crew" met with the chef and his staff on the first day of the Danube cruise. At breakfast the maitred brought me lunch and dinner menus, explained which choices were ok for me, and had me circle them so they would be specially prepared for me when it was time. One of the reasons I am such a big Disney fan is because of how they treat food allergies. I understand why they used that wording because not everything is under Disney control.
 
They were great with my daughter on our China ABD. She is severely allergic to fish (not shellfish but fish). She has a ton of other allergies and intolerances but the fish is the biggie. Our guides and many times the chefs made sure she was given alternate dishes. Since many of the meals were family style with the big lazy susan, they would usually include a large version of her alternative dishes which quite a few of the other folks at our table enjoyed as well. She did not go hungry that's for sure.
 

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