Did you also offer to pay the extra charge doing this would be?
Sure they can have what others have if they will pay for it. But the question is are they willing to pay what it will cost?
Disney is a business and they have to make money . If they could make the same amount of money they would be doing it. I just don't think the market would bear the cost. Look at the markup on a rice krispy treat, now apply that to specialty allergy items which cost a lot more to make.
Do you for some reason think people have not been buying more expensive allergy products?
Most of the allergy items do not cost more to make. Honestly, we often pay more for things made with less expensive ingredients. When the allergy meal is created by leaving things out, by your logic Disney should be paying me back for all the food they skipped out on serving. Specifically looking at your rice krispy treat example, there are many ways to make a same or lower cost option for people with allergies. With items of that nature we are looking at cost differences of pennies, a small percentage difference, so the argument that cost is the remaining factor is rather absurd.
They would either have to build a new kitchen facility or completely retrofit an existing location. Either way, it would be VERY costly. I have designed commercial kitchens. I have priced what it takes to "build" a commercial kitchen. It is not cheap. That cost will them be passed on to the customer. Are you willing to pay those costs?
And I am not trying to be rude, but your child not "liking" a specific brand isn't really a reason for Disney to change. Plenty of people DO like those brands just fine. There is no way for Disney to carry every product just to make every customer happy. That is impossible.
Seeing as how I price stainless steel rooms for a living, I feel confident chiming in here to say that the cost of a kitchen for this sort of thing is not significant. Disney builds/relocates/retrofits this sort of equipment on a scale frequency that this truly would be a drop in the bucket. So the baking facility needs another room that is free from a set list of items. Making a room free of egg (or whatever you want to insert there) is no more complicated than making a room free of cyanide.
I agree with you that Disney can't be worried about personal choices of which brands somebody likes, when you build up a standard that the average guest is getting 5-6 options per place they go- nobody should have to be on property for a week at a time with ONE exact same item being the only thing they are ever offered. My DS gets offered the exact same cookie everywhere we go- and he is allergic to it! They have zero alternatives, it is "regular food? if no -> that one allergy cookie."
While it's certainly nice if that can happen, there is no kind of legal requirement, and therefore, market rules apply. What Disney can or can't afford is (or should be) irrelevant. It will be based on what makes financial sense, and if they don't believe that they will see an adequate ROI in an allergy bakery, they would be foolish to build and operate one.
Yes. I disagree that it wouldn't get a return though. You eat more desserts on vacation. People who can't get any dessert at home, buy even more. On our last trip we easily spent over $100 at Babycakes, plus the club lounge was giving DS 2-3 items/day. That would not happen at home and we are not the only ones. Every time we were there we had to wait in line and it was a slow season. The babycakes wait was as bad as many of our ride waits.
I recall quite a few threads in the last few years started by people outraged that they ate at Babycakes and later developed allergy symptoms. I recall people on these thread calling for lawsuits. The business probably decided it wasn't worth it.
My son has a peanut allergy. It's not up to Disney to make products that he can eat. It's up to me to do my research and accommodate my child myself.
I haven't seen any threads about Babycakes and reactions. I just searched for it and came up empty.
Nobody is saying they shouldn't research and accommodate their own needs. It always sucks to finally have something and have it taken away. Babycakes hasn't always been around, but before they were Disney used to do more. Once they got there, Disney chefs stopped making baked treats and instead had Babycakes items. If they don't go back to baking it will be really sad for my son. There are no stores that make cookies, cupcakes or doughnuts he can have besides babycakes. None. We will go on our yearly vacation and he will go around the parks watching other kids have baked goods and Mickey treats and he will have nothing. I can make him some before we leave home, but we don't have any recipes that keep well so he will run out around day 3. What then, hand him a box of mix and a spoon? It isn't Disney's "problem", but it's completely reasonable to be upset and sad that they may not be there in the future. It's reasonable to be annoyed that this place that sets you up to be in their little bubble, where outside items are a hassle to get, has nothing to offer him especially when they assure you before arrival not to worry because they have it covered.
Nobody is saying Disney needs to give them anything. People are upset because a store that gave them an amazing ability to walk into a shop and get something is going away. People who are willing to go and buy the product.
