Food Allergies at WDW

[DAWGPOUNDAJ]

How do you deal with them at WDW? Has anyone encountered horrible customer service at WDW regarding their food allergies? I know WDW is supposed to be wonderful at accomodating people with allergies, and they told me to call the restaurants we have PS for, and when we did 3 of them were seriously rude. Basically they kept repeating "Citric Acid? I dont know how we can avoid that." over and over, when all I wanted to know was if it would be possible to get something plain at their restaurant that did not get fried in oils, or slathered in dressings containing that! I'm seriously about to yank my hair out at the moment! Any advice for a non DVC resort stayer leaving in 2 weeks!?

 

[Talking Hands]

Did you explain what was needed to avoid it? Plain grilled, broiled or baked meats. Plain steamed veggies with no additions. Plain fresh fruit that has not been treated to keep it's color/ NO citrus, or anything treated with citric acid. Sometimes you need to clearly explain what they need to do to accommodate your needs.

 

[spiceycat]

yes you can.

but this is one reason why, years ago, I brought DVC.

at each restuarant tell the waitress that you have allergies - she will then generally go get the chef. You can tell him/her exactly what you want - if they can do it they will. Sometimes the food service will know enough about the menu to tell you which food they can food like you need it.

expect to pay!!!

any salad I have - I ask for plain - no salad dressing - never had a problem anywhere. Now I definitely get strange looks and wouldn't you like to try....

just be polite but firm. I like my salads without any dressing period. they can and will do it.

I am allergic to pepper - and boy do chefs like pepper..... also a bunch of other things.



next time you might consider renting points from a DVC member so you can fix your own meals - it does save time and money - not to mention you know you won't be sick if you do yourself....

good luck!!!

 

[SueM in MN]

I agree. Sometimes it's easier to tell them what you need if the what to avoid doesn't seem to be something they understand.

 

[Ambassador]

Try contacting Brenda Bennett [Brenda.Bennett@disney.com] MAGIC KINGDOM Foods 407-824-5967. She was very helpful regarding our wheat-free allergy on our last trip.

Even with noting our needs on PS reservations, we found that we had to remind the Host and Waitstaff to speak with each chef personally. When you give the Host the heads-up, your chef visit and meal get started a bit faster.

 

[Selket]

We're here at WDW now - dining with DS who has peanut/tree nut allergies and is diabetic. I second the suggestion of contacting Barbara Bennett at the MK foods - she is great. We had wonderful service most everywhere - especially at Le Cellier. The chefs there are out of this world and very helpful about allergies. I'd suggest talking to the chefs directly rather than the main number they give you. Ask about doing this since your allergy is perhaps unusual.

 

[rascalmom]

I have a very severe seafood allergy & one of the reasons that we vacation at WDW so frequently is that it is one of the few places that I know I can eat out safely. Only on our most recent visit was I told to call the restaurants myself individually. Before that I just had my allergy noted when I made my PS arrangements. Obviously it is easy to avoid eating fish, but with a fish allery you also have to be very careful of cross-contamination of cooking surfaces, marinades, sauces, and dressings. Worchestershire sauce is found in so many recipes - from steak sauces to Cobb Salad dressing to soups. WDW has been great about sending a chef to the table to help me make safe selections. They have always been great - they will even clean the grill at the Japanese restaurant at Epcot & cook my food seperately so that we can enjoy that dining experience. WDW is well versed in dealing with many & varied food restriction issues - they understand that some allergies can be life threatening. There are procedures in place & it is SO much easier to deal with dining there than at most other vacation destinations.

My recommendation is that if you have not had your concerns addressed adequately by whomever answered the phone that you call back & ask to speak with the manager or executive chef. But I have always just done it once we arrived at the table & with the exception of Teppanyaki, that has been sufficient.

 

[DAWGPOUNDAJ]

Thank you all so much for the replies and advice! It's made me relax a bit about eating there! lol

To answer a few of the questions:

Yes I did mention what was necessary to accomodate the allergy, which was to check the ingrediants used in margin's (if used instead of butter), oil's, and frozen foods that had preservatives in them. Besides that they just have to make things very very very plain with no dressings, garnhishes, and baked, boiled, or whatever works. I guess I was just annoyed by how rude they were, particularly when you already feel bad for inconveniencing them because of something you have no control over.

DH and I definitely would have rented DVC points, had we known you could just rent them out without being a DVC member! lol We joined the disboards recently after our honeymoon had been booked and paid for already! lol (Talk about wanting to hit ourselves in the head! lol) For future visits though DVC is a must!

Ambassador thank you for recommending Ms/Mrs Bennet. I'll be sure to give her a call to figure things out! Thank you all again so much! I truly appreciate it!

 

[pampam]

We don't eat wheat, sugar, or carageenan. All the restaurants in Disney were wonderful. Many times they didn't know what carageenan was, so we explained it to them. They were great. Le Cellier made a point of using fresh oil for my daughter's french fries, so there would be no chance of contamination. Our meal at Tony's was so perfect, and Chef Andy checked on it so many many times, we just had to take his picture beside the Lady and Tramp fountain. We just had to make sure we made reservations ahead of time, to give them a chance to have the proper ingredients on hand. It was simply wonderful. No bad attitudes at all.

 

[showar]

We are planning our first trip to WDW for late September. Our 4 yo dd has severe food allergies to all milk (butter, cheese, whey, etc), egg, peanut, and treenuts. I just sent an email to Brenda as several of the pp suggested. Can anyone give me any names of counter services restaurants at the different parks that we may be able to order meals for her?

We do have the dining option with our package. I know she must order from the children's menu. If necessary I will eat off of the children's menu and let her order her safe foods from the adult menu. Should I have a problem with that?

Sandra

 

[Selket]

I just wanted to suggest that you call Brenda (Barbara? Now I can't remember which is her name!) Bennett at the MK at Magic Kingdom 407-824-5967. I've always gotten her on the phone when I called. She is VERY helpful and explain your child's food allergies to her and she can give you some good info. She can also email you info on what might be some safe counter service choices for you.

When you go to order meals at the CS places they won't care who eats the food you order as long as you order what you're allowed (like 2 adult meals and 2 kids meals, etc.). I ended up eating a kids meal on our last trip (we didn't have the meal plan) because I didn't know what my younger son would eat so I bought a couple of choices and ate the one he didn't want from the 2 meals (he liked some things from one and some from the other). He is a type 1 diabetic, as well as having peanut/tree nut allergies so it is important that we found some food he WOULD eat not just that he could eat. I was ordering the food for all of us - the person taking the order has no idea if I had one kid or 10 kids back at the table. Fortunately I only had to do that once.

Ms. Bennett will also be able to tell you what snacks from the carts are safe - like popsicles and so forth. My kids loved the Itskadoozie popsicles - no peanuts but not sure about dairy but I'd doubt it contains dairy unless it is "may contains" or something.

As for the sit-down priority seating meals all the restaurants should be able to acomodate the allergies with no problems. We had FANTASTIC service at Le Cellier - try to get the number to the restaurant directly if you'd like to eat there. They were above and beyond. Another good place was Crystal Palace. I did a very detailed dining report at: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=818591 which might give you some idea of what places we liked.

 

[cosmicdaisy]

We are planning our first trip to WDW for late September. Our 4 yo dd has severe food allergies to all milk (butter, cheese, whey, etc), egg, peanut, and treenuts. I just sent an email to Brenda as several of the pp suggested. Can anyone give me any names of counter services restaurants at the different parks that we may be able to order meals for her?

We do have the dining option with our package. I know she must order from the children's menu. If necessary I will eat off of the children's menu and let her order her safe foods from the adult menu. Should I have a problem with that?

Sandra

Hey Sandra! Fancy seeing you here!!!! I have heard that both Le Cellier and Liberty Tree Tavern are excellent places to dine with FAs. Someone on my birth board who recently went started chatting with a family are Liberty Tree Tavern and they thought it was their dd's b-day because of the special and different food she was served. Come to find out though, this family had fallen in love with the service they had received at LTT dealing with their dd's allergies, so they kept coming back. The special food was prepared especially for their dd by the chef. Awesome, huh?

Those are two places I am sure we will try to dine at. And do a princess meal, either Cinderella or the Princess thing in Norway. I am sure your I. is just as much into princesses as my H.

I would love to chat offline sometime with you about the planning, since we will be going around the same time, it would be great to share tips and notes re: dining choices. Seriously, I am just hoping for a safe hamburger and fries for CS meals...that seems reasonable right?

Oh, since I was told that all restaurants use Canola oil except for the oriental cuisine type places and I heard there was a McD's fry stand at Animal Kingdom...I can't help but wonder what type of oil they use?!?!? I just thought about that. I. might could have some if they do indeed use a safe oil right? If she eats that type of thing.

Kris

 

[dj2]

I just wanted to suggest that you call Brenda (Barbara? Now I can't remember which is her name!) Bennett at the MK at Magic Kingdom 407-824-5967. I've always gotten her on the phone when I called. She is VERY helpful and explain your child's food allergies to her and she can give you some good info. She can also email you info on what might be some safe counter service choices for you.

i'll vouch for brenda, too! she e-mailed me the ingredients list for the turkey legs so i could check them out. also terrific of her--she kind of played point man for my ps's at other parks, contacting their executive chefs for me and then they all e-mailed or called me (this was for my 6/03 trip, when i had about 10 ps's planned).

other thing i'll add is while it's convenient to set up menus in advance, they must be confirmed when you arrive. i was told that there'd be "real" turkey breast for me at 1900 Park Fair, but upon confirming at arrival, i discovered that it was indeed processed (they brought out the bag for me to see) and i wasn't able to eat it (1/04 trip). steamed veggies and a fresh apple that night, and they comped the meal.

-dj

 

[Selket]

Brenda - that's it! I don't know why I keep thinking Barbara.

I also called Brenda while we were at the hotel room because we had a hard time finding a certain popsicle that William could eat earlier that day in the park. She called around while she had me on hold and got back to me quickly with exactly what carts had that popsicle.

After she had emailed me with info about 6 weeks before our trip I went through the attachments and called her back about a week before with any questions I had. She is top-notch - I really have to write a letter to Disney about how great she is.

 

[tynkrB]

We just got back from our first trip dealing with FA's. The chef's were all great, but counter service was a bit of a challenge for us. I will need to contact Barbara it seems before we go again!

Just wanted to mention that we had been told that canola oil was used everywhere, but the asian cuisine restaurants, but this is NOT true. If you are allergic to soy (like we are) there are several places that use soybean oil or a blend of canola and soybean oil. So be sure to ask.

 

[bertalander]

Oh thank you for this thread! I will contact the woman suggested. My 3 yr old son had an anaphylactic reaction to pistachios the other week and we are still reeling from dealing with that. I quickly realized how blessed we were to only have to avoid tree nuts and peanuts. FA moms have a new type of respect from me!

Thank you SO much. Off to email.

Berta

 

[DVCDawn]

I've posted many times about the many positive dining experiences we've had at WDW with my two DD's who are allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. As others have said, Brenda Bennett is a lifesaver. She has even sent me ingredient lists for foods served in the other parks.

We've had some great and worry-free meals at several table service restaurants at WDW like:

Artist Point -- substituted the Berry Cobbler (an adult dessert that happens to be peanut and nut free) for the kids dessert

California Grill -- where they made my oldest DD a special peanut/nut-free dessert

Narcoosees -- super cautious chef came out twice to tell us not to let them eat the bread as it was made off-site.

Flying Fish -- very specific about safe and unsafe desserts. Also served my DDs Mickey Pasta, which was not an item listed on the menu.

Hoop De Doo Review -- kids just loved the show and the food.

Cinderella's Royal Table -- the server assured us that our children's breakfasts we're being cooked in separate pans.


Finally, if you ever visit other Disney locations, I think you'll find the same level of concern. At Vero Beach the chef at Shutters changed the children's meal dessert for the entirety of our stay there to peanut and nut free things. These desserts were served to every child, not just ours. However, my children's portions where stored in covered containers in a different part of the kitchen, out of the bakery area, to prevent any nut fragments from other desserts from dropping on them. We've also taken an Disney Cruise, which although was more limiting food-wise for them (boy, did they eat a lot of fruit plates) was certainly safe.

I really think that Disney is quite serious about accommodating food allergies. I have found them to be responsive and cautious. That's why we keep going back!

DVCDawn

 

[d-man's mom]

Has anyone ordered a birthday cake for their food allergic child? I want to if they can make one that's dairy, egg, and nut free. Think they can?

Also, when the meals are made for the food allergic child, are they charged the kids meal price or an adult meal price??

 

[bertalander]

Has anyone ordered a birthday cake for their food allergic child? I want to if they can make one that's dairy, egg, and nut free. Think they can?

Also, when the meals are made for the food allergic child, are they charged the kids meal price or an adult meal price??

I'd email Brenda Bennett and ask... but I was already forwarned that all baked goods are considered off limits as it's a large bakery and they cannot assure cross contamination. Bummer.

But email her and ask. She is so super nice. She called Nestle for me yesterday.She checked at the parks and the Chocolate Covered Mickey Ice Cream bars do not STATE may contain peanuts/nuts but she had the policy on file that they tell guests with FA to steer away from them. Sure enough Nestle said it was shared equipment and not considered safe. That needs to be changed!

Anyways, good luck!

Berta

 

[d-man's mom]

The pastry chef emailed me the ingredients in the cake this morning- I am worried about x-contamination. Are there any better alternatives for bdy cake? Last year we did jello but I wanted to do something different this year. Do they have rice dream ice cream?