Value Resort Allergy Menus (Lack thereof)

[Betty Rohrer]

Wow that is very disappointing. I’ve never heard of any restaurant at disney not being able to accommodate a peanut /tree allergy . My son is allergic to both and we haven’t had any issues . I do know that most resorts don’t have a mobile order allergy option . We spoke with a manager at Yacht and Beach clubs quick service and they told us what is safe . Did you speak with a manager? In regards to the poster saying you can’t expect accommodations, that is ridiculous. Disney is known for this . Every resort a guest is staying at has safe options for a guest with basic food allergies. Your experience is not the norm and is not acceptable. And no I’m not expecting anything other than safety. I’m so sorry this happened to you . I would write a letter or call guest services. They dropped the ball .

you also might want to check wording allergy accommodations as they do not say peanut free most have the wording "may contain" is up to you to decide if safe for you. Disney is not going to be sure of any food not made on site ie chicken fingers even if allergy friendly are peanut free as the package does say "may contain"

 

[HMANSION LOVER]

My wife did speak to somebody at the food court. It basically boiled down to them being unable to guarantee lack of cross-contamination.

In the future always ask if the person you are speaking to is SERVSAFE certified. It is an industry wide and nationally wide accepted education/certification for the food service industry. That person would be the one who would be educated on cross contamination and whether or not it should be of concern. Their should be at least one person per serving location that has the certification because it is the industry standard for running a healthly kitchen environment reconized by health officials. Hope this helps in the future. Most large food service industries take this kind of stuff very seriously.

 

[Narcoossee11]

Quick service locations are not usually dealing with a lot of plain raw ingredients. Much is at least partially prepared -- for example chicken fingers are already breaded, not plain chicken they dredge through bread crumbling the kitchen. Since they don't prep it, they only know so much; so it's understandable they can't guarantee no cross-contamination. Table service locations are recommended for more severe or unusual allergies because they have more flexibility to work with raw ingredients. I'm sorry you weren't aware of that when planning your meals.

Prepared items are what I thought also. Most items are NOT fresh but prepackaged menu items

 

[Starwind]

The value resorts DO offer an allergy menu. However, they do not "guarantee" any item is completely free of the allergen. Here is the statement from World Premier food court (the same statement is on the allergy menus at Music, Sports, POP and AoA):

About our allergy-friendly menu items: Guests may consult with a chef or special diets trained Cast Member before placing an order. We use reasonable efforts in our sourcing, preparation and handling procedures to avoid the introduction of the named allergens into allergy-friendly menu choices. While we take steps to prevent cross-contact, we do not have separate allergy-friendly kitchens and are unable to guarantee that a menu item is completely free of allergens. Allergy-friendly offerings are reliant on supplier ingredient labels. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the contents of each food item. Allergen advisory statements (e.g., "may contain") are not regulated and therefore not taken into consideration when developing allergy-friendly meals. It is ultimately our Guests' discretion to make an informed choice based upon their individual dietary needs.​

I spot-checked the menus at several resorts, both quick service and table service. The above statement seems standard across the board, regardless of resort category or restaurant type. My family has traveled for two decades with dietary needs, and I don't recall any "guarantees" on the allergy offerings. It's possible in 2015 the question was posed differently and/or the server answered differently, but I don't think the kitchen/prep situation has changed.

This is the standard allergy disclaimer on pretty much all WDW menus and has been there for many years; they had a shorter version before that.

A longer version can be found on their special diets website: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/guest-services/special-dietary-requests/

They do sell a small number of commercially packaged (usually snack) items that would actually be tree nut allergy safe, if one knows what to look for, e.g. Enjoy Life cookies. The Value Resorts actually often have the largest selection of those. But even for those, WDW couldn't "guarantee" they are free of cross-contamination as they just don't have the supply chain awareness to be able to do that, even for something like Enjoy Life -- all they can do is go by what the label states, and with US food allergy labelling laws, there are serious limits to the labelling.

I have anaphylaxis allergies to milk, peanut, tree nuts, and seafood (fish/shellfish/molluscs). We vacation almost exclusively at WDW/DCL. I trust Disney's chefs to make me food as safe as they possibly can -- BUT there is ALWAYS a risk of something going wrong or a manufacturer not fully labeling. By choosing to eat food that I did no make myself, I am taking a risk. Heck even food I make myself can be a risk as I have made mistakes myself !!

As for bread in the resort store... they only sell a couple varieties and to expect it to be allergy-friendly is, IMO, unrealistic. At the DVC resorts they sell Arnold brand, not sure if it is the same there. Even if the ones in the store [I've seen a white bread and a potato bread, not sure what else they have] don't have nuts in them as ingredients, if you go to the Arnold website you will find that they sell more than one bread with nuts as an ingredient, and the label from the country white states it is made in a factory that may also use tree nuts. To be honest, as someone traveling from outside the US, as I do my research/planning before each trip to the US, I am surprised every time by just how many common brands of US bread are **not** peanut/tree nut safe [also, separately, by how many are not milk safe... and trying to find one that is safe for both is nearly impossible unless you go into the specialty GF/Allergy-friendly breads, which is what I end up doing now for US travel, as that is where you find the breads that are made in dedicated facilities, often with allergen testing].

 

[Starwind]

In the future always ask if the person you are speaking to is SERVSAFE certified. It is an industry wide and nationally wide accepted education/certification for the food service industry. That person would be the one who would be educated on cross contamination and whether or not it should be of concern. Their should be at least one person per serving location that has the certification because it is the industry standard for running a healthly kitchen environment reconized by health officials. Hope this helps in the future. Most large food service industries take this kind of stuff very seriously.

Disney has their own food allergy training program. I don't know if it qualifies under SERVSAFE or not or is in addition to it. In the past their handling of food allergies was considered the "gold standard" for the industry.

At WDW QS locations, a person with food allergies should ask to speak with the "Chef or food allergy trained cast member" "because they have food allergies and wish to place a safe food order". That should get the CM you tell that to to get you the proper person. If you get push-back, then push back yourself -- during our last trip I did get some push back, they wanted me to order via the cashier, so I insisted, rephrasing to "I have life-threatening food allergies and would like to talk with a chef or allergy-trained cast member to place my order". THAT worked every time, no push back. Basically I think they needed to realize that ordering from the allergy menu via the cashier was not going to be sufficient.

 

[Starwind]

For future reference, the resort food court has a fairly extensive allergy menu (scroll past the normal menu):

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/e...d-premiere-food-court/menus/lunch-and-dinner/
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/e...rt/world-premiere-food-court/menus/breakfast/