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Thread: More Mouse: Making it Magical: Eating at Disney with Dietary Restrictions

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    More Mouse: Making it Magical: Eating at Disney with Dietary Restrictions

    Making it Magical: Eating at Disney with Dietary Restrictions by Contributing Writer

    New contributing writer Scott Trauger shares information about dining when you can't eat what's on the menu.

    Read it here!


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    Registered User jpg391's Avatar
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    This is good to know. Thanks for the information.
    James

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    Ready for MA World Explorers! Drince88's Avatar
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    I was dining with someone who had some allergy issues and it was mentioned to our server after she'd set the bread on our table and was greeting us. I was REALLY hungry (had some major airplane delays that day and hadn't eaten lunch) and I did not even get a chance to grab a roll before she SWOOPED it off the table as soon as Mike mentioned he had allergies. No WAY was she going to be responsible for allowing someone with an allergy to be near a possible allergen-containing food. She reacted so rapidly/with determiniation to his comment that it was almost comical.

    This was a couple of years ago, and I've never dined with anyone with an allergy since, but it really made me feel comfortable knowing that the WDW staff really take it seriously.

    Also there was a guest many eons ago dining at Boma who had a garlic allergy. The chef just made her this huge platter of garlic-free food that looked SUPER yummy. WDW does NOT want you getting sick from eating their food - they'll definitely do what they can to accomodate allergies.

    Cathy

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    Hacker, nonmammaltarian, Warrior Andrew's Avatar
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    As someone with a non-allergy dietary restriction, I also appreciate the lengths Disney restaurants (on both coasts and on the cruise line) are willing to go to accommodate guests. Nice write-up and welcome to MousePlanet.

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  6. #5
    "When I even have a small piece of any dairy item touch my food, I go into anaphylactic shock and stop breathing."

    That is obviously a life threatening situation. I would not trust my life to the good intentions of any restaurant. Even the very best Chefs make mistakes. I think it is very ill advised to offer such advice to the general public.

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    Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fenix View Post
    "When I even have a small piece of any dairy item touch my food, I go into anaphylactic shock and stop breathing."

    That is obviously a life threatening situation. I would not trust my life to the good intentions of any restaurant. Even the very best Chefs make mistakes. I think it is very ill advised to offer such advice to the general public.
    What advice you feel was ill advised? Unless you grow and prepare all of your own food, at some point you're going to need to trust in your food supply, be it purchasing a meal at Walt Disney World or just buying a pre-packaged item at the grocery store. As someone who has traveled to Walt Disney World and on the Disney Cruise Line with a relative with life-threatening food allergies, I was amazed at the lengths they went to ensure his safety. Scott's article gives excellent information for people who may not realize that Disney can make accommodations like this.

    Adrienne
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  8. #7

    You are being far too casual about this subject. Even the USDA and the FDA acknowledge that food labels are sometimes incorrect. When you are faced with the prospect that ingestion of an allergen might cause cessation of breathing and immediate death, it is not wise to rely upon trust. Common sense dictates that you must personally verify that the food you eat is allergy free. After all, who is going to pay the price if the Chef you trusted makes a mistake?

    If you desire to risk your life based upon your trust in a perfect stranger then I question your logic.


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    Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fenix View Post
    You are being far too casual about this subject.
    Respectfully, since we don't know one another, you can't possibly imagine how seriously I take this issue, or the amount of personal experience I have with this very topic. I found nothing in Scott's article that caused me concern, but I am interested to know what your specific concerns are about what he wrote.

    Quote Originally Posted by Fenix View Post
    Even the USDA and the FDA acknowledge that food labels are sometimes incorrect. When you are faced with the prospect that ingestion of an allergen might cause cessation of breathing and immediate death, it is not wise to rely upon trust. Common sense dictates that you must personally verify that the food you eat is allergy free.
    As I said above, unless you grow and prepare all of your own food, at some point you're going to need to trust in your food supply. How do you recommend that someone with food allergies personally verify that the food they are served is allergy-free if they do not essentially harvest and cook it themselves? You're correct, food labels can be incorrect, restaurants can have ingredients that aren't disclosed on their menus, and there is ample risk of cross-contamination in kitchens. So what would you advise someone traveling to Walt Disney World? What additional precaution would you recommend they take, beyond the suggestions in this article?

    Quote Originally Posted by Fenix View Post
    After all, who is going to pay the price if the Chef you trusted makes a mistake?
    I can't speak for Scott, but in the case of friends and family members with life-threatening allergies, they carry an Epi pen for emergencies.

    Adrienne
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  10. #9

    For the sake of this discussion, let’s use the author’s allergy as an example. It is not necessary to grow or harvest your own food to verify that fruit and vegetables are dairy free products and I think you were being disingenuous by making such a suggestion. You can wash fruits and vegetables yourself. Most fruits and vegetables have their own protective skin that very effectively prevents contamination. With just common sense precautions, avoiding dairy products is easy. Yet why would anyone trust a food preparer in a restaurant with their life?

    Fresh fruit is readily available at WDW in all the parks and resorts. The use of an epinephrine auto-injector is a last ditch effort to prevent death. Its use is a clear indication that a serious mistake was made. It seems to me that the advice given in the article is just a promotional piece with the sole purpose of “selling” the safety WDW food and it presents a false perception. It strains credulity to think that anyone would trust their life based upon the word of a CM at a restaurant.

    I surmise that the article was not really intended to be helpful for people with food allergies so much as it was written to make these same people feel safe and comfortable with the food concessioners at WDW. My advice is simple. Don’t eat anything unless you know it is free of your allergen.


  11. #10

    I have to agree with Fenix here. I have experienced first-hand a mistake made by the waitstaff at a WDW restaurant. I have a moderate allergy to avocados (not life-threatening, but still serious). I ordered a Cobb Salad -- without avocados -- at the Hollywood Brown Derby, and I made the staff well aware of the fact that I am allergic to avocados. My dining companion also ordered a Cobb Salad, but with avocados. When the salads arrived at the table, our server tossed my companion's salad first, then attempted to toss mine using the same utensils. I stopped him, but he seemed completely unaware that what he was doing was a problem.

    If this sort of thing can happen in front of the guests, then how can we possibly know what is happening in the kitchen?

    I've seen regular sodas mistakenly served to diabetics who ordered diet sodas. Again, it's just a mistake, but if an allergy-related mistake could cause death, I'd certainly be more wary of any dining establishment, Disney or otherwise.

    My advice: ALWAYS talk to the chef if you have a life-threatening food allergy. Don't tell the hostess or the server and trust that the information will be accurately passed along.


  12. #11
    Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix
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    Quote Originally Posted by davidgra View Post
    My advice: ALWAYS talk to the chef if you have a life-threatening food allergy. Don't tell the hostess or the server and trust that the information will be accurately passed along.
    I agree. In fact, I think that's Disney's policy at most restaurants whenever a guest mentions a food allergy. I have a mild allergy to coconut - not enough to kill, but enough to make me sick if I eat too much. After a situation like Drince described above (an appetizer someone else at the table ordered was removed when I questioned whether a completely unrelated entree had coconut in it), I learned not to use the "A" word if I'm ordering FOR ME unless I want to meet the chef.

    On the other hand, when dining with my brother-in-law at Boma, we made absolutely certain to talk with the chef and get the full tour before he touched a thing, because he has fatal allergies to several foods, but specifically to an ingredient (watermelon) commonly used in that restaurant. In the end, they wound up cooking an entree for him in the Jiko kitchen, where watermelon was not present or used, and thus there was no risk of contamination. (And then we all gazed longingly at his platter of magnificently-prepared grilled shrimp for the rest of the meal.) When we took the same brother on the Disney Cruise Line, every. single. meal. was coordinated with the head server and the chef the day before. And I'll be 100% honest here, it took several calls to DCL's "shore side" operations team before I was able to impress upon them the severity of the issue, and they finally put me in contact with someone on the ship to make the arrangements before our trip. That was over 5 years ago; I understand the process (with DCL) is much easier now, and there are even more options available to passengers with food issues and allergies.

    Still, where nobody is expecting a part-time restaurant cashier to know every hidden ingredient in every prepared food out there, there are reasonable alternatives to eating nothing but whole fruit for an entire trip. You have to do your own research, and be your own best advocate. (Case in point - the Disney Parks Blog made a big deal about the new sausage sandwich at Village Haus having a particular type of casing. Knowing the non-allergy dietary restriction of a certain MP staff member, I stopped by the restaurant to look at the label, and it turns out the blog was wrong.) But people who live with allergies deal with this all the time, and the rules don't change at Walt Disney World.

    To me, the take-away from the article (which I didn't write or edit, nor was it written or sponsored by Disney's foods department) isn't "hey, blindly trust Disney chefs," it's "hey, did you know Disney has all of these options for people with allergies?" I have a family member with food allergies who refuses to travel internationally because of fears that she won't be able to find safe food at her destinations. If such a fear is keeping people from visiting Disney parks, hopefully Scott's article will let them know that there may be options for them.

    Adrienne
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  13. #12

    Good to know

    I am very fortunate not to have any food allergies. This article was not only informative but appreciated. All the info is good to know in case you are traveling with someone that has food allergies. This article also gave me a dose of gratitude & the day before thanksgiving was just perfect. Thank You!


  14. #13

    As someone with a fairly recent (about 15 years) developed allergy to citrus, I commend Disney. I have been to several restaurants outside of Disney that do not take my "hey, I have an allergy" serious at all. I've had the fish dish come without lemon, but the drink I ordered with a lemon twist.... Or, they forget to tell you that the tartar sauce has lemon. I can tell instantly that they've made a mistake - and, for this reason, I carry benadryl with me everywhere so I can combat the problem at the first sign.

    Last time I went to Disney, I ordered a shrimp cocktail at the 50s PT. I asked the waitress to make sure they didn't put any lemon wedges in the dish or squirt lemon on the shrimp because I had a citrus allergy. Ten minutes later, here comes the chef with my cocktail. He wanted to bring it to me himself to tell me how he made it, so I was assured there was no citrus in the dish. Not only did I not have a reaction, it was delicious!

    This and all of my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.

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    We do not have a life-threatening allergy to nuts but a reaction to walnuts. But I LOVE Pecans. At a visit to a Disneyland restaurant, we mentioned the walnut issue. I had purposely ordered an item with pecans but they brought it to me, prepared with no nuts at ALL! They were SUPER careful.

    Another time, at the same restaurant, the chef noticed that a server brought a particular dessert to our table. He had the kitchen staff call a special phone number to make sure that one of the ingredients in the dessert had NO walnut warning attached to it. Not even does it have walnuts in it but was it processed in a walnut facility... He asked us to not eat the dessert until he knew for sure.

    I also have a relative with a severe avocado allergy. There is a restaurant in my neighborhood that I refuse to take her to because they have SO much avocado on their menu, I don't trust them to not make a mistake. Other times we have spelled it out very carefully to servers THIS IS AN ALLERGY. YOU CAN'T MESS THIS UP. She very rarely orders items in restaurants at all if they have avocado in them because it's not just something you can scrape off when you accidentally put it in a dish, and that's often a solution they make.

    I would have NO problem taking my mom to any Disney restaurant and explaining her allergy to the staff. Naturally, we would check her food first before she ate it, to be sure. But they're pretty good in our experience.

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    This was a great article especially the part about the milkshake. Now it is just mentioned about allergies but Disney goes to great lengths for all dietary restrictions.
    I have a nephew that is allergic to blue dyes. The chef comes out and goes throught the menue with my sister and brother-in-law to make sure what is safe for him. There has been occasions where the chef was even surprised that something had blue dye in it. They are very thorough in making sure what he eats is safe. And on occasion the chef has made a special desert for him fresh because so maney things have blue dye in them.
    As for Fenix I have not seen a place go to such extremes for their customers. Also sometimes everthing in life is a risk. I work in Health and safety and yes no matter what you do there is still a risk. But at least Disney is trying to minimize the risk for it's customers. And before you say I work for Disney let me say that I do not and never have. I live and work in the North East.


  17. #16

    Thank you all for the wonderful comments regarding the article. I want to assure everyone that I have never worked for Disney in any capacity(although I've strongly considered it in the past), so the article was meant to be an informative, personal account of things I have found and not a promotional pitch for the food/culinary department. I understand the concern over one trusting another with their lives in regards to food preparation, but I tend to side with the previous commenter that many things in life are dangerous, but it is ultimately up to the individual to choose what dangers are worth the risk in their life.

    In regards to the kitchen itself, I would be fairly certain that they do not allow a "new hire" employee to work the allergen area. It is probably something that one must obtain through hard work on their job. In today's age of seemingly everybody wanting to sue everyone over anything, I am sure Disney is extremely cautious with anyone they have a chef talk to personally. Does that mean it is guaranteed that a mistake will never happen-perhaps not, but as a person who has lived with an allergy my entire life, you learn to never take any meal for granted, you always check for any errors, and if you don't feel comfortable with the final product, you can ultimately choose not to eat it.

    Rest assured, I have had over a hundred meals at Disney World since I started truly enjoying the Disney dining experience and never once have I had any problem with an allergic reaction.

    If anyone would like further clarification or questions answered regarding this subject, please feel free to comment me and I'd be glad to discuss it further.


  18. #17

    Success At WDW Dining With 7 Food Allergies

    I have seven food allergies and, on top of that, I'm vegan. I have not had any trouble dining at WDW and, on my most recent trip this past December, noticed that they really upped their allergy friendliness in the past couple of years. I was able to successfully dine at the following places: Boma, Sanaa, Kouzzina, Tusker House (a favorite!), Babycakes, Sunshine Seasons, and a few more. However, dining with allergies does take advance planning. I purposely selected restaurants that I knew were allergy friendly and called/did research ahead of time. As soon as I was seated at a restaurant, I made sure to alert my server and they immediately brought the chef out. The chef at Boma made me a special couscous dish prepared at Jiko and the chef at Tusker House made special dairy-free versions of dishes cooked separately. My allergies are very severe and I felt confident eating everything after talking to the chefs.

    That being said, as anyone with allergies knows, you have to be proactive. QUESTION EVERYTHING. If someone seems unsure about the ingredients in a dish, either probe further or DON'T EAT IT. A good rule of mine is, when in doubt, assume the dish has something you're allergic to and don't eat it. It's not worth having an allergic reaction. I was visiting WDW for about 10 days, and I ended up frequenting the same places multiple times (i.e. Tusker House) once they I knew they were safe for me. I would be much more wary of counter service places. Never trust the front of the line CM because they have no idea of the ingredients in dishes. Either talk to the manager or chef, better if you can see the list of ingredients first hand. Never feel embarrassed/ashamed of stating your allergies/questioning all ingredients. Unless someone has a friend, family member, bf/gf with a food allergy, they most likely don't know the severe impact that allergies have on someone's life.

    On a side note, I found CMs to be much less understanding of dietary restrictions at DL R(go figure, since I feel the resort, overall, is run much better than WDW). I never had a chef there come out to my table.


  19. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by VegPrincess View Post
    On a side note, I found CMs to be much less understanding of dietary restrictions at DL R(go figure, since I feel the resort, overall, is run much better than WDW). I never had a chef there come out to my table.
    I have had a chef come out at the Storyteller's Cafe in the Grand Californian when I inquired at the front. He gave me his business card and said when we came back to eat dinner to ask for him. We did and he came to our table and I told him of the food allergies. He then asked what I would like, not what was available. I told him exactly what I would like and he said he would prepare my meal personally. Everyone else got their food delivered by the server and lo and behold out came the chef with my dinner.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Drince88 View Post
    I was dining with someone who had some allergy issues and it was mentioned to our server after she'd set the bread on our table and was greeting us. I was REALLY hungry (had some major airplane delays that day and hadn't eaten lunch) and I did not even get a chance to grab a roll before she SWOOPED it off the table as soon as Mike mentioned he had allergies. No WAY was she going to be responsible for allowing someone with an allergy to be near a possible allergen-containing food. She reacted so rapidly/with determiniation to his comment that it was almost comical.

    This was a couple of years ago, and I've never dined with anyone with an allergy since, but it really made me feel comfortable knowing that the WDW staff really take it seriously.
    It may have been a couple of years ago (probably more like 3 or 4), but I still get a chuckle out of it and sometimes tease Mike about getting our bread taken away.

    Quote Originally Posted by AVP View Post
    I agree. In fact, I think that's Disney's policy at most restaurants whenever a guest mentions a food allergy.
    I believe that you are correct. In fact, when a Dan the Light Man, a podcast listener, told someone at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival last year that his wife had a number of allergies, Epcot Executive Chef Jens Dahlmann came out and helped her make a personal plan of all dishes that did not contain any allergens for her.

    Quote Originally Posted by MilklessMouser View Post
    Thank you all for the wonderful comments regarding the article. I want to assure everyone that I have never worked for Disney in any capacity(although I've strongly considered it in the past), so the article was meant to be an informative, personal account of things I have found and not a promotional pitch for the food/culinary department. I understand the concern over one trusting another with their lives in regards to food preparation, but I tend to side with the previous commenter that many things in life are dangerous, but it is ultimately up to the individual to choose what dangers are worth the risk in their life.
    Nice job, and welcome to MousePlanet, Scott!

    Quote Originally Posted by VegPrincess View Post
    I have seven food allergies and, on top of that, I'm vegan. I have not had any trouble dining at WDW and, on my most recent trip this past December, noticed that they really upped their allergy friendliness in the past couple of years. I was able to successfully dine at the following places: Boma, Sanaa, Kouzzina, Tusker House (a favorite!), Babycakes, Sunshine Seasons, and a few more. However, dining with allergies does take advance planning. I purposely selected restaurants that I knew were allergy friendly and called/did research ahead of time. As soon as I was seated at a restaurant, I made sure to alert my server and they immediately brought the chef out. The chef at Boma made me a special couscous dish prepared at Jiko and the chef at Tusker House made special dairy-free versions of dishes cooked separately. My allergies are very severe and I felt confident eating everything after talking to the chefs.
    I have another friend with multiple food allergies, and every time we go out to eat the chef comes by to see what she can and can't eat, and then makes up something special for her. The chef usually comes back a little while later to make sure that everything is OK.

    One contributing factor might be pointed out in a Jeff Kober column from almost four years ago: Providing Service that L.A.S.T.s

  21. #20
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    I think that the best take-away from the article is that people with allergies and other dietary concerns don't have to just sit at home and can consider visiting WDW or DLR for a visit without worrying about starving or carrying all of their own food around. They can't always make accommodations, but if they can, they will. I have a friend who has gluten concerns, and on her several visits to Disneyland, she has had no problem finding things to eat. City Hall has a list of restaurants and items that are gluten friendly, and then she visits the location and speaks to a chef to get what she needs. When we had meals together at both Plaza Inn and Pizza Port, the staff was very friendly and helpful to her, and the chef was able to make a specially prepared dish for her. Similarly, I've visited Big Thunder BBQ with people with dietary concerns, and they were very accommodating there as well.

    I agree that people with allergies are kind of used to being vigilant and not just taking someone at their word about what's safe, but I've found that at Disneyland, the staff and chefs there are good partners helping you, not people you have to work around like the situation can be elsewhere.

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