We've been to Disney with food allergies one other time. It was wonderful. This time I had a slight comfort zone due to our great experience last time. I contacted
Special Dietary Needs right after we made our reservations. I was immediately contacted back with some instructions, an ingredient list of allergy friendly foods at the parks, a list of counter restaurants that were best for those that require special dietary considerations, and a sheet for me to fill out and return to them with any sit down reservations we make (including the name of the restaurant, date, time and a list of my sons allergies). I had gotten all of that last time. The one thing that changed was that last time I spoke to the chef at each restaurant before we went. This time that was not offered. I started feeling a little uneasy but I did all the research I could, made reservations, filled out my forms, and trusted that Disney would get it right. And they totally did.
Our first meal was at
Pizza Planet at Hollywood Studios. According to the list I got from Special Dietary Needs, there were several safe options for my son there. He decided that he wanted the Amy's Gluten Free Pepperoni Pizza. When I told the order taker that we had a child with food allergies, she called out the manager. The key to any counter walk up ordering is to make sure that the manager is called to take your order and to facilitate it through the kitchen so there is no cross contamination. The manager took out the "white ingredient book" that each counter restaurant has. We figured out what was safe for the Little Man and we checked each ingredient list to make sure it was safe. He ended up ordering the Amy's Gluten Free Pepperoni Pizza, grapes, apple sauce and a pack of Enjoy Life Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert. The manager informed us that the GF pizza would take about 20 minutes due to the fact that it gets cooked in it's own allergy friendly oven (that was music to my ears), so we ordered our non allergy food and let the Little Man start eating his grapes and apple sauce until his pizza was ready. The manager was wonderful! She took great care of our son and even brought him out extras of his sides and dessert.
The Little Man with his very own pepperoni pizza (allergy safe).
I only made 2 sit down reservations prior to going because I didn't want to tie us down to places and times. Our first night there was not one of those times. We were tired so we decided to eat at our hotel. That night we had dinner at
Boatwright's (we would actually eat here twice during our trip and the Little Man had the same thing each time). Boatwright's is a table service or sit down restaurant so at these types of restaurants the Chef will come to the table to discuss food allergies and what is safe on the menu. Both times the Little Man had prime rib, oven roasted potatoes, vegetable and fruit for dessert. He's a steak lover so he was in heaven.
Prime Rib
Tuesday we had lunch at
Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe in Tomorrow Land in the Magic Kingdom. We ate here a lot the last time we visited Disney and the Little Man wanted a return trip. They have a dedicated fryer so he can get French Fries here. He also ended up having a hot dog (no bun), grapes, applesauce, and Enjoy Life Cookies for dessert. Here at Ray's is where we learned that checking that ingredient book every.time. is a must. Last time we visited and according to the ingredient list sent to me they serve
Ener-G tapioca hamburger buns, hot dog buns, and dinner rolls. Those are all safe for the Little Man. But what we learned was that four weeks ago, they switched their breads to
Udi's. Udi's is NOT Little Man friendly as it contains egg. Not only did Ray's switch, but every Disney park switched. Since my ingredient list was sent to me in October and the change was made in December, we did not know this ahead of time. Even if you think something is safe, PLEASE LOOK AT EACH INGREDIENT LIST EVERY TIME YOU ORDER. I think I'm going to send a note to Disney asking them to carry some of the Ener-G products again. Udi's is great for those with Celiac Disease but for those of us with multiple food allergies, Udi's doesn't work.
That evening we had our first reservation dinner at
Liberty Tree Tavern in the Magic Kingdom. We ate here last time we visited Disney and we ate here twice this time. The Little Man had the same thing each time. When we got there, the chef came out to discuss the allergies and what was safe. Liberty Tree is a "family style" restaurant so large bowls or platters of food are brought to the table for everyone to help themselves. As it turns out the following were safe: The Meat Platter: roasted turkey, flank steak, and pork tenderloin, the garden salad, the mashed potatoes, the green bean casserole with a few adjustments, and the cauliflower. The gravy was not safe so they made him GF gravy. The mac and cheese wasn't safe and neither was the stuffing so we just put those on the opposite side of the table. The chef put the fried onions for the green beans on the side so the beans would be safe also. His dessert was a delicious sorbet and berries, while we had vanilla cake and ice cream. At our second trip at the restaurant we found out that the vanilla ice cream was safe for him so he had that as his dessert. Again, both chefs took excellent care of our son.
Enjoying the meat platter and mashed potatoes
Enjoying dessert
At Epcot we ate at
Sunshine Season's Food Court . The chef informed me that the roasted chicken, rice, and mixed veggies were safe for our son so he got that. He also got grapes and apple sauce. He's not big on the mixed veggies so I gave him my side dish and my dessert so he also had a bag of chips and soy yogurt.
That night we had dinner in Japan at
Tokyo Dining. The manager facilitated the allergy order and took excellent care of our son and made sure he had everything he needed. This restaurant is geared toward sushi and tempura but he had a grilled sirloin, broccoli, and rice. They also had gluten free soy sauce. He loved his dinner here. The dessert was a dole fruit cup but he was happy to have something.
At Animal Kingdom we did a character breakfast at
Tusker House Restaurant. This is a breakfast buffet and since buffets aren't safe for food allergies, the chef brought the Little Man's food to him straight from the kitchen. He also made him allergy friendly Mickey Mouse shaped waffles.
Waffles, fruit, rice, bacon, and country hash browns made up his breakfast. There were other items safe for him, but this is what he wanted.
That night we ate dinner at the
food court at our hotel. The chef was so helpful and made the Little Man gluten free pasta with marinara sauce. He also had grapes and apple sauce and apple slices for dessert.
Loving his pasta!
Friday we went to
Lego Land Florida and I'll do a separate post on that. That night we went back to Boatwright's in our hotel and again he had prime rib.
Saturday was our last day and we met some friends for lunch at
Pinocchio's Dinner Haus in The Magic Kingdom. Again this was a quick service restaurant that had several items to choose from. After looking through the ingredient book we decided on Annie's gluten free mac and cheese, grapes and applesauce. There really wasn't anything safe for dessert here as the gluten free cookies contained egg so the manager suggested yogurt so that 's what we went with.
While I waited to order here, there was a lady ahead of me that was looking for "vegan" options and according to my list Disney does have vegan options at certain restaurants. Once the manager came to help with the order, the woman started talking about food allergies and gluten free because she didn't like the vegan options available to her (basically at this place all they could do was a chicken salad without the chicken). I don't think she had food allergies, I think she just wanted vegan options. She clearly didn't have the special dietary needs list or would not have come to this food service location. On my list it says that some vegan options need to be ordered 2 weeks ahead of time. And there is a list of restaurants that cater to vegan needs. This restaurant wasn't on the list. The women started to get testy and refused to pay full price for the salad since the chicken wasn't on it (not that I blame her but the attitude wasn't necessary). This how NOT to eat at Disney with special needs. You need to do your homework ahead of time. You need to contact Special Dietary Needs. You need to be flexible. You should have an idea of what is safe for you and make your final decision after looking at the ingredient list. They will do everything they can to feed you safely, but YOU need to do your part too.
That evening we went back to Liberty Tree Tavern and had another safe, delicious meal.
This all sounds like a lot of food. And believe me, it was. When I made our reservations, the
Disney Dining Plan was part of our package. We got one counter meal, one sit down meal and one snack per day. Each meal came with dessert. By the end of our week I really didn't want to see dessert again. I feel like I need a food intervention after this trip. One thing you probably notice is that breakfast wasn't in our plan very often. We still had breakfast. We either ate dessert from the night before (you can take it to go) or used some of the "snacks" on the meal plan to pick up fruit at
the hotel food court for breakfast. There were safe items at the parks that the Little Man could have for snacks. He had Mickey shaped ice cream on a stick, popcorn, Edy's fruit bars and fruit. I used most of my "snack" options to purchase bottles of water because after all that dessert, snacks just weren't necessary.
As you can see, eating with food allergies at Disney is more than doable. Just make sure to plan ahead, do your homework and contact
Special Dietary Requests before you go. Our dining experience was so successful that one day the Little Man said "I actually forgot I had food allergies". It truly is a magical trip.
