Frustrated with the lack of Nutritional Information

Cynister · Mar 28, 2015

I called this morning to inquire if I could get nutritional information sent to me since I could not find it on the web site. The Cast Member was very pleasant and tried to help to the best of her ability. However, I am highly disappointed that Disney wouldn't provide nutritional information for the food available in the parks and resorts, even upon request. Many in my party need to make educated choices while dining. It is impossible to do so at Disney without this information. It is also a ridiculous answer to give to your Cast Members that guests may request a special diet choice. Guests may have unique dietary needs without having to be on a restricted or "special" diet. For instance, some may need to calculate the amount of sodium intake, caloric intake, etc. This cannot be done without a nutritional info sheet for the restaurant or kiosk. This info should all be readily available either on the website or by email upon request. Providing such information in chain establishments are law (http://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/LabelingNutrition/ucm248732.htm). I am highly disappointed that Disney with such a reputation of trying to go above and beyond in order to provide a complete experience to their guests wouldn't meet, nonetheless exceed such a requirement for their own parks and resorts.

The Cast Member was very nice and offered a few options to contact Disney regarding this. I thought I would share with others in case some of you had similar concerns. You may go to www.disneysurveys.com and use code drc to complete and online survey about a phone inquiry. Additionally, you may email specialdiets@disneyworld.com. I truly hope they change this practice soon.

SouthJersey · Mar 28, 2015

Cynister said:
I called this morning to inquire if I could get nutritional information sent to me since I could not find it on the web site. The Cast Member was very pleasant and tried to help to the best of her ability. However, I am highly disappointed that Disney wouldn't provide nutritional information for the food available in the parks and resorts, even upon request. Many in my party need to make educated choices while dining. It is impossible to do so at Disney without this information. It is also a ridiculous answer to give to your Cast Members that guests may request a special diet choice. Guests may have unique dietary needs without having to be on a restricted or "special" diet. For instance, some may need to calculate the amount of sodium intake, caloric intake, etc. This cannot be done without a nutritional info sheet for the restaurant or kiosk. This info should all be readily available either on the website or by email upon request. Providing such information in chain establishments are law (http://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/LabelingNutrition/ucm248732.htm). I am highly disappointed that Disney with such a reputation of trying to go above and beyond in order to provide a complete experience to their guests wouldn't meet, nonetheless exceed such a requirement for their own parks and resorts.

The Cast Member was very nice and offered a few options to contact Disney regarding this. I thought I would share with others in case some of you had similar concerns. You may go to www.disneysurveys.com and use code drc to complete and online survey about a phone inquiry. Additionally, you may email specialdiets@disneyworld.com. I truly hope they change this practice soon.

I think it's absurd that there's actually a law for that.
I absolutely agree that a restaurant should be responsible for making allergy and ingredient content easily accessible to the customer, but full blown nutritional content of each meal?
Don't get me a wrong, I get where you're coming from, but such information is a luxury. That's coming from a competitive bodybuilder. I know every macro of every meal I consume, my pre/post workouts and supplement routine are hammered down to the minute and my meal prep is done to the exact ounce. I'm more than thrilled to see macro-nutrient content available, but I wouldn't fault and be frustrated that a restaurant hasn't calculated the macro-nutrients of EVERY item, that is a bit much (to me). The healthiest nations in the world have no such law for restaurants, but our country has gotten so out of whack that the FDA stepped in to force a restaurant to calculate the macro-nutrient content of an entire meal so someone can decide if their weight watcher's points allow the meal? No way.

These nutrient displays have actually hurt businesses by 'calorie-guilting' customers into not ordering what they were going to order. Several chain restaurants thought it'd be a good idea by putting the Cals/Carbs/Fat/Protein directly on the menu next to the item and it actually tanked sales, so now they keep it on a tiny link on their website or in a booklet stashed in the kitchen. It's even caused lawsuits against restaurants because God-forbid the line-cook put two cups of mashed potatoes instead of one, some woman blew her ketosis state for her Atkins diet.

maxiesmom · Mar 28, 2015

I can tell OP that you must not cook a lot. If you did, you would know that unless you measure and weight everything, it is impossible to give an accurate count of sodium or calories. Even the restaurants that do so are giving you their best guess.

If someone is used to having to carefully watch what they eat, they are typically able to pick out the choices that are best for them off of a menu. The menus do change, fairly quickly sometimes. There is no guarantee any information they sent you would even match what food items would be available when you are on your trip.

Kimly · Mar 28, 2015

You can find most information, at least an estimate, by googling the name of the dish. Like Tonga Toast Calories, google pulls up many different pages and I can then get an approximation to make a choice. Yeah it takes some time, but if I really want to know it works.

Cynister · Mar 28, 2015

I do understand that whatever nutritional information is provided is an estimate and could vary depending upon the preparer, however it gives you a great starting point reference rather than going in blind. I appreciate the 2 posters who either gave suggestions or polite constructive criticism. However, I don't understand why another poster would be so rude as to assume I "don't cook very often" & make it a personal attack. The truth is you don't necessarily know what is the best choice off of a menu just by looking at it. Heck, I've been to plenty of restaurants that add a bunch of salt to salads! That's just a very naive statement & uncalled for. My desire for this information is to make it easier to see that the salad that looks "healthy" might be 1000 calories with all the toppings for those who need to be mindful of caloric intake, or that the chicken dinner contains 200% of the recommended sodium intake for those that might need to watch that. That's all. Some people have nutritional sensitivities & this information would be very helpful to them.

SouthJersey · Mar 28, 2015

Cynister said:
I do understand that whatever nutritional information is provided is an estimate and could vary depending upon the preparer, however it gives you a great starting point reference rather than going in blind. I appreciate the 2 posters who either gave suggestions or polite constructive criticism. However, I don't understand why another poster would be so rude as to assume I "don't cook very often" & make it a personal attack. The truth is you don't necessarily know what is the best choice off of a menu just by looking at it. Heck, I've been to plenty of restaurants that add a bunch of salt to salads! That's just a very naive statement & uncalled for. My desire for this information is to make it easier to see that the salad that looks "healthy" might be 1000 calories with all the toppings for those who need to be mindful of caloric intake, or that the chicken dinner contains 200% of the recommended sodium intake for those that might need to watch that. That's all. Some people have nutritional sensitivities & this information would be very helpful to them.

DailyPlate and LoseIT have a good amount of content on Disney locations if you search the menu name

Hopefully · Mar 28, 2015

Cynister said:
I do understand that whatever nutritional information is provided is an estimate and could vary depending upon the preparer, however it gives you a great starting point reference rather than going in blind. I appreciate the 2 posters who either gave suggestions or polite constructive criticism. However, I don't understand why another poster would be so rude as to assume I "don't cook very often" & make it a personal attack. The truth is you don't necessarily know what is the best choice off of a menu just by looking at it. Heck, I've been to plenty of restaurants that add a bunch of salt to salads! That's just a very naive statement & uncalled for. My desire for this information is to make it easier to see that the salad that looks "healthy" might be 1000 calories with all the toppings for those who need to be mindful of caloric intake, or that the chicken dinner contains 200% of the recommended sodium intake for those that might need to watch that. That's all. Some people have nutritional sensitivities & this information would be very helpful to them.

I too believe that it is an unreasonable expectation for Disney to provide the accurate information that you are requesting. I also believe inaccurate information is more harmful than no information. I agree with the PP who stated that most folks who need to make these strict choices are very good at choosing.
It may be that Disney dining is not going to meet the needs of you and your party.
Good Luck

aaarcher86 · Mar 28, 2015

The law you linked states each establishment needs to have the info. Not that Disney needs to give it you in advance.

Maybe you'll have better luck at the individual restaurant, but the amount of disappointment seems a bit much.

maxiesmom · Mar 28, 2015

Cynister said:
I do understand that whatever nutritional information is provided is an estimate and could vary depending upon the preparer, however it gives you a great starting point reference rather than going in blind. I appreciate the 2 posters who either gave suggestions or polite constructive criticism. However, I don't understand why another poster would be so rude as to assume I "don't cook very often" & make it a personal attack. The truth is you don't necessarily know what is the best choice off of a menu just by looking at it. Heck, I've been to plenty of restaurants that add a bunch of salt to salads! That's just a very naive statement & uncalled for. My desire for this information is to make it easier to see that the salad that looks "healthy" might be 1000 calories with all the toppings for those who need to be mindful of caloric intake, or that the chicken dinner contains 200% of the recommended sodium intake for those that might need to watch that. That's all. Some people have nutritional sensitivities & this information would be very helpful to them.

I have a family member who has to watch their salt intake. It is fairly easy to tell which foods they should avoid just by looking at the menu. As in, a salad topped with bacon and cheese isn't very heart healthy, even though it is a salad. Otherwise, it is simple to ask for a food item to be made plain, or without salt. We do it all of the time. As Hopefully poster pointed out, the wrong information is worse than no information.

I am sorry I made you feel attacked. It wasn't my intention. I guess it seems obvious to me that they can't give out accurate information, so making a chart wouldn't be very helpful. And could in fact be harmful. I think your best bet is to ask at the restaurant if the chef can give recommendations based on your needs.

laughinplace199 · Mar 28, 2015

I think part of the issue might be that Disney uses different suppliers/vendors for food products and these can change at any time. It would be virtually impossible to keep track of which eatery has which product and when since they often change.

I do believe they can help you with nutritional info once you're at the restaurant though.

Pumbaa_ · Mar 28, 2015

It is what it is. At ts, you can advise of dietary issues and the chef can usually accommodate. Sodium is such a hidden ingredient too

Op, sorry you feel that Disney owes you more. Good luck finding a balance

Jetku · Mar 28, 2015

Cynister said:
Guests may have unique dietary needs without having to be on a restricted or "special" diet.

Unique dietary needs sound like a special diet to me.

georgina · Mar 28, 2015

SouthJersey said:
I think it's absurd that there's actually a law for that.

These nutrient displays have actually hurt businesses by 'calorie-guilting' customers into not ordering what they were going to order. Several chain restaurants thought it'd be a good idea by putting the Cals/Carbs/Fat/Protein directly on the menu next to the item and it actually tanked sales, so now they keep it on a tiny link on their website or in a booklet stashed in the kitchen. It's even caused lawsuits against restaurants because God-forbid the line-cook put two cups of mashed potatoes instead of one, some woman blew her ketosis state for her Atkins diet.

I love eating in California when we visit because the calories are right there to see. if people aren't eating things because the calories are too high, that is a great incentive for restaurants to cook healthier food with fewer calories! It can be done. Seems a no-brainer.

SouthJersey · Mar 28, 2015

georgina said:
I love eating in California when we visit because the calories are right there to see. if people aren't eating things because the calories are too high, that is a great incentive for restaurants to cook healthier food with fewer calories! It can be done. Seems a no-brainer.

Government mandated hand-holding and spoon feeding society isn't a no-brainer.
Eat whatever you want, in moderation.

I shouldn't lose 70% of item turnover because forced nutrition display made people say, "hmm, nevermind

"

maxiesmom · Mar 28, 2015

georgina said:
I love eating in California when we visit because the calories are right there to see. if people aren't eating things because the calories are too high, that is a great incentive for restaurants to cook healthier food with fewer calories! It can be done. Seems a no-brainer.

Listing calories is vastly different from listing salt or fats or sugars.

mom2of2 · Mar 28, 2015

Suppliers change all the time so it's pretty much impossible to give accurate nutritional information. Also Disney Chef's are great with allergies but as I have been told time and time again...they are not nutritionists and cannot act as such

rharper1496 · Mar 28, 2015

maxiesmom said:
I can tell OP that you must not cook a lot. If you did, you would know that unless you measure and weight everything, it is impossible to give an accurate count of sodium or calories. Even the restaurants that do so are giving you their best guess.

If someone is used to having to carefully watch what they eat, they are typically able to pick out the choices that are best for them off of a menu. The menus do change, fairly quickly sometimes. There is no guarantee any information they sent you would even match what food items would be available when you are on your trip.

Having been born into a restaurant owning family and married to a chef I can safely tell you that everything that goes into the dish has in fact been weighed and measured by the prep person or chef, depending on the ingredient. It's partially for uniformity reasons and mostly for cost. Restaurants know the cost of the dish down to the penny because they do weigh and measure everything. Someone mentioned 2c of potatoes vs. 1c and I can safely say that would never happen, the restaurant has priced the meal based on the cost of 1c. of potatoes, they're not giving you a second cup for free.

rlovew · Mar 28, 2015

If you want to calculate things on your own somewhat we have a recipe thread on the Creative Community Cooking board and if you know what you would most like to order you can find the recipe for it and figure out the information on each item. It will take you ahile but it will give you a good estimate as well as knowledge of the ingredients in dishes. It won't help much for signature meals where the menu changes often but the most popular items are probably in the recipe list(60+ pages long)

maxiesmom · Mar 28, 2015

rharper1496 said:
Having been born into a restaurant owning family and married to a chef I can safely tell you that everything that goes into the dish has in fact been weighed and measured by the prep person or chef, depending on the ingredient. It's partially for uniformity reasons and mostly for cost. Restaurants know the cost of the dish down to the penny because they do weigh and measure everything. Someone mentioned 2c of potatoes vs. 1c and I can safely say that would never happen, the restaurant has priced the meal based on the cost of 1c. of potatoes, they're not giving you a second cup for free.

Nope. If a chef is cooking with cuts of meat they are all not the same size. Vegtables are not the same size. A chef doesn't cut down baked potatos to a certain weight. Btw you are not the only one to have cooks in the family.

Dis703 · Mar 28, 2015

mom2of2 said:
Suppliers change all the time so it's pretty much impossible to give accurate nutritional information. Also Disney Chef's are great with allergies but as I have been told time and time again...they are not nutritionists and cannot act as such

This. We travel with 3 kids with food allergies and the vendors they use change quite often so keeping track of nutrition information would be an enormous task. Even the allergy part is quite a big job but they do it for the safety of their guests.

That said you can estimate these things yourself with an online search. At least for fat, calories, and the like. Sodium might be harder to do but if you need low sodium you will likely have to ask for special accommodations because dining out and low sodium rarely go hand in hand.

Frustrated with the lack of Nutritional Information

How long until the next vacation?

DIS Veteran

The Mean Squinty Eye Works

Mouseketeer

How long until the next vacation?

DIS Veteran

DIS Veteran

Registered

The Mean Squinty Eye Works

<font color=blue>AKA Shrimpo or Flamingo Legs<br><

>Hakuna Matata!<

DIS Veteran

DIS Veteran

DIS Veteran

The Mean Squinty Eye Works

DIS Veteran

Mouseketeer

DIS Veteran

The Mean Squinty Eye Works

DIS Veteran

Share this page