Thread for allergy foods updates

[livndisney]

Originally Posted by nfceagles

Ugh!!! You guys are scaring me. We leave Jan 15th. My DS likes fruit just fine, but when we are on vacation, he does NOT consider it dessert. Especially when the remaining 8 members of his family are eating extravagant desserts.

I don't give a hoot about the jelly beans and popcorn. I can get safe jelly beans all over the place and my DS can eat the regular popcorn in the parks, but I NEED a baked good! Maybe I'll pack some Divvies. I think I definitely will be carrying a safe treat everywhere for DS just in case.

LivnDisney- Do you know anything about the availability of soy/rice ice cream and/or Itsakadoozie popsicles. My DS often got ice cream on his last trip and loves it. Those would at least be better than fruit.

Does Babycakes deliver anything off their menu or only cakes? Do guys know how much notice is required? If I get there and find things are bad, can I quickly sign up for stuff for the remainder of the week?

I will keep you guys posted when I contact Special Diets. I will definitely let them know how disappointing the changes are. We bought into DVC BECAUSE they have provided us with such a magical experience wrt food allergies, something we don't get on other vacations.

DD agrees fruit is not dessert LOL.
Rice milk and ice cream is still available in the places we checked. I did not see Itsakadoozie at the carts, but I was not looking as most of the carts feature the milk based ice creams.

I "think" Babycakes only delivers cakes. I have suggested SEVERAL times they have products at CS (What a dream!), but I know that is not really practical.

[clanmcculloch]

I can't imagine them doing away with the Itzkadoozies since they're one of many products from the same company so as long as they have their Nestle contract I would think that these would stay (says the woman who's confused as to why they'd get rid of Divvies cookies and keep the caramel corn and jelly beans). My kids can't Itzkadoozies due to other allergies but I'm hoping they keep the frozen pineapple bars they added this year because they're yummy. I figure the Dole contract will stay around for a long time as well so I'm crossing my fingers for the pineapple bars.

I'll be scouring the special diets info for confirmation when I request my lists in a few weeks. Hopefully they'll have the info up to date by then.

My kids also agree that fruit is NOT a dessert. DD13 does enjoy some berries with a berry sorbet if that's what's offered at a restaurant but not just fruit on its own.

[kkandaj]

This is scary for me too. DS has life threatening food allergies to dairy, soy, egg, tree nuts and peanut. WDW is THE ONLY place that DS eats restaurant food--meaning, THE ONLY TIME I get a break from cooking! We are staying off site so I can cook most of his food, but while we are in the parks, I was HOPING to be able to let him eat there.

We have an ADR for Tusker House breakfast and I will not be happy if I pay $18 for him to eat fruit for breakfast!

I agree that so many companies cater to gluten free and leave so many other allergies out. Anytime I mention food allergies, people say "oh, he can't have gluten?" Drives me crazy....

[SDSorority]

Sigh. Luckily we don't have a milk allergy in our family, but I can't have soy in addition to gluten, so I end up bringing, oh, 95% of our food in with us. ANNOYING.

[SMorgan711]

Hi Everyone! We just got back from Disney on Monday. Disney is the ONLY place that I get to feel "normal" as I have a milk allergy. Please bare in mind that my allergy is NOT life threatening.

Tuesday, we ate at Captain Cooks in the Polynesian and I got a turkey club on multigrain. Apparently, this was the only bread that I could have. All the other ones they had contained milk. (Also, I did not like the digital ordering system. But that's another topic!) That night I had chips from the UK in Epcot and a Cinnamon Sugar Soft Preztel from a stand near Canada.

Wednesday, we ate at Kona Cafe and I was able to have the Tonga Toast! Apparently, it's only an egg wash that it's coated in and contains no dairy. I just had to request no strawberry componte. We ate at the Plaza Restaurant on Main Street before MVMCP. I received the allergy book when I sat down and was able to look at it before the chef came out. This was super exciting because normally I would not ask about certain items and just assume they had milk in it. Because I had the book, I read through everything and found some stuff I could eat! (Like those chocolate Mickey ears on the kids ice cream cone! I wish they did this everywhere. I had a vanilla Rice Dream (non milk) milk shake! I asked for a chocolate one because the chocolate sauce didn't have milk in it but I guess she didn't here me. It was my first (non milk) milk shake! I also had a hamburger on a kaiser roll which was good and a salad. The salad was amazing! At MVMCP, I couldn't have any of the cookies or hot chocolate. They had sugar free cookies and hot chocolate and the allergy cookies were gluten free only. sad

Thursday, I ate at Whispering Caynon and had a ham omlette. I was looking forward to a Mickey waffle but the Chef discouraged me from getting it. He asked if I knew about the Bob's Red Mill mix and I said no. I had the allergy friendly waffles before but I had no idea it was Bob's mix. He pretty much said it tasted badly and I shouldn't get it. Bummed me out the whole day. For dinner I had a grilled chicken sandwich at Pollo Campero which ended up coming out on a potato roll I made a wrap with the tortillas from DF's meal. and I had a brownie cupcake with chocolate icing from BabyCakes! It was so good! When I got a cupcake there in Feb it was HORRIBLE. I was so sad. Especially because we have such an amazing vegan bakery where I live. But I was so happy to see that it was a fluke! I ended up getting a donut and red velvet cupcake. Everything was superb!

Friday, I had the Bob's Red Mill mix waffles at the Captain's Grille at the Yacht Club. Totally what I ate before and still they were good to me! I also had bacon and the potatoes (OMG best potatoes EVER!) I got the allergy friendly chicken fingers at the BackLot Express in Hollywood Studios with fries. I got Rice Dream on a cone at Hollywood Scoops. That was a disaster. No one knew what I was talking about and I had to tell the manager/chef three times what I wanted. That night we ate at the Luau at the Polynesian. I was able to eat everything except the bread and dessert. I never really liked the Ener-G rolls but I got some little brown roll instead. It was actually pretty good. I'm not sure what brand it was. My dad even tried it and liked it. The salad was awesome. I kept getting lots of refills on that. We also had a BabyCakes dessert ordered (blondie cake - Vanilla cake w/chocolate chips and choco icing) It was really good! Everyone in our party ate some and enjoyed it. (Fruit was the main meal allergy dessert so I'm glad I got the cake!)

Saturday I had the allergy friendly Mickey waffles at Captain Cooks. We also ate at Teppan Edo and the only thing I couldn't have was two of the dipping sauces and dessert. The dessert was a fruit cup. I'm talking Dole fruit filled with sugary syrup fruit cup that you buy in a grocery store. I was bummed. Also got the allergy friendly chicken fingers at Columbia Harbour House for dinner.

Sunday was allergy friendly Mickey waffles at Captain Cooks. Allergy friendly chicken tenders and fries at Electric Umbrella. Rice Dream root beer float at Fountain View.

Monday was allergy friendly Mickey waffles at Captain Cooks and allergy friendly chicken tenders at Columbia Harbour House. I also got a Mickey shaped soft preztel in Frontierland!

I did not see any Divvies cookies which I normally get. Only the caramel corn and jelly beans. I did get an OMG it's gluten free choco chip cookie that was milk free but I did not try it yet.

[nfceagles]

Thanks for all that information. I don't have any food intolerances, but I find the Bob's Red Mill waffles to be perfectly good.

Are you sure the OMG brownie you got is dairy free? The ones listed on OMG's website say they contain dairy, but perhaps the Disney ones are different.

The Divvies thing is really bugging me. I understand it's hard to meet everyone's needs, but it seems they have nothing now for the dairy and egg allergic. They should have switched to Dr Lucy's cookies. They are milk, egg, nut, and gluten free. A crunchy cookie, but very good IMO.

Don't they realize that a lot of GF people are also DF????

[livndisney]

Originally Posted by nfceagles

Thanks for all that information. I don't have any food intolerances, but I find the Bob's Red Mill waffles to be perfectly good.

Are you sure the OMG brownie you got is dairy free? The ones listed on OMG's website say they contain dairy, but perhaps the Disney ones are different.

The Divvies thing is really bugging me. I understand it's hard to meet everyone's needs, but it seems they have nothing now for the dairy and egg allergic. They should have switched to Dr Lucy's cookies. They are milk, egg, nut, and gluten free. A crunchy cookie, but very good IMO.

Don't they realize that a lot of GF people are also DF????

I am pretty sure the OMG brownies we saw were dairy and gluten free.

[clanmcculloch]

When I looked at the OMG It's Gluten Free website, all of the brownies had milk but there was a chocolate chip cookie that was milk free. I assumed that since somebody had reported getting a milk free one that this was the cookie that was being served. If you're allergic to milk, look again at the brownies since the website doesn't show any without milk.

[livndisney]

Originally Posted by clanmcculloch

When I looked at the OMG It's Gluten Free website, all of the brownies had milk but there was a chocolate chip cookie that was milk free. I assumed that since somebody had reported getting a milk free one that this was the cookie that was being served. If you're allergic to milk, look again at the brownies since the website doesn't show any without milk.

I saw that on the website, but I "think" the ones we saw at WDW had a similar label, but said "dairy and gluten free". We did not try them. I will make sure and take a pic next time I am over there.

Just checked the OMG pdf. It looks like what I saw was the cookie that was dairy and gluten free.

In "related" news OMG also has pizza-anyone want to take bets to see if WDW switches? Won't work for us due to other allergies.

[SMorgan711]

I personally did not see any OMG brownies. I just saw the OMG chocolate chip cookie that was gluten and milk free.

I feel like it should be easier for Disney to supply allergy friendly things that are at least free of the 8 most common allergies? Instead of serving one thing that's ONLY gluten free, another that's ONLY milk free, another that's ONLY egg free, etc, they'd have one thing across the board? Hm.. very interesting to see the outcome!!

[clanmcculloch]

I saw the pizzas on there. DD13 won't be able to eat them but I think DD11 might be able to which would be great for her since she can't eat the existing ones.

[DVC_Princess]

Originally Posted by Disneynut5

I also loved the donuts that we were served at Boma but have no idea what they are either.

I didn't see anyone else reply but last I knew these are Kinnikinnick. They are yummy and have them at a lot of breakfast buffets if you ask. My local grocery store has them as well in the freezer section.

[DVC_Princess]

I have celiac so I am gluten free but not dairy free so I don't know everything about that allergy. However I was just looking at the online Udi's ingredient list and they do contain egg products but not milk products. I was under the impression that means they are dairy free. I can understand that it's still harder for those with egg allergies and am very sympathetic to that. But am I missing something regarding those who are gluten/dairy free? Thanks for any clarification!

[nfceagles]

I was of the impression initially, based on OMG's website, that their products contained dairy. It sounds like the ones at Disney are indeed dairy free. So I think you may be right that it boils down to egg allergies (and vegans) losing the most.

When I wrote Special Diets about our upcoming trip, they included in their reply, "Within the next several months we will be adding additional special dietary offerings to enhance your dining experience." I was excited even though I was happy with what they already offered. But with the changes I'm hearing about we've lost rolls, hamburger buns, hot dog buns, and choc chip cookies. I understand if the Udi's GF stuff is a lot better than EnerG, it was mostly coinsidence that DS could eat those (we aren't GF), but I'm really bummed about the loss of Divvies or SOME baked good for the milk, egg, nut allergy set. It's a pretty common combination, hence the existence of companies like Divvies.

I know Disney carries Enjoy Life too, but I've only ever seen them in table service restaurants. Perhaps they could make those more readily available at the Counter Service places where Divvies were available. I don't like them as well, but I get that they serve a broader group of customers.

[snorris49]

I had the OMG gluten free and dairy free chocolate chip cookie twice in the past three weeks. They are indeed marked dairy free. They were the only OMG products that I could find that were dairy free. I have the packaging photographed, and I'll try to get it up on my blog soon, so you can see it.

Taste-wise, it was ok. Not that great, but not the worst GF/DF cookie I've ever had.

As for the Bob's Red Mill mickey waffles, I love those things! I'm surprised a chef said they were awful. They are the best, especially at Kona and Kouzzina. Yum, yum, and yum! I bought some mix the other day for the holidays, though I suspect mine won't taste as good. They've been using that mix for quite some time at WDW.

Boy, I'm not loving these new changes...I intend on writing a lengthy letter to special diets and customer service over the holiday break.