Can I bring food on board?

[southlake]

My 3 yr old daughter has a sensory/texture eating disorder and pretty much only eats soft foods. She won't eat anything at a restaurant except for apple juice. She eats just macaroni and cheese for dinner (no judgement, we have tried everything to get her to eat more foods). So We always bring her special food with us wherever we go.. will the cruise kitchen make her favorite macaroni and cheese if we bring it with us?

Also, she's lactose intolerant and only drinks soy milk. Can I bring soy milk on board? Order it somewhere?

 

[TXDCLfan]

My 3 yr old daughter has a sensory/texture eating disorder and pretty much only eats soft foods. She won't eat anything at a restaurant except for apple juice. She eats just macaroni and cheese for dinner (no judgement, we have tried everything to get her to eat more foods). So We always bring her special food with us wherever we go.. will the cruise kitchen make her favorite macaroni and cheese if we bring it with us?

Also, she's lactose intolerant and only drinks soy milk. Can I bring soy milk on board? Order it somewhere?

No they will not prepare food that you bring.

 

[disneyaddict4]

They make good mac and cheese, my daughter had it almost everyday on our cruise

 

[Bear3412]

Soy; http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2976516&highlight=soy+milk

Difficult eater; http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2985567&highlight=soy+milk

Try the search box here on main page for specific topics.
Such as; http://www.disboards.com/search.php?searchid=36313054

 

[lilpooh108]

My 3 yr old daughter has a sensory/texture eating disorder and pretty much only eats soft foods. She won't eat anything at a restaurant except for apple juice. She eats just macaroni and cheese for dinner (no judgement, we have tried everything to get her to eat more foods). So We always bring her special food with us wherever we go.. will the cruise kitchen make her favorite macaroni and cheese if we bring it with us?

Also, she's lactose intolerant and only drinks soy milk. Can I bring soy milk on board? Order it somewhere?

They have soy milk onboard. Someone else mentioned that the Dream recently started carrying individual boxes (Silk). They will not make special mac and cheese---they do not carry lactose free cheese products or Daiya (casein free cheese). They have regular mac and cheese, but will try to make you anything she can eat with their own products.

If she is that specific, you might want to create things for her that mimic what they have onboard so that she will already be used to eating it.

My DD has allergies and previously some sensory + food texture issues. We were actually receiving OT during the time she had sensory issues. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll try to let you know our experiences.

I would bring a TON of snacks onboard. Yes, they are allowed. We brought grocery bags full of sealed snacks/breads/juice boxes (people looked at us weird) but my kid had to eat, so whatever. You cannot bring homemade foods, or meat/plants/veggies/fruits.

If your kid likes pasta, they will make mac and marinara or mac & bolognese if you want to avoid cheese. They also do grilled chicken strips or pan fried chicken strips. For dessert there is Vanilla Rice Dream (only flavor they have). For breakfast they have sealed cereal containers, and they make soft allergy pancakes. There's also Uncrustables, if your kid will eat that.

Either way, my best advice is for you to have her practice on foods that they have on the ship or that you can safely bring. That way you're not stuck with no options. To be honest, my DD was pretty hungry by the time we got off the ship (by our 3rd, 3 nighter cruise). I waited until she was 3.5 before bringing her on a 7 night cruise and she was still pretty limited in terms of food repertoire and what she could find on the ship. They try hard for you, but they are very limited in what they have.

 

[southlake]

They have soy milk onboard. Someone else mentioned that the Dream recently started carrying individual boxes (Silk). They will not make special mac and cheese---they do not carry lactose free cheese products or Daiya (casein free cheese). They have regular mac and cheese, but will try to make you anything she can eat with their own products.

If she is that specific, you might want to create things for her that mimic what they have onboard so that she will already be used to eating it.

My DD has allergies and previously some sensory + food texture issues. We were actually receiving OT during the time she had sensory issues. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll try to let you know our experiences.

I would bring a TON of snacks onboard. Yes, they are allowed. We brought grocery bags full of sealed snacks/breads/juice boxes (people looked at us weird) but my kid had to eat, so whatever. You cannot bring homemade foods, or meat/plants/veggies/fruits.

If your kid likes pasta, they will make mac and marinara or mac & bolognese if you want to avoid cheese. They also do grilled chicken strips or pan fried chicken strips. For dessert there is Vanilla Rice Dream (only flavor they have). For breakfast they have sealed cereal containers, and they make soft allergy pancakes.

Thank you for this. We will definitely be bringing tons of snacks for her. I am going to call tomorrow and ask about the soy milk. Not sure what to do about dinner yet.. will they bring you a microwave if you request one, like the Disneyland Hotel does?

 

[southlake]

Soy; http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2976516&highlight=soy+milk

Difficult eater; http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2985567&highlight=soy+milk

Try the search box here on main page for specific topics.
Such as; http://www.disboards.com/search.php?searchid=36313054

Thanks for those links!

 

[lilpooh108]

Thank you for this. We will definitely be bringing tons of snacks for her. I am going to call tomorrow and ask about the soy milk. Not sure what to do about dinner yet.. will they bring you a microwave if you request one, like the Disneyland Hotel does?

No microwaves onboard. You might want to go to Whole Foods and see if they have any kind of instant allergy foods that your daughter would be willing to eat and just order hot water from Room Service to make it yourself. My daughter tolerates Annie Chun's udon noodles (its vegan so lactose issues). I've also seen instant mac & cheese there but we avoid dairy so I can't tell you about lactose issues for those.

Does your daughter eat french fries? The fries they provide are pretty soft. There's also bananas, and Dannon yogurt onboard. They will also puree anything you want pureed, so long as they have the supplies in the kitchen and/or it's already on the menu.

You can also bring your own Silk milk boxes if you want. The call center people are not terribly helpful. Alot of the servers also do not know what they have in the walk-in downstairs. If they tell you "no," ask for a head server to determine whether the ship actually has a certain product.

Check out the DISabilities forum--if you post a thread there I bet you'll get more help.

You can also list what your DD eats and I'll let you know if we've seen it/asked for it.

 

[southlake]

Thank you for the responses. I've looked at the shared links and bookmarked them (thank you!) as well as combed DCL's site as to what I can and cannot bring. As stated on a couple of threads, it looks like I can bring unopened, pre-packaged foods (like granola bars, which she will eat), and her Kraft macaroni & cheese. No microwave. I guess we've been spoiled by the Disneyland Hotel providing one to us upon request. It looks like worst case scenario, we will just have to request really hot water from room service and let the macaroni noodles steep longer than the 3.5 min it takes in a microwave. That's the only thing I can think of.

I am really grateful for the above links about the other kids with the sensory texture eating disorder. My daughter didn't start chewing dry cheerios until about 2 weeks ago (she's 3). She started eating granola bars at 3. Those are the only dry things she will eat. Otherwise she just licks crackers and anything else we try to give her since she was not able to handle chewing for the first 3 years of her life. It's like she's an infant when it comes to chewing and swallowing. We've been through OT and didn't help much. One of the reasons we've put off a cruise is because of her eating issues, and now that she eats a Couple more things, we're trying to take the risk.

 

[jdkdorn]

Kraft makes Easy Mac, which my son loves, and it is instant. Cooks really nice and you cannot tell the difference. Just as for really hot water.

 

[TDC Nala]

You can bring food (they don't allow coolers unless it's for medical purposes) but the galley will not prepare food that was brought in from outside.

 

[LasseKjus]

Call Disney and try to get a special menu prepared. Once on a three-day Wonder, we were seated with an Indian family and they had Indian food, not on the menu, prepared special for them every night. They called ahead and requested it, they told us.

 

[Weedy]

You are not alone with this problem. Disney will try and work with you if you think she would be willing to try some food on the ship. Yes you can bring your own food for her. Here is another thread for a mom with the same issues. Read post #65 on the last page of the thread it will sum up their trip. Look through the thread you can see pictures of the different food options.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2935259

Have a great cruise.

 

[lilpooh108]

I am really grateful for the above links about the other kids with the sensory texture eating disorder. My daughter didn't start chewing dry cheerios until about 2 weeks ago (she's 3). She started eating granola bars at 3. Those are the only dry things she will eat. Otherwise she just licks crackers and anything else we try to give her since she was not able to handle chewing for the first 3 years of her life. It's like she's an infant when it comes to chewing and swallowing. We've been through OT and didn't help much. One of the reasons we've put off a cruise is because of her eating issues, and now that she eats a Couple more things, we're trying to take the risk.

I completely can relate. We went through OT from age 10 months to age 2 years. It was a tough road.

I don't know if you're in the SoCal area but if you are, I can recommend the name of our old OT center. They were amazing, and honestly changed my DD's life around. Our ped gastro doctor had suggested a G-tube at one point and we declined, choosing to go through OT instead. The big name hospital Ot therapists did not work out, but we found a lovely lady who changed my DD's life.

 

[neg58]

They will make macaroni any way you want it, just can't bring your own.

I, too, had a picky eater. Only white food (yellow if you count cheese as yellow) for years. She ate macaroni, but only elbow mac and only with KRAFT parma cheese from the green can. Not the store brand that was sort of orange, the KRAFT brand that was white. Cheese sticks. Crackers. Eggs. That was pretty much it. Oh, and rolls and milk.

The buffets and meals might be a good time for your daughter to try a lot of things. You don't have to make them, you can throw them out if she won't eat them, each item can be on a separate plate, and there are a lot of choices. During our picky years (and my daughter was a preemie, so there were texture issues and not just her being picky), one of my favorite places was the salad buffet restaurant. I could put a few things on her plate and she might try one new thing. If she tried it she usually liked it. She didn't like smooth things like yogurt or pudding (unless it was chocolate - a girl has her needs!) and when she did try something smooth it better not have surprises in it, like cookies in the pudding or fruit pieces in the yogurt. Surprisingly, one of her favorite things was gingerbread cake. She thought it was chocolate, so she ate it.

Give it a try. If she's hungry enough, she'll eat. (and yes, we were in OT therapy too so I know it's a real issue, but if hungry enough they will eat)

Nancy

 

[jjje]

Good luck! My family did WDW while my son was in the middle of a two year stint in food therapy. Buffets were a life saver for us since we could usually piece together a meal that was "safe" for him. I think you've got some great suggestions here and I hope you find something that works well for your daughter. (I know from experience that not all kids eat if they get hungry enough and it's no fun watching your child be miserable.)