Eating at Disney with dairy alelrgy

[smec73]

My 6 yr old has a dairy allergy, and we will be going to Disney this fall.
What are some restaurants that are great with dairy allergies? I feel like dessert is going to be the biggest issue. Since you get dessert with your dining plan, I want to avoid restaurants that will not have anything for her to eat.
What about breakfast? Will they make pancakes with soymilk/rice milk? Also, can you order soy milk to drink at restaurants?

 

[cynzilla]

Hello friend. I travel 2x a year to the World and I have a severe allergy to dairy. Here are some of the success stories from my last trip:


Ohana Breakfast , the chef went out of her way to make sure I had the exact same breakfast my family had (minus the sweet bread and butter) with waffles included. She came out twice to see if I would like anything else, which I thought was very kind.

Liberty Tree Tavern made me my ONLY serving the whole trip of mashed potatoes AND gravy. He said to me he had Toffuti Ice Cream and I said "Ooooh with Root Beer I could make a float", he was nice enough to make me my own delicious ICE COLD FLOAT in a to go cup!

Carlos, the manager at Captain Cooks ALWAYS made sure when he saw me or my husband come in that he rushed around the counter to take the order. He found the Tapioca bread when NO ONE else could and was a true gentleman.

Chef TJ and 1900 Park Fare walked the whole entire buffet with me and if I saw something I liked that I couldnt have, he came out with a dairy free version for me. He made me some special rice, he steamed a delicious Red Bliss potato for me, made me special salad with Oil and Vinegar and made me a desert that was 1/2 a pineapple, marshmallows, fruit, dairy free brownies in a dairy free dark chocolate sauce.


Good Points: You can find lots of Dairy/Gluten Free dessert choices at the counter services like Enjoy Life Cookies. Lots of the counter services were truly accomidating and more knowdlegeable than the Chef as far as what they were capable in offering me dairy free wise. The Manager at Restaurantosaurus was great at knowing exactly what was needed to modify a salad for me, as opposed to the Chef at Kona Cafe who kept giving me "Well, its made with butter, but not that much."

Places like Chef Mickey, honestly I would rather eat my shoe then the nasty nasty dairy cupcake they offered.

Make sure you go to DTD to Babycakes and get her some sweets for the room!

At the Ice Cream shop on Main Street they have a dairy free ice cream so she can even get an ice cream cone! What a treat!

I even did the Wishes Dessert Party where they offered me a huge platter of delicious dairy free/vegan treats! One of the best things I have done Dairy Free in Disney!

Make sure all your dining resides have it marked "Allergy" on the ticket. It will delay the bread and butter coming to your table, but it is well worth it for the safety aspect.

As far as the dairy free waffle, yes they will be able to accommodate that or eggs. The dairy free bread is sparse I found, for say toast in the am. Yes, they will be able to get your child a soy milk box, it's a crappy brand Kikoman (in Oct).

Please feel free to inbox me with your dining ideas or ressies as I can certainly help, and would love to help you, I have eaten at most places.

 

[smec73]

Thank you so much. I am going to start looking at touringplans.com for menus as soon as we get our reservation booked. And decide what looks like it will be a good fit. I know we will be doing lots of character dining, but we do want to eat at Ohana.

 

[Mjkre]

I have an 8 year old with a dairy allergy. Most ts restaurants will have toufutti or rice dream ice cream. Add some Hershey Syrup and Mickey Sprinkles...heaven for a child who cannot have desserts out normally!

Columbia Harbor House in MK has dairy free chicken fingers but you need to ask for them. They have a book there to look through. Also the CS on the right hand side after you leave ToT in DHS. I was told that the Pizza place in DHS has a dairy free pizza option but we have not tried it.

We did not have a good experience at Tutto in Epcot...first they gave her butter on pasta, then cheese...argh! She also felt very limited at Crystal Palace Bfast. They gave her a hard as cardboard Vans waffle and fruit. It was terrible.

Now Ohana, that was fantastic both for dinner and BFast. Mickey Waffles that she loves!
Flying Fish and Olivia's had Mickey pasta with sauce and Toufutti. Same with Narcosies, although I think she had grilled chicken or steak there. Plain Brocolli (my kids love veggies...weird. I know). Beaches and Cream...hamburger, no bun, made fries at Hurricane Hannah's to avoid cross contamination and toufutti.

Cape May Cafe and 50s Prime Time were ok, but I remember we had issues at both. At Cape May, the chef took about an 45 minutes to bring her a bowl of toufutti and there was not a lot of options for her the night we were there,.

1900 Park Fare was great with a great kind chef who made her a special dessert with fruit and marshmallows and Hershey's.

The popcorn is/was dairy free at the parks. Also soft pretzels. Not sure if this is still accurate, so double check! Most carts have swirly ice pops that are dairy free.

Sunshine Seasons has great dairy free options.

Hope this helps. One of the reasons we love Disney is that we can eat out, she can have some "fun" foods, and we do not have to worry as much. It is a vacation for all!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

make sure it is noted on the ressie

 

[disfan07]

As for pancakes and waffles, I believe that if you order dairy free waffles you automatically get allergy free waffles which are gluten/egg/dairy/soy free. But I'm not 100% sure about that because I am gluten/egg/soyr free so I needed the waffles that way.

But I got them every morning at POP and they were amazing! we even got 2 orders of mickey waffles the day we left so we could take some with us and they were even good cold about 6 hours later!!

Same with the allergy chicken tenders. They are gluten/egg/dairy free but absolutely amazing!

As for dessert, I noticed most places had toffuti or rice dream. I couldnt eat either because of peanut/tree nut cross contamination but they were mentioned.

Enjoy life cookies are also very prevalent it seems at many TS restaurants.

I had amazing dining experiences last month. They accomodated my allergies so well (all 10 of them).

I'm sure your daughter will eat very well during your trip!

 

[cjj120]

I read your post and thought I could of wrote it myself. Like you I am going in the fall but with a 4 yr old with a dairy allergy. I was thinking of posting the same questions! Now all I have to do is read your replies and start planning!!! Thanks!

 

[wendow]

We went this past September with an almost 4yo who is allergic to dairy. Planning to go back this next September

Maybe because of my ds's age and being a teeny bit picky, I found it hard to feed him. My MIL is gluten free and her choices almost seemed limitless but I was disappointed in Disney's offerings for the dairy free crowd. Here are the places we had good food/good experiences:

The Wave at the CR: We went for breakfast and the chef was great. Made my ds Mickey waffles using rice milk but had to go to Chef Mickeys to get the allergy mixture so it did take awhile.

Captain Cooks at the Poly: MJ (one of the managers) was AWESOME! She went out of her way and even went to O'Hana's to get Rice Dream ice cream. Told me she would make him anything he wanted even if not on the menu or she had to go hunt down ingredients. LOVE HER!

Contempo cafe at CR: Has the allergen chicken tenders that someone else mentioned being available at Columbia harbor House. We had them there too. They are delicious and way better than the regular chicken tenders imo. They should just serve those to everyone

Pecos Bills: Manager was very thorough to the point of making my ds's food in a separate area of the kitchen and having us pick it up at a different location. Had us look through the book and read each ingredient list before taking the order.

Not so good experiences:

Kona Cafe: First off, the food for everyone else was great. So, so good! But my ds was tired of Rice Dream ice cream by now and they had nothing else to offer for dessert except cotton candy. They have gluten free brownies and cookies...yet no dairy free. I just don't get that. Brownies are super easy to make dairy free. I do it all the time and from a box of mix that is made by Duncan Hines or betty Crocker.

Mexican food place in Epcot: Can't remember the name. Basically nothing dairy free except something very spicy.

The kid's menus have pretty standard fare from place to place. Pizza, hamburger, chicken nuggets, turkey & cheese, pb&j....My ds mostly ate the pb&j's which were dairy free. I also brought a lot of food for him and took it into the park. Really glad I did. My girls wanted a treat from Main Street Bakery so we went in and I asked if anything was dairy free. The lady said "no, it all contains milk"

I am not trying to discourage you. We had so much fun that we are going back this year. But I want you to know to be prepared. Have some extra treats (we got some from Babycakes) and snacks on hand. We actually did not have the meal plan and I was really glad after going that we didn't. I wouldn't have felt like we got our money's worth at all for a kid who could barely eat anything.

 

[nfceagles]

We just got back yesterday with my 7yo DS who is allergic to milk, eggs, and peanuts. He ate like a king and loved. It was our 3rd trip. Now mind you, my DS's milk allergy is the most mild of his allergy and he's been consuming baked milk foods for a year now so that opens a few doors.

I'll post a food trip report on this board as soon as I can. Watch for it.

We ate at Kona Cafe, Chef Mickey's, Le Cellier, 50's Prime Time Cafe, Liberty Tree Tavern, Contempo Cafe, Cosmic Ray's, Flame Tree BBQ, Sunshine Seasons. He's slightly picky, but sometimes I think that helps at Disney. He doesn't expect a chef to get creative and make him some gourmet dish, he just needs a meat and fries to get by. We didn't dine anywhere that didn't have Tofutti to offer. And most CS places had two packs of Enjoy Life Choc Chip cookies. Sunshine Seasons also had caramel corn and Enjoy Life Choc bars.