Ordering off-menu for texture sensitive...

[dekraut]

Hello all,

DS has ASD and has moderate diffculty dealing with textures of certain foods. His favorite is grilled cheese, but he cannot handle cereal or mashed potatoes for example. We have gotten him to the point where he will eat pizza (he pulls the cheese off and eats the dough!) and cheeseburgers.

If the rest of my family wants to try Pecos Bill or Tortuga Tavern or something, is there a possibility of ordering a simple grilled cheese off-menu and any/all restaurants that have more adventurous menus?

Is it bad form to ask? Should we just stick to places that have food he is okay with?

I just don't want to be a pain, but my wife and I would like to try some of the different places offered - no offense to Ray, but I don't know that I want a burger every single meal!

Thanks for any help.

 

[minnie mum]

Highly doubtful at the CS places. Slightly more possible at some TS restaurants. If they don't have it listed, they won't carry the ingredients for it. The only place in MK to get a CS burger is Cosmic Rays. Likewise Pecos Bills won't have pizza. If they don't have a dish that includes sliced American cheese and sliced bread, they can't make a grilled cheese.

As much as its a pain, you can avoid disappointment by checking the restaurant menus for dishes that your child will eat.

 

[Allison]

Those restaurants won't have the ingredients to make a grilled cheese.

 

[Baklava]

Tortuga has Mac n cheese and pbj for the kiddos. They offer Texas toast but I don't see cheese anywhere on the menu to make a grilled cheese.

Pecos Bill does have a quesadilla which most kids will accept in place of a grilled cheese. Texture should be okay. Will he go for that?

 

[dekraut]

Cool. Thanks for that info. I have looked at the menus, but I never thought of it in terms of what they stock ingredients for.

It won't be a big deal if we don't get a chance to try some other things, but I thought I would ask.

 

[TxWriterMama]

TS is a better option for this issue.

Kiddo has autism and she is severely restricted when it comes to food. She currently eats plain, dry Cheerios, bananas, French fries, Chick-Fil-A nuggets (only that kind), bacon and Reese's Cups. And that's it. She gets most of her nutrients via homemade juice blends of veggies and fruits and a hardcore multivitamin mixed into that juice. So traveling is always a challenge! But we've done so many Disney trips the last two years that we've gotten better at figuring out where she can eat and when we need to just pack something in my bag.

We had no problem in the handful of TS restaurants we visited asking for off-menu items. Whispering Canyon was more than happy to send out a plate of crispy bacon and a plate of French fries. Yak & Yeti in Animal Kingdom brought her a plate of French fries even though they aren't listed on the menus.

That said:

Be Our Guest has grilled cheese on the kid's menu.
Pinocchio Village Haus has pizza.
Tony's has grilled cheese and pizza.

 

[HopperFan]

You could pick him up a grilled cheese/burger/pizza at another place then take it with you to where you want to eat. Ask for an extra plate to turn over and act as a cover/top. Then get his drink where you are eating.

 

[dekraut]

Tortuga has Mac n cheese and pbj for the kiddos. They offer Texas toast but I don't see cheese anywhere on the menu to make a grilled cheese.

Pecos Bill does have a quesadilla which most kids will accept in place of a grilled cheese. Texture should be okay. Will he go for that?

We were hoping that a quesadilla might work. Maybe we can try a local place that sells them before we leave and see how he does!

 

[dekraut]

You could pick him up a grilled cheese/burger/pizza at another place then take it with you to where you want to eat. Ask for an extra plate to turn over and act as a cover/top. Then get his drink where you are eating.

Wasn't sure if that was allowed - but if it is, that could work well too. Thank you.

 

[DisneyOma]

At Counter Service, you order your food, wait for it, and then find some place to eat. So you don't have to eat your food in that specific restaurant. Some of the CS places have outside tables too. My youngest had a texture issue and we 'gathered' meals when we were at the park - carrot sticks from the food court back at the resort, fruit from the fruit stand, milk from a CS restaurant, etc.

Good news is my daughter tried 5 new foods at WDW this last trip!

 

[HopperFan]

Wasn't sure if that was allowed - but if it is, that could work well too. Thank you.

Counter service to counter service it shouldn't matter, especially one child's meal.

 

[wilkeliza]

Wasn't sure if that was allowed - but if it is, that could work well too. Thank you.

It is totally allowed. We do this often with quick service. Pick a place most people will eat and then the ones who can't find something go get what they can eat.

Most tabel services can do grilled chrese. Almost anywhere that has a a burger can do grill cheese as long as your son is okay wit a bun instead of sliced bread.

It is always worth asking.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

just remember if you take food to another place the second place can not warm food up for you. child will have to eat it luke warm or cool depending on weather. same rules about not warming outside food includes food bought at another place in park

 

[aaarcher86]

Does he eat anything you can pack? You could let him eat that while you try a new place too.

 

[Kellykins1218]

Beware of the grilled cheese kid's meal. Unless they've change it, it is on Goldfish shaped bread and isn't crispy at all. My kids wouldn't touch them and after tasting one, I wouldn't either.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

My DS also had tactile issues when he was younger and would only eat crunchy foods. When vacationing in WDW, we would just have to work around it. I would pack things I knew he would eat, feed him at different times or supplement with other meals/snacks throughout the day. For example, we went to Garden Grill and the only thing he would eat was the salad, so I would make sure he had some protein that he liked and something else to supplement that meal either soon before or after. It's was certainly not fun to have to break up our meals like that, but it allowed everyone to sample and enjoy things they liked to eat without having to always completely cater to DS's food sensitivities. Everyone eventually got fed and enjoyed what they ate!

As far as the grilled cheese, the only one we found DS liked was the one at BOG lunch. You may want to try the kiosk near Test Track as well. Their kids' grilled cheese is on the goldfish bread, but they may be able to be flexible as they have a wide variety of grilled cheese ingredients available.

 

[ErinTwinmom]

I have autistic twins. Our last trip we were on the middle dining plan with two kids that are not known for eating and we made it work. So i knew before we left that you could not depend on grilled cheese or pbj (all nasty uncrustables). Our goal was to only have sit down restaurants with food the kids would eat. Most menus had pizza or chicken nuggets which my kids would eat or kraft mac. Not sure about burgers my kids wont touch them. We had good luck subbing fruit for sides at sit down. If your kid eats burgers you will probably have an easier time with cs than we did but honestly since my husband and i like a variety of food we took the kids lunch a lot of days. That let us have bbq at AK and Mexican and the Norway sandwich shop in Epcot. The kids liked having there own food and disney allows you to bring in food so it wasn't a problem. As a CS credits do not differentiate between child and adult the extra CS credits got a very nice unplanned breakfast in Downtown Disney the day we left.

 

[Julylady]

Beware of the grilled cheese kid's meal. Unless they've change it, it is on Goldfish shaped bread and isn't crispy at all. My kids wouldn't touch them and after tasting one, I wouldn't either.

My nieces still talk about how awful the grilled cheese meal was four months later. The oldest is picky and ended up eating either chicken noodle soup or chicken tenders almost every meal we ate out. We have groceries delivered and eat a lot of our meals at the resort.

 

[Kellykins1218]

I have autistic twins. Our last trip we were on the middle dining plan with two kids that are not known for eating and we made it work. So i knew before we left that you could not depend on grilled cheese or pbj (all nasty uncrustables)

LOL My two are both autistic as well and LOVE the Uncrustables. Those and chicken nuggets are pretty much what they lived on for our last trip. They'd starve to death before either one would try even a bite of a burger.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) You might want to stick with your known eateries and known meal options.
2) Most Quick Service eateries do not have the ability to prepare "special" meals.
3) Remember, WDW does try to accommodate, but they cannot possibly satisfy all demands or requests.