2 year old w/ egg allergy and rest of family on Dining Plan

[Amusement]

Hello everyone.

Our family of four is excitedly planning our first trip to Disney World in December. My husband, myself, and my son (9) will all be on the basic dining plan and our 2 year daughter won't be on the plan because of her age. Our 2 year old has an egg allergy so I will be contacting Brenda Bennet in the near future to obtain allergy information from her.

My real question here is has anyone had a little one that was too young for the dining plan with a food allergy? We have 3 character meals where she can eat without paying and I don't know that we can ask for special desserts or items to be made for her since we aren't paying for her meal. We'll be happy to just find out what contains egg and just avoid it without any special egg free items if that's the case. I'm just trying to get an idea of how this particular situation is handled.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

This may appear strange, but there is a charge for children under three at buffets. That charge is zero.

The chef's will not care if the payment is zero or something higher, they will prepare the necessary foods.

It is only if you are ordering something from either a quick service or full table service that you have to pay for someone under three. In that situation technically you should order the egg-free item for someone in the party and split the food with your daughter or be prepared to pay for her dish.

But even so don't be too surprised if you are not charged at all.

 

[Amusement]

Thank you so much for the information. It helps me know which way to approach everything. I didn't want to expect anything extra at the buffets or take advantage, but I'm glad to know we'll be able to make sure she gets some egg free goodies.

 

[ekatiel]

Since we're going on our first trip to WDW next May, I don't have any first hand experience, but from what I've read, the PP is right: Just order your meal like you are the one with the egg allergy, and they will prepare your meal entirely egg free, and your LO should be able to eat off your plate at regular TS and CS restaurants. If you don't want to have to go egg-free for the week, you might consider paying OOP for a kid's meal for your DD at those places. As far as the buffets go, hopefully, the chefs at the buffets will accomadate and make your DD "special" egg free fare there-- Just make sure Brenda Bennett knows about all your ADR's. Have a fun time, and let us know how it goes!

 

[Daydreamer64]

We discovered our 2 yo's egg allergy at Chef Mickeys - complete with stopping breathing and a 911 ambulance call in the middle of eating!

The next trip we had the same situation as you do, we made sure that he only had fruits, vegis, and drinks for the trip, other then specially prepared dishes from the chef.

Ben is allergic to milk, eggs, peanuts, soy (it's in everything), shellfish, beef, chicken, ( yes, meat allergies are rare ) but not to wheat, thank goodness!

There are so many hidden areas that eggs are in-

most pastas do not have eggs but some do, so it's a no go for mac n' cheese or pasta based foods at the world- at home I can read the labels and find the safe pastas for Ben.

We found out that some rolls are white washed with egg to make then shinny, and the chef at the Biergarden, told us that some of their sausages and dogs have eggs in them- we thought that the pork products were fine .

Another no-no for Ben is any type of dipped/breaded fried things like chicken fingers, fish, nuggets, or fried tomatoes as they may use egg wash to catch the batter.

Brenda is great, if you have reservations she will help get a list for safe foods for your daughter to choose from at each food establishment.

We have found that it is sufficient to tell the waitress that we need to speak to the chef- the chef in all table service areas in the world always appears quickly, they have always happily cooked/ filled out a plate for Ben to ensure that there is no cross contamination in the kitchen or buffet.

An added bonus is that he always gets special treatment- like light up ice cubes or a flashing Capt. Hook at one place.

Then they make a big deal about special desserts since ice cream can have eggs, as can pies, sweet rolls, cake, dough-nuts, some puddings or custards.

Cookies are also a no-no because of those darn eggs, as are most frozen dairy treats ( eggs/nuts) .

Just make sure that you have her Epi pen and Benedril meds at hand at all times.

You will find that as you get used to the restrictions you will get pretty good at avoidance.

Have a fun and safe trip!

PS- We were told by WDW chefs that just because "something" was egg free in general, at any particular place, that some times substitution in brands is necessary meaning that it may not be egg free the next time you eat that meal at that food place. So, we are very cautious and keep Ben on a tightly controlled menu on vacation.

 

[dzorn]

Make sure when making ADR's you inform them that someone in your party has an egg allergy.They will note it and give you a number to talk to someone ahead of time. Don't wait to just inform the chef at arrival though when you check in they will have you speak to the chef. Disney is very good about getting safe food for people but they cannot guarantee it if they do not know ahead of time. They need time to have the food in stock.

Denise in MI

 

[Daydreamer64]

They need time to have the food in stock.

Denise in MI

That's a good point, especially if there are no foods available for that particular food establishment. Egg allergies are pretty easy to accomidate.

Ben has made 5 trips to the world since that first one at 9 months.

We have never had any problems with asking to speak to a chef and we have always been accommodated upon arrival.

We do not ask for specific food substitutes, such as a pasta substitute, as this would require a before visit call.

We ask the chef to work with that they have in stock. The food brought out is always a surprise for us.

There are no guarantees about any food cross contaminations - ever.

Brenda is very helpful, and you are correct, it is a good idea to notify the reservationist about food issues.

What we did find was that it wasn't noted on all of our reservations, apparently the reservationist only thought that Ben was eating at the first rest. , this is what made it necessary for us ask to speak to a chef in the first place.

Brenda also told us to ask for a chef upon arrival to insure our needs were met.

At any rate, you'll have a great trip with a little caution in place, you can never be too prepared!

**Anyone who has kids with food allergies:

How are you handling the 'that will make you sick so you can't have it'?

We are a family of 6 including Grandma and Ben has so many allergies it's not just a matter of the family avoiding the allergens.

He will be three on Nov 30th, so by now he knows that if I say, 'no it has eggs', that I mean no and there is no crying.

The older boys will not eat anything specific in front of him if he can't have it but in a buffet situation, the no word does come up at times.

 

[ekatiel]

We handle the whole "you can't have that issue" by doing a few things. Brendan is four, BTW, and is allergic to wheat, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, barley, rye, millet, flax, carrots, bananas and pineapples. We try to cook all dinners so that they are safe for Brendan. This means everyone eats rice pasta at dinner, etc (I am, in fact, about to chow down on a piece of rice pasta lasagna!). Sometimes, when it's easy to do, we just provide a safe substitute for Brendan, (ie-- when we have hamburgers, he can have his without a bun or he can have it on a rice bun-- we eat ours with wheat buns; or when we order pizza, we microwave him a few slices of rice crust pizza, etc). We try to always have a substitution for him that is safe if we eat something unsafe. So, usually, when he can't have something, we get to say, "You can't have that, but you can have this safe version of it." He is super excited about going to Disney World (grandpa already let the cat out of the bag), and you should have seen his face when we told him that the pizza man at Disney world has SAFE pizza for him! He was so excited. I can't wait 'till I see the smile on his face when he gets to have a bun with his hamburger at a restaurant, just like everyone else!

 

[sherabby]

That's a good point, especially if there are no foods available for that particular food establishment. Egg allergies are pretty easy to accomidate.

Ben has made 5 trips to the world since that first one at 9 months.

We have never had any problems with asking to speak to a chef and we have always been accommodated upon arrival.

We do not ask for specific food substitutes, such as a pasta substitute, as this would require a before visit call.

We ask the chef to work with that they have in stock. The food brought out is always a surprise for us.

There are no guarantees about any food cross contaminations - ever.

Brenda is very helpful, and you are correct, it is a good idea to notify the reservationist about food issues.

What we did find was that it wasn't noted on all of our reservations, apparently the reservationist only thought that Ben was eating at the first rest. , this is what made it necessary for us ask to speak to a chef in the first place.

Brenda also told us to ask for a chef upon arrival to insure our needs were met.

At any rate, you'll have a great trip with a little caution in place, you can never be too prepared!

**Anyone who has kids with food allergies:

How are you handling the 'that will make you sick so you can't have it'?

We are a family of 6 including Grandma and Ben has so many allergies it's not just a matter of the family avoiding the allergens.

He will be three on Nov 30th, so by now he knows that if I say, 'no it has eggs', that I mean no and there is no crying.

The older boys will not eat anything specific in front of him if he can't have it but in a buffet situation, the no word does come up at times.

Poor Ben. I sure hope he outgrow some of those allergies as he gets older! My son had multiple growing up and outgrew his egg and wheat allergies. All we are left with is peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, and milk.
It must be very hard to feed him. School lunches are the worse for us right now. He has to pack every single day and it gets old after a while.
Does Disney have desserts for Ben? Jonathan does those Divvies but during our last trip it seemed as if they were not as prepared and most places only had soy ice cream for him. Only at chef mickey'd did they have Divvies and WCC had those popscicles for him.

 

[Selket]

I just got back from WDW and was surprised to discover that I couldn't find the Divvies COOKIES in the MK bakery. The cashier told me she hadn't seen them in months! They had the Divvies popcorn and jellybeans.

We did discover that the Disney cruise ship now has Divvies but they are hard to dig out- they keep them frozen in some deep dark cavern or something. No Divvies there on our cruise last year.

I would be concerned about relying on the cookies if you are going soon. We were at the CR and and MK only and couldn't find them.

 

[sherabby]

I just got back from WDW and was surprised to discover that I couldn't find the Divvies COOKIES in the MK bakery. The cashier told me she hadn't seen them in months! They had the Divvies popcorn and jellybeans.

We did discover that the Disney cruise ship now has Divvies but they are hard to dig out- they keep them frozen in some deep dark cavern or something. No Divvies there on our cruise last year.

I would be concerned about relying on the cookies if you are going soon. We were at the CR and and MK only and couldn't find them.

When we went in July we couldn't find the jelly beans or the popcorn! Our resort POFQ had the brownies and the choc chip cookies!