Just got back yesterday from our trip, and I wanted to start with a huge THANK YOU to all of those who answered my questions over the last couple of months. We had a safe trip, and it was great to be able to eat out and eat well. Definitely worth the $10/day upgrade from QSDP to DDP!
A brief note, so that nothing is mistaken -- the whole allergy "thing" is a bit overwhelming if I stop and let myself think about it, so I tend to poke fun at it and use self-depricating humor and sarcasm. If something seems insensitive or like I'm not taking something seriously, don't misunderstand... I am aware that this is all VERY serious. It's also a bit of a drag, so we try to keep things as chill as possible and poke fun where we can.
For starters -- our allergies. We are a barrel of laughs in the food department, let me tell you. All three of us have restrictions, although mine are partially self-inflincted (vegetarian) and less severe than my friends'. I have their permission to post their allergy lists but told them I would use their initials.
I am "the easy one," vegetarian with an intolerance or allergy to mushrooms and mangoes. Mangoes are a known topical allergy (ie make my hands itch if I use a lotion with the extract) and mushrooms cause gastro issues, but I play it safe and avoid them entirely. I am ovo-lacto so it's really just the mushrooms that cause problems, since many veg meals are mushroom-based.
L has had allergies her entire life and is very well-versed in handling them; she has a multitude of allergies but we only alerted the chefs to "the ones that will kill [her]," as she told them many times. She also has problems with things like dairy, but they will not cause anaphylaxis for her so she was just wise with her ordering choices.
N has a latex allergy which begun crossing over into food in May and became serious on our trip in early July. This ends up making life interesting, because we have to deal with her allergies on two sides... and it's very new. Because we're good friends, roommates, and I was with her when things started acting up in July, I've done a lot of the research on this allergy with her and end up being the right-hand person when she has a problem. As we understand it, essentially what goes on is that she is allergic to one (or more) of the proteins that make up latex, and similar proteins in other foods mimic the latex proteins. Ergo, her body reacts to these other foods as if they were latex, not because she is actually allergic to the food.
Part B of this is that when she begun reacting strongly, we found a number of different potential cross-reactive lists, which I compiled together into a huge document. She has been slowly weeding out what is and is not okay for her to eat, but there's still a huge zone of "unknown." So, she's avoiding a lot of foods that are not necessarily known allergy foods at the moment, to be on the safe side. One call to the Reedy Creek Paramedics was enough, lol. (That was in July, not this trip, no worries.)
I'm going to cover the latex part first, then move onto the food report for all of us. There are a few latex reports out there but I wanted to share our experiences in case someone does a search.
In the parks, beware of the balloons! They are "all mylar," which is fine and dandy, except... they're not. The omnipresent mickey head balloons are a standard balloon inside a mylar balloon, and they stick out at the bottom. Like this:
And then they kindly did this to decorate for the 40th, at the TTC:
Yep, that was awesome. N just held her breath and we moved as quickly as we could through and out of the zone.
The restaurants have their own set of precautions, so read below if you need more info on those.
Also, beware of random "stuff" in the gift shops. I walked into the door of one shop at AK, stopped cold, and walked right back out the door. Then I alerted N and sent her away and went back to take a picture, ha.
We had read a report somewhere to stay away from Test Track (which we'd previously done without incident) and Lights, Motor, Action, which we did. However, we were not proactive enough to think about avoiding the Backlot Tour *during* LMA, and there were absolutely some burning tire fumes that entered our tour vehicle, quite strongly. Thankfully N didn't have a reaction, or at least nothing major, but it's something to think about avoiding.
Also, we had a bit of worry the day it rained, as we had read that the ponchos, sold everywhere, have latex in them. Again no reaction, but the fumes coming off of a sea of them weren't pleasant.
Lastly, some of the ride restraints made us nervous. The grips on the TSM wheel and the lapbar at BTMRR are the two I can think of off the top of my head, but not the only ones that there are. I don't know whether those things are latex or not, but anything with that rubbery appearance/feel makes us nervous. It's worth being aware of, at a minimum.
Switching gears, back to the food allergies. On the suggestion of some posters here, I made up allergy cards for us. Of course the printer was down, so I ended up hand-writing a dozen on the plane; we came home with extras but that was okay. Most of the chefs indicated that the cards were very helpful to them. This is what they looked like:
The back was blank, so they could notate stuff on it if it helped; I let each chef know up front that the card was theirs to mark on, take into the kitchen, etc. With so MANY allergies, I think it made life easier on them.
We also started out each meal by apologizing to the server for being so high-maintenance; we are really low-maintenance girls and are the type who wouldn't cause a fuss if it wasn't a necessity. However (we often joke,) breathing is good and therefore we are high maintenance. I feel like the attitude that we bring into things has helped our interactions with our servers and with our chefs, along with being prepared, being flexible, and clarifying our limitations as much as possible.
It's on the card, but for search engine and readability purposes, I'll write them out here again. All three of us have multiple allergies, most unusual (although L's are largely top 8) and all different. "Are you all sisters?" No, we're just friends, and the irony is that we were friends before we shared this lovely little bond, lol.
Carrie: veg with allergy to mushrooms and mangoes
L: Fresh fish, seafood, peanuts, tree nuts, strawberries, avacado, strawberries; soy and egg in large quantities (ie, soy lecithin is ok, tofu is not; egg baked in a cake is ok, egg-based foods are not.)
N: Latex allergy, cross-reacting with kiwi, avacado, banana, apple, melons, castor bean (PGPR, emulsifier), tomatoes, walnuts/tree nuts, uncooked mushrooms.
Before we even get to the food stuff, we have to handle the latex issues in the kitchen. Like with the balloons, which are "safe" but not really, Disney's kitchen's are "safe." There is no latex utilized in the food prep. However, they DO use latex in handling the dishware, particularly the silverware but also the plates. Usually the glasses were okay, because they were racked and not handled by the latex. N's place settings would get pulled off the table at the start of the meal, and before we ate the chef would handwash a set of silverware (or two, so that she had a spare in case something fell on the floor or whatever) and her plates.
The chefs report that the latex allergy was pretty uncommon -- a couple mentioned numbers in the single digits. They were all able to come up with a protocol to handle it, but it was helpful to be able to say, later in the week as we got more practiced, this is what the situation is and this is how others have handled it. It saved legwork and double-checking, particularly when it came to chefs who weren't sure what kind of gloves they had. (We could say, "It's usually xyz, if so this is the easiest way to handle it, and let us know if something is different," rather than them making several trips to the kitchen for info in the midst of making a plan.)
So... Saturday, arrival day, we ate at Chef Mickey's. This was the meal that I was the most concerned about, due to the buffet. We had an early seating (I think it was 4:20 and the restaurant opened at 4,) and I think that made things much better. The chef walked the line with us, and we were comfortable enough that it hadn't been cross-contaminated that we ate straight off of the buffet. If we'd been seated later, we probably would have had him fetch a few things from the back... items that we felt were more likely to have neighboring things flung onto them. It took a while for the chef to offer to bring things (near the end of our walk/time,) but he did mention that he'd be happy to do it, which I was glad to hear.
Sunday we went to Sci-Fi. We had some friends with us, and I ended up in the back of the car alone, catching up on work stuff nonetheless. I was pretty cut off from the girls -- they were in the way front -- as well as distracted, but L said she had a burger & fries, and the meal went well. I think N had the shrimp pasta, and I had the same, minus the shrimp. L had a sundae and N and I took shakes to go (although N gave her shake to her godson so it may or may not have been safe.)
The girls ate at Casey's that night (I had the Lighthouse from Columbia Harbor House, no modification needed,) and it went okay. L was aggravated because she asked for the Chicago dog without relish, and they wouldn't modify it for her -- she didn't feel like doing the whole "call the chef/allergy book" thing so she just got a plain dog. N DID do the allergy book thing (I have no idea why they didn't do it together, I wasn't there
) and got what she wanted, including fresh toppings from the back without risk of x-contamination.
Monday we went to 50's Prime Time, and our chef was GREAT. L had a salad, N fried chicken, and I ended up with a custom-made pasta dish as both their veg dish and substitute veg dish were mushroom-based. Desserts were an apple cobbler with ice cream for L, PB&J shake for me... both were great. N got the Boston Cream parfait, but she didn't end up eating most of it, since she thought she might be having difficulty due to the chocolate. (It tasted like it might have been cross-contaminated with nuts, like it was almondy or something... the chefs told her it may not be safe, but tree nuts for her are more of a precaution than anything, so she opts to avoid them and was not worried about cross-contamination. The PGPR is also a possible culprit.)
Tuesday was Le Cellier #1. Because we set up our reservations so close to the trip, I was having difficulty finding places we wanted to eat at. I asked N where she'd like to eat multiple times, and of course her answers were the hardest-to-get reservations! But we did end up with two LCs, which worked out well as our chef here was PHENOMINAL. He set us completely at ease, and seemed to have a similar attitude as we did, as each time he checked on us he'd come poke his head around the corner and jokingly count... "1, 2, 3... oh good you're all still here!" L did the soup and a salad (although I'm not sure she actually ate the salad, she was so full from the soup,) N did the mushroom filet and I had the tomato stack (OOP.) We also let our chef know we'd be back later in the week and I inquired about getting a veg version of the cheese soup. He was kindly happy to oblige and we got it set up. L ended up not being able to eat any desserts off the menu, so she had berries for dessert (she said they were really good,) and N and I had the creme brulee.
Wednesday was a night where I was out of restaurants we wanted to eat at, and so I plugged a time into the search engine and whittled down from what was left. The winner was Grand Floridian Cafe, which looked like it would have stuff that the girls could safely eat. Not until the night before, when I pulled the menu up for them to look at, did I realize that there was not a vegetarian dish on the menu. No problem, as they did a feast of small plates that was sooo good! I was mad that I wasn't hungrier. N had the pork chop and L had chicken and mushroom risotto; all went well. Desserts (we did Key Lime and Boston Cream) are *tiny* for the prices they charge! L had the chocolate fondue, which they were happy to make without strawberries or strawberry cross-contamination, and she said it was good.
Thursday was back at LC; soup again for L, soup for me and N got a simplified version of the chicken crepe. I got the moose to go, which was still good even after melting and being thrown *up* the stairs at TSM (I tripped, ha!)
Friday I booked two TSes; this proved to me that we are not DxDDP people! We were still stuffed from lunch at our (very late) dinner, which worked okay in the end. We did Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch. I had a house-made veggie burger, which is vegan (and mushroom-free!), except that I had them add cheese, lol. The sweet potato fries were excellent. L had pot roast and said it was good. N had the pasta, no tomatoes. I know both girls had the chocolate cake for dessert, and I had the toffee cake -- which had nuts cross-contamination so they couldn't have it. On the up side, the cake was made there and the chocolate was cocoa powder added, so there was no concern about the PGPR issue. There was kind of an odd dynamic at this meal; usually the server brings out the chef and notes our order, but we hardly saw her this meal. She wasn't there when we placed our orders nor did she bring them out. Overall, service wasn't at all lacking, but it was just kind of unusual to realize we'd barely seen the server. I think it was an odd kind of fluke thing.
'Ohana was our rough meal. We ate here in July, no problems, but not so much luck this time around. There was a significant delay in getting the chef to our table (he had had to run downstairs to Captain Cook's for an allergy issue of some sort,) and when he finally appeared, he seemed... annoyed at best by our allergies. I tried to give him our allergy card (since it had been so well-recieved elsewhere) and he flat-out refused it, telling me, "This doesn't help me." Apparently he wanted the allergies dictated to him, I guess. As L went down here list, when she mentioned soy, to which he replied, "You do know that this is a Polynesian restaurant, right?" Her reply (to be fair) was a bit snappy as she informed him that she didn't pick the restaurant. She then tried to explain what "soy in large quantities" meant -- ie, she could have lecithin and similar but not soy sauce or tofu -- but was literally cut off as he said, "I'm familiar with the allergy."
We continued in kind, and I have to say that I'm not sure I've EVER felt so belittled at Disney as I did in that conversation. The chef decided there were a few modifications he could make to feed us safely, rattled things off so quickly we weren't sure what we would be presented with -- or what was safe for who -- and left the table. We did gather that the salad was okay, and that they would make potstickers and wings plain (without sauce) which should be safe. At this point, we were kind of looking at each other, very uncomfortable and not feeling terribly reassured that we would eat safely at the restaurant.
So, salad, potstickers and wings were placed on the table, and L and I grabbed some salad and she started munching on a potsticker. We asked each other if these were safe items, but since he had specifically said he could make them safe, we just kind of shrugged and stuck with what we felt comfortable with. Chef walked back out a couple of minutes later and was extremely displeased to find the wings and potstickers... which apparently were NOT the safe ones that were supposed to be prepared for us. Thankfully, L hadn't eaten any of the wings and N hadn't gotten to anything yet. He removed the plate and the incident seemed to change his mood -- he became more pleasant and seemed to take things much more seriously at this point.
We munched on a bit of dinner, but between still being full from lunch and being a bit shaken we didn't eat terribly much -- although the girls did pick at the meat, since it had been specially prepared for them. They said it didn't taste terribly good, presumably because it was cooked separately and probably not as it was designed to be cooked, but they were certainly appreciative of the trouble that had been gone to. The bread pudding was awesome, as always.
Our server for this meal was phenominal; bless his heart, I think he was extra attentive as he could tell that we were ill at ease. He kept saying we were "the easy table," I guess because he didn't have to bring anything out, refill stuff, meats, etc. He was also interested in the allergy situation and took time to understand it -- I can't tell you how awesome he was and it was obvious he was trying to smooth things over.
As awesome as our experience in July was, I think the long and the short of the situation is that if you have soy-allergic folks in your party, it is probably best to avoid 'Ohana. Apparently that's a difficult allergy to work around there.
Our 'Ohana experience safely behind us, Saturday we headed to the MK for the nuthouse that was the 40th anniversary celebration. We ate a late lunch at the Plaza, which -- despite its simplicity, or perhaps because of it -- is one of my favorite places to eat at WDW. They give you an allergy book as they seat you, which is very helpful. We had the same chef here that we had in July, and he is WONDERFUL. Takes the time to let you know he's listening to your concerns, being careful, and exactly what precautions will be taken to keep things safe. (Example, with L's strawberry allergy, cross-contamination amongst ice cream is a huge concern, and he let us know exactly how he would ensure that didn't happen.) He repeated the entire order back multiple times to make sure it exactly correct, and let us know that everything would be taken from a fresh, new container. His attitude was essentially, "Anything you want, I'll make it happen!" and he made sure that we were well-fed and happy campers, including getting N an individual bottle of milk instead of a glass, as requested.
I plan to email Disney with kudos, and our chefs from LC and the Plaza will be mentioned by name!
L ordered off the menu here; she had a turkey sandwich I think. I had the veg sandwich off the menu (I actually didn't even mention my issues, since I knew it was completely safe,) and N had a burger, no tomatoes. Sundaes for dessert and we were good to go!
In short, I have to say that there are no words to describe the awesomeness of the special diets protocol at WDW. It is difficult if not impossible for us to eat out in the "real world" -- last time we tried, we sent N's meal back twice and she finally ended up leaving without dinner and eating later at home. The ability to feel safe and comfortable is invaluable to us.
We ate the vast majority of our CSes in the food court at Pop; most of these were breakfasts where we knew what a safe option was so we just ordered through the lines. I did have them call a chef to see if there were mushrooms in the veg burger at one point, but he just answered the question (after checking in the back) and then disappeared again. We somehow managed to avoid the whole "allergy book" venture almost the entire time -- a huge change from planning on going QSDP and expecting to need it every.single.meal! (Although I am very grateful for the procedures that are in place, it drives me a bit batty and I prefer to avoid it when possible.)
I know this is reallllly long, but I hope it's hopeful to others as their reports have been to me. All of the preparation made the scariness of travel not so scary. Any questions about anything, I'd be happy to answer them.
A brief note, so that nothing is mistaken -- the whole allergy "thing" is a bit overwhelming if I stop and let myself think about it, so I tend to poke fun at it and use self-depricating humor and sarcasm. If something seems insensitive or like I'm not taking something seriously, don't misunderstand... I am aware that this is all VERY serious. It's also a bit of a drag, so we try to keep things as chill as possible and poke fun where we can.
For starters -- our allergies. We are a barrel of laughs in the food department, let me tell you. All three of us have restrictions, although mine are partially self-inflincted (vegetarian) and less severe than my friends'. I have their permission to post their allergy lists but told them I would use their initials.
I am "the easy one," vegetarian with an intolerance or allergy to mushrooms and mangoes. Mangoes are a known topical allergy (ie make my hands itch if I use a lotion with the extract) and mushrooms cause gastro issues, but I play it safe and avoid them entirely. I am ovo-lacto so it's really just the mushrooms that cause problems, since many veg meals are mushroom-based.
L has had allergies her entire life and is very well-versed in handling them; she has a multitude of allergies but we only alerted the chefs to "the ones that will kill [her]," as she told them many times. She also has problems with things like dairy, but they will not cause anaphylaxis for her so she was just wise with her ordering choices.
N has a latex allergy which begun crossing over into food in May and became serious on our trip in early July. This ends up making life interesting, because we have to deal with her allergies on two sides... and it's very new. Because we're good friends, roommates, and I was with her when things started acting up in July, I've done a lot of the research on this allergy with her and end up being the right-hand person when she has a problem. As we understand it, essentially what goes on is that she is allergic to one (or more) of the proteins that make up latex, and similar proteins in other foods mimic the latex proteins. Ergo, her body reacts to these other foods as if they were latex, not because she is actually allergic to the food.
Part B of this is that when she begun reacting strongly, we found a number of different potential cross-reactive lists, which I compiled together into a huge document. She has been slowly weeding out what is and is not okay for her to eat, but there's still a huge zone of "unknown." So, she's avoiding a lot of foods that are not necessarily known allergy foods at the moment, to be on the safe side. One call to the Reedy Creek Paramedics was enough, lol. (That was in July, not this trip, no worries.)
I'm going to cover the latex part first, then move onto the food report for all of us. There are a few latex reports out there but I wanted to share our experiences in case someone does a search.
In the parks, beware of the balloons! They are "all mylar," which is fine and dandy, except... they're not. The omnipresent mickey head balloons are a standard balloon inside a mylar balloon, and they stick out at the bottom. Like this:
And then they kindly did this to decorate for the 40th, at the TTC:
Yep, that was awesome. N just held her breath and we moved as quickly as we could through and out of the zone.
The restaurants have their own set of precautions, so read below if you need more info on those.
Also, beware of random "stuff" in the gift shops. I walked into the door of one shop at AK, stopped cold, and walked right back out the door. Then I alerted N and sent her away and went back to take a picture, ha.
We had read a report somewhere to stay away from Test Track (which we'd previously done without incident) and Lights, Motor, Action, which we did. However, we were not proactive enough to think about avoiding the Backlot Tour *during* LMA, and there were absolutely some burning tire fumes that entered our tour vehicle, quite strongly. Thankfully N didn't have a reaction, or at least nothing major, but it's something to think about avoiding.
Also, we had a bit of worry the day it rained, as we had read that the ponchos, sold everywhere, have latex in them. Again no reaction, but the fumes coming off of a sea of them weren't pleasant.
Lastly, some of the ride restraints made us nervous. The grips on the TSM wheel and the lapbar at BTMRR are the two I can think of off the top of my head, but not the only ones that there are. I don't know whether those things are latex or not, but anything with that rubbery appearance/feel makes us nervous. It's worth being aware of, at a minimum.
Switching gears, back to the food allergies. On the suggestion of some posters here, I made up allergy cards for us. Of course the printer was down, so I ended up hand-writing a dozen on the plane; we came home with extras but that was okay. Most of the chefs indicated that the cards were very helpful to them. This is what they looked like:
The back was blank, so they could notate stuff on it if it helped; I let each chef know up front that the card was theirs to mark on, take into the kitchen, etc. With so MANY allergies, I think it made life easier on them.
We also started out each meal by apologizing to the server for being so high-maintenance; we are really low-maintenance girls and are the type who wouldn't cause a fuss if it wasn't a necessity. However (we often joke,) breathing is good and therefore we are high maintenance. I feel like the attitude that we bring into things has helped our interactions with our servers and with our chefs, along with being prepared, being flexible, and clarifying our limitations as much as possible.
It's on the card, but for search engine and readability purposes, I'll write them out here again. All three of us have multiple allergies, most unusual (although L's are largely top 8) and all different. "Are you all sisters?" No, we're just friends, and the irony is that we were friends before we shared this lovely little bond, lol.
Carrie: veg with allergy to mushrooms and mangoes
L: Fresh fish, seafood, peanuts, tree nuts, strawberries, avacado, strawberries; soy and egg in large quantities (ie, soy lecithin is ok, tofu is not; egg baked in a cake is ok, egg-based foods are not.)
N: Latex allergy, cross-reacting with kiwi, avacado, banana, apple, melons, castor bean (PGPR, emulsifier), tomatoes, walnuts/tree nuts, uncooked mushrooms.
Before we even get to the food stuff, we have to handle the latex issues in the kitchen. Like with the balloons, which are "safe" but not really, Disney's kitchen's are "safe." There is no latex utilized in the food prep. However, they DO use latex in handling the dishware, particularly the silverware but also the plates. Usually the glasses were okay, because they were racked and not handled by the latex. N's place settings would get pulled off the table at the start of the meal, and before we ate the chef would handwash a set of silverware (or two, so that she had a spare in case something fell on the floor or whatever) and her plates.
The chefs report that the latex allergy was pretty uncommon -- a couple mentioned numbers in the single digits. They were all able to come up with a protocol to handle it, but it was helpful to be able to say, later in the week as we got more practiced, this is what the situation is and this is how others have handled it. It saved legwork and double-checking, particularly when it came to chefs who weren't sure what kind of gloves they had. (We could say, "It's usually xyz, if so this is the easiest way to handle it, and let us know if something is different," rather than them making several trips to the kitchen for info in the midst of making a plan.)
So... Saturday, arrival day, we ate at Chef Mickey's. This was the meal that I was the most concerned about, due to the buffet. We had an early seating (I think it was 4:20 and the restaurant opened at 4,) and I think that made things much better. The chef walked the line with us, and we were comfortable enough that it hadn't been cross-contaminated that we ate straight off of the buffet. If we'd been seated later, we probably would have had him fetch a few things from the back... items that we felt were more likely to have neighboring things flung onto them. It took a while for the chef to offer to bring things (near the end of our walk/time,) but he did mention that he'd be happy to do it, which I was glad to hear.
Sunday we went to Sci-Fi. We had some friends with us, and I ended up in the back of the car alone, catching up on work stuff nonetheless. I was pretty cut off from the girls -- they were in the way front -- as well as distracted, but L said she had a burger & fries, and the meal went well. I think N had the shrimp pasta, and I had the same, minus the shrimp. L had a sundae and N and I took shakes to go (although N gave her shake to her godson so it may or may not have been safe.)
The girls ate at Casey's that night (I had the Lighthouse from Columbia Harbor House, no modification needed,) and it went okay. L was aggravated because she asked for the Chicago dog without relish, and they wouldn't modify it for her -- she didn't feel like doing the whole "call the chef/allergy book" thing so she just got a plain dog. N DID do the allergy book thing (I have no idea why they didn't do it together, I wasn't there
) and got what she wanted, including fresh toppings from the back without risk of x-contamination.Monday we went to 50's Prime Time, and our chef was GREAT. L had a salad, N fried chicken, and I ended up with a custom-made pasta dish as both their veg dish and substitute veg dish were mushroom-based. Desserts were an apple cobbler with ice cream for L, PB&J shake for me... both were great. N got the Boston Cream parfait, but she didn't end up eating most of it, since she thought she might be having difficulty due to the chocolate. (It tasted like it might have been cross-contaminated with nuts, like it was almondy or something... the chefs told her it may not be safe, but tree nuts for her are more of a precaution than anything, so she opts to avoid them and was not worried about cross-contamination. The PGPR is also a possible culprit.)
Tuesday was Le Cellier #1. Because we set up our reservations so close to the trip, I was having difficulty finding places we wanted to eat at. I asked N where she'd like to eat multiple times, and of course her answers were the hardest-to-get reservations! But we did end up with two LCs, which worked out well as our chef here was PHENOMINAL. He set us completely at ease, and seemed to have a similar attitude as we did, as each time he checked on us he'd come poke his head around the corner and jokingly count... "1, 2, 3... oh good you're all still here!" L did the soup and a salad (although I'm not sure she actually ate the salad, she was so full from the soup,) N did the mushroom filet and I had the tomato stack (OOP.) We also let our chef know we'd be back later in the week and I inquired about getting a veg version of the cheese soup. He was kindly happy to oblige and we got it set up. L ended up not being able to eat any desserts off the menu, so she had berries for dessert (she said they were really good,) and N and I had the creme brulee.
Wednesday was a night where I was out of restaurants we wanted to eat at, and so I plugged a time into the search engine and whittled down from what was left. The winner was Grand Floridian Cafe, which looked like it would have stuff that the girls could safely eat. Not until the night before, when I pulled the menu up for them to look at, did I realize that there was not a vegetarian dish on the menu. No problem, as they did a feast of small plates that was sooo good! I was mad that I wasn't hungrier. N had the pork chop and L had chicken and mushroom risotto; all went well. Desserts (we did Key Lime and Boston Cream) are *tiny* for the prices they charge! L had the chocolate fondue, which they were happy to make without strawberries or strawberry cross-contamination, and she said it was good.
Thursday was back at LC; soup again for L, soup for me and N got a simplified version of the chicken crepe. I got the moose to go, which was still good even after melting and being thrown *up* the stairs at TSM (I tripped, ha!)
Friday I booked two TSes; this proved to me that we are not DxDDP people! We were still stuffed from lunch at our (very late) dinner, which worked okay in the end. We did Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch. I had a house-made veggie burger, which is vegan (and mushroom-free!), except that I had them add cheese, lol. The sweet potato fries were excellent. L had pot roast and said it was good. N had the pasta, no tomatoes. I know both girls had the chocolate cake for dessert, and I had the toffee cake -- which had nuts cross-contamination so they couldn't have it. On the up side, the cake was made there and the chocolate was cocoa powder added, so there was no concern about the PGPR issue. There was kind of an odd dynamic at this meal; usually the server brings out the chef and notes our order, but we hardly saw her this meal. She wasn't there when we placed our orders nor did she bring them out. Overall, service wasn't at all lacking, but it was just kind of unusual to realize we'd barely seen the server. I think it was an odd kind of fluke thing.
'Ohana was our rough meal. We ate here in July, no problems, but not so much luck this time around. There was a significant delay in getting the chef to our table (he had had to run downstairs to Captain Cook's for an allergy issue of some sort,) and when he finally appeared, he seemed... annoyed at best by our allergies. I tried to give him our allergy card (since it had been so well-recieved elsewhere) and he flat-out refused it, telling me, "This doesn't help me." Apparently he wanted the allergies dictated to him, I guess. As L went down here list, when she mentioned soy, to which he replied, "You do know that this is a Polynesian restaurant, right?" Her reply (to be fair) was a bit snappy as she informed him that she didn't pick the restaurant. She then tried to explain what "soy in large quantities" meant -- ie, she could have lecithin and similar but not soy sauce or tofu -- but was literally cut off as he said, "I'm familiar with the allergy."
We continued in kind, and I have to say that I'm not sure I've EVER felt so belittled at Disney as I did in that conversation. The chef decided there were a few modifications he could make to feed us safely, rattled things off so quickly we weren't sure what we would be presented with -- or what was safe for who -- and left the table. We did gather that the salad was okay, and that they would make potstickers and wings plain (without sauce) which should be safe. At this point, we were kind of looking at each other, very uncomfortable and not feeling terribly reassured that we would eat safely at the restaurant.
So, salad, potstickers and wings were placed on the table, and L and I grabbed some salad and she started munching on a potsticker. We asked each other if these were safe items, but since he had specifically said he could make them safe, we just kind of shrugged and stuck with what we felt comfortable with. Chef walked back out a couple of minutes later and was extremely displeased to find the wings and potstickers... which apparently were NOT the safe ones that were supposed to be prepared for us. Thankfully, L hadn't eaten any of the wings and N hadn't gotten to anything yet. He removed the plate and the incident seemed to change his mood -- he became more pleasant and seemed to take things much more seriously at this point.
We munched on a bit of dinner, but between still being full from lunch and being a bit shaken we didn't eat terribly much -- although the girls did pick at the meat, since it had been specially prepared for them. They said it didn't taste terribly good, presumably because it was cooked separately and probably not as it was designed to be cooked, but they were certainly appreciative of the trouble that had been gone to. The bread pudding was awesome, as always.
Our server for this meal was phenominal; bless his heart, I think he was extra attentive as he could tell that we were ill at ease. He kept saying we were "the easy table," I guess because he didn't have to bring anything out, refill stuff, meats, etc. He was also interested in the allergy situation and took time to understand it -- I can't tell you how awesome he was and it was obvious he was trying to smooth things over.
As awesome as our experience in July was, I think the long and the short of the situation is that if you have soy-allergic folks in your party, it is probably best to avoid 'Ohana. Apparently that's a difficult allergy to work around there.
Our 'Ohana experience safely behind us, Saturday we headed to the MK for the nuthouse that was the 40th anniversary celebration. We ate a late lunch at the Plaza, which -- despite its simplicity, or perhaps because of it -- is one of my favorite places to eat at WDW. They give you an allergy book as they seat you, which is very helpful. We had the same chef here that we had in July, and he is WONDERFUL. Takes the time to let you know he's listening to your concerns, being careful, and exactly what precautions will be taken to keep things safe. (Example, with L's strawberry allergy, cross-contamination amongst ice cream is a huge concern, and he let us know exactly how he would ensure that didn't happen.) He repeated the entire order back multiple times to make sure it exactly correct, and let us know that everything would be taken from a fresh, new container. His attitude was essentially, "Anything you want, I'll make it happen!" and he made sure that we were well-fed and happy campers, including getting N an individual bottle of milk instead of a glass, as requested.
I plan to email Disney with kudos, and our chefs from LC and the Plaza will be mentioned by name!
L ordered off the menu here; she had a turkey sandwich I think. I had the veg sandwich off the menu (I actually didn't even mention my issues, since I knew it was completely safe,) and N had a burger, no tomatoes. Sundaes for dessert and we were good to go!
In short, I have to say that there are no words to describe the awesomeness of the special diets protocol at WDW. It is difficult if not impossible for us to eat out in the "real world" -- last time we tried, we sent N's meal back twice and she finally ended up leaving without dinner and eating later at home. The ability to feel safe and comfortable is invaluable to us.
We ate the vast majority of our CSes in the food court at Pop; most of these were breakfasts where we knew what a safe option was so we just ordered through the lines. I did have them call a chef to see if there were mushrooms in the veg burger at one point, but he just answered the question (after checking in the back) and then disappeared again. We somehow managed to avoid the whole "allergy book" venture almost the entire time -- a huge change from planning on going QSDP and expecting to need it every.single.meal! (Although I am very grateful for the procedures that are in place, it drives me a bit batty and I prefer to avoid it when possible.)
I know this is reallllly long, but I hope it's hopeful to others as their reports have been to me. All of the preparation made the scariness of travel not so scary. Any questions about anything, I'd be happy to answer them.
