Anyone ever had an allergic reaction after eating at a Disney restaurant?

[ClarabelleCowFan]

We have several food allergies in our family and since we live 15 minutes away from WDW, we eat on property quite often (usually once or twice a week at least) because of the amazing way that they handle food allergies.

Last week we ate at LTT and had some major issues. I truly believe that the chef and kitchen mixed up our allergens because all 3 of us had allergic reactions after eating there. I had to rush my youngest to First Aid after I double dosed him with Benadryl. I emailed Disney Guest Communications and am getting the run around - they have now passed on my "concern" to another department. For the record, all I asked for was a refund of our meal.

Just wondering if anyone else had issues like this with a food location on property. 99% of the chefs we encounter are absolutely wonderful. We know several by name and love going to eat where they are working. This was our first time at LTT and it will be our last.

 

[jmartinez1895]

last November my family ate at the Garden Grill in Epcot. It was noted on our reservation that my husband has a pork allergy. Our waitress told us that it did not matter because they do not have pork on the menu. I told her that some places cook with it and again she assured us that they have no pork in the kitchen. Against our better judgment we did not push to speak to the chef. Once we got our food an began to eat my husband started to not feel to well so I started to look at the food closer. The veggies that they served us had bits of pork in it.
I know that most of the staff tries very hard and we have never had a problem like that before, but mistakes do happen and our mistake was not demanding to speak to the chef. My husband got sick in the restaurant and the manager called EMS so we got prompt attention from upper management and in the end they made things as right as they could. I hope that they will do the same for you. For us we just wanted to make sure that they knew that someone had dropped the ball and that the same mistake did not happen twice ( which as I said we do take part of the blame)

 

[Random Ninja]

I've had several reactions in disney over the past year. (Not a local, but still closr enough for monthly trips.) I was given a diet coke at Marrakesh when I told them I was allergic to artifical sweeteners. I was shaking for hours after that one.

Most of my allergic reactions are due to my tapioca allergy. It's an airborne/inhalation/eating allergy. Unfortunately for me, nearly all french fries contain tapioca dextrin so I have to wear a face mask constantly. The mask doesn't block everything so I often have reactions when trying to eat or when stuck in an area where french are. I'll go into anaphylactic shock if I eat tapioca but I get "milder" symtoms including breathing dificulty, confusion, and blood pressure drops. I'm used to going around like this, but won't drive while still displaying symtoms. I've had great experiences with wonderfully helpful CMs. When made aware of my issues, they've found me out of the way seats, warned me when someone nearby has an allergen, and even let me order food ahead of time to minimize time in the restaurant. Babycakes even made a new category in their allergy binder allergen safe list to include foods that are safe for me.

 

[spiceycat]

when I say upfront have allergies to food - no - because they always go get a chef - when have not - generally do have problems.

now kept a list of my allergies when a food server refuses to get a chef - take out my list - and surprise they go get a chef.

some food servers think they know best.

with my allergies lots of time have gone off the menu to get me something that I can eat - for that you need the chef.

 

[jmartinez1895]

some food servers think they know best.

This is what got is trouble. From now on we will insist on seeing the chef.

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. The chef we had that night acted like we were a huge inconvenience. The server was wonderful and even shared several tips on local places to find more gluten-free and allergen-free foods besides the usual Whole Foods.

This isn't an issue to play with and I am just pretty upset at the way the chef blew us off and then the lack of response from Disney to even address the issue other than to pass us off to another office.

 

[mistysue]

I know I've read a dozen or so stories, it seems to happen everywhere if you are just the lucky person at the wrong time.

In my experience, nothing we have encountered has topped the chef we had for breakfast at Hollywood and vine. The one who said my soy allergic son should be ok with van's waffles because it's just a little soy flour. The same one who said the sausage would be ok... which after I ate I could tell it had soy and dairy (another of his allergens) The ONLY off menu item they were offering was van's waffles. My son is basically top-8 free and that was the only place we went on our trip who didn't have a waffle mix AND some pastries he could have.
We had fun anyways, but I was irritated to pay $16 for his breakfast where only bacon was safe. I am just glad his soy and dairy reactions aren't really bad.

We also had a handful of people give DS cookies with buckwheat flour... the big enjoy life ones, even though I came in and handed them a business card which had written in "LARGE ENJOY LIFE COOKIES CONTAIN BUCKWHEAT" right below listing his buckwheat allergy. I was just glad they got the rest of it right. Everybody makes mistakes but that was awkward every time. They were always so proud of themselves for having a safe cookie.

I might not go back soon, but I wouldn't completely write off LTT forever. That was one of the places we had a good experience at lunch time.

 

[Random Ninja]

I know I've read a dozen or so stories, it seems to happen everywhere if you are just the lucky person at the wrong time.

In my experience, nothing we have encountered has topped the chef we had for breakfast at Hollywood and vine. The one who said my soy allergic son should be ok with van's waffles because it's just a little soy flour. The same one who said the sausage would be ok... which after I ate I could tell it had soy and dairy (another of his allergens) The ONLY off menu item they were offering was van's waffles. My son is basically top-8 free and that was the only place we went on our trip who didn't have a waffle mix AND some pastries he could have.
We had fun anyways, but I was irritated to pay $16 for his breakfast where only bacon was safe. I am just glad his soy and dairy reactions aren't really bad.

We also had a handful of people give DS cookies with buckwheat flour... the big enjoy life ones, even though I came in and handed them a business card which had written in "LARGE ENJOY LIFE COOKIES CONTAIN BUCKWHEAT" right below listing his buckwheat allergy. I was just glad they got the rest of it right. Everybody makes mistakes but that was awkward every time. They were always so proud of themselves for having a safe cookie.

I might not go back soon, but I wouldn't completely write off LTT forever. That was one of the places we had a good experience at lunch time.

You may want to put down "crunchy enjoy life cookies" next time. I read LARGE and ran to their website thinking I had missed something. Personally, I think the cruncy cookies are still small, especially compaired to some of the ice cream cookies I see.

 

[clanmcculloch]

We've had a few bad experiences but when I consider how many meals we've had at WDW, I think we've got a pretty darned good track record.

After we ate at the Wave DD15 was throwing up all night. It was the only restaurant which served her chocolate milk in a glass rather than the single serving cartons of Silk (back when it was still Silk that they served). I asked the server to confirm it was soy milk and she said it was but milk is the food from her list which typically causes this reaction. It might have been some in the food since the chef really wasn't taking me seriously and I kept having to repeat foods to him since he wasn't writing them down (I've since started carrying cards that I hand to chefs but I didn't back then).

At Crystal Palace we got lucky that we didn't get sick. I had to correct the chef several times as we were reviewing foods. Things like lemon poached salmon is not safe for somebody with citrus allergies and deli meat sitting on top of cheese is not safe for somebody with milk allergies. There were others. Boy did he have me nervous. Luckily we didn't end up sick but we would have had we just listened to him.

Last August DD15 ended up with hives. I suspect it was a seasoning in the rice from the Tandoori station at AoA because a couple seasonings in there are new to her and the only other food that gives her this specific type of hive is yeast and there wasn't anything that could have had yeast. I can't in any way blame a chef for that when we don't even know what caused it. I'm definitely going to be cautious with star anise going forward since I think that was the only seasoning that was in it that she had never tried before. OMG I just did some research as I was typing this up and star snise does have a chemical component (Shikimic acid) that is also found in baker's and brewer's yeast. I'd better add that to her card. I bet it was that. Star anise is also a major component of Tamiflu. I never gave it to her before because she's allergic to eggs and it's not safe for those with egg allergies but I'll need to make sure she knows that even if they figure out a way to grow it in another medium that she probably should never get it anyway.

This most recent trip, I'm not sure if it was at WDW or on the way home but I got glutened some time that day (my symptoms when glutened have a 0.5 - 1.5 day delay so I can't be sure where I got hit but it was that day since symptoms began the next afternoon). I'm telling myself that it was on the airplane (I didn't eat at the airport) because I don't want to believe that it was at 'Ohana.

Misty_sue, I agree that you want to write crunch, not large since the crunchy ones really aren't very big and they're significantly smaller than the OMG cookies. I still suspect it'll be missed sometimes because it seems like some people just don't pay attention to the less common allergens even when they're written down but maybe it'll be recognized a bit more than it is now.

 

[crashbb]

You may want to put down "crunchy enjoy life cookies" next time. I read LARGE and ran to their website thinking I had missed something. Personally, I think the cruncy cookies are still small, especially compaired to some of the ice cream cookies I see.

I think that the LARGE might be on the wrong side of the quotes. I *think* the PP meant that wrote "ENJOY LIFE COOKIES CONTAIN BUCKWHEAT" in large print on the card.

 

[Random Ninja]

I think that the LARGE might be on the wrong side of the quotes. I *think* the PP meant that wrote "ENJOY LIFE COOKIES CONTAIN BUCKWHEAT" in large print on the card.

But the soft Enjoy Life cookies don't contain buckwheat. Only the crunchy ones do. That's what got me confused at first; I thought they might have started making a new cookie size.

 

[mistysue]

I did write large on the card- I hadn't thought about them being crunchy vs. not crunchy, that is a really good point.

I am just thinking we buy the little tiny ones and those are safe, the "big" ones that come in smaller individual serving bags and are crunchy are not. They really aren't that big, but thanks everybody for pointing out that they are crunchy. As far as I know no place had the little ones because they come in boxes of 12 and you wouldn't give each guest a whole box of those. (that would be pretty cool a couple times though!)

 

[clanmcculloch]

We had the option of the soft or crunchy Enjoy Life cookies at a lot of places. They're served in single serving two packs.

 

[Random Ninja]

I did write large on the card- I hadn't thought about them being crunchy vs. not crunchy, that is a really good point.

I am just thinking we buy the little tiny ones and those are safe, the "big" ones that come in smaller individual serving bags and are crunchy are not. They really aren't that big, but thanks everybody for pointing out that they are crunchy. As far as I know no place had the little ones because they come in boxes of 12 and you wouldn't give each guest a whole box of those. (that would be pretty cool a couple times though!)

They sell a "big" box of 12 crunchy cookies at sunshine seasons and the cookies are in 1 plastic container like the regular ones. I used to by them there until WF finally started carrying them. I don't think EL sells individual packs of the regular cookies, at least I've never seen them for sale like that. I agree, it would be cool to get a whole box of cookies for desert. There are several ts deserts that are more expensive then a box of cookies.

 

[daraweb]

Our only issue we have ever encountered was at LTT. My dd10 has celiac disease...so while she will get sick and have a very bad 3-4 days she will not die from eating gluten. That said, they really messed up at LTT.

They sent out her "allergy" plate of turkey etc all piled on top of a large helping of stuffing. They apologized (sort of)

 

[book_junkie]

I've had issues but dealt with them on my own- never thought about getting things comped. I have allergies to the capsian peppers (basically anything but black and white pepper), which can make things tricky...

One was during the Dining with an Imagineer at the Brown Derby- they were supposed to substitute a tomato relish for the pepper salsa on the steak but didn't. I made it through the experience fine, but was on benedryl and other meds the rest of the afternoon/evening.

One was at the Wolfgang Puck quick service at Downtown Disney- we asked about the pizza sauce and peppers and they said NO, everything's FINE... yet the pizza came out with peppers all over the top. Needless to say, it went back to the kitchen.

I've had some wonderful experiences, however... Boma was wonderful- every time we've gone the Chef has come out and walked us through what I could and could not eat on the buffet. And usually the signature experiences (California Grill, Artist's Pointe) have been extremely willing to work with me.

Glad your hubby was OK, OP-

 

[Random Ninja]

We had the option of the soft or crunchy Enjoy Life cookies at a lot of places. They're served in single serving two packs.

Where did you find the soft cookies? I've never seen them in individual packs.

 

[mistysue]

We had the option of the soft or crunchy Enjoy Life cookies at a lot of places. They're served in single serving two packs.

This would make my day- do you happen to know where they had them?
We encountered a lot of cookies DS couldn't have, the only safe cookies he had on our trip were from babycakes. I have only seen the ones with buckwheat.

They sell a "big" box of 12 crunchy cookies at sunshine seasons and the cookies are in 1 plastic container like the regular ones. I used to by them there until WF finally started carrying them. I don't think EL sells individual packs of the regular cookies, at least I've never seen them for sale like that. I agree, it would be cool to get a whole box of cookies for desert. There are several ts deserts that are more expensive then a box of cookies.

Are you sure the sunshine seasons were crunchy? (secretly hoping you aren't sure over here)
I checked on their website too see if I'm remembering correctly what the different ones look like and it looks like the crunchy all come in 14 packs or in "grab and go" packs. I think the "grab and go" are what the TS places give out. Maybe I thought the crunchy ones were so large because of how big they look on the box, I've never opened them. None of the soft ones list grab and go packs.

 

[Random Ninja]

Are you sure the sunshine seasons were crunchy? (secretly hoping you aren't sure over here)
I checked on their website too see if I'm remembering correctly what the different ones look like and it looks like the crunchy all come in 14 packs or in "grab and go" packs. I think the "grab and go" are what the TS places give out. Maybe I thought the crunchy ones were so large because of how big they look on the box, I've never opened them. None of the soft ones list grab and go packs.

Sorry, the boxes at SS are the crunchy ones. I remember because I couldn't find them in Whole Foods here until a month ago and was so happy to be saving a couple dollars off the disney price. There are 14 in a box, my niece usually eats a couple so I mentally count 12 for me. The cookies themselves aren't very big, maybe 4-5 inches across and very thin.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Last August at most CS locations we went to we had the option of the crunchy or soft cookies (we had the QSDP half the trip so we got desserts at a lot of places). This trip we didn't get many desserts because we were paying OOP and we had tons of cookies from the club lounge at our resort so I didn't see paying for the tiny packages in the parks. The managers all seemed to know about them and they were in the allergy books, at least last August. DD12 prefers the soft while DD15 prefers the crunchy so typically they each got different ones. Most TS this trip served the crunchy because they were doing things like ice cream sandwiches so I don't know if they had the soft or not.