Autism and Food in Disney

[maroo]

I am hoping you guys can help me!

This is my first time planning a trip for someone with food issues.

I am planning a trip for a family and they have a son with severe autism (non-verbal). He only eats certain foods. He will eat cheese pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches, and bryan (it has to be Bryan and they have to be red) hotdogs.

I think there are a few more things on the list, but I can't think of them for now.

I guess I am wondering...I know that there are lots of places where they will be eating at buffets and I would guess they would have something he could eat. But if they didn't have any of the above foods - would a Disney chef make them something? Like a plain grilled cheese sandwhich? Or a cheese pizza?

I think most counter service places have pizza on the menu for kids, right?
He is 13, so is he allowed to order from the kids menu? They will be on the Dining Plan (regular).

Any help you can give me would be much appreciated.

This family is very sweet. They lost EVERYTHING in a tornado in May and really need this trip. Our church is sending them to Disney! They have never been and the autistic child is completely obsessed with Mickey!

 

[ElizabethG]

That is really tough! My son is ASD. He doesn't have food issues, but I have friends whose children are severely self limiting. It may help to look at the menus to choose restaurants. They have them on AllEars:
http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm

Buffets are good. A lot of time they will have the cheese pizza in the "children's buffet", but at buffets everyone is welcome to it. Disney is pretty accomodating. If there is nothing there for him, I would definitely ask.

 

[SAGE]

This is a topic near & dear to my heart!
My DS is very picky and will only eat hamburgers or chicken strips and soft serve ice cream while at WDW.
He is a peanut butter lover (but only the kind from home)
Peanut butter & toast, crackers - I do pack some in our luggage.

The previous poster put a link for the menus at the parks and resorts. That is the best idea - to preview the restaurants the family is interested in eating at.
A few years ago, I made up a card with the TS + CS that served items DS would eat. Buffets didn't work very well for us. DS loved the characters but he rarely found enough items to eat. Once we went to the Crystal Palace for breakfast - I paid OOP & thought it was very good. DS only had 2 bananas (he is charged for an adult)

The last few trips I have ordered some items through garden grocer and DS has at least one meal in our room. I love the DVC studios!!! Each comes with a toaster.
I'm sure the family will have a wonderful time and it is worth the effort to pre plan for meals.

 

[Minnie Mommy Mouse]

When we first went to Disney, my son was on a restricted allergy diet. Disney is the best place in the WORLD IMHO at accomodating special dining needs. Have the family look at restraunt options. Many do have cheese pizza. I would highly recommend making reservations so there is limited wait time. Another advatage is that mom or dad (whoever makes the reservations) can inform the CM taking the reservation about the special dietary needs. The CM will place a note for the chef, and the chef will contact the parents with 48 hours of the reservation to confirm what the needs are. When the family is seated for dinner, the chef will greet them and prepare a special meal for the child according to his or her needs! They are always gracious and happy to do this at WDW.

Also, I would highly recommend character dining for this family. Chef Mickey's is a wonderful place to meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto in Chef (and waitress) attire. I would also recommend Tusker House at Animal Kingdom to meet Safari Mickey, Daisy, Donald, Goofy, and maybe Minnie. Chaaracter dining works out well for children who love Mickey, but not the lines to meet him

Blessings!

 

[Minnie Mommy Mouse]

Oh! At Hollywood Studios they have Pizza Planet (from Toy Story) which my kids love, at Animal Kingdom there is Pizzafari, and all the food courts at the resorts we stayed at (All Stars, Caribbean Beach, and Pop Century) have pizza counters and room service pizza. All of those should be on the dining plan. Tony's on Main Street is Lady and the Tramp themed and is a fun sit down place for Magic Kingdom, and Pinocchio Village Haus has counter service pizza (in Fantasyland). If you need any more ideas, please let me know!

 

[hildarumpole]

At age 13 yrs., he's considered an adult for the dining plan, and it will be expected he'll order off adult menus. CS credits are interchangeable between kids and adults, so ordering off a kids menu isn't that big a deal. The best thing to do is to contact specialdiets@disneyworld.com. Let them know of the dietary limitations and that the family is on the dining plan and the child is 13 yrs. old. They'll email you a form to fill out with personal info and ADRs. Buffets and TS restaurants may not all have grilled cheese or cheese pizza on the menu, but if they know in advance, they may make it available, especially if there's nothing else he would eat there. You can also get direct email and phone numbers for the chefs if you want to discuss it food preferences personally.

 

[bookwormde]

Your child sounds ver much like my AS son except mine has decided to be a vegatarian. We have allways found the restraunts to be very accomidating and have gotten grilled cheese made in many places (although sometimes the bread was not in the "acceptable" texture range). Buffets may be a little harder, but it is worth a try

bookwormde

 

[maroo]

Thank you all so much for your recommendations!

I will definitely let them check out the Allears menus!

I have ressies for them so far at Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's, Tusker House and Boma. I was trying to think of places that either have Mickey or would be relatively quiet. They may nix Boma? I don't really know.

I want to give him as many chances to meet Mickey as possible - so that if he is not really "in the mood" the first time or if he is scared, then he will have several opportunities to meet his hero.

 

[hildarumpole]

If you're looking for opportunities to meet Mickey in a fairly calm dining atmosphere, Garden Grill is the place. Mickey is dressed as a farmer. Chip & Dale and Pluto are also there. The food is served family style. Grilled cheese and pizza aren't on the menu, but it could be arranged if the chef is notified in advance of the circumstances.

Crystal Palace has the Pooh characters, no Mickey. It's pretty chaotic. Chef Mickey is also very noisy and chaotic.

Brown Derby at Hollywood Studios is one of the quieter restaurants. We ate there a couple weeks ago and it turned out to be one of my kids favorite places. They have grilled cheese on the kids menu. DD12 loved it and she's pretty picky about her grilled cheese. Tony's Town Square at Magic Kingdom is fairly calm, too. Captain's Grille at the Yacht Club and The Wave at the Contemporary have cheese pizza on the kids menu. They're also fairly quiet.

Another suggestion is if the family has a Disney VISA credit or debit card or can get one before the trip, there's an opportunity for a private meeting with characters and free 5x7 photo. It's located in one of the Innoventions pavillions at EPCOT. You go in a room with just your family and the characters. Mickey has been there every time we've gone. A photopass photographer takes pictures and will also take pictures with your personal camera. The characters are very nice. They sign autograph books and play a little bit. It's a much less hectic atmosphere than standing in character greeting lines or at meals.

 

[Schmeck]

We've eaten at Boma, and found it to be very loud, and we had a long wait even with an ADR.

 

[maroo]

If you're looking for opportunities to meet Mickey in a fairly calm dining atmosphere, Garden Grill is the place. Mickey is dressed as a farmer. Chip & Dale and Pluto are also there. The food is served family style. Grilled cheese and pizza aren't on the menu, but it could be arranged if the chef is notified in advance of the circumstances.

Crystal Palace has the Pooh characters, no Mickey. It's pretty chaotic. Chef Mickey is also very noisy and chaotic.

Brown Derby at Hollywood Studios is one of the quieter restaurants. We ate there a couple weeks ago and it turned out to be one of my kids favorite places. They have grilled cheese on the kids menu. DD12 loved it and she's pretty picky about her grilled cheese. Tony's Town Square at Magic Kingdom is fairly calm, too. Captain's Grille at the Yacht Club and The Wave at the Contemporary have cheese pizza on the kids menu. They're also fairly quiet.

Another suggestion is if the family has a Disney VISA credit or debit card or can get one before the trip, there's an opportunity for a private meeting with characters and free 5x7 photo. It's located in one of the Innoventions pavillions at EPCOT. You go in a room with just your family and the characters. Mickey has been there every time we've gone. A photopass photographer takes pictures and will also take pictures with your personal camera. The characters are very nice. They sign autograph books and play a little bit. It's a much less hectic atmosphere than standing in character greeting lines or at meals.

Garden Grill! I had not thought of that! I just snagged a ressie! Thank you so much for the suggestion.

I totally see what you are saying about the noise level...I need to talk to them and see what would be the best. They actually suggested Chef Mickey's - but they have never taken their son, so I am not sure if they know how he will react. They say that sometimes he likes things really loud (turns the TV way up, etc), but sometimes he is overwhelmed by the noise and has a meltdown. I thought about doing a very late ressie for a meal - so that the restaurant won't be quite so crowded? We did this at Crystal Palace by accident in Dec and it was great - we had the characters to ourself!

Unfortunately this family is probably not going to be able to get a Disney VISA. They have lost everything and already had a bunch of medical debt, etc that would disqualify them and they are trying to use any credit at this point to be able to build a home. They are living in a FEMA trailer right now.

We've eaten at Boma, and found it to be very loud, and we had a long wait even with an ADR.

EEK! I have eaten there a few times and don't remember the noise level - but I was not really paying attention to it either. The three times I have eaten there have been off times, though - twice for breakfast.

Thank you so much for mentioning this, because if they eat there, I will schedule them at an off time for there, too.

 

[hroyale]

My ASD DS will eat only a few things and is picky about brands and types AND they have to be cooked a certain way. Finding places to eat for him pretty much guides most of my trip planning.

I recently read a trip report on the DIS from someone who travels with a non-verbal teenage son who would only eat french fries when he is not home. Sorry I don't remember the poster's name.

They called each restaurant directly and let them know about DS special need. She had a special story that Sanaa that didn't have a fryer found a way to make him french fries. Most places would bring him a very large plate of french fries before the rest of the family even ordered.

I've also recently read that any place that has a grill will make a grilled cheese if requested (although it might be on a hamburger bun or other non-traditional bread).

I travel with some food for DS whenever we go out. If we're at a CS location he'll have a sandwich I made in the room. If it's TS I'll have peanut butter crackers, some fruit and a piece of string cheese just incase he won't eat anything there. I do always order him a meal and try to get him to eat that first, but knowing he won't go hungry allows me to relax.

For me, I've found that some of the experiences DS loved the most were the places he didn't eat hardly anything at. (Biergarten for example). He would get over stimulated by the experience and couldn't eat. Which is fine, as long as you plan for it.

Best of luck with the trip planning. It sounds like a well-deserved break for the family.

Thanks,
Heather

 

[SueM in MN]

I suggest that you also visit the DIS site’s menu page, along with the menu page on allearsnet.com. Menus do change periodically and sometimes one or the other will have a more updated version of the menu.

There is also some information, including emails for each WDW park in post #3 of the disABILITIES FAQs thread.

Good luck in your planning.

 

[bookwormde]

Garden grill is great, I would suggest a booth on the lower level since they feel very "isolated". One heads up, there is thunder from living with the land, but it is not overly loud.

bookwormde

 

[snorris49]

Can't give you any personal experiences besides food allergies (gluten and milk and Crohn's disease for me), except I can give you the same reassurances as others have! WDW is simply the best for dietary restrictions/needs. They are awesome. I've seen and heard some pretty special things and I've experienced some myself

They are great at accommodating your needs and always making folks feel special. Good luck on your planning!

 

[Luv Bunnies]

When we were at WDW in 2006, my 11 year old (at the time) son w/Asperger'
s was considered an adult on the Dining Plan but able to order off the kid's menu at every restaurant we went to. Sometimes I would even order him 2 pieces of white bread and a side of fries so I could make him a peanut butter sandwich with Jif Singles that I brought along in my bag. He never ordered an appetizer unless they had chips and salsa and would usually want plain ice cream or a sundae for dessert. It was never a problem and the servers never even blinked an eye at our special requests. Just study the menus carefully and choose the places where there's food the child will eat. Shouldn't be a problem and the family should have a great time!

 

[nyrebecca]

Just my two cents --

My son is going to be 12 this year, ASD, and dear word is he a picky eater. Last year was the first year he wouldnt eat grilled cheese. 2 weeks of french fries, hot dog buns and pizza!! Gotta love it.

Anyways, I digress....every resturant we have gone to since he was considered an adult will absolutely let him order from the kids meal. Most servers will tell you that they may charge for something else to make it an adult meal that they can put in there, some dont say anything and just do their magic.

Whispering Canyon at the WL will give you adult portions of grilled cheese, the boy was in heaven that year (when he was still eating the grilled cheese). They came out with 2 grilled cheese sandwiches and enough french fries to keep him full for days if he ate them all!

Disney is the ONLY place I know that the people who work there will go out of their way to make sure our experience is just as good as the next family and their atypical picky eaters.

 

[andee515]

My DS3 is autistic, also non-verbal; we went over spring break. He also eats a very finite menu; grilled cheese, pizza, corn dogs and chicken nuggets (scrambled eggs and waffles for breakfast). We were on deluxe dining for 10 days ate 2-3 places a day and never had trouble getting something for him to eat. Now, if your DS doesn't eat chicken nuggets, you may have a few menu problems, but as a person who worked in the restaurant, pretty much any chef is willing to make you a grilled cheese, if you ask nice and tell them the situation.

 

[disneyworldmom2]

Due to numerous issues, our son was not able to eat anything that required him to bite into it. He lived on pasta dishes, mainly mac & cheese and spaghetti. When at Disney, I found the restaurants to be very accomodating. When we checked in, I would tell them that my son had special dietary needs, and a chef would often come to our table before we even had our drinks. They went out of their way to accomodate our needs. One chef even offered to make him a special meal and put it in the blender for him! The only place that we ran into difficulties was the restaurant in Japan. Although we have gone there on almost every trip because we enjoyed it so much, we will NEVER go back there bacause of our last experience there. Not only would they not accomodate his needs (we asked for extra noodles for him instead of meat) they were rude. I would certainly check the menus, as I think many places have pizza on their kids menu.

 

[disney's daughter]

What about special diets when going to counter service? My cousin's family is of the understanding that special dietary needs could be considered at the counter services as well as the "sit down" restaurants. I don't believe that to be true, but I thought I would ask. Her son is autistic.