Best CS for dairy free meals??

[29apr00]

Ds was just recently diagnosed with a milk allergy and we leave for Disney in a month! I'm still trying to deal with feeding him at home! I have emailed Brenda and noted all our dining reservations with his allergy. I know that the chef will come talk to us for each of the TS meals, so i'm not too worried about that. But the CS meals have me a bit scared. I know that the info i got from Brenda said to ask to speak to the manager. But then i read all these horror stories of the "binder" and having to hold up the line reading and waiting for the manager to come see you! That'll be great, a screaming hungry 2 yr old holding up the entire line at Pecos Bill while mommy reads a book!!


Couple of questions:

1) I've already learned that McDonald's french fries have milk in them. How stupid is that! Anyway, what about WDW fries? I think one of the files Brenda sent me said they were listed under the Dairy Free, but does that include the fries from the Mcdonald carts, and Restaurantsaurs at AK??

2) what about the new buns everyone is complaining about? Are those the EnerG rolls that are listed on here? And if not, is there milk in the buns?

3) Did i read someone on here that said Chicken Nuggets/Strips were NOT dairy free?


I feel so lost and confused!! I thought I was ok and could handle this, and then this morning i find out that the Soy yogurt i got him for home, StonyField Farms, has MILK in it!! I guess i was under the misconception that Soy, meant no dairy. but obviously not. Now i'm worried about going to WDW and having no control over the food content!

Jennifer

 

[29apr00]

bump

 

[Selket]

It was probably me talking about the gigantic binder - I found that to be unwieldly although it probably does give you the info if you can manage to get through it.

Since your child is so young (William was also 2 yrs old when dx'd with the peanut allergy and type 1 diabetes) I suggest looking at the menus of the restaurants. You can find them online - perhaps here at the Dis but I know at allears.net. See what items you think your child would eat - some good old reliable things that he loves - and find out what places have them. If the info from Brenda isn't clear enough on those items then call or email her specifically about them. Like if you know hotdogs and chicken nuggets (strips) are always going to work then ask her if/where you can get safe versions.

Also find out what desserts are safe from CS that your child would want. I believe the Divvies items are dairy free (chocolate chip cookies, jellybeans and caramel corn - perhaps some of that is not appropriate for choking hazard though). What places have safe ice cream substitutes, what items from the carts are safe for popsicles, etc.

The allergies really do get easier as you go along for you to handle. I will add that the chefs at TS places are generally trustworthy but don't be afraid to question or challenge them on items that concern you. I have gotten different answers from different chefs (we also avoid "may contains" but some chefs don't see aware of that - they just think "oh...no nuts). There are a few dumbo chefs but most are wonderful. We've eaten all over WDW and my son has never had a reaction.

I will add that at first we sometimes ate breakfast in the room (safe items I brought from home or prepackaged from the CS like cereal) then ate two TS meals per day. This is an option - probably overkill for your situation but we had the diabetes to deal with along with the peanut allergy so it was more challenging to make sure we had safe meals waiting for us at the appointed time.

Also try to find an online community/discussion board for those who have kids with food allergies or specifically a dairy allergy. I have found the peanut allergy board to be really helpful with learning how to read ingredient labels, etc.

 

[flynnmnstr]

He is also diagnosed PDD-NOS and used to have severe food eating and texture issues.

Many of the nugget/strips have dairy in them. If I remeber correctly the nuggest at the American Pavillion in Epcot were safe and the ones at Chef Mickeys were safe. 50s Prime Time were able to make DS safe nuggets.

As far as McDonalds fries and Stoneyfield Farms soy yogurt, you should talk to your allergist. My son has a severe dairy allergy and has been eating both of these foods for years; with never a reaction. My allergist told me to continue allowing him to eat these foods since the amount of dairy is trace if at all. And I forgot how he worded it but since the "Dairy" ingredient in the soy yogurt are the cultures it typically doesn't affect the kids.

We typically don't worry about Alex eating a balanced diet when we're at WDW. We just want him to eat as healthy as possible and to not be hungry. There was one trip where he ate bananas and french fries for almost every CS meal.

We do order food from wegoshop.com. They are great at finding the food that Alex can eat. We always order soy milk because though you can get it in TS restaurants its harder to get at CS. They are really good at finding harder to find foods, like soy crisps, soy yogurt, they even found his waffles one year (though we don't get them anymore). We always bring a cooler bad into the parks for him with safe foods; we have never gotten questioned about brining in the foods.

You'll be fine. Try to do breakfast in the room unless you are doing TS, which have always been wonderful experiences for us-- they can always make waffles and eggs that are dairy free. For lunch get to CS early that way you can look at the book to see if there is anything there for your son to eat, but remember you'll have your cooler bag filled with safe good snacks if there isn't anything that he can or will eat. Always plan on one TS a day and make sure to talk to the chef beforehand to make sure there is a meal there that he can and will eat. Last year he really wanted to eat at Coral Reef but there wasn't anything except for french fries that he could eat. We went anyway and brought him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and he ordered french fries and they had dairy free ice cream for him for dessert.

 

[29apr00]

Thanks ladies! It really helps to know that other moms have been thru this, and their kids were just fine!

 

[Selket]

I wanted to add that especially with TS meals you can talk to the chef ahead of time and request that they have an item there for your child to eat even if it is something they do not normally serve. When William was 3, he basically lived on hot dogs at WDW - I arranged a hot dog for every meal whether it was on the menu or not. I also asked for some certain veggie things he would always eat (black olives, sliced tomatoes, etc). They would pull the item from another restaurant.

Not all places can do that - some of the Epcot international restaurants told me they cannot do that....but some have so I'm not sure what to believe. You could always buy the item elsewhere and bring it in with you. We also carried the small cooler of things he would eat with us just in case. Fortunately at that age there are usually some slam dunk items they love and I agree with not worrying if your kid lives on french fries or hot dogs or whatever for a week. They're on vacation and so are you!

Is you child anaphylactic to dairy? Do trace amounts cause a reaction? That is also another consideration. For some allergies the person can have trace amounts or "may contains" and it doesn't cause a problem, etc. You may already know the answer to that or, if not, definitely talk to your doctor about how strictly to avoid dairy (or just milk?).

 

[29apr00]

Thank goodness his reactions are not anaphlyactic. Mostly just GI problems, which can still ruin a Disney vacation!! I certainly don't want all my pics to be the inside of various bathroom stalls! Right now we are in the process of cutting out ALL DAIRY to start over with a clean slate, then do trace amounts and "may contain" items to begin with and see what he can tolerate and what he can't. I did email Brenda again with some more questions, mostly about the bread and chicken nuggets, and whether the Dairy Free cookies and brownies are available at all restaurtants, or just the Main Street Bakery.

I promise to post a full Dairy Free Dining report when i get back! Thank you all for your help!

Jennifer

 

[mom2zandjsquared]

I didn't see if anyone answered but the McDonalds fries are not safe they are the same McDonalds fries but the Disney fries are okay. A good option would be to look for the Kosher Meals because there will not be Dairy with Meat so the Kosher Chicken Tenders or whatever it is they have will be safe.