Best places to eat at Disney with allergies? Share them here!

RubyV

Mouseketeer
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
96
Hi everyone!

I'll be staying on property from 1/31 to 2/4, and will be travelling with my scarily dairy allergic 10 year old, and myself, with seafood allergies.

Would you all be willilng to share your dining experiences, tips, etc? Best place? Worst? Yummiest?

This is the first time we travel and don't have to cook, as we opted for the dining plan. We went full service, and I assume it's far safer.

Thanks!:banana:
 
I think you'll find Disney quite good for dealing with allergies.

Whenever you get to a restaurant, tell the server about your allergies and the chef will come out to specifically address your concerns.

PS - my DW has often got tofutti "ice cream" on hot days at Magic Kingdom
 
I think you'll find Disney quite good for dealing with allergies.

Whenever you get to a restaurant, tell the server about your allergies and the chef will come out to specifically address your concerns.

PS - my DW has often got tofutti "ice cream" on hot days at Magic Kingdom

Do you know if they carry other ice creams? Toffutti and Rice dream are off limits - they are cross contaminated too often.
 
To be honest, I'm not sure.
Someone else may post up that knows more than I do, or you could try to give disney a call and ask (not sure who you'd talk to though)
 

My son has a dairy, peanut, treenut & egg white (ok cooked in stuff) allergy.

I have to say 99% of the places we went were great. The only problem we had in August was when I went to one of the ice cream stands/kiosks & wanted the list for one of the fruit bars just to be sure & it took forever for the girl to find it.

We did CS for all but 2 meals & I either waited at the counter or was giving a pager.

For my son, he loved the shrimp at Chef Mickeys (I loved the crab claws..I think I OD'd on them!!!) & he loved the chicken nuggets/tenders from Chef Mickeys & that they made for him at the Poly a few times. He also loved the pineapple dole whip from the Poly.

We (more so dh & I) loved Wolfgang pucks express. We have eaten there twice (April & August 2013) & both times had great meals. The 2nd time we ate there, they said they couldn't do a pizza for my son but I told them they did it in April & they did. We also tried to eat at some hamburger place in DtD & they didn't have an allergy list, either that or they just were not in the mood.

I will say the chef/manager at the Poly/Captain Cooks was A+++++. There was one I dealt with most often. But she just said ask for whatever you want. She opened up a new package of oreos for my son when she found out he loved them & couldn't eat any of the dessert in the case. A CM brought out a package of oreos that were opened & she said no get a brand new one.
 
I have super sensitive and life-threatening allergies too and Disney has been GREAT! All of the food service locations have binders with lists of all the ingredients of particular items, managers or chefs will come out to answer your questions and will take your order on special allergy cards, and. At buffets or food courts, chefs will come out and make you a special plate of whatever items you want (that are safe) in the back to ensure no cross contamination. Most places have special allergy fryers for safe chicken strips and french fries. Many of the breakfast places have safe Mickey waffles and pancakes made on dedicated waffle irons and pans.

You're right, Tofutti and Rice Dream are off limits for anyone with sensitive dairy or nut allergies due to their cross contamination issues. :( Same for the soy milks - Kikkoman and Silk aren't safe for me either for the same reason.

EPCOT was probably my favourite place to eat with food allergies because there were so many different options to choose from.

We had success everywhere we went, particularly the food court at The Land. They made me a special plate from the back and included, among the regular stuff, Enjoy Life chocolate bars and cookies. That certainly made my day! (I never knew Enjoy Life made chocolate bars before then.)

The Rose and Crown in the UK pavillion was also exceptional. The chef came to our table genuinely excited to make a special meal for us - whatever we wanted! We picked something off the menu which was safe (without the sides), but the chef took our order personally and delivered it to our table, and came out a few times during the meal to check on us and bring out safe side dishes. Best meal of the whole trip.

The bakery on Main Street (MK) had some cookies (pre-packaged!) that were safe, and we had those a few times. (We ordered Divvies cookies delivered to our hotel room, which provided us with plenty of snacks, but there's something special about buying and eating treats in the park like everyone else can.)

The chef at the POP Century food court was great at finding me options to eat there, and made them in the back for me. He then went out of his way to make sure the kitchen had fresh allergy-free items every day for me so I wouldn't have to wait for him to get them from other kitchens or thaw them from the freezer or whatever the case was. On that note, some chefs will do this if you ask them in advance - i.e. if you want Enjoy Life cookies available for dessert one night (or waffles for dinner) - call and ask for it a few days ahead of time (noted on your reservation) and if they have it on site, it will happen. They're pretty awesome that way!

Someone told me that pineapple Dole whip and the giant turkey legs are safe, but I haven't looked into it. Worth checking out! (They will have a binder with ingredients and may contains at the place that serves it.)

Hmm, what else stands out... There are a few quick service locations that are more allergy-friendly than others because they have dedicated fryers, special buns, and a few other allergy-friendly options available. The list is on the WDW Special Diets page. Restaurantosaurus was one of them, although their allergy menu is quite limited.

Basically, the best service and the most options were at sit down places. Food courts were next best. Always, always identify that you have allergies and speak to a manager (quick service) or chef (table service).

We did have one failure with food provided on a tour but thankfully I looked at my food before eating it and quickly realised something was wrong. (It's pretty scary to see your allergens on your plate!) Needless to say, Disney made major modifications to their tour food allergy procedures after that. I hear they are much better now for allergies in that department. Lesson learnt - whilst Disney gets five gold stars for accommodating food allergies, their staff are only human and mistakes happen. Keep your eye out and double check everything.

Have a safe and fun holiday!
 
My DS is allergic to wheat, soy, egg, dairy, peanut, tree nuts, sesame, buckwheat and shellfish. We have had wonderful experiences with table service and with the counter service location at resorts. It seems that most of the breakfast buffets in parks are currently doing Van's frozen waffles, not the allergy Mickey waffles. Other than that, we have had no trouble with the chefs at park table service making safe foods for my son and we do most of our dining in the parks. Sometimes a concern is that many of the world showcase dining locations are not Disney owned so they might not be as reliably accommodating. We have had good luck at Biergarten and 9 dragons in the world showcase.

I recommend trying Tusker House in AK because they have been so nice to my son. They have an amazing amount of variety and were the only location my son could have waffles on our last trip (they made the Mickey ones!) My kids left in August with the conclusion that Liberty Tree tavern (for lunch) was their new favorite place to eat. I am not sure how desserts will be for you, sadly in August my son was ONLY offered rice dream, occasionally with chocolate syrup, or enjoy life cookies which he couldn't eat because of the buckwheat flour. In the past a couple places had made brownies or had something else to offer him so I am hoping it is a fluke and not the new normal as he is just getting old enough to start caring.

With a shellfish allergy, the new allergy menu has printed text that you are advised not to eat at Columbia Harbor house in the magic kingdom so you may want to take that into account. (in August one manager refused to serve my son who does not react to cross contamination for shellfish)

Counter service in the parks has been iffy for us- including more than one incident where we were turned away and it took multiple hours to obtain food by the time we traveled around and found a place to serve my son. In 2 of the 3 times this has happened in parks, we ended up at a table service where they happily helped us. The good news if I have never heard of this happening to anybody else, but we have had issues with counter service in Hollywood studios, and specifically with Pinocchio Village Haus and at the Beach Club marketplace.
I have also only once out of dozens of CS meals ever been offered the book everybody talks about so you may have to specifically ask for it if you want to see it. We have simply listed allergies and asked the manager what they have available. Usually they suggest something, with a small number of them saying "I don't have anything to offer, I suggest you go____" - twice we've gotten the same response at multiple places in a row. It's like there were magical "no allergy food at CS location" days.
 
Thanks for all of this info!

Strangely, she can do Silk, no problem, and Tofutti refrigerator products, but can't to toffuti freezer items, or Rice dream. She jokes that she breaks the test (she is over 100, so they can't quantify).

We are set so far for:

Day 1 - CRT for breakfast and Tony's for dinner
Day 2- Sci Fi dine in for lunch, Rainforest for dinner
Day 3 - Marrakesh for dinner, and Akherus for breakfast.

I'm very hopeful for tasty, safe meals! You are giving me great info!
 











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