Buffets vs. Non-buffets & getting sick at WDW

[rgf207]

There are very strict food guidlines Disney has to follow. Buffets should not carry any more risk for food poisoning than any other place. They have to be at certain temperatures and must be tested every 30 minutes or so. I would not worry about food poisoning. Those cases are very rare.

 

[yesmylove]

If you are concerned about the utensils that are in the food trays , what you could do is take up your own spoon or fork off of your table to pick up your food, that way no one else has touched them. ( just a thought ) We have eaten many times at the buffets and never had any problems.

 

[nanadeb]

I have been wondering the same thing--partly because I'm home sick with the flu. What if this happened on my vacation? At least with regular restaurant food the only people who have touched it are in the kitchen.

I got sick from the food at Disney last September, and it was not from a buffet. I ate the tomato stack appetizer with spinach at Le Cellier. Starting the next morning and for days afterwards I learned where every bathroom in WDW was. It was only after I got home that I learned about the spinach contamination problem. Since Disney does use Sysco as a supplier, and Sysco got some of the bad spinach, it was a no brainer on how I got it. My doctor just said I was lucky not to have been affected worse. Two courses of antibiotics later, I was fine.
It was restaurant food that did me in, not buffet.

 

[tinkerkel2u]

My "little" (He's 14 now, and just shy of 6') Jakey was born two months early, and weighed a whopping 4 pounds! (which is actually pretty good for 8 weeks early).

I'm gonna play devils advocate here and say sometimes I think people (not the person who started this thread) go overboard when it comes to germs and such. My outlook is the more germs you are exposed to, the more you build up a resistence, and less likely to get sick. My family is by no means "grubs", however, I don't freak if my kids "forget" to wash their hands before they sit down to eat. It is my own opinion that people that constantly wash and sanitize are the ones who get felled big-time, when they finely come in contact with a nasty bug. My sister and her family are one of those, they are constantly sick, and are constantly sanitizing everything. I can't remember the last time me or one of my boys have been ill with anything. (knock on wood)

Like I said before, we are not nasty, gubby people, just not as "germ conscience" as most. I also agree with above, you're more likely to pick up "sick" germs off handrails, money, etc. things you come into contact with everyday.

 

[Sammie]

if your child has ever ridden in a shopping cart, she has been exposed to more germs than she will ever encounter at Disney.

I would not worry about it.

Hopefully when anyone sees inappropriate behavior at the buffets by kids or adults you let a server know so that food can be removed.

 

[tinkerkel2u]

This thread reminded me....several years ago, when DS was about 3, I was driving to the mall, and I saw him eating something in his car seat. I was alarmed, and asked his brother what Jacob was eating. Jonathan told me, "A chicken nugget" that he found between the seat cushions. UG!!! I think the last time I got them a Happy Meal was like 3 weeks earlier.

I don't know if it was all the preservatives or an iron stomach, but Jake never got sick. Not that I would ever recommend eating petrified chicken nuggets. Needless to say, I always checked the seat cushions for wayward food after that.

 

[Snow_White]

if your child has ever ridden in a shopping cart, she has been exposed to more germs than she will ever encounter at Disney.

Not at my store, they have free wipes for every cart

 

[Sammie]

Not at my store, they have free wipes for every cart

I have seen these at the grocery stores, but not Target or WalMart, do they have them at your stores.

 

[allyphoe]

If you are concerned about the utensils that are in the food trays , what you could do is take up your own spoon or fork off of your table to pick up your food, that way no one else has touched them. ( just a thought )

I'd think that would be a health code violation - the restaurant has no way of knowing it was an unused utensil you're bringing from the table.

 

[momtimesone]

I got stomach issues every night after dinner.I cant tell if it was the heat or the food but my guess is the food. We ate at all buffets and my stomach could not take the food. It was well prepared dont get me wrong its just my stomach could not take the richness of the food i guess either way I lost 5 pds while there last july.

 

[just another guy]

As much as my family loves to eat dinner at Boma (and we have been there at least 3 or 4 times) the last time we ate there two years ago, 5 out of our party of 7 got sick within hours of eating!

Just as 5 out of 7 probably sat in the same car driving to disney, or on the same plane. Just as those same 5 were in line next to a sick infant. Just as....just as... I think you get my point. The level disney goes to make things safe at a buffet, just as any of their other restaurants is FAR above any other restaurant off property.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Comparing buffets vs. table service , I would imagine the risk of getting something might be increased at a buffet (or salad bar, for that matter). Just watching the folks at the local Ruby Tuesday salad bar is enough to keep me away!!! Sneezing, coughing, picking food out with their hands--and even picking dropped food off the floor and putting it back in the salad bar!!

Anyway--we've been dining at WDW restaurants since 1975--never, ever had any issues with illness caused by food.

 

[logansmummy]

Trust me your not weird. But I agree with a couple of the others. Wash her hands constantly. I bought purel keychains before we got there and attached them to my DS, DH, and myself. This way safe than sorry. Take a ziploc bag w/ Clorox wipes and/or Anywhere spray for the stroller you rent. Safe than sorry. I would be more worried about her catching something funky from her hands than food she eats. Good Luck on your trip.

 

[dbertola]

My son had also gotten rotavirus down in Disney when he was just one. It obviously wasn't from the buffet but kids are always touching and putting things in their mouths so they can catch it anywhere. I don't think that it's any worse in Disney than anywhere else you would go in your normal day to day life.