Celiac Dining Plan Question

[Notso]

Howdy! We are planning a trip to the World in February. Since our last trip, my youngest has been diagnosed with Celiac disease. We've been to Disneyland since the diagnosis, so I know they are pretty great about accommodating.

This will be our first trip with the dining plan and a special need. My question is, how does this work for a 2-year-old? I know she won't have her own plan. I'm assuming I'll need to eat GF and let her have food from my plate.

Has anyone done this? Is it ok to explain it that way to the staff? I'd hate for them to go to the trouble of making a GF meal and then catch me eating a bite of Hub's desert.

 

[mickeymaker2003]

I would plan a lot of buffets (character meals are mostly buffet). Under 3 is free, but they should be wililng to serve safe food for your child.

If you are doing a non-buffet, you would need to either pay out of pocket for a meal for the child or order at least part of your meal gluten free to give to your daughter.

 

[clanmcculloch]

They're not going to try to bust you or police you for eating something with gluten when you've ordered a gluten free meal. It probably will be easiest though to just be forthcoming about why you're ordering the way you are so that they can do their best for you. What I mean is, tell the chefs and managers that you're working with that you are ordering gluten free for your DD and which items she'll be eating. If you want only maybe one or two components to be gluten free for her to eat then they can prepare those safely on a separate dish and serve you the rest as-is or can serve you the bread components ont the side. Giving the full story really will get you the best results. Obviously if you're going to split something like a burger or chicken tenders or pasta then the whole dish needs to be gluten free and you'll eat gluten free foods but if you're getting something like rotisserie chicken with sides and your DD will eat the chicken and potatoes then you can get bread or other sides on a separate dish so that the portions she'll eat will be safe and you can still have the other stuff yourself.

Of course if you'll be using your cutlery and your hands on her food then it really would be safest for your entire meal to be gluten free. If you're already disciplined enough to be careful about cross contamination then it's not something to necessarily worry about but if you're still new to this and aren't as comfortable about it the when splitting meals you really should probaby keep your entire meal gluten free.

Full disclosure and honestly really will work in your favour.

At fixed price restaurants, your DD will be entitled to her own meal, made safe just for her. That's not just buffets; that's any fixed price restaurant even if it's served family style or plated and ordered off menus.

 

[jlr9882]

My son has over 20 allergies. When he was 2 we went to Chef Mickey's for breakfast. The chef came out to talk to me and walk us around the buffet. He gave me ideas on what he could do for my son. He brought him fresh fruit, eggs, and allergy friendly Mickey waffles. Sadly, my little one didn't touch the waffles. He didn't want to eat Mickey. We have had the dining plan once, but he was 4 at the time so he had his own plan. Everywhere treated him like a Prince.

 

[tink519]

Hi! I am gluten free and WDW was the best experience for dining out I've had. Here is a link to my review

Here is another link on Special Dietary needs. Once I had all my ADR's I emailed it all to them, but also indicated I had an allergy when I made the ADR. Every place I checked in at they already knew there was an allergy.

 

[miniaudrey]

My dad has Celiac and we went in January. He was thrilled with the GF options. The chef would come out and tell him what he could have and there were some places with special menu options for him. His favorite was the hamburgers. He loved the buns. He said it was a real treat to have really good GF ones after not having a real hamburger since his diagnosis 12 years ago. He loved it and said the meals we ate were some of the best he'd ever had. (We were on the dining plan).

As for your son, I think you should just let them know about his Celiac (usually when you check in, or if you make reservations online, you can put that in the food allergy section). I think they will be very helpful and accommodating. You could always order yourself a GF and share with him, I'm sure they would be down with that.

Good luck and have a great trip!

Audrey

 

[dclfun]

I would see the only problem being that he is 2 years old and as such, is not entitled to be on a dining plan. I'm also hoping they'll let you order his meal instead and eat the portion of his meal that you'd enjoy. At buffets they should have options for him such as fresh fruits, GF waffles, meats, plain veggies, etc.

 

[dawnball]

When my DD was under 3, I talked to the nice folks at Disney Reservations about the situation. We purchased the dining plan for her, and just didn't use the park tickets that we also had to purchase. The tickets were used on a later trip, once she required admission.

That may not be your most cost-effective option, but if you end up buying some gluten free options out of pocket, they are more expensive than the regular counterparts. For our group and our eating habits, it worked well.