Club level & food allergies

[thejman]

Has anyone ever stayed club level at a resort with food allergies? We will be staying at the GF and was wondering how they handle food allergies in the club level. My children are allergic to nuts and sesame. Will they provide safe food for the kids? I would appreciate any advice from people who have had to deal with this. Thank you

 

[dawnball]

My mom is gluten free, and stayed club level at AKL. Typically they couldn't tell us what was out that was gluten free, but if she asked about gluten free food they'd find a chef to make her something. It usually took about an hour, and what appeared was a mystery until it was there, but they were happy to do it, and always sent up more than enough food.

 

[snorris49]

I've heard great things about the Poly CL. I've only stayed at the WL CL and I had a pretty dreadful experience. More that the staff was very put out when they had to call to see what was safe to eat and hated having to get me separate plate of muffins in the morning (they kept them in the fridge). They certainly didn't do anything above and beyond the basics. So, if you do CL I wouldn't go into it with too many expectations.
You will probably have much better luck with nut and sesame allergies!
Good luck and let us know what you end up deciding

 

[thejman]

Thank you for your responses. I guess we will just have to hope for the best. This is our first time staying club level at the GF. Hopefully, they will have some safe things for my children to eat.

 

[DCDisney]

You need to contact special diets and let them know. They would get me something but not necessarily something I wanted I have the same allergies. The problem I had was things were mixed and mingled so even if they had something safe it was on a platter or used a spoon with something that wasn't. They did bring a few packs of allergy safe cookies to keep around for me and I even ate them for breakfast because the pastries weren't safe. If you let them know what will make you happy they usually can help. When it was just getting silly with waiting to get something made (apps) and then it wasn't something I liked anyway I decided if they just were able to have some cheese and crackers that they kept safe and packaged allergy safe cookies I'd be fine. Once I let them know those 2 basics on hand would work they were great.

 

[hildarumpole]

We stayed at BC CL. Two of my kids are allergic to peanuts, tree nuts and shellfish. I informed Special Diets and they passed the info on the the CL manager. He called me the day before our trip and told me to call the room service chef when we arrived, since he handled the CL food. When I called, the chef was clueless, so we realized we were pretty much on our own. Asking the lounge staff wasn't helpful. They rarely knew ingredient info of the appetizers and didn't understand the notion of cross-contamination. The kids stuck to things we knew would be safe, like fruit loops or raisin bran, yogurt, and fruit in the mornings, and cheese, crackers, rye bread, and veggies for evening appetizers. Based on lots of Disney dining experiences, we knew to avoid the pastries. Fortunately, my kids were young enough not to be interested in the hot appetizers and salads, but missing out on the little cakes kind of bothered them. We bought a bunch of Divvies cookies and safe brownies from the gift shop and kept them on hand for treats. Stick to the things you know in the real world and your kids should be fine.

After our trip, I filled out a Disney survey and suggested an ingredient binder be kept in the lounge. It wouldn't be that hard to manage, because the offerings in the morning and afternoon snacks were always the same. The selection of evening appetizers and desserts was fairly limited. They seemed to be on a 3-day rotation schedule. It would be helpful, not only for the guests, but for the CMs who have to anwer questions.

 

[SueM in MN]

We stayed at BC CL. Two of my kids are allergic to peanuts, tree nuts and shellfish. I informed Special Diets and they passed the info on the the CL manager. He called me the day before our trip and told me to call the room service chef when we arrived, since he handled the CL food. When I called, the chef was clueless, so we realized we were pretty much on our own. Asking the lounge staff wasn't helpful. They rarely knew ingredient info of the appetizers and didn't understand the notion of cross-contamination. The kids stuck to things we knew would be safe, like fruit loops or raisin bran, yogurt, and fruit in the mornings, and cheese, crackers, rye bread, and veggies for evening appetizers. Based on lots of Disney dining experiences, we knew to avoid the pastries. Fortunately, my kids were young enough not to be interested in the hot appetizers and salads, but missing out on the little cakes kind of bothered them. We bought a bunch of Divvies cookies and safe brownies from the gift shop and kept them on hand for treats. Stick to the things you know in the real world and your kids should be fine.

After our trip, I filled out a Disney survey and suggested an ingredient binder be kept in the lounge. It wouldn't be that hard to manage, because the offerings in the morning and afternoon snacks were always the same. The selection of evening appetizers and desserts was fairly limited. They seemed to be on a 3-day rotation schedule. It would be helpful, not only for the guests, but for the CMs who have to anwer questions.

Good suggestion.

If anyone is looking for the contact information for the Special Dietary department, you can find it in post #3 of the disABILITIES FAQs thread. That thread is near the top of this board or you can follow the link in my signature.

 

[dclfun]

My son is on a renal diet which is very limited but it isn't the same as having allergies. When I asked about ingredients at AK CL they did have a binder but this was several years ago. As they have greatly reduced the evening apps there is less chance of him finding something acceptable. Basically he could count on celery. :-( ---Kathy

 

[thejman]

Thanks so much for all the input. I appreciate it.

 

[Gigi22]

We have stayed CL at the GF and the Poly. It seems to me that I saw pb&j (Uncrustables?) on the children's buffet at the GF, not sure about the Poly.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Poly did have uncrustables out every evening.

If you have allergies, do not pull your food from the trays. Ask to have a plate put together for you from the kitchen. It's just like at a buffet; you can't be sure of lack of dripping, crumbs or shared serving utensils so you can't be sure of lack of cross contamination.

We've had two AMAZING experiences at Poly. Chef Kim, Chef Johnny and Chef Jonathan had me fighting back tears on more than one occasion. They're unbelievably wonderful. I certainly don't expect the same level of treatment every trip but boy do they make it hard to stay elsewhere. Had there been availability for a CL GV room for our upcoming trip under our current discount then that's where we'd be staying. They spoiled us rotten. We're staying YC this trip but decided to not stay CL because we figured we wanted to try out a whole bunch of the restaurants around Crescent Lake while we're there and because I can't imagine that the level of service is the same everywhere. I'm afraid that we'll suffer from increased unreasonable expectations so I'm almost afraid to try CL at other resorts even though I've read good reviews (not as good as my experience at Poly but still pretty good) at YC. I'd probably also give it a try at GF but I'd want RPC which is out of my price range. Poly GV CL is likely going to keep drawing us back time and time again.

 

[thejman]

Thanks for your reply. I am glad you had a good experience at the Poly. I hope we have good results at the GF.