Critique my food planning for DS (3) who is very limited (please)

[mistysue]

In August we are staying at POP for 7 days, followed by Yacht club for 4. We do not have a dining plan, so I am planning to stop at babycakes and pick up an assortment early then replenish as needed as the trip goes on. Hopefully this will fill in if we are having trouble one day, especially with snacks.

At this point we are avoiding gluten, eggs, dairy, soy, shellfish, peanut, walnut, pistachio, and sesame. Cross contamination has not been an issue in the past, but his responses have been getting worse as he gets older. (mostly eczema but last time he got egg I felt like he is an ANA reaction waiting to happen)

I know we will have some meals at POP, some at the YC and basically we are planning 2 days per park. As for TS I've scheduled:
Plaza lunch
Biergarten dinner
Tusker House lunch
Crystal Palace lunch
Hollywood and Vine breakfast
Rose and Crown dinner
San Angel Inn lunch
Cape May breakfast

Those of you with allergy experiences- do any of these jump out at you as really bad ideas? (besides it being a buffet, we get along with buffets) Is there somewhere you really want to say I should go? We've gone before only avoiding peanut and didn't even consider it when picking locations, but knowing there is not a place in our town that will serve ANYTHING my son can eat anymore it's scary to trust that this is going to just work out.

Do you have suggestions for CS locations I may be happily surprised by? I pretty much need a lunch location for each park and dinner ideas for everywhere but EPCOT. I would rather walk around feeling like I had a solid list of where we will most likely be ok.
I would also welcome good ideas of quick breakfast. I will probably end up packing for mornings but I really just prefer eating out especially on vacation. I don't really know CS breakfasts because we did DXDDP in the past and just did buffets every day.

 

[stackyallred]

I am not any help to you but I would love to hear how your trip goes! This will be my first trip since being diagnosed with allergies to soy, egg, peanut, dairy and gluten (among many others that aren't quite as hard to avoid). There is a thread you might find helpful as it has helped me in planning a lot! The OP of the thread has her own blog with very detailed descriptions of how her dining experiences were. Others chime in with helpful info, too. Maybe it will help! Happy Planning and here is the link: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2841958

 

[Selket]

I haven't been to Tusker House or Cape May (and we also only have tree nut, peanut, and shellfish).

Unless San Angel Inn has vastly improved I wouldn't bother with it. Of course your kid is 3 and probably not too concerned with getting great food - or more adult looking nice food if you know what I mean. I was completely unimpressed with the food they offered him and the service was horrendous (I rarely complain about anything at WDW and I complained to the manager after about this waitress). I should have gotten up and left early on.

One of our favorite chefs is at 1900 Park Fair (at least he was last summer - he moves a lot). Chef TJ is fantastic with allergies.

 

[clanmcculloch]

The Plaza is mostly sandwiches. The gluten free breads contain eggs so he won't be able to eat them. The chefs there are WONDERFUL but think carefully about how he'll feel eating there without being able to eat bread (look at the menu to see if there are any options for him without bread).

 

[Lisa71]

We have done Tusker House and Cape May and both should be fine. If you list the allergies the chef comes to speak with you. I will tell you Tusker House has a nice spread out buffet with much less chance of cross contamination than Cape May. Cape May is really crowded. Our kids don't have allergies, but we traveled with those who did before and they are really nice. Tusker House was also very yummy.

 

[Lisa71]

I would do Sunshine Seasons for counter service, as they have a lot of options and many stations. They speak with each person and can make a lot of food fresh.

 

[livndisney]

The worse allergy experience we have had was Hollywood and Vine. The Chef was not willing to listen. After he "offered" to wipe the allergens off the food......... I did not eat



We have had amazing meals at WCC. They have a chef there that is AWESOME!!!!!

 

[mistysue]

Unless San Angel Inn has vastly improved I wouldn't bother with it. Of course your kid is 3 and probably not too concerned with getting great food - or more adult looking nice food if you know what I mean...
One of our favorite chefs is at 1900 Park Fair (at least he was last summer - he moves a lot). Chef TJ is fantastic with allergies.

I think I will talk this over with DH and see how badly everybody really wants to try this one out- it might be worth checking out the Mexico CS instead. You may have sold me on 1900 PF, we've loved that one on our other trips.

The Plaza is mostly sandwiches. The gluten free breads contain eggs so he won't be able to eat them. The chefs there are WONDERFUL but think carefully about how he'll feel eating there without being able to eat bread (look at the menu to see if there are any options for him without bread).

I know, I'm so annoyed by the bread issue. We challenged with Udi's specifically because of this and it was scary! The Plaza now has grilled chicken strips on the kid's menu- I am hoping they contact me after I send in the special diets form so I can clarify if they are safe... I am picturing plain chicken which he is good with.

The worse allergy experience we have had was Hollywood and Vine. The Chef was not willing to listen. After he "offered" to wipe the allergens off the food......... I did not eat
We have had amazing meals at WCC. They have a chef there that is AWESOME!!!!!

AHH! I dare them to attempt wiping the gluten out of the waffles... I will see how that conversation goes when they get my form and probably toss this one out if I don't hear from anybody. This one was our favorite breakfast for the songs, but DD might just be mad JoJo's gone the whole time.

Thank you for the suggestions everybody!

 

[TOMJENNTOMJO]

My daughter has a food allergy too, as do I, but I'm more common, with shellfish. She is sulfa. So she can't eat sulfate, like ferrous sulfate, magnesium sulfate, or asulfame potassium k, for instance. We do fax the restaurants prior to going, and we've only had a few problems. We usually eat out at a sit down at least once a day sometimes twice, we're there for like 2 weeks, and we just came back from our 23rd trip. A couple of restaurants that were SUPER helpful: Yak and Yeti in AK, Liberty Tree in MK, O'hana's for breakfast @ Poly, Bistro de Paris, Le Cellier, and Chefs de France and Akershus in EPCOT, and Hollywood Brown Derby in HS. The chefs @ these places just went out of there wy to make it better for my 11 yr old princess. Have a good trip, and I hope you get to relax!

PS: They do make gluten free etc Mickey Mouse waffles for breakfast @ O'hana's and Cape May...they have to make them 4 @ a time, and they were lovely. You can also ask for the phone # for each place, and call and ask to speak to a chef, if this helps you...I don;t know how much of a control freak you are ;o) I'm a solid type A, so I have in the past!!

 

[Selket]

The bottom line is going to be the server and the chef that you get at the time you eat. I've had horrible experiences where someone else had a great one at the same place - similar time period. But we had different chefs and servers.

Of course some restaurants get consistently good reports and some get bad ones.

One of my worst experiences was at Chef Mickey's when he was 3. He also has type 1 diabetes and the chef REFUSED to make him any safe dessert because - as he preached to me - he has diabetes and shouldn't be eating dessert! Want to try eating dessert in front of your 3 year old and tell him he can't have it? We literally walked around the tables with a cookie or something off the buffet and got him something safe back in our room later. He was recently dx'd and this was our first trip back to WDW - now I wouldn't put up with that.

Our WORST experience by far however was at that Irish restaurant in Downtown Disney - I guess was so mind-numbingly awful I've tried to forget the name - ha ha! Long story short - they served him tree nuts on a dessert they said was safe - and he likely ate some of the nuts (he ate some of the dessert but only a bit). I only realized when I went to taste it that there were almonds in it. (We know he is allergic t some tree nuts but as you may know, they don't test you for every single nut. We did double check almond after we got home and he had a good sized reaction on the skin prick test. That might have been the first almond he ever had though). The manager was a jerk. I posted about it here - and also heard from other people who said something similar happened to them - one of them had an anaphylactic reaction from eating there - a child! Do not go there - ever.

One of my favorite places is T-Rex in DtD. The chefs we've had there are as good as any we've encountered at a WDW restaurant.

Take your best guess and expect some surprises - hopefully only good ones!

 

[disfan07]

Just a piece of advice about babycakes (we have one in LA so I stock up occassionally).

Since it is gluten free, it does not stay fresh as long. Make sure you refrigerate everything. Also, if anything starts getting a little hard or seems a little stale, microwave it until its warm and it softens up and tastes SOOOOOOO good. (I actually do this even if its still fresh sometimes!) I have eaten donuts, cookies, and breads from babycakes a week after buying them by using that trick.

I just dont want you to spend a lot of money (babycakes is expensive) and waste the food thinking its not good.

 

[jlr9882]

My 5 yr old has over 20 allergies. We went to Chef Mickey's for breakfast once and the chef we had was wonderful! My son was 2 at the time, and sadly he wouldn't eat the special mickey waffles that he brought out to him. I couldn't even get him to taste them, so I think he just didn't want to eat Mickey. Last summer, we had the DDP. We brought our own cereal from home and carried it in bags while waiting for the bus. We did CS at lunch and TS at night. I won't list all 20+ foods, but will say that he is allerigic to most of the top 8 and can only have seafood and lamb as far as meats go. He couldn't get most of the stuff on the kid's menu. At Cosmic Ray's at MK, there was nothing he could eat. The main chef and manager went to another restuaraunt and brought him back tons of safe food. Same thing happen when we went to the BBQ place at AK. They had to go to Tusker house to get food for him. Both were great! POP was great, and the chef called me several times before our trip. He had most of his CS meals there. Cape May was great for him at dinner because he can have seafood. The chef there also called several times before our trip and prepared a special rice milk flan for him. He really was treated like a Prince!

 

[primrosea]

Although we have only a single allergy (we are all gluten free), we have found the most helpful chef's to be those at Ohanas (for breakfast), 1900 Park Fare (for dinner) and Pop food court. We felt like we were really listened to at these places and that the chef's took our allergy as a fun challenge NOT a burden. We had some amazing QS meals at Pop and when we go this next time we may head over there for a couple meal just because they were that good. We had stir-fry, pasta dishes, and desserts all made to order.

 

[disfan07]

Last time we went to WDW, I was allergic to peanuts (anaphylactic), tree nuts, shellfish and egg.

I had amazing food everywhere we went. I can list what I remember:

Crystal palace: the chef walked the buffet with me and pointed out eveyrthing that was safe. He also offered to bring out fresh food from the back if I was concerned about cross contamination. Personally, for me, since that day we went there was nothing with peanuts on the buffet (my only cross contamination allergy at the time) I just ate from the buffet. However, he did bring me out a huge piece of salmon before putting it on the buffet because on the buffet it has an aioli sauce on it (has egg in it). I was so stuffed at the end of that meal.

Rainforest Cafe (Animal Kingdom location): the chef came to our table and talked with us. I don't remember what I got but it was very good and they were very accomodating

Flame Tree BBQ: mentioned I had allergies and the manager came out with the binder and went through the ingredients of what I wanted. I got an order of fries for no charge since I cannot eat the coleslaw. Food was awesome as usual.

Studio Catering Company (DHS): I don't know why everyone complains about CS at DHS. We had amazing service and amazing food here. Again, mentioned to them that I have allergies and the manager came out, discussed what I could have and this time, he actually told us to find a table and he brought out my food to us since it took longer than my parents food! I also got 2 enjoy life cookies for dessert (2 double packs -- so 4 cookies....we were on the dining plan)

Tanageriene Cafe (Morocco): They were wonderful here as well. Told them my allergies and for me, everything was safe except for the baklava. The only thing that kind of stunk was the fact that baklava is teh only dessert that they have so there were no substitutions but I'm used to not getting dessert and there was so much food it didnt matter. My dad saved my piece of baklava for later. Food was wonderful

Sunshine Season: I dont remember what I had but they were wonderful here as well. I think I had the chicken with mashed potatos and carrots but dont exactly remember. I also got fruit for dessert. They were very knowledgable about ingredients and very helpful.

Cosmic Rays: Again, told them I had allergies and found out what I was able to eat. there were no substitutions necessary for the main meal because I just got a burger and fries (all safe for me) but for dessert I was able to get grapes instead but they also gave me enjoy life cookies as well. I really enjoyed that meal

Pop Century Food court: was able to get egg free waffles every morning! so I had waffles, bacon/sausage and hashbrowns every morning for breakfast. SO GOOD! they were really helpful in regards to other meals as well. We ate there probably 10 times during our trip (6 breakfasts and 4 other meals)

Since that trip, in addition to peanuts, eggs, tree nuts, and shellfish, I am also now allergic to brocolli, thyme, ginger, and oats. I am also avoiding wheat right now until I can get my allergy testing done. I just went to DL last weekend with all of those allergies and they were amazing there and I find WDW to be 10x better than DL when it comes to accomodations.