CS and (multiple) food allergies??

[brown1442]

Any recommendations for CS with multiple food allergies?

My 6 year old son has multiple food allergies... peanuts (anaphylactic), tree nuts, milk, soy, gluten, bell peppers, and vanilla. We have had 2 fabulous Disney trips with his food allergies. The TS restaurants were fabulous... FAR exceeded our expectations (couldn't possibly rave enough about how well they all did). But to be honest... the CS has been a bit lacking. I know he's difficult to feed and I REALLY appreciate all that Disney does to make the trip successful for us... but I am just wondering if there's anything else we could try to make it go a little smoother this time?

We were turned away from a 2 places (Pinocchio Village House and Wolf Gang Puck Express) claiming they couldn't accommodate. I will emphasize that they were very nice about it and apologized but still... we'd sent ALL of our information to Disney's special diets and they *should* have known we were coming.

The places that did well feeding him (Cosmic Rays, Caseys, and Captain Cooks) we ended up waiting forever for them to make him separate food. Now clearly this is a must to keep him safe. But still... he waited up to 30 minutes for food (not easy with a small child with special needs) while the rest of us sat and waited with cold food. It seems like there should be a better way? Perhaps call ahead ordering?? Is that possible?

The only places that was down right rude and unsafe was Sunshine Seasons... and we will NOT go back.

So I am looking for ways to make this better for our next trip. Any suggestions? Anyone have good success with certain CS places that they'd recommend??

We considered doing the DDP just to avoid CS altogether but to be honest we don't really want to spend our entire vacation sitting in (and waiting for) sit down restaurants.

Any ideas?!?!?

 

[bytheblood]

Contact: Theresa.Joiner@disney.com

I have recently been diagnosed with Celiac Disease. She sent me a list of every place I can eat at along with the menu items that are gluten free. Teresa will respond and provide you comprehensive details, her phone number and a form to fill out for your TS restaurants so that they are ready for your visit.

 

[Hopefully]

As stated, you can notify the TS restaurants ahead of time and they were wonderful.
CS, on the other hand, are not equipped to do the same. I think you experienced the best you can expect. Your son needs his food specially prepared. That will take time and you will have to wait for that.
You may not like my suggestions, but they are offered in a kind way.
Modify your expectations so that the wait is not annoying to you. It is just the way it is. Plan a diversion to occupy the wait time. Don't have others in your party get their food until his is ready, then nobody is eating cold food.
Can you prepare and bring his lunch with you? that might help some.
Good Luck

 

[TDC Nala]

Some CS restaurants are not equipped to prepare special meals for allergies without the risk of cross-contamination. They are just not set up to do that. And those that can, will have to prepare his food separately, especially since your child has multiple allergies to several items that are common in food preparation. There isn't anything you can do about the wait. A CS restaurant can't be set up to accommodate you before you arrive, as they do not have any idea when you will be arriving - you can't make reservations like you can at a table service restaurant. Sorry, but as far as I know there is no way to call ahead to a CS and have the order waiting for you.

Do the contact above, and find out which restaurants serve food your child can safely eat. You will have to be cautious about cross-contamination though, which likely means you will still be getting his meals specially prepared.

Maybe bring snacks for him, so he can eat something while he waits.

 

[clanmcculloch]

I think your expectations are little off. CS locations in parks have absolutely no ability to custom prepare meals. They can only cook the premade meals that they have on hand. You went to 2 places that frankly don't have much in the line of allergy foods. Special Diets can help you figure out which places can better serve your son's needs.

CS locations at resorts are MUCH better equiped to prepare meals for you. They can take any ingredients that they have on hand and cook something up for you. We eat a lot of our CS meals at our resort.

In the parks we pretty much stick with places that serve the allergy chicken tenders or book ADRs for TS restaurants. Special Diets can send you a list of locations that carry these. Unfortunately though the fries do now contain soy (they switched suppliers I think in February; a chef at the end of February told me they had only gotten them in maybe a week earlier) so that won't be an option for your for the side but apple sauce or grapes might be (haven't checked to see if the apple sauce has any soy preservatives as we're not completely soy free). The allergy hamburger buns around the parks are Ener-G. Take a look online to see if they're free of his allergens. If they are then hamburgers are also a great option for in parks.

Here's where we typically eat in parks with complicated lists of food allergies.
MK: Cosmic Rays or Columbia Harbour House
Epcot: Sunshine Seasons (LOVE this place and it's must do for us every trip; it's the only park CS where a chef rather than a manager will help you)
DHS: most CS locations carry the allergy chicken tenders but we tend to book a TS ADR
AK: I hear great things about Flame Tree BBQ but we tend to book an ADR at Tusker House

As I said, we also deal with long lists of allergies plus my 13yo is also autistic so I can definitely feel for you. Here's what we do for ordering. We ALWAYS eat at off times so the place isn't crowded and also so she's not feeling very hungry yet, though hungry enough that she will eat when her food arrives (we walk into a CS location around 11:00 for lunch for instance). Usually there's an open cashier when we walk in but we just approach the first CM we see and ask for a manager to discuss food allergies. I already know which foods are safe thanks to emails from Special Diets but I confirm the foods with the manager and the manager brings us up to whichever cashier has no line/the shortest line and rings up our entire order together. Depending on the location we might be given a buzzer, we might discuss where we'll be sitting so our food can be brought to us or we might be asked to wait to the side until our food is ready; it really varies by location and manager working that day and we just do what they tell us to do. When the allergy food is ready, the rest of the order is then prepared so that we're all eating together. It does take 20-30 minutes sometimes for the food to be prepared once it's rung up so by the time our food comes up, we're all ready to eat even though we arrived early.

 

[CarrieR]

Is it possible for one adult to enter the CS ahead of time, figure out what your son can eat, and order, with the rest of the family arriving 15 minutes or so behind? Perhaps after you all finish a ride, one of you can beeline straight for the eatery while the rest of the party takes a leisurely walk, uses the restroom, etc, etc? The rest of the meal could be ordered once the rest of the party arrives and the wait might not seem so bad, then.

If you check on the special diets page on the website, it will list which restaurants are more likely to be able to accommodate dietary restrictions.

Hugs, I feel your pain -- I will be touring the parks next month with not one but two traveling companions with multiple, unusual, anaphylactic allergies and it is not something I am looking forward to!

 

[brown1442]

Thank you for the replies! I didn't mean to come across complaining in my previous message. Disney was positively wonderful at accommodating my son... who I know is quite difficult to feed. I was really just wondering if there was anything I could do to make it go smoother.

After reading these responses though I am back to contemplating the DxDP instead. I just worry so much about spending our entire vacation eating doing that... plus its spendy. *hmmmmm*

 

[clanmcculloch]

What I've found works well for us for dining is to eat quick and easy breakfasts in our room using groceries we've ordered and brought with us, then book an early TS lunch and after lunch head back to our resort to hang out for the rest of the day which then means were back there for ordering our CS at our resort in the evening. It means less time in restaurants since we're only eating 1 TS meal per day and the CS is at our resort where they can better accomodate our special needs. This also works for our autistic daughter since she can only handle max 3 hours per day in the parks and the TS lunch helps us set a fixed time to get out of the park. Water is a HUGE sensory reliever for her and she also likes sand so resorts with beaches are great for us (she's a physical sensory seeker though she avoids touch from people other than me).

I don't think we could handle the DxDDP because she can only handle a certain number of hours away from our resort each day. If we're in a restaurant that long then that's less park time and we're already short on park time as it is. TS meals take a lot longer for complex allergies than they do for regular folks. It would just be too much TS time for us. I'm not saying that you're us but you do sound like you have a similar situation so I wanted to share what we've found works best for us based on a lot of trial and error.

 

[Mary976]

Can you do the Amy's mac and cheese? I think it's gluten/soy free, but I'm not sure if the one WDW carries is dairy free also. I had it at several CS places on our last trip...it's not awesome, but it's fine.

Then midway through the trip I bit the bullet and went shopping so I could pack lunches for the rest of the week, just because I was bored with the CS choices, so that might be an option for you as well depending on where you are staying.

Mary