DLP with a milk allergy

[Mrs Mickey]

We are returning to DLP in Feb half term but since our last trip my 12 year old DS has become intolerant to milk. Thankfully he isn't anaphylactic.
I have tried to read up on how to deal with it at DLP and I am a bit worried. I read the pdf file on food allergens and read some alarming reports about the frozen microwave meals that are guaranteed to be free for 12 allergens. They look horrible - we won't be trying them.
Thankfully as we don't need to worry about cross contamination, and he is ok with "may contain traces of", it makes things a bit easier. In England (due to recent change in the law) all the restaurants usually have a large book that you can look through and check the ingredients- so for example we can order a wrap without the cheese in it etc (as long as we check the wrap doesn't have milk in it).
Does anyone know if they have anything similar at DLP?
Any experiences would be great to hear about (even the less successful ones). Don't want to have to spend any longer than necessary in the loos in the park.
Thanks

 

[DLPDreams]

Honestly, they are not great at all imo. My DD1 has had a severe milk intolerance (it is the protein she had the issue with so couldn't have soya milk or goats milk or any substitute). She was like your DS though in that traces of milk were fine - fortunately. But 'raw' milk or ice cream or cream was an issue. I lost count of the number of times we ordered dessert and said no cream on it due to intolerance and.... it came with cream etc! Or no cheese, and food came with cheese on. We simply sent it back which was a bit of a nightmare as it meant all our food was there and hers wasn't (she would just normally pick off my plate in the meantime!). We found Walts and Cafe Mickey the worst for just not getting 'it'.

Can your DS have soya milk? (my DD couldn't - she tolerated it for about 6 months then had a really nasty turn with it which put her off for life!). The DLH used to offer soya milk at breakfast - not sure if the other hotels do. Breakfast tends to be the meal which is the issue as no cereal due to no milk, but we found toast/pastries/fruit was fine .

But it's not all doom & gloom - I found buffet meals the best - although you have to be careful as often things are mislabelled . But you can normally see quite clearly what is laden with dairy. Inventions was always a hit with us as she could have seafood (she loves it!) and quite a bit of the mains and also some sweets and fruit etc for dessert. You could try some of the other buffets too!

The french just don't get food allergies or intolerances very well at all . Having said that, my DD1 is sooo much better now - she is coming up 10 and while she'll never have 'raw' cows milk, she can now tolerate chocolate (she is sooo happy!), cheese, yogurt, a small amount of cream, cows milk in cooked food like omelettes and pancakes etc, and some kinds of 'hard' scoop ice creams too. In fact, most foods are on the menu now - she just sometimes has to be careful - if a cupcake comes laden with buttercream icing, she'll halve it and leave some! So, fingers crossed, that might happen with your DS as he grows .

If you have any other questions don't hesitate to PM me .

 

[Mrs Mickey]

Thanks DLPDreams. That's a great help.
We are still getting to grips with it all and do often get caught out - who would have thought ham could have milk in it! We usually find most desserts are out.
So far he is intolerant to all cows milk things in all forms and it's pretty instant when we get it wrong. But he is ok with soya milk so that helps a lot.
We have our fingers crossed that it will get better over time as that does seem quite common.
We are on the free half board plus plan so we thought we might try Inventions (usually seems too expensive but if I only have to pay £20 each).
We love Plaza Gardens so will definitely go back there.
I know the Pause Gourmande is now only donuts - do you think they they offer any dairy free option?
I plan to email the hotel before hand because I think the dairy free breakfast stuff looks quite good. I will update this post with any info they give me.

 

[DLPDreams]

My DD used to be exactly the same. We think my DD2 was born with the same intolerance but she was bf'd exclusively so I became dairy free for the first year I fed her and then slowly weaned dairy into her diet. She has no problems at all with cows milk now and loves it!! We were lucky enough to be under a paed gastro specialist with DD1 so she helped me a lot with what to do with DD2. It took a long time to diagnose DD1 (we moved regions and it was only then at 2.5 that she was diagnosed and we got proper help, before that the GP and HV refused to help )! My point is - it can get better and it seems to be sometimes that if the body is just given a long rest from it and then it's introduced gradually, that is gets a lot better!

Re the pause gourmand - I can't say as it wasn't available when we used dining plans at DLP. But, if I'd like to bet, I'd say no, they won't have a DF alternative. Perhaps ask in your email to the hotel.

I remember emailing the DLH a few times about DD1 and while they did try, I just felt they never really understood properly - they offered us soya milk at breakfast but she couldn't have that either as she developed an intolerance to that too!

Plaza Gardens will be a good one, and perhaps try Agrabah too - we've never been but I've heard good things about it - there shouldn't be too much dairy there, and some decent alternatives too.

Good luck - travelling has become so much easier now she can get by so well. We are off to WDW this summer and she's already been looking at the menus . I am sure your DS's time will come x