DS allergy dining reviews (with pics): Updated 9/8 - Kona Cafe lunch

[Bork]

I'm sure DW will post full dining reviews, but I thought I'd post our experiences with the dining plan and DS6's food allergies. He is allergic to dairy, egg, peanut, and shellfish. We were celebrating his 6th birthday and he got a lot of attention with his birthday button. This was our first time on the dining plan.

Here is the itinerary. Hopefully, it doesn't take me too long to post the reviews.

Thursday August 19, 2010:
T-Rex Cafe dinner – Pleasantly surprised

Friday August 20, 2010:
Chef Mickey's lunch:
Pecos Bill Café dinner:

Saturday, August 21, 2010:
Tokyo Dining lunch
Electric Umbrella dinner

Sunday, August 22, 2010:
Tusker House lunch – Outstanding!
End Zone dinner:

Monday, August 23,2010
Sunshine Season lunch:
Biergarten dinner:

Tuesday, August 24, 2010:
50’s Prime Time lunch:
End Zone dinner:

Wednesday, August 25, 2010:
End Zone breakfast:
Liberty Tree Tavern dinner:

Thursday, August 26,2010:
End Zone breakfast:
Pizzafari lunch: - Nice surprise
Wolfgang Puck Café dinner: - awesome!

Friday, August 27, 2010:
Kona Café lunch:
MarketPlace Snacks dinner

 

[Bork]

No reservations. Waited 15-20 minutes as walkups at 7:10. We sat in the dinosaur room. DS liked the dino's, but was a bit nervous during the meteor showers, every 20 minutes. He loved the fossils in the bathroom. We didn't talk to a chef, since we were comfortable with the food choices. We went with the rotisserie chicken with chips. DS loved it and ate all the chicken. They brought him a sundae with cookie and a candle. They sang happy birthday. We told the server that he couldn't have the sundae, so he went and brought a huge plate of gummy dinos. Overall a very nice meal. We were pleasantly surprised by the food and service. Paid OOP using a Rainforest Cafe gift card.

 

[Bork]

Chef Mickey lunch:
Had ADR for 1 pm. Waited maybe 15 minutes to be seated. DS was tired from hunger and the heat. We were seated in a room off to the side, up some stairs, near the windows overlooking the Seven Seas Lagoon. Chef Bob did a nice job going through the buffet, letting us know what was safe and offering to make things in the back for him. There were quite a few things he could have on the buffet, including meats, some salads and fruit.

The food was a Mickey's backyard BBQ. Not sure if it is like the Chef Mickey dinner or Mickey's Backyard BBQ at FT Wilderness. It was our first time at Chef Mickey's. DS loved the salmon, roast turkey and fruit. Chef Bob made DS a huge bowl of mickey pasta with red sauce in the back. DS couldn't eat it all.

Character interaction was good and came regularly. DS was confused when Goofy held up all 4 fingers on 1 hand and 2 on another to count to 6. Very funny. Donald tried to eat his salmon. DS really liked meeting Mickey. He kissed Minnie on the nose. And Pluto had some fun with him. They also stopped to sing, dance and wave napkins every 20 minutes.

Waitress Amy, who was awesome, brought out an allergy safe cupcake with a candle. Very nice. She also brought a bowl of toffuti ice cream. That was very nice since he couldn't have anything on the dessert bar.

DS really perked up after this meal. He had lots of good food and lots of fun.

Pecos Bill Dinner:
Late dinner at about 9:30, before MSEP. Pretty busy for such a late hour. We saved time and used the self serve kiosks. Very convenient for customizing the meals. DS got a burger, fries, applesauce, and a Coke. He liked the fixings bar, especially the pickles. But he was too tired to eat much. He never had any problem with the regular buns, since his allergies are mild.

 

[bluejasmine]

Looking fwd to your reveiws!

 

[DLo]

Great start. Looking forward to more. I have an Alexander too -but he is 16 !

 

[Bork]

Tokyo Dining:
It was raining pretty good today, so we took the Friendship Cruise to Morrocco and ran to Japan. We had a 12:50 ADR. The people were very nice at check-in, but a little hard to understand. We waited maybe 5-10 minutes to be seated. We were seated right by the windows overlooking the lagoon. The view was fantastic. There weren't too many people out due to the rain.

I don't recall the chef's name. He didn't stand out one way or the other. DS had the Teriyaki chicken (without the Teriyaki sauce which has dairy and DS doesn't like it anyway), rice, green beans, carrots and a fruit cup. DS liked the monorail tray it was served in. He did pretty well with the chopsticks, but had trouble with the rice, so he used the fork instead.

Dessert took a long time to come and DS was getting antsy. I guess they were trying to find a dessert for DS's birthday. They ended up bringing a plate of orange slices with a candle. Nice thought, but DS doesn't like oranges. Overall nice service and good food, but pretty limited options with food allergies. And no dessert options.

Electric Umbrella Dinner:
Checked out Sunshine Season, which we've eaten at in prior years. DS didn't want chicken again and we weren't sure about the subs (and didn't want to wait for a manager), so we high-tailed it to the Electric Umbrella in the pouring rain. DS had burger, fries, grapes and apple juice. He couldn't finish it all. It wasn't too busy at 7:15, but they did open the upstairs seating for a short while.

 

[Bork]

Tusker House lunch:
We had 12:30 ADRs, but since it was raining, we decided to go check in a bit early. We were seated right away. This was our first time here since it became a buffet. We used the love the old counter service place.

Chef Francisco was awesome! He did a very thorough job of going through the entire buffet and letting us know what was safe. There were quite a few choices that he could have, but Francisco insisted on making up a plate of food in the back for DS. We got a few things from the buffet to start and then they bring out this heaping plate full of food. It was huge! Chicken drumsticks, couscous, rice, green beans, corn, orzo pasta, sirloin, pickles and potato wedges. It was way more than DS could eat, but he ate quite a bit of it.

For dessert, they brought out two packages of allergy safe cookies with a candle and a frozen strawberry bar. They brought it while I was in the bathroom with DS, but they lit the candle when we returned. DS ate one package of cookies and started on the bar. But he was freezing the whole meal because he had gotten wet in the boneyard waterfalls. So we took the rest to go and he finished the fruit bar outside since it was now sunny and hot. We saved the other cookies for later.

Tusker House is now one of our favorites. Lots of good food, different food choices and excellent service. We will be back.

End Zone Dinner:
I think it was around 7 PM and DS was very hungry. The place was very busy, so we didn't want to wait for a manager. So the options were hot dog or burger. Not a great selection. DS went with the burger, fries, applesauce and soy milk. Cashier gave us a hard time about the soy milk, but the manager came out and reluctantly let us have it as a beverage.

End Zone was definitely a notch below Intermission from our last trip. And no divies items in the snack area. Boo.

 

[darthtatty]

great reviews

 

[Bork]

Sunshine Season lunch:
We were all very hungry when we got there at 12:30. DW talked to a chef and DS got the chicken drumstick, rice, grapes and a soda. The food is pretty good here, but it is way too busy. There were a lot of people sitting at tables without food, including some saving multiple tables. We ended up walking around for 15-20 minutes trying to find a table. A nice family finally pointed us to a table by them that had just emptied. Needless to say, we didn't enjoy our meal and it was cold. I know Disney wants people to eat in World Showcase, but they really need another option in Future World. 2 just doesn't cut it, especially when there used to be 5 counter service options.

Biergarten dinner:
We really enjoyed the Biergarten last time and were really looking forward to it. This is the one dinner that DS kept talking about after we got home 2 years ago. We had 5:30 ADRs. We went to check in at 5:15, but ended up waiting in a long, slow moving line for a half hour just to check in! Then we waited another 10-15 minutes to be seated. But we were seated right next to the dance floor, which was nice.

The band started playing while we were getting our food, and they only played for about 10 minutes. Chef Jeff quickly showed us around the buffet. He seemed very disinterested and didn't take much time. He also didn't offer to make anything in the back. DW had to ask him to make a plate of salmon in the back for DS. They brought out a huge piece of salmon and DS ate the whole thing! He also had some sausage, cold meats, fresh fruit and the fruit compote. He didn't care for the pretzel rolls, which were safe, but "too salty".

We finished eating and were still waiting for the band to come out again, since they didn't play very long before. They finally came out an hour after their last set. This time, they played longer. DS loved dancing out on the dance floor. But he still thought it was too short.

Overall, Biergarten was a disappointment. The food was definitely worse than it was 2 years ago and the service was terrible. We may have to try something different in Epcot next time.

 

[bluejasmine]

Have to tell you that your DS is adorable!!

 

[Piglets Mommy]

Thank You for doing this report! My DS10 has the same allergies, so this is perfect. We love eating in WDW, because they really take the time (in most cases) to make a perfect meal for someone with food allergies. It is great to get the perspective of someone with similar allergies. (the Tokyo dining thing is a perfect example...we were going to consider that next time, as he LOVES teryiaki chicken...never would have thought there was dairy in their teryiaki sauce) I can't wait to read the rest! I do think it will be easier on our next trip, since he will be an "adult" on the DDP....after our 2009 trip, I swore I would never do DDP again as long as he was a kid....not enough flexibility at CS places for the allergies.

 

[Bork]

CS is definitely more of a challenge with kids and allergies. Very limited options, for the most part. We are lucky that DS can have baked goods containing eggs and dairy, so we didn't have to worry about the buns. But the limited options is the main reason we paid the extra $22 a day to upgrade from the free quick serve dining plan to the regular dining plan. It was definitely worth the extra money to get a TS meal every day.

 

[Bork]

50's Prime Time Cafe:
We had 12:25 ADRs and checked in 10 minutes early because it was raining again. That seemed to be a pattern during eating times. We waited in the living room for maybe 10 minutes before we were seated. Our "cousin" server was ok. She was nice, but more subdued than some of the other servers.

The chef came out after a few minutes. Again, I don't remember tha name as he didn't stand out one way or the other. He basically asked us what we wanted. We already knew the chicken or fish would be fine. DS chose the salmon with green beans and fruit salad. We were a bit disappointed that it didn't come with rice as usual, but it was enough food for DS. He finished most of it. Then they brought out an allergy safe brownie which he scarfed down. They also brought out a cupcake with a candle, but he couldn't have it.

Overall, food and service was average. I think we preferred the the Sci Fi Dine In that we did on our last trip. But I have to say that the shakes and desserts were good.

End Zone dinner (again):
We had planned to go to Toy Story Pizza Planet to get an allergy safe pizza, but at 90 minutes prior to Fantasmic, there was already a sizeable line and we didn't think we'd make it all the way across the park and still get a seat for the show. So we had a few snacks waiting for Fantasmic. We did some rides and shops after the show, so we didn't make it to the End Zone until 10:50.

DS was very hungry and still awake so he got a burger, fries and apple juice. It was still a bit busy at that hour. But when we get to a table, we see that they gave him a cheeseburger. So DW goes back and they make him a new burger. They took care of it pretty quickly, but still annoying when DS is hungry. That's why we always check burgers everywhere we go. Too many places just throw cheese on it, even when you ask them not to.

As a teaser, a couple of our favorite meals are still to come.

 

[Bork]

This day was a bit odd because we could only get an ADR for Liberty Tree Tavern at 4:20. So we decided to do a big breakfast and snacks for lunch. I also realized that we started slacking with our food pictures at this point.

End Zone Breakfast:
We finally got a chance to try the food court for breakfast. We waited a few minutes to speak to the chef about waffles. The chef (Rodrigo/Ricardo ?) was awesome! He made DS 4 allergy safe Mickey waffles with strawberries and a sausage. He also got 2 apple juices. We waited maybe 10 minutes for the food. Again, we had a less than stellar cashier. She asked rudely which one was the kids meal and that the kitchen "screwed up". I didn't feel like going over the whole allergy thing again, and she rang it up anyway.

DS loved the sausage and ate maybe 2 of the waffles with syrup.

Around lunch time, we were a bit hungry, so DW and I got Dole Whip floats DS wanted an ice cream. We wandered around for a while trying to find something. Finally found a cart in Fantasyland with Itsakadoozies, but they had no power, so couldn't take snack credits. So DS ended up getting fries at the Friar's Nook. DS thought it was fun to place the order and "pay" for it himself.

Liberty Tree Tavern Dinner:
Checked in at 4:10. It wasn't busy so we only waited a couple minutes for a table. DS colored for a bit in the waiting area and then colored some more at the table. He thought it was cool that they had mickey confetti on the table.

Our waiter was very nice and Chef Kawa came out to discuss the food. The bread was safe and he would make a special plate for DS. The plate had turkey, ham, beef, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy. DS was so excited that he could have gravy for the first time ever! He really scarfed down the food. He loved everything except the beef, which was tough. We agreed with him. DS even ended up getting seconds. He ate a LOT of food. Guess he liked it.

Then they brought out a bowl of rasberry sorbet with a candle. They sang a different happy birthday. DS loved the sorbet. We certainly weren't expecting them to have something like this. That was a nice surprise.

We all really enjoyed the food and the service here. Atmosphere was nice as well, even though we couldn't see out the windows because of the scrims. We will definitely be back here.

 

[PixieDustandEeyore]

Great reviews so far

 

[Bork]

So this day didn't go according to plan, but I'm glad it didn't. We ended up having some great dining experiences. This was also our only day doing 3 meals. Usually, we just had pop tarts or cereal and juice in the room. Yes, this was our last full day, so we had meal credits to use up.

End Zone Breakfast:
Back to the food court for breakfast. This time, they only made DS 2 allergy safe Mickey waffles with a sausage. No strawberries. And 2 apples juices again. Getting 2 drinks is one nice thing about breakfast, since those juice boxes are so small.

Pizzafari lunch:
We usually have QS at Flame Tree BBQ, but since that was closed, we figured we were going to try Restaurantasaurus. This was the recommended place for allergy options. But as we were getting out of the Lion King show at 2:00, we changed our minds. Since DS didn't get his special pizza at Pizza Planet yesterday, we decided to see what Pizzafari could do. And we were done with AK, and we wanted to get out of there to do some swimming, mini golf and hit DTD again.

It was a good decision. Manager Kelly was very nice and went through the allergy book with us. DS got a pizza with allergy safe crust, soy cheese and pepperoni. No sauce, since it contains cheese. As we were waiting (maybe 10 minutes), we ended up talking to the cashier, Gerardo, who happened to be from the Milwaukee area, like us. He was also very nice and rang up the allergy choices without a second thought.

While we were waiting, they sang happy birthday to DS and brough out the same safe cookies we had seen before. The cashier commented on hearing happy birthday all day long and that it gets very loud there. Said he was usually at Flame Tree. We all agreed that we missed Flame Tree.

When the food came out, DS ended up getting 3 packages of grapes, to go with the cookies, pizza and soda. DS ate 3/4 of the pizza, 1 grape packet and the cookies. We took the rest back to the room for another time. We are glad we tried Pizzafari. Service was good and the food was pretty good.

Wolfgang Puck Cafe Dinner:
We had a 5:40 ADR at Sanaa. It sounded interesting and we thought it would be convenient going right from AK. But since we left AK early, and wanted to get back to DTD (since DS was too tired to spend his birthday money the previous 2 times there), we skipped Sanaa. We also figured food would be similar to Tusker House.

We arrived at DTD at around 7:30. We hoped to stay in the Marketplace, so we decided to wing it for dinner. TS choices on the dining plan were pretty limited, so we checked at Captain Jack's. Not real excited, but we were hungry. They were only taking walk-ups at the bar and only had 1 seat available. They checked the other places and the one place that came up with openings was Wolfgang Puck Cafe. We hadn't considered it because we thought it was too far. But they said the boat went right from Captain Jacks, and stopped right next to Wolfgang Puck. We made it right on the boat as it was leaving. We had to walk around quite a bit of the building, but we finally found the entrance.

We love Wolfgang Puck Express, so we were excited to try the Cafe. It's 8 PM by now and DS is starving and cranky. We waited maybe 10 minutes for a table. Our server Buc was awesome! He was a former chef and knew the food choices well. He was very thorough with the allergies as well. DS went with spaghetti with red sauce and potato smiles. Buc double checked that everything would be safe. We was concerned about cross contamination in the frier for the potatoes, but we assured him that this has never been a problem for DS at other places. Since DS was starving, he brought out a plate of carrots as a snack, while we had our bread which wasn't allergy safe.

The plate of spaghetti was huge and DS loved it! And he got a bunch of potato smiles. He ate a LOT again and it helped soothe the cranky beast. Then they brought mango sorbet for dessert. DS didn't like that as much as the rasberry sorbet from the previous day.

We really enjoyed the food and the service at Wolfgang Puck Cafe. Glad Captain Jack's sent us over there. I have to add that I followed Buc's recommondations for my food and I'm glad I did. The macadamia crusted chicken was awesome and the carrot cake was even better. Outstanding meal. I'm just mad I didn't get pictures of our meals. I guess we were too hungry.

So while we strayed from our plan this day, things turned out great.

 

[Bork]

I should add that DS was too tired to finish shopping for a third time, so it's back to DTD tomorrow on our travel day.

 

[PixieDustandEeyore]

more great reviews

 

[Piglets Mommy]

Thanks for some more great installments! It's been a few years, but we had an AWESOME experience at Liberty Tree Tavern as well (back in 2007) They were GREAT with the allergies....DS said that that was his best meal EVER. We will try to get an ADR there on our next trip. I'm glad you had a good experience at Wolfgang Puck Cafe...the menu there looks great to DH and I....I'm glad to know they worked well with the allergies.

 

[Bork]

Kona Cafe Lunch:
It's our last day at WDW. We saved our favorite place for last, Kona Cafe. We fell in love with it when we stayed at the Polynesian for our Honeymoon 10 years ago. And we've gone back to Kona every time we go to WDW. We really wanted to do breakfast for the Tonga Toast and Maccadamia pancakes, but we also wanted more time in the MK during the morning, before we left. So we settled for a 1 PM ADR.

We took the monorail over to the Polynesian after getting on as much as possible at the MK. We love the monorail. We arrived a bit late, but were seated right away. DS is "super hungry" and cranky again. See a pattern?

Our server Lori was nice, but very slow. It wasn't that busy, so there were no excuses. The chef came out. I don't remember the name because he was very disinterested. He just asked us what we wanted and wrote it down. DS had the chicken with rice instead of macaroni (which had cheese), green beens, carrots, and fruit salad. He ate quite a bit again.

For dessert, they brought out a build your own sundae with toffuti. DS remembered this from when we were there when he was 3.5. That was his first sundae ever. He was especially excited to see it had cotton candy, to go with the usual sprinkles and chocolate sauce.

Food and service was just ok. It was a bit of a let down, since we love this place. And what the heck is a lychee? I ate it off the dessert, before I knew what it was.

We had planned to start our 22 hour drive home after this, but we had some fastpasses and a few more rides to do. Didn't end up leaving MK until after 5. Get to DTD at 6 after a last monorail ride around Epcot. DS finally finished his shopping (another box stuffed with potato head parts)

Marketplace Snacks:
So it's after 7 now and DS is hungry again. We used our last snack credits in the MK candy shop earlier, so it's OOP. So we head over to Marketplace Snacks. We get 3 hot dogs, 3 chips and 3 huge sodas. Servers were kind of rude and $23 for some hot dogs? Thank goodness we had the free dining for the trip. DS drops all his chips on the ground. So it's the end of the world. Ruined his whole day (that and space mountain being closed). Guess that means it's time to head home.

Glad we drove, so we could spend some last hours at the World.