Food Allergies and Disneyland?

[sweetmonkey]

Hello all. We went to WDW in Jan and had a wonderful experience there getting food for my daughter who is severely allergic to MILK and EGGS. We even used the meal plan and never had a problem finding food she loved!

We are heading to DL in August am having trouble finding the same information (who to contact for the parks, a list of locations with milk free items, etc). If anyone can share their experiences, it would be a big help!

Thanks!!!

 

[bumbershoot]

A kind person on this forum gave me the following link (well, this is the updated link from the link they gave me) to contact the chefs at DLR. http://www.glutenfreeinsd.com/disneyland.html

It's a site for gluten free (which isn't your or my issue), but when I called Disney Dining (I was nervous about just calling a chef at first) they were more than happy to put me through to the chef, b/c he's the one in charge of helping with allergies.

I'm still waiting for him to call to help with my problems (vegetarian items possibly not being vegetarian, yikes!), but then it was around 4pm yesterday when I called, so I'm being patient.

 

[sweetmonkey]

Great. Thanks. I will call tomorrow!

 

[kaoden39]

A kind person on this forum gave me the following link (well, this is the updated link from the link they gave me) to contact the chefs at DLR. http://www.glutenfreeinsd.com/disneyland.html

It's a site for gluten free (which isn't your or my issue), but when I called Disney Dining (I was nervous about just calling a chef at first) they were more than happy to put me through to the chef, b/c he's the one in charge of helping with allergies.

I'm still waiting for him to call to help with my problems (vegetarian items possibly not being vegetarian, yikes!), but then it was around 4pm yesterday when I called, so I'm being patient.

Still waiting huh? Did you say what the message was about? If so it doesn't sound to good as far as Disney goes in my opinion. Incidently I think you were rather brave to call. I don't know if I would be so bave, I used all my phone nerve at a younger age.

 

[bumbershoot]

Both Disney Dining and the operator I got to when I tried to call a different chef told me that he does return all calls, though it might take a little bit. I left a very detailed message, including name and phone number twice, LOL.

Even threw in that hubby is vegetarian for religious reasons, for a bit of urgency. (buddhist, for the record, though his mom seems to think that being vegetarian is for the monks, not for regular folk...he disagrees!)

 

[camouseketeer]

My DD has multiple FA's (egg, peanut, tree nuts, and others but NOT dairy) and we've made several trips to DLR.

When I make my ADR's, I note my DD's FA's to the Disney Dining CM and ask to speak to a chef. Each park, Disneyland and DCA, has a head chef who should call you to discuss your issues. You should get the number for each from the Dining CM.

Yes, leave a message with your trip dates, ADR locations, any CS locations you plan to eat at, and your child's FA's. The chefs have always called me before every trip. If your trip is not for a while, you may not hear from them until closer to your travel date.

From my experience, there is far more printed and online FA info about WDW than DLR. We also visited WDW in January and received lots of info about safe foods and food locations. For DLR, the chefs are the main source of info. They know their stuff.

With the chefs, I discussed foods at each TS restaurant as well as the CS places. I believe the CS locations have binders with FA info like WDW. If you are not sure when you arrive, ask to speak to a lead.

We never had a problem.

Have a great trip.

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

You didn't mention how old your daughter is or how varied her palate is. If she's not in that phase where they are really picky, you're in luck! Everyone gave great advice about speaking to the Park chefs.

We are DL AP holders and go there every couple weeks. I was bummed a few months ago when I was temporarily put on a special diet with no dairy, no eggs, no gluten, no soy, no corn, no tomatoes, and no sugar and was really worried about finding food. It turned out that I had several options and didn't go hungry.

At Pizza Port - a counter service with a lot of speciality salads, they made one of the chinese chicken salad up fresh with no dressing for me (that was the only one that I could have easily). Since all the ingredients are thrown in when they make it, they can be flexible.

They do have books with recipes at all of the counter service places (I ask for recipes at the CA Food and Wine Festival). They don't have the cast member at a register sitting out front, like they do in WDW, at those locations, so it's almost easier to ask to see the ingredient list without feeling pressured by the line behind you.

I was also able to get a number of items at any of the table service places. The waitstaff is very pleasant in helping with these issues, especially at the fine dining establishments in the resort hotels.

Hope this helps some.
Nancy

 

[bumbershoot]

I heard from Chef Chris, he is super-nice, and eased my worries. More info in my post "question about veggie items like chili".

You will very likely enjoy your conversation with him, and I hope he eases your mind like he did mine!

 

[GregC]

make sure you talk to cooks as the counter people have no idea what you are talking about.

 

[sweetmonkey]

So my daughter is almost four but eats most everything she is allowed to have! She loves everything from pickled ginger and sushi to hot dogs and turkey legs. . .so I am not terribly worried about not being able to find something she can eat. I was more wanting to find out where I could get things like soy/rice ice cream and if the popcorn was safe for her. At WDW, I was emailed a list from each of the chefs/directors of food services in the various parks with a list of where soy milk, ice cream, Divvies (allergy free) cookies, etc were located including vendor stations, CS and sit down restaurants. Since we are going in August, it would be great if she could have something cold and refreshing so the rest of us do not feel guilty about getting ice cream!

I am confused about one thing specifically. On the Disneyland website, it says that the pinaeapple whip is "completely dairy free." http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/en_US/parks/dining/detail?name=TikiJuiceBarDiningPage
However, all of the ingredient lists I find (from Dole) include casein- or sodium caseinate- which is a dairy product and a big allergen. I am going to try to find out if this is a new change or if the Disney website is wrong. Obviously, I will err on the side of caution if I can not find out for sure.

 

[bumbershoot]

Sweetmonkey (great user name by the way), did you notice on the dole whip site (precisionfoods) that IT states it's dairy free, then a few lines later mentions the sodium caseinate?

I'm going with the ingredient list on that one. Of course, it's so far removed from milk , who knows what it might do? Like my son can't have corn syrup, but he can have cornstarch in my homemade pudding.

And they can probably say "dairy free" b/c of a situation I found from my vegetarian researching of marshmallows. I found that there was a vegan marshmallow using a kosher thickening agent that was supposed to NOT be gelatin, but it WAS gelatin, and from pig no less! However, it was rated Kosher b/c it was so many chemical steps away from the animal that the rabbinical counsel did not feel it was from that animal anymore. (of course now that we figured out the corn syrup problem, marshmallows even without gelatin are forbidden)


I would definitely call Chef Chris and get that specific list from him. From my conversation, it seems I should have been much more specific and less talky in my message, so if I had it to do again I'd list all the things I needed to know about (foods I'm interested in), so he could have the lists in front of him when he called back.

So I'd ask about soy/rice cream/dream, and all those other things in your message.

If by chance you feel like asking him about the ingredients in churros, I'd love you forever.

 

[disneyfan4ever54]

So my daughter is almost four but eats most everything she is allowed to have! She loves everything from pickled ginger and sushi to hot dogs and turkey legs. . .so I am not terribly worried about not being able to find something she can eat. I was more wanting to find out where I could get things like soy/rice ice cream and if the popcorn was safe for her. At WDW, I was emailed a list from each of the chefs/directors of food services in the various parks with a list of where soy milk, ice cream, Divvies (allergy free) cookies, etc were located including vendor stations, CS and sit down restaurants. Since we are going in August, it would be great if she could have something cold and refreshing so the rest of us do not feel guilty about getting ice cream!

I am confused about one thing specifically. On the Disneyland website, it says that the pinaeapple whip is "completely dairy free." http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/en_US/parks/dining/detail?name=TikiJuiceBarDiningPage
However, all of the ingredient lists I find (from Dole) include casein- or sodium caseinate- which is a dairy product and a big allergen. I am going to try to find out if this is a new change or if the Disney website is wrong. Obviously, I will err on the side of caution if I can not find out for sure.

A little while back, I saw a thread about soy/rice ice cream at DLR. (I can't remember if it was this board or another one.) The person said that they had checked and there were no products like this at all at DLR. I'm not sure if things have changed since then, but I do remember this being the case at the time. I sure wish they would have these available too. I also have to omit ice cream at the parks for this reason.

 

[disneychrista]

I have never seen soy or rice milk at Disney. Deffiently something you will want to bring along if this is something you use.

 

[BELLEDOZER]

I've got a really good cookie recipe for ginger cookies that is egg, dairy, and sugar free (the sweetening ingredient is Molasses} . If you are interested in it, you can make up a large batch and take it with you for snacks. PM me if you are interested, and I'll forward the recipe. Have a great trip!
Trish