food allergies

[klc318]

Does anyone have any experience with how well certain restaurants deal with food allergies? My DD6 has many allergies and when we were there in '09 we only chose to eat where we were certain there would be something she could have. This year DH and I would like to try a few different places but it doesn't really seem like they will have anything for her to choose from. I don't want to take the chance of getting there and having to leave b/c she can't eat anything. I guess I'm just wondering how accommodating they will be. We had excellent service in '09, servers and chefs went above and beyond to make sure her experience was wonderful. A few notables were, The Plaza, Chef Mickeys and Akershus,

I'm asking specifically about Tutto Italia, 'Ohana, Kona, The Wave, Tony's, and Coral Reef to name a few. But if you have other suggestions, please share those, too!

Her allergies include dairy, eggs, all nuts, and peas.

Thanks

 

[linnell]

My son has a dairy intolerance and a very picky diet to go with it and the chef's were all accommodating. We even asked for chocolate soy milk and a few had to go to neighboring restaurants or stores to get it for us, but were happy to do so.

 

[soarinup]

It has been my experience that WDW is very accomodating with allergies and special needs of its guests

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I would suggest going to the disABILITIES Forum and look at Post #3 of the disABILITIES FAQs. There is a large section in that post dealing with special dietary needs, as well as many related links. You can get directly to the disABILITIES FAQs by following the link in my signature.

This is a very common topic of discussion in the disABILITIES Forum.

 

[Robostorm]

My wife has tons of food allergies. When we go to a restaurant WDW they have been great. The normally send out the Chef and the carefully go over her food allergies. Even when we were at Animal Kingdom @ a little takeout place they sent the manager out to her to double check her list. We find them to be very careful and accommodating. They have no problem substituting something her. Her food is made fresh.

 

[BoosGram]

Check this out:
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/special-dietary-requests/

We had a great experience w/all the restaurants we went to; they went out of their way to be accommodating. We did email a list of allergies/intolerances to WDW about 2 weeks before we went along w/a list of the TS restaurants we would be going to. I think you will be best served by alerting them ahead of time so they can be prepared.

 

[klc318]

Thanks for all the replies. I will definitely go over to the disabilities board and check out those posts. I guess I just don't want to presume that if there is nothing on the menu that she can have, they will make her something. As I said before, we had great experiences last time, I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't rude to go to a restaurant where I knew there wasn't much she could have and expect them to accommodate us.

Thanks again!

 

[EvilQueenT]

remember to take the time to call each restaurant at least 24-48 hours in advance and let them know when you're coming, your reservation number and what your special needs are. make sure you get the name of who you speak with and bring it up when you check in for your meal. basically have your speech ready because you'll say it over and over again but it's the best way to make sure no one drops the ball and hurts your child by being careless. it's been my experience that they're very willing to work with you but the more heads up you can give them makes everything go smoother.

 

[DCDisney]

They all look fine but Tutto is not WDW owned so they usually do not do as well with food allergies as WDW owned restaurants.

 

[Hopefully]

Thanks for all the replies. I will definitely go over to the disabilities board and check out those posts. I guess I just don't want to presume that if there is nothing on the menu that she can have, they will make her something. As I said before, we had great experiences last time, I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't rude to go to a restaurant where I knew there wasn't much she could have and expect them to accommodate us.

Thanks again!

WDW is great with dietary restrictions. I know you are going to review the disabilities thread.
But in response to your post, I would say, plan ahead as much as you can.
I do think it is unreasonable to assume that if there is nothing on the menu that she can have, and you have researched and know this is the case, to expect that they can willingly accomodate her. Choose restaurants where you know she can eat, and avoid any restaurant that can not accomodate her needs. I guess I am saying, don't expect everywhere can meet your needs.
Enjoy

 

[pad406]

Does anyone have any experience with how well certain restaurants deal with food allergies? My DD6 has many allergies and when we were there in '09 we only chose to eat where we were certain there would be something she could have. This year DH and I would like to try a few different places but it doesn't really seem like they will have anything for her to choose from. I don't want to take the chance of getting there and having to leave b/c she can't eat anything. I guess I'm just wondering how accommodating they will be. We had excellent service in '09, servers and chefs went above and beyond to make sure her experience was wonderful. A few notables were, The Plaza, Chef Mickeys and Akershus,

I'm asking specifically about Tutto Italia, 'Ohana, Kona, The Wave, Tony's, and Coral Reef to name a few. But if you have other suggestions, please share those, too!

Her allergies include dairy, eggs, all nuts, and peas.

Thanks

My son has a bad nut allergy and all the resturaunts were very accomodating with it. Each one knew in advance as we had specified when we made our adr's and the chef came over and discussed everything with us. Of the ones you mention we had O'Hanas, Kona and Coral Reef. They were all great. We did have a near miss in T-rex though as the 'crumbles' on the Volcano dessert had peanuts in them and nobody seem to remember that! Notify them well in advance, we didn't call again the 24-48hrs before, but for your DD's number of allergies that might be advised and after that just enjoy

 

[mfd25wife]

I am allergic to gluten and had very few problems. We marked it on the ADR's and reminded them again when we checked in for TS. The only place we had any issues was La Hacienda, and they acted like it put them out. The manager was nice. The server was not. It took three times to get the chef to come out. The server wanted to tell me what I could eat, but since he didn't know what the vegetarian in the group could eat, we did not trust him at all For CS, they always had the manager come up and show me my options. They also did not let anyone else handle my food. Only certain people were allowed. At the TS restaurants, the chef brought it out to me. All in all, I was really impressed. They actually seemed to enjoy making me something different.

 

[mfd25wife]

Does anyone have any experience with how well certain restaurants deal with food allergies? My DD6 has many allergies and when we were there in '09 we only chose to eat where we were certain there would be something she could have. This year DH and I would like to try a few different places but it doesn't really seem like they will have anything for her to choose from. I don't want to take the chance of getting there and having to leave b/c she can't eat anything. I guess I'm just wondering how accommodating they will be. We had excellent service in '09, servers and chefs went above and beyond to make sure her experience was wonderful. A few notables were, The Plaza, Chef Mickeys and Akershus,

I'm asking specifically about Tutto Italia, 'Ohana, Kona, The Wave, Tony's, and Coral Reef to name a few. But if you have other suggestions, please share those, too!

Her allergies include dairy, eggs, all nuts, and peas.

Thanks

I forgot to add that even though you've researched, definitely talk to them. I would have never guessed that Boma uses a gluten product to bind their sausage had the chef not been walking me around the buffet showing me what I could have and what was off limits. Plus, he made me mickey waffles out of a gluten free batter.

 

[jackglick]

My husband has a sesame and nut allergy. I emailed his allergies with a list of all our reservations to WDW. Also, made sure when we checked in that it was noted on the reservation. All of the restuarants were very accomodating excpet Tutto Italia. I guess because they are not a WDW restaurant. Citricos and Captain's Grill went above and beyond.

 

[Mary T in PA]

Our DD8 has nut allergies. I just made ADRs earlier this week for our summer trip and note all allergies when booking. When we are actually at Disney, the chefs and servers have been great in dealing with it.. they take it very seriously and we've had no problems. It's one place our daughter is not separated and made to feel isolated all in the name of safety.

As for some of the places you've mentioned, we've had the server get the chef to come to the table and he will usually come up with something to serve our daugther based on her allergies and her food likes.

 

[Fantasmic23]

As well as being a type 1 diabetic, my son is allergic to tree nuts, bananas and sesame.

We only have had experience at The Crystal Palace, Boma and 50's Prime Time Cafe, but each restaurant was excellent when it came to my son's allergies. We were walked around the buffets at Crystal and Boma, the chefs telling us which were the safest items. The female chef at Boma was especially sweet, informing my DS is there was anything special that he wanted (A fruit salad), she would make it for him. The chef at 50's came to our table and walked us through the menu. The chef at 50's asked my son what he was considering for both lunch and dessert and both choices were safe (Not to mention my son ate everything on his plate!).