Food Allergy ?

[ericasatx]

I have contacted Special Diets and sent in our form for Table reservations and have received the lists back of the available allergy free items at quick service. My question- Is there a way before we go to find out which snacks and quick service entrees on the regular menus are safe?

My daughter is allergic to egg, dairy, peanuts and shellfish. I think based on difference posts that she can have Pineapple Dole whip and the Minute Maid Frozen Lemonades- those are just some examples. But is there anyway to check that out or get lists beforehand? I'm hoping to avoid going from kiosk to kiosk and her getting super disappointed when there isn't something there she can eat.

Is there a way or am I just hoping for too much?

 

[spacecanada]

Sadly, I haven't found a way to check the ingredients of regular menu offerings except for at Be Our Guest (which has an online menu and allergy tool). You can look at some of the menus online and see if there are items that would have a high probability of being safe. You can call Special Diets to ask about those items in particular, but be sure to check again once you're actually at the restaurant, just in case ingredients have changed. It should give you a starting point. (We don't call Special Diets about menu items, opting to check the day we're in the parks.)

There is a list of which quick service locations are better able to accommodate food allergies - the current list is on the Special Diets page, but the allergy lists they sent you should give you an indication as well.

My cousin (same allergies) can eat the turkey leg, so be sure to ask for ingredients on that if you're interested. She gets on just fine around the parks, with plenty to eat. (As do we with multiple allergies.)

We always assume it will take us a long time to find safe food, and start looking for snacks or meals an hour before we normally would, just in case it takes a while to find something safe. We also bring a few snacks from home into the park, just in case hunger strikes and no safe (and appealing) options are nearby. We also eat plenty of fresh fruit, which is pretty easy to find around the parks. Be sure to wipe off the apples.

Keep us posted and let us know if you find an easier way to check regular menu items for allergens. I'm interested in this as well.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

I work at Dutch Wonderland in Pa, when I looked at our book for this year, all flavors of Dole Whip listed milk component in them so I would check Disney's book on that. pineapple was included in that. i am guessing you will need to look at the book at each counter serve, not sure how you could do unless something is on line

 

[WheeledTraveler]

I don't think there's any official resource. There are websites where guests have compiled lists of what has been safe in the past and where to find those items. Hopefully someone will come by with links to the websites that tend to be most accurate. My guess is that it's just too many foods for Special Diets to keep track of food that isn't specifically ordered to be allergy friendly.

Betty Rohrer also brings up a good issue in terms of ingredients changing. Dole Whips were diary free, and then they weren't for a few years, and then in the last year or so it seemed that the Pineapple (and maybe one other fruit flavor?) was diary free again in most places. The exceptions were locations where there was no way to serve the dairy-free flavor(s) without using the same equipment as the flavors with diary. (This is one of the reasons why Pineapple Dole Whips may be safe at WDW, but not where Betty Rohrer works, as well.) So it's not even necessarily as simple as an item always being safe even if the base item should be.

Looking for snacks before food becomes an immediate need and bringing safe snacks just in case are going to be your safest bets. If you are going with a large enough group, you could also designate someone to discreetly stop and ask vendors as you're walking the parks (so before snacks are even on anyone's radar). It's more work, but it would get you up to date info on the best place to head when a snack is wanted.

As far as for meals, that's where website lists are probably going to be slightly more accurate. I know off the top of my head, for example, that Sunshine Seasons has plenty of options for meals for your daughter that don't involve any "special" food items. (They may not be exact to a menu item, either, but they're going to be closer to just a substitution for a side for many options.)

 

[La2kw]

I have contacted Special Diets and sent in our form for Table reservations and have received the lists back of the available allergy free items at quick service. My question- Is there a way before we go to find out which snacks and quick service entrees on the regular menus are safe?

My daughter is allergic to egg, dairy, peanuts and shellfish. I think based on difference posts that she can have Pineapple Dole whip and the Minute Maid Frozen Lemonades- those are just some examples. But is there anyway to check that out or get lists beforehand? I'm hoping to avoid going from kiosk to kiosk and her getting super disappointed when there isn't something there she can eat.

Is there a way or am I just hoping for too much?

I have multiple allergies (milk, gluten, soy, shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts and more) Dole Whips used to have casein in them, which is a milk derivative. According to the ingredients it looks like they do not any longer. http://precisionfoods.com/foodservice/product_detail.cfm?wpCatId=52568&skuId=795055

All of the kiosks and CS places have ingredient binders. Just ask to see them. I know they also have a mango "gelato" that is dairy free and strawberry bars as well. It's tough sometimes to find something to eat, so I do recommend bringing along snacks for your daughter as well.

 

[mistysue]

Disney's special diets won't suggest which counter service to go to- they just give you a list of every single counter service on property.
In our experience, we avoid eating counter service in AK and HS -
As a super dumbed down guide:
at HS Backlot express generally stocks the allergy tenders.
AK people suggest the Flame Tree BBQ
EPCOT, eat at Sunshine seasons for the best variety with allergies.
MK - go to Columbia Harbor house or Cosmic Rays. (shellfish may be an issue with CHH, depends on whether you are ok with getting food knowing they handle a TON of seafood even if it's not touching your food)

If you go to Table service, they will have options for you. They will take raw plain ingredients and make them into food, leaving out what you don't want in there.

The reason that you end up feeling helpless while planning until you arrive is because items change, they might be out of or stocking something from a different vendor, or you might have a different idea of what "safe" is than another person with the same allergy. (once you say peanut, they are going to tell you no baked item anywhere is safe... so does safe mean does not contain, not shared equipment, not shared facility...) Rather than make it more frustrating and creating more confusion, Disney just isn't going to commit to too much information about what is there.

As you may have noticed while perusing lists, there is an unfortunate factor that peanuts, dairy and eggs do contradict some of the alternatives for each other, emphasizing your need to know what level of potential cross contamination can pass for you. For example the standard nut safe bread or cookie will have egg, unless you find the "enjoy life" ones. But if you are ok with the facility cross contam. warning there may be standard breads you call safe. The dairy alternative ice creams can have factory issues with some nuts. It will help you to know if you are comfortable with Rice Dream and various soy milk companies so you can determine what you are ok with if it comes up. DS can't have soy, but I know I keep seeing mention of the brands Pacific and Kikkoman so I would look into those if I was you.

I would look through menus and try to ask about specific items. People here may just know if you have specific things in mind. Because it loads much faster than Disney's site I usually go through allears.net menus before our trip and make a list of items to try to look into.

 

[SueM in MN]

Disney's special diets won't suggest which counter service to go to- they just give you a list of every single counter service on property.
In our experience, we avoid eating counter service in AK and HS -
As a super dumbed down guide:
at HS Backlot express generally stocks the allergy tenders.
AK people suggest the Flame Tree BBQ
EPCOT, eat at Sunshine seasons for the best variety with allergies.
MK - go to Columbia Harbor house or Cosmic Rays. (shellfish may be an issue with CHH, depends on whether you are ok with getting food knowing they handle a TON of seafood even if it's not touching your food)

If you go to Table service, they will have options for you. They will take raw plain ingredients and make them into food, leaving out what you don't want in there.

The reason that you end up feeling helpless while planning until you arrive is because items change, they might be out of or stocking something from a different vendor, or you might have a different idea of what "safe" is than another person with the same allergy. (once you say peanut, they are going to tell you no baked item anywhere is safe... so does safe mean does not contain, not shared equipment, not shared facility...) Rather than make it more frustrating and creating more confusion, Disney just isn't going to commit to too much information about what is there.

As you may have noticed while perusing lists, there is an unfortunate factor that peanuts, dairy and eggs do contradict some of the alternatives for each other, emphasizing your need to know what level of potential cross contamination can pass for you. For example the standard nut safe bread or cookie will have egg, unless you find the "enjoy life" ones. But if you are ok with the facility cross contam. warning there may be standard breads you call safe. The dairy alternative ice creams can have factory issues with some nuts. It will help you to know if you are comfortable with Rice Dream and various soy milk companies so you can determine what you are ok with if it comes up. DS can't have soy, but I know I keep seeing mention of the brands Pacific and Kikkoman so I would look into those if I was you.

I would look through menus and try to ask about specific items. People here may just know if you have specific things in mind. Because it loads much faster than Disney's site I usually go through allears.net menus before our trip and make a list of items to try to look into.

One member of our group last fall included a child who was allergic to dairy, eggs, peanuts and tree nuts, fish and shellfish.
At Columbia Harbor House, they could have handled his other allergies, but said they could not serve him there because he has anaphylactic reactions to fish and shellfish.

The table service restaurants were great. The chef came out and basically made him something from the menu that worked for his allergies. We ate at a couple of buffets; the chef there pointed out the safe items for him.
Some of the counter service places had a special printed menu sheet with their menu items that would be safe for particular allergies. But, as you noted, some that were fine for one allergy were not for others.
The boy's mom did check out the ingredient binders in multiple places. It seems that some products change fairly often, so I agree that is one of the reasons they don't give out a lot of lists ahead of time.

Besides allearsnet, the DISBOARDS parent site, wdwinfo.com also has menus.
I usually suggest people check out both allearsnet and wdwinfo.com because one or the other may have more up to date information about different restaurants.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

to La2kn: the book we just got at Dutch Wonderland lists the casein in all flavors that we use of Dole Whip. our season just started last month and I checked it at training day because of what has been said on here

 

[La2kw]

to La2kn: the book we just got at Dutch Wonderland lists the casein in all flavors that we use of Dole Whip. our season just started last month and I checked it at training day because of what has been said on here

The link I provided lists the ingredients of Dole Whip. Casein isn't listed on the fruit flavors (pineapple, orange, raspberry, and strawberry) which surprised me. It is listed as an ingredient on the vanilla and chocolate. It used to be listed in the pineapple, which is why I avoided/limited my consumption of it. I also don't remember it containing any pineapple juice.

DOLE® Pineapple Soft Serve Mix - Naturally & Artificially Flavored
SKU - D581-A6120
Ingredients

Sugar, Dextrose, Coconut Oil, Stabilizers (Cellulose Gum, Xanthan Gum, Locust Bean Gum, Karaya Gum, Pectin), Maltodextrin, Citric Acid, Natural & Artificial Flavor (contains Pineapple Juice), Modified Food Starch, Malic Acid, Beta Carotene (Color), Mono & Diglycerides, Less Than 2% Silicon Dioxide (Anticaking).

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Dutch Wonderland only uses Vanilla, Orange and Pineapple Dole Whip and yes the packages are labeled Dole Whip, not a knock off

 

[PinkBudgie]

One member of our group last fall included a child who was allergic to dairy, eggs, peanuts and tree nuts, fish and shellfish.
At Columbia Harbor House, they could have handled his other allergies, but said they could not serve him there because he has anaphylactic reactions to fish and shellfish.

I have a fish/shellfish allergy and CHH is the place they stop to eat on the Keys to the Kingdom tour I signed up for. I called and emailed the tour office and finally got through to someone who said me eating there shouldn't be a problem. I have heard otherwise on this board, so I tried to find out ahead of time, but I just got the answer that I should not order fish, otherwise fine. I guess I'll find out if I'm allowed to eat lunch that day or not.

I had been wondering the same thing as the OP. I've seen the list of allergy friendly food at each place, but I know I can have most of what is on the main menu. I don't need gluten free pasta. It would be nice to plan ahead but I guess I'll have to wait until I'm there to check the ingredients. I can eat most things, but they hide anchovies in food often enough that I have to check everything.

 

[spacecanada]

Dutch Wonderland only uses Vanilla, Orange and Pineapple Dole Whip and yes the packages are labeled Dole Whip, not a knock off

This is proof that you need to check the ingredients label every single time, because it may be safe in one location but not another. Some brands have different recipes or different facilities (with different allergen labels) for different sizes of packaging, or even regional discrepancies. With Dole Whip, I think anyone with severe food allergies or dairy intolerance should check the label every time. Sometimes it is safe, other times it is not.

 

[mistysue]

One member of our group last fall included a child who was allergic to dairy, eggs, peanuts and tree nuts, fish and shellfish.
At Columbia Harbor House, they could have handled his other allergies, but said they could not serve him there because he has anaphylactic reactions to fish and shellfish.

We had that come up too last August, which is why I mentioned knowing your comfort level. My son's allergist has us avoiding shellfish with him because of his tests. We just list it with his allergies and the day they got those preprinted sheets with safe foods the manager insisted they could not serve him because of the risk of air born allergens from shellfish... it was a strange conversation given that we had eaten there a few times in the preceeding week. If they are being more consistent with that now, that is useful to know.

 

[Random Ninja]

We had that come up too last August, which is why I mentioned knowing your comfort level. My son's allergist has us avoiding shellfish with him because of his tests. We just list it with his allergies and the day they got those preprinted sheets with safe foods the manager insisted they could not serve him because of the risk of air born allergens from shellfish... it was a strange conversation given that we had eaten there a few times in the preceeding week. If they are being more consistent with that now, that is useful to know.

They mentioned to me about the issue with seafood a couple weekends ago. The managers are being WAY more cautious with seafood allergies then they used to. If you have seafood allergies, be prepared to be told no or explain why you aren't worried about airborne/cross-contamination allergens. The only reason they don't seem to give me too much trouble when ordering is that I've had several conversations with the chef and several of the managers (being semi-local helps) and trace amounts of cooked seafood is okay for me. As for airborne allergens, well, there's a reason I wear a mask around WDW.

 

[PinkBudgie]

They mentioned to me about the issue with seafood a couple weekends ago. The managers are being WAY more cautious with seafood allergies then they used to. If you have seafood allergies, be prepared to be told no or explain why you aren't worried about airborne/cross-contamination allergens. The only reason they don't seem to give me too much trouble when ordering is that I've had several conversations with the chef and several of the managers (being semi-local helps) and trace amounts of cooked seafood is okay for me. As for airborne allergens, well, there's a reason I wear a mask around WDW.

Well, they better explain that to the Keys to the Kingdom Tour office then. They seem to know nothing about this. I will mention it on the morning of the tour. I have been around my son cooking fish sticks in the oven and been fine, but otherwise I haven't been around cooking fish. Avoiding shellfish is a precaution because the last time I ate fish and was fine, was the same time I had a shrimp and was fine. So, if I could suddenly get a fish allergy, I could suddenly get a shellfish allergy too. I'll check in to it further after my vacation.

I'd love to get a heads up on whether or not the BBQ sauce used in the parks contains anchovies, but I guess like the Dole Whip in question with milk, that could change at any time or be different at different places most likely. It's just nice to have an idea ahead of time.

 

[nfceagles]

That is interesting about the Dole Whips. I order their commercial mix online occasionally and it is still listed as dairy free. The pineapple flavor, NOT the vanilla flavor. Their website lists no casein in the fruit flavors as well as the following statement about allergens and being vegan.

"Vegan Statement: The ingredients used in this product do not contain dairy, therefore, the product is considered dairy free. The Rabbinical guidelines classify this product to be kosher-dairy. Allergen control and sanitation procedures are in place and are strictly followed. In addition, this product does not contain any animal based ingredients.

Allergens: None – Based on FDA FALCPA (Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004) “Big 8” allergens."

If I had to wager money, my bet is that Dutch Wonderland's ingredient listings are old. Maybe I'll call the company tomorrow and ask. I do know that the mix does not come with an ingredient label on it.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Vanilla Dole Whip is lactose free but contains casein. Fruit flavoured Dole Whip is vegan. I think this changed a couple years ago. That being said, somebody on the board quite a while ago asked at Aloha Isle about cross contamination and was told that they use the same bucket for making the vanilla and the fruit flavours. So, you have to know your own comfort level on cross contamination. If you decide to try it then ask the CM to change her gloves and then grab a cup from a fresh sleeve and to dispense the Dole Whip from the machine without the vanilla in order to minimize risk of cross contamination.

I completely get what you're saying about wishing for a list of what regular foods are safe. The allergy lists are wonderful for knowing what specialty products are available where but they do not include regular food items. Nowhere on the lists does it show that the popcorn is gluten, dairy, egg, peanut free for instance. I think it has coconut and is therefore not considered nut free but if you don't consider coconut to be a nut (I don't) then it's also nut free last I checked. I really wish they would make info like this available.

Here are my favourite non-specialty foods. I can't be sure about shellfish since that's not one of our allergens.

Snacks
popcorn from the carts
frozen pineapple bars, strawberry bars, tri-colour popsicles from the carts
fruit
pickles
turkey leg
potato chips (read the label to see which flavours are safe; they're clearly labeled)
Goofy's candy (read the label to see which ones are safe; they're clearly labeled)
frozen Coke
Kaki gori in Japan

A few CS meals that we like which have no allergy specific foods include rotisserie chicken and ribs at CS locations that carry them. I do state our allergies so that the foods not go through the regular part of the kitchen for cross contamination purposes but they are naturally made free of our allergens (again, I'm not sure about shellfish). We get the ribs without BBQ sauce because my kids don't like BBQ sauce. I don't know if the stuff they have is safe or not. Sunshine Seasons has a lot of options that are already safe and they have a chef rather than a manager who will work with you to make sure that you get safe food. Resort CS locations are the same way and have plenty of options to work with.