Leaving next week - recently diagnosed allergies - looking for some tips!

[EllNat11]

We leave on May 1 for 10 days. My daughter was very recently diagnosed with allergies to peanut, tree nut, dairy and egg. We will have her benedryl and epi-pen with us, but this hasn't left me with very much time to research options and i've never had to deal with a food allergy before. I know at TS restaurants we can speak with the chef (we only have a couple planned) and we have a 1BR at BLT for the trip so can make a lot of stuff in the room and bring stuff in. That being said, i'd like her to be able to enjoy a snack or quick service with us every now and then.

Any tips on which snacks or QS may be good options to check out? Anything goofy I should be sure to avoid (ie to they hide anything crazy in something I would assume to be inocuous like dairy in their hamburgers?)

Is soy milk available in the parks?

I'll be sure to ask before we get her anything, but any tips that may help us to save time by avoiding places known to not have anything safe would be so helpful.

Thank you!

 

[Chelley00]

I have the same allergies as your DD plus some. I definitely didn't go hungry Disney is great about allergies and most people are very informed or will get a manager or chef for you, even at CS.

 

[WheeledTraveler]

Those are all top-8 so it shouldn't be too bad. You could try e-mailing Special Diets for their lists (unfortunately, they'll only send lists of special foods stocked and they'll send you a separate list for each allergy so you'll have to conflate yourself) just in case they could get them to you quickly enough. I'd just make sure to mention in the e-mail that you would have contacted earlier, but they were just diagnosed.

If you mention your allergies at CS restaurants they will at least give you a binder that lists all the ingredients in their foods. You can also ask for a manager. At TS they usually bring the chef out. I would suggest trying to keep to WDW-owned restaurants. I know there was a thread recently that had a list of the restaurants posters knew were *not* owned by WDW. The biggest problems tend to be in EPCOT around the World Showcase because the majority of those are not owned by WDW. Do not be afraid to push to talk to a manager at CS or chef at TS if they don't come on their own.

It will generally take longer to get food for your daughter than it will for the rest of you (assuming she's the only one with allergies), but WDW is one of the best places to go when it comes to being able to get safe foods. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with how much she can eat.

 

[MSSANDRA]

I would plan a few more sit downs. At these, the manager or chief will for sure come out and talk you through the menu. We have felt safe every time at a TS. CS, they will do their best to help you but are more limited in what they have to work with. We are just PA and resolving egg so we are pretty good with most things expect desserts. Those are going to be very limited at CS. I have heard that a vendor change has made most of the bread at CS not safe but I do not know this for a fact. You may do better with an adult CS such as a grilled chicken breast. Be sure to ask about designated fryers and if they have the prepackaged allergy cookies. Check out if the Popsicles are safe choice for you. You can get everyone's CS dessert to do and then grap your DD a frozen treat (they are everywhere) and eat together outside.

 

[clanmcculloch]

The bread at many places these days is GNI. The GNI bread is listed as free of the allergens you listed. If the location you're at has Udi's then unfortunately that isn't safe as it contains eggs.

The allergy chicken tenders that are available at so many places are free of those allergens.

I believe that the only package baked good that he'll be able to eat will be the Enjoy Life cookies. Most CS and TS locations have them. A few places also have the Enjoy Life chocolate bars which are great. Most TS restaurants have non-dairy ice cream alternatives by Tofutti and some also have Rice Dream. The few that don't have these typically have sorbet. At least this is true of the restaurants owned by Disney.

Many places do carry soy milk. It's Kikkoman brand and I think you should be able to find plain, vanilla and chocolate though not all places that carry it will have all 3 flavours. Contempo Cafe at your resort will likely have all 3. In the parks, it'll likely be limitted to the biggest locations. If you email Special Diets, the dairy free list should show which locations carry it.

As PP said, at CS locations you'll look through a binder which has allergens clearly marked and the manager will ensure no cross contamination in the kitchen. No need for guessing.

The popcorn around the parks is dairy free. At least if you don't avoid coconut it's safe for you. (some with tree nut allergies are told to even though it is in a different food family than tree nuts as it is from a plant in a completely different plant family despite what the FDA says)

The frozen fruit bars (pineapple and strawberry) and popsicles sold at the frozen carts around the parks are also safe for her allergens. I believe the pretzels are too but I'd confirm that if I was you (my DD who used to be able to eat them before having to give up gluten was able to eat eggs and didn't avoid all tree nuts, only some, so I'm not positive).

Here's where we typically eat CS in the parks because of having more than one option available for our laundry list of allergies. Turkey legs are also safe.

MK: Columbia Harbour House (chicken tenders, yum), Cosmic Ray's
Epcot: Sunshine Seasons (so many options and you actually speak with a chef instead of a manager), Electric Umbrella, Liberty Inn, Mexico
DHS: Most locations carry chicken tenders though we typically eat TS at DHS because the options for non-allergies just aren't very good. I don't know if the pizza crusts in the allergy crusts are egg free or not but the egg allergy list should show if there's safe pizza crusts at Pizza Planet. I believe they have soy cheese to top it with.
AK: Flame Tree BBQ though we're more likely to eat TS at Tusker House.
DTD: Cook's of Dublin, Babycakes (only dessert but boy are there lots of yummy dessert options)

 

[EllNat11]

Thanks so much!

 

[akcire]

This is not Disney specific, but information I share with all new peanut allergy families.

Minute Maid Heart Wise OJ is made with peanut sterols. My friends son is highly allergic and got sick.

Make sure you read all labels and learn every name and industrial food product and components of the known allergies.

I mean really who would expect peanuts in OJ

Good luck