New Allergy Kiosk at DAK

[Wishes Count]

Haven't seen this posted here yet, but there will be a new Kiosk at DAK to help guests find information about allergy info before they visit the stands or restaurants!

http://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions...q-opening-soon-at-disney's-animal-kingdom.htm

I personally think this is a great idea and will be very helpful!

 

[LisaFB]

I just heard about this in one of my allergy groups. I'm so excited!

 

[GadgetTheInventor]

I don't really understand what they are hoping to accomplish with having the info kiosk/snack & beer joint because how WDW deals with food allergies is already broken on so many levels.

1. The implementation of the BOG computer system allowed for lethal mistakes. Someone knowledgeable about food allergies did not oversee the "ingredients" for the meals or was asleep on the job. The description of a meal was the same as the ingredients meaning that "juice of whatnot" in FRENCH was listed as an ingredient when in reality none can be expected to know French and the juice had multiple ingredients to my recollection. 45 minutes later near the end of the conversation with a chef who was superb at answering all my questions and seemed like an amazing chef on top of that mentioned that the meat was marinated in coffee. Yes, coffee of all things. And nowhere was that ever mentioned in the ingredient list. I'm sure not many have coffee allergies but it shows a huge flaw in the system where ingredients are clearly being omitted from disclosure.

2. I personally prefer the old-style books where the labels are cut, taped, and scanned. I have some non-traditional allergies and when it comes to anaphylactic reactions, I am fine loosing a little bit of the Disney magic so that I can know what company sourced the components of my food and their list of ingredients. I know Mickey isn't backstage cooking my meals, but I find comfort knowing that a CM didn't accidentally delete an ingredient on the info list that could kill me. Some meals can have over 200 ingredients, so there is a lot of potential for computer input errors.

I see the kiosk as saving CM time (and profit) for picky eaters (low-fat, vegan), but I see the potential for anaphylactic reactions increasing with expanding the inadequate computer system that was in use as of December.

I also wish that they would implement a policy that if the kiosk CMs can't answer your food allergen questions, that you get a complimentary free beer.

 

[LisaFB]

I also wish that they would implement a policy that if the kiosk CMs can't answer your food allergen questions, that you get a complimentary free beer.

love it!

I personally am happy that they are trying this out. I know we always email Special Diets before we go with the kids and are very specific about where we eat and when. I have 3 kids, 2 of whom have severe, life threatening multiple allergies, so we feel better speaking with the chefs. I do like the idea of this kiosk since those who are new to WDW and aren't aware that you can email Special Diets in advance might not know where they can possibly eat. Of course I'd recommend still checking with the chef when you get there, but I can see it helping them get an idea of where they might be able to go.

For us it would help with snacks. Last time we took the kids, I had to carry around a printed piece of paper that listed every snack place and what they carried that was safe so I could offer the boys a choice.

 

[disney david]

This is a test so please Give it some time before you start bashing Disney. You have to give them time to do stuff because if you don't then they won't son anything else to get you more info. This is not going to save Disney money it going to coast them money. You will still be able to talk to the chef that won't I away this is just to help and give you a place to buy safe snacks.

If you try it an ether give you bad info or you don't like it please let Disney know so they can make changes before they roll it out to every park. Disney entitled to make some mistakes they most of the time don't and if they do they try hard to fix them.

 

[LisaFB]

David, I agree. They are testing it out, which is why it's only in one park so far. It can also help those wit Celiac or I imagine those with kosher diets as well. It's simply one location to get basic info, from what I can imagine.

 

[disney david]

David, I agree. They are testing it out, which is why it's only in one park so far. It can also help those wit Celiac or I imagine those with kosher diets as well. It's simply one location to get basic info, from what I can imagine.

I also see if all goes well and they put it into each park his being a place you can go and have your allergy info out on your magic band. And be able to help you make last min adrs with allergies but we have to see it could not work then Disney will have to come up with something else.

 

[LisaFB]

Ohhh I never thought of them possibly putting the info on the bands eventually. I like that idea!!!

 

[Dis703]

We were just there in May and I actually contacted Disney upon my return to let them know how incredibly difficult we found it was to eat QS with our family with multiple food allergies. I particularly brought this up in regards to AK and HS, but it was an issue throughout our trip. I encouraged them to find a way to have a central location where a guest can view menus and possible ingredients because we spent hours trying to locate safe foods for my kids to eat and it was incredibly frustrating.

Just to give an idea of how QS dining went down for us on more than one occasion. We got an idea of what a particular location offered before our trip and went to a selected location. Upon arriving either the menus changed or we found that item I assumed would likely be safe (ie: pizza, pasta, chicken nuggets) wasn't because instead of the standard wheat flours used most other places, they used multi-grain flours (my oldest is allergic to several grains but not wheat). So we look at the map and walk across to the next potential restaurant, they have maybe one item my 4 year old can eat, but nothing I can make a meal out of for my 2 year olds with a different set of allergies. At this point kids are getting really cranky, DH is even grumpier and all are hot and exhausted and need to sit and eat but have to travel to yet another restaurant to find meals.

HS was similar but at least had a section with several restaurants, but I had to get in line at each one and ask to see the book and make several attempts like this to locate safe foods. Ultimately, we almost always had to purchase food at separate locations to work for everyone and it took hours and lots of walking before we got to sit and eat.

I think this will be a huge help for families like ours with multiple food allergies and most of which are NOT top 8 allergens so they are not obvious or labeled.

 

[LisaFB]

We were just there in May and I actually contacted Disney upon my return to let them know how incredibly difficult we found it was to eat QS with our family with multiple food allergies.

Have you ever contacted Special Diets before going? Our older son had over 30 food allergies on his first trip and about 20 at our last one. Our younger son also had allergies for the last trip (I was PG with him for the trip before) and we never had issues like what you described. It does take advance planning on our part and we have to decide in advance which park(s) we're going to each day so we can let them know exactly where we want to eat for each meal, but it's been worth it.

As for this kiosk, I love the idea since it seems like it should make it easier for families like ours!

 

[Dis703]

Have you ever contacted Special Diets before going? Our older son had over 30 food allergies on his first trip and about 20 at our last one. Our younger son also had allergies for the last trip (I was PG with him for the trip before) and we never had issues like what you described. It does take advance planning on our part and we have to decide in advance which park(s) we're going to each day so we can let them know exactly where we want to eat for each meal, but it's been worth it.

As for this kiosk, I love the idea since it seems like it should make it easier for families like ours!

Yes we always send in the form for special diets. It's not so much an issue with table service, although even there we had some disappointments, but they wouldn't give us enough advanced info about QS to be of any help. The only common allergen is wheat and the rest are more difficult to determine where they will pop up. Our biggest problem was the grain allergens. I was so disappointed to find out so many of their breads, pizzas, pastas, breading on chicken, etc. were multi-grain and not safe for my older son. Those were the things I was counting on looking just at menus ahead of the trip. Now I know better and will be more specific with special diets and see if they can do more to help us next trip.

It's the combo of allergens, feeding issues and the many foods they have still to be exposed to. I thought a simple plain chicken, plain pasta, etc. would be easy to find and it wasn't.

This past trip I don't think special diets did us any good at all really. Prior trip they seemed more helpful and chefs even emailed us with questions up front, one of them at Biergarten had a plate prepared in the back by the time we sat down at our table.

 

[Dis703]

Oops, can't seem to edit.

Was going to add I specifically tried to get ingredients for items in quick service locations before leaving and Special Diets said they could not give me that information because the vendors change so often there is no telling what they will use the day I'm eating there. The chef at Tusker House seemed to confirm that issue. While we were there he said none of the desserts/cookies were safe for my son because they contained tapioca but he said a few weeks ago they didn't and they might not in another few weeks.

 

[livndisney]

Oops, can't seem to edit.

Was going to add I specifically tried to get ingredients for items in quick service locations before leaving and Special Diets said they could not give me that information because the vendors change so often there is no telling what they will use the day I'm eating there. The chef at Tusker House seemed to confirm that issue. While we were there he said none of the desserts/cookies were safe for my son because they contained tapioca but he said a few weeks ago they didn't and they might not in another few weeks.

Sadly this is true-they do change vendors often. We have had the experience where and item was safe one week and then next not. They can also run out of something and use something from a different vendor.

As far as the stand at AK I have no opinion since we have not been able to eat at AK in years. All I can say is if this spreads to the rest of the parks-I hope they keep the info current. It is not fun to walk across the park to a location because you were told the food would be safe only to arrive and find out the info was wrong.

 

[disney david]

Sadly this is true-they do change vendors often. We have had the experience where and item was safe one week and then next not. They can also run out of something and use something from a different vendor.

As far as the stand at AK I have no opinion since we have not been able to eat at AK in years. All I can say is if this spreads to the rest of the parks-I hope they keep the info current. It is not fun to walk across the park to a location because you were told the food would be safe only to arrive and find out the info was wrong.

I wish they would have chef rotate working their since it only open a certain amount of time. They could have a chef and may b what would help more so you be bale to get a better idea. Your right if they don't keep it current then it won't work to many people would complain.

 

[livndisney]

I wish they would have chef rotate working their since it only open a certain amount of time. They could have a chef and may b what would help more so you be bale to get a better idea. Your right if they don't keep it current then it won't work to many people would complain.

I don't know that having a chef work the stand would help considering different locations have different items. There have been times when one chef says something is safe and you go back to the same place two days later and get different info from a different chef. Just look at the recent posts here about the Dole Whips. Just this week we had a chef say they have dairy.

 

[disney david]

Duplicate post

 

[SteveMouse]

It would be difficult for a single person to know what particular products were in use to prepare each item in each restaurant each day, especially when not all restaurants are operated by the same organization and how it's being prepared that day AND have that information 100% reliable.

It's much easier and more accurate to have basic information, including ingredient lists for all the elements in a plate, available to pull up via a kiosk, especially if the database used by the kiosk is linked to the kitchen management information system.

 

[disney david]

Not trying to argue or hijack this thread sorry

 

[livndisney]

It would be difficult for a single person to know what particular products were in use to prepare each item in each restaurant each day, especially when not all restaurants are operated by the same organization and how it's being prepared that day AND have that information 100% reliable.

It's much easier and more accurate to have basic information, including ingredient lists for all the elements in a plate, available to pull up via a kiosk, especially if the database used by the kiosk is linked to the kitchen management information system.

Wouldn't that be helpful!

 

[LisaFB]

I don't know if having a chef there would help at all since, unless they each work at different restaurants, they might not know about the food somewhere else.