Daydreamer64
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2003
- Messages
- 1,006
We just returned from a wonderful trip to Disneyland with a child who has several food allergies and thought that I would share some of our experiences.
DS is allergic to peanuts, eggs, tree nuts, all crustations like shrimp and shelled sea food, peas, and green beans.
The complete trip report is in the Disneyland community board under - "We just got back from a wonderful first trip to Disneyland 4/18" .
We compared the WDW parks to the Dl parks for hopping and other things but I knew that you guys with food challenges would probably be interested in this part of the report for sure.
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3102560
A benefit of being able to quickly hop between Dl and DCA, at least for us, with a food allergic child was that certain places had foods that DS could eat without having worries that he would have an allergic reaction. We could go to either park, play for the morning and then go to any rest in either park to eat with less then an average of a ten min walk.
We were surprised that all of the rest didn't have the same food venders. It seemed that if one had a good food substitute such as rice pasta- some pastas have egg white in them, that all of the pasta serving places would have that but we were told many times by different chefs that each rest had their own "stuff".
Also, WDW used to have the egg free Mickey Waffles. We asked in several places for the EF waffle and were told that DL does not offer this item. DS was disappointed to say the least. DS was looking forward to having one of these for breakfast instead of his usual cereal and bacon choices while traveling.
This caused us a bit of frustration as some of the food places had egg in their pasta, for example, and did not offer an alternative, and other rest. could offer the alternative for our DS to eat.
It seemed that as a whole, DL and DCA rests should have been more uniform in their suppliers and able to attain or carry similar items but we were told not so.
I can't for the life of me figure this out but we were told several times at different places that the roast beef was roasted in ovens with peanut products????
So, even at sub places he couldn't have just the meat unless it was turkey. He loves turkey but not for a week at every meal-
Also, he couldn't eat several buns/breads for dogs, burgers, or subs as the bread is made out of house and therefore couldn't be guaranteed to be egg free.
We ate at Goofy's Kitchen- the chef fixed him pasta with marinara sauce and cheese pizza- it was on the food bar but so was peanut butter pizza and the chance of cross contamination was VERY HIGH so he had his own slices taken from a fresh pie before it went on the bar.
Red Rockets had cheese pizza again and he enjoyed the bread sticks with sauce as well.
New Orleans Square had a rest. that served the rice pasta and my DS loved having something different from burgers and dogs for one afternoon. Pasta isn't the only thing that he eats but that was just a real life example that we ran across.
New Orleans Café fixed a beautiful plate with pasta, fruit, broccoli, and apples mixed.
We found this place on day four and so son was sick of the same foods- turkey!!!!!
Judging by the practically clean licked plate and the comment by DS that he wanted to "kiss the cook"-
- which he did, as he asked to speak to the cook after his meal, to tell him that the food really tasted good.
I am sure that Chef Jose was quite surprised
to get a hug and kiss from our child- at which point we tried to stop DS as even though the chef's apron looked very clean, it probably had food allergens all over it!
No harm came from it as we had instructed DS to hug the characters if he wanted to at Goofy's Kitchen, but to make sure that he turned his face sideways to avoid all the food contaminate containing kisses from the other kids, so he remembered safety first with his food allergies.
We still had him wash off his face immediately and take a Benadryl for good measure. We were as surprised as Jose about the hug and kiss - he blew the kiss just for clarification!
How's that for gratification? Jose was gracious and accepted the thank you with a big smile on his face. I know it takes some time away form the chef's duties to cater to food allergic people and I am sure that he was happy to get such a heart felt thank you from DS.
We felt bad as we thought that up to that point, we were serving DS different foods each meal but in hindsight, it was a lot of turkey.
The Hungry Bear Café served DS a bunless hamburger with sweet potato fries. If we get to go back we will get the adult portion burger as the kids version was all bun- no bun for DS and so there was a sorry bit of meat patty about the size of a White House/Krystle burger and so not enough food for a 7 year old boy. Add that to the fact that he was not impressed with sweet potato fries and he left hungry.
We made it up to him, as soon he had a frozen lemonade in his hot little hands. No, he did not eat a very balanced diet this trip but what the heck our hands were tied and he had a good time so it's vacation.
He will get in his fruits/vegis and so on at home this week. Isn't lemonade a fruit choice-
I guess he got in some vegis too as popcorn counts as a vegi, doesn't it? 
Rainforest Café was more then helpful and DS was quite happy with his bunless (big) hotdog and side of corn.
We had dinner at Naples in DTD one evening were DH had a business meal that included all the family of the conference attendees. This was a very nice set up but unfortunately the food allergy police had to be in full force again this evening.
DS was not able to eat the app of bruschetta, so the chef made him pizza dough, cut it and added garlic butter for bread sticks.
The Italian meats and cheeses were just fine for DS.
The salad was skipped as DS does not have a taste for bitter greens yet. Come to think of it, neither do Dad and Mom but we ate them anyway to be polite as this meal was very expensive and we were having it for free, so manners were important.
The main courses were very good. DS was able to have the beef with potatoes, the asparagus, and the pizza.
Dessert was so great for DS. Usually he ends up with fruit if we eat out but the chef had some type of Italian ice-cream in which he put sprigs of mint and a cherry on top.
DS was in his glory- ice-cream is almost always a no-no for us as it contains eggs and nuts. The kid was in heaven and we heard over and over how good this was. Mom and Dad had "other" beautiful desserts but would have like to have the ice-cream for sure. Yummy!
So, all in all, as you have read, the trip overall was a good experience for our family.
We felt were able to find something for DS to eat in most places and if not, we just hopped back to a rest that we knew that he could eat the food from.
DS is allergic to peanuts, eggs, tree nuts, all crustations like shrimp and shelled sea food, peas, and green beans.
The complete trip report is in the Disneyland community board under - "We just got back from a wonderful first trip to Disneyland 4/18" .
We compared the WDW parks to the Dl parks for hopping and other things but I knew that you guys with food challenges would probably be interested in this part of the report for sure.
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3102560
A benefit of being able to quickly hop between Dl and DCA, at least for us, with a food allergic child was that certain places had foods that DS could eat without having worries that he would have an allergic reaction. We could go to either park, play for the morning and then go to any rest in either park to eat with less then an average of a ten min walk.
We were surprised that all of the rest didn't have the same food venders. It seemed that if one had a good food substitute such as rice pasta- some pastas have egg white in them, that all of the pasta serving places would have that but we were told many times by different chefs that each rest had their own "stuff".
Also, WDW used to have the egg free Mickey Waffles. We asked in several places for the EF waffle and were told that DL does not offer this item. DS was disappointed to say the least. DS was looking forward to having one of these for breakfast instead of his usual cereal and bacon choices while traveling.
This caused us a bit of frustration as some of the food places had egg in their pasta, for example, and did not offer an alternative, and other rest. could offer the alternative for our DS to eat.
It seemed that as a whole, DL and DCA rests should have been more uniform in their suppliers and able to attain or carry similar items but we were told not so.
I can't for the life of me figure this out but we were told several times at different places that the roast beef was roasted in ovens with peanut products????
So, even at sub places he couldn't have just the meat unless it was turkey. He loves turkey but not for a week at every meal-
Also, he couldn't eat several buns/breads for dogs, burgers, or subs as the bread is made out of house and therefore couldn't be guaranteed to be egg free.
We ate at Goofy's Kitchen- the chef fixed him pasta with marinara sauce and cheese pizza- it was on the food bar but so was peanut butter pizza and the chance of cross contamination was VERY HIGH so he had his own slices taken from a fresh pie before it went on the bar.
Red Rockets had cheese pizza again and he enjoyed the bread sticks with sauce as well.
New Orleans Square had a rest. that served the rice pasta and my DS loved having something different from burgers and dogs for one afternoon. Pasta isn't the only thing that he eats but that was just a real life example that we ran across.
New Orleans Café fixed a beautiful plate with pasta, fruit, broccoli, and apples mixed.
We found this place on day four and so son was sick of the same foods- turkey!!!!!
Judging by the practically clean licked plate and the comment by DS that he wanted to "kiss the cook"-
- which he did, as he asked to speak to the cook after his meal, to tell him that the food really tasted good.I am sure that Chef Jose was quite surprised
to get a hug and kiss from our child- at which point we tried to stop DS as even though the chef's apron looked very clean, it probably had food allergens all over it!No harm came from it as we had instructed DS to hug the characters if he wanted to at Goofy's Kitchen, but to make sure that he turned his face sideways to avoid all the food contaminate containing kisses from the other kids, so he remembered safety first with his food allergies.
We still had him wash off his face immediately and take a Benadryl for good measure. We were as surprised as Jose about the hug and kiss - he blew the kiss just for clarification!
How's that for gratification? Jose was gracious and accepted the thank you with a big smile on his face. I know it takes some time away form the chef's duties to cater to food allergic people and I am sure that he was happy to get such a heart felt thank you from DS.
We felt bad as we thought that up to that point, we were serving DS different foods each meal but in hindsight, it was a lot of turkey.
The Hungry Bear Café served DS a bunless hamburger with sweet potato fries. If we get to go back we will get the adult portion burger as the kids version was all bun- no bun for DS and so there was a sorry bit of meat patty about the size of a White House/Krystle burger and so not enough food for a 7 year old boy. Add that to the fact that he was not impressed with sweet potato fries and he left hungry.
We made it up to him, as soon he had a frozen lemonade in his hot little hands. No, he did not eat a very balanced diet this trip but what the heck our hands were tied and he had a good time so it's vacation.
He will get in his fruits/vegis and so on at home this week. Isn't lemonade a fruit choice-
I guess he got in some vegis too as popcorn counts as a vegi, doesn't it? Rainforest Café was more then helpful and DS was quite happy with his bunless (big) hotdog and side of corn.
We had dinner at Naples in DTD one evening were DH had a business meal that included all the family of the conference attendees. This was a very nice set up but unfortunately the food allergy police had to be in full force again this evening.
DS was not able to eat the app of bruschetta, so the chef made him pizza dough, cut it and added garlic butter for bread sticks.
The Italian meats and cheeses were just fine for DS.
The salad was skipped as DS does not have a taste for bitter greens yet. Come to think of it, neither do Dad and Mom but we ate them anyway to be polite as this meal was very expensive and we were having it for free, so manners were important.
The main courses were very good. DS was able to have the beef with potatoes, the asparagus, and the pizza.
Dessert was so great for DS. Usually he ends up with fruit if we eat out but the chef had some type of Italian ice-cream in which he put sprigs of mint and a cherry on top.
DS was in his glory- ice-cream is almost always a no-no for us as it contains eggs and nuts. The kid was in heaven and we heard over and over how good this was. Mom and Dad had "other" beautiful desserts but would have like to have the ice-cream for sure. Yummy!
So, all in all, as you have read, the trip overall was a good experience for our family.
We felt were able to find something for DS to eat in most places and if not, we just hopped back to a rest that we knew that he could eat the food from.
