PEANUT & TREE-NUT ALLERGY QUESTIONS

[thelittlehousekids]

I have a 7 year old daughter who has the above allergies and would like anyone's input as to their experiences as far as the Grand Floridian outings (or other outings) for children. I understand that the "Tea Party" serves PB&J sandwiches (which is dissappointing for us because I KNOW she would love to attend this), but how about the Pirate Cruise, or any other staff-supervised function that I wouldn't otherwise be attending?

Does anyone have any good suggestions? I'd really like to feel comfortable as a parent letting go of the reigns a little bit here and giving her the freedom to do some things BUT the maternal side of me is panicking even THINKING about leaving her with other children (and staff members) who may have access to one of the above allergens...

I'd also like to hear anyone's advice on the babysitting at Disney (esp where we have a child with serious allergies). We will be staying at the Beach Club Villas and I have 3 children (7, 5 and 2) - and my husband and I would like to get out to a nice dinner/nighttime stroll around the parks one of the nights we are there...

 

[lisajl]

I don't know about the "leaving her alone" stuff. My son has peanut allergies and I would be worried about the cross contamination of it.
I can tell you when I made our ressies they made sure everyone knew of my sons allergies.
They were so accomodating and we had no problems at all.
I would call the hotel directly and ask to speak to someone regarding your daughters allergies. They will be honest with you.
Disney is a wonderful place and they do not want your child to have a reaction.

Lisajl

 

[BriNJ]

I have a 6yr old with severe tree nut allergies and assumed peanut allergy and we just returned from Disney 2 or so weeks ago. We had originally signed up for the pirate cruise, but after speaking to 3 different CM's with 3 different answers, I decided that it just wasn't worth the risk. There was no assurance that they could handle a reaction, the CM's on the cruise are not trained for food allergies and I was told
1) oh yes, its not a problem at all, we may be able to substitute another sandwich
2) is it a severe allergy? we can't be sure that the peanut butter wont' get on the boat or on another child and it will be airborne
3) we do not recommend this trip for a child with peanut allergies as the boat often has nuts on it at night and it isn't washed, CM's are not trained for food allergies and cannot administer an epi-pen and we can not be responsible for any reactions as there will be other children on the boat who may have peanut residue on thier hands.

Between those answers, I decided it just wasn't worth it. I was sad, but hey, this is our life and safety is our number 1 concern. There was another long thread about the pirate cruise and peanut allergies, which may be interesting to you about 2 months ago, I guess (its a closed thread btw).

We did send the kids to the Neverland Club at the Poly which they loved. I was told that they could handle food allergies, that peanut butter/nuts was not on the menu for the kids buffet and that we could leave the epi-pen just in case. I was very comfortable with them! They do require 3 and up and potty trained, so that may not be an option for your 3 kids. I have no experience with the in room babysiter.

HTH
Bri

 

[thelittlehousekids]

I will take a peek at the Neverland Club at the Poly to see what they offer. I appreciate your advice!

 

[dlrhine]

We have a DD age 3.5 with a peanut allergy and she has been going to disney since she was 6 months old. We always tell them about it for our ADRs but we don't do any of the other events, we don't want to take the chance, we also call and have disney do a VIP clean of our room to make sure that there is no peanut products or dust left from an earlier guest. The other thing I do is bring my Mom...that way I don't have to worry about the babysitting centers. It is worth the extra money to have her along, and just an extra set of hands since we actually have two DDs ages 5 and 3.5 almost 4.

Good luck, disney is great with her allergy.

 

[Schmeck]

Check out the disABILITIES forum on this board for some great info about going to WDW with food allergies!

 

[thelittlehousekids]

Thank you - I'll do that!

 

[PlutoPony]

BTW your 2 year old is too young for the Child Care Centers (minimum is 4) so one of the babysitting services may be a better fit for your family. The reports on Fairy Godmothers and KNO are very positive and typically express appreciation for how professional their staffs are... That said I would ask those services whether then can administer and EPI pen in an emergency as that may be an issue liability wise.
Have a good trip!

 

[tcolbert]

The Pirate Cruise also serves PB&J sandwiches. I think if you let them know ahead of time they can make provisions so that she can attend, but in reading the above post it might not be a good idea if she has a severe allergy. There is a Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique/Salon opening in April where she can be made up to look like a princess. It's appointment only and the details are in another thread. That might be a safe alternative.

 

[Selket]

My son has just turned for but is highly allergic also to peanut/tree nuts and is also a type 1 diabetic.

I swear I read a report from another mom maybe a year or two ago about how her child did the tea party thing at the GF and they made accomodations for the child. I wonder if you have contacted them about this? I remember the post saying that her child got to sit next to one of the princesses (some character) and felt very special. At least at the GF thing you could be nearby perhaps so you could be contacted immediately in case of problems. I think that is much better than the boat. However if everyone is eating pb I can understand not wanting to have her in the room.

We did in-room baby sitting for William before he had any of these health issues and that worked out fine - he was 20 months old. I would call and talk to the Kids Nite Out folks (the offical sitters for WDW) and tell them about the allergies, etc. since you do have something of a special need. I know I did inquire with them once and they said they could send someone who would be able to test my son's blood glucose. Perhaps they could also send you someone you is familar with allergies. You could ask them whether they can give epi-pens, etc. They will not take your children out of the room so they should be safe! They do bring toys sometimes (at least Fairy Godmothers are supposed to) so perhaps you'd want to have them not do that in case they weren't cleaned well enough.

We've had awesome meals - be sure and note the allergy on any ADR's and you shouldn't have problems.

Have fun!

 

[ruttie]

My son hasa bad peanut allergy but he has done teh porate cruise 2 times 1 time at grand floridian and 1 time at beachclub...
Je was 4 when he did his forst one BUT a very smart 4 and he has always been very good with his allergy he is very vocal now about saying that has peanuts.. and his older brother who was 6 was also very good.. they can spot peanut butter from a mile away! Benadryl works well for my son so we just took teh precaution to give him the benadryl before he went just in case and I put the epiphen into the cast memebrs hand and said in case of emergency stab him in teh leg.. and explained that an emergency ment passes oput not breathing.... I also had my epi phen trainer that i carry with just in case gave them a 1 minute demo and said don;t worry we have never had a problem but..... they did not say a word.... and we had no problems.....
We just got back from a trip and had our first reaction. think it was from teh open food court at coronado.. ghood luck and enjoy...
The chefs will tell you to stay away from teh breads becasue they cannot garuntee cross contamination....

 

[Schmeck]

CMs cannot take responsibility for administering an EPI-PEN! The one who allowed you to was either 1. in shock that you handed the thing over to him/her, 2. incredibly naive 3. had poor training. Probably all of the above!