Peanut/Tree Nut Allergy

[DisneyDre]

We are heading to AKL next week for our first stay since before the pandemic. Our 5 yo son has an anaphylactic peanut and tree nut allergy. (We also avoid peas and shared production lines due to the severity of allergy) On top of allergies, he also is a picky eater (so am I) and we bring food with us to have in our room and bring to the parks. On our last trip, he loved the flatbread pizza from the Mara at AKL and Pinocchios at MK. We are quick service people and I've read there is now a lot of mobile ordering.
So how has everyone handled mobile ordering with food allergies?
Do you have to mobile order or can you talk to a cast member?
What are some suggestions for quick service for PN/TN allergies?

I have heard there are some Disney packaged snacks now that are PN/TN? Has anyone tried these?

We are renting a car from MCO when we arrive and will have it for a few days so any suggestions on a grocery store near property? We normally use garden grocer but since we will have a car I thought we could go to Publix or Walmart/Target? This way I don't have to pack as much food I can just shop when we get there.

 

[Starwind]

We have not been during the pandemic, but based on reports here and elsewhere:

You do not have mobile order if you have food allergies. You can ask to speak with a chef or allergy-trained cast member to place your order. Note that some people have reported encountering resistance at QS locations to letting them in to do this and have had to insist, while others have not had an issue; no idea if it is a location-specific problem or not.

Even when we went in December 2019 I encountered resistance at a couple QS locations from the cashiers in terms of them wanting me to use the allergy menu to order and them resisting getting the chef or allergy-trained CM. In the end, I adjusted my "pitch" and that worked: I would start right off with "Hi! I have multiple life-threatening food allergies and would like to speak with a chef or allergy-trained cast member so I can safely order some food". That seemed to work and there was no more resistance or instistance on using the allergy menus [they would still hand them to me "while I waited" because "they may be helpful", which I DID appreciate].

Note that the current allergy menus, as before, do NOT take into account cross contamination, shared lines, or "may contain" statements on products. Since these would be issues, even more reason to be speaking with a chef/allergy trained CM for placing your order.

Also, overall, menus are more limited than they were pre-pandemic. There are lots of reasons for this, including supply issues. This also has an effect on the allergy menus, which in some cases are going to be more limited than they used to be. Also, they may not have the same allergy-friendly products they used to be -- they may have had to change brands for things, etc. As we know with allergy friendly products changing a brand can have a significant impact on what allergens a replacement product is safe for. That said, PN/TN is usually one of the easier allergy sets to deal with at Disney.

Ont thing I do when traveling and trying to decide which store to go to for groceries is to look up the store online and "shop" it as if I was going to do a curbside pickup order... it gives me an idea of what is available at that location vs another location. I find it can be quite helpful since I am very specific in the brand/products I shop for. So knowing X location has exactly what I want vs Y location doesn't carry two things and I would have to substitute for them helps make the decision on where to shop at. Also, checking manufacturer sites and then use their "where to find it" feature can help ID locations that carry specific products.

SW

 

[philharmagic fan]

Our experience has been that they're always willing to let you speak to someone inside (rather than mobile order) if you tell them you have allergies (DH has celiac disease/gluten intolerance). In fact, most of the resort QS places don't post their allergy-friendly items so you HAVE to order in person.

 

[SueM in MN]

We were at WDW for 3 weeks in June.
Although they encourage mobile ordering and it’s faster, we were able to do walk up ordering at all the counter service restaurants we ate at.
I can’t speak for how they were handling allergies; we didn’t have anyone who had allergies along with us on this trip.

 

[mistysue]

For PN/TN you likely could mobile order, I would check the menus.
Otherwise, we were there in Feb and May this year and did encounter locations not wanting to let us order and pushing for us to use mobile order (we have many more allergens, so it was completely impossible) as well as locations where we were left up to 45 minutes before they got someone to let us order in-person. This was going at off-times. The May week in particular, they were actually not letting people in until their orders were ready, and there were people being corralled for up to an hour or two outside popular location AFTER their window, so you couldn't enter to order.(in particular at Cosmic Rays and that place across from Pirate's) They were having serious trouble matching orders to people, so hungry people and cold, excess food.

Hopefully your experience will be like Sue's, not mine, but know that there may be significantly more delay than there used to be and more limited options.

 

[Selket]

I haven't been since covid but ... I think you're still going to want to talk to a manager or chef because of the issue with shared lines/made in a facility/may contain, etc. One of my sons eats "made in a facility" but sometimes avoids shared lines and completely avoids may contains. He eats peas no problems. We've tried mobile ordering a few times pre-covid and found that he was better off talking to someone (he's old enough to handle it on his own now). I hope you will report back with your experiences because we plan to go later this year!