My son has a metabolic disorder called galactosemia and has to have all dairy free foods. Disney has always been great with this. At counter service places they always bring out the manager as well as the ingredient book. Pete is right when he says you can not get this treatment from mcdonalds. We have only had one place ever give us this treatment and that was smokey bones. This is one of the many reasons disney is our vacation destination of choice. They take the worry out of what to feed our son while away from home.
While I would not like paying more for my sons foods at Disney this is to be expected as we pay more for his foods here at home. His icecream, pudding and cheese is double or even triple the price of ours. We buy it from the specialty section of the grocery store or from a health food store. On our first trip I was expecting to pay more for his foods if they even had them and was pleasantly surprised to not be charged extra. Also for our first trip my son was only 2 so he was not on the dining plan and we did not know what he could eat if much of anything anyhow so I had packed him a suitcase full of food and thankfully did not need it. My son got to experience foods he had never had at home before.
BTW: Food Allergies are considered a disability and are covered under the ADA laws. Section 504 specifically covers this for education. Here are some good links about this:
http://www.peanutallergy.com/blogs/...ther-food-allergies-fall-under-americans-with
http://www.foodallergygourmet.com/Food Allergy/FA the Law.htm
Per the ADA -An individual with a disability is a person who:
Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; -eating qualifies as a big one
Has a record of such an impairment; or
Is regarded as having such an impairment
Some foods are even tax deductable as a medical expense under certain guidelines.
http://www.jamesdance.com/deductions.htm#Qualified Medical Expenses
Do I think that people can sue disney for the cost of these foods: No as they are more expensive in general and disney is not discriminating- they are passing on the cost they pay for these specialty ingredients to the consumer. Even though I do agree and think that food prices at Disney are outrageous in general.
That being said we have never paid extra for my sons food in disney. I understand this has changed except for those on the dining plan. We have always used the dining plan so I guess this is one more reason for us to use it in the future.
While many people may find these foods not to taste good and wonder how disney can serve them-my son has never had anything containing dairy in it so he does not know what he is missing. He does not know what it "should" taste like. To him it is "normal" food. That being said it did take him some time to aquire a taste for certain foods though-soy milk esp. even though he drank soy formula as a baby he did not like the taste of reg soy milk at first. Now he loves it and drinks it all the time.
Thank you for doing a segment on this issue as you may not realise how many people are affected by this. Your information will be very useful to a lot of people that were not aware of how Disney handles this issue.
While I would not like paying more for my sons foods at Disney this is to be expected as we pay more for his foods here at home. His icecream, pudding and cheese is double or even triple the price of ours. We buy it from the specialty section of the grocery store or from a health food store. On our first trip I was expecting to pay more for his foods if they even had them and was pleasantly surprised to not be charged extra. Also for our first trip my son was only 2 so he was not on the dining plan and we did not know what he could eat if much of anything anyhow so I had packed him a suitcase full of food and thankfully did not need it. My son got to experience foods he had never had at home before.
BTW: Food Allergies are considered a disability and are covered under the ADA laws. Section 504 specifically covers this for education. Here are some good links about this:
http://www.peanutallergy.com/blogs/...ther-food-allergies-fall-under-americans-with
http://www.foodallergygourmet.com/Food Allergy/FA the Law.htm
Per the ADA -An individual with a disability is a person who:
Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; -eating qualifies as a big one
Has a record of such an impairment; or
Is regarded as having such an impairment
Some foods are even tax deductable as a medical expense under certain guidelines.
http://www.jamesdance.com/deductions.htm#Qualified Medical Expenses
Do I think that people can sue disney for the cost of these foods: No as they are more expensive in general and disney is not discriminating- they are passing on the cost they pay for these specialty ingredients to the consumer. Even though I do agree and think that food prices at Disney are outrageous in general.
That being said we have never paid extra for my sons food in disney. I understand this has changed except for those on the dining plan. We have always used the dining plan so I guess this is one more reason for us to use it in the future.
While many people may find these foods not to taste good and wonder how disney can serve them-my son has never had anything containing dairy in it so he does not know what he is missing. He does not know what it "should" taste like. To him it is "normal" food. That being said it did take him some time to aquire a taste for certain foods though-soy milk esp. even though he drank soy formula as a baby he did not like the taste of reg soy milk at first. Now he loves it and drinks it all the time.
Thank you for doing a segment on this issue as you may not realise how many people are affected by this. Your information will be very useful to a lot of people that were not aware of how Disney handles this issue.
