Qs for veteran dining-at-Disney parents of peanut-allergic kids

[maigheann]

1. How does the chef handle the buffet thing for your children? I assume the p-a kids cannot pick from the buffet indiscriminately.

2. The following quote from the 5 Worst thread caught my eye:

Chef Mickeys - Food is average, not great. Really just paying for characters.

Wow, never thought of it this way before. Would anyone else agree with the above? Our situation is that both our kids are allergic to peanuts. Eating out at Disney (or anyplace else in the world where we feel it's safe) is a huge deal for us in a happy sense. In fact, they have rarely dined out.

3. Our kids are not familiar with any Dis chars yet. If you had to pick lively, fun (ie non-staid) sit-down places to eat sans-characters where the focus is on food, where would you pick?

 

[wdw-ocd]

1. How does the chef handle the buffet thing for your children? I assume the p-a kids cannot pick from the buffet indiscriminately.

2. The following quote from the 5 Worst thread caught my eye:



Wow, never thought of it this way before. Would anyone else agree with the above? Our situation is that both our kids are allergic to peanuts. Eating out at Disney (or anyplace else in the world where we feel it's safe) is a huge deal for us in a happy sense. In fact, they have rarely dined out.

3. Our kids are not familiar with any Dis chars yet. If you had to pick lively, fun (ie non-staid) sit-down places to eat sans-characters where the focus is on food, where would you pick?

One of the reasons we keep coming back to the World is because of how confident I am in my dd7's safety at the sit down restaurants. She is allergic to multiples foods including treenuts, peanuts, dairy products, fish, etc. so going to restaurants can be both a nerve-wracking and sad experience for her. Although it can be costly, TS meals are "safer" for her than CS meals because I can let Disney know about her allergies when I make my ADRs. I also always let my waiter/waitress know about dd's allergies when we're seated, just to make sure. The chefs always come to the table to talk about the food, even for all of the buffets. He/she will let us know what foods are ok for dd and what she needs to avoid. The one time we were at Hollywood and Vine there wasn't a dessert she could have so the chef prepared something special for her while we ate our meal. It was wonderful and made dd feel very special!

We went to Chef Mickey's for supper and they had a nice variety of foods. It can be expensive if you're looking for an outstanding gourmet meal, but the interaction with the characters (without having to wait in an endless line at the parks!) is worth the price.

The Whispering Canyon Cafe doesn't have characters but it is supposed to be a lively, fun restaurant. We had lunch there one day and enjoyed the food. Unfortunately, we didn't experience the lively action from our waiter that I've read about and was looking forward to. I'm not sure if it's because there was just our family and another family at the time for lunch or if they only do the joking/fun routine at supper. The chef also came out to speak to us about dd's allergies and prepared her a special meal.

Have fun planning!