Spinoff- Upcharges for allergy meals

[eliz603]

Another thread mentioned that for those not on the DDP, there's often an upcharge for an allergy meal. Just trying to get an idea on this. My 2 yr old is GF/PN/TNF. How much does a child's allergy chicken tenders and fries typically run? If you order chicken fingers at a buffet, what kind of an upcharge there? We haven't done allergy while not on the DDP before!

 

[eliz603]

123 views, and nobody has any experience about the typical Upcharges associated with kid allergy meals when not on DDP?

 

[Gracie09]

If you order something for a child under three at a buffet you should expect to pay the child's price for the buffet. As for an additional up charge, it depends. If they make something using special ingredients or products gluten free etc there may be an additional charge to cover the additional costs. If they bring you something from the back to avoid cross contanimation or they leave out an ingredient or sauce, then there usually isn't a charge.

 

[Fuhnuh]

We have been with DD13 (egg, dairy, peanut, tree nut)for extended trips five out of the last six years and I have not noticed any upcharges. DD was 6yo for the first visit, so I am not aware of what is done for under 3's. They have always charged us the age appropriate price. DD13 has always been a pretty simple eater and has usually been able to find something. I have heard that sometimes there may be upcharges, but I don't know if it is discretionary or has to do with what you order. On our trip last summer, we just went to places that had accommodated DD13 allergies easily. She did not have any of the allergy chicken tenders on our last trip, but I don't remember there being one the two times we ordered them. We have never been upcharged at a buffets (usually just breakfast with allergen free waffles and bacon from the kitchen. I hope someone else chimes in with recent personal experiences.

 

[cathicool]

Another thread mentioned that for those not on the DDP, there's often an upcharge for an allergy meal. Just trying to get an idea on this. My 2 yr old is GF/PN/TNF. How much does a child's allergy chicken tenders and fries typically run? If you order chicken fingers at a buffet, what kind of an upcharge there? We haven't done allergy while not on the DDP before!

Thank you for asking this question! I was thinking of asking myself, but was worried it would be misunderstood and I didn't think I could take the heat (again).

We don't typically do the DDP.
I only recall once- at Le Cellier- being upcharged for my son's meal. Coincidentally, it was also one of the worst dining experiences I can recall.


I just checked the Disney website (Special Dietary Requests) and there is absolutely no mention that a charge may apply if a "differentiated" meal is served...kosher, allergy, vegan, etc.... The only mention on the entire page of an additional charge is: if you need a refrigerator in your room there may be an additional charge.

Obviously if the policy is to upcharge for a differentiated meal if paying cash, then that changes your mindset if you are considering the dining plan and weather or not it will save you money.

It's harder to figure out in your situation with a 2 year old since you typically wouldn't have to pay for the child on the DDP or even at any buffet, but with him/her having allergies it obviously changes things since your child can't pick off your plate.


That being said, I do recall a trip where we went to Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon in the same trip. The same head chef was in charge of both parks. MY son had the allergy free chicken tenders and a baked potato with sea salt and organic ketchup. He was also given enjoy life cookies and an organic juice box. Both water parks were very, very attentive; one of the water parks didn't charge us for his meal at all...and the other water park charged us regular price for a kids chicken meal. I think it all depends on the manager on duty.

These are my past experiences.....hope this helped....good luck with your decision.

 

[mistysue]

We go every year for two weeks at a time, so we have a good number of experiences. No, we are not "usually" charged anything extra. Buffets when DS was under 3 and needed something special he was still free. This is also true for family style places such as Garden Grill, CRT and Akershus. (went to all three at least twice with him under 3) Buffets will bring you special foods and not charge extra. I love buffets for allergy kids under 3 for this reason plus they have so many things in back they can make you a huge selection. Tusker house is currently a family favorite.
Now at a non-buffet, if you order a meal, they charge you for a meal. This would be true with or without a dining plan. When the kids are under 3 and you go to a place with a menu where each person orders a plated meal, my kids under 3 did not get their own meal unless we ordered and paid for one.

The only table service I can recall being charged more for an allergy food was at Kouzzina, but going two days in a row once we were charged more and once we were not. Then at T-rex we weren't exactly charged more, but they brought us a "child's size" of an adult dessert (he was allergic to all of the child options, they offered child sized sorbet) and they charged him the full adult size price. His dessert cost more than his meal.

 

[mistysue]

That being said, I do recall a trip where we went to Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon in the same trip. The same head chef was in charge of both parks. MY son had the allergy free chicken tenders and a baked potato with sea salt and organic ketchup. He was also given enjoy life cookies and an organic juice box. Both water parks were very, very attentive; one of the water parks didn't charge us for his meal at all...and the other water park charged us regular price for a kids chicken meal. I think it all depends on the manager on duty.

These are my past experiences.....hope this helped....good luck with your decision.

Last August we could not find allergy tenders or enjoy life cookies at either water park. DS was given a hot dog with no bun and bagged potato chips at both, after searching around for any place that had other options. (his allergies are wheat, soy, egg, dairy, peanut, some treenuts, sesame and buckwheat- but the wheat, dairy, egg pretty much wiped out their entire menus)

 

[clanmcculloch]

I know we tend to refer to upcharges around here but if you're looking at your receipt that's not what it will look like. The prices for the premade allergy specialty products are higher than the prices for the non-allergy safe counterparts. This will be for things like chicken tenders, pizzas, brownies, etc. I've never been charged a different price when it's just part of the meal being substituted such as an allergy bun for a hamburger or a meal where they leave something off or just have to prepare it in the allergy part of the kitchen (ex. chicken & ribs) but we are always charged a different price than what's on the menu for tenders and cookies.

Buffets never charge a different price no matter what we order.

I don't recall ever being charged something different at a TS restaurant. CS seems to be consistent about charging differently for allergy products but TS not so much. In fact, we seem to for desserts sometimes be charged for only kids' sundaes when chefs put together ice cream with cookies and doctor it up when there's no other ice cream on the menu.

 

[eliz603]

Thanks everyone.

We still do a lot of character dining, so most of our meals are buffets. Honestly, I was surprised we weren't charged anything when we special ordered him items at buffets. We may or may not need to get him anything, but just wanted to be prepared. He's expanded his palate in the past year, so if the eggs and sausage at Chef Mickey's turn out to be safe, then we're good to go. I just wasn't sure how that would work off plan. However, the more I think about it, he was NEVER on plan, so it really shouldn't work any different. And from most of the responses, that's how it sounds. Not looking for free food, just planning!

It dawned on me that OF COURSE I was ordering him his own meals last year! Totally forgot. I *think* I paid in the $9 range most of the time for allergy free chicken fingers and fries. I honestly wasn't paying much attention. I do remember that it was treated as a kid's meal, so he always got a safe dessert, too. And of course, if we're at TS with a menu, we always pay for that one, too.

Thanks everyone. Just trying to have a mental ballpark on food prices this time. I've never not done DDP, so just making sure I have a full understanding and no surprises!

 

[DCDisney]

The main things that seem to be upcharged from a normal kids meal price are the special pizza and the chicken tenders at QS. The pizza they use is big and they charge a few dollars more than the adult pizza price. The chicken tenders I'm pretty sure are always charged as adult meal price but they give more too than a kids meal. The prepackaged allergy stuff all has prices on it. If you ordered a regular kids meal though and asked for enjoy life cookies instead of the regular kids cookie I doubt you would be charged the price difference. It's all so variable. I frequently seem to end up with double the amount of sides because I guess it's hard to cook small quantities and I never get charged for the extra.

 

[SmallWorld71]

If you order something for a child under three at a buffet you should expect to pay the child's price for the buffet. As for an additional up charge, it depends. If they make something using special ingredients or products gluten free etc there may be an additional charge to cover the additional costs. If they bring you something from the back to avoid cross contanimation or they leave out an ingredient or sauce, then there usually isn't a charge.

I disagree with the bolded.
For starters, I don't think WDW could enforce it. Someone else at the table could just say it was for them and then feed it to the little one.

But, more importantly, the buffets are charged strictly by AGE and not by FOOD. Doesn't matter what anyone eats.

For example: I pay adult prices for everyone in my family now. But, if you'd compared DS14 and DD10's plates at CP last year, you would have seen one filled with shrimp, steak, salmon etc... and one filled with mac&cheese and a few grapes. LOL Same price paid for each. If one of them had needed a special meal, the price still would have been the same.

 

[Dis703]

I've never noticed an up charge for allergy free meals. If there was a built in price difference it was negligible. And in regards to buffets my 3 kids were all still free under the age of 3 despite requiring special things from the kitchen.

I did however get stuck at counter service meals ordering adult entrees because there were no allergy free options for my kids. That sucked.

 

[geek+nerd]

We were there for 11 days in June and 9 days in December. I have 10+ allergens and never received an upcharge. I would get a kids order of allergen free Mickey waffles and bacon or fruit a few times for breakfast and be charged the regular kids meal price. Likewise for allergen free chicken tenders.

Even at TS restaurants where I couldn't eat anything straight off the menu, I never had an upcharge. I was charged for a dish from the menu that was closest to what was made for me.

 

[itradehilton]

At Typhoon Lagoon, DS had the best GF chicken strips. He ordered the adult chicken strips GF style and there was no extra charge. This was in June 2013. They are so good I ordered them too.

 

[clanmcculloch]

If you order something for a child under three at a buffet you should expect to pay the child's price for the buffet.

This is completely inaccurate. At all fixed price restaurants, prices are 100% based on age. Ages 0-2 costs $0.00 regardless of how much food is eaten. It's no different than how an adult who does not eat at all is still charged based on age.

The chicken tenders I'm pretty sure are always charged as adult meal price but they give more too than a kids meal. The prepackaged allergy stuff all has prices on it. If you ordered a regular kids meal though and asked for enjoy life cookies instead of the regular kids cookie I doubt you would be charged the price difference. It's all so variable. I frequently seem to end up with double the amount of sides because I guess it's hard to cook small quantities and I never get charged for the extra.

My only experiences with the kids tender meals at CS locations were back when we used dining plans but I do recall that they definitely had a button for kids allergy tenders. Actually, we did also order the kids tenders meal at Captain Cooks. They don't actually have a button for any kind of tenders so we were charged for a different kids meal. If you want a kids portion then alk again for the kids size as you should be able to order it.

We have never been charged extra for allergy cookies with a kids meal. Then again, with our allergies, there are so few sides that my kids can actually eat that maybe managers just figure it's easier to give us a cookie (grapes are the only side my 13yo can eat at places where the fries aren't an option; grapes, apples, and carrots for my 16yo).

I did however get stuck at counter service meals ordering adult entrees because there were no allergy free options for my kids. That sucked.

I guess things have changed. These days the only CS kids meals we order are at Sunshine Seasons where there are easy kids meals. I could have sworn though that if there was a kids burger meal that we could get that with an allergy bun at no extra cost. At our resort we were always able to order kids portions of meals (remember, you're working with a chef at resort CS) and the chef would then either walk us over to the cashier to tell them how to ring it up or else give us a slip of paper indicating how it should be run up. When ordering kids meals though we were definitely charged for them as kids meals and we got kids sides and drinks with them. Kids breakfasts are definitely available at kids prices even when ordering allergy waffles.

 

[bookwormde]

Assuming the that individual requesting is covered under ADA, and the substitute is substantially equivalent in level to something on the menu then you should not receive and upcharge.

This is a standard that is still being established so for the most up to date information contact your local DOJ office of civil rights

 

[Gracie09]

Assuming the that individual requesting is covered under ADA, and the substitute is substantially equivalent in level to something on the menu then you should not receive and upcharge.

This is a standard that is still being established so for the most up to date information contact your local DOJ office of civil rights

Of course if the substitute item costs more the restaurant can pass that increase to the customer. Gluten free pizza is often more expensive than regular pizza.
As for the original question I stand by my opinion that if someone orders something for a child under 3 they should expect to be charged for the item. If they are not great.

 

[mistysue]

As for the original question I stand by my opinion that if someone orders something for a child under 3 they should expect to be charged for the item. If they are not great.

At a plated meal where the 2 year old normally has to eat off your plate or else has no food, yes. You are ordering something that is not included with admission.
At a buffet kids 2 and under are allowed to have unlimited plates of food with no charge. It would be discrimination to charge some 2 year olds and not others when your pricing system is a yes/no system based on age alone. "Are you under 3?" Is a yes/no system. Age < 3 = free. Age > 2 = not free. There is no maybe or partially, so it is a free/not free answer. If they started in on a system where 2 year olds were charged if they had their own plate and applied this across the board, then they could also charge for 2 year old allergy orders. To spin it into a different context, it would be like if they installed a ramp in a line ride, then said "if you use a wheelchair, you pay $1 to use the ramp, people who walk don't have to pay and still get to use it." It would be clear discrimination. (and stupid) Either all people pay to use the ramp, or nobody pays to use it- same with kids being served at the buffet.

 

[Talking Hands]

Of course if the substitute item costs more the restaurant can pass that increase to the customer. Gluten free pizza is often more expensive than regular pizza.
As for the original question I stand by my opinion that if someone orders something for a child under 3 they should expect to be charged for the item. If they are not great.

At a buffet a 2 yo will not be charged for food. If it is a table service or counter service and separate food is order for a child under 3 you will be charged. The premise is the child is eating off of the parents plate and not getting their own meal. So an allergy child will get charged for special food unless the parent chooses to eat according to the child's allergies.

 

[OurBigTrip]

Assuming the that individual requesting is covered under ADA, and the substitute is substantially equivalent in level to something on the menu then you should not receive and upcharge.

This is a standard that is still being established so for the most up to date information contact your local DOJ office of civil rights

I'm sorry, I just want to make sure I understand...you're suggesting that someone contact the DoJ regarding whether or not they have to pay for a meal? And you consider this a civil rights issue?