What restaurants do you recommend for multi allergen and ability to puree?

[wflamm]

Hi there. We are going April 24 to Disney through Make A Wish. My son is 10, Dev. Delay, epilepsy, multiple allergens, doesn't walk or talk and will need for us to bring in his special potty in to the park. I am looking for tips. Never been before. Esp need info on what restaurants could handle his allergies. He mostly just eats meat, veggies and fruit. And it needs to be pureed or mashed like potato. Also I've heard there is a special room for those getting wishes granted to take a break in? I've been told this might be a good place to keep his potty. We are thinking he will enjoy Magic Kingdom the most. Any help appreciated.

Wendy

 

[mistysue]

I would contact the group organizing the wish trip, as they will likely have some specific advice, such as information about break rooms, for you.


As for the food issue- I would recommend you plan for table service meals if the allergies are complicated - it's hard to really say much not knowing which allergies he has. Generally table service are much better at addressing specific food requirements for you and will have more options available. Have you looked into making any reservations? You would be able to do that now and it may make things much easier for you.
We have had a great time dining in the Magic Kingdom at table service with allergies. We've become big fans of Liberty tree tavern (for lunch, never done the dinner there) The plaza and Tony's. A big thing is to look over the menus and try to guess which food is closest to what he would want. If you want character dining we also liked the Crystal Palace, which has the winnie the pooh characters.

What might be a good place to start is for you to contact special diets (SpecialDiets@disneyworld.com) and see if they have any lists of specialty foods for the specific allergens you are dealing with. They keep lists of specialty foods for gluten, egg, dairy, soy, peanuts and treenuts. (they might have more)
Basically you can get meat, veggies and fruit anywhere. If there are certain toppings, marinades or sauces that are an issue you would need to speak to the chef on site to see what they can do. If his allergies are items that are easy to avoid, you may be able to look over menus and pick quick service locations with options he likes. My son goes place to place and ends up with grilled chicken or fish, plain rice and a steamed vegetable but we rarely eat a meal that is not table service.
I don't know about puree capabilities but special diets may also be able to help you there. I would expect that the quick service locations would not have that option.
Outside of the Magic Kingdom we've found allergy options to be more complicated. We've been sticking to Tusker House at Animal Kingdom, we liked Biergarten at EPCOT (many world showcase places can be riskier with allergies, they seem to understand them there) and we have found Hollywood studios frustrating because we can't eat the quick service there and the table service you can't get near without a reservation made the day the window opens or at a horrible time. It all really depends on what you are avoiding.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

from what I remember the MAW room is just that an open room to rest in. I would look at First Aid centers for the potty. have a great trip. I was blessed to go with 2 of grandsons on their trips. if you are staying at Give Kids The World, make sure you have extra room in suitcases to bring home everything you get there.

 

[clanmcculloch]

I would contact the Special Diets department to find out if they can give you a list of restaurants that have the ability to puree food in a dedicated allergy blender (that may be a really tall order). If they can't do that then maybe list your top 5 restaurants and ask if they can check on those ones specifically.

 

[Hej2222]

We were on a Make-A-Wish trip last year with DD9 who only eats pureed food. We also have been at WDW other times, and we find table service restaurants very accommodating when we ask for pureed food. I like buffets the most since I can pick the food she likes and then give it to chef to puree. We have been to Crystal Palace, CRT, O'Hana, Garden Grill, Chef Mickey, Hollywood and Vine, and they all did wonderful job accommodating our needs. We only had problems one time at Akershus for lunch (food was not pureed well and came very late). They did not charge us eventually for DD's meal since I ended up feeding her from baby jars (I always carry few with me just in case).

I found that calling Special Diet did not help with anything. I just mark "other" on allergy section in ADR reservation and ask for chef at the restaurant immediately after we are situated at the table. Works every time!

When we go to counter service, I buy food for the rest of our family and bring food I pureed at home for DD (I usually put in a little cooler with ice packs).

 

[wflamm]

Wow this has been so helpful. So much good information. I appreciate it so much. I was having trouble w/ the forums a bit. I searched a lot but there's so much information out there...wasn't quite sure how to navigate. But this is so helpful. Yay!

Wendy

 

[Betty Rohrer]

are you staying at Give Kids The World? if so I would also talk to them. you get free meals there.

 

[wflamm]

also forgot to say. He is allergic to so much but here's a good start:

nuts, eggs, soy, milk, gluten, garlic, cinnamon, mangos, bananas, abscorbic acid, fish, and more

plus it needs to be like a mash consistency.

 

[wflamm]

Yes, we are staying at Give Kids the World. I also wanted to ask, did you all make reservations at the restaurants in advance? I read somewhere that if you have multiple allergens you need to notify chef two weeks in advance.

 

[WheeledTraveler]

With a list of allergies that long, it might also be useful to be able to suggest things he can eat. If you can fit it onto a card, a card that has his allergies on one side and examples of things he can eat on the other is worth making to bring to restaurants.

I agree with everyone who says sit down meals. The one CS he might be able to do is Sunshine Seasons at EPCOT. They have a wide variety of food and it's mostly not pre-packaged so do have the ability to customize foods more than other CS places. I don't know if they have a blender, but that's something Special Diets might be able to answer.

In case you were unaware, restaurants can't purée or heat up any outside food (it's a legal issue). They should be able to purée anything that they make, but I have no idea how many might have blenders that don't ever get used for foods he can't eat. (The one I'm thinking about the most for that is the soy.)

If you don't get a satisfactory answer from Special Diets for your first e-mail, keep e-mailing them. Their first responses tend to be form/canned responses. With the number of allergies on top of the puréed food requirement, it's worth being persistent to get a response that isn't just a scripted response. If it was just the purée, I wouldn't worry as much.

I have no idea what GKTW's policies are when it comes to food allergies. I definitely think contacting them about your son's food allergies and need for puréed foods a head of time is worth doing. Your wish granters may be able to do so, but I'd want to do it myself so that you know the information shared isn't getting altered by the retelling.

I think you're going to be best off seeing about storing the potty at First Aid, not the MAW lounge. I don't know that there's any way to hide it from other MAW families and it's definitely something you don't want messed with. First Aid should be able to store it away from other visitors and will provide a definitely clean area for use. There are also First Aid locations in each park so those can be used at any park. (For example, if he likes animals, it might be worth spending some time at Animal Kingdom.)

 

[mistysue]

Definitely talk to GKTW and write to special diets a few times. Ask for a number and try to call them.
I would completely stick to sit-down places because they are going to have plain meat and unprocessed items for you. Others are right that you might have to write to special diets and then write again or even try to call- they will immediately send you a canned response because it covers 90% of the people- so you have to assert yourself if you need more attention, and you do need more than that. They are not going to have a blender free from all those allergens sitting anywhere. Are there certain items where cross contamination wouldn't be an issue, vs others where it is? Or is everything way too sensitive? If you can give them that sort of list, it may help them determine what (if anything) can be done.

GKTW might be able to help you with figuring out meals if you are going to be out for a while. (I don't know their specifics and have no experience with them- but this can't be the first time it's come up!)

 

[LilyWDW]

The thing I would be MOST worried about with the food is if the restaurants have a blender that they could use that would be safe from cross contamination. They may have safe foods and they may have a blender... but is the blender safe?

 

[Hej2222]

Nancy is a chef at Gingerbread House Restaurant at GKTW. She is the person you probably should ask for when it comes to arrangements for special diet at GKTW. She is usually there at dinner time and can prepare food for your child the way you want. I am not sure about the contamination with blender though, last summer they only had one blender in the kitchen at Gingerbread House. If you send an email to GKTW, they can forward it to Nancy or check with her and let you know. You can also order room service for lunch or dinner at GKTW from Katie's Kitchen - choices are more limited, but Katie's Kitchen is open late, they deliver to your villa and you can then blend it yourself with a blender in the villa or your own blender (if you bring one with you; we usually bring our own Baby Bullet on trips). You can find menu for Katie's Kitchen in Village Guide online on GKTW website.

When we were on our Wish trip last summer we ate breakfast and dinner everyday at GKTW, and had couple lunches reserved in the parks. We did 2 character buffets (Crystal Palace and Hollywood and Vine - they usually are the best with pureeing food/allergy), we also had table service lunches at US and Sea World -I brought our own food for DD for those days (leftovers from Katie's Kitchen). That approach worked best for us - we enjoyed dinner every night at GKTW and nighttime activities, and we could have a break in the parks at lunch with table service.

 

[wflamm]

I am still going through the ride list, and I never put him on anything that is rough or too fast for him. But I guess what I am wondering is are they super picky about handicap kids getting on rides. He can sit up, he just has balance issues and would need my arm around him on most things. That's why even though he's 10 we tend to put him on the rides that are more for younger kids. I don't want to be embarrased or dissapointed. Also, some have said Universal just isn't wheelchair friendly. So I am concerned about that. One issue we have is that we bring our potty because Evan can't sit on a regular potty. He needs a chest strap. Is there any companion restrooms? Is there a first aid or anywhere we could store the potty and go back to use it. I am figuring that going back to use the potty in the van would be too far to go.

 

[wflamm]

ooops sorry that last one was supposed to go under another thread. Couldn't figure out how to delete it.

 

[gigicnm]

Just one thought. These are very large parks. You could have quite an issue having to get all the way back to First Aid every time your child has to use the restroom. It's not a five minute trip across the park, especially at parade time. You'd have to probably allocate say 20-30 minutes from Fantasyland to First Aid at non-parade time. Plus I'm not sure how much room First Aid has for storage. I would probably try to contact First Aid at MK to confirm you can leave your medical equipment there.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

would not plan to go back to van esp at MK as you will have to take either monorail or ferry to TTC and a long walk back to van. you are looking at 20 to 30 minutes from gate to van at MK and that amount of time back to bag check. plus you will have to go thru bag check each time you go out the park. later in day less bag checkers.