Wheat free toddler @ buffet

[carolinamama]

Disney vet, extreme newbie to the food allergy world here!

My 15 mo old was just diagnose with a wheat allergy right in time for us to have to deal with it at Disney! I'll bring most of his food, but I can't bring everything.

I've changed most of our ADRs to buffet, but how does this work? I need to just get a few things for him - does someone walk me through, or am I better to stick with obvious choices? I have the list of WF/GF items from SD.

Thanks!

 

[glencoe]

I have a son with Celiac...I did my research on each restaurant I made ADR's for to make sure they could accomodate him with at least something. I was pleasantly surprised when many accomodated him with more that just that.

I will say he got specially prepared food at most sit down/table service. If there was a buffet they would bring him out what ever GF food they had in the back and he was able to eat fruit/veggies etc off the buffet. The chef actually walked us around and pointed to what he could eat.

However I will always worry about cross contanimation at a buffet, although he is not always that sensitive, if it happens repeatedly over a short time he does have some reactions.

I would recommend O'Hana's for breakfast (dinner too!) as they make all the food special...even the fresh Mickey waffles (yes GF!!)

Crystal palace was buffet but they just brought out a toasted Van's waffle, not so exciting but my son could eat it!!

As I said check the menus...even some CS have GF options which ranged from pizza, to a hamburger w/ a gluten free bun and the french fries were from a designated fryer!

Good Luck and have fun and like you, I also always have a back up plan!!

 

[jlr9882]

When we went a month before my son turned 3 to chef Mickey's for breakfast, the chef came to our table. He walked me through the buffet and told me what he could make for my son. He prepared eggs, special Mickey waffles for him and bought him some fresh fruit. We were not charged for his meal even though some people had warned me that because he was not eating off my plate and special food was being prepared for him that we may have to pay for him. My son had over 15 allergies at the time, so I did put them on our ADR's. We did of course pay for a meal for him at Rain Forest since it wasn't a buffet. When we went at age 4 with over 20 allergies, we were on the dining plan. He can't eat most of the typical kid's meals food like pizza, chicken nuggets, hotdogs, hamburgers, pb & j uncrustables, and mac & cheese. They prepared whatever he needed that was safe for him, and we weren't charge any extra due to being on the dining plan. If we weren't on the plan, I would have most likely been charged for adult meals or extra charges for allergy friendly foods. Two qs places even went out of their way to find something for him to eat at other places and brought it to us!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

make sure to note on the ressies that child has allergry to wheat. they will work with you

 

[clanmcculloch]

I know you only asked about buffets, but I wanted to also discuss non-buffets. If you want your son to be able to eat off your plate then you'll want to speak with a chef about ensuring that your meal is WF. If you want to order him his own meal then just order his WF.

At any fixed price restaurant, even though he is free, you can still order food for him. Speak with a chef about what options are available for him. This is true for all restaurants that are fixed price, not just buffets. He will get a meal at places like CRT, Akershus, Garden Grill, Spirit of Aloha and Hoop Dee Doo Review as well and the chefs will make sure it's safe.

 

[carolinamama]

Thank you all for the wonderful information! Very helpful.

 

[sb682]

I asked here on DIS about yummy GF character meals, and someone pointed me to Tusker House in AK. They appear to have a huge selection of GF items that aren't available at other TS restaurants (according to the version of the Special Diets PDF I have, from last month) and the buffet sounds amazing.