Where to find a summary of peanut allergy info at WDW

[Alli76]

Hi! Feeling more than a little frustrated right now. I am planning a trip for 3 families to WDW next year. Right now I am jsut wondering what I got myself into! My sister and her family will be coming. Her DD will be 2 at the time and has a peanut allergy. So instead of doing the research herself - she has put me in charge of coming up with a plan for her DD. I am pretty annoyed with this - but she is my niece and I will do almost anything for her.

I am not too worried about the sit down restaurants. We won't be going to any of the restaurants that seem like an obvious "stay away" restaurant. Plus, from what I have read - the chefs are more than willing to help and discuss any worries.

After all this - I really am looking for some ideas that she can get for snacks. I am pretty sure she can have soft serve ice cream - so I was going to make a list of any of the places that serve that. But does anyone know of any baked goods that may be ok. Maybe rice krispie treats? what about cookies? and where to get them?

Also - what about desserts at restaurants?

I am really surprised that I can't find a better list somewhere. I know that Disney has its reasons for not giving out those lists and I understand - but just don't know what the best suggestions for my sister should be.

TIA

 

[Schmeck]

Hi! Feeling more than a little frustrated right now. I am planning a trip for 3 families to WDW next year. Right now I am jsut wondering what I got myself into! My sister and her family will be coming. Her DD will be 2 at the time and has a peanut allergy. So instead of doing the research herself - she has put me in charge of coming up with a plan for her DD. I am pretty annoyed with this - but she is my niece and I will do almost anything for her.

I am not too worried about the sit down restaurants. We won't be going to any of the restaurants that seem like an obvious "stay away" restaurant. Plus, from what I have read - the chefs are more than willing to help and discuss any worries.

After all this - I really am looking for some ideas that she can get for snacks. I am pretty sure she can have soft serve ice cream - so I was going to make a list of any of the places that serve that. But does anyone know of any baked goods that may be ok. Maybe rice krispie treats? what about cookies? and where to get them?

Also - what about desserts at restaurants?

I am really surprised that I can't find a better list somewhere. I know that Disney has its reasons for not giving out those lists and I understand - but just don't know what the best suggestions for my sister should be.

TIA

Have you checked out Allears.net? They have menus posted, lists of all the CS places, carts, etc.

 

[disneyfool_1202]

So instead of doing the research herself - she has put me in charge of coming up with a plan for her DD. I am pretty annoyed with this - but she is my niece and I will do almost anything for her.

As the parent of a child with severe nut allergies, I completely admire and respect your desire to help by doing all of this investigation BUT - what if something happens? Are you going to be held responsible too??
I can not imagine leaving anything about my child's safety up to anyone other than ME. ESPECIALLY in dealing with food allergies.
ANYTHING can happen no matter how "prepared" you are and she needs to be prepared for that anything.

Example: We ate at Chef Mickeys. I went through the entire buffet with the chef and knew exactly what was and was not 'safe' for my child to eat. He was eating some cheese and all of a sudden turned into a GIANT HIVE. I was POURING Benadryl down his throat. He had hugged a character not 5 minutes before. We figured out it was because a small child who was eating peanutbutter had recently hugged the character and my son ended up smothered in nut oil by getting a giant hug. NOT Disney's fault - not anyone's fault. Just one of those things that can happen no matter how much investigation you do. Disney's response was to remove my husband child and I from the restaurant while they called emergency services and had us sit in a lounge area (we were moved to a bar). We were on the dining plan so I had to then fight with the manager of the restaurant to credit our meal back to us - they said since we ate cheese, technically we had cashed in our dining credit. After I told them exactly how I felt about that and that I was going to escallate, they arranged for a full "safe" meal to be sent to our room by the restaurant at our hotel.

While you are willing to help because you'll do anything for your niece - I'd leave the health issue investigation up to the person who needs to be ultimately responsible.

 

[lanejudy]

I have to say I agree with disneyfool that the child's mother or father needs to be involved in making the "plan" for the child's meals and snacks. They are the ones who deal with this allergy day-in and day-out, they are much more familiar with the appropriate foods and safe brands than the most caring aunt can be. I suggest that you do some research; there is quite a bit here on the disAbilities forum about peanut allergies and safe foods, review the menus as someone suggested - print it all out and share with your sister. Tell her "this is what I found, but I really need you to determine what is safe for little susie to eat." As a 2-year-old, she likely will be eating off an adult's plate rather than purchasing a meal for her. Make sure your ADRs have the allergy noted, and when you arrive at each restaurant ask to speak with the chef. Since the child will only be 2 "next year" (not sure if that's next spring/summer/fall) - that means she's only 1 now and likely has not been exposed to a lot of different foods. I think your sister is taking advantage of you and this is a lifelong serious issue that she needs to handle - she needs to make herself familiar with safe foods for her daughter, it will only get more challenging as the child gets older and is exposed to more outside the home. Your sister needs to be involved in this research as much for her own learning.

Good luck and enjoy your vacation!

 

[Alli76]

Thanks everyone! I don't disagree with any of your thoughts. I really am frustrated with being put in charge of this. My sister is SOOO careful about everything that my niece eats and is usually so proactive about this. She is an overly cautious person. I just don't understand why she doesn't seem to want to do the research for this trip. Of course my mom doesn't help.... she says that as the TA for this trip I should get this all together for her. I think she has a crazy sense of what TAs actually do!

Anyway, I am hoping that if I start her off - she will get going on doing some research herself.

 

[lanejudy]

And she is allowed to bring food into the parks for the child (or anyone). That may be the best suggestion for snacks, especially since a child that age will likely need several snacks throughout the day and the choices at-hand may or may not be limited, depending on where you are in the park. (Nobody wants to spend 20 minutes walking across the park to get in line for a "safe" snack for a hungry 2-year-old, then 20 minutes to walk back and join the group.)

Good luck!

 

[mistysue]

Before even getting into this- you also need to figure out what they are ok with. There are very different logical responses to peanut allergies. Are they ok with made on the same equipment? Made in the same facility?

With my son, when his only allergy was peanut we just didn't feed him items that had peanut on the ingredient list. It didn't even occur to me that I had to plan anything out concerning the allergy.

Then there are kids whose parents don't feed them any nuts or even pea pods because they might react.

Those are completely different kids to plan for.

Once you know that much, I would contact special diets maybe a couple weeks before you do ADR's to see if there are any significant changes and again about a month out to get the most up to date anything they will give you.

It is possibly going to feel like torture waiting for the information, but they aren't going to give you anything any earlier than that so you're better off just letting go and waiting until it's time.

 

[YOUFAM]

I have a daughter with an allergy to all nuts. Went to DL a couple of years ago and she couldn't eat any baked goods or at any sweet treat shops. I am so puzzled as to why Disney does not have a few sweet treat shops that are nut free!! And could accommodate the top 7 food allergies for that matter!! So many children have food allergies today and they are Disney's #1customer. People who don't have nut allergies would certainly still shop there too. Hopefully, things will change if enough of us call and explain our disapointment.

 

[mistysue]

YOUFAM- check out babycakes. They are peanut and treenut free... except coconut which is not actually a treenut but is classified as one.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Check out the statement Babycakes makes about their peanut warning. There are some ingredients they can not guarantee that could not have been exposed to peanuts. We are good with their products but not everyone will be. No matter how much leg work you do before the trip, mom needs to recheck EVERYTHING before she eat anything. Products change all the time. WDW is great and we have had no issue with DS5's allergy there. On our last trip, a did a mix of TS and CS and we did buffets though many parents will not. We found that except for desserts and bakes goods, we are pretty much ok except for the obvious things like uncrustables. Most places would not assure us any dessert other than plain ice cream was safe. We do allow "made in the same facility" warning and Pizza Planet had cookies that were ok for that. Most CS we took our dessert with us and got DS a ice pop thing at a vender and ate it all together. We always carry cookies or something that is safe for him. Pretty sure that non of the rice crispy treat were safe.

 

[nfceagles]

In addition to what others have said, one issue you may run into is that being under 2, she's not eligible for the dining plan. She's expected to share meals with others, except at buffets. That means that mom or dad may need to have their meal made safe as if the allergy was theirs, so that she can safely eat their food. So they may be limited from the breads and other unsafe foods. I would want to understand that going into the situation. An alternative is to pay cash for her meal.

 

[monorailsilver]

I'd be annoyed too. My son is allergic to dairy, peanuts, tree nuts & egg whites & I would never ask anyone to look for foods for him.

I do give him foods that have been processes on the same lines & he has no problems with that but in Disney they won't. I remember going to Chef Mickey's & he got his dairy free ice cream but they couldn't give him shots because they were processed with peanuts. So I got them for him & he was happy but I got them because I knew he could have them & I had benadryl & his epipen.

I would give her some suggestions & tell her to look at them. This is your vacation too & you should not have to do that for her, even if she is your niece.