Having severe and life threatening food allergies is terrifying. I remember being a kid and my little sister going into anaphylactic shock at the mall after a chain sub restaurant cut her sandwich with a knife that had cut a sandwich before it that had cheese on it. There was no cheese on her sandwich and the bread was completely safe. The cross contact of simply having a knife that had touched cheese also touch her sandwich sent our family in a mad dash through the mall with my dad carrying her little body, my mom screaming, and my little legs desperately trying to keep up. That is one of my earliest memories in life. That utterly terrifying experience is something that I hope never happens to any of you. However, parents of kids with life threatening food allergies know all too well that this is something that can happen at any moment.
That was back in the 1900s (as the kids so affectionately refer to any year before 2000) before food allergies were widely known about or talked about. Our mom cooked almost everything from scratch and going out to eat was something we did not often do. Our childhood trip to Disney World included my mom taking all of Sissy's food into the parks because there was nothing she could eat. Fast forward 30 years and Disney is now a Mecca for people with food allergies.
Let me share another story, this one also full of tears. In 2015 we took our first trip to Disney as adults with my husband and kiddo. My Sissy came along with us (she also hand't been since we were kids). Keep in mind that 2015 was nearly 10 years ago (does that blow your mind or what?), so the food allergy scene still wasn't quite what it is today. At Be Our Guest restaurant, we all ordered our meal. The chef came out to talk to My Sissy about her allergy and things she could eat. For the first time in her life she was able to have full bread service AND dessert at a restaurant. If you or someone in your family doesn't have food allergies, then you probably don't understand what a big deal this was to simply have bread service with dairy free margarine. I kid you not when I say that she and I were both in tears. At The Plaza Restaurant, she had her very first ever root beer float. At Tusker House, she was able to experience a buffet style meal for the first time in her life (more on that later).
Disclaimer: our experience is with dairy and lamb anaphylaxis allergies
Double disclaimer: Nothing is ever 100% guaranteed with life threatening allergies. Please always carry your EpiPen and Benadryl with you at all times... even at Disney... always
Communication is Key
There are things that people without allergies take for granted, and the ease of getting food wherever you are whenever you get hungry is one of them. In this post, I'm going to help guide you through how to order allergy options at Disney. The number one piece of advice I'm going to give you is to make sure you communicate the severity of your allergy with the staff. Communicate that your food needs to be cooked separately. Communicate that they need to use fresh, clean utensils to prepare your food. I promise that you will not be the first person to make this request and they will not be judging you for it. They want you to be safe and have a wonderful experience. We always ask to speak directly to the chef and communicate directly to the chef the severity of the allergy.
Multiple Allergens
If you have 4 or more allergies, please contact Disney within 14 days before you trip at this email address Special.Diets@DisneyWorld.com to help with planning. Communication is key, and this is step 1 in communicating. However, as we found out, if you have less than 4 allergies, they will not respond as most kitchen can already accommodate you.
Pre-Planning
Take some time to review the menus at the restaurant on the MDE app or Disney website before you start making reservations. Most table service restaurants owned and operated by Disney will have allergy menus listed at the bottom. Some restaurants only have a few options, while others have a large selection of allergy safe options. Allergy menus are also listed differently at different restaurants, so take some time to familiarize yourself with the menus before you start making dining reservations.
What to Expect
While I have never actually seen the inside of a Disney kitchen, I do know that some have separate allergy areas where foods are prepared separately. One experience from a fellow DVC member noted that her child has a life threatening allergy to nuts. When trying to order ice cream at Beach Club Resort, they could not safely prepare her child's ice cream there. The Cast Member actually went to another location and had the ice cream treat prepared in a nut free area! Stories like this are one of the reason we keep coming back to Disney time and time again. I do want to be upfront that every once in a while you will have a chef tell you that they can not safely prepare your food. Please do not get mad or angry about this. They want you to be safe. You want you to be safe! Nobody wants to spend vacation in the hospital.
How to Order at Table Service Restaurants
Table service restaurants are the easiest place to order allergy friendly foods. All of these restaurants require either an advanced dining reservation or a day of walk up wait list reservation. Either way, you can not simply walk in and sit down. You have to go through a reservation system either on your phone or in person. When making your reservation through the MDE app or Disney website, there will be a section for "allergies". Use this section to select all allergies. If your allergy is not listed, there is an option to free-type your allergen.
When you get to the restaurant, if you have listed your allergen, the hostess who seats you and the wait person will usually both ask who has the allergy. I believe all table service restaurants at Disney now have a separate allergen menu that they will provide. Some menu items are also able to be modified to be allergy friendly such as leaving off the croutons from a salad, substituting a sauce, or exchanging a side dish.
They used to always send out a chef to the table without you asking, however it has been kind of hit or miss here lately. For life threatening allergies, I always recommend letting the wait person know that you would like to have the chef come to your table. Again, this is not something unique and they are not going to be judging you or rolling their eyes about this request. Chef's primary goals are to keep you safe while preparing delicious foods. As stated before, make sure you communicate just how severe the allergy is. Specify that cross contact could result in a reaction. All chef's at Disney (heck, all chef's in general) know what this means and they know the steps to take in their kitchen to prepare things as safely as possible.
How to Order at Quick Service Restaurants
On that trip back in 2015, Sissy did not eat at any of the quick service restaurants. Really, we didn't know what to do, how to order, or how safe it would be. When we did a Sister's Trip a few months ago, I really wanted her to try some of the quick service options. She didn't quite trust me. She didn't quite trust Disney. Again, the unknown is scary when one wrong slip up could cost you your life. She had not been to Disney since Pandora was built and I really, really wanted her to eat at Satu'li Canteen. I walked into the restaurant confident that they would keep her safe. She walked in skeptical and a little fearful. I let the front host, Doug, know about her food allergies and how she was a little skeptical. He was so helpful and took us right up to the register and called the chef to come talk to us. I didn't know that was a thing they did at quick services. Chef Albert was sooooooo wonderful. He went to the back and personally made all of her food and brought it out to the table himself! He went into the cooler and got fresh ingredients that hadn't been out on the line to ensure there was no cross contact. He reviewed all ingredient with her in the sauces and told her how and where the tofu was cooked. It was a wonderful experience!!!
The only caveat about quick service dining is that you cannot really utilize the mobile ordering service option when you have life threatening allergies. You really do have to walk in, wait in line, and wait for a chef to become available to see if they can even accommodate you.
How to Order at EPCOT Festival Booths
EPCOT festival food booths is something that My Sissy really didn't trust with her severe allergies. She brought her own food into the parks on our EPCOT day. However, I was determined for her to enjoy the amazing foods at Food and Wine. Again, remember that My Sissy is vegan. I know that I loved the Brussel's sprouts at Brew Wings earlier in the season (and the year before) and I also really liked the vegan chicken wings. Once again, quite skeptical, she went up to the counter and told the Cast Member behind the counter about her life threatening allergy. Ok, so things at the festival booths work a little differently than table service and quick service restaurants. Since they are food booths and not full scale restaurants, there is not a chef stationed at each booth. Instead, there is a central chef (or two) and the Cast Member at each booth will call them via phone to verify safety. Remember, communication is key. By the end of our F&W crawl, my sister told the CM to just let them know it was the girl who is anaphylactic to dairy again. They cannot verify safety for all booth together. Each individual booth must make a separate call every time. This was another day of tears because this was another life time first for her... a food crawl!!!
Buffet's
Unless you have a life threatening food allergy, you've probably never stopped to think about the way you scoop food at buffet restaurants, what happens if you stick the spoon back into the wrong spot, or effects of dropping some pieces of one food onto another. Eating at buffet's are probably the single scariest experience for people with anaphylaxis allergies. It's cross contact to the max. Disney recognized this, and man, did they come up with a fantastic solution! Once again, communication is key here. The waitperson will get the chef to come to your table and the chef will actually walk you around the buffet and let you know which foods are safe for you to eat as is, and which foods are safe with modifications. Then... the chef will go make those items in the kitchen, fresh, and bring them out to your table eliminating all of the cross contact that normally happens with buffets. Just look at how much food My Sissy was able to eat at Tusker House, all of which was completely vegan (except the salmon). For dessert at Hollywood and Vine, they basically brought her an entire carton of vegan ice cream (I'm not going to say if she ate the entire thing or not...)
Snacks
There are several snack served around that park that are allergy friendly for most allergens. Popcorn is safe for pretty much all allergies (don't let the delicious buttery flavor fool you... it's not real butter and is completely vegan). Dole Whip is also another vegan option. Dole Whip is not just a pineapple flavored vegan soft serve style treat, but it also comes in other flavors such as mango, raspberry, lemon, and lime at different times throughout the year. Both are nut free and gluten free as well. Rule of thumb with snacks, if you see something you want, just ask. CM's have a huge binder at snack carts that list all ingredients for most of the common snacks found throughout the parks.
Once again, I cannot stress enough how important it is to always have your EpiPen with you at all times. While the Cast Members will go above and beyond to ensure your safety, they are after all, only human. With a little pre-planning and a lot of communication, you should have a safe and delicious Disney vacation!!!
I hope this helps to give you a starting point when trying to plan your Walt Disney World Vacation. For help booking a room and park tickets check out Jillian with Destination Dreaming Travels. She's a FREE travel agent waiting to help you book your most magical vacation ever.
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All very well said Sis. I still crave that guava cake from the Food and Wine festival.