Travel Tip Tuesday

I stink at keeping up! Now that school is back in, this will be better! Anyway, today's travel tip is for all of you have someone with food allergies in your family. If someone has an allergy, or special diet that they must follow, then Disney is the vacation to take with your family. All of the chefs at Disney are wonderful and trained to deal with a plethora of dietary restrictions. Many of the menus already include vegan options, while some even have gluten free or sugar free options as well. If you don't see something on the menu that you feel comfortable with, or if your food needs to be created in a nut free zone, they can probably accomodate you. All you have to do is ask to speak to the chef and tell them you have food allergies. The chef will come to your table and work with you to create a meal that your special eater can fully enjoy.

On a side note though, Disney takes food allergies very very seriously. If you have a slight one and want to chance eating what is on the menu, don't mention the word allergy around your server. Case is point, my daughter has a slight milk allergy. In her case, her face breaks out after she is exposed to a lot of dairy. Seeing as my daughter lives on pizza and Mac and cheese at Disney, this often happens towards the end of our trip. She doesn't get sick, doesn't go into anaphylactic shock, and the spots don't bother her. They are just blemishes on her face. I have the same issue if I drink too much milk. So, a few years ago we were eating at the super expensive Cinderella castle as her special birthday meal. This was a big deal to her. As we were going over the menu and she was saying she wanted macaroni and cheese, I asked my husband if we should let her have it since she had spots on her face. The waiter walked up just as I mentioned the milk allergy. He said he would get the chef, even though I was not talking to him. I told him not to worry about it, it wasn't a big deal. He insisted that he had to get him since I "mentioned the word allergy". The chef comes out and refuses to allow her to have the macaroni. He then spent at least ten minutes at our table trying to come up with something my super picky then five year old would eat. We finally settled on plain pasta with sauce on the side. When it was time for dessert, he again said no to the birthday cupcake as it has a small amount of milk in it. I tried to explain that her allergy is not affected by milk baked into objects, only pure milk or dairy products and that she could have the cupcake. He still refused, but sent out some sorbet that I told him she wouldn't eat. My daughter was devastated and wanted the cupcake, but he wouldn't give in. While I completely understand that he was doing his job and trying to keep an allergy reaction from occurring, I wish he would have stopped when I told him about how the reaction is limited to straight dairy. At least let her have the cupcake! It was a very emotionally draining meal, and definitely not worth the price that night (we have eaten there before and totally loved it though so this was an isolated incident strictly linked to the allergy issue). I will never mention the word allergy again at Disney in regards to my daughter's milk allergy.


I told the story not to bash Disney or that Chef, but to illustrate the extreme seriousness the Chefs have in regard to food allergies. Just keep it in mind if you have someone with a milder allergy!