Tree Nut + Peanut Allergy Trip to WDW

[Button17]

This is a bit late, as our trip was Jan/Feb this year, but better late than never.

This is a personal view on holiday at WDW, Virgin Atlantic, and Orlando Airport with a child with anaphylaxis to peanuts and tree nuts.

Background

My Daughter, 7, was diagnosed when she was 6, and rightly or wrongly, but with consultants blessing, we are fairly relaxed on possible cross contamination. Ie, if packaging says "may contain nuts" then we let her have it. If it say "may contain ..." and lists specific nuts then we don't let her have it. If it says "processed in a factory using nut" we let her have it. We have kept her alive for 6 yrs prior to diagnosis and she has been brought up with certain products which in other forms she is allergic too. Our consultant advised us not to remove anything from her diet that she already eats safely. This is obviously not advise but what works for us.

Prior to booking flights I spoke to several airlines but none could reassure me on their nut policy. We booked with Virgin Atlantic and then spoke to Special assistance. On VA you have to pay to book seats If you want to guarantee bring next to your child. As I have 2 children with medical needs, obviously needed to be with them. The kind lady booked us upstairs, in the bubble, for free, in economy due to less chance of nuts, as it's a small cabin. This saved us £280 as should have been £35 per seat per journey (family of 4).

VA can't guarantee their meals don't contain nuts so I took plenty of snacks and then bought sandwiches air-side at Gatwick.

When we boarded our flight, I spoke to the first cabin staff (at the door) and asked if they'd be kind enough to make an announcement about nuts as daughter is allergic. They asked if she was severe and had her own epipens. I assured her we did. When we got to our seats they did an announcement but I felt a lot of people wouldn't have heard it as busy finding seats, not yet boarded or busy putting luggage in overhead lockers. Luckily they repeated it after the safety instructions, maybe as we're were sat on the tarmac for 20 mins.

A stress free flight was had.

We stayed in at Saratoga Springs, with free dining plan. A ridiculous amount of food really. When I'd pre booked out table service meals, at 180 days out I had ticked the boxes for Tree Nut, Peanut allergy. This worked really well in ever restaurant. When you check-in for your ADR you give your name. They then confirm number of adults and children and then confirm that one guest has a tree and peanut allergy. They then gave us a special allergy menu to look at while waited to be seated.

A CM then comes to seat you, confirming the allergy and that we have an allergy menu. They seat you and put a receipt in on your table, which is stamped with red ink saying "allergy". The server then comes to take drinks order and confirms the allergy, that you are happy and understand the allergy menu, or if you'd like the chef to come to the table.

Some table service restaurants were buffets and on their allergy lists varied alot, ie, their pastries. Some said not suitable, some suitable, though I'm sure they are all made in the same facility. It may be how they are displayed and stored.

Many resturants did not allow nuts on their premises which was excellent to hear.

The quick service restaurants were slightly more hit and miss, and the choices much more limited. Luckily my daught likes chicken tenders, as these were a consistently safe option.

Snack credits were the most limited. Obviously packaged sweets were mostly safe, but she wasn't keen on these. Bakeries couldn't guarantee safety so we avoided these. The only tears we had was in Goofy's Candy shop at Disney Springs. You can design your own snack and watch it being made. There were nuts everywhere so clearly unsafe.

Many of her meals, both Table service and quick service were prepared in a spate preparation area, by a knowledgeable member of staff, and brought to the table separately with a wooden squewer sticking out saying "allergy".

Only once did we asked for the chef, and this was at 1900 Park Fare, at the Grand Floridian Resort for buffet dinner. There were no safe desserts so he prepared a dessert specially for her, brought it to the table and posed for a photo with her.

At Rainforest Cafe at Disney Springs the chef insisted on seeing us and going through the whole menu, even though Daughter already knew what she wanted. He said it was because he'd had parents give bites of foods off their plates before.

The Ice Cream Parlour on the corner of Main street, in Magic Kingdom, was excellent. Daughter wanted an ice cream sandwich, which they couldn't guarantee the cookies were nut free. They asked us to step to the side and a manager came to us, took our order, prepared daughter 3 little ice cream sandwiches with safe cookies, brought them out herself, and checked we were happy half way through.

Mostly, we found staff very well trained, and knowledgeable, but occasionally a CM just said, "yes, I think it's safe". Not good enough mate, please check, to which they did, or we walked away. We were given a folder in a lot of snack places showing photocopy of food packaging.

Orlando airport was not a great experience, admittedly probably worsened after leaving the Disney Bubble after 15 days 😃.

We needed to take food on board for flight home. I had planned to get something in our resort or Disney Springs, however, due to running out of luggage space, and hands, we had to leave this til the airport. In hindsight I would have not done this.

In my opinion Orlando Airport is a complete shambles and added to this is currently undergoing extensive building work. Luckily a VA member of staff told us at check-in that there were very few food outlets air-side due to the construction work. We found the food hall land-side and headed to McDonald's, thinking a safe option.

Some more background...

Again a personal opinion, but I find with Americans you have to be very specific in your requirements. An example of this was we asked our concierge about booking horse riding, he was very confused but after a while said "oh, you mean horse-back riding"🙄.

So at MccyDs I asked if their kids happy meals were nut free. No! Are any of you meals nut free. No! So all your food contains nuts? Yes! Okay, so we go to a few more outlets and the answer was the same. I was beginning to panic a little, not only did daughter need a meal now but also something to eat on the plane. Eventually husband went and spoke to the Maccy D's manager. Specifically asking if their food contained tree nuts and peanuts. She brought us a folder showing happy meal of choice was safe. Thank goodness.

I ended up at Cinnabon buying one of their huge cinnamon rolls to take on the flight. Not ideal but due to lack of sandwich options this was the best I could do in the circumstances.

Again on boarding I spoke to the cabin crew downstairs. Soon after being seated our upstairs crew staff came and introduced themselves to us and my daughter. They checked we were okay with medications and our own food. Again the flight was half empty which was lovely. The announcement was made at a much more quiet time this time. The cabin crew came back a short time before take-off and told us that 2 paramedics had made tgemselves kniwn to the crew after the announcement and if we had any worries to just shout. How kind of them 😊.

Again a stress free flight and the crew treated daughter likes princess and always checking with me before offering her anything. They even made both girls a hot chocolate specially in business class.

Overall a very good experience.

I'm sure there are bits I've missed so please feel free to ask any questions.

[Ridersmom]

Just FYI, my grandson is allergic to peanuts (no others). He is in the middle of Oral Ammunotherapy with the goal he will be allergy free. He now is able to eat around 6 peanuts without a reaction, having started with a very minute amount of peanut protein. It is an intense process with a parent taking him to the allergist every week or so and meticulously following the protocol. There are only 2 specialist who do this in the US.

I am so happy that this seems to be working. In the US it sometimes seems impossible to find products that are peanut free. So many times, I have brought protein bars on the plane when I go visit, only needing to toss them when I get off the plane as they "may have peanuts" or were produced in a facility with peanuts.

I think your approach seems to be in line with my grandson's doctor's. I am glad to wrote your report and had a good time at Disney. I never realized how much parents with allergic children must do to protect their kids until DGS developed his allergy. Kudos to you. And I hope when the airport work is done, your travel will be easier.

[Mrs Sunshine]

Hi i just stumbled across your feed on your experience with eating in and out of Disney. I must say its nice to read someone elese experience as we go through the same dilemas daily with our 7 year old son.
We went to Disney in May 2017 and as it was our first visit didnt know what to expect but we managed well as we ate in the villa and took a packed lunch to the parks most days. We also had a few Macdonalds as its a 'go to' place at home where we know what he can and cant eat but still had to check the allergy list.
We did go inside Dennys and before being seated we asked for the allergy menu and as the writing was typed up too small to read we walked straight back out again as we couldnt risk it. We are going back to Disney this year and would like to try to eat out a little more so if you have any more places you had a good experience with can you let me know please?
My son has an epipen and we hardly eat out at home, even buying food from walmart is a risk isnt it. I worry about the cross contamination/storage etc. We too ask the air stewardesses to make an announcement on the plane and i took a packed lunch both ways with lots of little snacks. I understand how you must have felt on the journey home having to just get a cinnaman pastry, not ideal with food places being shut either. I dont think people truley realise the worry,planning and preparation that allergy sufferers or parents of them have to go through just to do something as simple as have a sandwhich/snack while on a plane. Its the same scenario when we go to the cinema and i can see they serve m & m peanuts, i dont know why these have to be served when theres so many alternatives and when were talking of peoples lives is it really too much to ask that they dont have them? I wish he didnt have this but he does and like you we try to be a little flexible where possible sos not to become too sensitive too everything maybe? If it says may contain nuts we allow it, if it says may contain Peanuts we dont. This in itself is a real problem because peanuts arnt nuts and not everybody knows that which causes issues with food choices and cross contamination. My son had a reaction when he ate a homemade chickpea curry. We later found out that chickpeas are a legume and part of the peanut family with a very high protein content. We avoid so many foods now inc all currys,chinese,chickpeas,lentils. With regards to eating out in Disney id already asked about it on here and lots of people replied with youll be safe at disney and disney are great with allergies but the truth is yes they are great with allergies but they still serve/ make food/cakes/icecreams with peanuts its not really safe at all. A person with an intolerance wont die from accidentally eating something which contained what they cant digest ( yes they will become ill) but a peanut allergy can and how to you manage that risk? Its all one big risk isnt it.
Anyway, sorry to ramble on it was just nice to know were in the same boat and if you do have any tips id be grateful.
Thanks

[tinkerbell15]

My son has multiple allergies - pea, All Nuts, Soy, lentils, chickpea, gram flour, lupin and All Seeds.

We found Disney to be excellent with the exception of beaches and cream who made our kitchen sink with a snickers bar.

The chef came out in most restaurants. We can’t eat at McDonald’s over there because of their fries containing soya.

We took chicken nuggets on the flight that I knew were safe.

[Infinity Red]

As having a son with a tree nut allergy this post is useful, we've been Orlando five times with my son and never knew McDonald's meals contained nuts over there. He's actually not had a maccies in USA but over here we consider it a safe go to !

[Kpzorse]

This is a great post. I have a (not so severe) nut allergy but it's good to find out how accommodating Disney can be. Like you I avoided Goofy's candy co, but I'm happy to hear you could order ice cream which is the one thing I worry about as Americans love their peanut butter cups and peanut toppings.

[DonnaD]

Originally Posted by Infinity Red

As having a son with a tree nut allergy this post is useful, we've been Orlando five times with my son and never knew McDonald's meals contained nuts over there. He's actually not had a maccies in USA but over here we consider it a safe go to !

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Tinkerbell15 said the fries contained soya not nuts. My daughter has a peanut and hazelnut allergy. I was very impressed to see the cashier in a McDonald's here hand over an individual sealed packet of nuts when a customer asked for them on his sundae.