Disney to trial new allergy friendly menus at pilot locations this month

[TomHendricks]

Love is allergic to garlic. Dried or powder form, no problem. The actual cloves or oils? Causes anaphylaxis. When we ate at Be Our Guest for example, the chef came out and talked to us and was able to make him a steak without the garlic butter and it was done separate from any pan which had the garlic butter. They put a little identifier on the plate and everything was handled very competently and efficiently. Yes, we had to wait 10 or 15 extra minutes to speak with the chef and detail the options, but it was well worth it for a meal that wouldn't potentially kill him.

Now, his is an abnormal allergy. So it's something we'll ALWAYS need to talk to the chef about. But for more common allergies, I think it's great to have some designated options front and center to help address the issue without extra steps. I think it's more considerate of the guest because it doesn't single them out or make them feel awkward for needing "special" treatment. A lot of people don't want to "make a fuss" or be put under scrutiny, so simply having clearly defined menu options which are prepared in an allergy-friendly way by default? Of course I think that's a good thing!

I have a strawberry allergy, but only to fresh strawberries. If I would eat a fresh strawberry, I can go into anaphylaxis shock as well. It has happen, but strawberries that have been cooked or processed it a syrup or something like that, I've never had an issue with. Weird, right! So I only have to look out for fresh strawberries, so I usually never disclose my allergy. Well except when I goto Victoria and Alberts because you never know what they are cooking with there.

 

[jaklgreen]

Because not all allergies are life and death.

I am allergic to oregano which is used in pretty much everything. The absolute worst reaction I get from it is a sinus headache. There is absolutely zero reason for me to call out a chef and have him/her make me a special meal so I won't have to take some aspirin later that evening.

At the same time I have known several people who have had "minor" allergies to something and the one time it turned into something much worse. You never know when a minor allergy will turn major. Better be safe then sorry.

 

[jaklgreen]

You woud think that people would only answer 'yes' to the allergies question if they had something serious, but that's not the case.

Lots of guests make a big deal about their 'allergies', and then it transpires that they simply don't like the taste, or feel bloated if they eat something or whatever, or could easily not choose a dish.

Obviously though Disney would prefer these 'cry wolf' situations to taking the risk of legal action, so policy is always to assume once a guest has mentioned they have allergies, even if they say it's no big deal, then the restaurant has to assume that allergy = death.

I work in food and I have had a lot of people say they have an allergy to something and then orders something with it anyway. Mostly tomatoes, they tell me that they are allergic to them and don't want them on their sandwich but then order the tomato soup. After I question them then they fess up that they "just don't like tomatoes on their sandwich" well just say that we are not going to force you to eat a tomato.

 

[Master Yoda]

I work in food and I have had a lot of people say they have an allergy to something and then orders something with it anyway. Mostly tomatoes, they tell me that they are allergic to them and don't want them on their sandwich but then order the tomato soup. After I question them then they fess up that they "just don't like tomatoes on their sandwich" well just say that we are not going to force you to eat a tomato.

It also does not help when you have hacks like the Food Babe actually telling her legion of drones to do exactly that.

 

[jaklgreen]

It also does not help when you have hacks like the Food Babe actually telling her legion of drones to do exactly that.

I have to say that I take food allergies very seriously. I know that they can be deadly. But as a food service worker I have to say that some people make me mad. The place I work is not complicated(sandwich,salad,soup) like a Panera. But we bake our bread in house and the flour does get everywhere. Sign on the door says this but I still get people who want gluten free bread and I explain there is no way to keep the flour from flying onto everything that we are not a gluten free safe place and people get really mad at us. I do all that I can for allergies but please do not get mad and have a temper tantrum at your food service workers that can not accommodate all of your food allergies.

 

[Excitable Boy]

My 5 year old is allergic to peanuts, but has stuck to the chicken fingers and fries "menu" for almost every meal she's eaten on our 3 trips to WDW. She was only flagged on our last trip for the allergy and I think only once did a chef come to the table to ask.

 

[Master Yoda]

My 5 year old is allergic to peanuts, but has stuck to the chicken fingers and fries "menu" for almost every meal she's eaten on our 3 trips to WDW. She was only flagged on our last trip for the allergy and I think only once did a chef come to the table to ask.

The automated system does not always seem to work at 100% especially if it is an allergen that has already been eliminated in a restaurant. If you let them know when you check in at the restaurant, a chef will come out and talk to you at every meal.

 

[BrerJon]

The automated system does not always seem to work at 100% especially if it is an allergen that has already been eliminated in a restaurant. If you let them know when you check in at the restaurant, a chef will come out and talk to you at every meal.

If the computer doesn't mention an allergy has been flagged on the reservation then the person on the check-in stand is supposed to ask if there are any allergies in the party, and this information is then passed on to the server.

CMs can forget to ask, and computers don't always note the allergy properly, so if it's serious it's always worth mentioning it to your server as soon as they introduce themselves.

 

[mp2bill]

When we ate at Be Our Guest for example, the chef came out and talked to us and was able to make him a steak without the garlic butter...

No garlic butter!? That is an allergy that I could never live with. Although...I guess if I never was able to eat it in the first place, I wouldn't know what I was missing. Still, I feel sorry for him.

 

[MissM]

No garlic butter!? That is an allergy that I could never live with. Although...I guess if I never was able to eat it in the first place, I wouldn't know what I was missing. Still, I feel sorry for him.

Yeah it's a lot of things he can't eat because of it. Like no fettuccine alfredo or shrimp scampi or pretty much all Italian or Greek food. At home, I work around it and can make us versions of things using garlic powder, so he still gets to enjoy it a little, but definitely not many things in restaurants.

 

[DC0703]

Most modern widespread allergies are caused by people spending less time outside exposed to germs and more time inside squeeky clean houses, and kids food is preserved and disinfected within an inch of its life.

Without regular exposure to multiple bacteria at a very young age, the body doesn't develop the right immune sensitivities so people grow up to react badly to things that nature intended for them to be fine with.

Paranoia about germs, hygiene and a lack of awareness of the collateral damage of killing essential bacteria when we disinfect to kill bad bacteria, together with many kids being kept out of dirt and mud and inside houses where the only bacteria they are exposed to is their own families, have led to a situation where allergies have exploded in our society. Wide use of antibiotics hasn't helped either, as these too suppress the bacteria that teach our immune system not to react badly.

Not necessarily true. Quite a bit of research has been done on allergies and they've yet to find a true cause.

Personally, the hygiene hypothesis doesn't hold true in my case at all. I have a life threatening tree nut allergy, as well as a load of environmental allergies. I've had then since birth (38 years). As a kid I played outside constantly, and antibacterial soaps were not really common back then. Didn't affect my allergies at all, except that I would come in the house with rashes from the grass.

A lot of allergies are present from birth (or near to it), so lack of playing in the mud isn't causing allergies. Well, unless its the result of mom and dad not playing in the mud enough and passing things on...

 

[DC0703]

To some extent, this allergy policy is already in play in some restaurants. Be Our Guest has a computer system which filters allergies, and when I dined at Sanaa in March, they had a nut-free menu.

I'm not sure of my thoughts on this. Right now, when the chef takes the order, it is made in an allergy-free zone, as I understand it. Would this new approach also have that precaution? Would the waitstaff remember that the people ordering from the allergy menus need to have this flagged for the kitchen?

Contrary to some of the others, the part where the chef comes out is a nice touch that allows me to feel safer in the restaurants. I could deal with ordering from the allergy menu as long as they still have the same cross contamination policies in place.

 

[BrerJon]

I'm not sure of my thoughts on this. Right now, when the chef takes the order, it is made in an allergy-free zone, as I understand it. Would this new approach also have that precaution? Would the waitstaff remember that the people ordering from the allergy menus need to have this flagged for the kitchen?

The chefs get automated tickets from the POS the servers use, and there is a button the servers have to press to flag something as an allergy, and this then gets flagged on the chef's tickets. I imagine anything from the allergy menu would just have this set automatically in the system.

 

[wdwmagic]

Allergy-friendly menus now available at the majority of Walt Disney World restaurants

 

[jaklgreen]

I think the chefs should come out and speak to the customer if there is a question about what the person can have. If it is something simple like no dairy. That can easily be relayed to the chef via the server or ticket system. But the more complicated allergies, the chef should come out and speak to them. With all of the allergy/life style issues today, it would seem like nobody's food would be cooked if the chef needed to be out talking to everyone who had an allergy/request. That is what the servers are for.

 

[raetrosclair]

Hi - does anyone know if egg allergies will have their own menu? I didn't see it listed. Visiting with my 18 month old son in December, and he has a pretty severe egg allergy. Being able to see copies of the menus, if egg is one of them, in advance would be really helpful in the planning process.
Thanks!

 

[zero creativity]

I like this a lot. It is scary to see what happens if my son accidentally eats a nut. We have been able to make good judgments before and the chefs have always been great. Hopefully this streamlines the process for everybody.

 

[Herah]

We saw this last week...my son has a very common allergy (peanuts and tree nuts) and on previous visits we have found that most of the menus were already nut-free (except for desserts), but we found it much simpler to have a safe menu handed to him than to go through the routine of having a chef come out. If he had a more unusual problem I would definitely request the chef every time.

We ran into something else, though...the Nine Dragons has always been our go-to for the days we want to do the World Showcase properly, without having to break off and dash across the park for a scheduled ADR. You can always walk in, and we really like the food. But this time, the allergy caused a problem. Initially, the server said he would have to have his sauce on the side, which made no sense to us; then a manager said he could not have anything prepared in a wok, which left only the grilled fish, which he won't eat. (There is an entree with peanuts as a main ingredient, and apparently they don't clean the woks between entrees thoroughly enough. I don't remember whether the dish was there last year or not.) Then we asked for sauce on the side, and were told that he would have to have duck sauce, not the regular sauce. He wound up eating rice and dry chicken.

This is the first time we have had any trouble accommodating his peanut allergy in any Disney restaurant. I'm really baffled -- would it be that hard to set aside one or two woks and not use them for the peanut dish?

 

[shinymonkey]

Hi - does anyone know if egg allergies will have their own menu? I didn't see it listed. Visiting with my 18 month old son in December, and he has a pretty severe egg allergy. Being able to see copies of the menus, if egg is one of them, in advance would be really helpful in the planning process.
Thanks!

I have a pretty severe egg allergy myself and have eaten at a good deal of the restaurants on property which restaurants specifically are you looking at?

 

[MotherOfBirds]

Finally. While I appreciate their level of concern in this regard, I hate having my allergy treated like a national emergency. Just a more descriptive menu will do, thank you.